Tag: DCCC

Ineffective Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito came in to office with her good friend George W. Bush and she needs to leave with him. For the past 7 and a half years what has she accomplished for WV-02? Nothing. She has little to show for her four terms in office for the WV-02 District.

As Clem pointed out the right wing bloggers don’t even write anything positive about her because there’s nothing there.

For the past 21 years, Anne Barth has worked with Sen. Robert C. Byrd to serve West Virginians. There’s been no one better at constituent service in Congress than Senator Byrd and he doesn’t do it alone. He’s relied on staffers like Anne Barth.

Like her political idol George W. Bush, Shelley Moore Capito grew up as the child of privilege. Her father former Gov. Arch Moore made sure when she wanted to run for office she was elected. She was born on 3rd base and acts like she hit a triple. And throughout her long years in Congress, she’s voted consistently on issues that have helped people like her – wealthy and born into privilege – over people who know what it’s like to earn a paycheck through the sweat of our brows. She’s voted against bills supported by the unions and she’s voted on bills that put a greater burden on the middleclass to give bigger tax cuts to the rich.

Anne Barth was born the daughter of a minister, who served different parishes throughout the state. Then she served as the right hand of Senator Byrd as he served the people of the state.

When it comes to getting the job done, Anne can.

In other WV-02 news, the DCCC picked the race as one of 13 to highlight Republicans tied to Big Oil.

spruceshoe pointed out that Capito is one of 8 Republicans receiving funds from a national Republican funnel group at the NRCC called ROMP (Regain Our Majority Program).

How are they going to gain seats spending money to defend an incumbent?

Clem had a nice Barth fundraiser diary.

Celebrate July 4th with Anne Barth.

Chris Van Hollen will be on the state’s most influential radio call in show Wednesday to talk up Barth.

The DCCC is launching radio ads against thirteen incumbents this week, targeting Republicans for their support of Big Oil. CNN has a sample spot, and the Hill has the targets list:

Brian Bilbray (CA-50)

Charlie Dent (PA-15)

Thelma Drake (VA-02)

Shelly Moore Capito (WV-02)

Steve Chabot (OH-01)

Phil English (PA-03)

Scott Garrett (NJ-05)

Jim Gerlach (PA-06)

Virgil Goode (VA-05)

Robin Hayes (NC-08)

Patrick McHenry (NC-10)

Peter Roskam (IL-06)

Jean Schmidt (OH-02)

That’s an interesting mix of top-tier (OH-01, NC-08), midfield (WV-02, VA-02) and longshot races (NC-10, PA-15, VA-05). While it’s a small buy, these are the type of districts that the DCCC hopes to expand the battleground to this fall.

You all knew it was inevitable: at some point, Democratic donors, exhausted by the finally-concluded presidential primary and looking into their empty wallets, would take a little breather from giving, allowing the GOP to play catch-up.

Fear not, though, fellow downballot enthusiasts: most of the damage occurred at the DNC vs. RNC level. The DSCC and DCCC had still slightly better months of May than their Republican counterparts, and they maintain towering edges in cash-on-hand.

Committee	May Receipts	May Disbursements	May Cash-on-Hand	May Debts & Obligations
DSCC (est.)	$5,920,000.00	$4,950,000.00	$38,530,000.00	$0.00
NRSC (est.)	$4,890,000.00	$2,700,000.00	$21,560,000.00	$0.00
DCCC	$6,091,737.14	$4,192,275.05	$47,174,105.00	$0.00
NRCC	$5,017,140.54	$5,096,869.15	$6,654,801.50	$0.00
DNC	$4,795,890.97	$5,263,698.72	$3,965,886.11	$6,306.93
RNC	$24,377,740.11	$11,513,030.77	$53,508,001.57	$0.00
Total Democrats	$16,807,628.11	$14,405,973.77	$89,669,991.11	$6,306.93
Total Republicans	$34,284,880.65	$19,309,899.92	$81,722,803.07	$0.00

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t worry too much about the DNC/RNC chasm: the DNC has consistently lagged the RNC lately. That points to one of the most remarkable things about the Obama campaign: for most people, the Obama website has become top-of-mind for direct giving, leading to a bypass of the DNC.

One potential warning sign I see on the horizon, though, is the RNC turning around and allocating a lot of its money to Congressional races, as it realizes that its last best shot at preventing Democratic hegemony is in the Senate by holding GOP losses to 3 or 4 there. If polling continues to go south for McCain along the same trajectory as the last couple weeks, it’s not out of the question that the RNC will consider writing down the McCain campaign as a casualty loss, in order to bolster the likes of Gordon Smith and Roger Wicker.

From the Hill:

Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright (D) has been on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s (DCCC) Red to Blue list for months, but it appears few people knew that.

The DCCC neglected to announce the addition of Bright to the list, but his name was among the 25 candidates already part of the program when the committee announced its new slate of Red to Blue candidates Wednesday.

Turns out that Bright’s been part of the Red to Blue program since February. Who knew?

For reference, I’ve included the full Red to Blue list below the fold.

Red to Blue:

AK-AL: Ethan Berkowitz

AL-02: Bobby Bright

AZ-01: Ann Kirkpatrick

AZ-03: Bob Lord

CA-04: Charlie Brown

CO-04: Betsy Markey

CT-04: Jim Himes

FL-13: Christine Jennings

FL-21: Raul Martinez

FL-24: Suzanne Kosmas

FL-25: Joe Garcia

ID-01: Walt Minnick

IL-10: Dan Seals

IL-11: Debbie Halvorson

LA-04: Paul Carmouche

MD-01: Frank Kratovil

MI-07: Mark Schauer

MI-09: Gary Peters

MN-03: Ashwin Madia

MO-06: Kay Barnes

NC-08: Larry Kissell

NJ-03: John Adler

NJ-07: Linda Stender

NM-01: Martin Heinrich

NM-02: Harry Teague

NV-03: Dina Titus

NY-13: Mike McMahon

NY-25: Dan Maffei

NY-29: Eric Massa

OH-01: Steve Driehaus

OH-15: Mary Jo Kilroy

OH-16: John Boccieri

VA-02: Glenn Nye

VA-11: Gerry Connolly

WA-08: Darcy Burner

WV-02: Anne Barth

WY-AL: Gary Trauner

Emerging Races:

AL-03: Josh Segall

CA-50: Nick Leibham

FL-09: John Dicks

FL-18: Annette Taddeo

IL-06: Jill Morgenthaler

IL-18: Colleen Callahan

IN-03: Mike Montagano

KY-02: David Boswell

MN-02: Steve Sarvi

MN-06: El Tinklenberg

NC-10: Dan Johnson

NJ-05: Dennis Shulman

NV-02: Jill Derby

OH-02: Vic Wulsin

PA-03: Kathy Dahlkemper

PA-06: Bob Roggio

PA-15: Sam Bennett

TX-07: Michael Skelly

VA-05: Tom Perriello

VA-10: Judy Feder

June 30th marks the first FEC reporting deadline since I have become the presumptive Democratic nominee. It’s clear that media pundits and our opponents will use Democratic fundraising totals as a measure of our party’s strength this November.

Today, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is launching its United for Change Campaign to show Democratic strength across the electoral map by the June 30th reporting deadline. House Democrats are joining us to help and will match every gift 2-to-1 today, making any gift of $50 worth $150.

http://dccc.org/blog/archives/…

Interesting deal.  If you ever considered giving to the DCCC, now would be a good time.  We need a strong showing all around after June 30th, the next filing deadline.  (I can’t wait)  This e-mail was sent to DCCC supporters by Obama.  

Here’s the link to donate: http://www.dccc.org/page/contr…

The DCCC is rolling out their third wave of candidates included in their Red To Blue fundraising program today:

AK-AL: Ethan Berkowitz

AZ-01: Ann Kirkpatrick

AZ-03: Bob Lord

CO-04: Betsy Markey

FL-21: Raul Martinez

FL-25: Joe Garcia

LA-04: Paul Carmouche

MD-01: Frank Kratovil

NM-01: Martin Heinrich

NM-02: Harry Teague

NV-03: Dina Titus

NY-13: Mike McMahon

VA-02: Glenn Nye

VA-11: Gerry Connolly

These additions swell the Red To Blue roster to 37 names, although the additions of Kirkpatrick, Titus, and Heinrich were previously announced. The full roster of Red To Blue candidates is available on the DCCC’s website.

The only mild surprise here for me is Frank Kratovil, who is up against far-right Republican Andy Harris in Maryland’s 1st CD, an R+9.8 district. I knew the DCCC would acknowledge this race as a pick-up opportunity, but I didn’t expect it to happen this soon.

The DCCC is also rolling out a new slate of 20 “Emerging Races”, a sort of “watch list” for future Red To Blue additions. Among them are Jill Derby (NV-02), Nick Leibham (CA-50), and Michael Skelly (TX-07). We’ll post the full list when we can.

UPDATE: Here’s the full list of “emerging races”:

AL-03: Josh Segall

CA-50: Nick Leibham

FL-09: John Dicks

FL-18: Annette Taddeo

IL-06: Jill Morgenthaler

IL-18: Colleen Callahan

IN-03: Mike Montagano

KY-02: David Boswell

MN-02: Steve Sarvi

MN-06: El Tinklenberg

NC-10: Dan Johnson

NJ-05: Dennis Shulman

NV-02: Jill Derby

OH-02: Vic Wulsin

PA-03: Kathy Dahlkemper

PA-06: Bob Roggio

PA-15: Sam Bennett

TX-07: Michael Skelly

VA-05: Tom Perriello

VA-10: Judy Feder

Here’s the damage:

Cmtee	Receipts	Spent	CoH
DCCC	$5.02M	$4.06M	$45.27M
NRCC	$4.25M	$4.69M	$6.73M

That April fundraising gap is actually not too shabby for Republicans, but one has to wonder if the GOP’s backbreaking loss in Mississippi last week will deflate their fundraising appeal in the months to come.

I recently recieved my 2008 Paducah Grassroots survey from the DCCC. In it, there was a short questionaire, and a request for a renewal contribution to the DCCC. I wanted to share a little about this request, and give my own personal opinions, as well as provide my response to the DCCC.  

Now, this survey started out like this:

At Democratic Party Headquarters, we are deep into planning our 2008 campaign strategy. But to give us a complete picture, we want to hear from leading Democrats like you regarding what needs to be done to win critical elections in your area.

So today, I’m asking you to provide your opinions and insights into how Democrats can take back the White House and strengthen our Democratic Majority in Congress by participating in our 2008 Paducah Grassroots Survey.

It continues with this paragraph:

And when you return your survey, I urge you to include your 2008 DCCC renewal contribution. We are counting on all of our members to renew their support this year, and we have not yet recieved your 2008 membership contribution.

Now, I think anyone who keeps up with my blogging knows I am as committed as anyone to expanding our Congressional majorities. However, I no longer believe that contributing to the DCCC is the best course of doing so.

Why would I say something like that? Well, there are several reasons. First and foremost is that the DCCC seems more than willing to concede my district again, and ignore the Democrats here. My Congressional candidate, Heather Ryan recently informed me that when she talked to the DCCC asking about finding out some information on Ed Whitfield, our Republican Congressman, not only was she told that it wasn’t the job of the DCCC to help a Democratic candidate for the House who is running against a sitting Republican, the young man on the phone actually got rude with her!!

This coupled with the fact that the DCCC refuses to invest a penney in our district, leads me to ask, if the DCCC is not supposed to aid a Democratic candidate in her campaign by helping her find information, what is the money I have sent them being used for? Then, to actually get RUDE with a candidate that is working as hard as Heather to me is unacceptable.

I filled out my survey, telling them what it would take to win races around here. I also sent them this note along with the survey:

Mr. Van Hollen,

Thank you for holding me in such high regard as a leading Democrat from my area. I have sent you my survey to try and help you make decisions to win this year in Western Kentucky. I can tell you up front that the main thing the DCCC can do to win here is invest in these voters once again. The DCCC and most Democratic establishments have ignored our district and voters for a long time now. We can win here if we invest in these voters.

I also want to convey something to you that disturbed me very much. When my Congressional candidate, Heather Ryan asked for a minor favor that didn’t include money from the DCCC, not only was she denied, but the person she was talking to actually got rude with her about asking them for anything.

To me, this represents a very unprofessional attitude by the DCCC. Heather Ryan is working very hard, as are the volunteers like myself in this district to do something the DCCC seems unwilling to do, fight for our home. We are just as dedicated as any Democrats anywhere and do not deserve to have our efforts demeaned because the DCCC doesn’t think our voters are worth their time and money.

Since the DCCC refuses to assist in the fight for Kentucky’s First Congressional District, and I have already made several donations to Ryan for Kentucky, I am considering my contributions toward fighting for my own Congressional seat as my renewal contribution to the DCCC, since we are doing work here that the DCCC has deemed not worth their time.

When the DCCC decides that my district and the 63% of registered Democrats therein are worth some time and effort, and when our Congressional candidate is treated with respect and not as a nuisance I will be more than happy to support the DCCC financially once more. Until then, every penney I can muster from my meager income must go towards fighting for Heather Ryan and Kentucky’s First Congressional District, since the DCCC is unwilling to do so.

Thank you,

Richard Dillon

You may or may not agree with me on this one, but this is something I believe very strongly about. I am tired of watching Democrats in this district being written off, and will not contribute to it anymore.

I owe grassroots Democrats in the blogosphere a debt of gratitude. You are showing the DCCC that many Democrats believe my district and candidate are worth fighting for. My ActBlue page for Heather Ryan has literally been jumping the last five days with donations. I had set a goal to raise $1500 for Heather by May 20, and now sit only $245 under my goal. You have my humble thanks.

Remember that anyone who donates to Americans for Ryan is entered into a drawing to win two pinback buttons from the 1960 campaign of JFK. Help us show the DCCC that Democrats are worth fighting for wherever they are!!

Once again, thanks for the support for Americans for Ryan, and with your continued support we WILL win this seat!!!

http://www.actblue.com/page/am…

Best wishes fellow Democrats!!

Well, we’ve seen some race-baiting and outright lies by Republican Party operatives in ads over the last two days.  I guess they thought that since Don is a Democrat, he would shrivel up into the fetal position, and whine.  Think again.  It’s not 2004, but 2008.  Democrats today stand up and fight what we all know is right:

Help keep this ad on the air right up until Election Day (May 3rd) by donating here.

Hat Tip to The Stakeholder AND cross-posted at Daily Kingfish.

The DCCC has filed a second complaint against the NRCC and Freedoms Watch for:

• Running a political attack ad that directly and illegally advocates the defeat of a Democratic candidate AND
• failing to disclose the names of the donors funding that ad

They’ve even made a video outlining their case: