There are four pillars to the working conservative majority in Washington D.C.: Bush, Bush Dogs, timid Democratic leadership, and a narrow Democratic majority in the Senate. Despite commanding an overwhelming amount of attention, the presidential election actually does not deal with many of these. In less than a year, Bush is leaving town on his own. Also, neither the Bush Dogs nor the Democratic congressional leadership will be impacted by the outcome of the primary campaigns. However, two immediate elections, the IL-03 congressional primary on February 5th and the MD-04 congressional primary on February 12th, will make a huge impact on both Bush Dog behavior and on the Democratic leadership. Further, these two primary campaigns are just about the last chance we have to influence the behavior of either Bush Dogs or the Democratic Congressional leadership for another two years.
Democrats who facilitate the conservative working majority (Bush Dogs and timid leaders) don't care about what we write, but they do care about what David Broder writes. Democrats who facilitate the conservative working majority don't care about low approval ratings among progressives, because they know the vast majority of us will vote for Democrats in the general election. Further, they don't even care about the small number of progressives who choose not to vote in general elections, because they are no threat to their dominance of the Democratic Party. Democrats who facilitate the conservative working majority also don't care if we decide to stop donating to them, because now that they are in the majority there is more than enough corporate PAC money to make up for that lost revenue.
Throughout the Bush Dog campaign, we have seen that the only way to change the behavior of Democrats who facilitate the conservative working majority is to spend resources on them. Four Bush Dogs flipped on SCHIP only when BlogPac and Blue America ran ads against them. Only two Bush Dogs, Dan Lipinski and Leonard Boswell, flipped their support on Iraq, and they also happen to be the only two Bush Dogs facing primary challenges. Although he is not technically a Bush Dog, the often conservative and corporate Al Wynn only joined the Out of Iraq caucus after Donna Edwards nearly defeated him back in September of 2006.
The only proven way for grassroots progressives to change Democratic behavior in this Congress has been to spend actual resources that make Democrats who facilitate the conservative working majority feel a legitimate, left-wing challenge to their position in Congress. Simply put, we have had no success in flipping Bush Dogs against whom we have spent no money. This is actually a lesson we have known for some time, given that the progressive grassroots were not taken seriously until Howard Dean was a legitimate threat to win the nomination, and since Democrats only really started running against the war in 2006 after Ned Lamont defeated Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Senate primary. Nothing else has worked so far.
Now, only two weeks from today, two of the three legitimately threatening progressive primary challenges against Democrats who facilitate the conservative working majority will be over. In other words, once the Donna Edwards and Mark Pera campaigns are over, our ability to influence the behavior of Bush Dogs and indeed the entire Democratic Congress will virtually evaporate. It is now, or never. Donate to Mark Pera and Donna Edwards today.
Concerning the direction of the Democratic Party over the next two years, these two primary campaigns are just as, if not more, important than the presidential nomination campaign. They are also two of our last chances to really influence the direction of the Democratic Party for quite some time. Make these opportunities count. Tell Bush Dogs and Democratic congressional leadership that they can't take you for granted, and that grassroots progressives will not be ignored. Donate to Mark Pera and Donna Edwards today.
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