A couple of words before about the Republican wing of the Democratic Party first. The Blue Dogs and the New Dems are actual organizations, with members dues, admission processes, charters, officers, etc. They are not some words to use to describe non-members. And although Beltway goofballs tare always saying that the New Dems aren't as bad-- as in extreme right-- as the Blue Dogs, the fact of the matter is that almost every Blue Dog is also a New Dem. The worst Blue Dogs-- no matter how you define "worst"-- from Kirsten Sinema (AZ), Josh Gottheimer (NJ), Jim Costa (CA), and Stephanie Murphy (FL) to Jim Cooper (TN), Kurt Schrader (OR), Charlie Crist (FL) and Lou Correa (CA)-- are also New Dems. Generally speaking the new Dems are first and foremost a pack of corrupt conservatives who use the organization to launder special interest money into their careers. The New Dem leadership includes money-hungry crooks Jim Times (CT), Derek Kilmer (WA), Terri Sewell (AL), Kathleen Rice (NY), Ron Kind (WI), Scott Peters (CA) and Suzan DelBene (WA). Wassermann Schultz is also a member. And the former New Dem chairman, Joe Crowley, the most corrupt Democrat in the House, is now in line to tale over the Democratic congressional leadership.
Since Rahm, a major New Dem, was head of the DCCC, New Dems have always been favored in recruitment and campaign funding. Now, under "ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel protégé, Ben Ray Lujan, the DCCC is openly recruiting and funding Blue Dogs. They always did it, but now they're publicly celebrating that they're doing it. Keep in mind that inside the Beltway politicians and their media shills refer to the right-wing Blue Dogs as "moderates," implying the mainstream Democrats are not moderate (i.e.- radicals) a patently absurd Beltway convention. The Blue Dogs endorsed a slate of corrupt conservatives this week and they're "working hand-in-glove with the DCCC." The first 8 candidates presages "dozens more."
Former Rep. Brad Ashford (D-Neb.) is included in the first round of endorsements. Ashford, a former Blue Dog who lost his seat in 2016, wants a rematch against Rep. Don Bacon (R) after losing to him by just 1 percentage point.
Only one candidate, former House Intelligence Committee staffer turned federal prosecutor Jay Hulings, is from a district that Clinton won in November. Hulings is looking to unseat Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) in the Texas border district Clinton won by almost 4 points.
The remaining six candidates on the first slate are all running uphill battles in Republican-leaning districts, some in areas Trump won by a double-digit margin.
The list includes Anthony Brindisi (D), a New York State assemblyman looking to run against Rep. Claudia Tenney (R); Paul Davis, the former Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Kansas hoping to win an open seat; and Gretchen Driskell, a former Michigan state House member running for a rematch against Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI).
The Blue Dogs are also endorsing Roger Dean Huffstetler (D-VA), a Marine Corps veteran running against Rep. Tom Garrett (R-VA); Brendan Kelly (D-IL), a state’s attorney and Navy veteran who wants to defeat Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL); and Dan McCready (D-NC), a Marine Corps veteran running to take on Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-NC).
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), who is working with Schrader on Blue Dog recruitment, said she’s “delighted” by the relationship with the DCCC this cycle. Sinema and others said this is the relations between the two groups haven’t been this good since 2006, when DCCC head Rahm Emanuel made a concerted effort to recruit conservative Democrats in swing districts as part of an effort that eventually won the party a House majority.
Blue Dogs meet with the DCCC weekly to talk about recruitment and strategy, members and their staff have been interviewing prospective candidates over the past few months, and former Blue Dog staffers offered their support and effort to Blue Dog candidates.
Blue Dogs also expect to have more resources than normal to support their candidates-- one aide told The Hill that they are seeing a “surge” in donations to their political action committee.
The initial endorsements suggests the crossover appeal approach the Blue Dogs are taking to candidate recruitment for Republican-leaning or swing districts.
Brindisi, for example, earned high marks from the National Rifle Association during his time in the state assembly. Davis has pledged not to vote for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to lead the party in the House, while Ashford was a Republican until he switched parties in 2014.
Normal mainstream Democrats are not thrilled that the DCCC is spending money on so many right-wingers from the Republican wing of the party, some of who are homophobic, anti-Choice and have far more in common with the GOP than with progressives. One of the right-wing Democrats in Congress, Oregon Blue Dog Kurt Schrader says he expects progressives to fall in line after the primaries. "I’d like to think that the progressives will be fired up for any Democratic district, because no progressive policy gets done unless we are in the majority. None of Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders’ stuff has even a remote chance of happening unless Democrats are in the majority. We may not end up with their particular brand, but we’re going to be a hell of a lot closer." What he neglected to mention is that most of the Blue Dogs vote against the reform policies espoused by Warren and Sanders... consistently.
• Gretchen Driskell (MI-07)The bolded districts are the ones that were won by Bernie in the primary. The southern districts in North Carolina, Texas and Virginia were the Hillary districts. Maybe the DCCC is making a catastrophic mistake giving the Bernie districts to Blue Dogs to run-- and lose-- in. Asterisks (*) indicate there is also a normal, mainstream Democrat contesting the primary against the DCCC Blue Dog.
• Brad Ashford (NE-02)*
• Jay Hulings (TX-23)*
• Anthony Brindisi (NY-22)
• Roger Huffstetler (VA-05)*
• Brendan Kelly (IL-12)*
• Dan McCready (NC-09)*
• Paul Davis (KS-02)
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| Pelosi & Lujan consider a morgue as the new DCCC headquarters |
At least we're making some inroads to reduce some power from the Blue Dogs & New Dems's leadership even with their bribery cash in hand & hopefully Justice Democrats will pick up the slack & reduce their power even more in next year's election cycle one race one step at a time.
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