Steve Israel Specializes In Recruiting Republicans Like Joe Schwarz To Run As Democrats

Outside The Village, a "moderate Republican" would be a right-wing sociopath

The DCCC is doing what it likes best-- recruiting a rich Republican to run as a Democrat. This time, though, we're not talking about Florida but Michigan... and about someone who was already a House Republican. Joe Schwarz, who was mayor of Battle Creek from 1985-1987 and then a state senator for a decade and a half was elected to Congress from Michigan's 7th CD in 2004 and served one term before being ousted by Club for Growth-backed extremist Tim Walberg. He's universally described as a "moderate," which in plain English means he was a mainstream conservative rather than a neo-Nazi. He has always been "pro-Choice," although he voted for restrictions to women's Choice when he had the opportunity, favoring, for example, Chris Smith's HR 6099 which was designed to ensure that women seeking an abortion are forced to confront the pain allegedly experienced by their unborn fetus (an approach that has come back today as the GOP's transvaginal ultra sound attack on women's privacy). He also voted for other right-wing legislation that only DC insiders would term "moderate," like Bush's horrific anti-consumer, anti-family bankruptcy bill and for anti-worker legislation like CAFTA and Boehner's pernicious pension "protection" act and all the anti-immigrant legislation any right-wing xenophobe wanted to toss into the House well. But to an "ex"-Blue Dog like DCCC Chair Steve Israel, who has given the green light towards recruiting him... Schwarz is a "moderate."

Schwarz was born in the 1930s. Election Day is two weeks before his 75th birthday. What the hell is wrong with the DCCC? "We talked and have had very pleasant conversations about it,” Schwarz said. “The DCCC is correctly looking for a candidate to run in the 7th district because there certainly would be a stark contrast between Congressman Walberg and a viable, credible Democratic candidate... “I do think I would be the strongest candidate to take him on... I consider myself an independent,” he said. “I haven’t gone anywhere philosophically… I’m a fiscal conservative, someone who’s for a very strong military presence and someone who’s a social moderate.” In 2008, Schwarz worked for the McCain for President campaign. In Steve Israel's world, that's moderate too-- and qualifies you to run as a Democrat of course.

Calhoun County is the electoral base (and home) of both ex-Congressman Mark Schauer, a Democrat who Walberg defeated in 2010, and of Joe Schwarz. It's no longer part of the district, which played into Schauer's decision not to run again. Schwarz says he'll make up his mind in the next week or two whether or not to accept Israel's offer. The actual Democratic candidate in the district is Kurt Haskell, a pro-union attorney from Pinconning. He describes himself as a "moderate Democrat... a little left of center." The DCCC has studiously ignored him, although he won't be bullied out of the race and will face Schwarz in the Democratic primary if need be. I spoke to him this morning and this is what he told me:

Joe Schwarz is a Republican who doesn't live in the district and lost to incumbent Tim Walberg in the 2010 election. Joe Schwarz's base is in the Battle Creek area of Calhoun County. Due to redistricting, Calhoun County is no longer in the 7th District. I am flabbergasted that the Democratic Party, knowing that I am running for the seat, is promoting Joe Schwarz over myself. The voters of the 7th District deserve to have a choice between a Republican and a Democrat and not two Republicans. Joe Schwarz is a career politician and represents more of the same for the 7th District. I represent a new, positive mindset and a belief that the United States can once again become a great nation. Although I am not known in the political arena, I am known in the legal community. After coming from modest beginnings, I have built myself a very successful legal career as a self employed attorney. Nothing has ever been given to me. Everything I have was earned through hard work, determination and a desire to succeed. I am not running for office to become a career politician, for fame or for fortune. I seek only to usher in a more open and honest government of the people, by the people and for the people. Due to my involvement in the underwear bomber case, I have developed quite a following of supporters nationwide. My supporters have indicated a willingness to help support my campaign to whatever extent necessary to ensure my election to office. God willing and with the help of my supporters, we can accomplish our goal.

And as far as Schwarz being a "moderate," how moderate was this for the people of Michigan? Ask the DCCC next time they ask you for a contribution.

What Can We Expect From McCain Tonight?

McCain's younger brother Joe-- the one who was rallying KKK members in Virginia a week ago-- has e-mailed the Baltimore Sun blasting his brother's campaign for making ads that show McCain as a "crank and curmudgeon." He attacked the lobbyists who have ruined his brother's chances to win the presidency and who won't let anyone-- meaning himself-- speak to the press. So with McCain's poll numbers continuing to sink dramatically-- in great part because Americans are finally sick and tired of the Rovian attack ads and viciously negative smear tactics-- McCain needs to do something dramatic tonight to put the race back on a footing that won't seal his doom and devastate his entire party.

Conventional wisdom has him reaching out to the older white voters, the last group of dependable voters to have started to move towards Obama, in states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida... even Arkansas. Early voters are breaking so huge for Obama that Inside the Beltway prognosticators are in shock.



When I was growing up, West Virginia and Arkansas were dependable parts of the Democratic coalition. Both have turned increasingly red in recent years. This week an ARG poll shows Obama ahead by 8 points in West Virginia, his first lead of the campaign. And McCain is down in Arkansas and with just a single-digit lead in a state that was a Republican "given" for the entire campaign. Can McCain turn it around tonight? Unlikely-- but he has to try. He'll target the elderly and especially elderly voters who have sinking investments and promises the Palin crowd that he'll bring the smears and sewage right into America's living rooms tonight.

So it'll be crazed hysteria about Ayers and ugly racism thinly disguised as a Rev Wright discussion, mashed up with half-baked and erratic and desperate rantings about economic pie-in-the-sky. To counter the predictable lies about Obama's tax proposals, the campaign has come up with a widget that allows you to type in your income and see what the results are if Obama's tax plans go into effect while McCain spews out his clueless lies in what is looking more and more like his last stand, as the failing McCain campaign tries defending deeply red bastions like Indiana and shifts its focus full time into voter fraud and media interest shifts to the Senate and congressional races. I even heard some talking head on TV mention them today!

Last night Senator Russ Feingold explained in Eugene why it's so important to elect Jeff Merkley to replace Gordon Smith as the Oregon senator:



In fact, Bush is in Michigan today, not on behalf of McCain, who he's given up on (and who has given up on him), but to bolster the sagging fortunes of far right extremist Tim Walberg, who recent polls show is losing his re-election bid to progressive Democratic state Senator Mark Schauer. Bush is expected to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars at the home of the neo-fascist billionaire Dick DeVos, former head of Amway and a failed candidate for Governor. Cheapest tickets are $5,000 and the money will mostly be split between Walberg and the other endangered Michigan incumbent, Joe Knollenberg. Blue America is raising money for both the Democrats running against these two, Mark Schauer and Gary Peters. Even one dollar helps build war chests against Bush's attempts to leave behind a right-wing force in Congress.


UPDATE: TOO LATE?

My friend's aunt Martha is even older than McCain. She's 95. Today she's breaking out of the British retirement home in Sierra Madre and moving into her own apartment. She's had it with being treated like an invalid! She's also had it with the Republicans. Aunt Martha has voted for a Republican for president every single election. Do the math and think about that. She voted against FDR, voted for Dewey, Nixon (several times), Goldwater... Bush. Last week she pulled up Tim Dickinson's Rolling Stone story, , Make-Believe Maverick, on her computer and cast her absentee ballot for Barack Obama. Obama may be planning to make a play for elderly white folks tonight... but he's too late to reach Aunt Martha. Last night David Letterman the 20 top 10 ways McCain can turn it around:

10. Try the old "I'll vote for you if you vote for me" trick
9. Inspire America by jumping Straight Talk Express over Snake River Canyon
8. Change name to Jorack McBama
7. Start wearing a cape
6. Step one: send Bin Laden free tickets to Giants game. Step two: when he shows up in East Rutherford, New Jersey expecting to enjoy some big blue smashmouth football: gotcha sucka!
5. Sizzling tango with Cloris Leachman on "Dancing With The Stars"
4. Put more effort into budget plan, less effort into Facebook status updates
3. Point out his steady leadership got us through the Great Depression
2. Assure voters the only poll that matters is in his pants
1. Get Sarah Palin to illegally fire herself

Top Ten Extras

11. Uh, stop being old?
12. Start hangin' with one of them talking chihuahuas
13. Suspend campaign until the economy recovers in about 30 years
14. Maybe one of them fake tans?
15. Have Palin start doing impressions of Tina Fey
16. Release new line of trendy hearing aids
17. Instead of boring speeches, read from hilarious Late Show Fun Facts book. Available at fine stores everywhere.
18. New catch phrase: "Chillax, Broseph"
19. Wear tighter slacks
20. An appearance on Sabado Gigante couldn't hurt

Why Are Republican Congressional Candidates Sinking Everywhere In The Country?

It starts with abysmal leadership

For months we've been predicting significant gains for Democrats running for Congress in every part of the country. This morning it's official: Carl Hulse and David Herszenhorn have affirmed it in the NY Times. Covering for laughable Inside-the-Beltway myopia, they claim that "analysts now predict a Democratic surge on a scale that seemed unlikely just weeks ago, with even some Republicans in traditional strongholds fighting for their political careers, and Democratic leaders dreaming of ironclad majorities." And they blame the Wall Street meltdown, rather than a gestalt where the Wall Street meltdown and whatever follows it is a symptom of now loathed Republican misrule.

As we've explained before, the open Republican seats in Virginia, New Mexico and Colorado are out of grasp of the extreme rightists running for those seats. McCain strategists have written off Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina and Al Franken just whipped Norm Coleman in two consecutive Minnesota polls. John Sununu (R-NH) has had a big "loser" sign painted on him all year and it's never coming off and the news on Gordon Smith has been so terrible-- I mean the guy;s frozen food factory was busted for employing undocumented workers a few weeks ago-- that it's hard to imagine that in the current electoral climate he can win. Much depends on the outcome of his bribery trial but corrupt Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has come out on the wrong side of every poll in the last 5 or 6 months. One of the two Mississippi races, Wicker's re-election bid, looks very rocky, And although they are tougher races, Democratic challengers have shots in Texas, Maine, Georgia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Idaho, and Nebraska.

In the House, Democrats say they could capture a dozen of the 26 Republican seats left open by retirements, and challengers are closing in on Republican incumbents in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, New York and elsewhere.

“The last week has severely damaged Republican candidates,” said Stuart Rothenberg, a nonpartisan analyst who predicts that Democrats could gain as many as six to nine Senate seats and 25 to 30 House seats. “Everything points to warning signals for Republicans.”

If such projections by Mr. Rothenberg and others are realized, it would push Senate Democrats tantalizingly close to the filibuster-proof 60-vote majority that has eluded Senate leaders since the late 1970s. While the environment could change again in the remaining weeks, recent polling suggests a fundamental shift, with Republicans absorbing more of the blame for the economic uncertainty.

At the same time, the political arms of Congressional Republicans are being outspent-- their House organization recently borrowed $8 million-- and have fewer targets, with only a handful of Democrats in Florida, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin and in potential trouble.

Republicans are understandably nervous.

...Strategists for both parties say Republican House and Senate candidates are being hurt by the dip in support for Senator John McCain at the top of the ticket, frustrating Republicans who had initially viewed Mr. McCain as a strong asset who could appeal to independents and even moderate Democrats and protect Republicans in a tough year.

But the market volatility and perceived Democratic edge on handling the economy has evidently turned voters to Democrats, a view supported by one top adviser to Republican candidates.

“This financial crisis has provided momentum to Barack Obama and other Democrats, and their campaigns now have the wind at their backs,” said the consultant, who asked not to be identified speaking pessimistically about the Republican outlook.

Look at the upstate New York race that pits progressive Democrat Dan Maffei against reactionary Republican Dale Sweetland. A brand new poll shows Maffei with an 18 point lead! And it's far more than just the pinch in people's wallets. The feeling everywhere in the country is that the Republican Party has strayed too far from the mainstream and have lost touch with regular Americans. Republican registration has plummeted while Democratic registration is through the roof. But pick any serious race-- or even one of the dozens of races rapidly becoming serious-- and you'll see why Democrats are ahead and moving further ahead. Let me pull one up at random--- eenie, meanie, minie, Joe... yes Joe Knollenberg serving his eighth term representing moderate, suburban Oakland County near Detroit (MI-09). If the guy was ever on the ball he's completely lost it. Forget for a moment that he's been a Bush rubber stamp on every single issue domestic and foreign and forget that he flip-flopped on Paulson's Wall Street bailout-- against it like his constituents, and then for it like his campaign contributors ($362,500 from Finance, Insurance and Real Estate). Instead think about what kind of an utterly out-of-touch mentality it takes to buy into a late night comedy show punchline like this:

Knollenberg said Wednesday he had asked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Republican John McCain's running mate, to campaign with him in Oakland County. McCain's campaign pulled out of Michigan last week and Palin said she was disappointed by the tactical move.

"She's an exciting lady. She's somebody who knows something about the real world. The governor of Alaska obviously is very much involved in national security because Alaska touches very close to Russia and Russia is not all that happy with us right now nor are we with them," Knollenberg said.

Highlighting the absurdity of Knollenberg's flight from reality, the Michigan Democratic Party has invited Tina Fey to come campaign in Michigan. New polling out this morning from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research confirms that Peters is beating the incumbent. Knollenberg's job approval rating is down to 34% and the new polls shows a 43- 40% lead for Peters.

East of MI-09 is a district represented by one of the most radical right extremists in Congress, Tim Walberg. Polls show him losing badly to state Senator Mark Schauer, who has significant support not just from wildly enthusiastic Democrats and from independents but even from mainstream Republicans embarrassed to be represented by someone from the political fringe. It's worth comparing the brand new ads of the two candidates. Walberg's is about... Michael Moore. Here's Mark Schauer's; another example of way the congressional races are turning into a route:



Although Karl Rove, whose future residency in or out of federal prison is likely to hang on the outcome of the election, is still banking on the capriciousness, ignorance and stupidity of undecided voters, less biased political observers are starting to whisper the word landslide. Obama's coattails have already proven themselves as strong as McCain's are toxic. An Obama landslide will be something Republican members of Congress will remember for decades.

Obviously, what the mainstream media would never think of looking into is the differences between progressive Democrats and nominal Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, something we looked at yesterday. The differences however, are very real and very crucial and it means a lot more to elect one Darcy Burner or one Gary Peters than a dozen pseudo-Democrats like Paul Carmouche, Bobby Bright or Jerry Connolly. If you'd like to help, you'll find all good ones and no bad ones here at the Blue America ActBlue page.

Extremist Tim Walberg (R-MI) Circling The Drain?

Go right ahead and make up your own caption

There are 16 Republican extremists who have zero scores on the ProgressivePunch scale that measures the tough substantive votes in Congress. There are all people who would abandon the GOP in a second if the Nazi Party, or any other similar fascist entity, was viable. Nine are unreconstructed Confederates and the rest, from Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Barbara Cubin (R-WY) to Dan Burton (R-IN) and Steve King (R-IA) mostly suffer from various mental afflictions. One half a baby step up the evolutionary ladder-- members who have voted like humans, out of hundreds and hundreds of votes, one time-- are 19 more lunatic fringe wingnuts. Just over half are another lot of unreconstructed Confederates, from North Carolina GOP closet queen Patrick McHenry to the odious John Kline (R-MN) and the recently dumped (in a primary) David Davis (R-TN). But the kook we want to look at today, after some excellent news, is one of the most detestable of all Republican freshman, neo-fascist Tim Walberg, who represents a moderate district in south-central Michigan from battle Creek to the suburbs around Ann Arbor.

Blue America has endorsed state Senator Mark Schauer of Battle Creek in this race so we were doubled excited to read in today's Detroit News that, according to the newest poll, he has caught up to Walberg. What makes this doubly dismal for Walberg is that he has been unable to keep up with the popular grassroots Schauer in the fundraising department and he has been up on TV with ads for 3 weeks. In the quarter ending on June 30, Schauer out-raised the incumbent for the fourth straight filing period, something that is extremely rare under the current fundraising system which completely favors incumbents. Most of Walberg's money comes from far right fringe organizations and PAC but he has also gotten a tremendous amount of cash infusion from the industries whose special interests he's always happy to support, no matter how at odds those interests are with ordinary Michigan working families. Walberg, for examples, wholeheartedly supports the kinds of anti-regulatory agenda that has precipitated the mortgage crisis, while taking $59,045 from the real estate industry, $40,850 from the Investment industry, and $19,450 from commercial banks. But what is probably damaging him most of all is a clear voting record of kissing up to Big Oil-- allowing them to drive up gasoline and heating oil prices-- while scarfing up $21,950 from Big Oil & Gas. Here he is making up some kind of crazy claim that we're buying oil from the Chinese who are stealing it by drilling under Florida from Cuba, some kind of urban legend that Republican Senator Mel Martinez said Walberg has all wrong on. He also wants to allow his contributors at Big Oil to drill in Lake Michigan.

Walberg is so worried that he is joining half the Michigan congressional delegation in avoiding the GOP HateFest in St Paul. Reps. Joe Knollenberg, Dave Camp, Candice Miller and Thaddeus McCotter already announced they're staying away from the McCain disaster and Walberg is planning to go for 2 cocktail parties filled with corporate donors to beg for money before scurrying back to Michigan. He was shocked yesterday when fellow Republican ex-legislator, Paul DeWeese, endorsed Schauer.

“The people of Mid-Michigan are ready for change, and Mark Schauer is exactly the kind of leader we need right now to make this state more competitive, The 7th district deserves a Congressman who will fight to fix our broken health care system, and Mark is the best man for the job.”

An emergency room physician, DeWeese is painfully aware how devastating the reactionary, anti-family health care policies Walberg is always pushing have been on Michigan families. He's so disgusted that he actually resigned from the Republican Party.

The first time I spoke with DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen, he predicted that 2008 was going to be a banner for Democrats in Michigan. I think he had electing Mark Schauer uppermost in his mind. You can donate to Mark's campaign at the Blue America ActBlue page.

Walberg is also delusional.

SCHAUER POLLING AHEAD OF WALBERG-- AND WON'T CHENEY MAKE IT EVEN WORSE?

Did YOU get one of these?

This week DWT has been supporting Michigan bloggers trying to raise money and awareness for Mark Schauer, the Blue America-endorsed candidate running against far right extremist Tim Walberg. Today a Detroit News poll was released that shows Walberg lagging and unlikely to win re-election.

John Cavanagh, the political analyst for EPIC-MRA, the polling company which conducted the survey warned that "If I were in Tim Walberg's camp, I would have grave concerns at this point that a relatively unknown Democrat in a traditionally Republican district can match up so competitively."

Walberg barely won 50 percent of the vote in the [2006] November general election against a poorly funded, little known Democrat, prompting the Democrats to target him this year.

The district, which stretches from Battle Creek to the western edge of Ann Arbor, has in the past trended solidly Republican.

But Cavanagh says migration from Ingham County to Eaton County is watering down the Republican flavor of the district.

Voters showed little interest in two issues that are among Walberg's priorities: Only 7 percent of voters in the district picked "promoting morality and family values" as their top concern while 3 percent chose "keeping federal taxes low."

The overwhelming top concern picked by voters-- 41 percent-- was "improving the nation's economy and providing jobs."

So what is the extremist fanatic Walberg doing to reach out to his unimpressed moderate constituents? He's bringing the most divisive and hated figure in American politics, Dick Cheney, into the district to campaign for him. It is widely expected that Walberg will do his best to not be photographed with Cheney and to keep Cheney generally out of sight of the public, just hidden away among the fat-cat campaign contributors who have benefited so handsomely from the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and from economic policies that have brought tough times to the middle class. If you haven't given to Mark's campaign yet-- or if you want to give again, you can do it here.


UPDATE: CHENEY IS IN MICHIGAN TODAY

State Senator Mark Schauer, whose political ascendency over wingnut Tim Walberg is what scared the Regime enough to send Cheney in, had some comments just now on the Cheney fundraising visit: "This Administration's failed policies have devastated Michigan's economy and today's news of massive national job loss proves that they haven't worked for America either. We need real, bipartisan solutions that will create jobs for Michigan and put our priorities first-- not those of the special interests."

MARK SCHAUER UNDER ATTACK FROM THE EMPIRE-- CHENEY FLYING TO MICHIGAN

Bush, Cheney and other members of the Regime have been stealthily flying around the country to do very private fundraising dinner with wealthy Republicans for many of the rubber stamps who have supported their entire heinous agenda. It isn't likely that you'll find a more endangered GOP incumbent, nor one who has been a more servile rubber stamp, than extremist kook Tim Walberg from southern Michigan. MI-07 is a moderate district including the western suburbs of Ann Arbor and Lansing and all of Battle Creek. Last year Walberg ousted the moderate Republican who represented the district, Joe Schwarz, and the Democrats weren't prepared, fielding a fringy candidate (who still held Walberg to 51% of the vote). This year the Democrats are very well prepared.

Mark Schauer is a tremendously respected and well-liked state senator in a district that covers much of the reddest parts of MI-07. Blue America has already enthusiastically endorsed Mark (check out his FDL session from October 27) and this week the two biggest Michigan blogs, Michigan Liberal and Blogging For Michigan are trying to raise some grassroots donations for Mark to counterbalance Darth Cheney's visit. Mark would make an extraordinary congressman. Let's give him a hand at the Blue America ActBlue page.


UPDATE: MARK EXPLAINS

BLUE AMERICA WELCOMES MARK SCHAUER (MI-07)

Marcy (emptywheel) first told me about Mark Schauer, a state senator from a district near her own, quite some time ago. There were a lot of people declaring they would run in southern Michigan's 7th CD-- to face the most radical right member of the state's congressional delegation, Tim Walberg-- but Marcy counseled me to hold off. She felt there was a very good chance Mark would jump in and that when he did, everyone else would bow out and endorse him. After spending some time with him on the phone this week, I understand from whence her enthusiasm springs. Please join us over at Firedoglake at 2pm, EDT today for a live blog session with Mark.

I started off by asking him what issues his constituents are telling him are the most important for them. "Without question," he stated immediately, "the top issue facing the 7th congressional district is the economy and jobs. This is a state that has been rocked by outsourcing, a global economy, and trade agreements that have cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. Folks are worried about their future, about their families, about whether they can retire, whether they can send their kids to college or whether they're going to lose their home. And related to that are basic security needs, like health care. Are they going to be able to keep health care and afford coverage for their kids or are they going to lose their pension? Will Social Security be there for them? Once you get past that, the war and our foreign policy-- or lack thereof-- are a major concern. Are their sons and daughters and neighbors in harm's way in Iraq? And people are hopeful that we'll be able to restore a foreign policy based more on diplomacy and less on war. And third would be the environment, including climate change."

That got him talking about the economic opportunities for Michigan in pursing alternatives to fossil fuels for energy. "Folks are concerned about gas prices. Folks are concerned about the rising cost of heating their homes and they know there are alternatives. They know our planet is at risk and you have to think about it as the legacy we're leaving our kids. Michigan is a Great Lakes state and the environment is always an issue of concern to the people here. People in south-central Michigan don't think slant drilling in the Great Lakes is the answer, although Tim Walberg supports it."

And speaking of Walberg, I had to ask Mark about the war. Walberg's record is crystal clear. Since getting to Congress last year, he's participated in 18 roll calls concerning Iraq and he's voted 18 times with Bush and Cheney. He never found a single issue about Iraq to disagree with them on-- although most Republicans have. He's also voted 7 times on issues effecting the well-being of our military personnel and he's been wrong all 7 times-- voting against our servicemen and women and for his party leader. But Mark, although a state senator, has an Iraq-related record to examine as well. I asked him to explain it.

It was March, 2003, just days before the president went into Iraq and one of the ultra-conservative members of the Michigan senate put up a meaningless resolution to put everyone on the record in terms of support for Bush's strategy in Iraq. I voted against it. It was a tough vote at the time if you'll recall the public sentiment back then. People were getting in my face about voting against the president when they were equating that with not supporting our troops. I do support our troops but that vote was the right thing to do then and history has born that out. I'm on record from the start saying this was a flawed strategy."

Mark's state senate district, like the congressional district, has a Republican lean. Gore took 46% of the vote and Kerry took 45%. Last year, an underfunded, barely known Democrat who wasn't taken very seriously in political circles, came within one percentage point of beating Walberg. And Walberg hasn't become popular since winning the seat. There's a certain amount of residual resentment of the way a great deal of outside PAC money, from Club For Growth, was used to defeat a decent, moderate Republican incumbent. And his voting record-- in a basically all-American, moderate district-- has been very, very hard right, way at the bottom of the Republican congressional barrel and far more extreme than any other congressman from Michigan. If you examine Progressive Punch's Chips Are Down rankings, you find Walberg sitting there with radical kooks and ideologues like Patrick McHenry, Michele Bachman, Mike Pence, Virginia Foxx, Marsha Blackburn... with an even worse record than Mean Jean Schmidt, Marilyn Musgrave or Virgil Goode.

"We're spending $12 billion a month in Iraq and this president, along with Tim Walberg, opposes spending an additional $7 billion a year to make sure that three a half million kids receive health care. It's a tragedy in so many ways for our country... This president and his policies have put us more at risk. We have got to start to change. You want to hold this president accountable?
This Congress has got to use its investigative powers and if it's determined that George W. Bush has violated his oath of office then he has to be held accountable. I'll be entering office in January of 2009 and there will be a new president and I want to spend my time moving us forward and undoing the mess that this president has created and that's where my energies will be focused-- on that change and that new direction."

Mark is the Democratic Senate Leader in Michigan. I checked YouTube to see if he had any clips and I found a pretty cool one he put up 7 months ago directed directly to bloggers! Take a look-- and then think about giving Mark's campaign a hand over at our Blue America ActBlue page

DO PROGRESSIVES EVER SUPPORT REPUBLICANS? A LOOK AT MI-07

I have a friend in DC-- let's call him Bill-- who is one of the few people in town who doesn't care about politics. But he loves to debate. Sensing (somehow) my obsession, he kept asking me all through lunch if I would ever endorse a Republican. In the end I said that although it is theoretically possible for a progressive to support a Republican, the reality is that even the best Republican-- given what the party has turned into-- is worse than a totally dreadful Democrat. This wasn't always the case of course. Although too young to vote at the time, I supported liberal Republican Congressman John Lindsay over reactionary Democrat Abe Beame when they ran for mayor of NYC. New York Republicans like Jacob Javits, Ken Keating and even Nelson Rockefeller has streaks of independence from right-wing ideologues and would stand up and fight the right wing tide that was starting to destroy mainstream Republicanism. (New York Democrats still seemed better than these liberal Republicans but one never got the sense that when these guys won, basic American values were being threatened the way they are today when Republicans win elections and get their hands on the levers of governance.)

After our lively debate I found myself in the office of a friend of mine who works at a progressive public interest PAC. The PAC seems to support progressive Democrats. He floated an idea by me in regard to Michigan's 7th CD, the south-central part of the state east of Battle Creek. The district had a moment of fame when the Republican incumbent, Nick Smith, got into a really vicious little intra-party contretemps with Tom DeLay. DeLay, as was his standard operating procedure as GOP Majority Leader and capo di tutti capi of the Republican Culture of Corruption, offered Smith a bribe if he would support the anti-consumer prescription drug bill. DeLay promised to raise $100,000 from corporate sleaze-merchants for Smith's son if Smith, who was retiring, voted for the bill and there was an implication that Smith's son would have his political legs cut off if Smith voted against the GOP mob. Smith voted against the bill and his son, Brad, was defeated in the Republican primary, as DeLay had promised. Six months after the vote, on the last day of September the House Ethics Committee admonished DeLay for his tactics, the last action of the Ethics Committee before DeLay fired the Republicans who had voted against him and replaced the Chairman with a corrupt, extremely compromised shill, "Doc" Hastings. The winner of that primary-- and the subsequent general election in the very red district-- was Joe Schwarz, a relatively moderate Republican. He had beaten Smith's son and several other Republicans including a far right wingnut named Tim Walberg.

OK, now everyone's up-to-date and Walberg is back to challenge Schwarz. This time Walberg is the only far right candidate and he's being pumped up by all the extremist hate groups that normally fund fringe and neo-fascist Republicans, from the Club For Growth to the Eagle Forum. So my friend at the progressive PAC asks me my opinion about them endorsing Schwarz in the Republican primary. He points out that he has already been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, HRC and Republicans For Choice.

It's a pretty red district. In 2004 Schwarz beat Sharon Renier, an organic farmer and musician who the Democrats ran (but didn't support financially), in every single county and overall 58%- 36% (with 5% of the vote going to independents). She ran considerably behind Kerry, who took nearly 45%. (Gore had taken 46%.) The right-wing loon who runs the Republican Michigander blog has a thorough and keen analysis of the district's politics from the Wingnutia perspective.

The organic farmer is up for another go-round, although her website has no positions or issues pages yet. There is also a Fighting Dem in the race and his website makes him look pretty progressive-- Fred Strack. If November turns into a tsunami despite Rahm Emanuel's tepid and lame, over-cautious, "Don't-be-afraid-of-us-We're-just-like-the-Republicans-in-most-ways" strategy, this is a district Strack can win. But, by all conventional measurements, Schwarz will be the congressman from MI-07 after the midterms.

So... should the progressive PAC help him? I was open to the idea-- until I started digging down into his congressional voting record. Apparently he was better as a state legislator a few years ago. But as a congressman, he's been absolutely, indefensibly horrible on every important issue. Progressive Punch gave him a zero on gay issues and his voting record on choice is nauseating-- as it is on Labor and anything else progressives care about. No doubt Walberg would be worse-- albeit easier for Strack to beat in November-- and... Schwarz is an F+ or, at best, a D-. So if Walberg is an F, what difference does it really make? Not enough difference to sully the good name of the progressive PAC, let alone to waste money that could be better spent on helping real progressives who are desperate for it.

Part 2 of this is going to be an exchange of letters between myself and Russ Feingold regarding a reactionary Democrat who he asked me to donate money to. I'll try to get to it today. (UPDATE: I did it but I did it a little differently than what I was planning. Check it out.)