Alex Sink and Obamacare Messaging

This will give credence to Alex Sink supporters who felt the Washington establishment is responsible for her horrible messaging on Obamacare.

A Democratic Party aide, speaking on the condition he not be identified by name, said Senate Democrats received a memo from pollster Geoff Garin in recent days alerting them of a poll taken in conjunction with this week's Florida special election.

The poll found that "keeping parts" of the Affordable Care Act that work and "fixing those that don't" drew higher numbers than "the Republican message of repeal," the aide said, adding that this is the message senators are urged to campaign on.

I doubt Sink would have defended Obamacare 1005 if the DCCC told her. This is the same Alex Sink who supports the Simpson-Bowles plan. Even though the Simpson-Bowles plan cuts Social Security. Under the plan, some low paid workers may not even qualify for Social Security. Cost of living adjustments would reduce under the plan. Alex Sink campaigns for protecting Social Security and backing a plan that cuts Social Security. This was Sink's idea of playing 3-D chess against David Jolly.

Democrats have a messaging problem with Social Security. That alone isn't the reason for Alex Sink's defeat. Others will surely disagree. I will note that this the same Alex Sink that ducked the media the last week of her campaign. Any candidate who can't face the media during crunch time has no business running for Congress.

DCCC Attacks Tax Cut Deal

The DCCC is attacking Republicans on the tax cut deal. The DCCC doesn't attack Obama. It is fascinating to see how politically far apart the DCCC and the White House are on tax cuts.

Voice Your Outrage at Republicans Despicable Vote on Social Security

Just one week after voting to give millionaires a tax break that increases the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars, House Republicans voted in droves against giving seniors $250 to cover their Social Security cost of living increase. Let's hold their feet to the fire.

The House of Representatives Democratic caucus as a whole is much more liberal than the Obama White House. My take is Obama isn't really going to care about the incoming House Democratic caucus since they will be the minority party. Obama made the tax cut deal with Republicans without bring in House or Senate Democratic leadership before his official announcement. It would be mistake for Obama to exclude the Democratic House membership. The result will be his policies will be attacked from the Left.

Allen West Supporter Intimidate DEM Researcher

A Ron Klein campaign staffer doing opposition research was chased off of an Allen West campaign appearance. NBC 6 of Miami reports the supporters yelled threats at the Klein staffer filming the event. A West supporter told the Klein staffer, "Get the fuck out."

The DCCC says the supporters are bikers. The news report doesn't make that clear. What is known is West has ties to the Outlaws motorcycle gang. The Outlaws have attempted to keep people away from West before. I know that because West said it himself.

"I was never more amazed at how members of the Outlaws guarded me during an interview."

West is a contributor to the biker zine Wheels On the Road. The most recent issue has racially offensive cartoons of Obama and degrading pictures of women. It's not safe for work.

Another Blue Dog About to Bite the Dust

Conservative Democrats never learn. Suzanne Kosmas is the latest casuality. She voted against the health care bill. Kosmas also backed extending the Bush tax cuts. This pandering to far-right Republicans who will never vote for her has dropped her in the polls. The result is the DCCC is pulling two weeks of ad buys for her campaign.

"The DCCC constantly makes adjustments based on the level of Republican activity in a district," DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen said in a statement. "We are fully invested in the critical voter contact efforts in Suzanne Kosmas’s campaign. We will continue to keep our options open as events change and remain confident that our efforts, coupled with Suzanne’s overwhelming financial advantage, will ensure a victory in November."

If the DCCC is so confident about Kosmas' chances their would not have pulled their television ad money. I always hate when political parties say their candidate is going to win when their actions dictate otherwise. In the future, I will call political party spin, such as this, doing a Kenneth Quinnell.

Kosmas positioned herself to the right. The Right is going to vote for Republican Sandy Adams. Voters like to see a candidate actually stand for something. To the voter that projects strength. Jim DeMint and Michele Bachmann sound deranged to me, but I understand that their supporters think they are fighters. It is the same reason that Paul Wellstone and Al Franken were able to get elected. I am not sure what Kosmas stands for and that is the reason she will probably lose.

Update: Nate Silver gives Sandy Adams an 84.2 percent chance of winning. Kosmas' chances of winning are 15.8. I guarantee Chris Van Hollen (who has done agood job at the DCCC) will not mention anything about Silver's number.

Quote of the Day

"When it comes to subpoena power, we saw the kind of abuses Republican took with subpoena power during the Clinton years. It is certainly part of the picture America should look at when voting. When Republican were last in charge of Congress, that is what they did."

Chris Van Hollen, Chairman of the DCCC

President Obama will not investigate torture. Obama's laughable excuse that those potential crimes happened in in the past. Can Obama the legal scholar name a crime that was prosecuted that did not happen until the future?

Republicans will use their newfound subpoena powers for political gain. Obama will be blindslided and continue to make speeches about bipartisanship. Good luck with that, Mr. President.

Joel Award: Michael Steele

It is time to give out the Joel Award. The award goes any celebrity, pundit, blogger or politician that purposely contradicts himself or herself.

RNC chairman Michael Steele told talk show host D.L. Hughley Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric is too negative.

Steele told CNN host D.L. Hughley in an interview aired Saturday night: “Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh — his whole thing is entertainment. He has this incendiary — yes, it's ugly.”

Steele was not happy with suggestions that Limbaugh and not he, was the leader of the Republican Party.

"No he's not. I'm the de facto leader of the Republican party," Steele said.

Oh really.

After Limbaugh attacked Steele on his radio show, Steele placed his tail between his legs. Steele called Limbaugh and personally apologized.

"My intent was not to go after Rush - I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh," Steele told Politico. "I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. ... There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership."

How did Limbaugh not go from having a leadership position to Steele not wanting to diminish "his leadership?" Steele then kisses Godfather Rush's hand.

“I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking,” said a groveling Steele. "It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently. What I was trying to say was a lot of people … want to make Rush the scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he’s not."

Democrats wanted to prove no Republican has the courage to speak out against Limbaugh. Steele accomplished this goal better than Rahm Emanuel ever could.

Joe Scarborough and the panel of Morning Joe make fun of Steele's lack of political courage. The DCCC has a helpful "I'm Sorry Rush" form Republicans can use.

Obama Raising Money For House Democrats

Barack Obama sent out his latest fundraising email to help House Democrats.

Less than 50 days from now, our country will face a monumental choice.

We can continue the failed policies of the past eight years by electing John McCain, who's voted with George Bush 90% of the time. Or we can say "enough" and bring real change to Washington.

We simply can't afford more of the same, and with seven weeks until Election Day, each of us must do our part right now.

Joe Biden and I can't do it alone.

We need more Democrats in Congress who share our commitment to change. Together, we can fix the broken politics of Washington and make this country better for all Americans.

Make a donation of $20.08, $35, or more right now to help elect Democrats facing tight races and build a strong Democratic Majority in Congress.

Your donation today will provide direct resources to Democratic candidates at a crucial time in the election.

With your support, they can make sure every door is knocked and every yard sign is seen.

Now is the time to bring about the change America's families need. We need to get our economy working again for struggling middle-class families, we need to make health care affordable for every American, and we need to end our dangerous addiction to foreign oil and invest in the American innovation that will power the greener economy of tomorrow.

The media, pundits, and Republicans will use the debate next week and our September 30th filing deadline as a measure of our strength in the final weeks.

Show your support for Democrats at this crucial time. Make a donation of $20.08, $35, or more today.

I began this campaign on the belief that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

And if you act before midnight on September 30th, you'll help guarantee a strong Democratic Majority working for change in Washington.

That's what Joe Biden and I will need to renew America's promise for every family.

Thank you for everything you've done,

Barack

The link goes to the DCCC contribute page. Obama using his vast internet fundraising machine should warm Nancy Pelosi's heart. What House Republicans do better is setting up campaign committees for fundraising. Pelosi needs to fix that.

Support Darcy Burner

Washington state congressional candidate Darcy Burner has become the darling of progressives. Her fundraising has been impressing. In part because of her support from the netroots. Burner has raised more than Republican incumbant Dave Reichert. The DCCC announced they will spend $1 million for television ads.

Burner is one of the architects of "A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq." Burner and Donna Edwards drafted the plan. The plan calls for withdawing troops and dealing with the refugee crisis spawned from the insurgency. Domestically, the plan would end signing statements and warrantless wiretapping.

"We've been waiting for five years for a top-down solution," Burner told the Seatttle Times "No top-down solution is coming."

On women's issues: Burner has been endorsed by Emily's List. She has made a transparency pledge for her earmarks. Burner spoke out against the FISA bill.

In 2006, Barack Obama campaigned for Burner. Her opponent, Reichert is running on his law and order reputation. That may not be enough in a district that voted for Kerry and Gore.

"If he can't represent himself as a moderate Republican, he's dead in the water," said John Gastil, a professor of political communication at the University of Washington.

Political shifts both locally and nationally pose a challenge for the former sheriff.

The 8th District, which covers eastern King and Pierce counties, was once solidly Republican territory but now is considered a classic swing district. In 2004, voters favored Democrat John Kerry for president but supported Republican Dino Rossi for governor.

Support Darcy Burner.

Update: Darcy Burner at Netroots Nation.



Burner talks about "A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq."



"The people inside the Beltway aren't going to solve this problem."

DCCC & DSCC Fundraising Quarter

More bad news for Republicans: the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had a strong fundraising quarter.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced it raised $10.8 million in June and ended the just-completed quarter with $21 million raised — their highest quarterly total this election cycle. The DSCC now has $46.2 million in its campaign account to spend, about double that of the GOP’s Senate campaign arm.

the DCCC is killing the NRCC. The DCCC has $54.7 in the war chest. The NRCC has a paltry $6.1 million. Chairman Tom Cole does send out some hysterical emails to the NRCC mailing list. I know because I'm on the list.

DCCC Targets Florida Republicans

Democrats are targeting Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart. The Naked Politics doesn't say, but Miami Heraldblogger Lesley Clark informed me the the DCCC bought the $1.4 million in ads.

Democratic candidate Annette Taddeo was recently at Netroots Nation. She is challenging Ros-Lehtinen.

"What the netroots has shown is that they're ahead of everyone else on their predicting where the party insiders should be looking at or races that they've overlooked."

Surprisingly, Taddeo was able to have a slightly better fundraising quarter than Ros-Lehtinen.

Contribute to the Annette Taddeo campaign

2007 Democrats vs 1995 Republicans

Democrats beat the Contract With America Republicans. Plus, Democrats didn't have Newt Gingrinch (which is a good thing.)

Hat tip to Nick Beaudrot

Republicans Will Sink With John Boehner

The bad news continues for Congressional Republicans. The DCCC raised $4.1 million in November. The NRCC tallied up $2.7 million during the same period. The bigger problem the NRCC only has $2.3 million on hand. The DCCC has $30.7 million in the bank. The numbers are not better for Republican Senate candidates.

On the Senate side, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ended November with $25.5 million banked, more than double the cash on hand of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, with about $10.4 million.

It is easy to figure out the fundraising woes. The Republican leadership is too stupid to split from Bush. The party now is having trouble fundraising and is in danger of losing more seats. The House Republican leadership is so out of touch with the American people that it's making Democrats' job easier.

Who can forget John Boehner declaring that "Rumsfeld is the best thing that’s happened to the Pentagon in 25 years." That is the statement of a man utterly unserious about military matters. Hear are other things Boehner said in his interview with George Stephanopoulos.

"...if we were to pull out before we win, we will embolden every terrorist in every corner of the world."

"...instead of fighting them in Iraq, we’ll be fighting them on every street in America."

"Let’s not take the problems in Iraq, the tough fight that we’re in there..."

Boehner is RNC talking points and nothing more. This is the best the House Republicans can do for leadership. In 2006, Boehner contends that Saddam Hussein had WMDs and it was only a metter of time before they were found. Most conservatives have been up the Saddam WMD myth long ago.

Voting against SCHIP and and for the increasingly unpopular Bush administration torture policy is not going to aid House Republicans when Democrats have stronger presidential candidates. Someone explain to me how Boehner plans to win back the majority by aligning himself with Bush and raising less money than Democrats?

DCCC Targets Anti-SCHIP Republicans

The DCCC is targeting Republicans Steve Chabot, Thelma Drake, Tom Feeney, Sam Graves, Joe Knollenberg, Randy Kuhl, Jim Saxton and Tim Walberg for voting against SCHIP. Robocalls, radio ads and emails will be sent out.

Here is the text of the Feeney ad.

“Did you know Congressman Feeney gets health care at taxpayers’ expense, but Feeney and Bush are blocking health care for 10 million uninsured children? Tell Tom Feeney to put families first.”

But only lobbyists pay for his golfing trips. So let's cut the guy some slack. At least he's saving the taxpayers' money for his golfing outings. That has got to count for something.

Karl Rove Orders You Not To Donate

Wayne Garcia writes about the humorous online solicitation sent out by the DCCC.

As my last act in the White House, I asked Dick Cheney if he could help me break into the DCCC and send you this email.

You see I've been watching you and other Democratic activists and let me say I'm a bit concerned. Over the past eight months Democrats in the House have made life for my Republican friends and me difficult -- issuing subpoena after subpoena. This has got to stop.

Rove goes on to ask people not to donate to the DCCC. Ofcourse, Rove didn't break into the DCCC's computers. I'm glad to see that Democrats are being smarter about their marketing.

DCCC Targets Florida House Seats

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is running ad against Reps. Vern Buchanan, Tom Feeney and Bill Young.

DCCC chair Rep. Chris Van Hollen said the three will be targeted for voting against a proposal to expand health insurance to children. Only 5 Republicans voted for the bill and President Bush has threatened a veto.

"Republicans who continue to vote in lockstep with President Bush and against seniors and children in their districts will be held accountable," Van Hollen said.

Republicans Gus Bilirakis, Ginny Brown-Waite and Adam Putnam also voted against H.R. 3162.

New DCCC Ad

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is rolling out this ad. It has a shiny happy people feel and hit keys points. Healthcare, veterans, jobs and attacking George W. Bush.

Nancy Pelosi Letter on Veto

Nancy Pelosi sent this email out on the DCCC mailing list.

***

I had hoped that President Bush would accept my offer to work together on a New Direction in Iraq and sign crucial legislation holding the Iraqi government accountable. Instead, the President chose to continue to isolate himself from Congress, the international community, and the American people by vetoing the Democratic plan for change in Iraq.

The President isn't listening to the American people's call to end this disastrous war. What further proof do they need than the timing of his veto? The President vetoed our bill that would end this war and bring our troops home the week of the fourth anniversary of his infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech that declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq. Four years after that misguided speech, the President keeps making the same mistakes in Iraq.

Our bill achieved exactly what the American people elected us to do in November 2006. It would have fully funded troops on the ground, started to bring them home responsibly, held President Bush accountable, and ensured our veterans get the treatment they deserve back home.

Congress has responded to the will of the American people. President Bush has not. The President is clinging to his failed stay-the-course strategy in Iraq, while brave servicemen and women risk their lives for his mistakes.

House and Senate Democrats offered a plan for change in Iraq that gave the President every penny he requested for soldiers on the ground and more. But it also gave him something he's tried to avoid: accountability.

President Bush may have the bully pulpit - but we have you. Close to 60,000 of you signed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)'s petition to the President telling him not to veto our plan. The American people are with us and the fight for a New Direction in Iraq is not over - we hope you will continue to stand with us.

We are counting on you -- and millions of Democrats across the country who are united and energized as never before -- to help build an unstoppable Democratic Majority and put a Democrat in the White House in 2008.

Thank you for your continued dedication.

Sincerely,

Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House of Representatives

P.S. In just our first 100 days, Democrats have already taken America in a New Direction. Our Democratic Majority has passed legislation to raise the minimum wage and expand federal stem cell research, and has held over 100 oversight hearings on Iraq. Together, I know we can do even more. Click here to visit our Iraq Resource Center to voice your outrage at the President's insistence on ignoring the will of the American people.

Petition For Bush No To Veto Timetable

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Wesley Clark are running a petition to not have President Bush veto the Democratic timetable. I don't think Bush is going to veto it. He will just sit on it and have the Democrats cave on funding for U.S. troops. The one thing the petition is good for is showing how support for Bush's foreign policy is eroding.

Sign the petition.