Pete Stark was one of Congress' most liberal members. He beat another Democrat in a 1972 primary, claiming the incumbent had been in Congress "too long" and was then challenged-- and beaten-- himself on the same grounds 40 years later (2012). The victor in that tight race went to a moderate Democrat, Eric Swalwell, then a first-term member of the Dublin city council. Swalwell hadn't been born when Stark was first elected to Congress. You can't really blame him for his boss, but Swalwell's first federal job was as a staffer for one of the worst Democrats to ever serve in Congress from California, deceitful, corrupt and reactionary New Dem Ellen Tauscher. Stark was too senile to debate Swalwell or mount a viable campaign, while Swalwell's campaign was pretty brilliant. He beat Stark 120,388 (52.1%) to 110,646 (47.9%), beating him in both the Alameda County and Contra Costa parts of the district.Until recently, Swalwell was just another relatively unaccomplished congressional backbencher-- not a Blue Dog, not a New Dem, not a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. ProgressivePunch gives him a "D" grade, the least progressive of the 53 California congressman other than the 16 with "F" ratings-- like Jim Costa, Scott Peters, Raul Ruiz, Ami Bera and Lou Correa from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Unlike any of them, though, Swalwell, turned out to be one of the moderates who signed on as an original sponsor of AOC's Green New Deal resolution.Most Americans-- including most Californians-- only know him as a character on the MSNBC prime time flight, particularly on the Rachel Maddow Show, where he took off as a replacement for the over-used Adam Schiff character. He's made himself available to CNN and Fox a lot more than most members of Congress. He's a big-time Trump detractor, which thrills many Democrats who know little else about Swalwell. He's on two key committees that play right into Maddow's Putin-Gate theme, Intelligence and Judiciary. Straight-talking and telegenic-- and a brand new dad-- Swalwell was a TV hit. His twitter following ballooned from basically nothing to nearly half a million followers. But is that enough to base a presidential run on?The latest New Hampshire poll I saw showed him at... well... Kirsten Gillibrand, John Delaney, Mayor Pete and Sherrod Brown are all at 1% and Tulsi and Julian are at zero and Swalwell is... below that. But he's in New Hampshire now, looking for an audience to talk to. (Aren't there important votes in the House this week?)Anyway, Naomi Lim noted in an unfortunate Washington Examiner piece, Eric Swalwell tells New Hampshire he would offer a 'college bargain,' not free college a really bad approach. Imagine the colonists debating whether or not to declare independence. Would Swalwell have been sitting with Status Quo Joe Biden insisting that they should send King George another letter instead, asking for a reduction in the tax on tea? Or would he have been arguing that we needed to compromise on the Bill of Rights-- "why 10 amendments? how about if we do just 4?" I bet he would have suggested an anti-whipping bill instead of emancipation for the slaves. Who could oppose an anti-whipping bill? Well... this guy I guess, a perfect example of what the Republican Party has turned into-- and he sure hates Eric Swalwell! 10 points for Eric!Lim reported that he was testing his "stump speech on Monday in New Hampshire, diverging slightly from other Democratic contenders by not promising free college tuition. He sounds like... Hillary, the only candidate in the known universe who could have lost to Trump.
"I would offer a college bargain," Swalwell said at the Politics & Eggs breakfast speaker series. "If you work through college, through work-study, and you come out [and] through part-time, volunteer service hours, lift up and help out a community in need, and still do your full-time job ... you can get a debt-free education. If you work for college, college should work for you in America. It's not free college, it's a bargain."His three-prong proposal includes dropping the federal interest rate slapped on loans to 0 percent, allowing graduates to refinance or renegotiate for more competitive rates, and permitting employers to contribute to their employee's student debt tax-free while letting those employees receive the assistance without being taxed themselves.“Go big, be bold, do good," Swalwell said repeatedly, signaling a potential campaign slogan.But Swalwell on Monday remained mum about his 2020 plans when asked whether he would announce his intentions soon.The California Democrat's comments, made in a state where graduates are burdened with some of the highest student loan debt in the country, come after fellow Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota declined to support the roll-out of free four-year college for students if she won the party's nomination next year."If I was a magic genie and could give that to everyone and we could afford it, I would," Klobuchar said this month during a CNN town hall. "I'm just trying to find a mix of incentives and make sure kids that are in need-- that's why I talked about expanding Pell Grants-- can go to college and be able to afford it, and make sure that people that can afford it are able to pay."
The progressive proposal is to make public colleges free again-- not Harvard and Yale. We already paid for those colleges with our tax dollars and they were free or nearly free. I went to one of them in the late 1960s, before Swalwell was born. He should read more about it before he knocks it as an impossible dream. "Go big, be bold, do good" is a nice slogan-- as long as there's something behind it. The slogan matches up better with the platforms proposed by Bernie, Elizabeth Warren and Marianne Williamson.