Tag: dccc

DCCC admits to helping draw proposed new Florida redistricting maps.

Nice to see that the DCCC still hasn’t learned how to play this game:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was involved in reviewing maps submitted Tuesday to the court by one group of plaintiffs challenging the state’s congressional districts.

The admission that partisan organizations were involved in drawing maps that are formally being considered by the court adds yet another layer of political intrigue to the case. The Florida Supreme Court invalidated the current congressional lines back in July — finding them unconstitutionally drawn to favor Republicans and at odds with state anti-gerrymandering provisions — in part because Republican consultants were involved in drawing the first round of maps.

…so having a bunch of Democratic consultants draw the second round is probably not going to fly all that well with the courts. Kind of a rookie error there, in fact. I mean, Democrats in California were much better in sneaking their partisan maps through the process, honestly. Continue reading DCCC admits to helping draw proposed new Florida redistricting maps.

How I generally react to the latest DNC/DCCC lunatic fundraising emails.

Said lunatic fundraising emails always – especially when the GOP comes up – remind me of a joke I heard once:

So once in Czarist Russia there was this poor Jewish peasant who lived in a rural, poor, Jewish village.  One day the peasant decides to visit his best friend who lives next door. So he goes over, only to find his friend sitting there at his rickety table and reading an old newspaper put out by the anti-Semites in the big city.  It’s all about how the Jews do this, the Jews do that, the Jews own everything; and yet the peasant’s friend is still happily reading it.

The peasant looks at his friend in horror, then bursts out with “How can you read that rag?”

His friend looks up, looks at the shack, looks at the dirt floor, looks at the pathetic candle that’s his only light. “What? I always like to find out how well I’m doing.”

Ayup.

Nancy Pelosi looking for convenient patsies for DCCC chair, apparently.

If this is really the conventional wisdom about who’ll be the next DCCC chair: “After a nationwide thumping that leaves them with their smallest House minority in over 80 years, Democratic leaders are considering two rising stars in the party — Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro and Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy — to lead a 2016 recovery effort” – then things are even worse for the Democratic party than I thought. Even Politico noted that either man’s major appeal would be in their last names – although Politico was a good deal more coy about mentioning either’s accomplishments, mostly because neither particularly has any – and the position of DCCC chair is going to be a thankless job in 2016*.  The reality is, of course, that the Democratic party should – but will not – completely throw out its complete leadership.  And I mean that down to the committee leadership positions.  No Democratic Ranking Member or former Chair should have a Ranking Membership next year on any of the committees.  Let the new people have all the slots, because the old ones clearly don’t have a clue.

…What?  No, of course they won’t listen to me.  If I thought that they would I wouldn’t write this.

Moe Lane

*They will probably fight with knives for the position for 2018, though.

What did you do with the money, Nancy?

I read stories like this, and the title is my reaction. Where was the money that Nancy Pelosi was given already?

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told colleagues on Tuesday that Democrats have an “urgent need” to give money to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the final days before the midterm election.

On a caucus-wide, members-only conference call, Pelosi and DCCC Chairman Steve Israel, of New York, stressed that members needed to quickly pay their party dues so Democrats would have cash to run last-minute ads and maintain get-out-the-vote programs, a Democratic aide said.

I kept getting told that the Democrats were raking in the cash, hand over fist. So where’s the money, Nancy? What did it get spent on? Why is the DCCC so out of cash that it’s hitting up its members for back dues?

DCCC chair Steve Israel upset that Democratic groups don’t give money to dead people.

Oh, there’s a certain reputation that clings to the Democrats about their willingness to let dead people vote, but that’s a different power dynamic entirely. This is something else:

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel told reporters Wednesday he is “frustrated” that his party’s outside groups have not supported House Democrats on television in the final stretch of the midterms.

Many big Democratic players — such as environmental and labor groups — focused their financial firepower on the Senate, which is in play this cycle. This has caused increased anxiety among House Democrats, who also face losses in 2014.

House Democrats must pick up a net of 17 seats to win control of the House, but it’s increasingly likely the party will lose seats in that chamber this cycle. For the first time, Israel made a public plea to outside groups for their financial help.

Continue reading DCCC chair Steve Israel upset that Democratic groups don’t give money to dead people.

WHERE DID THE MONEY GO, #DCCC? WHERE DID IT GO?

It’s the bolded part that fascinates:

Three weeks out from an election that could give Republicans an historic majority, House Democrats are resorting to the painful strategy of retreat.

Faced with a perilous midterm environment and a sudden gush of Republican cash, Democrats are shifting cash from blue-chip recruits to prop up teetering incumbents. The goal is to minimize losses and keep Republicans from their most dominant hold on the House since Harry Truman’s presidency — potentially expelling Democrats from the speaker’s chair for years to come.

Bolding mine, by the way.  I note this because I just kept getting told and told and told about how much more in the way of financial resources that the Democrats would be having this cycle.  Where did the money go, DCCC?  Where did the money go?

Via… I forget, sorry.

Breaking: DCCC cuts loose Andrew Romanoff (D CAND, Colorado-06).

Dude.

More here (via @politicoalex): and I kind of wish that they had stayed in. The DCCC already dumped in almost $2 million bucks to lose this race; seeing that additional $1.4 million taken out to a field a burned would have warmed the cockles of my heart. Oh, well, you can’t always expect the opposition to keep throwing in good money after bad.

Moe Lane

PS: Mike Coffman for CO-06, of course.

Why this DCCC ad is even more ominous for the Democrats than it looks.

You can click through for the ad itself – it’s a DCCC campaign ad, after all – but…

…I was struck by this line. “Most of our Democratic voters aren’t aware there’s even an election on November 4th.” Which is funny, because most of our Republican voters are aware, and are grimly looking forward to it; but that’s not what struck me. What struck me is that this DCCC ad isn’t geared towards boosting the enthusiasm of those Democratic voters. It’s geared towards boosting the enthusiasm of its own cadre of volunteers.

:pause:

Dudes.  It’s October.  Getting your people ready to get pumped for the election now is a little, erm, tardy, if you know what I mean?  Should have been done over the summer… oh.  Right.  The Democrats mark time by Barack Obama’s clock, these days.  Silly, silly me.

Moe Lane

Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Democrats will exceed expectations. …Heh. Maybe they will.

Shot:

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the strength of individual candidates will help her party outperform expectations in the upcoming midterms.

“Pundits are wildly misinterpreting or over interpreting,” the Florida Democrat said, specifically responding to a projection published by the Washington Post that gives Republicans an 86 percent chance of taking control of the Senate.

“Models don’t elect candidates. Voters do,” she said, speaking at a Thursday morning event organized by centrist Democratic think tank Third Way.

Continue reading Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Democrats will exceed expectations. …Heh. Maybe they will.