Pat Murphy

Blue Dog Collin Peterson was the only Democrat who voted Friday to defund Planned Parenthood and wreck the Affordable Care Act-- and the DCCC loves him for itAs the crackpot House Republicans got ready to call it a week and scurry off for the weekend, they voted on Georgia nut case Tom Price's latest attempt to take health insurance away from millions of working families-- and to defund Planned Parenthood, all rolled up into one ugly bill,

Yesterday the Senate-- and then the House-- voted to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open at least until December 11. Every Democrat in the Senate and every Democrat in the House voted yes, of course. And in the Senate, where it passed 78-20, all but 20 extreme right nihilist Republicans and infantile anarchist Republicans voted in favor, despite Ted Cruz's lament about shutting the whole thing down.

EMILY's List perverting the meaning of "progressive" in IA-01Every cycle EMILY's List picks at least one horrid conservative to get behind. People thought this might end after their campaign for Memphis recruit Nikki Tinker exploded in their face.

Monica Vernon-- not a progressive, barely even a Democrat but... richEx-Republican Monica Vernon officially announced that she's running for the IA-01 congressional seat-- the northeast corner of the state (Dubuque, Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Marshalltown). It's a D+5 district that Obama won in 2008 with 58% and in 2012 with 56%.

PPP polled minimum wage as an issue in half a dozen battleground states with heavily-contested state-wide races, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Illinois, Kentucky and Louisiana. Support for increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 was strong across the board, ranging from 61% in Illinois to 53% in Wisconsin. Opposition was strongest in Wisconsin, but still weak at just 39%.

From the moment Nancy Pelosi announced she was reappointing failed Blue Dog Steve Israel to be DCCC Chairman again, it was apparent to anyone who pays attention that the Republicans had nothing to worry about in regard to losing the House majority.

As a state legislator-- and Speaker of the House-- Pat Murphy has been working tirelessly and effectively for ordinary Iowa families for many years. They know it and we've written about it before. Blue America endorsed him and we've been asking our supporters to help his campaign.

In October, Blue America endorsed Pat Murphy, the progressive candidate in the battle for the open Iowa congressional seat Bruce Braley is leaving in the state's northeast corner, IA-01-- Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Marshalltown, Decorah. It's a D+5 district and the winner of the primary will be going to Congress next year.

I asked one of the sharpest minds I know on Capitol Hill if there's a single issue facing Congress right now-- just one-- that separates conservatives from progressives. He didn't miss a beat: the Social Security Enhancement and Protection Act and the Strengthening Social Security. Act. Yesterday we had a guest post from the progressive candidate for the Maine Senate seat, Shenna Bellows, on the topic.

According to Pelosi, when women succeed, America succeedsYesterday I got an e-mail from an awful candidate running for an open House seat in northeast Iowa, Swati Dandekar. Blue America is backing the progressive running for that seat, Pat Murphy.