It Isn't Possible To Follow Jesus' Teachings And Support Trump

Personally, I'm not into churches or ritual or even the Bible. But Jesus had some great messages that I meditate on a lot. That said, there are a lot of fake Christians around who seem to think Jesus' message needs to be reversed. And those are Trump followers. My old pal Frank Schaeffer wrote about that on his blog and made the tape above that you might want to watch today instead of going to church. His point: Trumps' white evangelicals are the only Americans who disrespect Jesus.

Based on their support for Trump, American white evangelicals are the only people in America who consistently seem to disrespect, reject and ignore the teachings of Jesus.

Trump-supporting white evangelicals’ enabling of Trump’s Republican politics of lies of, cruelty, misogyny, favoring the wealthy, racism, and unpatriotic disrespect for our military prove that evangelicals are the only Americans we can say with certainty hate Jesus’ teachings.

Liberal secular Democrat-voting Americans seem to follow the teachings of Jesus much more closely these days than do white evangelical Trump supporters. Weird, Huh?

In case you missed it on Friday, I thought I'd include a message from a friend who I met through Frank, a pastor in Wake County, North Carolina who is running for Congress, Jason Butler. It's a swing district but the current Representative is radical Trump enabler George Holding, a fanatic opponent of anything that helps working families or immigrants or minorities or anyone Jesus' gospel was meant for. I asked Jason what he thought about Holding's vote against the DREAM Act. "The Republican Party," he told me, "is in the midst of a decade long campaign to punish and exclude children of color. From voting against Dreamers, to border family separation, to cutting life saving assistance programs, to defunding City schools-- all of these serve one purpose: punish children. But yet, the vast majority of Republican voters and politicians flood into conservative Christian churches this time of year and claim to worship the baby Jesus-- a dark skinned immigrant Jewish boy. There is a massive disconnect happening here and it is time for this hypocrisy to be unveiled. In moderate districts all across the country, exactly like NC-02, where high numbers of voters claim a conservative Christian faith, we need to frame these elections as for the future of our children. Politicians, like Holding, who have consistently voted to punish children of color need to be held accountable. We live in a nation where kids in Flint, Michigan have lead poisoning from unsafe drinking water; where over 5,000 kids are homeless in the wealthiest county in North Carolina, Wake county; where Dreamers are pushed out; and where tens of thousands of immigrant children are living in detention centers. And all of this is being driven by Republican politicians who are supported by conservative Christians. It must stop. And it can. I believe that if Democratic candidates in moderate districts frame their progressive policies as providing the brightest future for our children then the Republican position can crumble and those like Holding will see their cruel positions that harm children be their undoing. We must make this happen as we are not only fighting for our own positions-- we are truly in a fight for the future of America's children."

How To Write A Good Fundraising E-Mail, Episode 1

I'm going to start a new feature tonight. We all get way too many e-mails from candidates asking for money, right?. Many of them are created by over-priced, under-talented communications consultants with messaging straight from the two-legged jokes who work at the DCCC, DNC and DSCC. I tend to recognize the worst of the garbage either from the subject line or by the layout or, if not sooner, by the first sentence. More often than not, I just unsubscribe. But the e-mails never seem to slow down, do they?

Once in a while, a candidate sends me an e-mail that's actually worth reading, one that gives the readers a sense of who that candidate actually is and what they will fight for and who they will fight for when they get to Congress. Our new DWT feature will be to run some of the best of those fundraising e-mails. I hope they set an example for other candidates of how to do it-- and I hope some readers feel moved to contribute or to at least decide to look further into the candidates.

The first one is from the Blue American-endorsed congressional candidate in NC-02, Jason Butler, a progressive Wake County pastor in a district that spans suburbs and large rural swathes of northern North Carolina. Here's what he sent out about a week or so ago. If you like it and you would like to see Jason replace right-wing Trump enabler and sock-puppet George Holding in Congress, please consider contributing to Jason's campaign by clicking on the 2020 Blue America thermometer on the right, even if it's just $5 or $10. That's how candidates build successful campaigns-- $5 and $10 donations at a time.

Howard,

Recently, my wife and I went to Pride Fest here in Durham, NC. My church had a booth there and I wanted to show my support. I didn’t campaign. I just wanted to be a regular guy supporting the LGBTQ+ community. But I saw someone I know who asked me about the campaign, and he told me how tired he is of politics: the climate emergency, friends without healthcare, the impeachment proceedings. He said people were at the festival protesting his very existence. He told me, “I just want to run away.”

We’re all exhausted. The last few years have felt like a decade. But I’ll tell you what I told him: we just can’t give up. I’m reminded of a quote I recently read from Bobby Kennedy which says, “Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened…we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.”

Y’all, I know we’ve been through a lot. But we just can’t turn our heads right now. There is too much at stake. We have to act. The future depends on good people standing up for justice.

One way to act is to give to a candidate who you believe in. Someone you know will fight for you and for all those who are suffering.

Will you join our people-powered campaign by making a contribution of $20 or more today? This will give us momentum, allow us to fight for the needs of everyday Americans like you, and reach out to voters who are waiting for a candidate who will fight for them.

I hope I can count on your support.

Thanks a ton!

—Jason

Trump's Agenda-- And Personal Insecurities-- Are Hammering Rural Voters From Every Angle

Jason Butler is the newest candidate Blue America has endorsed. He's running for a North Carolina seat (NC-02) that is about half suburban and half rural. The incumbent, George Holding, is just a good-for-nothing corporate shill and Trump rubber-stamp and enabler. Butler was fuming the other day because Holding had voted against HR 265, this year's Agricultural and Rural Development Appropriations Act. The Act includes:

• Appropriates $1.3 billion to the Agricultural Research Service for salaries and expenses (Title I).
• $2.8 billion for guaranteed farm ownership loans
• $1.5 billion for farm ownership direct loans
• $1.9 billion for unsubsidized guaranteed operating loans
• $1.5 billion for direct operation loans
• $37.7 million for emergency loans

"Trump," said Butler, "doesn’t seem to understand that he’s not on a television show any more-- this is a real life reality show and he’s killing the American farmer with his reckless ego competition with the Chinese. That’s because he’s completely out of touch with the reality of hard working Americans. He’s lived in a penthouse his whole life. His local minion, George Holding, is no different. Holding recently voted against that Agriculture and Rural Development legislation which allocates desperately needed funds to agencies which directly assist our American farmers. Half of Holding’s district is rural farming communities. It seems these two won’t stop at anything until all the wealth in America belongs to the rich."

The Nebraska Corn Board and the Nebraska Corn Growers Association sent out a scorching press release this week-- and it was Trump who got scorched. Trump did very well in Nebraska in 2016. He won 91 of Nebraska's 93 counties and beat Hillary 495,961 (58.75%) to 284,494 (33.70%). It was even better for Trump in the most rural counties. The massive 3rd congressional district takes up over three quarters of the state and is bigger than New York state. It is 86% rural. Trump won NE-03 with 74.9% of the vote, one of his biggest wins anywhere in the country. Those corn farmers bought into the Times Square hustler hook line and sinker. "As harvest approaches after an extremely difficult year for agriculture," wrote the Nebraska Corn Board team, "many Nebraska corn farmers are outraged by the Trump administration’s lack of support for the American farmer. The Nebraska Corn Board and the Nebraska Corn Growers Association call upon the administration to fulfill its promises and to abide by the law and uphold the integrity of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)." NE-03 isn't going to abandon Trump in 2020. He'll win that district and ridiculous closet queen Adrian Smith (R) will be reelected to Congress. But NE-01 is probably lost to Trump and NE-02 is teetering.

President Trump’s administration continues to erode the RFS by granting 31 unjustified refinery waivers, destroying demand for corn and ultimately choosing to bail out the oil industry rather than helping American farmers. Corn farmers are already suffering from ongoing trade disputes, uncertain weather and continued low prices.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said David Bruntz, chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board and farmer from Friend. “All we’re getting is lip service. At one moment, we think President Trump is on our side, and then the refinery waivers come through. It’s truly a slap in the face. Farmers are hurting and it just keeps getting worse.”

Along with undermining the RFS, the U.S. has made little progress in trade. A new deal between the U.S., Mexico and Canada still has not been reached and tensions continue to escalate between the U.S. and China.

“Many of our corn farmers have stood with Trump for a long time, but that may soon change” said Dan Nerud, president of the Nebraska Corn Growers Association and farmer from Dorchester. “Trump needs to uphold the law and his commitment to our nation’s corn farmers by making the RFS whole and bringing trade agreements to the finish line.”

Nebraska Corn urges you to stand up for our state’s corn and ethanol industries by telling the Trump administration to stop stripping the RFS. Rural America is under attack and now is the time to act.

One of the few congressional districts as Trumpified as NE-03 is the equally rural south east Missouri district occupied by-- what a coincidence-- another closet case, Jason Smith. Progressive activist Kathy Ellis is taking him on this cycle and this morning she told me that "In the past year, Missouri has seen a 96% increase in farm bankruptcies. Our local economy is suffering in the 8th District, and while Jason Smith visits farmers and takes pictures on his 'farm tour,' he isn't working towards any real, sustainable solutions for our agricultural economy. Perhaps Rep. Smith could have less photo opps and instead ask farmers what they'd like to see change in the district. They know best, and Smith has continually ignored them to instead be a rubber stamp for Trump's damaging policies."

J.D. Scholten is running in the Iowa equivalent on NE-03, Steve King's beleaguered IA-04. The district is 75% rural and gave Trump a 60.9% to 33.5% win over Hillary. Last year, though, rural communities were beginning to catch on. J.D. made a persuasive, progressive case against Trump and King and-- with no help from the DCCC whatsoever-- came close to winning, holding King down to just 50.4% of the vote. Of the 39 counties in the district, J.D, won 5 and fought King to a tie in 5 others. J.D. won the first, second, third and fifth most populated counties: Story, Woodbury, Cerro Gordo and Webster and came within a tiny handful of voters in some of the most rural farming counties in the state, like Buena Vista, Hamilton, Winnebago, Greene, Emmet and Audubon. The soy bean farmers in these counties know Trump has destroyed the soy bean market forever and that it's never coming back. They voted for Trump and he ruined their lives.

J.D. told us that "King has left behind the renewable fuel folks for years. It didn’t shock anyone when he endorsed one of the biggest anti-ethanol folks in D.C., Ted Cruz, for president in 2016. The corn growers and the renewable fuels industry are looking for solutions and leaders. If we are going to get carbon-neutral or decarbon, renewable fuels are a part of that equation. But instead, Trump’s EPA is rewarding oil giants like Exxon Mobil and Chevron with RFS waivers, saving them hundreds of millions of dollars while corn growers and folks who work in the renewable fuels industry are struggling just to get by. Trump and his cronies like King will keep lining the wallets of the oil industry at the expense of our farmers."


Audrey Denney's opponent is Trump enabler Doug LaMalfa in the northeast corner of California, one of the most rural districts in the state. Today she told us that "the Trump Administration policies are directly hurting farmers all over the country. According to the American Farm Bureau, farm bankruptcy filings for 2019 through June were up 13 percent from 2018 and loan delinquency rates are on the rise. North State farmers are asking for trade policies that expand markets and immigration reform that helps them get the labor they need. Congressman LaMalfa-- a farmer himself-- has failed to be an advocate for the industry he represents. I’ve worked in agriculture education my entire career and can’t wait to fight for North State farmers and ranchers when they send me to DC."

But rural support for Trump isn't just about soybeans and corn. In his Washington Post column yesterday, Michael Gerson wrote about why white evangelicals should panic. "Much white evangelical support for President Trump," he wrote, "is based on a bargain or transaction: political loyalty (and political cover for the president’s moral flaws) in return for protection from a hostile culture. Many evangelicals are fearful that courts and government regulators will increasingly treat their moral and religious convictions as varieties of bigotry. And that this will undermine the ability of religious institutions to maintain their identities and do their work. Such alarm is embedded within a larger anxiety about lost social standing that makes Trump’s promise of a return to greatness appealing... But this is not, by any reasonable measure, the largest problem evangelicals face. It is, instead, the massive sell-off of evangelicalism among the young. About 26 percent of Americans 65 and older identify as white evangelical Protestants. Among those ages 18 to 29, the figure is 8 percent. Why this demographic abyss does not cause greater panic-- panic concerning the existence of evangelicalism as a major force in the United States-- is a mystery and a scandal. With their focus on repeal of the Johnson Amendment and the right to say 'Merry Christmas,' some evangelical leaders are tidying up the kitchen while the house burns down around them."

Gerson further explains that there is, ironically, an allergic reaction to the religious right. One of the main rationales for the very existence of this movement was to assert the role of religion in the public square in America. And, instead, what’s happening in that very movement has actually driven an increasing share of Americans out of religion. This alienation preceded the current president, but it has intensified during the Trump era.

If evangelicals were to consult their past, they would find that their times of greatest positive influence-- in late-18th-century and early-19th-century Britain, or mid-19th-century America-- came when they were truest to their religious calling. It was not when they acted like another political interest group. The advocates of abolition, prison reform, humane treatment of the mentally disabled and women’s rights were known as malcontents in the cause of human dignity.

Today, far too many evangelicals are seen as angry and culturally defensive, and have tied their cause to a leader who is morally corrupt and dehumanizes others. Older evangelicals-- the very people who should be maintaining and modeling moral standards-- have ignored and compromised those standards for political reasons in plain view of their own children. And disillusionment is the natural result.

Would You Like To Know If Candidates Will Back The Green New Deal BEFORE You Vote For Them?

Blue America's newest endorsee is Jason Butler, the progressive candidate taking on reactionary Trump enabler George Holding in a North Carolina red district (NC-02) that has started trending purple. Last cycle, Holding only eked out a bare 51.3% win-- in a district where Obama lost both times and where Trump beat Hillary by over 10 points! It's just a matter of time-- and Butler makes a good case for why that time is now.

Earlier in the week Jason shared some of his approach to the campaign with us. Since then he decided to tell his supporters about why battling the Climate Crisis is a major part of why he decided to run for Congress. "As a dad with three young kids, I think a lot about the kind of world my generation will pass on to the next," he wrote. "And as a pastor, it’s important to me to live my faith through good stewardship of our planet."

But as we watch the Amazon burn, see glaciers disappear, and face more and more extreme weather here in North Carolina, I’m deeply worried-- and I just can’t sit by and do nothing.

If the health of our environment wasn’t enough reason to take the climate crisis seriously, a dire warning from a UN expert has raised the stakes.

This human rights expert warns that the world is at risk of facing “climate apartheid,” where the wealthy and powerful pay to escape the worst effects of the crisis-- and undermine basic human rights and even the rule of law for hundreds of millions of people.

We have to act, friends. And we’re running out of time.

I’ve spent years organizing and advocating for justice. That’s shown me that you can only get so far when your representatives have a vested interest in defending the status quo.

Our current leaders are failing to meet the climate crisis with the urgency it demands. We need a new generation of leaders ready to fight for bold solutions like a Green New Deal. That’s why I’m running for Congress.

As Anthony Deutsch wrote yesterday, young Republicans are as worried about the Climate crisis as normal people are. "A growing majority of U.S. Republicans, especially younger voters, are worried that human behavior is damaging the planet, according to a survey of global attitudes to the environment conducted by an Amsterdam-based polling agency. The number of Republican voters aged 18-34 who are worried about the issue rose by 18 percentage points to 67%, said the poll, which also showed a 10 percentage point increase among all U.S. Republicans who said they tried 'to live eco-consciously... When looking deeper into the data it becomes clear that the highest rise in environmental concern (worldwide) is visible among younger Republicans,' said Glocalities pollster Martijn Lampert, who predicted that shifting views on the environment would influence the next U.S. election in 2020."

The DCCC and EMILY's List has each recruited a more conservative, establishment-type candidate to stop Jason. The DCCC found themselves a typical order-taker, a former Marine Corp officer who served the country in Iraq and Afghanistan. As we have seen this year, all of the former military recruits the DCCC sold us on in 2018 have turned out to be shills for the Democratic leadership-- NO INDEPENDENT THINKING among the whole lot of them. Frankly, I was shocked by it. And they're all a bunch of tepid conservatives afraid of bold ideas and afraid to lose their new prestigious jobs in Congress. It literally stunned me. Of the 94 Democrats who have signed on as co-sponsors to AOC's Green New Deal resolution so far-- not a single one was one of the military heroes the DCCC was pushing last cycle. That doesn't mean the DCCC recruit for NC-02 won't be the exception. But... a big clue is on his campaign website and what he says about policy positions: nothing, which is exactly what the DCCC tells it's sappy candidates to do. Nice photos of him and his attractive family though, and lots of meaningless cliches that say NOTHING about how someone is going to behave in Congress.

As for EMILY's List, they found a school board member with an even skimpier website than the one the military guy has! Look, please, if Democratic candidates are hiding their positions during the primary campaign, do you think we can expect bold, courageous action from them if they ever get into Congress? If so, it would be a first.

As for George Holding, he's begun acknowledging Climate Change... but he isn't fooling anyone about where his sympathies are regarding how to deal with it. There are few members of the House who are as corporately-motivated as George Holding. His positions are reflected in his League of Conservative Voters scorecard. They summed him up perfectly: "Rep. George Holding put polluters' agendas ahead of the health of North Carolinians, environmental protections and action on climate change."

We pretty much know exactly where Trump stands on the Climate Crisis and on all the issues, what his dark, toxic vision for America is and where he would bring the country if he is-- God help us-- reelected in 2020. Still, he's not going to speak the words on TV. Don't expect any 2020 Trump presidential debates. Impossible, you say? How many norms has Trump steamrolled right over and smashed to bits-- and with virtually no consequences whatsoever?

Three Stooges vs The Clown by Nancy Ohanian

Trump isn't able to form a coherent sentence, let alone debate any opponent. By labelling his Republican primary challengers as the Three Stooges, he has set the tone for refusing to debate former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld (R), former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh (R) and former Governor and Congressman Mark Sanford (SC). The only Democrat he is likely to debate would be the one pathetic specimen he could probably beat, doddering, deteriorating and already senile Joe Biden. Nothing would get Trump up on a debate stage with Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders-- or even well-practiced phonies like Kamala Harris or Mayo Pete.

Wooing Rural Voters In North Carolina With Progressive And Populist Policies-- Meet Jason Butler (NC-02)

Over the past two weeks I've talked to 7 new candidates running for Congress. One doesn't support Medicare-for-All, the Green New Deal, banning assault weapons or even raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and I told her she was calling the wrong organization and to try the DCCC or EMILY's List. The others are being vetted. The easiest candidate to endorse though was Jason Butler, running in North Carolina’s 2nd district. Jason's a pastor in Wake County, North Carolina who sees the campaign as part of a journey to "recapture our moral courage and push back against the forces of fear that divide and dehumanize us."

I asked Jason to introduce himself by writing a guest post that encompasses his vision for this very tough campaign in a very tough district. That's below. Please read it and if you find it as inspiring as I did, consider contributing to Jason's grassroots campaign by clicking on the 2020 Blue America congressional thermometer on the right and donating what you can. But first I want to say a little something about NC-02. The gerrymandered district has a PVI of R+7 and Trump beat Hillary there 53.2% to 43.6%. The incumbent, George Holding (R), is a total Trump enabler who never strays from the party line. Last year, Holding didn't do that great-- just 51.3%. And he lost Wake County, the biggest county in the district, albeit narrowly, and only managed to tie his Democratic opponent in Nash County. The district includes all or part of 6 counties in the northern part of the state-- listed by population: Wake, Johnson, Nash, Harnett, Franklin and Wilson. Trump's reelect numbers are underwater in North Carolina. 2020 is going to be a good year for progressives like Jason Butler running down-ticket-- as long as Cheri Bustos and the DCCC don't insert some conservative, GOP-lite candidate, with nothing to offer voters, as they tend to try to do in districts like this.


The Red-Handed Fleecing of Rural America
by Jason Butler

Part of the American experience that is ingrained in each one of us is the pride of being a fearless people that will defend each other in the face of evil and will always be there for our friends. After all…these colors don’t run. But right now, it seems we are being paralyzed in the face of our rapidly changing future and we are standing frozen, even looking backwards, instead of moving forward with courage.

Yes, the world is changing at an unprecedented pace and if we are honest, we feel a bit uncertain of what lies ahead. There are challenges ahead that we feel unequipped to face and so, we are desperately trying to hold on to the present reality that feels so familiar. Maybe we are a bit like a horse and buggy repair shop at the dawn of the age of the automobile. Those that refused to learn engine repair got left behind but those that embraced this new technological future thrived. We are facing the same sort of reality today and we find this most evident in our rural communities.

Now, I know… there is a lot of negativity coming out of rural white America right now. But we need to be reminded that rural America is just like any other community-- there is diversity there too. There are Latinx and immigrant and African-American and indigenous communities, and there are so many children. I’m not going to give up on them. Here’s the reality-- rural America has been hit with a perfect storm that has left it as a shell of what it once was. We’ve all driven through those towns, seen the abandoned store fronts and thought, “Wow, this must have been an amazing place 40 years ago.” Some of the reasons for this are:

• Automation and technological advancement have dramatically cut down on the amount of farm employees, cutting down on the working population;
• The promise of high paying tech and medical jobs have attracted the young to cities
• CEO’s moved their factories overseas to cut down on costs;
• Lack of funding for rural schools leave kids behind;
• Lack of environmental regulation and oversight allow companies to dump poison in these communities that make people sick;
• But because of lower populations, healthcare options are few and far between;
• And even worse…high unemployment and under-employment leave many with no healthcare coverage for them or their children.

And now:

• Trump’s trade war is further eroding farming market share and destroying family farms;
• And big Pharma exploited the pain of rural America and left an opioid crisis that will affect rural families for generations to come while also overextending already underfunded medical emergency services, first responders, and family social services.

Rev. Dr. William Barber often reminds us that poverty is not a problem isolated to one demographic but affects those with lighter skin and those with darker skin. Republicans know this and that’s why they have worked tirelessly to divide rural white folks from people of color. They have spent massive amounts of time and money to try to convince rural communities that immigration is the problem, or entitlements are the problem, or…or…but this is all a diversion to the real problem-- the real problem is the partnership that rich Republican leaders have made with big business and their reluctance to invest and protect their rural base.

Trump has convinced rural America to trade its economic future for a red hat of hostility. He’s convinced rural folks that pushing others down is the path to power, but the only true path to success is by lifting others up, not by pushing them down. Jesus taught me this.

The sad reality of rural America is that:

• Those manufacturing jobs are not coming back.
• Coal’s day is nearing its end.
• The market for soybeans is gone…for good.
• The planet is warming and will make farming more difficult.
• Rural children are suffering because of lack of affordable healthcare.

But why do I care? I care because I spent my entire childhood and college years in rural communities-- both in eastern NC and Appalachia Virginia. These are my people. I was raised in church with them, was taught by them in our schools, and still hold them as dear friends and family. Yes, my views on race, religion, sexuality, and politics have transformed over the years but deep down-- I’m a progressive country boy who drives a truck, rides a Harley.

I’m also a pastor. Yes, that’s right. I’m a progressive United Methodist pastor who believes in the dignity and worth of every single person, who fully supports the LGBTQ+ community, who fights for racial justice, who strives to create an equitable economy, who believes our environment is a gift that should be protected, and believes our diversity makes us stronger. I’ve founded 2 non-profits to protect the vulnerable, organized communities to push back on the power of big banks, and spent much of my professional career teaching people to care for one another, empowering them to build diverse community, and inspiring folks to resist the political and religious forces of fear that steal, kill, and destroy.

In my opinion, Republicans have fleeced rural America’s wealth and their religion-- using both to create more power for themselves and their corporate buddies.

Why is my faith important to my campaign? Because conservative politics is tied up with Christianity in America and the only way we are ever going to detangle this fundamentalist faith from the politics of fear and division is to deal with it at the root. Republicans have gerrymandered the evangelical church and promised them power if they forego the basic tenants of Jesus for the pursuit of a conservative Supreme Court. These same folks taught me that the golden rule is to “love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.” But yet, now many of them chant, “send her back,” are supportive of immigrant family separation and child detention, openly fan the flame of racism, fight against the rights of freedoms of the LGBTQ+ community, and vote for policies that hurt everyone, themselves included. I’m running because I believe I can expose these national immoralities and help lead us in a recovery of our moral courage to fight for liberty and justice for ALL.

And the only way we are going to do that is to leave our hate behind, pick up our heads and look boldly into the reality of our future and realize that we have the capacity to creatively solve every problem we face through innovation and hard work.

I’m just getting started in my campaign here in North Carolina’s 2nd district but here are some initial ways I believe we can work together to restore our rural communities. Don’t get me wrong-- this will be hard work, as we’ll have to deal with both economic and ideological brokenness-- and this is not my single issue as I’m also deeply concerned about the needs of those in urban centers as well. But there is an opening for Democrats here! And I’m reminded that the longest journey begins with the first step-- here’s where our first steps need to be:

• Invest in the making high speed internet available for all.

This may seem like a simple solution but it’s actually quite a problem and a foundation that all the other parts need to be built upon. In a recent Pew survey 58% of rural Americans say that this is a problem. High speed internet connects communities to broader opportunities, provides further educational opportunities to schools and children, and opens economic opportunities in our “gig” economy. We want stronger and better funded school systems – then kids needs this in their schools and in their homes. Democracy thrives when information is prevalent and engagement is high and as many have said, it dies in the dark. Each of the following points relies on getting rural communities connected, informed, and engaged.

• Expand Medicaid.

Healthcare is a human right. We shouldn’t play politics with the health of our children and families because healthcare gives life. On average, about 32% of rural individuals are uninsured. But in states where Medicaid is expanded that number is drastically reduced to an average of 16%. When people have access to insurance it has been proven they live longer, work more, and suffer less. A recent study even linked Medicaid expansion to lower infant mortality rates. Why are Republicans against this again? I’m waiting…

Medicaid expansion works-- it gets people insurance and builds healthier families and stronger communities. Christians should especially be in favor of expanded Medicaid as this helps to build wholeness in our communities-- after all-- Jesus was walking free healthcare as he healed the sick that were brought to him. How could Christians stand against such policies that give life, bring healing, and renew both bodies and families? Isn’t healthcare the most pro-life policy of all? But beyond healthcare as a moral imperative, it also is an economic stimulus.

The Winston-Salem Journal recently published a report outlining the economic benefits of the expansion of Medicaid here in NC saying,

“The overwhelming majority of U.S. rural hospitals forced to close their doors were in states that have not expanded (Medicaid) eligibility,” said Patrick McHugh, the center’s senior policy analyst and report co-author.

“Seventy percent of N.C.’s 80 rural counties are already designated at ‘medical deserts’ for their lack of primary care availability.” The authors said rural hospitals would receive $665 million in new Medicaid payments each year, “which would improve rural hospitals’ net fiscal strength by nearly $140 million.” “By dramatically reducing uncompensated care costs for many rural hospitals in North Carolina, Medicaid expansion is likely the single fastest way to put these facilities on more solid economic ground while addressing a gaping hole in our health-care system,” the authors said.

This allows hospitals to hire more medical professionals which in turn boost local economies. Living with sickness is miserable and we should do all we can to ease the suffering of our neighbors. This investment in just that-- an investment. Economically, there may not be a greater return on investment than making sure every single American has access to quality and affordable healthcare as it ensures more Americans can participate in the economy, can join the workforce, and can have the extra to buy homes and build wealth. No one should have be threatened with bankruptcy and foreclosure because of an illness. Morally, we cannot be a nation where corporations make billions in profit every year and yet, so many vulnerable children, mothers, and families suffer due to lack of health care coverage. We are better than this. There’s more than enough money to do this, our politicians just lack the moral courage to do the right thing.

• Declare the Opioid Crisis a National Emergency

Every day 130 Americans die from opioid overdoes. Since 1999 400,000 Americans have died from opioid related overdoses. This is America’s real national emergency and needs to be treated as such. Families are being destroyed every single day-- many in our rural counties – because big pharmaceutical companies like Purdue and others preyed on rural communities by conspiring to push these painkillers on isolated and vulnerable communities. The results have been devastating. Children left without parents, parents grieving lost teens, and communities living in a state of constant shock. This has taken an unknown economic and emotional toll on emergency services, first responders, hospitals, and schools in these affected areas. Not to mention, the toll on families. An article from WebMD states it by saying, “The opioid epidemic appears to be literally tearing families apart. Children are being taken out of their homes at alarming rates because their parents are abusing drugs, a new study shows. The number of kids placed in foster care in the United States due to parental drug use has more than doubled over the past two decades, rising to nearly 96,700 in 2017 from about 39,100 in 2000.”

Where are Republicans when it comes to pro-family policies now? Aren’t they supposed to be the party of “family values?” Then why can’t they stand up to big pharmaceutical companies that have been ravaging rural communities? Oh, could it be the result of the nearly $80 million the pharmaceutical industry spends on lobbying Congress each year? Yes, when operating with decency and seeking the common good, pharmaceutical companies enrich our lives through medical breakthrough and miracle cures-- but when they operate with this sort of nefarious and deceitful motivation then they need to be held accountable and pay for the damage they have caused.

A few years ago, Trump began to recognize this problem and declared a “health crisis” allocating a few billion dollars to the problem but failed to use the money to build the infrastructure needed to tackle this problem and thus little was done. Moving on to “his wall” he left this crisis behind. People are dying “deaths of despair” and we need to respond accordingly as a nation by declaring a national emergency, holding wrong-doing pharmaceutical companies liable, and allocating $10 billion a year in community based opioid recovery assistance. Expanding Medicaid goes hand-in-hand and is essential in this fight as well as these communities need access to both healthcare and mental health care to heal from suffering this epidemic has unleashed.

• Green Energy Infrastructure

We are in the midst of an environmental crisis. The planet is warming, our ice sheets are melting, and our weather is intensifying. Over the next 50 years things will continue to get worse which will cause massive displacement of the poor and create both food and water shortages around the world. And our collective political response to this unfolding crisis is almost non-existent. Politicians on the right, along with multi-billion-dollar corporations, try to calm us by saying, “there’s no problem here,” but there is an urgent problem! Our planet is dying, and we are busy re-arranging the furniture. I have three young children and I’d really like for them to have a planet to grow up on. We need immediate and urgent action. I’m all in favor of proposals like the Green New Deal and believe that we need to get such deals in Congressional committees and bring them to life. Yes, Republicans will try to block them-- but here’s where the rural communities are so key. Rural communities form the base of the Republican party, but they can also be the foundation for such grand proposals like the Green New Deal.

Rural communities are a natural fit for the sort of green energy infrastructure that America needs. Rural communities have the land for wind and solar farms, they will greatly benefit from the jobs and economic stimulation that green infrastructure would bring, and they can push their conservative representatives to fight on their behalf for these deals that would bring innovation and economic vitality to their communities. Sierra Club reports on this exact sort of situation in Indiana saying,

“Cleantech is also bringing countless new jobs to struggling areas. In the Midwest, over 8,000 new jobs were added in the clean energy sector alone. In Benton County Indiana, wind investment brought 110 permanent jobs and $17 million in revenue. This has a real influence on local economies.”

As tech companies grow and need more power, they are looking to build energy farms in rural communities that have the space and workforce ready to step in. Mobilizing the Green New Deal in rural communities is a win-win for everyone. It restores the economic viability of our rural communities, provides the energy resources business needs to thrive, and helps to save our planet-- all at the same time.

But yet-- Republicans stand against these green innovative solutions, they stand against the expansion of Medicaid, and they haven’t fought for opioid recovery. Our rural communities are suffering terribly and what are Republicans doing? Very little to say the least. “Let the people suffer” should be their new motto.

Yes-- it’s time we realize that Republicans are being caught red handed-- they have exploited the wealth, religion, and the future of rural communities and left them to suffer alone. We need to change this. We need deep investment in our rural communities-- not so that they will vote for us in the future. Rather, we need to help them because they are our fellow brothers and sisters, our neighbors and our fellow Americans. We need to help because we need to be the party that hears the cries of the suffering and do all we can to ensure a future of flourishing and hope for every single American. Yes, even if we don’t agree with them on everything and even if some are caught in a trap of racism and division right now. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminds us, “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

Yes, we face new challenges and must respond with new and innovative solutions. We will have to face the future with courage and integrity-- with a commitment to human flourishing-- and be willing to push back against the paralyzing forces of fear to boldly march into our future with the conviction that we can rise above every challenge we face to ensure a thriving future for every single person in this country.

As one much greater than I has said, “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” Maybe those words are echoing through the halls of history for such a time as this.

Primary Day: Trump Takes On The Koch Brothers, Club For Growth And The Tea Partry

We've been focused on today's congressional primaries in races in California, New Jersey and Iowa, where Blue America is backing 9 candidates in competitive races: Lou Vince, Nanette Barragan, Bao Nguyen, Bill Ostrander, Alex Law, Jim Keady and Pat Murphy. But there are also primaries for House seats in South Dakota New Mexico, Montana and North Carolina. Many of the races in these states are not competitive. Even in New Jersey, where Blue America is involved with primaries for Alex Law, Eloy Delgado and Jim Keady, we have another candidate we've endorsed-- Peter Jacobs, who's taking on Republican Leonard Lance--where the party is already united and the nomination is settled... at least on the Democratic side. We think Peter will be up against Lance, the Trump-supporting GOP incumbent, but the Republicans have their own primary in NJ-07, where Lance has 2 crackpot opponents, right-wing businessman Craig Heard and teabagger gadfly David Larsen. Lance has already spent $665,108 making sure he would have no surprises tonight, while Heard has spent $47,667 (Larsen has spent nothing).

But the most-watched Republican primary today is definitely in North Carolina, where gerrymandering has caused a court-ordered redistricting that has thrown two incumbents-- Renee Ellmers and George Holding into a race against each other (which also includes a well-known far right extremist, Greg Brannon). We've been mentioning this race lately because movement conservative organizations have lined up against Ellmers in a big way and because she moved early to wrap herself in the Trump lustre. She was one of the first members of Congress (and the first woman member) to fully embrace his narcissistic-- not to mention racist, xenophobic and misogynistic-- campaign. It was a shrewd strategy once the right-wing had declared war on her and backed Holding. Aside from Holding's own family SuperPAC, the American Foundations Committee, putting $330,580 into the race, The Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity threw in $205,794 in their first foray into the world of congressional primaries and the Club for Growth threw $787,841 into the red hot primary. Two other extremist groups, FreedomWorks and the Susan B Anthony List, the lunatic fringe GOP version of EMILY's List, have also jumped in to attack Ellmers.

Game-changing big news broke in the race over the weekend, when Trump himself weighed in with an endorsement for Ellmers, putting him in conflict with the right-wing of the party and in line with the Paul Ryan establishment wing. Saturday he gave Ellmers the robocall you can hear up top. Tonight we'll get a another clue whether Trump is going to be seen as a king-maker or a drag for congressional Republicans. Koch money vs the Trump brand!

He didn't give Ellmers any money or even pay for the call, but this will be a test of what his name means to Republican primary voters. Although Trump did well in his own primary in North Carolina, he didn't do great in the Raleigh suburbs which make up much of this district. Ted Cruz beat Trump in Franklin, Nash, Wilson, Chatham and Johnston counties. Before Trump's endorsement Saturday, Holding looked like he would win this one. Trump has thrown the contest into turmoil-- and there will be no runoff. Whoever gets a plurality wins the primary and, in effect, the seat. Most of the newly drawn second district was part of Holding's old district and just a small part was in Ellmer's. Here's a Koch brothers ad that ran this weekend:



Monday morning, the Tea Party Patriots, which calls itself the "biggest" of all the teabagger groups still active in politics, endorsed Holding, primarily because they hate Ellmers (and Paul Ryan). They are now urging North Carolina Republican primary voters to "reject a Representative who first ran for office with Tea Party support but was seduced by Washington once she got to the nation’s capital." This pits them directly against what Trump is asking NC-02 Republican primary voters to do. Should be interesting to watch the results roll in tonight.

Rep. George Holding-- a former legal counsel to the revered Sen. Jesse Helms-- refused to support the Ryan-Murray budget deal that ended Sequestration; supported the 2015 Republican Study Committee budget; has refused to vote to raise the debt ceiling; voted in favor of prohibiting taxpayer funding for abortion; voted in favor of preventing the IRS from implementing ObamaCare; voted to require Members of Congress and their staffs to give up their illegal ObamaCare subsidies; and has been a strong opponent of both illegal immigration and the Obama Administration’s executive amnesty programs.

Rep. Renee Ellmers, on the other hand, has been a disappointment, to say the least. She campaigned in 2010 with Tea Party support, but turned her back once she got to Washington, and instead became another Big Government liberal. She supported wasteful spending bills-- including voting for a trillion-dollar omnibus spending bill that broke the spending caps Congress had set on itself!-- and voted to increase the national debt. She even sided with Nancy Pelosi in voting to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank last year, and she voted to fund President Obama’s illegal executive amnesty program.

Perhaps even worse than her voting record, however, is her disdainful and dismissive attitude toward her constituents. In one such meeting in 2014, she was so rude that the meeting-- an account of which can be found here-- has become legendary. She has made clear that she no longer thinks of herself as her constituents’ representative to Washington; instead, she thinks of herself as Washington’s representative to her constituents. That’s just not a record worthy of Tea Party support, and, in fact, is a record worthy of Tea Party opposition.

UPDATE: Trump The Big Loser In North Carolina

George Holding trounced Renee Ellmers, (despite?) the endorsement by and robocall from Trump. She barely held on to second place, losing 5 of the 6 counties, narrowly winning Harnett Co.

• George Holding- 53.38%
• Renee Ellmers- 23.64%
• Greg Brannon- 22.99%

Is A Congressional Bloodbath Coming For GOP Candidates Who Hopped Aboard The Trump Train? Oh Yes

This morning an inexperienced campaign manager called and asked me for some advise. She talked-- mostly complaining and gossiping and babbling about herself-- for over an hour and I doubt she listened to a word I said. But what I told her her under-funded, unknown candidate must do is tie their opponent to Trump. "Every time someone thinks about him, Trump should come into their consciousness. Your candidate is a long-shot, but, in your district, this is the way to do it."

Do you know who Republican strategist Rick Wilson is? Many people heard about him when he launched a Republican Establishment jihad against Trump. In late March, he told the NY Times that he would prefer Hillary to Trump; may conservatives would. He told Times readers "I will not vote for Hillary, and I will not vote for Trump. At the end of the day, I believe that President Clinton would be less damaging to the Republican Party than President Trump. Because five minutes after she’s elected president, every bit of this anxiety in our party disappears instantly. We will go at the main enemy as we do. It will be a terrible four years, but it will have stopped this lunacy... I wrote the original Reverend Wright ad. I have spent a 25-year career in politics detonating Democrats out of safe seats and causing no end of troubles for them. I’m not a squishy liberal Republican."

Over the weekend, he wrote about one of my favorite subjects: what Trump is likely to do for down-ballot Republicans. Tonight we'll watch North Carolina's second congressional district where a GOP civil war raged between two different Republican establishments. Although she started her political life as a teabagger, Renee Ellmers was identified as a shill for the Beltway establishment and as a Boehner/Ryan lackey. The Club for Growth, the Koch brothers and half a dozen other far right establishment anti-establishment groups backed George Holding. Trump weighed in outside this dichotomy-- backing Ellmers solely based on his own narcissistic perspective (i.e., she endorsed him)-- and he was unable to rescue her political career. Maybe he'll remember to make her Secretary of Something in his imaginary cabinet.

Conjuring up a warning, Wilson asked his readers to imagine that "it’s the Fall of this year and you’re a U.S. House or Senate candidate in a swing district or state. Your Democratic opponent is running a low-risk campaign, having pivoted to the slightly-center-left with aplomb. Regardless of their actual beliefs, they’ve got their masks bolted on tight, staying relentlessly on message as technocratic middle-of-the-lane moderates. Barack Obama’s approval numbers keep creeping higher and higher as a kind of “at least he’s not crazy or obviously corrupt” vibe sets in with the public. It makes your “Obamacare, Benghazi, tranny bathrooms” message cluster feel less promising than it did last year when you were planning this run, doesn’t it?"

When you endorsed him, you bought all the problems Trump has with the voters and none of the assets. That’s why you’re awake at night, staring at the ceiling wondering what the madman will tweet next. You’ve had a tough summer, with endless questions from the press in your not-too-conservative state. Every time he opens his mouth, you’re flooded with questions. You wake up every day trying to stay on your message, but each morning your guts get watery when the Google alert with “your name + Donald Trump” pops on your iPhone. It’s why you can’t go on your Twitter or Facebook or do town hall meetings; because the whole election is about Trump, not you.

The resources you need from the donor community are a bright spot, because they’re certainly not giving the money to Mr. Self Funder Billionaire, but you’re having to spend it basically as it comes in to defend yourself. Your opponent and their allied SuperPACs are pounding you with media linking you at the hip with Trump. The themes are easy to predict; “Donald Trump says Mexicans are rapists…and Candidate X still backs him…100%” is the core script. Some of the connections are tenuous, but it doesn’t matter. All because you said the fateful words, “I support Donald Trump.”

I get it. You were terrified of his online horde of low-information whackjobs, neo-Nazi trolls, red-hat jackasses and their endless, febrile demands that you worship at the foot of Agent Orange. Hell, you’re a politician. You want to be loved. He was beating all the people you liked and respected, one after another. The media kept making him the spotlight, the hot focus of attention and you wanted some of that mojo, didn’t you? Bad call.

You see it in your polling, every day. Trump’s poison brand has splashed over on you, like the reek of some political sewage you can’t wash off. Your data model shows you need to capture at least 30% of the Hispanic vote, but with Trump polling with Hispanics in the low teens and nearing single digits in some places, you can’t seem to break through. Married, professional women are voting for Hillary in droves, repelled by Donald Trump’s racism, misogyny, and also by the increasingly hideous behavior of his supporters. They’re suddenly not so fond of you, either.

You own his politics. You own his policies, even the ones that only last as long as the next contradiction. You own the racial animus that started out as a bug, became a feature and is now the defining characteristic of his campaign. You own every crazy, vile chunk of word vomit that spews from his mouth. You own his racist bleatings about Mexicans and “his” African Americans. You own his digital Hitler Youth alt-reich fanboys with their white-power fantasies and roaring anti-Semitism.

He’s political poison. Don’t believe me? You will. Feel that sinking sensation? That’s Trump’s negatives dragging you down. Donald Trump’s polling-average approval rating among registered and likely voters today stands at a grisly 34% favorable and 60.5% unfavorable.Hillary’s isn’t much better, but she has the small benefit of being able to shut her mouth when some crazy thought is trying to escape her mind.

You were intrigued by his new, energetic populist message that breaks out of the stale confines of the tired old GOPe’s message playbook? You mean “build duh wall!” and “bomb duh oil?” and the rest of his catalog of slack-jawed inanities? Good luck with that. Yes, you need to stop “speaking Washington” but Trump’s message, affect and style isn’t fungible to human candidates.

Oh, you believed he was expanding the electorate? Bringing in millions of new voters? They’re not new; they’re just general election GOP voters who came out for him in the primary. Not you. Him. You perhaps overlooked that he’s also shedding millions of voters from the GOP’s coalition. If you’re in a swing state or district, tell me how you win back the Republican women and professionals who are fleeing Trump in droves? Tell me how you win in Florida or Nevada or Colorado as Hispanic support approached single digits?

He’s not going to change. He’s not going to stop being a shallow blowhard and non-stop-Malaprop. There is no better Trump. He’s not going to become more Presidential or more mindful. Trump doesn’t give a damn about your election. You’re not part of a unified Republican ticket; you’re collateral damage in Trump Rampage Raw WWE 2016. Every day, Donald Trump hands the Democrats another sword with which to cut off your political heads. Every day, Trump adds to their catalog of opposition research and endlessly catchy video bits. He’s all yours, and there are few paths to escape the blast radius.

Earlier this evening Lindsey Graham said that Trump's jihad against Judge Curiel are "the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy" and, more ominously, that "there’ll come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary." (And ole Lindsey doesn't really hate Hillary anyway.) So... the thermometer below leads to a unique fundraising page: #NeverTrump-- too late for Republicans; anything but too late for normal people.

Can Trump Save Renee Ellmers From The Far Right?

Renee Ellmers is probably wishing all she had to face this election cycle was last cycle's opponent, gay singling star and American Idol fave, Clay Aiken. She beat him 122,128 (59%) to 85,479 (41%). After the district was redrawn by court order it's still safely Republican but now she's in a battle royale with fellow Republicans George Holding (who was redistricted out of a safe seat) and big name teabagger Greg Brannon who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014 and has major name recognition. The congressional primary was postponed until June 7 because of the new boundaries. The district includes Vance, Franklin, Nash, Johnston, Harnett, Sampson, Harnett, Lee and Chatham counties.

Ellmers, who has endorsed Trump-- the first woman in Congress to do so-- to make up for her squishy reputation, has some real problems here. First off, Holding who's one of the richest members of Congress and lives nowhere near the district, has the backing of FreedomWorks, Club for Growth (which has already spent half a million dollars attacking Ellmers), the Susan B Anthony List (the right-wing version of EMILY's List but even crazier), the North Carolina Values Coalition and the Koch Brothers' Americans For Prosperity.

Club for Growth Action President David McIntosh charged Ellmers isn’t the same “tea-party conservative” she ran as six years ago. He called Ellmers “an establishment liberal in Washington,” and criticized her vote in favor of December’s omnibus spending bill that avoided a government shutdown.

...Ellmers’ campaign Friday called the Club for Growth “a Washington special interest group that supports candidates like George Holding and Greg Brannon because they have pledged to be their puppets.”

Patrick Sebastian, Ellmers’ campaign spokesman, said the group was unable to effectively attack Trump this election cycle, so they’ve turned toward attacking his allies. Sebastian noted Ellmers’ conservative record of pro-military and Medicare reform votes in Congress.




Ellmers was the first woman in Congress to endorse Trump. She has very publicly championed Trump and she penned the billionaire CEO’s profile in last month’s Time magazine “100 Most Influential People” feature.

At the same time, the Club for Growth spent months attacking the GOP presidential frontrunner, threatening Republicans who endorsed Trump prior to Sen. Ted Cruz and John Kaisch dropping out this week.

This will be the first time the Koch organization is opposing a Republican incumbent in a primary and they're coming in with several hundred thousand dollars worth of mailers and ads. So far Ellmers has raised $1,300,979 and has $572,837 cash-on-hand, Holding has raised $1,380,508 (with $554,384 cash on hand) and Brannon has brought in $321,586, most of which he's already spent. Ellmers' reputation took a huge hit when her adulterous affair with Kevin McCarthy was exposed, something Republican voters in North Carolina take seriously. Holding is favored to beat her in the primary next month.

Trump came out on top in the North Carolina primary, beating Cruz by around 50,000 votes, 40.2 to 36.8%. But it was much closer in NC-02, where he lost the Raleigh suburbs (Franklin, Nash, Wilson, Chatham and Johnston counties) to Cruz but won Vance, Lee, Harnett and Sampson counties. I'm sure North Carolina Republicans will rally round Trump now, but he may have a harder time with Independents. Hard to say if he'll be a net plus or a net minus for Ellmers, but I guess if she loses he can find her a job-- either in his administration or... he always has lot of work for women, right?

Don't Expect To See Clay Aiken Run For Congress Again

The Esquire Network just finished running the 4-hour documentary on American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken's congressional run against Republican Renee Ellmers in a very gerrymandered North Carolina district. The documentary was cut up into episodes and shown as a series. It wasn't very good... but I kept watching anyway. There's a piece of one of the last episodes above. Clay had come to understand-- just after winning the primary 11,649 (40.8%) to 11,277 (37.5%) and just before losing to Ellmers 121,336 (58.9%) to 84,826 (41.1%)-- what many idealistic Democratic candidates eventually come to understand, namely that the DCCC is no one's friend.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz's time as head of the DCCC's Red-to-Blue program is probably best remembered for her dogged support for three Republican allies in South Florida, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers, against the three Democratic candidates. But there was another typical Wasserman-Schultz muck-up that should be remembered when she makes her big play for whatever her next move up the ladder is-- the grotesque, elitist disrespect she showed towards a retired, decorated naval officer when he asked for her help in his race against Republican climber Adam Putnam. This is from the note that candidate, Doug Tudor, a dedicated Democratic Party progressive activist, sent DWT back in 2008 right after the incident:

I, of course, was most anxious to meet and speak with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (DINO-FL), who is chairing the DCCC’s Red-to-Blue program. I just knew that she would welcome the chance to defeat Adam Putnam, as that would allow her lay sole claim to the title of “Wonder Kid” in Florida’s politics. Adam, after all, isn’t her next door neighbor. Once she comes onboard, I assumed, the other members of the caucus would lose their timidity and also support me. I was dead wrong, and I should have known better.

It is well known that Wasserman-Schultz supports Republicans Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen over their Democratic opponents, although lately she has been pressured into giving belated and grudging support to Joe Garcia and Raul Martinez who are opposing the Diaz-Balarts. I always figured that she was just afraid of the Hispanic backlash in her own district. What I hadn’t considered is that she is just afraid of all incumbent Republicans in Florida. When I met her in Denver, she immediately told me that she couldn’t support me, saying I hadn’t raised enough money. I told her that I had raised $100K, that I was a military retiree, that my family is living on my wife’s Air Force E6 pay, and that I wasn’t able like other “viable” candidates to drop a quarter of a million dollars into my own campaign. I then told her, “Congresswoman, I am one of those working-class guys that our party claims to represent.” Her response was “Don’t pull that populist stuff with me.” I thanked her for her time.

As a person who made his career in the profession of arms, I know that when you’re in a fight, you have to fight on all fronts. Adam Putnam is easily becoming the most-hated Republican in America. He can be beat. Even Adam knows it’s a bad year for Republicans. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz needs to lead, follow, or get the Hell out of the way.

I didn't dredge this up merely as a contrast between Wasserman-Schultz and the way another candidate not backed by the DCCC-- Nate Shinagawa-- talked about the most recent Red-to-Blue chair, Donna Edwards (although it is certainly worth reading from that perspective). No, this was meant as an introduction to the Washington Post op-ed by a Democratic congressional candidate, an op-ed the Post pulled at the last moment.

2014 could have been a big year for the candidate. Despite negative "help" from DCCC chairman Steve Israel in 2012, he came closer to unseating the right-wing Republican incumbent than any previous Democrat ever had. (Israel has a firm policy of protecting senior Republican leaders and committee chairs, no matter how vulnerable their districts and no matter how heinous their agendas, in return for his own immunity from NRCC challenge.) Our candidate actually beat the Republican in the eastern third of the district. The Republican incumbent's approval/disapproval rating was underwater-- 38-43%, with 46% of respondents saying they would vote for his Democratic opponent, only 44% saying they would stick with the Republican, numbers that got worse when voters were informed the incumbent voted to shut down the government-- and he announced he was retiring from Congress (for a lucrative lobbying job). A civil war between two ambitious GOP wingnuts ensued.

In the midst of all this, the district registration advantage flipped to the Democrats, who went from a 3.6% disadvantage to the Republicans to a slight voter registration edge of 0.5% (1,975 voters). The key, of course, was turning out these Democratic voters in a midterm election when minorities and young voters tend to skip their civic duty-- which is what they did. Less than 50,000 people voted in the jungle primary and most of the ones who did were Republicans. Democrats just stayed home. The Democratic candidate asked the DCCC for help-- to avoid the same kind of catastrophe that they had gone through a couple districts south (CA-31) in 2012, when their candidate, Pete Aguilar, didn't make it into the runoff despite an overwhelmingly Democratic advantage, D+5. But the DCCC, after acknowledging that this had to be done, forgot the Hispanic outreach and GOTV efforts they were promising. Nothing was done, and on primary night one Republican had 14,573 votes and the other Republican had 14,016 votes; the Democrat mustered only 11,107. (Another Democrat, physically better placed on the ballot, took 4,868 votes, which would have been enough to put the actual Democratic candidate over the top.)

Another progressive Democrat, this one in Pennsylvania, who ran against a powerful Republican incumbent in 2012, and who got exactly zero help from the DCCC, was Aryanna Strader (now Aryanna Hunter). I asked her to comment about her experience with the DCCC as a candidate while Israel was running the show. She didn't speak about Israel directly, but anyone who follows his crazy mystery-meat strategy will recognize what she was talking about. Clay Aiken certainly would. "When congressional candidates run their campaigns trying to appease Democrats in Washington instead of running a campaign they believe in, those candidates are essentially tying their hands behind their back and disconnecting themselves from any hope of winning. Democrats running for office need to stand up for their ideals, embrace who they are as individuals and use it to their advantage. And the Democrats in Washington need to recognize their value and support them in that individual way."

I spoke to another progressive candidate-- this one from the upper Midwest, who was also stiffed by the DCCC. She hasn't given up the fight, not by a long shot, but she thinks it will take a long time to reform the DCCC. "We built an incredible grassroots network," she told me soon after the election, "and it would be a real shame to let all that work go to waste when there's still so much to be done. That being said, I'm glad to see that there will be changes in leadership at the DCCC... though I'm skeptical much will really change in how they choose candidates. The organization is focused on finding the best fundraisers, not candidates. The dysfunction is systemic, and a new figurehead isn't likely to change that."

Now...back to Clay-- in his own words and those of his staffers. Like all the candidates, the DCCC was pestering Aiken to raise more money and hire more of their corrupt consultants. His campaign manager, who now works at the DSCC: "The DCCC puts you on certain lists and if you get on their lists you get validity and credibility... It helps with fundraising." His finance director emphasized that "they've asked us to reach certain fundraising benchmarks and we've reached those benchmarks." Aiken:

That's a big deal. They said, "If you raise $400,000 in the second quarter we'll come and help." We raised much more than that, but still, no movement from the DCCC. They were very actively involved in convincing me to run. They said that they wanted to be supportive. And when we started running, they started distancing themselves... All I want them to do is put us on their Red-to-Blue List, which is the list of races that they believe are viable.

Aiken joked that the attitude and the deceit of the DCCC had him thinking about jumping off a cliff. Do I get stories like this from every grassroots progressive Democrat seeking to run for Congress? Yeah, pretty much so. This cycle, for example, I don't see any interest whatsoever from the DCCC for some of the best candidates running-- Jason Ritchie (D-WA), Alex Law (D-NJ), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Nanette Barragán (D-CA). Many other seasoned candidates are refusing to run until Pelosi, or whoever replaces her, gets rid of Israel-- not with a sock puppet like Ben Ray Luján.