| This is how it works: Dan Boren says, "Obama is the most liberal senator in Congress and his record does not reflect working in a bipartisan fashion."
This is covered on the blogs, and Pledgeblue sends an email to its list, and 200 DFHs each pledge an average of $50 to the 'Bluer than Boren' account, promising to donate that amount to any more-progressive (not actually progressive, just more) primary opponent who runs against Boren from the left.
Then Boren gets a letter, an email, a phone call, etc., saying: "Due to your comment, 'blah blah blah,' Pledgeblue raised $10,000 in pledges to your as-yet-unnamed primary opponent."
Rinse and repeat. The issue isn't even winning the primary races. Just keeping the dogs on a leash.
We probably can't win many of these fights, if we define 'win' as 'victory in the primary.' But we can win if we define 'win' as 'attach a price to capitulation to Republicans and to trash-talking Democrats.' Our goal is merely to move conservative Dems not actually into the left, but as far toward the left (or maybe even just the 'center') as they can reasonably go.
Even Dems in completely safe seats, where they are unaccountably beloved by constituents, despise the necessity of spending time and money winning a primary that might not otherwise happen. That's a big headache. And if they can avoid it by shutting up a little ... why not? We need to give him a reason to STFU: to attach a price to spewing garbage.
The FISA battle is a little different; as Mimi Katz says, many of these Dems might well be voting for reasons of self-preservation, which overrides all other concerns. But this sorta thing, that institutionalizes primary challenges combined with pledges, strikes me as a very valuable addition to the netleft toolbox.
Feedback? Refinements? Mocking? |
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