Last week, the Virginia Organizing Project (VOP) and Democracy for America (DFA) took to the metro with Representative Gerry Connelly, well, a cutout of him anyway. Volunteers asked passing metro riders if they would like to take a picture with the cutout for fun, and make a call to Representative Connolly and Senator Warner in support of a public option and a health care reform bill. The event made for some great hangin-with-Connolly interviews (with some unexpected street-side musical accompaniment)...
In Virginia's eleventh district, Gerry Connolly is winning by 18 points with 48% reporting over war opponent Leslie Byrne. The final results aren't in and are delayed by spectacular weather (Aravosis has amazing pictures of the lightning here).
I'm waiting for Maine's first district to report to see how conservative Adam Cote does in his contest against Chellie Pingree and Ethan Strimling. John Nichols has coined the term 'Bluewashing' to describe corporate interests playing in Democratic primaries to move the party to the right. I'm not ready to draw any conclusions about larger trends, but here are some observations.
In three special elections this year, three conservative 'Blue Dog' Democrats have been elected, padding the conservative working majority in the Congress.
There is substantial funding from corporate PACs for nearly every Blue Dog Democrat and frontline freshmen. While internet contributions provide some counterweight, it is far less reliable a stream of capital.
There have been no significant Senate primaries from the left, and one from the right in the form of Rob Andrews in New Jersey.
There were two significant House challenges from the left (Al Wynn, Leonard Boswell), and two significant challenge from the right (Dennis Kucinich, Steve Cohen).
Progressives have won one House seat over Democratic incumbent, in Maryland 4th, conservative Democrats have not won any House seats over progressive incumbents (Cohen-Tinker is ongoing).
I've blogged before about Gerry Connolly, the pro-corporate developer backed Democrat running as a progressive 'antiwar' candidate in Virginia. He's the guy who worked at a defense contractor before his run for Congress, who said the following a few weeks ago.
Connolly (D) had nothing to do with SAIC's more controversial contracts. He has worked at SAIC only since 2002 and leads the company's involvement in community activities and charitable events.
And the company spokesperson said the following.
SAIC spokeswoman Melissa Koskovich, when asked to respond to Connolly's critique of no-bid contracts, said in a statement: "Gerry Connolly works as part of SAIC's community relations team. In this role, he is not involved in SAIC's work for government or commercial clients."
In an e-mail this month to "fellow SAIC teammates," Robert A. Rosenberg, a former executive vice president and general manager for SAIC's Northern Virginia operations whom the company calls a "consulting employee," urged colleagues to support Connolly in part because of his "in-depth understanding of our industry."
According to former FEC lawyer Allison Hayward, the email "focuses on Connolly's knowledge of the contracting business and what he could do for SAIC if elected to Congress", which makes it legally questionable.
Regardless of the legality, it's certainly dishonest of Connolly. He claims that he leads the community activities and charitable events part of SAIC, but SAIC's own executive in a plea for cash for Connolly contradicts that.
Have I mentioned that progressive Democrat Leslie Byrne is running neck and neck with Connolly for the Democratic primary on June 10th? Oh, I haven't? Well she is.
This year is going to see a Congressional landslide for Democrats, which means that primaries are particularly important. Blue Majority has endorsed progressive Leslie Byrne, the first Virginia politico to endorse Jim Webb in 2006. She's facing Gerald Connolly, a pro-developer business-y type running in the district as an antiwar liberal.
In his bid for Congress from Northern Virginia's 11th District, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly recently mailed a campaign flier demonstrating his opposition to U.S. involvement in Iraq. Among other things, the piece accuses the "Bush-Cheney Defense Department" of secretly awarding billions in no-bid contracts to war "profiteers."
Depending on who's talking, however, that last description could include Connolly's employer: Science Applications International Corp., a defense and intelligence contractor that has come under scrutiny for alleged mismanagement of several Iraq-related projects.
Distinguishing between genuine progressives and people likely to flip when the wind blows is something we need to work on in the remaining primaries that are left. VA-11 is a good place to start.
I'm a fan of women candidates who like to fight, and Blue Majority candidate Leslie Byrne in Northern Virginia is certainly that. Her opponent, Gerry Connolly, a pro-corporate DLC type, is now trying to run as a progressive without any record to back it up. So how exactly do ambitious mushy developer-friendly candidates get ahead in a progressive primary universe? Well, they lie, of course!
Thankfully, NOW called him out on it.
Candidate Gerry Connolly's use of NOW's logo in a new mailing - which states that Connolly has "always stood with women" - is disrespectful to Virginians who have fought for women's rights and misleading to voters. Virginia NOW members who have fought for the ERA and abortion rights for more than 30 years have no recollection of Connolly being publicly engaged in the women's rights movement in Northern Virginia. We are deeply concerned that voters will think Connolly has the national NOW PAC's endorsement, which he does not.
The national NOW PAC has endorsed Leslie Byrne in the race for the Democratic nomination in the 11th Congressional District because she has championed women's rights for decades. We know that we can count on Leslie Byrne to fight for fair and equitable economic and social policies for women, men and families as a Member of Congress.
In the mailing, Connolly states he has "always fought for women's rights" and specifies those as the ERA, abortion, and pay equity. A photo showing NOW's logo and placard "Keep Abortion Legal" occupies the top third of the page. Connolly's campaign did not talk to NOW about using the photo.
We welcome Connolly's interest and support and ask that he clarify his record and his current positions so we can work together.
That is a great repudiation of a misleading direct mail piece. While I'm supportive of Byrne, the real hero here is NOW. Issue groups don't tend to stand up for themselves like this as they are used to being thrown under the bus, so it's a sea change to watch it happen on its own and without any prodding.
Connolly is going to face a tough race if progressive groups continue to point out that he has serious credibility problems. He's already hitched himself to the progressive banner, so he's somewhat trapped.
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