DCCC

Fred Upton is one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the House. But he's considered safe by the Beltway Establishment, with another nice free reelection pass signed by his old crony from the Center Aisle Caucus, Steve Israel. The Center Aisle Caucus alumni don't try to defeat each other.

A good case can be made-- should be made-- that conservatives are waging a relentless war against American women and that it has to be stopped by voters at the polls by defeating the Republican Party. The GOP anti-women jihad is out of control in every state where they've seized power and in the U.S. House of Representatives. But the DCCC isn't the organization to make the point, not if anyone is expected to believe it. Here's the e-mail the DCCC sent out to tens of thousands of Democrats this week:

On Friday, the House passed Buck McKeon's tragically flawed National Defense Authorization Act, 315-108. All but 18 Republicans voted YES. The Democratic minority was much more split.

I was invited to the White House yesterday for a briefing. I passed on the hassle and the opportunity. I suppose I would have heard President Obama reiterating his strong support for commonsense reform legislation to fix our broken immigration system, and the economic and national security benefits that reform will deliver. Tom Donohue of the US Chamber of Commerce, always pumping for cheap labor, was there-- as were labor leaders Mary Kay Henry and Richard Trumka. The President also invited two DREAMers, Gabriela Pacheco and Tolu Olubunmi.

If you want to know how "Minnesota nice" sounds, call Jim Graves. He picked up the phone yesterday morning with the warmest, friendliest of greetings... and immediately said he isn't talking to the press until July first and suggested we talk about my upcoming trip to Tuscany instead. He suggested I spend time in Siena, long one of my favorite small European cities. As for questions around his dropping out of the congressional race in MN-06...

The overall bill was for appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security and that passed 245-182, 25 Democrats joining all but 10 Republicans in favor.

Steve and Jennifer-- a match made in hellClearly, the DCCC should be going after powerful Republican policy makers in vulnerable seats like Paul Ryan (where Obama scored 47%), John Mica (where Obama scored 47%), Ileana Ros Lehtinen (where Obama scored 53%), Peter King (where Obama scored 52%), Fred Upton (where Obama scored 49%), Mike Rogers (where Obama scored 48%), Buck McKeon (where Obama scored 48%), John Kline (where Obama scored 49%), and

On Saturday I asserted that Darrell Issa should be a top priority target for the DCCC, rather than just another vile Republican committee chairman who gets a free reelection pass from Steve Israel, like he did last year.

Last year, Darrel Issa skated to reelection, winning back his seat (CA-49) 139-127 (59%) to 97,454 (41%). There are parts of two counties in the district: Orange County, where he won 66% and, San Diego, where he won 56%. There's more than twice as much San Diego in CA-49 as Orange County. Does that seem too hopeless to tackle? Let's look a little closer.In 2008, Obama and McCain basically tied, although Obama officially won the district by a few votes. Last year Romney did better than McCain, besting Obama 52-46%. The PVI is R+4.

Steve Israel's talking point is "problem solvers." He repeats it like a mantra. But there's something else interesting that he said in his interview with USA Today, in response to a question about what it means that the DCCC spent so lavishly in South Carolina a few weeks ago, only to lose-- and by a wide margin-- to one of the most flawed Republican candidates ever, Mark Sanford.