Phony smile on phony politicianThere's been a lot of chatter that WA-08 incumbent Dave Reichert would abandon his congressional seat to run for governor against Jay Inslee. Although his name recognition is a healthy 53%, a new poll from PPP shows him scoring only 34% against Inslee's 45%.
There are few Democratic incumbents more in need of a primary than Chicago Blue Dog Dan Lipinski. This session, when it came to crucial roll calls, Lipinski has voted more frequently with Boehner and the GOP than with progressives. His ProgressivePunch crucial vote score is an abysmal 41.94-- among the 10 worst Democrats in Congress. And, as we discovered this week, he finally does have an opponent: Oren Jacobson, the son of a teacher and a self-employed immigrant. Oren is a progressive tech entrepreneur with over a decade of leadership experience in the private sector.
After last cycle's electoral debacle for the Democrats, I spoke with a dozen Democratic candidates from competitive districts who felt they lost, at least in part, because of astonishing DCCC malfeasance. Almost every single one of them brought up Steve Israel, and not one person said a single word in his defense.
Last cycle we spent a lot of time learning about southwest Michigan's 6th Congressional District and the would-be feudal lord who represents it, Fred Upton. Judging from his fundraising patterns, Upton has every intention of running for a 16th term next year.
New York Democrats are counting on Hillary to turn out the voters in 2016. NY-21-- the North Country-- has an even PVI, although Obama beat McCain 52-47% and then beat Romney 52-46%. When Obama appointed John McHugh, the incumbent Republican, Secretary of the Army in 2009, the Republicans nominated a well-known moderate Assemblywoman, Dede Scozzafava; the Democrats nominated a barely known Republican-lite New Dem, Bill Owens; and the Conservative Party nominated a teabagger, Doug Hoffman.
Norcross, Christie, Van DrewThe new Quinnipiac Poll of likely Iowa caucus goers shows New Jersey Governor Chris Christie falling behind in the dust with just 3% support.
Last month we met Elgin-based Illinois state Senator Mike Noland as he weighed the notion of running for the IL-08 congressional seat that Tammy Duckworth is giving up to run for the U.S. Senate. Nolan is far more progressive, not just than anyone the GOP would ever put up, but than the professional class of political hack the DCCC is likely to rally around.
Sunday, Maryland state Senate Majority Whip Jamie Raskin declared that he's running for the congressional seat left open by Chris Van Hollen's decision to seek a U.S. Senate seat. “I am running for Congress," explained Raskin, "because America needs effective progressive leadership to renew the momentum of popular democracy in the country. I have a proven decade-long record as an effective progressive leader in Annapolis.
A new Cook rating of House seats portends another DCCC failure coming up in 2016 despite the best possible climate for Democratic candidates for House seats. Cook calls 211 seats "solid Republican" while only 169 seats are solidly Democratic. Caveat, Cook is a generally poor source for accurate, timely information.
