Last week, the Blue Dog Coalition of conservative House Democrats offered their endorsement to Travis Childers, who has been running a hard-charging campaign for the R+10 open seat left behind by Roger Wicker.
That was awfully nice of them, but how meaningful is their endorsement? Let’s take a look at Childers’ fundraising so far and see how many Blue Dogs have sent donations to Childers:
| District | Member | MS-01 Donation |
|---|---|---|
| NY-24 | Mike Arcuri | $0 |
| CA-43 | Joe Baca | $0 |
| GA-12 | John Barrow | $0 |
| IL-08 | Melissa Bean | $0 |
| AR-01 | Marion Berry | $0 |
| GA-02 | Sanford Bishop | $0 |
| OK-02 | Dan Boren | $0 |
| IA-03 | Leonard Boswell | $0 |
| FL-02 | Allen Boyd | $0 |
| CA-18 | Dennis Cardoza | $0 |
| PA-10 | Chris Carney | $0 |
| KY-06 | Ben Chandler | $0 |
| TN-05 | Jim Cooper | $0 |
| CA-20 | Jim Costa | $0 |
| AL-05 | Bud Cramer | $0 |
| TN-04 | Lincoln Davis | $0 |
| IN-02 | Joe Donnelly | $0 |
| IN-08 | Brad Ellsworth | $0 |
| IL-14 | Bill Foster | $0 |
| AZ-08 | Gabrielle Giffords | $0 |
| NY-20 | Kirsten Gillibrand | $0 |
| TN-06 | Bart Gordon | $0 |
| CA-36 | Jane Harman | $0 |
| IN-09 | Baron Hill | $0 |
| PA-17 | Tim Holden | $0 |
| NY-02 | Steve Israel | $0 |
| TX-22 | Nick Lampson | $0 |
| FL-16 | Tim Mahoney | $0 |
| UT-02 | Jim Matheson | $0 |
| LA-03 | Charlie Melancon | $1,000 |
| NC-07 | Mike McIntyre | $0 |
| ME-02 | Mike Michaud | $0 |
| KS-03 | Dennis Moore | $0 |
| PA-08 | Patrick Murphy | $0 |
| MN-07 | Collin Peterson | $0 |
| ND-AL | Earl Pomeroy | $0 |
| AR-04 | Mike Ross | $0 |
| CO-03 | John Salazar | $0 |
| CA-47 | Loretta Sanchez | $0 |
| SD-AL | Stephanie Herseth Sandlin | $0 |
| CA-29 | Adam Schiff | $0 |
| NC-11 | Heath Shuler | $0 |
| GA-13 | David Scott | $0 |
| OH-18 | Zack Space | $0 |
| TN-08 | John Tanner | $2,000 |
| MS-04 | Gene Taylor | $2,000 |
| CA-01 | Mike Thompson | $0 |
| OH-06 | Charlie Wilson | $0 |
And no donations from the Blue Dog PAC, either. With the exceptions of Reps. Melancon, Taylor, and Tanner (the latter of which actually took the time to campaign with Childers), this is a pretty pathetic show of support from the Blue Dogs in an extremely winnable race, especially when you consider just how flush with cash the Blue Dogs are.
When Blue Dogs and their allies keep telling us that Democrats need to compete in the South to succeed as a party, how can we possibly take them seriously if they won’t even put their money where their mouths are? Here we have an extremely viable race with an economically populist, socially conservative candidate in Travis Childers leading the charge. Yet, the Blue Dogs have mostly ignored him. What gives?
Granted, several members of the Blue Dog Coalition are facing tough re-election fights, and I wouldn’t expect them to be parting with any cash-on-hand at this point in time. But the vast majority of these members are not facing daunting re-election campaigns, and I would hope that they would loosen their purse strings and contribute $2000 (the maximum allowable amount from a member’s campaign account) or more if they have a leadership PAC to help Childers replenish his war chest. As he gears up to take on Republican Greg Davis one more time in the face of what will likely be fierce NRCC and 527 opposition, he’s going to need all the help he can get.
Blue Dogs: it’s time to step up to the plate.
another 50k from their pack and that total of 150k matched by the DCCC would give Childers 300k for the three week runoff campaigh. That ought to be real competitive to whatever the RCCC can through Davis’s way!
Post contact info for the Blue Dogs who face token opposition or none (MIKE ROSS I AM LOOKING AT YOU). Let’s apply a little pressure!
Cardoza, Arcuri, Baca, Barrow, Berry, Peterson, Salazar, Pomeroy, Schiff, Shuler, Boyd, Boren, Scott, Michaud, Holden, Israel….
I didn’t know Patrick Murphy, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Bill Foster were Blue Dogs. That’s depressing.
So why isn’t he on this list?
primary her ass
…been behaving better of late?