I have to give credit to Schumer for firing the spectacularly failed DSCC chairman, his 2016 sock-puppet Jon Tester. I can't remember the DSCC ever doing worse in terms of money spent compared to contests lost. This should have been a cycle the Democrats won back the Senate and took at least 6 seats. Instead they won a measly two, New Hampshire and Illinois. These are the ones they lost and how much they spent (DSCC + Senate Majority PAC, not including allied groups):
• McGinty (PA)- $32,883,006• Hassan (NH)- 29,048,374• Ross (NC)- $16,142,247• Bayh (IN) $13,723,677• Strickland (OH)- $9,690,671• Kander (MO)- $8,459,872• Feingold (WI)- $4,668,343• Murphy (FL)- $4,187,566
After inserting a disliked corporate shill, Patty Judge, into the Iowa race-- which might have been won by respected state Senator Rob Hogg had Schumer and Tester not interfered-- the DSCC immediately withdrew from Iowa leaving Grassley to clobber Judge. They spent a grand total of $577 on her. They also quickly withdrew from Arizona after recruiting conservative corporate shill Ann Kirkpatrick, having spent a total of $40,674. Having inserted conservative losers in Florida and Ohio, they stopped spending in those two states as well, leaving both of their hapless candidates to suffer ignominious defeats. Murphy only won 44.3% of the vote, considerably below Clinton's 47.8% and Strickland was the embarrassment of the cycle-- albeit completely predictable-- losing with just 36.9% of the vote, far under-performing Clinton's 43.5%. I can't say if Grayson would have beaten Rubio in Florida or Sittenfeld would have bested Portman in Ohio, but each would have done much better than the Schumercrat that was whisked through the primary. A Gravis poll recently showed that had Schumer not forced the tally flawed McGinty into the race, Joe Sestak would have won Pennsylvania.Schumer was more at fault than Tester who was, basically, just a sad-sack order-taker. But he couldn't exactly hold himself accountable, so he just pushed Tester aside and announced Friday that the next DSCC head would be Maryland freshman Chris Van Hollen, best known for being the most dismally failed DCCC chairman in contemporary history. In the run-up to the 2010 congressional midterms, Van Hollen and his lieutenants told Democrats to play Republican-lite. And did they ever. A huge Democratic majority offered very little to ordinary voters and watered-down every piece of useful legislation progressives offered. These are the Democrats who Van Hollen and his DCCC enthusiastically encouraged to vote with the GOP... and who were abandoned by Democratic voters are got swamped in the midterms-- or sensed what was about to happen and retired first:
• Bobby Bright (AL)• Marion Berry (AR)• Vic Snyder (AR)• Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ)• Harry Mitchell (AZ)• John Salazar (CO)• Betsy Markey (CO)• Allen Boyd (FL)• Suzanne Kosmas (FL)• Ron Klein (FL)• Jim Marshall (GA)• Walter Minnick (ID)• Melissa Bean (IL)• Debbie Halvoson (IL)• Bill Foster (IL)• Baron Hill (IN)• Dennis Moore (KS)• Frank Kratovil (MD)• Bart Stupak (MI)• Travis Childers (MS)• Gene Taylor (MS)• Ike Skelton (MO)• John Adler (NJ)• Harry Teague (NM)• Michael McMahon (NY)• Scott Murphy (NY)• Mike Acuri (NY)• Dan Maffei (NY)• Bob Etheridge (NC)• Earl Pomeroy (ND)• Steve Driehaus (OH)• Charlie Wilson (OH)• John Boccieri (OH)• Zack Space (OH)• Kathy Dahlkemper (PA)• Patrick Murphy (PA)• Chris Carney (PA)• Paul Kanjorski (PA)• John Spratt (SC)• Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD)• Lincoln Davis (TN)• Bart Gordon (TN)• John Tanner (TN)• Glenn Nye (VA)• Tom Periello (VA)• Rick Boucher (VA)• Brain Baird (WA)• Alan Mollohan (WV)- lost primary
In all, Van Hollen lost an unprecedented 63 House seats on that election day-- far more than those conservatives listed above. There's been a redistricting since then so it's hard to be precise about this but only 3 of those 47 districts Van Hollen lost are back in Democratic hands today. So when Schumer told the media that "Chris Van Hollen was our first choice for DSCC chairman because of his talents, his work ethic, and his experience," people has to stifle an impulse to laugh out loud. "He has the confidence of our caucus and will do a great job for our candidates running in 2018," Schumer continued while his caucus collectively shuddered. "The map is tough for Democrats, but I have no doubt that Senator-elect Van Hollen is up to the task." He's not-- and vulnerable Democrats like Claire McCaskill (MO), Joe Donnelly (IN), Tammy Baldwin (OH), Heidi Heitkamp (ND), Bob Casey (PA), Bill Nelson (FL), Debbie Stabenow (MI) and Sherrod Brown (OH) probably realize that. One of the top Senate staffers who I asked if he thought Schumer was on psychedelic drugs when he made the announcement answered this way:
Van Hollen in 2010: "Yes, we lost 63 seats, but at least we didn’t lose 106."Van Hollen in 2018: "Yes, we lost 10 seats, but at least we didn’t lose 106. Oh, wait, we only had 48 to start with. Make that 48."