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 have to run out, but I do want to note that there are important Congressional primaries today.
The first is in Virginia, pitting defense contractor and local public official Gerald Connolly against former Congresswoman and progressive Leslie Byrne. Connolly got the endorsement of the Washington Post, and turnout is extremely low. I would back the antiwar Byrne over Connolly, though he does have some good urban planning ideas. If you have a vote in this district, use it. In Fairfax City, out of 14,000 votes, by 8am the registrar reported less than 150 votes recorded. The internets can swing this one.
The second is in Maine, in a six way race on the Democratic side. Chellie Pingree and Ethan Strimling are the progressive candidates, while Adam Cote is the conservative in the race. If you have a vote, it's probably best to go for Pingree so as not to split the progressive vote and let a Bush dog slip into a progressive seat.
In these races, Pingree is the favorite in Maine and Connolly is the favorite in Virginia. It's a useful test to see if progressive older women can defeat conservative hawkish men. I really have no idea. I had thought this was going to be a really good year for women to be running, so I guess now we'll see.
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.
I'm curious about the release of McCain's medical records. He's a 71 year old guy with three bouts of cancer, and yet the AP is saying he has a clean bill of health. Maybe that's true. But isn't the story really as follows?
The campaign is allowing a small pool of reporters (including NBC) access to McCain's medical records from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm ET in a conference room at the Copper Wind Resort in Phoenix. The reporters are allowed to take notes but not remove or photocopy the records.
Halliburton contacted Congressional candidate Jared Polis in CO-02. Polis has been sharply critical of the company, and the company's letter calls Halliburton 'an American success story'.
In yet another sign of his pivoting toward the general election, Senator John McCain said at a roundtable with business leaders here today that comprehensive immigration reform should be a top priority for the next president.
In other news, SEIU is blasting McCain's recent health care proposal and McCain's health checks out, if you believe a cloistered set of reporters who got to review 1000 pages of medical records for a few hours.
Leslie Byrne and Gerald Connolly are neck and neck in VA-11, with the latest polling showing Connolly leading Byrne 37-34.
Democrats Work and Wes Clark are teaming up with the program 'Serve with a General'. They will go to one Congressional district and jointly do a community service event. You can help pick the district here.
Comcast and Cox filtering the internet and blocking file sharing traffic might be a felony.
Michigan Liberal criticizes the DNC and the Michigan Democratic Party for violating their charter and refusing to hear complaints about seating the Michigan delegation. Michigan Liberal is the blog not given credentials to the convention, because of this legacy of holding the party accountable.
It was towards the end of the campaign in 2006 and we were running well back in the polls. Bill Clinton and Karl Rove, the leaders of the Connecticut AFL-CIO and U.S. Chamber of Commerce - they had all lined up behind incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman. Then we received a call that Senator Ted Kennedy wanted us to join him at a rally at a senior center in Bridgeport.
Coal Is Dirty from DeSmogBlog launches to take on the myth of 'clean coal'.
Lots of rumors about Hillary as VP, nothing credible. One of the annoying parts of dealing with the VP game is that it's basically a choice by one man, Barack Obama, and yet he has hundreds of people around his campaign who play themselves off as 'senior' and pass rumors to each other and the press. And this isn't just about feeling important, it's about running a campaign for their preferred VP pick. I've heard a lot of rumors about Chuck Hagel, for instance, but there are a good number of Hagel boosters in the Democratic foreign policy establishment for a lot of (good and bad) reasons.
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.
3500 people and more than 50 Democratic congressional candidates have endorsed a Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq. I've been asking these candidates all day what they would ask Petraeus were they in Congress. Here are some of their questions.
Darcy Burner, Democratic candidate for WA-08:
Gen. Petraeus, in March 2007, a few weeks after taking charge of U.S. military forces in Baghdad, you said, "There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency of Iraq." More than a year later, rockets are still falling in the Green Zone and Iranian-backed Shiite militias are fighting each other for power in Baghdad and Basra. The political reconciliation the surge was intended to foster has not happened, nor has any significant diplomatic breakthrough been achieved. So, given that we agree that there is no military solution to the problems we face, is our costly open-ended military commitment to Iraq really making the Unted States safer?
1) The hope of the surge was that it would create the space for political reconciliation and compromise in Iraq. But the Iraqi government and other power centers in the nation remains mired in disagreement with little real progress. Last week, it was the Iranians that reportedly brokered a truce between the Iraqi government and Sadr's Mahdi Army. The level of violence has settled back to 2005 levels. Where is the light at the end of the tunnel?
Jill Derby, NV-02:
"The question I would ask Gen. Petraeus is this: 'The Army is saying that more than 25 percent of soldiers on third or fourth tours suffer mental health problems and Army Chief Of Staff General Casey called the Army "out of balance." What are we doing to help our troops, vets and their families deal with these issues?'"
Donna Edwards, MD-04:
My first question for the General is: When are you prepared to discuss and implement a multi-tiered approach to Iraq that includes economic, diplomatic, and political options to bring stability and sustainable progress to Iraq? Has the war in Iraq made the United States safer? Is the current U.S. force level in Iraq covering up the lack of political progress in the country and isn't that troop level unsustainable? Doesn't the violence of the last several weeks demonstrate that the central government is weak and that the Iraqi forces are not trained or prepared to defend against the insurgents?
I believe "The Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq" is a critical step in the right direction and is the kind of discussion we need to start having in Washington and across the country."
"The question that needs to be asked is how is our current policy making us safer and why we wouldn't be better off spending that money to address problems at home?"
Don Wiviott, NM-03:
Has the War in Iraq actually made America safer?
What plans are in place to both get our troops out of Iraq and give the Iraqi army a chance to step up to the plate and protect their own country?
Since there is no military solution in Iraq, what steps are we taking to ensure Iraqi officials are working together and moving towards lasting political reconciliation?
The President and other top officials talk about winning the war. What criteria constitutes "winning" the war in Iraq? How will we know when we have "won"?
Leslie Byrne, Democratic candidate for VA-11:
General Petraeus: Since our National Security is at risk from a "broken military" according to many of your peers, how do you plan to salvage the military, given the lack of political and economic progress in Iraq, which after all you said was the purpose of the "Surge"?
Chellie Pingree, ME-01:
The number one question General Petraeus should have to answer is this: Has the war in Iraq made America safer?
Eric Massa (NY-29):
"General depending accounting used, this war will cost us from $2 - 3.5 trillion. Help me explain to my constituents why it is more important to rebuild Iraq and not rebuild America."
After five years in Iraq, are we really any safer?
Tim Cunha (FL-06):
When General David Petraeus and U. S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker meet with Congress Tuesday and Wednesday, Tim Cunha, Democratic 6th district congressional candidate, wants them asked: "Is the continued American involvement in the Iraq civil war making America safer?"
Steve Harrison, Democratic candidate for NY-13:
1. General do you believe advocating for a withdrawal from Iraq necessarily indicates either a lack of support for our troops, or a lack of patriotism?
2. General, troop withdrawal is a military operation. Given the current conditions in Iraq, in your expert opinion, what would be a reasonable time frame for complete withdrawal assuming the planning started tomorrow?
3..General, Prime Minister Maliki's surprising attack on the Sadr militia last week showed great weakness in the government's ability to provide security as well as weakness in the government's political ability to unite the country. It also showed great lack of judgment in the capabilities of his military. The Iraqi situation shows no signs of near term stability and it does not appear American military presence has facilitated that goal. In the absence of being able to meet that political goal, what other military goals, in your opinion justify American military presence in Iraq?
"If the United States removed the combat forces in Iraq, would there be any direct threat to the United States? If any threat, what would it be and how could it be mitigated?"
In July of 2006, The Lancet, a British Medical Journal, estimated that over 600,000 Iraqis had been killed as a result of the invasion. According to Opinion Business Research, those estimates have risen to over 1 million dead. General Petraeus, how do you ascribe the term "victory" in these circumstances? Additionally, how do these deaths make America safer?
I grew up in Miami, a region dominated by Cuba politics, so I have some knowledge of how significant Joe Garcia's candidacy is in South Florida. It is a direct challenge to the pay-to-play foreign policy apparatus of the United States, one where sugar interests and right-wing politics determines that we should have a pointless embargo against the Cuban people. But today I want to announce that we have another significant nomination for the Blue Majority page: Leslie Byrne for Virginia's 11th district.
Republican Tom Davis is retiring this year, and the district is a good pickup opportunity. Jim Webb won the district 55%-44% in 2006, Tim Kaine won the district 56%-42% in 2005, while John Kerry lost it by 50-49% in 2004. It is turning sharply blue; Tom Davis's wife, Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, lost to Democrat Chap Petersen by 11 points in a race for state Senate.
With such a ripe pickup opportunity, the primary is ferocious. The Washington Post frames the primary fight within the Democratic party as follows:
Leading the pack are two of the state Democrats' biggest personalities: Leslie L. Byrne, a former congresswoman, state delegate and state senator with deep roots in the party's progressive wing, and Gerald E. Connolly, a Latin-quoting, pro-business Democrat who, as chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, represents one in seven Virginians.
Byrne is the long-time progressive movement candidate facing off against developer ally Gerry Connolly. Byrne's progressive credentials are first-rate; a liberal member of Congress from 1992-1994, she was an opponent of the war in Iraq from day one, endorsed Howard Dean in 2004, is a favorite of the local netroots, and endorsed fellow war opponent Jim Webb early on. That endorsement was critical and provided Webb's campaign with an early boost of legitimacy in his primary against lobbyist Harris Miller, who supported the war in Iraq and thought Bush's tax cuts were "a great idea". Webb defeated racist Republican George Allen narrowly because he presented a clear choice on economic inequality and the war in Iraq, and has turned around and endorsed Byrne's campaign.
Leslie Byrne has also been endorsed by Raising Kaine, Not Larry Sabato, Anonymous Is a Woman, 750 Volts, and Bryan Scrafford. To contextualize these endorsements, understand that the Virginia blogs are probably one of the most sophisticated group of progressive bloggers in the country; they helped put Tim Kaine and Jim Webb into office, and the state in play for 2008.
This is a nasty fight, with Connolly up by 22 in his polling and Byrne up by 10 in her polling. Connolly is generally seen as heavily tied to developers (see all the coming soon on his campaign's endorsement list), while Byrne's endorsement list is pretty impressive and shows her commitment to progressive values:
UAW Virginia, CWA, IUPAT, Ironworkers, Plumbers, Operating Engineers, Heating and Asbestos Workers, Washington DC Building Trades Council, AFSCME Virginia, Boilermakers, Operating Engineers, EMILY's List, UAW International, National Women's Political Caucus, and EMILY's List.
If she win the primary and the general, Byrne will be a great member of Congress. I emailed back and forth with her over our standard set of questions focusing on key moments of progressive leverage in Congress; the war funding vote in 2007, the FISA vote in 2007, and retroactive immunity for the telecommunications industry. Here are her responses.
1) How would you have voted on the war funding bill that the Democrats passed in May?
I would have voted against the war funding bill. I have been on record since January,2003 as being against the war and the occupation of Iraq when a dozen former members of Congress and I sent a letter to President Bush not to embark on this foolhardy war.
2) What is your position on the Protect America Act that went through Congress in August, the bill that extended the President's eavesdropping power3?
I would have voted against it. Warrantless wiretapping, cutting courts out of the process and giving the power to the administration, under any fair reading of the Constitution should be illegal.
3) What is your position on retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies?
I'm against immunity. The telecommunications companies who complied (not all did) have some of the highest priced legal talent available. They should have asked for a court ruling before handing over their customers records. I was very pleased that the US House found their voice on this issue.
Byrne has also signed on to the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq, showing leadership now as a candidate for office and facing withering attacks because she spoke out substantively to change the conversation on national security.
Even though many of us are political junkies, we don't get many chances to really impact politics in this country. Primaries, though, are the moments when our influence is felt most keenly, because it is at those times when Democratic activists and Democratic voters really shape the party's direction. It's hard to have a clearer choice than the one presented in this primary in Virginia, so if you want to put money to where it will really matter, give $50 to Leslie Byrne, and let's send another progressive Democrat to support the fight we started years ago.
UPDATE: Right now, Blue Majority is at 5534 donors. Since we started the page, here's what our candidates have done: Donna Edwards won a primary, Bill Foster is a member of Congress who was pivotal in the FISA fight, Al Franken is winning his primary, Joe Garcia is presenting a fundamental challenge to the fruitless embargo against Cuba, and Darcy Burner and Eric Massa have presented a substantive and responsible plan to end the war in Iraq. I'd say we got our money's worth.
One point to note is that these are the salad days of progressive change, with Republicans dropping like flies. We will not face an environment like this for years, so it is right now when your money matters. We've seen the change that our candidates are already making.
It's time to support them, so throw in $75 if you can. Blue Majority is setting a goal of getting to 6500 donors by the end of the quarter. If you haven't given, now's the time. I just threw in $100. And now, courtesy of Actblue's new feature set, you can store your donation history. Here's mine.
I grew up in Miami, a region dominated by Cuba politics, so I have some knowledge of how significant Joe Garcia's candidacy is in South Florida. It is a direct challenge to the pay-to-play foreign policy apparatus of the United States, one where sugar interests and right-wing politics determines that we should have a pointless embargo against the Cuban people. I'll get into Garcia's campaign more on Monday, because today I want to announce that we have another significant nomination for the Blue Majority page: Leslie Byrne for Virginia's 11th district.
Republican Tom Davis is retiring this year, and the district is a good pickup opportunity. Jim Webb won the district 55%-44% in 2006, Tim Kaine won the district 56%-42% in 2005, while John Kerry lost it by 50-49% in 2004. It is turning sharply blue; Tom Davis's wife, Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, lost to Democrat Chap Petersen by 11 points in a race for state Senate.
With such a ripe pickup opportunity, the primary is ferocious. The Washington Post frames the primary fight within the Democratic party as follows:
Leading the pack are two of the state Democrats' biggest personalities: Leslie L. Byrne, a former congresswoman, state delegate and state senator with deep roots in the party's progressive wing, and Gerald E. Connolly, a Latin-quoting, pro-business Democrat who, as chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, represents one in seven Virginians.
Byrne is the long-time progressive movement candidate facing off against developer ally Gerry Connolly. Byrne's progressive credentials are first-rate; a liberal member of Congress from 1992-1994, she was an opponent of the war in Iraq from day one, endorsed Howard Dean in 2004, is a favorite of the local netroots, and endorsed fellow war opponent Jim Webb early on. That endorsement was critical and provided Webb's campaign with an early boost of legitimacy in his primary against lobbyist Harris Miller, who supported the war in Iraq and thought Bush's tax cuts were "a great idea". Webb defeated racist Republican George Allen narrowly because he presented a clear choice on economic inequality and the war in Iraq, and has turned around and endorsed Byrne's campaign.
Leslie Byrne has also been endorsed by Raising Kaine, Not Larry Sabato, Anonymous Is a Woman, 750 Volts, and Bryan Scrafford. To contextualize these endorsements, understand that the Virginia blogs are probably one of the most sophisticated group of progressive bloggers in the country; they helped put Tim Kaine and Jim Webb into office, and the state in play for 2008.
This is a nasty fight, with Connolly up by 22 in his polling and Byrne up by 10 in her polling. Connolly is generally seen as heavily tied to developers (see all the coming soon on his campaign's endorsement list), while Byrne's endorsement list is pretty impressive and shows her commitment to progressive values:
UAW Virginia, CWA, IUPAT, Ironworkers, Plumbers, Operating Engineers, Heating and Asbestos Workers, Washington DC Building Trades Council, AFSCME Virginia, Boilermakers, Operating Engineers, EMILY's List, UAW International, National Women's Political Caucus, and EMILY's List.
If she win the primary and the general, Byrne will be a great member of Congress. I emailed back and forth with her over our standard set of questions focusing on key moments of progressive leverage in Congress; the war funding vote in 2007, the FISA vote in 2007, and retroactive immunity for the telecommunications industry. Here are her responses.
1) How would you have voted on the war funding bill that the Democrats passed in May?
I would have voted against the war funding bill. I have been on record since January,2003 as being against the war and the occupation of Iraq when a dozen former members of Congress and I sent a letter to President Bush not to embark on this foolhardy war.
2) What is your position on the Protect America Act that went through Congress in August, the bill that extended the President's eavesdropping power3?
I would have voted against it. Warrantless wiretapping, cutting courts out of the process and giving the power to the administration, under any fair reading of the Constitution should be illegal.
3) What is your position on retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies?
I'm against immunity. The telecommunications companies who complied (not all did) have some of the highest priced legal talent available. They should have asked for a court ruling before handing over their customers records. I was very pleased that the US House found their voice on this issue.
Byrne has also signed on to the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq, showing leadership now as a candidate for office and facing withering attacks because she spoke out substantively to change the conversation on national security.
Even though many of us are political junkies, we don't get many chances to really impact politics in this country. Primaries, though, are the moments when our influence is felt most keenly, because it is at those times when Democratic activists and Democratic voters really shape the party's direction. It's hard to have a clearer choice than the one presented in this primary in Virginia, so if you want to put money to where it will really matter, give $50 to Leslie Byrne, and let's send another progressive Democrat to support the fight we started years ago.
UPDATE: Right now, Blue Majority is at 5534 donors. Since we started the page, here's what our candidates have done: Donna Edwards won a primary, Bill Foster is a member of Congress who was pivotal in the FISA fight, Al Franken is winning his primary, Joe Garcia is presenting a fundamental challenge to the fruitless embargo against Cuba, and Darcy Burner and Eric Massa have presented a substantive and responsible plan to end the war in Iraq. I'd say we got our money's worth.
One point to note is that these are the salad days of progressive change, with Republicans dropping like flies. We will not face an environment like this for years, so it is right now when your money matters. We've seen the change that our candidates are already making.
It's time to support them, so throw in $75 if you can. Blue Majority is setting a goal of getting to 6500 donors by the end of the quarter. If you haven't given, now's the time. I just threw in $100. And now, courtesy of Actblue's new feature set, you can store your donation history. Here's mine.
I grew up in Miami, a region dominated by Cuba politics, so I have some knowledge of how significant Joe Garcia's candidacy is in South Florida. It is a direct challenge to the pay-to-play foreign policy apparatus of the United States, one where sugar interests and right-wing politics determines that we should have a pointless embargo against the Cuban people. But today I want to announce that we have another significant nomination for the Blue Majority page: Leslie Byrne for Virginia's 11th district.
