This Cycle's Biggest Turkey: Meet Steve Israel (D-NY)

All the votes are counted and all the races decided-- although there's a Republican vs Republican runoff in Louisiana and a recount pending in North Carolina that could put Blue Dog Mike McIntyre's razor thin win in jeopardy-- and the make up of the new Congress goes from 240 Republicans and 190 Democrats to 234 Republicans and 201 Democrats. Nationally Democrats won slightly over half a million more votes in congressional races but because of grotesquely partisan gerrymandering by Republican-controlled state legislatures in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and North Carolina winning a majority of seats is virtually impossible.

Nevertheless, earlier in September Nancy Pelosi predicted that Democrats would win back the 25 House seats they needed to make her Speaker again. In fact, she told the media, the Democrats were on track to win a net of at least 27 seats. The man she had picked to chair the DCCC, Steve Israel, had given her the dope. "Steve," she gushed to the press, "has sufficient reptilian tendencies to do the job.” The Free Dictionary defines "reptilian" as "Despicable; treacherous" and "mean or treacherous; contemptible reptilian behaviour." Webster uses it to describe a villain: "cold-bloodedly treacherous."

A former Blue Dog and New Dem, Israel left those caucuses to pursue a leadership role in the House Democratic Caucus. He excels in raising money from corporate interests and especially from Wall Street and making sure they feel like they've gotten their money's worth. In a rationally organized societal situation Steve Israel would be sharing a prison cell with Duke Cunningham or Tom DeLay. Inside the House Democratic Caucus, he's hailed as a leader. Even after he dismally failed to win the 25-- let alone the 27-- seats he promised Pelosi, he was reappointed DCCC chairman for the next cycle.

Some observers chalk up Israel's failure to poor targeting and leave it at that. Poor targeting was certainly the problem. But leaving it to that is as well. It became apparent from the moment Israel took over the Committee that winning back the majority wasn't his primary goal; restocking the Caucus with "his kind of Democrats" was his primary goal. His kind of Democrats are not progressive, are not reformers, are not independent-thinkers. Steve Israel's world is a world based on corruption and his primary interest wasn't making sure there are more Democrats in the House than Republicans, it was making sure there were more corrupt Democrats in the House than independent-thinking reformers and progressives. He succeeded.

Early in the campaign I met a very wealthy, very powerful woman who I had been avoiding for a couple of years. Because of the legitimacy my former position in the music industry could bring to a fledgling endeavor, she had been trying to get me to join the board of a company she was putting together. My interest in the project was less than zero and I managed to avoid ever meeting her. And then... a wrinkle. It turns out she's one of the biggest Democratic contributors in California. And, I was told by an intermediary, she was willing to raise big money for Rob Zerban, the progressive candidate against Paul Ryan who was being stonewalled by Steve Israel and the DCCC-- and who was a top priority for Blue America. I'm easy; I even agreed to meet at the single most repulsive plutocratic watering hole in Los Angeles. I was sitting and reading Chris Mooney's brilliant new book, The Republican Brain when she swept into the restaurant. The first words out of her mouth, perhaps before even "hello," were that "your candidate" wasn't really going to run. She had just spoken with "Steve," she assured me, and he had told her not to waste her time or money. Rob Zerban wasn't the Democratic candidate and wouldn't even be running. The meeting went downhill from there.

In the end Rob Zerban was able to raise more money with no DCCC help than many of the candidates being pushed to wealthy donors and institutional organizations by Israel and the DCCC. The DCCC, always committed to giving Ryan a safe reelection, put two Democrats on their Red-to-Blue list, though neither was Zerban, even though Ryan's district was won by Obama in 2008-- 191,901 to 177,162. Voters there knew how to pull a lever for Democrats. It's not a situation like it is in districts where Israel spent millions and millions of dollars where voters do not consider voting for Democrats. The payoff, though, in those kinds of districts would be golden for Israel: Blue Dogs and New Dems. We'll come back to that in a moment. Let's stick with Wisconsin for another moment.

Israel and the DCCC routinely claim that progressive candidates they don't want to support can't raise any money and are therefore not serious contenders. They especially tell this to the lazy Beltway media and punditocracy, as well as to big donors and institutional donors. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because the Beltway media refuses to consider the races serious and the big donors refuse to "waste" their money on non-serious races.

As of the October 17 FEC filing deadline, Zerban has raised $2,117,162, almost entirely from the grassroots and in the face of relentless and determined DCCC sabotage. The DCCC and its allies spent nothing in the district. The single biggest outside spender was Blue America at around $22,000 and the only other expenditure of note was $3,000 from the SEIU.

Meanwhile, the DCCC was frantically helping two more Establishment candidates, New Dem Jamie Wall and top priority Pat Kreitlow. Wall, based almost entirely on DCCC help, raised $1,016,688 (less than half what Zerban raised) and a third of that ($334,778) came from PACs pushed by the DCCC. Before just giving up on the race entirely, the DCCC spent $87,664 on TV advertising against inconsequential Republican incumbent Reid Ribble. The other candidate the DCCC backed was Pat Kreitlow, who ran against GOP up-and-comer Sean Duffy. Kreitlow raised $1,176,147, with $389,719 of that coming from DCCC motivated PACs. And the DCCC itself spent $2,003,084 attacking Duffy while their junior partners at the House Majority PAC kicked in another $366,167 in independent expenditures.

In the 8th district Wall drew 156,371 votes (44.1%) to Ribble's 198,464 (55.9%). In the 7th district it was Kreitlow 157,340 (43.9%) to Duffy's 201,318 (56.1%) and in the 1st CD, Zerban managed to win 157,721 votes (43.4%) to Ryan's 199,715 (54.9%). That was easily the closest Ryan has ever come to being defeated since he was first elected in the traditionally Democratic seat in 1998. The DCCC has always moved aggressively to protect him from serious challengers, usually by manipulating Democratic candidate selection. But today's post isn't about WI-01 or Zerban or Wisconsin. It's about Steve Israel and the DCCC and how they work to hold back progressives and boost more conservative Democrats. What they did to Zerban is typical of what they do everywhere.

Let's go back to Israel's targeting for a moment. He made it clear from the get-go he wouldn't go after any Republican leaders, policy makers, committee chairs or anyone from the ultra-secretive shady little bipartisan Conservative-Consensus fraternity he founded, the Center Aisle Caucus. That pretty much excluded everyone but a bunch of unknown backbenchers, predominantly freshmen. The DCCC targeted one "national figure," the clownish Allen West (who spent nearly $20,000,000 and only to be defeated 166,223- 164,316), but not his female counterpart, Michele Bachmann (who spent nearly $20,000,000 and barely won reelection, 180,131- 175,923). Israel decided to back Murphy, a lifelong Republican who joined the New Dems and who Israel could be sure would never allow a progressive, reformist or independent thought to cross his mind, while ignoring the far more substantial Jim Graves in Minnesota, a very independent-minded, reform-minded, anti-corruption good government type with a pretty progressive economic agenda. The DCCC and House Majority PAC spent $3,036,163 helping Murphy. Although at the very end of the campaign-- when it was far too late to make any difference-- the DCCC put Graves on the Red-to-Blue program with Murphy and other candidates they were backing, they spent exactly zero on his race, the exact same amount the House Majority PAC spent. Graves' only two substantial independent expenditures came from CREDO ($37,806) and NARAL ($11,482). Could the DCCC have swung the race by helping get another 4,500 votes for Graves by using some of the money they wasted on losing right wing Democrats like Leonard Boswell ($2,090,111), Ben Chandler ($332,393), Mark Critz ($2,430,306), Kathy Hochul ($1,112,785), Sal Pace ($453,626), Brendan Mullen ($470,872), David Crooks ($516,483), Gary McDowell ($1,218,594), Charlie Wilson ($2,513,712), Nick Lampson ($163,722) and Eric Stewart ($298,914)? Easily! But that would have messed with Israel's targeting goals.

Several progressives won without any help from the DCCC-- Alan Grayson (FL), Alan Lowenthal (CA), Mark Takano (CA), Beto O'Rourke (TX) from the Blue America list-- but how many more progressives would have won with some of that money Israel spent on losing New Dems and Blue Dogs? Certainly Syed Taj in Michigan, Nate Shinagawa in New York and Lee Rogers in California. Possibly as many as another dozen with real efforts by the DCCC, enough to have brought the final "score" to 216 Democrats and 219 Republicans. And we're just talking about pro-Choice, pro-equality, pro-working family Democrats-- the ones from the FDR wing, not more anti-Choice/anti-gay Blue Dogs and not more New Dems who live to grovel for scraps from corporate dinner tables while selling out traditional Democratic constituencies-- particularly working families. One very experienced and very savvy campaign manager says it's more than just Israel's anti-progressive ideology that destroyed so many progressives; it's the systemic corruption that defines the DCCC. "You get blackballed," he told me on the phone yesterday, "when you don't use their high-price media people and their pollsters. They all want kickbacks."

Nate Shinagawa's race against medical bill collector, racist pig and Tea Party incumbent Tom Reed was always a winnable one that Israel stubbornly ignored. Red-to-Blue chair Donna Edwards campaigned with Nate in the district and gave him her own contributions-- but could never get Israel to put him on the Red-to-Blue list, let alone spend any money on him. Nate, who was ahead much of election night, ultimately lost-- 126,519- 117,055. Reed had raised $1,977,658 and Nate brought in $709,727. The DCCC spent nothing in the district. Even a modest independent expenditure would have swung the race to Nate, who not only had to battle Reed but was up against over a million dollars in outside spending from special interests eager to keep Reed in power, particularly the National Association of Realtors, whose PACs bolstered him with $700,000 in advertising. In contrast, the only outside spending for Nate was from the United Steelworkers, $423.

In Michigan's 11th district, Israel claimed Dr. Syed Taj had a funny accent-- a polite way of Israel admitting he's an Islamaphobic asshole-- and he refused to take a seat that was just waiting to be plucked. Crazed teabagger and reindeer farmer Kerry Bentovolio had nearly a million dollars spent by outside right-wing groups on his behalf. The DCCC spent $10,000 in the race and then ignored it and allowed Bentovolio to win 1811,796 (51%)- 158,889 (44%). This is the garbage that was thrown against Dr. Taj which the DCCC refused to respond to:



In CA-25, House Armed Services Committee chair was more vulnerable than ever in his career. Israel never tired of telling donors and institutional players that it wasn't a serious race. Other than Paul Ryan, no Republican incumbent got as much protection from Israel as Buck McKeon, who managed to keep Lee Rogers' campaign off the national radar. McKeon raised $1,869,645 and, with Israel urging wealthy Democratic to not contribute to Rogers, Rogers raised $333,391. Despite the antipathy from Israel, no candidate has ever come closer to beating McKeon, one of Congress' most toxic characters. A post-election chart in the NY Times shows McKeon is now the second most likely Republican to lose his seat. That's exactly what a DCCC chair is supposed to know-- and act on-- before it's reported in newspapers a continent away.

Pelosi decided to double down and reward Israel for his abysmal failure, reappointing him chair of the DCCC, virtually guaranteeing that John Boehner will be Speaker at least until 2016-- unless he's removed by his own caucus-- and guaranteeing that the House Democratic caucus will be less progressive and more subservient to the Wall Street interests Steve Israel is dedicated to serving.

Mr. Trumpanzee And Steve Israel Should Debate-- On Long Island-- Who's Been The Worst Racist

Hillary, her campaign and her surrogates, backed by the media and by prominent African Americans played the race card against Mr. Trumpanzee last week. It was an effective attack. Hillary's speech was one of the best I've ever heard her give. (Listen to it on the video above.) The NY Times went into more depth about Trumpanzee family racism going all the way back to when his father was a street-brawling KKK thug and Donald was a snot-nosed, spoiled teenager discriminating against would-be African American renters (the theme of a new, rediscovered Woody Guthrie song you can listen to here). Trumpanzee, Sr. was grooming his 17 year old heir who "would soon enroll at Fordham University in the Bronx, living at his parents’ home in Queens and spending much of his free time touring construction sites in his father’s Cadillac, driven by a black chauffeur."

Over the next decade, as Donald J. Trump assumed an increasingly prominent role in the business, the company’s practice of turning away potential black tenants was painstakingly documented by activists and organizations that viewed equal housing as the next frontier in the civil rights struggle.

The Justice Department undertook its own investigation and, in 1973, sued Trump Management for discriminating against blacks. Both Fred Trump, the company’s chairman, and Donald Trump, its president, were named as defendants. It was front-page news, and for Donald, amounted to his debut in the public eye.

“Absolutely ridiculous,” he was quoted as saying of the government’s allegations.

Looking back, Mr. Trump’s response to the lawsuit can be seen as presaging his handling of subsequent challenges, in business and in politics. Rather than quietly trying to settle-- as another New York developer had done a couple of years earlier-- he turned the lawsuit into a protracted battle, complete with angry denials, character assassination, charges that the government was trying to force him to rent to “welfare recipients” and a $100 million countersuit accusing the Justice Department of defamation.

When it was over, Mr. Trump declared victory, emphasizing that the consent decree he ultimately signed did not include an admission of guilt.

But an investigation by the New York Times-- drawing on decades-old files from the New York City Commission on Human Rights, internal Justice Department records, court documents and interviews with tenants, civil rights activists and prosecutors-- uncovered a long history of racial bias at his family’s properties, in New York and beyond.

The Times successfully lays out the case proving the Trumpanzees-- Fred and Donald-- were vicious racists and acted on that racism again and again over the course of decades, basically telling qualified black and Hispanic families that there were no vacancies in their buildings and then renting them to white families instead. Horrible and intolerable. AND, the Democratic Party hypocrites who are self-righteously denouncing Trump could look a little closer to home if they want to denounce a vile and disgusting racist.

I don't know for sure whether Pelosi knew Steve Israel is a virulent racist when she appointed him DCCC chair. I'm told the appointment was just about 3 things: Israel could raise a lot of dirty Wall Street money without any feelings of guilt; Israel's only rival for the job was Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who Pelosi detests and doesn't trust; and Pelosi knew Israel would be loyal. Why should she have suspected Israel was a racist at the time? He was one of the only Democrats in the northeast to join the largely Southern, totally racist Blue Dogs. And as a low-end political hack back on Long Island, he always catered to the same kind of bigots the Trumpanzee family was catering to with their racist housing policies.

As DCCC chair Israel didn't cotton to the idea of black politicians running in non-black majority districts. We started looking into that after Israel's and the DCCC's disastrous performance during the 2014 midterms. One unexpected loss for the Democrats came in Cliven Bundy country-- NV-04, a blue district that includes the Vegas suburbs with a PVI of D+4 and where Obama beat McCain 56-41% and beat Romney 54-44%. GOP nut-case Cresent Hardy beat freshman Steven Horsford 63,435 (48.5%) to 59,800 (45.8%). Horsford spent $1,251,106 to Hardy's $266,412. But it was a massive and unanswered $1,072,596 smear campaign by Rove's Crossroads GPS that did Horsford in. (All in the DCCC and its House Majority PAC was too busy wasting tens of millions of dollars on hopeless Blue Dogs like Barrow and Rahall to help Horsford; they only spent an inadequate $478,691 on his race.) The Crew of 42, which blogs about the Congressional Black Caucus, posted an interesting twist on how Steve Israel and the DCCC pushed Horsford into a loss.

Several sources close to the situation reveal that Rep. Horsford was asked to match a DCCC contribution of $80,000 to assist his campaign in closing weeks before November 4th. Horsford’s fellow Black Caucus members were particularly incensed by this tidbit of information because they say Horsford was asked to match while other Dems were being funded by DCCC in a big way.

As a freshman member in a swing district, many believe Horsford should have been selected for the “frontline” list as so many other freshman in challenging districts are. Now that members find Horsford was asked to match funds in late October-- the outrage has swung into a new phase.

A dozen members and staffers with decades of experience who were asked if they ever heard of a member having to match funds with DCCC in late October say they’ve never heard of such a thing happening before. That, mixed with Horsford not being included on a list of “frontline candidates” announced by DCCC Chair Steve Israel in March 2013 has members mad. The anger is connected to the fact that Horsford, the former Majority Leader or the Nevada Senate, is viewed as exactly the type of young member House Democrats should fiercely protect. Horsford’s district is majority white and his rise to Congress represents a winning moment over the new demographics that is rarely seen in the House: A Black member winning in a non-majority white district in a red state. Horsford has been seen at meetings this week and his colleague are confident they will see him again in 2017. But to be sure, he’s taking the loss way better than they are.

The "frontline" candidate list for 2014 included several freshman Democrats in swing districts including Reps. Ron Barber, Ami Bera, Elizabeth Esty, Cheri Bustos, Ann Kuster and Bill Enyart. Being part of the DCCC’s frontline effort is a way of “protecting nearly every vulnerable incumbent who was not affected by redistricting,” according to the DCCC. Those candidates were very well funded by DCCC this cycle.

...One of the more interesting late October money drops from DCCC went to Domenic Recchia, who lost to Rep. Michael Grimm 55-42%-- even though Grimm was indicted on 2o counts by federal prosecutors for fraud, obstruction and perjury in April 2014.

After two candidates declined to take Grimm on, DCCC Chair Steve Israel’s third recruiting choice was Recchia. Though he proved to be less than an inspiring candidate, DCCC spent $1,570,059 to assist his campaign. On October 16, the DCCC spent $127,000 on opposition ads on Grimm. On October 23, the DCCC spent $129,000 on another media buy to assist Recchia. House Majority PAC also dropped $1.1 million to assist Recchia on October 29.

The sanctimonious Israel defended himself in-- of course-- Politico, telling them that "I will accept full responsibility for not doing all we should have, or for doing things we shouldn’t have, [but-- finishing the sentence by rejecting any sense of responsibility whatsoever] this criticism is misplaced. We had been talking to Steve for a very long time, knowing how tough that district was. I am not going to get into private conversations, but there was a consensus with his team and our team that he should not have Frontline status." The CBC-- and chairwoman Marcia Fudge in particular, could barely contain their rage at Israel's racism. And Israel's role in letting Horsford lose the seat wasn't the first time he pulled that kind of a stunt. Two years earlier, Pelosi should have been alerted to what he was up to in regard to a House seat in Omaha. The same folks at Crew of 42 who told us about the Horsford news, went back into history and saw the DCCC doing the same thing in 2012 to an African-American candidate in Omaha, Nebraska. This cycle, the DCCC spent $1,432,187 on white Blue Dog Brad Ashford and managed to defeat GOP incumbent Lee Terry, one of only two Republican incumbents defeated this cycle. In 2012, when John Ewing ran, the DCCC spent nothing, although Pelosi's own House Majority PAC threw in an ineffective $164,736... and Ewing lost by less than 6,000 votes-- 127,119 (51%) to 121,165 (49%). It's "one of the many reasons why there is a continuing schism between the Black Caucus and the DCCC. The simple fact is that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has shown little interest in recruiting and funding Black candidates for Congress-- even at a time when African Americans are winning in congressional districts that are not even close to being majority Black (see: Reps. Waters, Rangel, Cleaver, Bass, Green, Ellison, Lee, Carson, Horsford, Hurd, Coleman, Veasey, Moore, Love…)." Steve Israel's resignation from the DCCC may help fix this problem-- but not this cycle.

As we explained earlier, Long Island's 2nd congressional district-- the South Shore, stretching from Levittown, Seaford and Massapequa in Nassau through Lindenhurst and Babylon deep into some of the bluest parts of Suffolk County like Islip, Brentwood and Ronkonkoma to the outskirts of Patchogue-- has it's best candidate in living memory against Trumpist Peter King. That candidate is DuWayne Gregory, a military vet and the well-respected presiding officer of the Suffolk County legislature. With Trump tanking in the Long Island suburbs and Hillary (and Schumer) expected to run up massive wins in Nassau and Suffolk, the Democrats have never had such a great opportunity to win NY-02. Unfortunately, in Israel's eyes, Gregory is African-American and shouldn't be running in a white district. He's persuaded the DCCC to ignore the election and just let King walk away with it again without a fight. That's Steve Israel-- and that'sNancy Pelosi and, I'm afraid, that's the Democratic Party-- denouncing Trump's racism out of one side of it's mouth, while enabling a racist pig like Steve Israel to destroy the careers of promising African-American politicians.

Despite Steve Israel and Nancy Pelosi, DuWayne Gregory can still win the seat, but he'll need some grassroots help. So... if you can, please consider contributing to his campaign by tapping on the thermometer:

Why Can't The DCCC Win-- Even When Districts Are Handed To Them On Silver Platters?

Losers, dragging the House Dems down with them

Polling results showing Hillary leading Mr. Trumpanzee in the Philly suburbs are stunning. Those suburbs are considered among the most swingy districts in the country but she's ahead of him by 40 points! So you'd like even the DCCC-- as lame and incompetent as it is-- could win the 3 districts that make up those 'burbs, right? Of course not; haven't you been paying attention for the last 10 years or so?

The Republican state legislature has gerrymandered 2 of the 3 congressional districts into misshapen Frankenstein-monstrosites, PA-06 and PA-07, which should be stuck down by a court based solely on the way they look on a map-- and the men who drew them should be thrown into prison. The 6th, which is represented by Republican Ryan Costello, includes parts of Chester, Montgomery, Berks and Lebanon counties. The 7th, which is represented by Republican Pat Meehan, includes most of Delaware County and parts of Chester, Montgomery, Berks and (a tiny bit of) Lancaster counties. Here's how those 6 counties voted in the 2012 Senate elections between Democrat Bob Casey (D) and Tom Smith (R):

• Berks- Casey- 51%, Smith- 48%
• Chester- Casey- 50%, Smith-48%
• Delaware- Casey- 62%, Smith-37%
• Lancaster- Smith- 58%, Casey- 40%
• Lebanon- Smith- 60%, Casey- 38%
• Montgomery- Casey- 58%, Smith-41%

But the 3 districts have Republican incumbents because Pelosi has managed to craft the most astonishing incompetent DCCC in the history of mankind-- with Rahm Emanuel, Chris Van Hollen, Steve Israel and now some clueless lummox name Ben Ray Lujan doing all he can to emulate the worst of all Pelosi's chairmen, Steve Israel. They lost the districts and managed-- because of their relentless war against progressives-- to keep the districts lost, applying the DCCC's faulty operating theory, namely that Democratic voters want nominees just like Steve Israel (i.e., grotesquely corrupt and venal conservatives with breathtakingly low IQs). But they don't. Which is why the Democrats keep losing more and more seats in Congress, including overwhelmingly blue districts.

Off on a tangent but let's look at 3 examples of blue seats that Israel screwed up. Obama won NV-04 both times, 56-41% against McCain and 54%-44% against Romney. But the Democratic congressman, Steven Horsford, was an African-American and when he went to Steve Israel for aide, Israel-- a repulsive racist who doesn't think blacks should represent white majority districts, refused and the seat was lost to a far right Bible thumper, Cresent Hardy, who is a huge Trumpanzee enthusiast. Next, let's look at NY-24, basically Syracuse, NY, an even bluer district, where Obama beat McCain 56-42% and beat Romney 57-41%. How do the Democrats lose a seat like that. Steve Israel, take another bow and say bow-wow-wow. Dan Maffei, a faceless conservative New Dem had already been booted out by Democrats who had refused to vote for him, angered by a record that leaned way too far to the right (like the way Steve Israel prefers). So Israel recruited him to run again and he voted with the GOP again and Democratic voters refused to go to the polls to reelect him again. This is where Steve Israel's incredibly low IQ comes in. He can't understand this simple concept and keeps repeating the pattern. He's re-recruited a whole bunch of equally horrible corrupt conservatives this cycle in blue districts with GOP incumbents and then may get swept into Congress by the anti-Trump tsunami, whereupon they will vote like Republicans and lose in 2018 again. And the third district, the bluest of the three, was Iowa's first district, where Obama beat McCain 58-40% and then beat Romney 56-42%. Israel preferred a conservative "ex"-Republican who lost the primary. So he sandbagged the progressive. It was a wipe-out in Iowa that year because of the worst gubernatorial and Senate candidates anyone can remember and the sandbagged liberal lost but did better than anyone else in Iowa who got dragged down by the top of the ticket. This year, Israel sabotaged his primary and got the "ex"-Republican nominated. It goes on and one and on.

No one ever reports these stories in the media. But yesterday Guccifer 2.0 leaked some embarrassing info about the Philly suburban districts to The Hill, another tale of willful DCCC incompetence, with starring roles by corrupt right-wing Democrats Steny Hoyer (MD), Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL) and Denny Heck (New Dem-WA). We've been writing a lot how the DCCC is sabotaging Mary Ellen Balchunis' campaign in PA-07 even after she beat their preposterous Wall Street recruit, Bill Golderer, 74-26%. They would rather throw the perfectly winnable district away, where Hillary is going to win by a gigantic landslide than see a progressive like Mary Ellen win. This is what Guccifer leaked to The Hill:

[In] district seven, memos show a concerted effort by the DCCC to recruit Pastor Bill Golderer as a candidate. Golderer was eventually defeated in the primary by La Salle University Professor Mary Ellen Balchunis.

As late as May, the DCCC believed that incumbent GOP Rep. Pat Meehan was vulnerable, noting that historically a Democrat held a slight edge.

The DCCC began to solicit Golderer in the summer of 2015. Memos to Reps. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.), Bustos and Heck giving strategy tips for the trio to encourage Golderer to run emphasized two key points.

The DCCC thought his story would make for a compelling foil to Meehan-- Golderer founded the Broad Street Ministry, an alternative church emphasizing inclusiveness and civic outreach. It also felt that Golderer could mount successful fundraising efforts through “an extensive rolodex from his public ventures and past political work and can mount a credible challenge.”

But after Golderer declared and the primary race went on into 2016, the focus of the memos switched to pleading with the candidate to stay in contention.

“A troubled campaign since the New Year,” the DCCC wrote in the memos, after key advisors left the campaign and the DCCC needed to step in to shore up necessary signatures for the primary. Golderer “has tried to exit the race several times.”

“Please ask him to stop telling supporters or members about his plans to exit the race without a plan in place,” asks one memo of Lujan.

Today Mary Ellen is still being sabotaged by Steve Israel, Cheri Bustos and Denny Heck, who urge institutional contributors not to "waste" their money on her race. Blue America has endorsed her and we're asking progressives to contribute to her on a page dedicated to progressives who won their primaries and who are being undermined by Steve Israel and his team of odious conservative monsters. Just click the thermometer:

Steve Israel Insists He's Not A Dismal Failure And That He Did Just As Well As The DSCC

Patty Murray won big; Steve Israel was a complete disaster

The biggest turkey pardoned this season was Steve Israel and it was Nancy Pelosi and the House Democratic Caucus who pardoned him. I don't have many friends left at the DCCC but yesterday, after my post about Steve Israel's gross incompetence as chairman, one of them called me to give their side of the story. I wasn't sure if he was joking at first but eventually I figured out that this is the official DCCC Beltway talking points to explain Israel's colossal failure to even come close to winning back the House.

Short version: the DCCC did just as well as the DSCC, which is widely acclaimed as absolutely heroic. "The DSCC had a net gain of 2 seats, 2%, and we had a net gain of 2%." My jaw dropped. This guy is no idiot. But he said that. There was no punch-line. It was proof. Forget for a moment that the DSCC managed to reelect Claire McCaskill, the worst incumbent up for reelection anywhere, and forget that they managed to win a Senate seat for reactionary and vehemently anti-Choice Blue Dog, Joe Donnelly (who was literally even only running because he knew he couldn't be reelected in his House district), based on an anti-Choice comment made by an Indiana moron. The DSCC won seats in every state Obama won (except one, Nevada, where the Democrat running was a hopelessly corrupt New Dem from the House, Shelley Berkley) and they won Senate races in four blood red states where Romney won by big margins, Montana (13.5%), North Dakota (19.8%), Missouri (9.6%) and Indiana (10.5%). And the DSCC laughed in the face of Beltway convention wisdom and pulverized Republicans in "tight races" in Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Mexico and Pennsylvania. The DSCC are being lauded as heroes because they were. They made every right move and God smiled on them. Steve Israel made every wrong move and God hates him.

What did the DCCC accomplish? In the greater scheme of things, almost nothing. They had a few scattered victories, but some of the most significant Democratic wins happened either with no DCCC involvement or with the DCCC smoldering in anger over the loss of allies. Progressives successfully primaried notoriously corrupt Steve Israel allies Tim Holden (PA) and Silvestre Reyes (TX) and went on--with no DCCC help-- to win the generals elections. The DCCC didn't give any help to 19 new freshmen: Alan Grayson (FL), Jared Huffman (CA), Eric Swalwell (CA), Tony Cardenas (CA), Gloria McLeod (CA-- who beat another Israel ally, Blue Dog Joe Baca), Mark Takano (CA), Alan Lowenthal (CA), Lois Frankel (FL), Tulsi Gabbard (HI), Donald Payne, Jr. (NJ), Grace Meng (NY), Hakeem Jeffries (NY), Joyce Beatty (OH), Matt Cartwright (PA), Beto O'Rourke (TX), Joaquin Castro (TX), Marc Veasey (TX), Filemon Vela (TX), and Mark Pocan (WI). And Steve Israel's spectacularly lousy targeting was solely responsible for at least a dozen pickups the GOP held onto, including high-profile committee chairs like Paul Ryan, Buck McKeon, and Darrell Issa. Instead, what the DCCC accomplished was electing a Blue Dog and a pack of New Dems who will, over the years, make progressives ashamed to call themselves Democrats-- and continue to allow Boehner and Cantor to call their crackpot extremist proposals "bipartisan."

Pelosi reappointed Israel chairman and no one objected. If the Democrats can't even recognize that something went wrong, they'll never understand what went wrong, let alone fix it. Not good.

Watch Conservative Michael Bennet Crap All Over Patty Murray's Outstanding Record at The DSCC

Only one of these 8 Conservative Consensus imbeciles-- Mark Warner, Saxby Chambliss, Tom Coburn, Kent Conrad, Mike Johanns, Mike Crapo, Dick Durbin and Michael Bennet-- was made head of the DSCC

The DCCC did an exceptionally bad job this year-- wasting their resources on Blue Dogs and other conservative losers while ignoring progressives with real shots to win seats. The result: another two years of John Boehner as Speaker, Eric Cantor as Majority Leader... and a completely dysfunctional House of Representatives. And for his incompetence and venality Steve Israel wasn't fired... he was given two more years to make sure the Democrats lose in 2014 as well. Most people laughed at Israel when he claimed he did as well as Patty Murray, who headed up the DSCC his cycle. Most people, but not Nancy Pelosi. She's lost her grip on reality.

Short version: the DCCC did just as well as the DSCC, which is widely acclaimed as absolutely heroic. "The DSCC had a net gain of 2 seats, 2%, and we had a net gain of 2%." My jaw dropped. The particular DCCC staffer who told me this is no idiot. But he said that. There was no punch-line. It was proof. Forget for a moment that the DSCC managed to reelect Claire McCaskill, the worst incumbent up for reelection anywhere, and forget that they managed to win a Senate seat for reactionary and vehemently anti-Choice Blue Dog, Joe Donnelly (who was literally even only running because he knew he couldn't be reelected in his House district), based on an anti-Choice comment made by an Indiana moron. The DSCC won seats in every state Obama won (except one, Nevada, where the Democrat running was a hopelessly corrupt New Dem from the House, Shelley Berkley) and they won Senate races in four blood red states where Romney won by big margins, Montana (13.5%), North Dakota (19.8%), Missouri (9.6%) and Indiana (10.5%). And the DSCC laughed in the face of Beltway convention wisdom and pulverized Republicans in "tight races" in Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Mexico and Pennsylvania. The DSCC are being lauded as heroes because they were. They made every right move and God smiled on them. Steve Israel made every wrong move and God hates him.

What did the DCCC accomplish? In the greater scheme of things, almost nothing. They had a few scattered victories, but some of the most significant Democratic wins happened either with no DCCC involvement or with the DCCC smoldering in anger over the loss of allies. Progressives successfully primaried notoriously corrupt Steve Israel allies Tim Holden (PA) and Silvestre Reyes (TX) and went on--with no DCCC help-- to win the generals elections. The DCCC didn't give any help to 19 new freshmen: Alan Grayson (FL), Jared Huffman (CA), Eric Swalwell (CA), Tony Cardenas (CA), Gloria McLeod (CA-- who beat another Israel ally, Blue Dog Joe Baca), Mark Takano (CA), Alan Lowenthal (CA), Lois Frankel (FL), Tulsi Gabbard (HI), Donald Payne, Jr. (NJ), Grace Meng (NY), Hakeem Jeffries (NY), Joyce Beatty (OH), Matt Cartwright (PA), Beto O'Rourke (TX), Joaquin Castro (TX), Marc Veasey (TX), Filemon Vela (TX), and Mark Pocan (WI). And Steve Israel's spectacularly lousy targeting was solely responsible for at least a dozen pickups the GOP held onto, including high-profile committee chairs like Paul Ryan, Buck McKeon, and Darrell Issa. Instead, what the DCCC accomplished was electing a Blue Dog and a pack of New Dems who will, over the years, make progressives ashamed to call themselves Democrats-- and continue to allow Boehner and Cantor to call their crackpot extremist proposals "bipartisan."

So DSCC good/DCCC bad? Well, DCCC definitely bad, very bad. But the DSCC is no longer headed by Patty Murray. Instead, the organization has been saddled with a hapless centrist cut right from the same loser mold as Steve Israel, Michael Bennet of Colorado.

Bennet, whose ProgressivePunch crucial vote score is 76.83, making him the 38th most progressive Democrat among the 55 in the Senate, although 9 are new and have no scores at all yet. Bennet's score puts him into the ranks of the fearful, tepidly moderate conservatives like Mark Warner (VA), Kay Hagan (NC), Claire McCaskill (MO), Tom Carper (DE) and Mark Pryor (AR), a pretty putrid bunch, who often water down progressive proposals in committee, making them all but useless to working families fighting for their lives against corporate predators. A deranged Austerity-freak, Bennet voted against the "Fiscal Cliff" compromise because it didn't go far enough in doling out pain to working families for Bennet's tastes.

Staffers say the reason it took Bennet so long to decide whether to take the job-- a record three weeks that drove Washington media crazy-- was because he was negotiating a leadership platform that would promote moderate Democrats.

The two-year job means he'll be fundraising for those up for election in November 2014-- including his Colorado colleague, Sen. Mark Udall.

Besides Colorado, there are Senate races in a number of Republican and swing states, including New Mexico, Alaska, Virginia and North Carolina.

Like Steve Israel, Bennet is a corporate shill on the right of the Democratic Party mainstream, always loathe to be part of anything to benefit ordinary working families. Like Israel's Conservative Consensus caucus, The Center Aisle, Bennet's work on the Conservative Consensus Gang of 8/Gang of 6/Gang of Idiots, has next to nothing to do with the Democratic values and principles espoused by leaders like Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. He's very much a part of what grassroots Democrats find repulsive about how their own party has moved further and further right, following the Republicans' shift towards fascism.

At least Steve Israel won't have to worry about underperforming the DSCC again. Bennet is likely to be every bit as incompetent and unsuccessful at the DSCC as Israel will continue to be at the DCCC. What a shame!

4 Republican Committee Chairs In Vulnerable Districts Who Steve Israel Is Protecting From Defeat

One of the tragedies around Pelosi's decision to appoint and reappoint corrupt Blue Dog Steve Israel to head the DCCC for the last 2 cycles is that he has taken all Republican leaders and all Republican committee chairs off the table. None, not even ones in vulnerable seats, have been or will be opposed by the DCCC. The Republicans like nothing more than defeating Democratic leaders and committee chairs, but Israel has his reasons. This cycle there are 4 GOP committee chairmen in considerably more vulnerable districts than some of the ridiculous deep red districts Israel has chosen to waste millions of dollars on.

A competent vaguely DCCC chairman would be working to defeat, among others, Republican policy-makers like Education and Workforce Committee Chair John Kline (R-MN), Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton (R-MI), Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Oversight and Witch Hunting Committee chair Darrell Issa (R-CA). At the very least, a DCCC chair with an ounce of brain matter would be laying out a 2-cycle plan to beat these villains. That concept is beyond Israel's grasp or understanding. He's the worst DCCC chairman since James Rood Doolittle in 1868, who started as a Democrat, then switched to the Republicans and then switched back to the Democrats and was a prominent opponent of the Fifteenth Amendment , the one that gave former slaves U.S. citizenship. He was such a lousy chairman that the DCCC operated without one for a decade after.

Instead of figuring out how to take out the men and women authoring the toxic Republican policies the DCCC is always whining about when they beg for money from naive grassroots Democrats, all of Steve Israel's targets are hapless GOP backbenchers with no power and no credibility, clowns like Rodney Davis (R-IL), Steve Southerland (R-FL), David Valadao (R-CA) and Dan Benishek (R-MI), the loss of any or even all of whom be utterly meaningless. We'll come back to these 4 Israel targets in a moment. First let's look at the 4 chairmen he's given free reelection passes to again.

• MI-06- Fred Upton- Obama beat McCain 53-45%
• MN-02- John Kline- Obama beat McCain 50-48%
• CA-49- Darrell Issa- Obama beat McCain 50-49%
• WI-01- Paul Ryan- Obama beat McCain 51-48%

Let's take a look at some PPP polling in the 4 winnable races:

Let's start with Upton. The guy who sets and implements the Republican Party's policies against Climate Change, against the environment and in favor of Big Oil, is down, way down. His Democratic opponent leads him 51-38% or, when voters are told Upton voted for the government shut down, 56-36%. There's an even more powerful story in MN-02 (which Obama won both times he ran) and where PPP polled Obermueller against Kline by name. Kline is underwater with his constituents, only 31% giving him a favorable job performance rating (and 40% giving him a negative rating). By a 42-38% margin, voters said they would replace Kline with Obermueller immediately. How could Nancy Pelosi look at these results, see Israel give the thumbs down on both races and still keep him in his job? Has she lost her mind? Maybe she just doesn't want to be Speaker again.

The next two are tougher… but still far more winnable-- not to mention meaningful-- than the ridiculous races Israel is pursuing in, for example, Arkansas and Montana. Issa's job approval is bad-- 49% disapprove and only 43% approve. Alarm bells should be going off at DCCC headquarters. If they did, Israel declared them a false alarm and told everybody to go back to sleep. Voters in his district said they would vote for a Democratic opponent 48-47% if the election were held the day of the poll. When they were informed that Issa voted for the government shutdown, the Democrat picked up another percent, making the total 49-47%. Looks like a good place to start fighting. But not to Steve Israel. And then Ryan's race-- the only one of the 4 where the DCCC staffers would have to work hard enough to earn the huge amount of money they manage to make for themselves in the consultant/DCCC revolving door model. Ryan starts out ahead of Rob Zerban, 50-43% with7% undecided and when voters are informed that Ryan voted for the government shutdown, he loses ground and Zerban picks up considerable support, leaving it at 48-46%, a lot closer than almost any of Israel's pathetic recruits in meaningless races around the country.

The sad collection of races Israel has chosen to fight in-- a colossal waste of money-- will be lost anyway. He's pulling back from races all over the country now, disappointed that his atrocious mystery meat recruits are failing to get any traction with grassroots voters, primarily by following a failed DCCC game plan he forces on them.

Look at the 4 sad sacks we mentioned above that he's targeting. David Valadao is 25th in seniority among Republicans on the Appropriations Committee. His opinion carries less weight than a well-worded letter to the editor by a Hal Rogers constituent in Paintsville, Pikesville or Pineville-- or a happy-go-lucky coal lobbyist with a limits-free credit card. Steve Southerland is a nonentity on two committees-- Natural Resources (where's he's the 17th ranking Republican) and Transportation and Infrastructure (where's he's the 22nd ranking Republican. No one has ever heard him say anything memorable on either committee and a sharp elementary school student in Tallahassee could probably write a more coherent piece of legislation than Southerland. Israel recruited a worthless Blue Dog, Bob Graham's conservative daughter to run and she shows every indication of being as big a waste of a congressional seat as Southerland if he manages to lose himself the seat.

Rodney Davis looked like a sure loser-- until Israel got behind a hapless lightweight, Ann Callis, who made Davis look almost like a statesman. The DCCC says their disappointed in her performance. They should be disappointed in themselves for picking her and instructing her. Davis is of no consequence whatsoever, 23rd Republican in seniority (out of 25) on the Agriculture Committee and even lower-ranking than Southerland on Transportation and Infrastructure-- 32nd out of 34 Republicans, maybe enough to get him a free pass on the MTD Air Bus from the intermodal facility in downtown Champaign to the Willard Airport Terminal-- on a slow day. Dan Benishek is the silliest of the lot-- and his opponent, former Guantánamo gulag commandante Jerry Cannon is just as ridiculous and at least as unfit for office. Benishek is the 12th ranking Republican on the Natural Resources Committee and the 8th ranking Republican (out of 14) on the Veterans Affairs Committee. I guess he;s the expert on torture and water boarding.

None of these Republicans have the slightest significance and there is no reason to believe that any of Israel's wretched candidates will be any better. In fact, Cannon, Graham, were either to win, would do more damage to a progressive vision inside the caucus than Benishek or Southerland could ever do from their positions on the GOP backbenches.

Hopefully Jared Polis, Donna Edwards, Jim Himes-- all significantly smarter and less personally corrupt than Israel-- or whomever runs the DCCC next cycle, will turn the decrepit and dysfunctional organization around and start giving the GOP the hard time it has earned. Steve Israel-- Nancy Pelosi's most disastrous mistake ever.

Has Steve Israel Found A Spanish Language Tutor For Pete Aguilar Yet? Or Is He Too Busy Telling The Media Aguilar Lost In 2012 Because His Father Died On Election Night-- His Father Who Is Very Much Alive And Well

Republicans won 51.8% of the vote in a jungle primary because Steve Israel backed a candidate Democratic voters can't relate to. And he's doing it again this year.

The Beltway committees like the DCCC and NRCC get their information about America from the Cook Report and the Cook Report gets its information from the Beltway committees like the DCCC and NRCC. It's a closed loop of cluelessness. But I have to admit, Cook always gets their predictions right on the first Wednesday following the first Tuesday of every election year. If you want something on the first Monday… you'd better look elsewhere. Recently the Cookers handicapped the single most vulnerable Republican-held seat in America, CA-31, California's Inland Empire. A D+5 district with a 29.7% white population, only a replay of show Steve Israel lost the race in 2012 by endorsing a fake Democrat, Pete Aguilar, unacceptable to Democratic voters, could cause the reelection of right-wing lunatic Gary Miller. (By the way, Steve Israel has forced the DCCC to endorse Aguilar again and has been lying to Members of Congress about who and what Aguilar is. Quite a few Members resent it.

Back to Cook. They rate the race "Leans Democratic," although probably because they're factoring in DCCC incompetence. It's just those incontrovertible demographics that even Cook understands, although not enough to rate it "Likely Democratic" or "Solidly Democratic If Nancy Fires Steve Israel." Cook's explanation of how Aguilar lost in 2012 doesn't mention Israel (who signs the checks that keep them afloat). Instead:

In hindsight, Aguilar should have taken the June primary more seriously and the DCCC and House Majority PAC would have been wise to boost him much earlier. But Aguilar backers also note his ill father passed away the day of the primary, so his focus was understandably elsewhere.

So that's a verifiable lie. Some people in the Aguilar camp say the DCCC made it up and some people say Aguilar didn't mean his father; he meant his campaign manager's father (who he never met). People at the DCCC still claim it's true. But Aguilar's father, Herman, a wealthy Sempra Energy executive, is very much alive-- and always has been. He wasn't ill and he didn't die. But Aguilar never bothered to correct the "mistake" or the DCCC lie about his dad and Cook… well, no one with a bit of sense goes there for facts anyway.

Cook also proffers the DCCC version of who Aguilar is as though it were the gospel, even though it's as idiotic as the dead father story. "Aguilar," they write, "is a young, Latino suburbanite who worked in the county courthouse cafeteria before winning election as the youngest councilman ever in the city of Redlands." Reality, Aguilar was a corrupt bank lobbyist who's shenanigans on behalf of fellow conservatives helped force Arrowhead Credit Union into receivership. And had Cook done even a modicum of research in-- God forbid-- the district, they would know that Pete Aguilar was not elected to the City Council but was appointed by a gaggle of Republicans who were eager too find a conservative patsy registered as a Democrat too help them push their anti-working family agenda. He was later appointed mayor and has never been elected mayor, not something Cook found relevant enough to mention apparently.

Blue America has endorsed Eloise Reyes, the progressive Steve Israel fears could win and bring a working family agenda to DC. Aguilar, for example, backs Chained CPI and other reactionary economic policies. That puts him at odds with Eloise and the vast majority of voters in CA-31, especially Democrats. If you'd like to chip into her campaign, you can do it here on our Blue America ActBlue page. Don't let Steve Israel screw this up again.

Corporate Shill Steve Israel Blocks Progressive Democrats Aryanna Strader And Syed Taj

In 2008 McCain beat Obama 51-48% in Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district. That district has been significantly altered by the Republican state legislature-- but they weren't looking out for longtime right-wing Congressman Joe Pitts. Under the new boundaries, which jettisoned some of the rural red areas and added solid blue Reading, Obama would have beat McCain 50-49%. What an opportunity for a House pick-up!

But that isn't how DCCC boss Steve Israel sees it. Described-- admiringly-- by Nancy Pelosi as "reptilian," Israel decided to commit DCCC money to backing reactionary Blue Dogs who are virulently anti-Choice and antigay and pro-corporate New Dems in districts Obama lost by wide margins rather than backing progressives in districts that Obama won. Aryanna Strader is not a Steve Israel type of candidate. She's a straight shooter and a reform-oriented progressive who has no interest in the kind of rampant corruption that reptiles like Steve Israel thrive on. The DCCC has ignored the race, entirely and worked hard to demoralize Strader (and other progressives around the country). But Strader, an Iraq War vet, isn't easily demoralized and she's buckled down, ignoring the DCCC and concentrating on voters in southeast Pennsylvania. Gigantically out-funded by Pitts, a notorious corporate whore-- exactly like Steve Israel-- Aryanna has run a grassroots campaign and has garnered significant support in the district, including a fulsome endorsement from the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, the district's #1 newspaper. So, while Steve Israel was busy doing the reptilian things that Pelosi so admires-- and that will guarantee Boehner another two years as Speaker, this is, in part, what people in PA-16 are reading this week:

After initially vowing not to serve beyond a fifth term, Pitts is now seeking an eighth term in Congress. He argues that his growing seniority gives him leverage in Congress to help constituents in the district.

Pitts favors making the Bush tax cuts permanent. He laments the lack of bipartisanship in Congress, yet he has voted with his party 95 percent of the time.

He opposes the Affordable Care Act, which has become an issue given that Pitts' biggest campaign contributors include Big Pharma, health insurers and health professionals.

His Democratic opponent, Aryanna Strader, is a software consultant and a veteran of the Iraq war.

She has run her campaign on a shoestring. She said that 80 percent of her campaign contributions have come from individuals.

Although she does not agree with all aspects of the Affordable Care Act, she would work to improve rather than repeal it.

Strader believes the president is correct to push for alternative energy sources and favors tax cuts for small business.

...Pitts deserves credit for his constituent service. But each year in Congress he has leaned further to the right. And his decision not to participate in a debate with all three challengers should raise concerns among voters.

Strader's first run for office will likely end in defeat. But she has struck a chord with voters. She expressed herself forcefully in the lone local debate with Pitts. She did the same when she debated Bednarski and Murphy.

She has our support in this election.

It probably wouldn't end in defeat if Steve Israel-- who as a founder of the transpartisan Center Aisle Caucus which vowed not to campaign against other members, regardless of party-- could also say "she has our support in this election."

Blue America has a mobile billboard, pictured above, traversing the highways and towns of the sprawling 16th district every day. Today it's spending half the day in and around Willow Street and half the day in Millersville. Tomorrow and Tuesday are all about Lancaster and Sunday and Monday, it's Reading all day, both days.

There are so many progressives where the DCCC hands-off posture is handing the districts to heinous Republicans. We've written a lot about how Steve Israel helps protect GOP leaders and senior committee chairmen, like Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Buck McKeon. One race that-- if not for a Muslim-unfriendly Steve Israel-- would be a slam-dunk for Democrats in the Detroit suburbs. MI-11 is a district Obama won handily in 2008 (54-45%) and whose incumbent, Thaddeus McCotter was recently caught committing election fraud and was forced to resign to stay out of prison. The psychotic teabagger who was challenging him in the primary, reindeer rancher Kerry Bentivolio, is now favored to win because Israel decided to starve the Democrat, Dr. Syed Taj, of funds. Even under the new boundaries, originally drawn by the GOP-dominated Michigan legislature to shore up McCotter, the district still leans blue and Obama would have beaten McCain 50-48%. This is a winnable district... if we had a competent DCCC chairman, instead of a reptile. This is what Israel is saddling Congress with:

The brother of Kerry Bentivolio says the Michigan congressional candidate, who's favored to win on Tuesday, is “mentally unbalanced” and could end up in jail.

"I've never met anyone in my life who is conniving and dishonest as this guy," Phillip Bentivolio said, according to the Michigan Information and Research Service. "He's my brother so it's hard to talk about this, but I believe that if he gets elected, he'll eventually serve time in prison."

...Kerry Bentivolio is a Santa Claus impersonator and reindeer farmer. He made headlines after old court documents surfaced quoting him saying he had a “problem figuring out which one I really am, Santa Claus or Kerry Bentivolio.”  He’s running against Democrat Syad Taj.

Philip Bentivolio said that in 1992, he helped his brother build houses in Arkansas and Kerry owed him $20,000. This month he told Kerry he would go to the media with the story if he did not get paid, and Kerry then said he called the FBI and the Little Rock Police Department.

“He told them that I told them that if he didn't send me money, I was going to kill myself," Phillip Bentivolio said. "I couldn't believe it."

Kerry Bentivolio said that his brother has “serious mental issues” and that the FBI was looking into his brother’s request for repayment 20 years after the fact.

Instead Israel is chasing a host of hopeless Blue Dogs in districts that have no interest in electing Democrats. And most of his candidates-- even if elected, would be nearly as dependable to vote against progressive legislation as the Republicans they're running against. Steve Israel-- Nancy Pelosi's worst mistake ever.

How The Ghost Of The Center Aisle Caucus Will Keep The House In Republican Hands No Matter What Polls Say About How Much People Hate GOP Extremists

No one's afraid

For the Democrats to take back the House and put an end to fanatic Tea Party excesses, the DCCC has to wrest at least 25 seats away from GOP incumbents (or win in open red districts). That's because it's likely that several Blue Dogs and New Dems who have disappointed their constituents-- particularly Mike McIntyre (NC), Jim Matheson (UT), Scott Peters (CA), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and John Barrow (GA)-- will lose reelection efforts. Right now the DCCC has 15 "Jumpstart" candidates they're backing. These are Steve Israel's priorities so far:

• Ann Callis (IL-13)- vs Rodney Davis (even)
• Kevin Strouse (PA-08)- primary battle (R+1)
• Michael Eggman (CA-10)- vs Jeff Denham (R+1)
• Pete Aguilar (CA-31)- primary battle (D+5)
• Gwen Graham (FL-02)- vs Steve Southerland (R+6)
• Domenic Recchia (NY-11)- vs Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm (R+2)
• Andrew Romanoff (CO-06)- vs Mike Coffman (D+1)
• Staci Appel (IA-03)- vs Tom Latham (even)
• Erin Bilbray (NV-03)- vs Joe Heck (even)
• Pam Byrnes (MI-07)- vs Tim Walberg (R+3)
• Jerry Cannon (MI-01)- vs Dan Benishek (R+5)
• Jennifer Garrison (OH-06)- vs Bill Johnson (R+8)
• Rocky Lara (NM-02)- primary battle (R+5)
• John Lewis (MT-AL)- open seat (R+7)
• Martha Robertson (NY-23)- vs Tom Reed (R+3)

There are a couple of exceptions-- Martha Robertson and Erin Bilbray stand out-- but this is a pretty mediocre bunch of garden variety Democrats. One, Jennifer Garrison, is probably the worst candidate ever recruited by the post-Rahm DCCC. You can read all about her anti-Choice, antigay, anti-environmental, anti-minimum wage and pro-NRA/pro-coal agenda here but that isn't even what I wanted to talk about today.

Today's discussion is Steve Israel's incompetence as DCCC chairman based on his putrid targeting and recruitment. Garrison is in an Ohio district with a PVI of R+8, the reddest district of any of his candidates so far. Obama scored 43% there last year and the Blue Dog Israel ran, former Congressman Charlie Wilson, got 47%. Wilson's strategy was to unify Democrats and win over independents and moderate Republicans. He didn't win over moderate Republicans or do all that well with independents, although he managed do united Democrats behind him. Garrison is one of the most hated figures in the Ohio Democratic Party and much of the Democratic base doesn't want anything to do with her. In the past she was able too steal Republican votes by being further right than Republicans. I doubt she'll be able to to that with incumbent Bill Johnson.

But Garrison is hardly Israel's only wretched recruit. Israel left the right-wing Blue Dog caucus when he decided to get into the House Democratic leadership but he still bends over backwards to recruit Blue Dogs and New Dems and do all he can to discourage and disadvantage progressives. Great example in Michigan: he recruited a former Guantanamo commander, Jerry Cannon, in a northern Michigan district with a PVI of R+5 and where Obama scored only 45% last year. After spending around $1.3 million attacking incumbent Dan Benishek last year, the DCCC's Blue Dog candidate came close… but there are no runner-up prize's in elections.

South of MI-01 are two districts that, at least on paper, are far more inviting targets and one very similar:

• MI- 06- Fred Upton (R+1)
• MI-08- Mike Rogers (R+2)
• MI-04- Dave Camp (R+5)

The big difference is that these three galoots, unlike Benishek, a hapless backbencher, are powerful committee chairmen. Upton wrecks the environment as chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; Rogers is a pawn of the Military Industrial Complex in his role as chair of the Intelligence Committee; and Camp enables plutocrats and Big Business at the expense of ordinary working families as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. And there's one other thing these 3 Boehner allies have in common: all of them are friends of Steve Israel. More than friends, in fact. Have you ever heard of the Center Aisle Caucus?

When David Broder first wrote about the determinedly centrist Congressional Center Aisle Caucus in 2005, he almost ejaculated for joy on the editorial page of the Washington Post over the sheer civility of the project. I wonder why they didn't make him an honorary member. Broder claimed there were 47 invited members (which later grew to 60), roughly equally split between the two parties, although that membership roll isn't readily available anywhere, almost like it's being hidden. They meet, or met, secretly, in a Chinese restaurant two blocks from Capitol Hill; no joke. The caucus was founded by Republican Tim Johnson (IL) and the-Blue Dog… Steve Israel (NY) with the stated purpose of bypassing Congress' partisan ways.

Applicants for membership weren't admitted unless they recruited companion members from the opposite party. Caucus members avoided lightning-rod issues and focused only on areas that most likely would produce agreement. Under one unwritten bylaw, members vowed never to engage in political campaigns against other members. That's nice… but does it make sense to appoint the person who came up with that chairman of the DCCC? I'll answer that for you-- NO! These are the exact candidates the DCCC should be going after… but regardless of how vulnerable they are, Israel keeps the DCCC off their backs oneway or the other. In a rational world, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen would be a top tier DCCC candidate, but Steve Israel doesn't live in a rational world; he lives in a Center Aisle world and ignores the fact that Ros-Lehtinen is in a blue district that Obama won last year 53-47%. That's a way stronger margin than just about all of Israel's targeted districts. But Ileana gets a reelection free-pass from Israel and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Last year Wasserman Schultz was complicit in recruiting a cardboard candidate, Manny Yevancey who no one ever heard of, who raised zero dollars and who campaigned exactly zero days. His only job was to occupy the Democratic ballot slot so no one else could run against Wasserman Schultz's and Israel's BBF.

There are 21 seats like this in the House, winnable seats Steve Israel willfully ignores, even if they are much easier than impossible targets in deep red districts where he can run his handpicked Blue Dogs and New Dems. All of these incumbents represent districts where Obama won in 2008 and/or 2012 but where Israel has refused to back the grassroots local candidate or has frightened off anyone from running against his Republican pals:

• NJ-02- Frank LoBiondo- D+1
• MI-06- Fred Upton- R+1
• WA-08- Dave Reichert- R+1
• FL-27- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen- R+2
• PA-06- Jim Gerlach- R+2
• MN-03- Erik Paulsen- R+2
• PA-07- Pat Meehan- R+2
• MN-02- John Kline- R+2
• PA-15- Charlie Dent- R+2
• MI-08- Mike Rogers- R+2
• WA-03- Jaime Hererra Buetler- R+2
• VA-10- Frank Wolf- R+2
• CA-25- Buck McKeon- R+3
• WI-01- Paul Ryan- R+3
• MI-11- Kerry Bentivolio- R+4
• IL-06- Peter Roskam- R+4
• PA-16- Joe Pitts- R+4
• CA-49- Darrell Issa- R+4
• IL-16- Adam Kinzinger- R+4
• MI-03- Justin Amash- R+4
• MI-04- Dave Camp- R+5

Can the Democrats win back the House in 2014? In theory, absolutely! With Steve Israel running the DCCC-- out of the question. Thanks, Nancy Pelosi, for 2 more years of GOP nihilistic control of the House.