Time For A Bolder Democratic Party? The Case For Brianna Wu Over Stephen Lynch

Earlier this morning we saw Albert Lee make a pretty compelling case for himself as a candidate for the Portland, Oregon congressional seat, admitting the incumbent, Earl Blumenauer, isn't the worst Democrat and a couple of weeks ago Frances Motiwalla here in L.A. made a similar kind of case for her candidacy against Jimmy Gomez, basically, he's not terrible but that his constituents deserved someone much better. Like them, Brianna Wu, is running an uphill primary campaign in a solid blue district (PVI is D+10) that voted for Bernie in 2016. But Brianna's case is drastically different in one sense: her opponent, New Dem Stephen Lynch is the worst Democrat, or at least one of them.

Lynch's district (MA-08) includes most of Boston-- the West End, the North End, Beacon Hill, Jamaica Plain, the Financial District and South Boston and suburbs and small towns south of the city like Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Weymouth, Dedham, Walpole, Scituate, Brockton and Bridgewater. It's a well-off, vibrant and diverse district-- and far more progressive than the conservative Democrat it's been sending to Congress as a matter of habit for nearly 2 decades. During that period he's accomplished next to nothing for his constituents but has made a name for himself as one of the anti-health care Democrats who fought the Affordable Care Act but who voted for the toxic Stupak-Pitts Amendment, guaranteeing that ObamaCare would not be used for women seeking an abortion-- no matter what the reason. Lynch's anti-Choice record that he's trying to hide now should have come as no surprise since he was one of the Democrats who backed Tom DeLay's desperate bid to hold onto power by using Terri Schiavo's tragedy as a rallying cry for right-wing crackpots. ProgressivePunch has given Lynch an "F" year after year after year. Brianna Wu makes a very compelling case why she will make a far better member of Congress than Lynch has been. If you like what she has to say below-- and in the video she made for us above-- please consider contributing to her campaign by clicking on the Blue America thermometer above.

Just Four Votes
by Brianna Wu

Nancy Pelosi and I agree on one thing. Four votes is not enough.

The recent comments from Pelosi in the New York Times regarding the four progressive women of color elected to congress have caused quite a stir in Democratic circles. “All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,” Pelosi said. “But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”

There’s a charitable and an uncharitable way to interpret Pelosi’s statement. For myself, I’m willing to take it at face value. We have a fierce disagreement in the Democratic Party about the direction of our party. We believe that Medicare for All is the future of our party. We believe the Green New Deal is the 21st equivalent of the 1960's space race, and the best hope for a habitable planet. We believe liberty and justice for some is not enough, and want racial and economic justice.

And that’s why I’m running for the House of Representatives.

Myself and an army of progressives are taking on establishment Democrats. We have a fundamental disagreement on where this party needs to go.

My opponent, Stephen Lynch, is the poster child of an establishment Democrat fundamentally out of touch with the policies Democrats believe in. He was elected immediately after 9/11, and helped cheerlead us into the war that got my friends killed. He voted against Obamacare. As housing costs in our district have skyrocketed, he enthusiastically takes cash from the developers causing the problem. 

Kids in cages? Lynch is silent. He said we should wait and see with Donald Trump. He’s against impeachment. And most shockingly, he got into politics to destroy LGBT rights in Massachusetts. In the same era when Matthew Shepard and Gwen Araujo were being murdered by homophobic bigots, Lynch was trying to remove hate crime prosecution in Massachusetts.

This is a democracy, and Lynch is not owed that seat in Congress. Our Founding Fathers designed the House of Representatives so members had to answer to their voters every two years.

I’m running to make the Democratic Party bolder, because I don’t accept that the best the Democratic Party can deliver are half-measures and political band-aids. I think we can deliver big, structural changes, but we can’t do it alone.

Most people got to know me nationally during Gamergate, a hate campaign crusaded by Steve Bannon and the alt-right to silence women in the tech industry asking for a fair shot. There’s no good way to have a Law and Order episode made about your life, and that’s how serious the threats on my life were. They tried everything in their power to make me sit down and shut up, and they failed.

When Trump was elected, I realized it wasn’t enough to only fight for women in the tech industry. I needed to fight to save this country. And that’s why I am all in, and why I’m asking you to stand with me.

You want to be a real hero? This is what we do.

We go back, and we put the pieces of this country together. We tune out the naysayers that say we can’t, the ones who tell us our sights are too high. And we accomplish what the status quo can’t and won’t. We serve our country, serve our communities and we never EVER give into cynicism.

That would take so some real guts. That would make us real heroes. I can’t wait to be standing shoulder to shoulder with all of you on election night.

Another Crucial 2020 Primary-- Meet MoDar In Massachusetts

Massachusetts' 8th district starts at Beacon Hill and downtown Boston and heads south-- into South Boston, the heart of the district, and into the suburbs and small towns south of the city-- many of them more blue collar than other Boston suburbs. The 8th includes Milton, Braintree, Quincy, Weymouth, Brockton, and Bridgewater before swinging west into Dedham, Walpole and north to Jamaica Plain. It's a very Irish district and a very Democratic one. The PVI is D+10, the third bluest in the state. Obama won both times, 59-39% against McCain and 58-41% against Romney. In 2016, Hillary beat Trump by an even bigger margin-- 60.4% to 34.4%. Did I mention the district is 76% white and that the median income is the 44th highest among congressional districts-- $75,359. A third of the population lives in Boston and two-thirds in the suburbs. Conservative Democrat Stephen Lynch, an iron-worker-turned-lawyer, has held the seat since 2001.

Throughout his tenure, despite being a Democrat, he has consistently fought against progressive initiatives. He was an ardent supporter of the Iraq War, and is one of only 3 remaining Democrats in the House to have voted against the Affordable Care Act, a law he continually criticized in the years following its passage. Ominously, he has decried the Democratic party's focus on climate change, voiced support of the Keystone pipeline, and voted in the previous term counter to the rest of the Massachusetts delegation to weaken sustainable fishing rules. He voted with the GOP on refugee issues-- even supporting ICE's odious practices. Most tellingly, he voiced his feelings on Trump by telling talk radio during the last term "I don't think he's been treated fairly by the media, I really don't, I have to say that." Lynch's views and votes generally lie to the right of Massachusetts' recent Republican governors. Needless to say, ProgressivePunch, gives his overall voting record a solid "F."

The only way to hold a bad congressman like Lynch accountable in a district as blue at the 8th is, is through a primary. And this cycle he has one-- Dr. Mohammad Dar (MoDar) of Jamaica Plain. He's worked at the V.A. hospitals in Boston and Brockton, and before that, served as Medical Director at Massachusetts Medicaid where he led reforms to make the system focus on patients instead of profits.

MoDar is a product of public schools. As a student activist, he started the Student Association of Michigan as an undergraduate which defeated a $150 million funding cut to public universities orchestrated by the Michigan Republican party. While in medical school, he was a White House intern and helped to implement the Affordable Care Act. In 2014, MoDar came to Boston for his residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital and made Jamaica Plain his home. While working as a physician, MoDar saw first hand how those who cannot afford to keep warm, cannot afford their medications, cannot afford food, cannot get a job with a livable wage "all end up coming to a medical system which patches their wounds but cannot not heal the systems that made them sick to begin with." He tied us he is running for Congress to fix these failing systems. He adamantly believes that the only way to do this is with bold progressive action-- more than status quo, more than the incremental change that has left so many behind. I asked MoDar to introduce himself to DWT readers. If you like what you hear, please consider contributing to his campaign by clicking on the Blue America Primary Thermometer on the right.

A Democratic Vision That Reflects The Hopes And Dreams Of My District-- What We Can Do To Continue To Improve The Lives Of People In MA-08
by Mohmmad Dar

My name is Mohammad Dar and I am a doctor, an activist, and a son of immigrants.

My story is rooted in my parents and their struggle for the American Dream. Immigrants from Pakistan, my parents made tough choices to support our family. They worked blue collar jobs hoping to give their children the best. Mom was a janitor in my schools. Dad drove a big-rig trucker.

Though we didn't have much, they were willing to sacrifice anything so that their kids could have a better life. For my dad though, he would end up sacrificing everything.

When I got into college, the tuition bill was more than we could afford. But Dad wanted me to go, so he went without his health insurance coverage to help cover the cost. That meant he couldn't afford to see a doctor when he started feeling run down. His cancer diagnosis came all too late because of it, and we lost him when I was 19.

My father's sacrifice anchored me in the belief that everyone deserves a fair shot at the American Dream. In the richest nation on Earth, a tragedy like his should have never happened. In those final days with him, I promised Dad that I would always fight so that others would not have to suffer like our family had.

Throughout my life, I have sought to keep that promise. I followed that promise when I united students across Michigan and defeated Republican-led funding cuts against our universities. As a medical student at the University of Michigan, I paused my studies to become an intern in the Obama White House to help implement the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in the Office of Health Reform. I followed that promise visiting those in jail struggling with opioid addiction, seeking to give them a new chance at success.

My father's promise led me to become a doctor at the Veteran's Affairs hospitals in Massachusetts. I served the most vulnerable populations-- serving those who have served this nation, who are still failed by our current systems. I could patch their wounds, but I could not heal them from the systems that continued to injure them outside of the hospital walls.

I'm running for Congress because we need more than incremental change. Too many have been left struggling, left poorer, waiting for broken promises. We need to fight for big ideas worthy of our incredible nation.

Bold progressive change is not new. Our forebearers turned a decade of Depression into a New Deal. Our fathers struggled for social security, our mothers made Medicare real, our brothers and sisters marched for Civil Rights, our children dreamed of Marriage Equality. All of these things in the few years before they happened were thought completely impossible, until they were made possible. Throughout our history, progressives have lifted generations out of poverty and brought dignity to so many.

We can do that again-- but not if we focus on incremental change tactics. Let's be bold. Let's build an America that reignites and reaffirms our best ideals. An America that welcomes you, loves you, and fights for you regardless of your wealth, your orientation, your religion, your skin color, your gender, your party, or where you came from. An America that is bold in its social, economic, and environmental justice. An America that our next generation will be proud of.

We're building that here in the 8th District of Massachusetts. I hope you'll join us.

Will Their Opposition To Obamacare Help Defeat Any Of The Last Wretched Blue Dogs In Congress?

Georgia Blue Dog John Barrow has one of the most reactionary voting records of any Democrat in Congress-- to the point where he defines the term "DINO," Democrat in Name Only. For 2013-14, ProgressivePunch has scored him a dismal 27.73, just fractionally worse from Utah Blue Dog, Jim Matheson who decided to retire rather than face certain defeat in November. Three principled conservative Republicans have more progressive scores than Barrow: Justin Amash (MI-29.09), Chris Gibson (NY-40.00) and Walter Jones (NC-41.23). His overall voting record, for a Democrat is putrid.

That hasn't stopped the DCCC from dedicating a significant amount of money to try to reelect him in November. In the first round of TV time reservations, Barrow's fellow Blue Dog, DCCC chair Steve Israel, has reserved $490,000 on Augusta broadcast and cable from Sept. 2 to Oct. 6, and $670,000 on Savannah broadcast from Sept. 9 to Oct. 6, a total of $1,160,000 one of the biggest commitments to anyone running for Congress in 2014.

The slick graphic up top is community outreach to African-Americans in Augusta. It's a Health Fair! Of course, if it were up to Barrow, his constituents could die in the streets for all he cared-- but before election day, he suddenly takes a big interest his Augusta African-American constituents. He votes against their interests for 20 months and 4 months before election day he feigns concern. Barrow was one of only 4 Democrats who voted against the Affordable Care Act who hasn't be kicked out of Congress.

On March 21, 2010, Barrow voted with all 178 Republicans and 34 wretched Blue Dogs and New Dems to deny health care to poor people. The bill passed 219-212, a close call. Most of the right-wing Democrats lost their seats 8 months later because their Democratic bases refused to come to the polls to reelect them; it was the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse. These were the NO votes:

• John Adler (Blue Dog-NJ)- defeated, then killed by God
• Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA)- defeated in a primary
• Mike Arcuri (Blue Dog-NY)- defeated
• John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA)- hanging on by a thread
• Marion Berry (Blue Dog-AR)- retired rather than face certain defeat
• Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK)- retired rather than face certain defeat
• Rick Boucher (VA)- defeated
• Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL)- defeated
• Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY)- defeated
• Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS)- defeated
• Artur Davis (New Dem-AL)- defeated in gubernatorial primary/switched parties
• Lincoln Davis (Blue Dog-TN)- defeated (by GOP medical rapist Scott Desjarlais)
• Chet Edwards (TX)- defeated (in a landslide)
• Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (Blue Dog-SD)- defeated
• Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA)- defeated in a primary
• Larry Kissell (Blue Dog-NC)- defeated
• Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD)- defeated
• Dan Lipinski (Blue Dog-IL)- still waiting to be primaried
• Stephen Lynch (MA)- defeated by a progressive in a Senate primary
• Jim Marshall (Blue Dog-GA)- defeated
• Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)- retiring this year rather than face certain defeat
• Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC)- retiring this year rather than face certain defeat
• Mike McMahon (Blue Dog-NY)- defeated by mafioso Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm
• Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA)- lost Senate race
• Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID)- defeated
• Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA)- defeated
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)- hanging on/DCCC triage
• Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR)- retired rather than face certain defeat
• Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC)- retired rather than face certain defeat
• Ike Skelton (MO)- defeated
• Zach Space (Blue Dog-OH)- defeated
• John Tanner (Blue Dog-TN)- retired rather than face certain defeat
• Gene Taylor (Blue Dog-MS)- defeated (twice)
• Harry Teague (Blue Dog-NM)- defeated

An intern or some other novice at Politico, Jennifer Haberkorn, tried covering this yesterday from the perspective of Beltway conventional wisdom that all these conservative Democrats lost their seats despite voting against the Affordable Care Act instead of because they voted against it. That's what Politico is all about: Beltway conventional wisdom, more often than not, wrong conventional wisdom. "Even those who opposed the law had trouble surviving the highly partisan atmosphere it helped to create," she marveled, not bothering to check the inordinately large drop off rates among voters in deep blue precincts. These people didn't switch to the GOP; they just didn't come out to vote for fake Democrats, many of whom had been recruited by Rahm Emanuel in 2006 and had amassed horrifying conservative records.
And while she was wrong on the overall gist of the story, she also made a hash out of the specifics. Mayabe she was only 10 or 11 in 2010 but Stephen Lynch did not vote against the Affordable Care Act "from the left." Democratic primary voters knew that in 2013 when the handed Ed Markey a stunning 57-43% victory of the conservative Lynch.

This is the garbage Steve Israel will spend at least $2 million on this year, money he tricks donors to contribute to the DCCC thinking they are supporting Democrats with their values:

Massachusetts Senate Primary-- One Week From Today

The special election to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat that was given up on February 1 by John Kerry is June 25th. However, in a state where former governor Mitt Romney only received 37% of the vote last November-- and where every vaguely plausible Republican demurred-- the Democratic primary a week from today (April 30) is probably the place where the race will be won or lost. Blue America has endorsed Ed Markey-- and if you'd like you can contribute directly to his campaign here. So far Markey has raised $4.7 million to his primary opponent, ConservaDem Stephen Lynch's $1.5 million and Republican front-runners Michael Sullivan's $174,000 and Daniel Winslow's $395,000.

Yesterday the state's biggest and most respected newspaper, the Boston Globe endorsed Markey against Lynch. Markey is leading by 10 points in the most recent polling. (The same poll shows Republican Gabriel Gomez, who was endorsed by ex-Gov. William Weld today, leading Michael Sullivan, 33 to 27%, while state Rep. Dan Winslow has 9%.)

[A]fter 37 years of legislative action-- sometimes fruitful, sometimes fruitless, always engaged-- Markey is seeking to move to the Senate. His primary-election rival, fellow US Representative Stephen Lynch, casts Markey as a creature of Washington, beholden to its ways. It’s an understandable argument for Lynch, since many voters are frustrated with the paralysis in the capital, and looking for ways to register their disapproval.

But it’s hard to see what Ed Markey has to do with the partisanship and discord that have turned people against Congress. He’s a happy warrior, eager to join with Republicans on matters of national importance. To reject Markey simply because he knows how to get things done wouldn’t be a blow against congressional dysfunction; it would further it.

Like Markey, Lynch is also a long-serving congressman, albeit for 12 years. But he is, for better or worse, an antiestablishment figure. He doesn’t seek to be part of the congressional leadership, and tends to go his own way on major votes. Like former Senator Scott Brown, Lynch sometimes seems to believe the job of legislator is to wait until others have shown their cards-- until all the hard work of drafting bills is done-- and then vote thumbs up or thumbs down. He famously turned thumbs down on Obamacare, despite passionate entreaties from most of his colleagues in the Massachusetts delegation, President Obama, and Vicki Kennedy.

Lynch’s complaints about some of the details of the act were reasonable, but his decision to oppose it wasn’t; opportunities to reform health care come along every two decades or so, and passing one up would have been disastrous. Of course, Lynch’s career shouldn’t be judged solely by the times he’s bucked the system: In some areas, such as providing congressional oversight of the Afghan war and reforming the postal service, Lynch has been a diligent House member. But he’s chosen, in this campaign, to present himself as a principled outsider taking on the ultimate company man. The alleged company man, however, has delivered more for the people of Massachusetts; the achievement gap between Markey and Lynch is vast.

Markey has been the House’s main architect of federal telecommunications policy, guiding the creation of millions of jobs-- including many in Massachusetts. He’s also a leader in energy policy, and the prime mover of the far-reaching bill to address climate change that passed the House in 2009 but got bottled up in the Senate. He helped create the legislation that enabled President Obama to negotiate a 54.5 mpg fuel-economy standard for the 2025 model year-- one of the greatest accomplishments of Obama’s first term. The list goes on and on.

Of course, some Lynch supporters hope that voters’ eyes will glaze over, and that Markey’s work will morph into images of tedious congressional hearings and floor fights. There have been plenty of those, but Markey hasn’t lost his connection to the values of Massachusetts Democrats. On some values issues, such as abortion rights and gun control, he’s been a more forceful advocate than his rival.

Still, Lynch deserves credit for making the race. He’s brought needed competition to the short special-election campaign. He’s forced Markey to be a better candidate. Most Democratic strategists and power brokers preferred to clear the field for Markey. Lynch stepped forward anyway-- and rightly so. But Markey didn’t get where he’s gotten because of strategists and power brokers. It took hard work, through years of laying groundwork for measures that improved people’s lives... He is the best choice for Bay State Democrats.

Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey will make one of the most effective, motivated and powerful teams any state has in the U.S. Senate, something like the polar opposite of Cornyn and Cruz in Texas.

ConservaDem Stephen Lynch Poses As Someone Who Fights For Working Families

The ad above is a slick production trying to introduce Massachusetts' most conservative Democratic congressman to voters statewide. Lynch is running against longtime progressive Ed Markey-- who actually has a voting record that shows he does fight for working families-- in the race for the Senate seat that John Kerry gave up when he was appointed Secretary of State. Kerry has endorsed Markey-- as has Massachusetts' other U.S. Senator, Elizabeth Warren. (And so have Blue America, MoveOn and DFA.)

Obviously, Lynch's ad doesn't say anything about what a consistent fighter he's been against Choice-- or how he abandons Democrats in the House to back crazy right-wing initiatives by the GOP. He was one of the anti-health care Democrats who fought the Affordable Care Act but who voted for the toxic Stupak-Pitts Amendment. Lynch's anti-Choice record he's hiding now should have come as no surprise since he was one of the Democrats who backed Tom DeLay's desperate bid to hold onto power by using Terri Schiavo's tragedy as a rallying cry for right-wing crackpots.

Over the years, Massachusetts voters who have paid attention to Congress have seen Ed Markey standing up for working families-- and Stephen Lynch standing up for Wall Street. When the Sequester was voted on in 2011, Markey voted against it; Lynch voted for it. And this year, when Alan Grayson and Mark Takano circulated a "Dear colleague" letter that really stands up and fights for working families (“we will vote against any and every cut to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits-- including raising the retirement age or cutting the cost of living adjustments that our constituents earned and need.”) Markey signed up right away and Lynch ignored it until Blue America and other groups started bringing it to the attention of Massachusetts voters. We put this up and the next day Stephen Lynch became the only ConservaDem to sign the letter. Not one of his conservative colleagues has gotten on board to this day-- while Markey's progressive colleagues are flocking to sign.

The latest polls show Markey pulling away and indicate that he will beat Lynch and that he has the best chance of holding the Senate seat against whichever Republican is nominated. Both campaigns released their first TV spots yesterday.

For Lynch, the ad is also something of a gamble. At the last reporting deadline, in December, he had just $800,000 in his campaign account, compared to Markey’s $3.2 million. Lynch is planning to spend at least $200,000 to air the commercial on cable and broadcast stations across the state.

Recent polls have indicated he needs to act quickly if he wants to defeat Markey, who is heavily backed by the national Democratic establishment and liberal activists who exert a large influence in the state’s Democratic primaries.

According to a recent survey by the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lynch is trailing Markey by a wide double-digit margin. About 42 percent of those surveyed said they had no opinion of Lynch, and 19 percent said they had never even heard of him.

Below is the Markey ad, more substantive and informative about what kind of a senator he'll make if he's elected. Take a look. If you agree, please consider helping him keep it on TV with a contribution to his campaign here.

Heroes And Villains: Massachusetts Senate Race

Massachusetts will pick a replacement for Senator John Kerry on June 25, although it's likely that the winner of the Democratic primary on April 30 will pretty much have it locked up. All of the top tier Republicans who looked at the race-- ex-Senator Scott Brown, ex-Lt. Governor Kerry Healey, ex-Lt. Governor Jane Swift, ex-Governor William Weld, ex-state Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei and a bunch of Romneys-- quickly declined to run. If enough of the petition signatures they turned in are deemed valid, the 3 Republicans who will be on the primary ballot-- ex-Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez. ex-U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Michael Sullivan and the one non-ex, state Rep. Daniel Winslow-- don't really offer a serious challenge to either Democrat running, Ed Markey or Stephen Lynch.

So it comes down to a battle between Congress' sharpest and most stalwart fighter for a sane Climate Change policy, progressive Ed Markey and a run of the mill conservative Democrat, Stephen Lynch, who's made a name for himself as an anti-Choice fanatic and GOP kiss-up in their culture wars. Example: on Palm Sunday, 2005, when Tom DeLay called Congress, back for a special session to exploit Terry Schiavo's tragedy, almost all the Democrats in the House ignored him and refused to take part in his circus. 102 Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, stayed away, including Ed Markey. Lynch could barely wait to get back to Washington to cast his vote with DeLay and the Republican necrophiliacs.

More recently, we watched Congress tackle the issue of Sequestration. Markey, along with virtually all the progressives in the House, voted against the policy. There was tremendous pressure from the White House-- exerted by pro-Sequestration party leaders Steny Hoyer, Steve Israel and Debbie Wasserman Schultz-- for Democrats to toe the line. Markey refused. No one needed to twist Lynch's arm. He was one of the 95 Democrats who went along with Boehner and Cantor and voted for this disastrous policy. That vote tells you a lot about who Stephen Lynch is and who Ed Markey is.

Yesterday we looked at how Sequestration is part of an orchestrated plan to nudge panic reluctant Americans into accepting a Simpson-Bowles version of the failed European Austerity agenda and how progressives are fighting back against that potentially disastrous outcome. The Grayson-Takano letter ("we will vote against any and every cut to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits-- including raising the retirement age or cutting the cost of living adjustments that our constituents earned and need") sends a clear message to Obama and the House Democratic leadership that not all Democrats will sell out working families to pursue a conservative vision of deficit reduction at a time when the deficits are already shrinking and at a time when working families are being pushed to the brink, even as the stock market and the wealth of the one percent soars. 

Markey, of course, stands with Alan Grayson and Mark Takano and the two dozen other progressives who are leading the way. Stephen Lynch refuses to sign the letter or anything like it. He's waiting-- as usual-- to be told what to do by his Establishment backers. Stephen Lynch is the last kind of politician a state like Massachusetts needs in the Senate-- which probably has a lot to do with why polling shows Markey substantially ahead and why both outgoing Senator John Kerry and newly elected Senator Elizabeth Warren have enthusiastically endorsed Markey. And so has Blue America. This week we set up a special Profiles in Courage page around the Grayson-Takano letter. Our first profile is Ed Markey. Please consider helping him win a seat in the U.S. Senate.

UPDATE: Lynch Raises The White Flag, Signs The Letter!

Today 3 more progressives and a conservative signed on to the Grayson-Takano letter. The progressives were Lacy Clay (D-MO), Mike Honda (D-CA) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and their signatures are really non-stories, since they tend to support progressive initiatives anyway. The conservative is much bigger news: Stephen Lynch, who is freaking out that Ed Markey is ahead of him by double digits in another poll that came out today!

Good News: The Building Trades Unions Aren't Endorsing A Republican In Massachusetts

A few days ago Nate Silver warned in his NY Times column that Ed Markey doesn't have Kerry's Senate seat in the bag. He shows the states as "likely" Democrat. Only likely... when the GOP can't even find a plausible candidate and after Obama won 61% of the state against Massachusetts' former governor. He won every county and every congressional district. The closest Romney came was in John Tierney's 6th CD where he took 43.9% of the vote.

Most everyone, though, has written off Markey's primary as a bit of practice for the main event. He's running against ConservaDem and anti-Choice fanatic Stephen Lynch and "everyone" says Markey will wipe the floor with him. We hope so we and encourage progressives to contribute to Markey's campaign at the Blue America Senate page. But the conservative building trades unions are solidly backing Lynch. Better than them backing a Republican, for sure, but these are unions that often look for conservatives to get behind.

The Massachusetts Building Trades Council AFL-CIO, the statewide coalition of 74 construction unions representing 75,000 workers, formally endorsed Congressman Steve Lynch on February 21st. Joining the state Building Trades Council in endorsing Lynch that same day was Painters & Allied Trades District Council #35, a New England-wide union representing commercial and construction painters, glaziers and public sector workers. Two days earlier the Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589, and its parent union the ATU, endorsed Lynch for US Senate with a unanimous membership vote at its morning and evening meetings. Last week, the 20,000 member New England Regional Council of Carpenters endorsed Lynch after having both Markey and Lynch address the Union.

The United States Senate is full of professional politicians and millionaires. It’s about time we sent someone to Washington who doesn’t just talk about representing the interests of working people. We need to send someone to Washington who understands the challenges facing working families. Steve Lynch understands that because he’s lived it. He knows the value of hard work and he knows what it’s like to collect unemployment when the work dries up.

...The reality check here is that Organized Labor can deliver a 2-4 % bump for a candidate on election day BUT that candidate has to have his/her own creditable campaign operation in place to win. The most recent example would be on the North Shore where Labor support for Congressman Tierney, combined with Tierney’s and the Democratric Party’s GOTV operations, resulted in a Tierney win in a tough campaign. Inside Tierney’s CD, the State Senate race with now Senator Joanne Lovely and former Rep and MA AFL-CIO endorsed candidate John Slattery saw Lovely score a convincing win. Slattery failed to develop his own GOTV structure and Labor was fighting outside its weight class as Slattery’s only field operation.

Lynch will continue to earn Labor endorsements from a majority of Unions in the state that will give him a statewide outreach and introduce him to voters outside his CD. A Massachusetts AFL-CIO endorsement remains a high hurtle for Lynch with several progressive unions on the sidelines or endorsing Markey. A 2/3 vote at the AFL-CIO’s Committee on Political Education (COPE) may be out of reach for Lynch. Congressman Markey remains the frontrunner financially and in all polls that have been released. Lynch faces an uphill battle going into April 30th.

Nationally, during the last cycle the Carpenters & Joiners Union was one of Labor's political heavy hitters, contributing $8,739,974, just over the $8,474,714 from the AFL-CIO and the $8,449,327 from the American Federation of Teachers, though not as much as the SEIU ( $13,379,921) or the United Auto Workers ($15,750,686). Over all, Labor contributed $54,664,560 to Democratic candidates for Congress and $5,627,484 to Republicans. But the Carpenters & Joiners were far more generous to Republicans than most of Labor. Their top recipient was mob-affiliated Staten Island corruptionist Michael Grimm ($20,000). Other right-wing, anti-union Republicans who saw big contributions from the Carpenters & Joiners were David McKinley (WV) who got $15,000 and then $10,000 pops for John Boehner (OH), Mario Diaz-Balart (FL), Jo Ann Emerson (MO), Richard Hanna (NY), Steve LaTourette (OH), Frank LoBiondo (NJ), Tim Murphy (PA), Peter Roskam (IL), Paul Ryan (WI), Aaron Schock (IL), John Shimkus (IL), Steve Stivers (OH), Pat Tiberi (OH), Michael Turner (OH), Fred Upton (MI), Greg Walden (OR) and Don Young (AK). And at the $7,500 level we find some real doozies, like racist psychopath Lou Barletta (PA), Rodney Alexander (LA), Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Chip Cravaack (MN), Michael Fitzpatrick (PA), Jim Gerlach (PA), Chris Gibson (NY), John Kline (MN), Leonard Lance (NJ), Patrick Meehan (PA), Tom Petri (WI), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Jon Runyan (NJ), Bill Shuster (PA), Chris Smith (NJ).

Of course, these Republicans had Democratic opponents, pro-Labor Democratic opponents. And you may recognize many of the names from the list about a week and a half ago of Republicans who must be defeated if Alan Grayson's Medicare for all legislation is ever going to pass-- or even get out of committee and brought up for a vote. Building Trades Unions tend to be politically conservative. When they're not helping cut their own members throats by underwriting Republicans, they're just as likely to finance extremely right-wing Democrats-- Blue Dogs, New Dems and Democrats who vote with the GOP on issues crucial to working families.

Stephen Lynch is right up their alley. If you're a progressive and if you would like to see the U.S. focus on Climate Change legislation, it's Ed Markey who's right up your alley. Again, you can contribute to his campaign here.

Ed Markey Has To Fight Off Two Anti-Choice Conservatives-- Stephen Lynch & Scott Brown

John Kerry gets to cap his career off as Secretary of State. Huzzah! I like the sound of "Elizabeth Warren, senior Senator, Commonwealth of Massachusetts," but... but by taking Kerry out of the Senate, Democrats now face the task of holding a seat. Scott Brown, Wall Street's favorite politician, is likely to run again, which means it won't be a cakewalk. The almost universal favorite for the Democratic nomination, with endorsements from the DSCC and from Kerry, is progressive champion Ed Markey, the dean of the Massachusetts delegation, who has a stupendous record in the House, not just as a dependable voter but as a leader on some of the most important issues facing the country, particularly around Climate Change and the environment. His lifetime ProgressivePunch crucial issues score is 94.70, a fraction better than Jerry Nadler and Barbara Lee and a just bit below fellow Massachusetts Reps Jim McGovern and John Tierney.

But Markey isn't the only congressman looking for the promotion to the Senate. Way down at the other end of the political spectrum, conservative Democrat-- and anti-Choice fanatic-- Stephen Lynch would also like to run. His lifetime Progressive Punch crucial vote score is a dismal 78.72. (This session Markey has a 100 rating so far and Lynch has a 33.33 rating, one of the lowest of any Democrat in Congress.) This afternoon, at Iron Worker's Hall in Boston, Lynch announced he would challenge Markey for the nomination (after campaigning at diners in Springfield and Worcester all morning). The primary is set for April 30 and the general election will be June 25. Markey has around $3,000,000 on hand for the challenge, while Lynch has something like $800,000 in his campaign warchest.

As a state legislator Lynch had a 100 percent voting record from Massachusetts Citizens for Life, a group usually associated with Republicans. In Congress, he was one of the 64 Democrats who voted for the Stupak-Pitts amendment that threatened to derail the healthcare bill. (43 of those Democrats were subsequently defeated for reelection or forced into retirement. One died and, by a quirk, one-- Joe Donnelly-- managed to get into the Senate when his Republican opponent started babbling about legitimate rapes.) Eventually Lynch voted with the GOP against the healthcare bill even after his Stupak-Pitts anti-Choice amendment was added to it.

Over the weekend the Washington Post pointed out that Lynch would definitely give Markey a run for his money-- while draining much of it out of the crucial efforts needed to fight Scott Brown and his Wall Street and Big Oil allies.

“This is an uphill fight for [Lynch] in a Democratic primary,” said Bay State Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh. But, she added, Lynch is “clearly going to make Markey earn this.”

Among the questions for Lynch is whether he is capable of building a wide enough base of moderate Democrats and can keep pace with Markey in the money race. How much support Lynch can expect from labor will be another major question.

We don’t yet know the answers to these questions. But one thing we do know is the race to replace Kerry just got a whole lot more interesting.

Blue America has a page devoted to electing progressives to the Senate in 2014. And we've added Ed Markey to it.

Conservative Democrats Like Stephen Lynch Have No Clue Why People Decide To Vote For Democrats

You know the old saying, "If you stop lying, I'll stop calling you a liar"? Conservative Democrat Stephen Lynch (MA), who was primaried by labor activist Mac D'Alessandro, was whining yesterday that by exposing anti-family shills like himself to voters, it hurt the Democratic Party.

Clearing primaries for members and discouraging liberal groups from spending against incumbents should be a priority for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he said. “It would definitely help, I think. You need to talk to those groups.”

Blue America endorsed D'Alessandro and supported his bid against Lynch, the most conservative Member of Congress from his state before Scott Brown was elected. A widely disliked anti-choice shithead who made a desultory attempt to win Kennedy's seat, Lynch was one of the only non-Blue Dog Democrats to oppose the healthcare bill.

Lynch, a fave of the same corrupt corporate interests who support Republicans, had a hefty war chest and beat D'Alessandro 41,941 (65%) to 22,663 (35%) and went on to overcome nearly nonexistent Republican support in November, beating Vernon Harrison 156,079 (68%) to 60,120 (26%). Yesterday he told The Hill that "liberal groups need to stay out of Democratic primaries if the party is going to retake the House majority," showing an incredible lack of understanding of what it means to be a Democrat.

In Lynchland, being a Democrat means very little: wearing a blue T-shirt, pushing along a non-ideological opportunistic career pathway and giving lip service to whatever looks like a winning issue in the district. He doesn't understand that people become Democrats because of a shared set of beliefs, because he doesn't share them.

“There was a lot of money spent against Democrats by Democrats. That contributed to the scale of our losses... I think if we had avoided that, we would have saved, maybe, six or eight more seats,” said Lynch. “I don’t think it would have stopped the overall result, but maybe six or eight seats” could have been held.

Clearing primaries for members and discouraging liberal groups from spending against incumbents should be a priority for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he said. “It would definitely help, I think. You need to talk to those groups.”

The conservatives he singled out were all shitheads like himself who were strenuously opposed by Blue America. He seems particularly upset that Blue America helped defeat Alabama Blue Dog Bobby Bright, who voted more frequently with the GOP than any other Democrat in the House, including on virtually every important contentious bill. He also bitched about corporate shills Zack Space and Katrina Swett.

[T]he SEIU encouraged its members in Ohio’s 18th district to “skip-a-Space” on their ballots and not vote for Rep. Zack Space because of his opposition to healthcare reform. The two-term Democrat was subsequently defeated by Republican Bob Gibbs.

Liberal groups also targeted Alabama Democrat Bobby Bright because of his opposition to the healthcare reform bill. The group Blue America PAC spent almost $50,000 against Bright-- in the general election, according to records compiled by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit watchdog group.

And in New Hampshire, liberal groups helped Ann McLane Kuster defeat establishment-favorite Katrina Swett in a bruising 2nd District Democratic primary. Kuster went on to lose to Republican Charlie Bass in a tight vote.

No mention of the fact that the big-spending Lieberman ally Swett only took 9,310 votes in the primary, a pathetic 29%, after spending $2,310,360 and probably draining off enough money from Kuster to throw the general election to Republican Charlie Bass. Maybe he should ask conservative Democrats to stop interfering in Democratic primaries and run in the GOP ones instead.

This morning the DCCC started running ads against vulnerable Republican Members of Congress in 19 districts. With the exception of Thad McCotter (R-MI) and Dave Reichert (R-WA), all are held by freshmen.

These 19 districts are must-wins for them in two years, and all but two members on the list are freshman. Many of them, such as Reps. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY.), Blake Farenthold (R-TX), and Joe Walsh (R-IL)-- were surprise wins in 2010 and sit in districts Pres. Obama won in 2008.

The majority of the ads focus on the GOP's plan to cut spending, saying that their member has "a plan to cut education and research by 40 percent that will cost hundreds-of-thousands of jobs and make America less competitive." But there are two noticeable exceptions to that standard script: Reps. David Rivera (R-FL) and. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA).

For the most part it isn't known who will be running against the 19 spotlighted in the ads. Tom Perriello will probably try to win back his seat against Robert Hurt in Virginia. Ditto for Ron Klein against Allen West in Florida and Steve Driehaus against Steve Chabot in Cincinnati. State Rep. Roger Goodman has already filed to run, (perhaps against Dave Reichert) in the Seattle 'burbs. Most Democrats are waiting to see how district boundaries are redrawn before making their decisions and it isn't clear which district Goodman will actually run in since Jay Inslee, in whose district he lives, is likely to run for governor.

Teabagger Ann Marie Buerkle was a surprise victor last November against moderate Democrat Dan Maffei. It came down to a 50/50 split and she took it by a few hundred votes with nearly 200,000 cast. Maffei won in Onondaga County (Syracuse), the biggest in the district, but his 72,323- 62,419 wasn't enough to take him over the finish line in the suburban and exurban parts of a district that Obama won in 2008 with 56% (and that both Gore and Kerry had won narrowly). Maffei has gone to work for some sleazy conservative Democratic think tank, Third Way, and will probably run again. Here's the text of the DCCC ad running today against Buerkle:

Here in Central New York the recession is still hitting hard, good job openings are really scarce. So it was good to hear President Obama’s plan to make the economy work for the middle class again. Invest in education to train our children for the jobs of the future, maintain America’s lead in technology with more research and development, and reduce the deficit with an overall budget freeze. That plan makes a lot of sense.

But Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle supports a plan in Congress that would cut education by 40 percent. And her plan would cut science and technology research by 40 percent, too. Research and development is how we get the new products that create new jobs. How does cutting that help us compete with China and India? It doesn’t make sense.

We should tell Ann Marie Buerkle to work with President Obama to create jobs, instead of supporting a partisan plan that costs jobs.

Why Has Mac D’Alessandro Decided To Run A Primary Challenge Against Stephen Lynch (D-MA)?

Stephen Lynch was the most conservative member of Massachusetts' congressional delegation until Scott Brown was elected. Lynch, an anti-Choice Democrat, has leaned in a conservative direction and now he can use Brown as an excuse, as he did when he became one of the only Democratic non-Blue Dogs to oppose the healthcare reform bill. If he thought no one was paying attention, he was in for a very rude awakening. Mac D’Alessandro, SEIU's New England political director decided to take him on. I spoke with Mac on the phone and asked him to introduce himself to DWT readers. If you like what you read, he's now on the Blue America Send The Democrats A Message page. Mac:

I'm Mac D’Alessandro and I’m a progressive Democrat running for United States Congress from the 9th Congressional district in Massachusetts.

Because I’ve decided to challenge a fellow Democrat in a primary, I’d like to share with you a little bit about who I am and why I’ve made this decision.

Something went terribly wrong in Washington, DC a long time ago. For far too long, the only things standing between tens of millions of Americans & small businesses and quality, affordable health care have been insurance companies and a system that puts profit margins ahead of peoples’ health. For far too long, American consumers, workers, small business owners, and taxpayers have been victimized by a system that’s been bought, paid for, designed and run by large corporations and their armies of lobbyists, lawyers, and accountants.

No matter when the Great Recession began or how close they say we are to coming out of it, far too many of our communities continue to suffer its dire effects-- lost jobs, lost homes, lost savings, and lost hope.

I have spent my entire career fighting against powerful interests on behalf of everyday people. I have fought to ensure that those with the very least among us get a hand to help lift themselves from poverty; to ensure that, just because a community doesn’t have big-time lawyers and lobbyists on its side, it isn’t the first, and often only, place chosen to site some noxious facility; to ensure that consumers and workers get a fair shake in a system that often seems more concerned with the Fortune 500 than with the good fortunes of our families and communities.

The fights I’ve waged during my career haven’t been mere academic exercises or do-good abstractions. My wife and I often sit at our kitchen table staring at our household budget and share the concerned glances that ask: how is it that we can be working so hard and just scraping by? Those concerned looks linger when we realize how lucky we are to be just getting by when so many equally hardworking families around us are getting left further and further behind.

My career has been spent outside of Washington, DC fighting for workers, consumers and middle class families such as mine. I am running because I believe that fight must now be taken to the halls of Congress. We can no longer afford for our representatives to be mere votes some or most of the time. Instead, we deserve representatives that will join and lead the fight to ensure that our families don’t get left any further behind.

With Joe Kennedy Out, It's Game On In Massachusetts

Goofy moderate running for Senate booed by health care supporters in Boston

As we mentioned yesterday, the race for Massachusett's Senate seat looks like it will pit a wishy-washy moderate-- Rep Stephen Lynch-- against a Kennedy-style crusading progressive-- right now the state's Attorney General, Martha Coakley, although it's possible that one or more liberal congressmen may jump in now that Kennedy has taken himself out of the race.

“Given all that my uncle accomplished, it was only natural to consider getting back involved in public office, and I appreciate all the calls of support and friendship that have poured in,” Mr. Kennedy, the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said in his statement, which was posted on the Citizens Energy Web site Monday afternoon.

“My father called politics an honorable profession, and I have profound respect for those who choose to advance the causes of social and economic justice in elective office. After much consideration, I have decided that the best way for me to contribute to those causes is by continuing my work at Citizens Energy Corporation.”

Lynch is the least progressive of Massachusett's congressional delegation. His hope is that enough liberals will jump in and divide up the vote that he'll be able to slip into the nomination. Reading Grandma Susie's diary at Kos today makes one wonder though. She reports on a Labor Day health care rally on the Boston Common. This wasn't a teabagger-friendly gathering and it was very supportive of meaningful health care reform.

Representatives Tierney and Capuano, both of whom are among the 65 Democratic health care heroes who have pledged not to support any bill that does not contain a robust public option, gave outstanding speeches, strongly supporting a public option.  Representative Capuano also supported single payer in his speech.  Both were enthusiastically cheered.  Then came Representative Lynch, who has been singularly unenthusiastic about public option.  He started talking vaguely about "universal care".  Suddenly, the crowd came to life.  These very proper Bostonians, median age probably somewhere between 50 and 60, started chanting "public option" over and over again.  Nobody there could doubt why all those people had come out on a beautiful Labor Day when we all would rather have been doing something else.  Representative Lynch cut his speech short.

Watch Bostonians telling Lynch what they think of his waffling and bullshit:

Stephen Lynch Thinks He Should Fill Ted Kennedy's Shoes-- Or At Least His Seat

Every member of Massachusetts' congressional delegation has a voting record that spells "progressive"-- except one: Stephen Lynch. Even his isn't a bad voting record. Over the course of his House career he'd be ranked the 111th most progressive member, which isn't terrible-- a respectable moderate. Although... when you look at the South Boston-Brockton district he represents, and see how solidly Democratic it is (PVI is D+15; Obama, like Al Gore, won with 60%; home state boy John Kerry did slightly better), he looks like he could be doing a lot better. And this year, he's actually done worse-- the 120th most progressive, nestled between two Blue Dogs, Adam Schiff and Joe Baca. Still, not a bad voting record at all, just the least good in the whole delegation. And on Friday he pretty much declared that he's running for Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat.

A leader for working families he isn't. And if there's one thing we really and truly need in the House of Lords-- other than abolishment-- would be some leaders on the issues that can bring some relief to working families. It gets mighty lonely being Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley, Sheldon Whitehouse, Sherrod Brown, Ed Kaufman, Jack Reed, Barbara Boxer, Richard Durbin and Frank Lautenberg. It looks like Al Franken may make it 10 members of the upper chamber who will be consistently more interested in the interests of working families than the interests of their campaign donors. That's one in 10. It would be kind of nice if the man person replacing Ted Kennedy isn't just a so-so backbench moderate but an actual liberal leader-- kind of a roaring lion...

I've been far more impressed with the only other declared candidate, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. Joseph P. Kennedy II (whose public record is, at best, sketchy), and liberal congressmen Mike Capuano and Ed Markey are also considering joining the fray. Lynch, who will run as the conservative in the race-- a Massachusetts conservative isn't the same as Jim Inhofe, Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann-- wants as many liberals in the race as possible so he can benefit from them all splitting the vote.