Will Suzan DelBene's Potential Felony Hand The New WA-01 Seat to Teabagger John Koster?

While Blue America-endorsed progressive Darcy Burner is busy building a grassroots-funded campaign with over 9,000 donors, empty suit New Dem Suzan DelBene and her rich husband are trying to buy the seat, putting over $1.9 million of their own money into the race, dwarfing Burner and the three other Democrats in the race by a 4 to 1 margin. But if the Republican-controlled House Ethics committee has anything to say about it, a DelBene victory in the primary would almost certainly hand the seat over to extreme right-wing Republican John Koster. In 2011, DelBene refused to file the financial disclosure form that all candidates are required to file. Refusing to file the form is a federal felony punishable by up to $50,000 and five years in prison. While no one has filed a complaint against DelBene yet, Republicans will almost certainly go after DelBene in the general election for a seat that many consider to be one of the top Republican pick-up opportunities in the country. When voters are presented with a choice between a Tea Party Republican and a criminal, corporatist Democrat, no one will win.

The big question DelBene's failure to file her disclosure raises is what she might be hiding that would want her not to reveal her finances. Sound familiar? Everyone in America now knows that multimillionaire Mitt Romney is engulfed in a scandal because he didn't release his tax returns and refuses to disclose his assets and finances and DelBene is following that same path. That's not where the comparison to Romney ends, either. DelBene is a serial business failure in every way but one: she made lots of money for herself as she caused nothing but economic devastation around her. Also like Romney, DelBene is a favorite of the Inside-the-Beltway corrupt Establishment and she's gotten the backing of the New Dems and the DCCC has asked donors to keep out of the race, which effectively handed a big fund-raising advantage to DelBene, the only candidate in the race with enough money to self-finance. The comparisons between DelBene and Romney are enough that independent expenditures from Progress for Washington-- a SuperPAC funded by the mother of another Democrat in the race, Laura Ruderman-- repeatedly suggested that there was little difference between the two.


DelBene tries to position herself as a defender of the middle class and as a progressive, but that doesn't even pass a basic laugh test. Progressive groups have lined up to support Burner while the organizations that are supporting DelBene are doing so out of a fear of her massive bankroll and the party establishment's veiled warnings. DelBene lives the life of the quintessential 1-percenter and while she tries to claim that she was poor at one point and had to rely upon financial aid, she spent a lot of time skiing in Vail and attending prestigious private school Choate when her family was supposedly "struggling."

The important concern for November, however, is answering the question of whether or not DelBene is a felon who will be destroyed by the likely massive outside money that will flow into the district to flip the seat to the Republicans. It's hard to see how DelBene can explain away the failure to follow the law. Federal law requires that all candidates file a personal financial disclosure within 30 days of qualifying as a candidate. Qualifying is very specifically defined as having raised or spent $5,000 on campaign expenditures during a calendar year. DelBene passed the $5,000 level in two separate quarters in 2011 and has not, as of yet, filed a disclosure for that year.  

DelBene might argue that she didn't file a disclosure in 2011 because that she wouldn't be required to do so because those funds were leftovers from her unsuccessful 2010 run for Congress. But that would make her spending totals for the year not make a lot of sense:

Q1- $5,138.15
Q2- $857.95
Q3- $1,246.25
Q4- $8,243.38

While you can see the argument that Q1 was the continuation of the 2010 campaign and even Q2, in Q3 the spending starts ramping up again and really ramps up in Q4. Why would it ramp up again in Q4 to pay off 2010 debts? She didn't file to run for 2012 until January and never filed the required 2011 disclosure. Campaigns that are ending have to file a termination report with the Federal Elections Commission and/or a Withdrawal form with the House Clerk's office. DelBene did neither.

So the question is why didn't she submit the disclosure? What is she hiding? How much money will Republicans spend to make this a story if DelBene is the nominee? And just how bad is John Koster, the Republican that will win the seat if DelBene is the nominee?

Koster was endorsed by Ron Paul and agreed with Campaign For Liberty 100% on their 2010 questionnaire, including paranoia over a 'NAFTA Superhighway' and policies pulling the U.S. out of the U.N. and strengthening the gold standard. Koster is a proponent of privatizing Social Security. He wants expanded offshore oil drilling. He rejects the science on human-made global warming. He rejects marriage equality and doesn't even seem to know that there is a federal Defense of Marriage Act. While DelBene certainly shouldn't be a Member of Congress, John Koster really shouldn't be a Member of Congress and supporting DelBene in the primary almost certainly guarantees that Koster will be moving from Washington state to Washington, D.C.

Here's where you can help Darcy Burner win this seat. The polls have tightened up drastically as DelBene has closed in on over a million dollars in self-funded TV advertising. She's running her race like a Republican; she's already joined the corrupt anti-family New Dems and there's no reason to believe that a district like WA-01 should have to chose between two brands of conservatism in November.

Self-Funders Dwarfed By Adelson's Organized Crime Stash Of Cash To Cantor And Boehner

DelBene & Adelson-- time to tell self-entitled rich people that democracy is not for sale

With all the hubbub about all the Dark Money pouring into congressional races, we haven't looked at self-funders this year yet. Of course, self-funding is dwarfed by Chinese organized crime money flooding into the political system courtesy of Vegas crime figure Sheldon Adelson who gave Boehner and Cantor $5,000,000 bribes... each. Boehner immediately ran for the hills-- donating $4.1 million of Adelson's gigantic bribe to the NRCC. Cantor, on the other hand, is using it to enhance his own power, doling it out to candidates who he hopes to count on to elect him the first Jewish Speaker (Rahm Emanuel's and Debbie Wasserman Schultz's longtime dreams as well; how about a less villainous first Jewish Speaker?) Anyway, today we saw Cantor flood the North Carolina 8th district primary runoff with hundreds of thousands of dollars in money that came direct from the Macau prostitution industry via Adelson on behalf of insider party hack Richard Hudson and against Tea Party fave Scott Keadle. Adelson is threatening to sue anyone who exposes his business arrangements with Chinese organized crime. Here's his letter to the DCCC demanding a retraction and apology for branding him, in his own words, "a pimp." This kind of thing doesn't go over well in the Bible Belt, where Cantor is spending Adelson's tainted cash. The Dark Money was effective though, and GOP Establishment hack Richard Hudson beat Tea Party grassroots activist Scott Keadle 63.65- 36.35%, winning all 12 counties. Hudson is almost sure to beat craven Blue Dog Larry Kissell in November.

Self-funders aren't always smiled on by voters, who sense they're trying to buy the election-- but wealthy, self-entitled conservatives (primarily Republicans but a few Democrats who behave just like them) keep trying. This last quarter's biggest self funders:

Bill Bloomfield ($1,152,000), a lifelong Republican is running as the No Labels candidate against Henry Waxman in CA-33. He spent it all to come in second in the primary and now has $6,000 on hand to face Waxman in November. I guess he'll give himself another million at some point. Or two.

Josef Coors ($397,000), a prominent scion of a radically neo-Nazi beer family is running against New Dem Ed Perlmutter in the Denver suburbs.

Allen Quist ($178,000), a perennial candidate and far right lunatic is in a primary with Mike Parry to see who will face conservative Minnesota Democrat Tim Walz. Quist is best known for a Christmas speech he gave in 2009, which was probably why he lost the primary that cycle: “Our country is being destroyed. Every generation has had to fight the fight for freedom… Terrorism? Yes. That’s not the big battle. The big battle is in D.C. with the radicals. They aren’t liberals. They are radicals. Obama, Pelosi, Walz: They’re not liberals, they’re radicals. They are destroying our country.”

Bob Pittenger ($940,000), is a predatory real estate speculator who served two-and-a-half terms in the North Carolina state Senate before resigning to run a losing race for Lt. Governor in 2008. Tonight he won the primary runoff-- though just barely (52.91- 47.09%)-- for the seat of retiring Republican Sue Myrick in November. He actually lost the big county in the district, Mecklenburg.

Danny Tarkanian ($250,000) is another predatory real estate speculator but he's running for a new open House seat in Nevada against Democrat Steven Horsford. It's a swing district that leans blue and Horsford is outraising him substantially, even with the quarter million dollar gift Tarkanian gave himself.

Suzan DelBene ($1,002,000) is an anti-consumer, anti-worker, pro-Big Business hack and out of touch one percenter who calls herself a Democrat. She's backed by the most corrupt elements of the Inside-the-Beltway Democratic Establishment but still can't raise much money. So she writes herself checks. Polling shows her losing badly to progressive Democrat Darcy Burner in the new WA-1, a swing district east and north of Seattle. DelBene has already wasted over a million and a half dollars on the race. She's the only Democrat in the whole country who's self-funding the way Republicans do. Suggestion: you can contribute to Darcy Burner's campaign here.

Darcy Burner's Primary Is August 7-- That's Soon

Just over a week ago we spent a little time with Washington state Senator Steve Hobbs, an unabashedly conservative Democrat, who would like to move up to represent Washington's new first congressional district in DC. He's in an August 7th jungle primary race with 4 other Democrats and an unhinged Tea Party Republican, John Koster. The other Democrats are Darshan Rauniyar, who, like Hobbs, isn't showing up on any polling, and the three front-runners, conservative millionaire Suzan DelBene (New Dem and choice of the corrupt DC Establishment), conservative former state Rep. Laura Ruderman and progressive activist (and Blue America endorsee) Darcy Burner. With all those ConservaDems and the Tea Party guy splitting the votes of people who think that way, Darcy Burner has been the top Democrat in every single poll without exception.

The King 5/SurveyUSA poll showed Darcy with a lead of more than five to one over DelBene, the big-spending self-funder who that DC Establishment is backing. FIVE TO ONE! That's how clueless and out of touch with America the DC Establishment is! Darcy, according to their survey, is the only Democrat competitive in head to head match-ups with the far right-wing Republican, John Koster. What the SurveyUSA polling shows-- a confirmation of the internal polling Koster made public in March-- is that Darcy is leading her Democratic opponents with 46% among those who have already decided to vote Democratic. Ruderman and Hobbs tied for second with 17% and DelBene was a distant loser with 13%.

Even after DelBene started spending massive amounts of her husband's cash hoard, daily polling over the last month never showed Darcy dropping from a 2 to 1 lead over her and Darcy has been particularly strong among Democrats and left-leaning independents in the northern counties, new territory for her, DelBene and Ruderman. DelBene dropped several hundred thousand dollars into TV ads and then followed up with 4 mail pieces-- one of which was targeted at Whatcom County where she was desperate to win the Democratic Party's endorsement. Her flash mailer didn't do the trick; Darcy won the endorsement with 73.04% of the vote.


Last week a SuperPAC supporting Laura Ruderman struck back against DelBene with a powerful and destructive mail piece that went to every likely Democratic voter in the district, hitting her on her string of business failures, which is likely to prove very effective since she's basing her entire campaign on what a "successful" and "savvy" businessperson she's been. The Ruderman campaign made sure WA-1 Democrats knew that in "the latest Suzan DelBene mailer, she claims 'she went on as a senior level executive at Microsoft and as an entrepreneur creating jobs at technology startups.' Sounds good, doesn’t it? The problem is that it’s not really accurate. After DelBene left Microsoft, she worked at Drugstore.com. It started out as a success story as it’s stock went from $18 to $70. However, it ended up going down in flames, lost $115 million and the stock plummeted to $8/share. In the end, Walgreens bought what was left of the company. Then, DelBene went to “Nimble Technology” assuming the role of CEO. Again, the company never turned a profit and the remnants of the company were sold to another company. In other words, jobs briefly created were lost as both companies were sold in a firesale. I know what you are thinking. She may be the nominee for the Democrats. Don’t tell people this stuff... Trust me, the Republicans already have it."

Why would Ruderman turn so negative against DelBene? First of all, they're competing for the same conservative-leaning, low-info Democrats. Secondly, DelBene's strategy from day one-- cobbled together in DC-- has been to starve her opponents of resources while she writes her own checks, Romney-style. Her campaign-- backed by ConservaDems like spectacularly unpopular Gov. Christine Gregoire and sleazy New Dem Rick Larsen-- are insisting that Democratic donors and constituency groups "sit it out," either giving no endorsements or endorsing everyone. DelBene and her Establishment allies know that if they can keep the progressive candidate, Darcy, from having the resources to communicate, they can buy the seat-- and win the same way Romney beat Gingrich and Santorum.

When DelBene entered the race, she told KUOW radio that, "Democrats don't compromise enough with Republicans." Think about the depths of a millionaire's out of touch with reality mindset inherent in that attitude-- and what it would mean for a Member of Congress. That leads straight to the Blue Dog/New Dems caucus. In fact, the New Dems have already endorsed her campaign. DelBene publicly told the King County party activists that "Democrats aren't friendly enough to business" and she spoke of using deregulation as a primary means of stimulating the economy at a recent King5 debate.

Please help Blue America elect Darcy Burner to this seat-- by keeping conservative corporate shills John Koster (R) and Suzan DelBene (D) out. Here's where you can contribute to her grassroots campaign. August 7th. That's less than a month away! And voting starts July 20. See that magazine cover up top? Your contribution is likely to help her send copies of that to voters in WA-1. Here's another page from it (you'll have to click on the image to read it):




UPDATE: MoveOn Members Vote To Endorse Darcy!

From her campaign's press release:

Darcy has built a powerful, grassroots campaign spanning the entire new 1st District-- from King County all the way up to Whatcom County. And now, in a crowded field of seven candidates, Darcy emerged as the clear favorite, earning 51% of all the votes cast by MoveOn's 19,000 members in the district-- more than twice as many as her nearest competitor.

When Darcy heard about our endorsement, she said:

"I am honored to receive the endorsement of MoveOn.org and the support of their more than 19,000 members living in the 1st District. This is a year in which millions of people working together will overcome the influence of big money and big business. I look forward to working with MoveOn's members to show how it's done so that we can end the war in Afghanistan, fix our broken Congress, and get our economy back on track for people who work for a living."

New Dems And Blue Dogs Threaten Democratic Chances To Win Back The House

House Ethics Committee scoops up 3 crooks: Joe Crowley (D-NY), John Campbell (R-CA), Tom Price (R-GA)

Inside-the-Beltway Queens Co. Democratic Party boss Joseph Crowley is widely regarded as one of the most corrupt Members of Congress. He was dragged before the House Ethics Committee on a wide range of fundraising charges (bribery). Crowley was soliciting bribes from K Street lobbyists in return for his help in watering down Democratic legislation in the House Ways and Means Committee, an old trick used by congressional sleazebags.

The Private Equity & Growth Capital Council, which was formed in 2007 by several of the country’s largest private equity firms, quietly formed a political action committee last spring and began making campaign contributions this past summer. New York City Congressman Joe Crowley was one of the top Democratic beneficiaries of donations from the private equity PAC.

So, Crowley was a natural fit to be chair of the most corruption-based caucus inside the Democratic Party, the New Dems, a corporately funded pack of pro-business, anti-consumer/anti-worker Democrats, less concerned with ideology and more concerned with wringing bribes out of Big Business.

Crowley runs the New Dems PAC along with Blue Dog Jason Altmire (defeated-PA). These days, as the Blue Dog caucus falls into extinction-- it's members being defeated at the polls everywhere or being forced to resign to avoid defeat-- or just jumping the fence and joining the GOP-- many of it's members have just joined the New Dems, a seemless transition. Aside from Altmire, other Blue Dogs who have infiltrated the New Dems are John Barrow (GA), Jim Cooper (TN), Mike McIntyre (NC), Loretta Sanchez (CA), Adam Schiff (CA), Kurt Schrader (OR) and David Scott (GA). Together, Crowley and Altmire-- soon to be working as a lobbyist on K Street-- have dug up a motley crew of Democratic candidates with questionable ethical standards who are perfect for the caucus. They're working to elect a couple dozen to Congress, most of whom are exactly the kind of pro-Big Business shills who understand what it takes to get in on the DC bribery gravy train. Here's the full list of the New Dem-backed candidates this year:

Shelley Adler, NJ
Ron Barber, AZ
Ami Bera, CA
Kathy Boockvar, PA
Joaquin Castro, TX
Andrei Cherny, AZ
John Delaney, MD
Suzan DelBene, WA
Val Demings, FL
Jessica Ehrlich, FL
Keith Fitzgerald, FL
Bill Foster, IL
Joyce Healy-Abrams, OH
Denny Heck, WA
Paul Hirschbiel, VA
Derek Kilmer, WA
Dan Maffei, NY
Patrick Murphy, FL
Sal Pace, CO
Scott Peters, CA
Brad Schneider, IL
Julian Schreibman, NY
Manan Trivedi, PA
Juan Vargas, CA
Christie Vilsack, IA
Jamie Wall, WI
Charlie Wilson, OH

Many of these New Dem candidates are facing-- or have already faced-- actual progressives in primaries. Scott Peters (CA), Suzan DelBene (WA), Juan Vargas (CA) and Andrei Cherny (AZ) are not the best candidates running in their districts, not by a long shot. They face, respectively, Lori Saldaña, Darcy Burner, John Brooks and Krysten Sinema/David Schapira.

Many of the New Dems use the same kind of campaign rhetoric that Romney is using-- they're "successful" (i.e., rich) businesspeople and know how to run government. But it isn't true for Romney and it isn't true for the New Dems. Take Suzan DelBene, for example. She's a wealthy one-percenter, sure. But at Microsoft she was a failure, tanked their Microsoft Mobile project and was encouraged to leave the company. The New Dems are encouraging their sleazy lobbyist friends to contribute to her campaign. Meanwhile, her opponent, Darcy Burner. has been endorsed by Arizona Democrat, Raúl Grijalva, one of the most dependable progressives and admired and trusted Members of Congress:

“As Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, I've seen some pretty tough political battles in Washington. Radical Republicans line up against common sense and reality-based ideas like equal rights, the social safety net and tax fairness-- and we Progressives line up with America's working families. We need more Representatives in Congress who understand the struggles of everyday Americans and are willing to stand with them against Republican extremism.

The next Congress must protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. The next Congress must get America back on track-- and I need your help to ensure we send the right people to Washington.

There are several qualities that a good Representative should have-- vision, tenacity, and an unwavering commitment to do the right thing, even when it is unpopular. In the face of such weighty issues that have the potential to affect millions of Americans, we need more members of Congress with a true, progressive vision for the future, a representative who will put the interests of American families first.

We need people like Darcy Burner in Congress.

Darcy will bring vision, tenacity, understanding and energy to the United States Congress and fight in Washington on the behalf of the people from Washington. She understands the need to rebuild American infrastructure and has a forward-looking vision for bringing new green energy jobs to Washington State.

We need more representatives who will make Congress work for the 99%. We need Darcy Burner in Congress.

I can't find an endorsement of DelBene from Crowley. But what could he say? "I Need someone with the same kind of sleazy, corrupt instincts I have to help me persuade corporate lobbyists that we'll protect their interests if they pay us enough?"

And this is important because the Democrats have a steep climb-- but a realistic chance-- to win back the House. But will Democratic and left-leaning independents be motivated to vote if they're being offered dreck like what the Blue Dogs and New Dems are pushing? Didn't anyone learn anything useful from 2010 when half the Blue Dogs and a ton of useless New Dems were defeated at the polls, defeated not because people switched parties but because Democrats and left-leaning indies just didn't bother to vote. Thursday Aaron Blake suggested in his Washington Post column that the GOP House majority isn't safe. But he isn't taking the stupidity of Beltway hacks like Crowley and Israel with their agenda of pushing the Democratic House caucus further right (and looking for members with loose ethical standards).

Two Democratic polls out in recent weeks show Republican incumbents in the most competitive congressional districts are in a weaker position than their Democratic colleagues.

A Democracy Corps poll released last month showed Republican incumbents in 56 targeted districts with significantly weaker political brands than Democratic incumbents in 23 of their most vulnerable districts.

The GOP incumbents had an average approval rating of 41 percent and disapproval of 33 percent-- including a nearly even 37/36 split in the 28 most vulnerable Republican districts.

Democratic incumbents, meanwhile, had the approval of 50 percent of their constituents, versus 26 percent who disapproved.

Another Democratic poll of battleground House districts obtained by The Fix on Wednesday, from Democratic pollster Garin Hart Yang, backs up that data. In 58 districts targeted by either party, Democratic incumbents led in their districts by an average of 52 percent to 33 percent, while GOP incumbents led 45 percent to 39 percent for their seats.

Here are the charts the Democracy Corps uses to show the most vulnerable Republican seats.




The New Dems and the Blue Dogs are trying to sneak their candidates in but their candidates don't have messages that Democratic voters want to support. Despite the corrupt money the New Dems and Blue Dogs (and DCCC) will use on their behalf, these candidates will lose in November and subject the country to another term of John Boehner and Eric Cantor.

Rick Larsen-- Sleazy New Dem-- Seeks To Torpedo Darcy Burner's Congressional Bid

Rick Larsen-- the Democratic Old Guard in DC has lost touch with the values of the Democratic Party

Tuesday Alex Isenstadt did a Beltway kind of story about how Blue Dogs face extinction. It was more relevant when we wrote it in 2009 but... well, Politico. Someone should tell Alex that this year the story isn't that the Blue Dogs are finally going extinct, but that they've migrated over to the New Dems, a similarly conservative group, only less racist, less sexist and less homophobic. But just as corrupted by corporate cash. Blue Dogs who are also New Dems include Jason Altmire (PA), John Barrow (GA), Jim Cooper (TN), Mike McIntyre (NC), Loretta Sanchez (CA), Adam Schiff (CA), Kurt Schrader (OR), and David Scott (GA). After November, when the Blue Dogs officially go belly up, all the remaining members will join the New Dems, making it an even more disgusting group than it already is. Normally when we talk about how disgusting the New Dems are we roll out Queens corruptionist Joseph Crowley, the chairman who is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee. But today, let's share the spotlight with the vice-chair, Rick Larsen (WA). According to ProgressivePunch, in the current legislative session (2011-12) Larsen voted with the Democrats more than the Republicans-- but not by much. He took the progressive side almost two-thirds of the time and the conservatives' side about one-third of the time, making him one of the 30-some-odd worst Democrats in Congress and the worst Democrat from the state of Washington. So it should have come as no surprise this week that he endorsed a dismal candidate of the one percent, Suzan DelBene in the open first congressional district of Washington state.

The state Democratic Establishment wants the self-funding multimillionaire and the party establishment is coalescing behind her-- even though voters show virtually zero enthusiasm for this remote, one-percent female Mitt Romney who is most often compared to Meg Whitman. Keep in mind that the two politicians leading this move-- outgoing Governor Christine Gregoire and Larsen-- are among the least popular and least admired politicians in the state of Washington. Labor unions whine about how the Democrats don't take on the one percent on behalf of their members and then the union chiefs back a one-percenter like DelBene (take a look at this post about labor's political role).

"It's no surprise that Governor Gregoire would endorse Suzan DelBene given her role in the Gregoire Administration," said Burner spokesperson Jeremy Koulish. "It is rather surprising, though, that Gregoire's endorsement announcement came so close to Tax Day, but made no mention of DelBene's role as Gregoire's tax collector."

DelBene ran against Reichert in 2010, after Burner said she wouldn't run. Democrats believe DelBene would finance much of her own campaign, freeing the party of the prospect of ponying up money that could be better spent elsewhere.

"DelBene can write a check and win it," said one Democratic consultant who is unaffiliated in the race. "She is a really nice person, just not terribly inspiring."

Larsen, widely considered a cat's paw for corporate interests inside the Democratic caucus, who long ago gave up any pretense of representing working families, sounded like he was describing a Republican when he talked about why he's backing DelBene. “I have been watching the race closely and evaluating the Democratic candidates. I am looking for the person who can best run the kind of modern campaign that mixes the necessary organization, outreach to the big and small towns, and resources to deliver the positive message of restoring the middle class and protecting Medicare. Suzan DelBene has put together the kind of organization to win the primary and this fall. I am not surprised by this as it reflects her success in business putting together successful organizations.” Yes, DelBene is good at hiring expensive consultants-- her only demonstable skill. Larsen, like many in the corrupted Democratic Old Guard, seem ready to sacrifice Democratic values and principles-- and, in this case, a chance to win-- to cozy up to big money.

Blue America has endorsed Darcy Burner, a proven independent thinker with a 100% progressive agenda. Polls show her winning the primary but there is a danger that she could get swamped by the millions of dollars DelBene claims she's willing to invest in her own campaign. Please consider helping Darcy out here at the Blue America ActBlue page. Keep in mind, DelBene would be another member of the corrupt corporate-oriented New Dems/Blue Dogs and Darcy would immediately rise to a leadership position in the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Has Republican Obstructionist Dave Reichert Met His Match? Suzan DelBene Jumps Into The Race In WA-08

Early this morning Politico posted a short feature on the next race against rubber stamp Republican backbencher Dave Reichert. DWT readers will be familiar with Reichert and the suburban 8th CD outside of Seattle because of the heroic campaigns of Darcy Burner in 2006 and 2008. (Darcy, who will be a Blue America guest at Firedoglake this coming Saturday at 11am, PT, scored 49% (59,268 voters) against Reichert in 2006 and 47% (171,358 voters) this past November). Obama beat McCain 57-42% and the PVI for the district has gone from a D+2 to a D+3. Reichert looks like he has a big, fat target on his back.

The point of the Politico piece is that "for the third consecutive election cycle, Reichert could face a well-funded, former Microsoft employee" and that Suz DelBene is less of a liberal and more "moderate" than Darcy. Politico completely bought into the meme that Reichert supporters in the media have been able to perpetuate, namely that Darcy lost because she was too liberal and too close to "the blogs." There is no evidence of this; just nonsense spread by the Reichert camp.

Interestingly the new candidate, Suzan DelBene, is probably just as progressive, especially on social issues, as Darcy. But she's trying to create an imagine as a pro-business moderate. I hope she doesn't make the mistake of getting onto an anti-working family path. Reichert, who has taken a staggering $1,088,931 in legalized bribes from the financial/insurance/real estate sector, has been a dependable handmaiden for the banksters against ordinary American families-- always. For example, in early March he wasn't among the few Republicans who crossed the aisle to vote for the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, which will allow bankruptcy judges to work with lenders and borrowers to readjust the terms of mortgages to keep families in their homes. This lockstep anti-family vote came despite the fact that the projected foreclosure numbers for WA-08 over the next 4 years show 13,204 families losing their homes. But, as usual, Reichert was more interested in Republican Party tactics of obstruction than in the well-being of his own constituents.

Friends in Bellevue tell me DelBene is a great candidate with lots of money and a strong impulse towards social justice. They tell me to ignore her overtures towards the establishment and the Democratic strategy of painting her as a middle of the road Democrat. The middle of the road thing sure was pushed in the Politico piece.

“Her business experience suits her very well at a time when economic issues are at the forefront of people’s minds,” said DelBene lead consultant Kelly Evans, who led Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire’s reelection efforts last year. “Suzan has progressive values, but she also brings a business approach to fiscal matters.”

...“She’s very different than Darcy. I think it’s a matter of style and the way she approaches people. This woman is polished and professional, she’s low-key and people listen to her,” said King County Democratic Party Chairwoman Susan Sheary. “I’ve watched her several times go in cold into meetings and events where she knows no one, and before you know it, the room is hush and everyone’s listening.”

The two candidates have also cultivated distinctly different constituencies. Burner, a regular contributor to the liberal blog Daily Kos who launched her second campaign with an anti-war video, was embraced by the Netroots, which donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to her campaign.

But her liberal politics, though well-suited for online activists, limited her appeal in the moderate suburban seat. She twice lost narrowly in suburban King County, which casts roughly 80 percent of the district vote, and lost by wider margins in Pierce County, which casts the remainder.

Where Burner talked about the war in Iraq, DelBene on her campaign website focuses on investment, jobs and the economy-- with no mention of the war. And as she meets with local Democrats, she emphasizes her business background.

In an interview with Politico, DelBene argued the party’s problems over the past several elections stem from its inability to reach out to blue-collar voters in the district’s outer suburbs in Pierce County and southern King County.

“It’s important we represent not only the northern part of the district but also the southern part of our district that’s more rural and has a different economy than up here,” said DelBene. “We need to address both sides of the district.”