Even If Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) Goes To Prison For Taking Bribes, Israel And Wasserman Schultz Will Make Sure She Has No Democratic Opponent

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the "candidate" she picked to run against her

There was a time that Ileana Ros-Lehtinen represented a safely red district. But that was quite some time ago. The old 18th CD-- the boundaries of which she helped draw when she was in the state legislature, was an R+4 district and filled with anti-Castro reactionaries. Many of those reactionaries are dead and Ileana's new district (FL-27) is a blue district. But the DCCC acts as though no one told them. In 2008, McCain still managed to eke out a narrow 123,543 (51%) win over Obama but by 2012 the tide had inexorably turned and Obama beat Romney 130,020 (53%) to 114,096 (47%), a stunning reversal that defied patterns around the state and around the country. But Steve Israel and Debbie Wasserman Schultz were very aware of how the district had changed and they moved into hyperdrive… to make sure their Republican ally Ileana would win again. Wasserman Schultz was complicit in recruiting a fake candidate, Manny Yevancey, to "run" as a Democrat. Yevancey didn't run a campaign and was just a nomination place-holder to make sure no one who would run a campaign would have the chance to do so. Ros Lehtinen raised $2,146,246 and spent $1,190,873 on the race. Yevancey filed no FEC reports, which means he raised less than $5,000-- maybe less than $5. His petitions-- which were commercially collected by a firm in Tampa that was paid by "someone else"-- is almost totally signed by folks in Tampa, not in Miami, Coral Gables, Hialeah, Miami Springs, South Miami, Westchester or anywhere else in Ros-Lehtinen's district. The total signatures on his petitions from Miami-Dade: 12. The total from Tampa: 1,147. And the other counties with significant petition numbers were also on the other side of the state, Hillsborough with 656 and Pasco with 502. Very convenient for Wasserman Schultz and Ros-Lehtinen to have a candidate with no income, no roots and no chance-- an old dirty trick that anti-democracy hacks employee.

That all said, there were still 84,899 (37%) voters willing to cast their ballots against Ros-Lehtinen and for an unknown "Democrat" who didn't campaign. Imagine if Steve Israel had ignored Wasserman Schultz' demand that Ros-Lehtinen's seat be off limits and had instead recruited a good candidate and gone after her. So far this year, Wasserman Schultz is guarding the process like a mad dog again and despite several DCCC staffers who would like to target Ros-Lehtinen, there is no movement whatsoever on recruiting a Democrat with a reasonable chance to win. There is no way for the DCCC to win back the House with this kind of leadership. Israel and Wasserman Schultz are the worst examples of why grassroots Democrats hate Inside-the-Beltway Democrats and why so many refuse to even turn up at the polls on election day.

So, with no candidate-- thanks to Israel and Wasserman Schultz-- even if Ros-Lehtinen is indicted, there won't be a Democratic win in FL-27. Indicted? Oh, yes. Josh Rogin and the Daily Beast broke the story today. Short version: "Ros-Lehtinen, while she was Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to federal agencies on behalf of two Ecuadorian bankers convicted of embezzlement who were seeking U.S. residency. She also advocated for their family members, who donated over $20,000 to her campaign."

William and Roberto Isaias, who were convicted in absentia of embezzlement in Ecuador more than a decade ago, have been fighting for the right to avoid extradition and establish residency in the United States. And they’ve had a powerful ally in that quest: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, who made phone calls and wrote letters to advance their residency request. Last month, NBC News reported that the FBI was investigating Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez on possible corruption charges related to his advocacy on behalf of the brothers.

Menendez has denied any quid pro quo with the Isaias brothers, whose family members donated $10,000 to Menendez’s 2012 campaign, according the NBC report. Menendez's office has said they aren't aware of any investigation into this matter.

But Menendez wasn’t the only member of Congress that the Isaias clan called upon. Those same Isaias family members donated at least $23,700 to Ros-Lehtinen in the 2010, 2012, and 2014 cycles, according to federal campaign contribution records. The Isaias brothers live in Coral Gables, which falls inside Ros-Lehtinen’s district.

In March, 2011, Ros-Lehtinen wrote a letter to Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela on behalf of the Isaias brothers, whom Ros-Lehtinen said “believe they are being politically and economically persecuted by the Government of Ecuador.”

Ros-Lehtinen, of course, denied there was any quid pro quo and insinuated that helping international criminals is just a part of "constituent services" in South Florida. She claims the FBI hasn't informed her she's under investigation. Hopefully, the House Ethics Committee will get into it soon. And, of course, among other corrupt South Florida politicos, the banksters' family has sent bribes to… good ole Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The doofus on the right ripped off his synagogue

ANOTHER EXCEPTIONAL CANDIDATE DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ IS TRYING TO UNDERMINE IN FLORIDA-- MEET ANNETTE TADDEO

I was excited to give Joe Garcia's congressional campaign in Miami-Dade a little push Saturday when I saw an advance of Sunday's NY Times Magazine story, Will Little Havana Go Blue? David Rieff wrote a long superficial piece full of inaccuracies I didn't address. But I want to.

First off, Little Havana is neither in the district where Joe Garcia is challenging Mario Diaz-Balart or in the district where Raul Martinez is challenging Lincoln Diaz-Balart. It's in the decidedly less Republican part of Miami-Dade than either of those-- the district where Annette Taddeo, who was studiously ignored by Rieff, is challenging Bush rubber stamp Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Having spent a lot of time talking with Blue America's Orlando candidate, Alan Grayson, I've become aware that Cubans are no longer the majority among Spanish-speaking Floridians. Puerto Ricans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, Colombians, Mexicans, etc-- by and large independents and Democrats, not Republicans-- make up the lion's share of Hispanic Floridians. And even in Little Havana itself, there are less Cubans than non-Cuban Hispanics. Rieff must have forgotten to mention this-- although it is the most crucial aspect in the election in the three South Florida congressional districts he's talking about.

As I read his piece, the first thing that jumped out at me as completely false and very misleading was on page two:

It had long been a commonplace of South Florida politics that greater Miami’s three Congressional representatives, Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers-- who are descended from a prominent pre-Castro political family-- could basically keep their seats for life, as previous South Florida congressmen like Claude Pepper and Dante Fascell did. But while Ros-Lehtinen is generally regarded as a shoo-in for re-election, the Diaz-Balart brothers are facing the first serious challenges of their careers. Instead of facing off against the comparative unknowns who have been the sacrificial lambs of the Democratic Party in the past in and around Miami, they are facing two extremely well-known (and surprisingly well-financed) Cuban-American Democrats: Raul Martinez, the controversial former mayor of the working-class (and overwhelmingly Cuban-American) city of Hialeah, just northwest of Miami, and a proven vote-getter for many years; and Joe Garcia, from his youth a protégé and then a trusted colleague of Jorge Mas Canosa’s and, after the older man’s death, his successor as head of the Cuban American National Foundation.

Immediately I smelled a rat-- a big stinking DCCC rat. I knew immediately Florida's sleaziest member of Congress, Debbie Wasserman Shultz must have managed to work her black magic on Rieff's story. You may-- or may not-- recall that in March Wasserman Schultz embarrassed Democrats nationwide by refusing to endorse the 3 Democratic candidates, Joe Garcia, Raul Martinez and Annette Taddeo and instead seemed to urge, if indirectly, the re-election of her three far right cronies, Mario Diaz-Balart, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and, most strenuously, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. What makes this especially awkward is that Wasserman Schultz is the chair of the DCCC's already highly distrusted and unethical Red to Blue campaign. That and the fact that she is a funnel for far right Cuban money to Democratic members of the House and for sugar cane money (which is behind anything that will keep the U.S. from normal relations with Cuba). In fact, let me go on a brief tangent here for a moment, to help everyone get a better picture of what a complete bucket of slime Wasserman Schultz is, since she has been very successful at portraying herself as an up-and-coming progressive Democrat with a bright future. This is from The August 15, 2007 Hill:

When Democrats gained control of Congress, hopes were high that Cuba travel and trade restrictions would be eased by a party historically opposed to a so-called hard line on Cuba.

So far, however, the Democratic-led House has been tougher on Cuba than when Republicans controlled the lower chamber.

Sixty-six House Democrats-- including 20 members of the freshman class-- recently voted against a farm bill amendment offered by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) that would have made it easier for U.S. farmers to sell agricultural goods to Cuba.

...Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) was instrumental in winning Democratic votes against the Rangel amendment. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) told The Miami Herald that Wasserman Schultz was “a tiger” on the Rangel vote, while Antonio Zamora of the U.S.-Cuba Legal Forum described her as a key party in building Democratic opposition.

“I was about as active as you could be,” said Wasserman Schultz, a second-termer who serves as a deputy chief whip for Democrats. At the same time, she said other members such as Reps. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) and Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) also worked hard to whip opposition.

...Wasserman Schultz’s position on Cuba puts her at odds with some Democratic leaders, but she said she has no worries that this might affect her if she seeks a higher leadership position in the future.

Two of the purveyors of DeLay-level corruption in the House leadership, Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn voted against Rangel's amendment (Emanuel abstained) as another right-wing front group in cahoots with Wasserman Schultz, US-Cuba Democracy PAC, forked over $320,000 to Democrats in the current cycle.

Fifty-two of the 66 Democrats who voted against Rangel’s amendment have received one or more contributions from the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC since the beginning of the 2007-2008 cycle, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

It has given $56,000 to 22 Democratic freshmen this year, and 17 of those freshmen voted against Rangel’s amendment. The giving began during the run-up to the 2006 election. Freshman Reps. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.), Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), Phil Hare (D-Ill.), Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), Albio Sires (D-N.J.), Zack Space (D-Ohio) and Charlie Wilson (D-Ohio) received donations before they were elected, and all but Giffords voted against Rangel’s amendment.

The votes of the freshmen are a concern to those who believe the current U.S. policy on Cuba is ineffective. “At this point we must as a matter of urgency prevent a generation of Democratic legislators from becoming permanent embargo supporters,” wrote Robert Muse, a Washington, D.C., lawyer with expertise in U.S.-Cuban policy, in an analysis of the vote.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz has a PAC which has given nearly a quarter million dollars to Democrats running for re-election and election in the House. Between the US-Cuba Democracy PAC and her own sleazy Democrats Win Seats PAC this is how much loot Wasserman Schultz was able to direct to Democratic freshmen willing to sell her their votes, even from congressmen representing agricultural districts where this amendment would have had widespread support. The first amount comes from the US-Cuba Democracy PAC and the second came directly from the shady Wasserman Schultz PAC:

Jason Altmire (PA-04) $8,000 + $5,000
Mike Arcuri (NY-24) $4,000 + $2,000
Bruce Braley (IA-01) $5,000
Chris Carney (PA-10) $7,000 + $7,500
Kathy Castor (FL-11) $2,000
Joe Donnelly (IN-02) $3,000 + $5,000
Brad Ellsworth (IN-08) $3,000 + $3,000
Gabby Giffords (AZ-08) $5,000 + $5,000
Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-20) $8,000 + $4,000
Phil Hare (IL-17) $9,000 + $1,000
Ron Klein (FL-22) $10,000 + $4,000
Tim Mahoney (FL-16) $10,000 + $7,500
Harry Mitchell (AZ-05) 0 + $4,000
Patrick Murphy (PA-08) $6,000 + $4,000
Joe Sestak (PA-07) $1,000 + $2,000
Heath Shuler (NC-11) $7,000 + $5,000
Albio Sires (NJ-13) $10,000
Zach Space (OH-18) $7,000 +$4,000

Let's get back to Florida. Regardless of Wasserman Schultz's shameful protection for her extremist pal Ileana, FL-18 is the most Democratic leaning (PVI- R +4) of the three districts and Annette's campaign is both well-organized and well-funded. Last year two state assembly seats in the district flipped from Republican top Democratic, a far better predictor than Wasserman Schultz' propaganda barrage on behalf of Ileana Ros Lehtinen. And FL-18 gave over 56% of it's vote to Senator Bill Nelson in 2006. Bush won there in 2004 with 54%-- as opposed to 57% in Lincoln Diaz-Balart's 21st CD (PVI- R+6) and to 56% in Mario Diaz-Balart's 25th CD (PVI- R+4). While the Diaz-Balarts pretty much acknowledge they are right-wing extremists and just count on tired anti-Castro rhetoric to get them elected over and over, Ros-Lehtinen though voting almost exactly the way the Diaz-Balarts vote (for the war, for illegal wiretaps, against children's health care, for tax breaks for the rich, etc), tries to paint it over with a thin veneer of being a "moderate." She isn't. Since October 10, 2002 she has participated in 63 votes regarding the war in Iraq. She voted the straight Bush-Cheney line 62 times and voted "against" them when the House decided to transform a grant into a loan. But when it comes to supporting our troops with health care or sufficient armor and pay increases, she voted against the troops each and every time-- 22 votes against the troops, zero votes for the troops. The fake moderate voted the exact same way on aid to veterans: 23 times against the vets, zero times for the vets. Does this sound "moderate?" Ileana Ros-Lehtinen opposes a woman's right to choice, even in the case of rape and/or incest. She isn't a moderate and she isn't an independent. She's no less extreme than the Diaz-Balarts-- and that is extreme.

Recent polling by Lake Research, the most respected Beltway polling firm, shows a very different story from the one Wasserman Schultz has been surreptitiously pushing out to the media. Although Annette is just starting to get known to most of the district, the poll shows she is already "positioned for a strong general election contest against [the] incumbent... After hearing a mix of positive and negative on both women, Taddeo pulls into a narrow lead over Ros-Lehtinen: 44% for Taddeo to 42% for Ros-Lehtinen." If Wasserman Schultz were a real Democrat she would be cheering this news instead of twisting it into negatives.

The voters’ strong desire for change, combined with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s close association with President Bush, places the incumbent Congresswoman in a vulnerable position. George W. Bush is enormously unpopular, with three-quarters of voters (75%) rating his job performance negatively, including over half the electorate (52%) who believe he is doing a poor job. This spells trouble for Ros-Lehtinen who has voted to support Bush’s policies 86% of the time. Voters’ dissatisfaction with the Republican leadership in Washington is fueling a strong mood for change, as two-thirds of the electorate (67%) believes things in the country are heading on the wrong track.

Voters prove receptive to Taddeo’s positions on a broad range of issues where Bush Republicans have failed the voters. Voters register strong dissatisfaction with Ros-Lehtinen’s lack of independence and misplaced priorities, including the lack of accomplishments on core issues including health care, economic issues, and the war in Iraq. The contrast between Taddeo’s platform and Ros-Lehtinen’s close adherence to the Bush Republican party line places Ros-Lehtinen at substantial risk at a time when voters are seeking fundamental change.

In addition to the weakness in Ros-Lehtinen’s existing support, the profile of the undecided vote looks very favorable for Taddeo. A 54% majority of undecided voters are self-described Democrats compared to just 19% who identify as Republicans. Perhaps more telling, just 6% of undecided voters say they plan on re-electing Ros-Lehtinen.

Debbie Cook, Darcy Burner, Howie, Annette Taddeo & Hilda Solis

The first I ever heard of Annette was from Joe Garcia telling me what a great candidate she is. But I noticed when the DCCC finally slapped down Wasserman Schultz and overrode her on Joe and on Raul Martinez, they still let her get her way on Ros-Lehtinen, the only one of the three not added to the Red to Blue list. Today I attended an event put on by 11 Democratic congresswomen from Southern California. Each of the 11 donated a minimum of $1,000 to each of 8 women who are running for Congress from around the country. As soon as I walked in Blue America incumbent-- and one of the event's hostesses-- Hilda Solis, introduced me to Annette about who she was extremely enthusiastic. It didn't take long before I understood why.

A successful entrepreneur, Annette is a thoughtful progressive who backs women's rights, gay rights, a quick, responsible end to the occupation of Iraq (which she has opposed from the very beginning of Bush's misadventure) and she is eager to work to get corporate bribes out of the political system. She took a strong position against warrantless wiretaps and retroactive immunity. She is extremely charismatic and made a spectacular speech during the lunch, if not stealing the show, at least sharing the spotlight with Linda Sanchez and Darcy Burner, each of whom also was greeted with thunderous applause.

Is Wasserman Schultz Changing Her Tune?

Darcy Burner and Annette Taddeo, Democratic netroots heroines

First Florida's corrupt mini-Party Boss, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, announced that although she is co-chair of the DCCC's flawed and distrusted Red to Blue program, she would continue supporting her right-wing Republican buddies in Miami-Dade, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart Brothers. She even dragged Kendrick Meek into her mess, persuading him to help her stab the 3 viable Democrats, Annette Taddeo, Joe Garcia and Raul Martinez, in the back. The reaction from grassroots and netroots Democrats was immediate... and scared the crap out of Wasserman Schultz. Meek, telling her she's on her own, publicly embraced all three Democrats, donated to their campaigns and has been helping them with their campaigns. Wasserman Schultz, under pressure from the DCCC and from Democratic activists, gave in on the Diaz-Balarts and endorsed Joe Garcia and Raul Martinez.

But in the most Democratic-leaning of the three Miami-Dade districts, DWS dug in. She declared she was sticking with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, even though Ros-Lehtinen is one of the most extremist opponents of women's choice in Congress-- no rape, no incest, no life of the mother; if your grandfather rapes you when you're 12 and you're going to die in childbirth, Ros-Lehtinen (and, by extension, her ally DWS) says grin and bear it and trust in God and a good time in Heaven.

Apparently Wasserman Schultz has taken a look at some of the recent polling in south Florida and has also seen the gigantic strides the Democratic Party registration drives have made there. Suddenly it's looking like Annette Taddeo, who Wasserman Schultz has kept off the lucrative Red to Blue list, is going to win her race with the help of grassroots activists, labor unions and Emily's List. While even Steny Hoyer's PAC has donated generously and enthusiastically to Taddeo, DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen is looking more and more like a doofus by the day. Has he and Hoyer and Meek tried to remind Wasserman Schultz she's a Democrat and no matter what kind of dubious financial arrangements she has with the corrupt Ros-Lehtinen, her job at the Red to Blue program mandates that she help elect Annette Taddeo, not protect a repulsive anti-family Bush rubber stamp? Maybe.

Although Wasserman Schultz succeeded in keeping Annette off the stage at the Denver convention when other challengers were spotlighted, she was unable to keep Annette's exuberance and energy from winning over Florida Democrats at the convention. I was shocked to see Wasserman Schultz finally take a baby step away from her unflinching support of Ros-Lehtinen today in the Miami Herald.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who earned the ire of the netroots for saying earlier this year she wouldn't get involved in the three South Florida congressional races, just gave the 3 candidates an enthusiastic go-get-em from the stage.

Rallying the faithful from the stage at the Florida delegation's breakfast, Wasserman Schultz proclaimed big wins for the Democrats. "Raul Martinez is going to beat Lincoln Diaz-Balart," she said to cheers. "Joe Garcia is going to beat Mario Diaz-Balart and Annette Taddeo is going to beat Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

"We have 66 days left," Wasserman Schultz said. "Let's work our butts off."

Yes, we do and yes we should. And we'll be watching how hard Wasserman-Schultz works on behalf of Democrats. If she doesn't, she's going to need all that right-wing Cuban money she normally hands out to other Democrats for herself in 2010. Or maybe she just enjoys the prospect of being the female version of Joe Lieberman.

Is The GOP's Anti-Hispanic Mania Putting Florida Out Of It's Grasp?

But it isn't Boehner that keeps Ros-Lentinen in office; it's Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Last week, Nate Cohn did a superb analysis of how the GOP is blowing it's chances to thrive politically in purple Florida, a state with a mighty 29 electoral votes. As he points out, it's a lot more dire than when-- for the same anti-Hispanic reasons-- they turned little New Mexico and Nevada (with 11 electoral votes between them) blue.

Florida’s Hispanic population has exploded over the last decade, growing by 57 percent between 2000 and 2010. As a result, the Hispanic share of eligible voters surged from 12.5 percent to 16.8 percent between 2004 and 2012, while non-Hispanic whites dropped from 72.2 to 65.8 percent. Those new Hispanic voters aren’t Republican-leaning Cubans, either. They’re a mix of heavily-Democratic Puerto Ricans who surged to Orlando-Kissimmee and a mix of Hispanics from elsewhere in Central and South America. As a result, Cubans now represent just 32 percent of Florida’s voting eligible Hispanics. The new Cuban voters aren’t as Republican, either: Younger third generation Cubans have little memory of the Cold War and don’t associate Democrats with Soviets, like their parents and grandparents.

The combination of Democratic gains among Hispanics nationally and an influx of more Democratic-friendly Hispanics has flipped the state’s Hispanic vote. In 2004, Florida’s Latinos voted for Bush by 12 points, 56-44. Just eight years later, Obama won Latinos by a decisive 21 points, 60-39. This huge shift has upended Florida’s well-known political geography. Orange and Osceloa Counties, home to Orlando and Kissimmee, were once the country’s premier swing counties at the heart of the country’s premier swing region, the I-4 corridor. They voted for Bush by just .07 percent and 3669 votes in 2004. But in 2012, Obama won these two counties by a massive 19 point and 111,723 vote margin. Miami-Dade County used to only lean slightly toward Democrats: it voted for Kerry by 6 points, or 48,637 votes. Now it’s a rout for Democrats. In 2012, Obama won by 24 points and 208,459 votes.

Alan Grayson won a new district in the Orlando area 185,569 (63%) to 98,984 (37%) last year, while in the Miami area Joe Garcia beat Republican incumbent David Rivera 135,551 (54%) to 108,737 (43%). Except for electoral shenanigans engineered by Debbie Wasserman Schultz with the cooperation of Steve Israel to guarantee no contest for Wasserman Schultz's Republican amiga Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Democrats would have won that Miami district as well. Obama took the district 53-47%, a huge increase after losing to McCain 49-51% there. Disgracefully, Wasserman Schultz and Israel are again making sure Ros-Lehtinen wins reelection in a blue district in 2014.

One of the easiest Republican-held districts anywhere in the nation for a Democrat to win would be FL-27, the Ros-Lehtinen seat. But there is no recruitment; there is anti-recruitment. DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has made it abundantly clear to Florida Democrats that she will not tolerate anyone credible running against Ileana, who, like her, is owned by the sugar baron Fanjul brothers. Last year Obama's 7 point margin in FL-27 was one of the highest margins of victory in any district held by a Republican Member of Congress. But Wasserman Schultz had the DCCC make sure there would be no viable candidate. The "Democrat" who ran, Manny Yevancey, still hasn't filed an FEC financial disclosure report, which means he raised and spent less than $5,000. His petitions-- which were commercially collected by a firm in Tampa that was paid by "someone else"-- is almost totally signed by folks in Tampa, not in Miami, Coral Gables, Hialeah, Miami Springs, South Miami, Westchester or anywhere else in Ros-Lehtinen's district. The total signatures on his petitions from Miami-Dade: 12. The total from Tampa: 1,147. And the other counties with significant petition numbers were also on the other side of the state, Hillsborough with 656 and Pasco with 502. Very convenient for Wasserman Schultz and Ros-Lehtinen to have a candidate with no income, no roots and no chance-- and old dirty trick that anti-democracy hacks employee.

That all said, there were still 84,899 (37%) voters willing to cast their ballots against Ros-Lehtinen and for an unknown "Democrat" who didn't campaign. Imagine if Steve Israel had ignored Wasserman Schultz' demand that Ros-Lehtinen's seat be off limits and had instead recruited a good candidate and gone after her. So far this year, Wasserman Schultz is guarding the process like a mad dog again and despite several DCCC staffers who would like to target Ros-Lehtinen, there is no movement whatsoever on recruiting a Democrat with a reasonable chance to win. There is no way for the DCCC to win back the House with this kind of leadership. Israel and Wasserman Schultz are the worst examples of why grassroots Democrats hate Inside-the-Beltway Democrats and why so many refuse to even turn up at the polls on election day.

Look at the chart above that shows the most heavily Hispanic districts held by Republicans. Numero uno is Ros-Lehtinen's district. And the 3rd most Hispanic is another one the DCCC does not contest-- also occupied by a Big Sugar amigo of Wasserman Schultz's, Mario Diaz-Balart.

Cohn, however wasn't addressing congressional races. He was talking about the electoral college and how the Republicans are blowing their chances to win the presidency because of their anti-Hispanic mania. He went on to point out that "Obama still only won Florida by less than 1 percent or 74,000 votes. That might seem to make Florida the perfect candidate for the GOP to win with additional gains among white voters-- they wouldn’t need to do so much better to win, just one more point. But the 'more whites' strategy might not work in Florida. Florida was so close because the GOP has already made huge gains among white voters-- bigger than any other battleground state. Obama lost Florida’s whites by 24 points, 10 points worse than Kerry’s more modest, 14 point defeat in 2004.

[I]f the GOP doesn’t keep making huge gains among white voters—bigger gains than they’re making nationally-- Florida’s going to go the same way as Nevada. The pace of demographic change in Florida should alarm Republicans. Think about it like this: Kerry lost Florida by 5 points in 2004. Then, Obama did 10 points worse among whites. All of this was countered and overwhelmed by demographic change and an improved showing among non-whites. Kerry’s performance among white voters would have yielded a 7-point win in 2012--12 points better than his 5 point defeat in 2004.

If the trends of the last eight years continue, the white share of eligible voters will drop again, down to something like 63 percent of eligible voters. Some 300,000 new Hispanics will get registered to vote, and they’ll break overwhelmingly for Democrats. If turnout patterns stayed the same, Republicans would need to win whites by 28 points to overcome demographic changes.

...Republicans probably can’t return to Bush’s performance among Hispanics, now that there are so many more Democratic-leaning Hispanics in Florida. But immigration reform would probably help. A Latino Decisions survey found that 39 percent of Florida Hispanics would be more likely to support a Republican who voted for immigration reform, higher than the 31 percent nationally. And although Florida Hispanics are less connected to the immigration debate than their southwestern counterparts, more than 40 percent say they know an illegal immigrant. But even if the GOP would only make slight gains among Florida Hispanics, the pace of demographic change is so great that Republicans just can’t afford to forfeit opportunities to improve in Florida. The stakes are too high. Florida is all but a must-win state for Republicans.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz-- Corrupt, Bitter, Increasingly Alone And Filled With Venom

Kendrick remembers he's a Democrat and leaves DWS on her own with the Republican extremists

This morning DavidNYC at Swing State Project revisited Debbie Wasserman Schultz' determined campaign to undermine and sabotage the efforts of Miami-Dade Democrats to replace reactionary Republican extremist-- and Wasserman Schultz crony-- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, with one of the most outstanding Democratic challengers running in this election cycle, Annette Taddeo, someone the corrupt Wasserman Schultz fears could stand in her way when she seeks higher office.

When Wasserman Schultz, co-chair of the DCCC's less and less credible "Red to Blue" program, first announced her intention to work against the election of the 3 Democrats running against her right-wing buddies-- Ros-Lehtinen plus the Diaz-Balart Brothers-- in South Florida, she suckered and bribed a more respectable south Florida Democrat, Kendrick Meek, into her scheme. Since then, pressure from the Democratic Party and from the grassroots has forced Wasserman Schultz to distance herself from the unspeakable Diaz-Balarts-- she has now allowed their opponents, Joe Garcia and Raul Martinez, into the Red to Blue program and has even given token donations to their campaigns from her PAC-- and she has been abandoned in her indefensible position by Meek who has endorsed all three candidates and donated to each as well.

In leaving Wasserman Schultz to steam in her own bile, Meek throws in with former Florida Governor and Senator Bob Graham, who sent an e-mail to every Democrat in FL-18 telling them that he's "confident that Annette Taddeo represents exactly the kind of change that our country needs" and calling her "a tough, independent-minded Democrat who will fight for the American dream. She’ll also stand up for American values, like health care for children of working families." He pointed out that Wasserman Schultz' Republican candidate, Ros-Lehtinen "voted five times against expanding KidCare in Florida. That’s five votes that Ros-Lehtinen cast with President Bush-- and against expanding health care for children, even though Florida is last in the country for children with health care coverage, and there are 250,000 uninsured children in South Florida alone." One can only hope Wasserman Schultz got one of Gov. Graham's e-mails as well. If she hasn't, you can let her know what he and other Florida Democrats think by calling her office at 202-741-7154 or 202-225-7931 and telling her to come back to the Democratic Party-- or at least resign from the DCCC Red to Blue program. 

If Wasserman Schultz backs away from her support of the extreme right (and extremely corrupt-- like DWS herself-- Ros-Lehtinen, she will be getting on board with Emily's List, United Teachers Dade, the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, International Union of Painters and Allied Tradesman, Ironworkers Political Action League, Communications Workers of Americans, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Democracy for America, the two biggest netroots PACs (Blue America and Orange to Blue), as well as Democratic congressmembers who may be a little skeptical about DWS and his motives, nemesis Charlie Rangel and a growing posse of congressional Democrats sick to their stomachs over her corruption and worried that she will drag the Democratic Party down the same path that Tom DeLay dragged the GOP. Besides Meek and Senator Russ Feingold, solid progressives like Lucille Roybal-Allard, Xavier Becerra and close Pelosi ally Hilda Solis have endorsed Annette Taddeo and contributed to her campaign. Shamefully, most members of Congress will not contribute to Democrats who haven't been endorsed by the Red to Blue program and Wasserman Schultz plans to keep Annette off that until it is too late to make a difference-- the same way she managed to keep her off the stage at the Democratic National Convention today. Wasserman Schultz is on the verge of a nervous breakdown over her pigheaded unwillingness to back away from her support of Ros-Lehtinen.

Will The DCCC Finally Take On Ileana Ros-Lehtinen In Her Bright Blue Miami District?

Before she was exposed as the corrupt and poisonous hack she's always been, Debbie Wasserman Schultz reigned supreme among South Florida Democrats. She has been able to protect her Republican cronies, particularly Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for cycle after cycle after cycle. But this days are gone. Now Wasserman Schultz will have to use all her energy and clout to protect herself from another primary challenge. Once going up against Ros Lehtinen was considered a death sentence inside the Wasserman-Schultz-controlled Democratic Party. Now people spit in Wasserman Schultz's face on the way to the microphone announcing they're running in the Miami district Ros-Lehtinen still represents.

This was the most anti-Trump Republican-held congressional district in the country. And it's been trending blue for years, something Wasserman Schultz has successfully covered up and prevented either the Democratic Party of Florida, the DNC or the DCCC from ever "noticing." In 2008, FL-27 gave McCain a 51-49% margin over Obama. By 2012, that had flipped to a 53-47% win for Obama. Last November-- very predictably-- Hillary stomped on Trump 58.6% to 38.9%, Trump's worst performance in a district with a Republican member of Congress. Even in Florida, Trump did better in several Democratic districts. But, once again-- thanks to Wasserman Schultz and her Democratic allies in DC-- Ros-Lehtinen didn't have to fight off a serious challenge. She beat an unelectable, wealthy Patrick Murphy-style quasi-Democrat 157,763 (54.9%) to 129,548 (45.1%). Scott Fuhrman funded his own campaign to the tune of $843,189 and spent a total of $887,550 against Ros-Lehtinen's $3,410,165. Neither the DCCC, the Florida Democratic Party nor the DNC lifted a hand to help him. People still weren't sure if Wasserman Schultz could bite a hand off. But her exposure as across who worked to throw the presidential primary to Hillary-- which ultimately resulted in Trump winning the White House-- and her own vulnerability in barely surviving a primary from first-time candidate Tim Canova, a Bernie backer-- she cheated flagrantly and still only managed to win 28,279 (56.8%) to 21,504 (43.2%)-- has left her weakened and almost universally despised. Hopefully Canova will end her disgraceful, moribund career in 2018.

Fuhrman is running again but Miami is buzzing this week with a serious candidate, Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, jumping in against Ros-Lehtinen. Gonzalez, a single mother of three and a a Miami Dade College professor is in her first term as a City Commissioner. In declaring she contrasted herself with Ros-Lehtinen: "We deserve a member of congress who will hold President Trump accountable. Instead of the President’s lapdog, I’ll be a watchdog who stands up for science against climate change deniers, stands up for immigrants against persecution, and fights back against partisan attacks on women’s health care."

Political Cortadito reported yesterday that "Rosen Gonzalez has already met with members of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has probably talked to a couple of different people (though the blue bench is not too deep). Other names that have come up for this seat are Jose Javier Rodriguez-- but he just moved to the Florida Senate from the House so another jump so soon would not look too good-- and State Rep. Daisy Baez, but she was just elected so she’s even more of a freshman." Local businessman Michael Hepburn is also seeking the Democratic nomination. I'll look into Hepburn and try to find out more about Rosen Gonzalez, who my Miami friends tell me is just a garden variety Democrat and not worth bothering with. Stay tuned.


UPDATE: An Endorsement

Brand New Congress just endorsed Michael Hepburn. A Bahamian-American, Hepburn is a Miami native, a member of the Miami Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and serves on the Allapattah Neighborhood Association and the Miami Dade Democratic Executive Committee. He works as a senior academic advisor for the School of Business at the University of Miami.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Announces Her Retirement-- Too Bad She's Not Taking Wasserman Schultz With Her

It was just a matter of when, but sooner or later everyone knew Ileana Ros-Lehtinen-- first elected to Congress in 1989-- would retire and FL-27 would go to the Democrats. The district has long ago left the realm of purple and has been deep blue for some time now. Only the furious on-going efforts of neighboring congresswoman and crooked crony Debbie Wasserman Schultz have kept Ros-Lehtinen safely ensconced in her seat and without serious Democratic challengers. Although the ridiculous and irrelevant clowns at Cook calculate the current PVI at R+2, Obama beat Romney 53.0% to 46.3% in 2012 and Hillary eviscerated Trumpanzee 58.6% to 38.9% last November. FL-27 was Trump's worst performance in any Republican-held congressional district in America.

So today's Miami Herald exclusive by Patricia Mazzei was huge news. With the loss of Wasserman Schultz's power to protect her, it was probably inevitable but, in Mazzei's words, "Ros-Lehtinen, the dean of the Florida legislative delegation and the first Cuban American elected to Congress, is retiring at the end of her term next year, saying it’s time to move on after 38 years in elected office... Her unexpected retirement marks the end of a storied career in which Ros-Lehtinen repeatedly broke political ground as a Cuban-American woman-- and gives Democrats an opportunity to pick up a South Florida congressional seat in 2018."

Ros-Lehtinen, 64, was elected last November to Florida’s redrawn 27th district, a stretch of Southeast Miami-Dade County that leans so Democratic that Hillary Clinton won it over Donald Trump by 20 percentage points.

Ros-Lehtinen defeated Democratic challenger Scott Fuhrman, a first-time candidate, by 10 points. It was her closest reelection race in years and forced her to deplete her $3.4 million campaign account, but she said Sunday she wasn't worried about 2018.

“There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that I would not only win in this election, but I would win by a greater percentage,” Ros-Lehtinen said, adding that she would have been able to raise at least $2.5 million and win in a midterm election without a Democratic presidential candidate leading the ballot.

But she said the prospect of another two or four or more years in Congress just didn’t appeal to her anymore.

“There was no epiphany. There was no moment, nothing that has happened that I've said, “I've got to move on,’” Ros-Lehtinen said. “It was just a realization that I could keep getting elected-- but it's not about getting elected.”

She also said she’s not leaving Congress because of her differences with President Trump or with House GOP leadership, though Ros-Lehtinen has been one of the most vocal moderate Republican critics of the White House and the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Ros-Lehtinen, who said she didn’t vote for Trump last year, has disagreed with the president on deportations, transgender rights and budget cuts, and with House Republicans on health care.

“I've served under all kinds of different dynamics in all these years that I've been in office here,” said Ros-Lehtinen, who was first elected to Congress in 1989 after seven years in the Florida Legislature. “Though I don't agree with many, if not most, positions of President Trump.”


Having Republicans control the White House, House and Senate “gives me an opportunity to stand out more and have people realize that I'm a moderate,” she said. “I'm not one of those name-callers that think the Democrats don’t have a single good idea. Too many people think that way, and I think that's to the detriment to civility and of good government.”

But, she insisted, “it's not been part of the calculation of retiring.”

“I would be talking to you even if Hillary Clinton were president,” Ros-Lehtinen said.

There were already 3 Democrats running-- the wealthy Patrick Murphy-like conservaDem who she beat last year, Scott Fuhrman; a pretty weak Miami Beach Commissioner, Kristen Rosen Gonzalez; and Berniecrat Michael Hepburn. Mazzei (and everyone else) predicts that with Ros-Lehtinen out of the picture, "others are likely to become interested now." Annette Taddeo, who was very publicly sabotaged by Wasserman Schultz when "Deadly Debbie" was the chair of the DCCC's Red-to-Blue program in 2008, is a probable candidate who could win a primary and the general election, especially if she follows her own progressive instincts and doesn't run as an EMILY's List milquetoast candidate walking on eggshells.

Steve Israel's Greatest Accomplishment Of 2014: The 2 Bluest Districts Without Democratic Candidates, Both In Florida

¿dónde está Steve?

We've made the case that Debbie Wasserman Schultz has, over the last decade, moved-- at times openly and at times stealthily-- to offer political protection to her old comrade, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Back in 2008, when Wasserman Schultz was in charge of the DCCC's Red-to-Blue program and publicly endorsing Ros-Lehtinen (and two other Miami-Dade Republicans) against Democrats, Ileana's 18th CD had a PVI of R+4. Since they, Florida has undergone some significant changes demographically (which we'll get to in a moment) and also in terms of cartology. FL-18 was redrawn into FL-27, a district evenly divided, registration-wise, between Democrats and Republicans. The last reported PVI was R+2 but by now the district is either even or D+1. In 2008 Obama lost the district (the current boundary lines) to McCain 123,543 (51%) but in 2012 won it against Romney 130,020 (53%) to 114,096 (47%).

The district is 74% Hispanic but the Cuban dominance isn't what it once was. Venezuelans, Colombians, Nicaraguans, Hondurans and Peruvians haven;'t tended to vote Republican-- and younger Cubans don't either. Little Havana itself, once the heartland of the Cuban exile community and the political base for right-wing refugees isn't nearly as Cuban-- nor nearly as Republican-- as it once was.

A vaguely competent DCCC Chairman would have told Wasserman Schultz to pipe down and targeted FL-27 as one of the easiest Red-to-Blue switches in America. Instead, Steve Israel has allowed Wasserman Schultz to recruit a ghost candidate in 2012 (Manny Yevancey, virtually all of whose ballot signatures came from the Tampa Bay area) and to frighten off all Democrats this year. FL-27 is the second bluest district in the country without a Democratic challenger. The bluest, also in Florida (FL-13), has no Democrat because Israel chased the head of the local NAACP out of the race on behalf of a Republican party switcher who was immediately caught lying about his résumé and withdrew, although not until Israel had managed to completely alienate African-Americans and progressives. And, no, Nancy Pelosi didn't fire him-- not for the screw up in FL-13 or the even worse screw up in FL-27. Who needs two seats in Florida anyway?

Between Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, South Americans and Central Americans, Cubans no longer call the shots for Spanish-speaking Floridians. At the time when Wasserman Schultz was openly calling for the reelections of Mario Diaz-Balart, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and, most strenuously, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, she was a major funnel for both right-wing Cuban political money and corrupt sugar baron into the Democratic Party. From the August 15, 2007 Hill:

When Democrats gained control of Congress, hopes were high that Cuba travel and trade restrictions would be eased by a party historically opposed to a so-called hard line on Cuba.

So far, however, the Democratic-led House has been tougher on Cuba than when Republicans controlled the lower chamber.

Sixty-six House Democrats-- including 20 members of the freshman class-- recently voted against a farm bill amendment offered by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) that would have made it easier for U.S. farmers to sell agricultural goods to Cuba.

...Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) was instrumental in winning Democratic votes against the Rangel amendment. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) told the Miami Herald that Wasserman Schultz was “a tiger” on the Rangel vote, while Antonio Zamora of the U.S.-Cuba Legal Forum described her as a key party in building Democratic opposition.

“I was about as active as you could be,” said Wasserman Schultz, a second-termer who serves as a deputy chief whip for Democrats. At the same time, she said other members such as Reps. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) and Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) also worked hard to whip opposition.

...Wasserman Schultz’s position on Cuba puts her at odds with some Democratic leaders, but she said she has no worries that this might affect her if she seeks a higher leadership position in the future.

In 2007, two state House seats inside Ros-Lehtinen's congressional district flipped from Republican to Democrat and Democratic Senator Bill Nelson ran up significant majorities there in 2006 and 2012. This has been swept under the carpet by Wasserman Schultz and Israel. This week, Pew released another report verifying what the DCCC should have been working on all decade-- that Cubans are shifting towards the Democratic Party. Steve Israel is a monkey that will not see, will not speak, will not hear. So when the DCCC asks you for money, tell them it would be more usefully spent feeding monkeys at the zoo.

Cubans in the U.S. have long identified with or leaned toward the Republican Party, even as Hispanics overall have tilted Democrat. But the party affiliation of Cubans has undergone a shift over the past decade, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of survey data.

Less than half (47%) of Cuban registered voters nationwide now say they identify with or lean toward the Republican Party-- down from the 64% who said the same about the GOP a decade ago, according to 2013 survey data. Meanwhile, the share of Cubans who identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party has doubled from 22% to 44% over the same time period, according to the survey of Hispanics.

The Cuban population in the U.S. is centered in Florida, home to seven-in-ten of the nation’s 2 million Cuban-origin Hispanics. In the 1960s, the state’s Cuban immigrant population boomed as many left the island after Fidel Castro’s rise to power. The concentration of Cuban voters subsequently helped push the overall Hispanic vote toward the Republican Party in the Sunshine State. In 2004, for example, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush won 78% of the Cuban vote in Florida, compared with 56% of the state’s Hispanics overall.

The shift is partly explained by the coming of age of U.S.-born Cubans, who have somewhat different political affiliations than their elders. Today, 44% of Cubans in the U.S. are native-born. Some 48% of Cubans ages 18 to 49 were born in the U.S., compared with 11% of Cubans who are 50 years and older.

…Looking at all Cubans, including those not registered to vote, only a third say they identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, according to the 2013 survey of Hispanics. On the other side of the aisle, some 48% of Cubans today say they identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party.

The impact of younger Cubans is reflected in those figures. Over half (56%) of Cubans ages 18 to 49 identified with or leaned toward the Democratic Party compared with 39% of those 50 years and older. Conversely, older Cubans tend to identify with or lean toward the Republican Party more than younger Cubans, by 44% to 23%. Even so, the share of older Cubans who are Republican has declined over time. In 2002, among all Cubans, some 68% who were 50 and older said they identified with or leaned toward the Republican Party.

Israel would rather waste donor money going after impossible red districts with his ridiculous Blue Dog candidates, districts he will lose… every single one of them. But what does he care? It's not his money.

Shpilkes In Little Havana For the GOP

Little Havana is part of Florida's 18th congressional district, currently represented by far right Cuban-American Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Ros-Lehtinen is a Bush rubber stamp at best and a bat-shit crazy extremist at worst. Next week's Time Magazine has a story that may well have Ros-Lehtinen and her allies, particularly corrupt Democrat Debbie Wasserman Shultz, zitstin' oyf shpilkes. Little Havana, and FL-18, used to be a reliably Republican district. Bush took 57% in 2000 and even after people experienced 4 years of his incompetent and venal rule, he still got 54% in 2004. After first being elected in 1989, Ros-Lehtinen has never gotten less than 60% of the vote and from 1994 until 2002 the Democrats didn't even run anyone against her! No one expects Ros-Lehtinen to have an easy ride to re-election this November, regardless of Wasserman Schultz' ongoing and ruthlessly determined campaign to undermine her Democratic opponent, Annette Taddeo. Little Havana, like FL-18, has changed dramatically, while Ros-Lehtinen has remained frozen in time, despite Wasserman Schultz' strategy of having her repeatedly scurrying across the aisle to vote with Democrats for the past 2 months-- hoping against hope that Miami-Dade voters will forget her nearly 2 decades of right-wing extremism.

Ironically, the Time article, like the NY Times story last month, used insidious Wasserman Schultz sources to push her "inevitability" meme-- that although the Diaz-Balart Brothers may lose their seats, Wasserman Schultz' best friend and partner in crime, Ros-Lehtinen, can't be beaten. This ignores what an atrocious representative Ros-Lehtinen has been, what an incredible alternative Annette Taddeo is, and the simple fact that FL-18 is the most Democratic of the three districts! Little Havana, which Time trumpets being so changed happens to not be in either Diaz-Balart district but in FL-18.

Time talks about a 5% lead that Mario Diaz-Balart holds over Joe Garcia but that was before the new voter registration numbers came out showing that GOP advantages have all but vanished. In the last 2 years the GOP voter registration advantage in Ros-Lehtienen's district has shunk from 22,000 voters to 8,000. By election time the advantage may well be with the Democrats. On top of that the 38-36% Republican registration advantage is negated by the fact that recent polls show the 23% of independents in the district breaking strongly (2 to 1) for Taddeo and against Ros-Lehtinen.

The unexpected tests spell trouble not just for the GOP but also for what has long been the staple of Miami politics: open hostility to the Castro regime in Havana. "These were once considered the safest Republican seats in Florida, if not the country," says political analyst Dario Moreno of Miami's Florida International University (FIU). "But waving the bloody shirt of anti-Castro politics is less effective now."

...Some of the shift stems from elderly voters like Coto, but younger Cuban Americans are restless too. Like their elders, they want to liberate Cuba, but they also want to get by in Miami, where the middle class is shriveling and home foreclosures are soaring. "I'm not running for President of Cuba," says Martinez. "Cuban Americans finally see themselves as part of the wider U.S.A., and they care about other issues."

Florida Democrats are drawing new strength from a growing number of non-Cuban Latinos. Miami's third Cuban-American Representative, 10-term GOP incumbent Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, usually faces token opposition, if any. Her 18th District is still 65% Latino, but it is less than 30% Cuban today. That has emboldened Democrats like her challenger, Colombian-American businesswoman Annette Taddeo, whose constituents worry less about Havana than about immigration, health care and U.S. indifference toward the rest of Latin America.

Still, a likely decisive issue in these races involves Cuba. In 2004, as a gift to conservatives, President Bush tightened restrictions on travel and remittances to the island. Cuban Americans--only those who have immediate family members in Cuba--can now visit just once every three years and send only $300 each quarter. The move backfired: most Miami Cubans oppose the new rules, according to an FIU poll, and they have been particularly unpopular among younger Cuban Americans. That was a big reason Miami computer programmer and lifelong Republican Joe Infante, 47, who has relatives in Cuba he can no longer visit, is now a registered Democrat. The regulations, he says, "have kept Cuban families separated but haven't put a dent in the Cuban regime." The move suggests that leaders of Florida's anti-Castro movement may have lost touch with the region's changing demographics. What would have worked in 1985 to deepen GOP support had the opposite effect in today's more diverse Miami. Says Garcia, sipping a café cubano in Little Havana: "Bush succeeded in dividing what was once a monolithic vote for his party."

Blue America has enthusiastically endorsed Joe Garcia and Annette Taddeo. For the next 24 hours anyone who donates to both candidates through our Blue America ActBlue page will get a brand new Matt Keating double CD, Quixotic.

Can The Democrats Retake The House Next Year?

Steve Israel's talking point is "problem solvers." He repeats it like a mantra. But there's something else interesting that he said in his interview with USA Today, in response to a question about what it means that the DCCC spent so lavishly in South Carolina a few weeks ago, only to lose-- and by a wide margin-- to one of the most flawed Republican candidates ever, Mark Sanford. Israel pointed out the SC-01 "is one of the 100 most Republican districts in the country (which isn't exactly true. The PVI is R+11 and it's ranked the 118th most Republican): "I made a decision that we're not going to give up on any district and we're not going to give up on any candidate... It would have been easy for me to walk away, but we'll fight wherever we have a chance." Almost sounds less reptilian... and more like Churchill.

As we mentioned before a few times, last year Israel very much did walk away from Jim Graves in his race against Michele Bachmann. After putting him on the Red to Blue list, Israel decided not to spend any money at all in the district. Bachmann spent $11,946,232 to Graves' $2,279,384 but he came a lot closer to beating her than many of Israel's handpicked candidates where the DCCC spent millions. The 4,197 votes by which Bachmann beat Graves would certainly have been made up had the DCCC spent the kind of money in MN-06 that they spent bolstering losing candidates like Blue Dog Gary McDowell (1,282,979), Blue Dog Brendan Mullen ($483,721), New Dem Julian Schreibman ($2,037,612), Joe Oceguera ($2,649,541) or Pat Kreitlow ($2,069,595) to name a few.

And Graves wasn't the only viable Democratic candidate Israel gave the cold shoulder-- and a cold shoulder often comes with an explicit message to big donors to NOT give contributions. Had Israel been even vaguely competent last go-round, among the Republicans who wouldn't be serving in Congress this session are right-wingers in MUCH bluer districts than Bachmann's. These are Republicans who could have been defeated had Steve Israel just done his job. None comes from an R+11 district like SC-01. In fact none comes from a district above R+4-- and all are powerful GOP House leaders who were actively protected by Steve Israel:

• Darrell Issa (CA)
• John Mica (FL)
• Joe Pitts (PA)
• Scott Garrett (NJ)
• Paul Ryan (WI)
• Buck McKeon (CA)
• Frank Wolf (VA)
• Mike Rogers (MI)
• John Kline (MN)
• Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL)
• Fred Upton (MI)
• Peter King (NY)

And this dozen only includes committee chairs and powerful Members that Israel put off the table, despite their political vulnerabilities and despite, in some cases, excellent Democratic candidates. The good news is that Israel may be lightening up on his protection racket a little and allowing DCCC staffers some leeway in going after vulnerable big shot Republicans. As you can see in the video above, he's very enthusiastic about Jim Graves this time around. There are reasons to believe he is equally enthusiastic about targeting Kline, McKeon and Garrett... at least a small step in the right direction.

There's a new national poll out that shows registered voters prefer to have a Democrat win their district than a Republican. And the margin is significant-- 48% of respondents picked the generic Democrat and 40% picked the generic Republican. But voters don't usually chose between generic candidates. That's why recruitment this year will determine what happens in November 2014.

One of the easiest districts for a Democrat to win would be FL-27, the seat now held by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. But there is no recruitment; there is anti-recruitment. DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has made it abundantly clear to Florida Democrats that she will not tolerate anyone credible running against Ileana, who, like her, is owned by the sugar baron Fanjul brothers. Last year Obama's 7 point margin in FL-27 was one of the highest margins of victory in any district held by a Republican Member of Congress. But Wasserman Schultz had the DCCC make sure there would be no viable candidate. The "Democrat" who ran, Manny Yevancey, still hasn't filed an FEC financial disclosure report, which means he raised and spent less than $5,000. His petitions-- which were commercially collected by a firm in Tampa that was paid by "someone else"-- is almost totally signed by folks in Tampa, not in Miami, Coral Gables, Hialeah, Miami Springs, South Miami, Westchester or anywhere else in Ros-Lehtinen's district. The total signatures on his petitions from Miami-Dade- 12. The total from Tampa- 1,147. And the other counties with significant petition numbers were also on the other side of the state, Hillsborough with 656 and Pasco with 502. Very convenient for Wasserman Schultz and Ros-Lehtinen to have a candidate with no income, no roots and no chance-- and old dirty trick that anti-democracy hacks employee.

That all said, there were still 84,899 (37%) voters willing to cast their ballots against Ros-Lehtinen and for an unknown "Democrat" who didn't campaign. Imagine if Steve Israel had ignored Wasserman Schultz' demand that Ros-Lehtinen's seat be off limits and had instead recruited a good candidate and gone after her. So far this year, Wasserman Schultz is guarding the process like a mad dog again and despite several DCCC staffers who would like to target Ros-Lehtinen, there is no movement whatsoever on recruiting a Democrat with a reasonable chance to win. There is no way for the DCCC to win back the House with this kind of leadership. Israel and Wasserman Schultz are the worst examples of why grassroots Democrats hate Inside-the-Beltway Democrats and why so many refuse to even turn up at the polls on election day. When Nancy Pelosi re-appointed Steve Israel to chair the DCCC again this year, she sealed the fate of her party to be in the minority again for the 114th Congress.

Is There A Democrat In Congress More Corrupt Than Debbie Wasserman Schultz?

This morning I got my daily "give me your money" e-mail from one of America's most corrupt politicians, Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). The subject line was "Petition: Clean Up Campaign Finance" and instead of deleting it unopened like I do with 90% of her spam, I opened it to examine the latest hypocrisy from the sleazy New Dem trying to accumulate as much money as she can in a push to bribe fellow Democratic House members to make her party leader when Pelosi retires or when Pelosi and Hoyer retire. "Dear Friend," she began with every bit of the ugly insincerity that defines her being.

Outside right-wing groups are on track to spend more than $2 billion on this year’s elections. And we can all thank Citizens United for that deluge of spending.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United has fundamentally changed the way our elections work. Anonymous donors like the Koch brothers can now hide behind front groups and pull the strings in a way that corrupts and debases our democracy.

…The whole point of elections is to make the voice of the people heard. The whole point of campaign finance laws is to restrict the corrosive influence of money on politics."

Two of the industries helping to finance Wasserman Schultz's rise to power inside the House caucus are private prisons-- on whose behalf she opposes legalizing medical marijuana-- and, much more so, Big Sugar.

It was her ties to Big Sugar, in fact, that first made DWT aware of the depth of corruption that defines what a revolting character Wasserman Schultz is. Back when Wasserman Schultz was the head of the DCCC's Red to Blue program in 2008, she endorsed 3 corrupt Republican amigos-- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart-- over three Democrats. Chris Van Hollen fired her a Red to Blue chair, but not before her toxicity had taken root. That year Wasserman Schultz helped beat Joe Garcia, who eventually made it to Congress anyway and helped beat Annette Taddeo, who is running for Lt. Governor today. Neither likes talking about Wasserman Schultz's corruption but both have told intimates she's lower than a snake. In Florida Democratic politics if you don't make an effort to get along with her, you can find yourself face down in a swamp, metaphorically speaking. That was when other Members of Congress first started telling me that Wasserman Schultz was a funnel for far right Cuban money to Democratic members of the House and for sugar cane money (which is behind anything that will keep the U.S. from normal relations with Cuba). One Member pointed me to an August 15, 2007 article in The Hill:

When Democrats gained control of Congress, hopes were high that Cuba travel and trade restrictions would be eased by a party historically opposed to a so-called hard line on Cuba.

So far, however, the Democratic-led House has been tougher on Cuba than when Republicans controlled the lower chamber.

Sixty-six House Democrats-- including 20 members of the freshman class-- recently voted against a farm bill amendment offered by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) that would have made it easier for U.S. farmers to sell agricultural goods to Cuba.

...Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) was instrumental in winning Democratic votes against the Rangel amendment. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) told the Miami Herald that Wasserman Schultz was “a tiger” on the Rangel vote, while Antonio Zamora of the U.S.-Cuba Legal Forum described her as a key party in building Democratic opposition.

“I was about as active as you could be,” said Wasserman Schultz, a second-termer who serves as a deputy chief whip for Democrats. At the same time, she said other members such as Reps. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) and Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) also worked hard to whip opposition.

...Wasserman Schultz’s position on Cuba puts her at odds with some Democratic leaders, but she said she has no worries that this might affect her if she seeks a higher leadership position in the future.

Wasserman Schultz directed payments from a Big Sugar-funded right-wing front group, the US-Cuba Democracy PAC to hand over $320,000 to Democrats of her choice that cycle. Fifty-two of the 66 Democrats who voted against Rangel’s amendment received one or more contributions from the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC that year. Wasserman Schultz's own leadership PAC gave nearly a quarter million dollars to Democrats running for re-election and election in the House that year. Between the US-Cuba Democracy PAC and her own sleazy Democrats Win Seats PAC this is how much loot Wasserman Schultz was able to direct to Democratic freshmen willing to sell her their votes, even from congressmen representing agricultural districts where this amendment would have had widespread support. The first amount comes from the US-Cuba Democracy PAC and the second came directly from the shady Wasserman Schultz PAC. You'll notice that the majority of these corrupt conservative Wasserman Schultz allies have since then been defeated for reelection by their constituents:

• Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA) $8,000 + $5,000
• Mike Arcuri (Blue Dog-NY) $4,000 + $2,000
• Bruce Braley (D-IA) $5,000
• Chris Carney (Blue Dog-PA) $7,000 + $7,500
• Kathy Castor (D-FL) $2,000
• Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN) $3,000 + $5,000
• Brad Ellsworth (Blue Dog-IN) $3,000 + $3,000
• Gabby Giffords (Blue Dog-AZ) $5,000 + $5,000
• Kirsten Gillibrand (Blue Dog-NY) $8,000 + $4,000
• Phil Hare (D-IL) $9,000 + $1,000
• Ron Klein (D-FL) $10,000 + $4,000
• Tim Mahoney (Blue Dog-FL) $10,000 + $7,500
• Harry Mitchell (Blue Dog-AZ) 0 + $4,000
• Patrick Murphy (Blue Dog-PA) $6,000 + $4,000
• Joe Sestak (D-PA) $1,000 + $2,000
• Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC) $7,000 + $5,000
• Albio Sires (D-NJ) $10,000
• Zach Space (Blue Dog-OH) $7,000 +$4,000

Today Wasserman Schultz is fighting against Florida Democrats who want to legalize medical marijuana. She's against that but will have your legs cut off if you do anything that is perceived by her crooked financiers, the sugar baron Fanjul brothers, as undercutting a much bigger health risk to Americans: sugar.

Florida Democratic Party heavy-weight, John Morgan, pointed out to the Miami Herald that among "most-powerful players in Washington, D.C… Debbie Wasserman Schultz isn’t just disliked, she’s despised. She’s an irritant." Her status as "an irritant" is still something most Florida politicians only whisper about, but the whispering is becoming louder and louder and more persistent. "Yeah," one Member told me, "everyone thinks she's a total phony you have to watch your back around... everyone is afraid of her. Pelosi hates her too but she's like a force of nature… She's grasping in a way that very few other Members are and she's pretty single-minded when it comes to blind ambition. She does buy a lot of 'friends' though."