It appears that Chris Van Hollen is putting himself up for caucus chair, taking the place of Rahm Emanuel should Rahm go to the White House and become White House Chief of Staff. I would very much like to see Van Hollen ascend the leadership ladder in the House, for two reasons.
One, at the DCCC, he was able to run the organization effectively and work very well with all types of groups. Operationally speaking, the committee basically did as well as it did in 2006, pushing into tougher districts and coming away with a respectable 20 seats or so (pending recounts, etc). Unlike in 2006, though, Van Hollen's DCCC was able to meld seemlessly with a whole variety of groups. There was no sniping at George Soros, Moveon, blogs, or liberals. His organization just worked, and worked well, with fewer stompings in primaries and nasty machismo bullshit.
Two, Van Hollen is a leader who I think will be more progressive than most of us realize. It's not just his policy positions, which are probably just borne of representing a liberal district, it's his instincts I respect. During the Donna Edwards primary, Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer both endorsed Al Wynn. Van Hollen, from the neighboring district, did not. And in fact, many constituents in Wynn's district actually though that they were represented by Van Hollen, since the district lines had been recently redrawn, and they liked and respected him. Now, when Van Hollen sat this one out, it was a clear signal that he wasn't just going to protect one of the worst members of Congress, even though the rest of the Democratic leadership did.
This matters. Van Hollen refused to perpetuate business as usual, and we need more of that in the House. At the same time, he's an extremely effective organizer and operator within the caucus, as shown by his DCCC work, and he's got a savvy political sense.
I hope that he gets it.
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