The Candidate Boot Camp

Over the weekend, AFSCME and the New House PAC hosted a national candidate training camp in Chicago, with the blessing of the DCCC.  Martin Heinrich, a Democrat gunning for the open seat of Heather Wilson (R-NM), described the event thusly:

They invited the top challengers from around the nation and put us through the paces with two days of intense coaching on management, message, money and mobilization. I’ve been through a lot of political trainings, but this was in a class by itself. It was especially helpful to get to know some of the freshmen Congressmen like Ed Perlmutter who ran and won in Republican leaning districts.

In addition to being a great learning experience the conference also gave me great hope. This year’s challengers are an amazing crop of candidates. They all had impeccable credentials and the fire in the belly to win. By the end of the weekend they all had an impressively polished message as well.

I’m not so much interested in the concerns of some that the DCCC may be playing sides in a few primary battles through its involvement in the camp, but I am interested in seeing just who this coalition of national Democrats believes are worthy enough for the special treatment.  Heinrich, writing on his blog, leaks the attendees:

John Adler (NJ-03), Kay Barnes (MO-06), John Boccieri (OH-16), Charlie Brown (CA-04), Darcy Burner (WA-08), Steve Driehaus (OH-01), Joan Fitz-Gerald (CO-02), Bill Foster (IL-14), Larry Grant (ID-01), Martin Heinrich (NM-01), Jim Himes (CT-04), Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15), Bill Kennedy (MT-AL), Bob Lord (AZ-03), Dan Maffei (NY-25), Betsy Markey (CO-04), Eric Massa (NY-29), Bill McCamley (NM-02), Bill O’Neill (OH-14), Gary Peters (MI-09), Jon Powers (NY-26), Mark Schauer (MI-07), Dan Seals (IL-10), Ron Shepston (CA-42), John Unger (WV-02), Dick Versace (IL-18).

Certainly an interesting list — with a surprise or two, like Ron Shepston, a candidate who quite literally emerged from the DailyKos user rolls and is running in a deeply red (R+10.2) district.

4 thoughts on “The Candidate Boot Camp”

  1. MI-09 is an R+0 district, and Gary Peters is the strongest Democrat yet to run against Knollenberg.

    It’s exciting to see the DCCC, AFSCME, and New House PAC are supportive!

  2. Debbie Halvorson (IL-11), Victoria Wulsin (OH-02), Larry Kissell (NC-08), Linda Stender (NJ-0X), Ethan Berkowitz (AK-AL).  And maybe Tom Perriello in VA-05 and Russ Warner in CA-26.  Also somebody in PA-06, somebody in NV-03, somebody in PA-15, somebody in MN-03, Elwyn Tinklenberg in MN-06, and Ann Kirkpatrick in AZ-01.

    Names I’m surprised to see: Dan Seals (Jay Footlik had some pretty good Clinton connections, enough to keep the DCCC neutral I would have thought)… Bill O’Neill (I didn’t know we’d formally succeeded at recruiting him yet)… and that’s about it.  It is a pretty good list, even if Bill McCamley is no longer favored to win his primary.

    I like the fact that we can very reasonably hope to win 10+ seats.  A House with ten more Dems, working with a Senate with five more Dems, and a Dem administration, should be a very very different experience than we’ve had with the House this year.  That will be the Congress where we really figure out who the Dems really are.  Just as with the GOP in the 90s vs the 2000s, you don’t really know the character of a party until they are in complete control.  That’s when you find out who they are and what they want.

    It should be interesting.

  3. CO-02 is a very liberal district.  They really don’t need to pick a candidate there.  Let whoever win the primary take it home. 
    I’m also suprised that they are looking to put money into MT-AL. 

    Districts I don’t see why we have the person there:
    CO-02
    MT-AL

    Districts I would recommend for putting up as a frontline race:
    FL-13 (Jennings)
    NC-08 (Kissell)
    ——————–
    I suppose Berkowitz would fit in this list too, but people who recently got in:

    AK-AL (Berkowitz) (He’s only been in the race for a couple of weeks and has yet to show off his fundraising talents)

    VA-05 (Perrellio) (He’s only been in the race for four weeks.  DCCC probably had this meeting planned before he announced AND showed he was a serious contendor.)

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