Man, Debbie Wasserman Schultz never seems to miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. A busy bee at Monday morning’s breakfast for the Florida delegation to the Democratic National Convention, she nonetheless made a glaring omission:
“I’ve given 2,500 dollars to Joe Garcia, 5,000 dollars to Raul Martinez. I will be involved in their campaigns and supportive of them,” said Wasserman Schultz. “I haven’t been asked to be an attack dog. I am supporting Raul Martinez and Joe Garcia, and I’m looking forward to their successful election on Nov. 4.”
You all know exactly what I’m talking about: Deb forgot to mention progressive fighter Annette Taddeo, running for Congress in Florida’s 18th congressional district. Now, I’m thrilled that DWS has changed her tune and is openly backing Garcia and Martinez. (Remember, she previously tried to recuse herself from these races, despite being co-chair of the DCCC’s Red to Blue program.)
But there’s no reason at all for her to leave out Taddeo, who is also running in the greater Miami area. And doing so in front of Florida’s convention contingent, which includes important political figures, activists and super-delegates, is really beneath contempt. It sends all the wrong messages.
Fortunately, another Florida congressman who had previous been reluctant to get involved, Rep. Kendrick Meek, has changed his tune – he gave $2000 to Taddeo and has pledged to raise more. That sends all the right messages. And it’s not too late for Debbie to follow suit. But I think she’ll need some more nudging.
So here’s how you can help. Call Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s campaign office at (202) 741-7154 and ask her to do as Rep. Meek has done: make a sizable donation to the Taddeo campaign and solicit her network for more contributions. We need more progressive champions like Annette Taddeo in Congress, and we need well-connected leaders like Wasserman Schultz to help them get there.
You can also e-mail her at AskDebbie@DWSforCongress.com, and her Finance Director, Jason O’Malley, at FinanceDirector@DWSforcongress.com. Whether you call or write, as always please be polite and brief. Our message is simple and our cause is just. Also, please do not call Debbie’s congressional office, as this is purely a political issue which staffers on the federal payroll cannot get involved with.
If you do call or write, please let us know about it in comments!
Ros-Lehtinen is more popular, polls better, Taddeo has less of a profile, polls worse. Taddeo is fundraising less than Garcia and Martinez. DCCC didn’t add her to R2B for the same reasons DWS didn’t put her name on the line for Taddeo. Get over it. Simple chain of priority. Taddeo is too far down the chain.
break. How many times can you beat a damn dead horse? Really. One, you’re assuming this wasn’t a mistake, two, you’re assuming she cares about Taddeo’s race, if she doesn’t then it’s not a purposeful slight. It’s not Wasermann’s responsibility to donate to every major Democratic candidate running in her state, and what Wasserman says or doesn’t says does not matter to most people. Most people don’t think “Hmm, how would Debbie W-Shultz vote?” Most people don’t have a clue about any of this.
As Jeremiah said above, Taddeo is not even on the red to Blue list, is working against the most Republican district, has the weakest profile, is not Cuban, but Italian, and has had by far the weakest fundraising and she is double digits behind right now in the polls. If this was purposeful, and I doubt it was, I think Shultz is only getting involved in the competitive races, then it was done because Taddeo looks like an extreme longshot late in the campaign. There’s still time for Shultz to burn that bridge, that working relationship between her and Ros-Ilthenin, when the time comes that it looks like Taddeo might have a shot at winning.
Except to start her whining yet again about would someone get those nasty lefty bloggers off her back.
But thanks for trying to keep her feet to the fire.
Sorry to be so pessimistic re: Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
PUMA – Party Unity My A**
I was referring to DWS a PUMA – or at least a PUMA wannabe, for her support of incumbent Republicans.
Will Obama, Begich, and Berkowitz appear in an add together? Some polls show Obama and McCain in a close race together, and I am betting that Obama could win this in the presidential race he is able to connect himself to Begich, and Berkowitz considering McCain has no ground game, and the Local Aslakan GOP is in the shitter.