ELECTION POST-MORTEM. WE COULD HAVE DONE BETTER, MUCH BETTER.

November 13, 2006

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) chairman, Israeli Defense Force vet, and ballet dancer Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois withheld campaign financing from several Democratic House candidates who were running on platforms that were not "vetted" and approved by his coterie of the Democratic leadership. The withholding of funds by Emanuel has been reported to WMR by unsuccessful Democratic House candidates across the country. The Emanuel strategy was at loggerheads with that of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean whose strategy was to fight a 50 state campaign against the GOP with support for all Democrats.

It is now clear that Dean's strategy was the correct one and that of Emanuel and his fellow Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) anti-Dean partisans (James Carville, Simon Rosenberg, Joe Lieberman, Al From, etc.) was off-base and cost the Democrats an even wider margin of victory in the House and possibly the Senate as well.

For example, take the Florida 15th Congressional District in which retired Air Force Lt. Col. Bob Bowman ran against entrenched Republican Dave Weldon. Bowman, who won an impressive 44 percent in a strong Republican district, did not receive one cent from the DCCC or the Florida Democratic Party. Weldon raised $727,000 in his campaign while Bowman had a scant $91,279. Another candidate who was ignored by Emanuel was Florida 24th District candidate Clint Curtis, the former programmer who was asked by his opponent Tom Feeney to write a program to flip votes on voting machines in Florida. Curtis beat the favored Democratic candidate -- Andy Michaud -- in the primary. His punishment by the Emanuel clique was no money. Feeney had $1,295,000 in his war chest while Curtis had a mere $44,356. Yet Curtis almost fared as well as Bowman in the strongly Republican district -- he won an impressive 42 percent -- with not one dime from Emanuel's coffers.

It was not just Florida where Emanuel's damage to party candidates emerged. In California's 44th, Democratic candidate Louis Vandenberg, who ran against the extremely corrupt Ken Calvert for the fourth time, was not able to advance beyond 38 percent (what appears to be the Democratic base in the east of Los Angeles district). The major reason again -- no support from Emanuel or the state Democrats. Calvert raised $863,000 while Vandenberg, who this year drew the largest crowds ever in his campaigns, had a paltry $5,174 on hand. Many candidates, not able to leave their regular jobs, were unable to fundraise full time. And the Democratic financiers were not there to lend a hand. And helping to stick it to fellow prospective California Democratic House members was Emanuel pal Rep. Hilda Solis.

Rahm Emanuel: Did he cost Democrats an even larger House victory? Unsuccessful candidates say yes.

There were a few exceptions to Emanuel's attempt to put pro-business shills in the House. One was California's 11th district where pro-environment Jerry McNerney trumped Emanuel's handpicked puppet Steve Filson in the primary. and went on to defeat the anti-environment Republican Richard Pombo in the general election. Lack of support from Emanuel and his cohorts also helped bury the candidacies of former FBI agent Coleen Rowley in Minnesota, John Laesch (running against pederast enabler Dennis Hastert) in Illinois, and Larry Kissell in North Carolina. Bush's unpopularity meant that Karl Rove and his operatives were forced to concentrate on race they deemed in the pocket -- including races in formerly "deep red" states like Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming, Idaho, Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, and Indiana. However, the Emanuel group did not seize on the opportunity to pump much-needed funds into these competitive races.

It is clear that the DLC did not want certain issues brought to the Democratic House caucus, including 911 Truth (Bowman), pre-911 screw ups (Rowley), voting machine fraud (Curtis), and congressional pederasty (Patty Wetterling, 6th Minnesota district). One can only wonder why the DLC would want to eschew candidates who the Bush administration would find extremely uncomfortable. The answer is simple -- the Republicans and DLC are basically one and the same. Similar foreign and domestic policy goals put them in bed with one another. Its no more complicated than that.
Dean's 50-state winning strategy deep-sixed by DLC Democratic Party moles Rahm Emanuel and James Carville.

A source who knows Emanuel from past campaigns told WMR that the former Clinton White House aide is a complete "asshole" when it comes to playing favorites with candidates -- a trait that put the Illinois congressman at odds with Dean, who wanted to support candidates in every state and congressional district.

ADDITIONAL ITEM: No sooner had we posted this morning, we received additional information from unsuccessful Democratic House candidate Dave Bruderly in the Florida 6th district. Here, again, more proof of Emanuel's disastrous decision to withhold campaign funding. Bruderly, running against Cliff Stearns in a heavy Republican district, polled 40 percent. In a statement, Bruderly said, "the business decisions made by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee and the low-profile campaign tactics of our incumbent opponent were tremendous barriers to overcome. We did the best we could with available resources."

It is time for Emanuel to be jettisoned from the DCCC and a Howard Dean loyalist to be put in charge for the 2008 election. Many of the unsuccessful Democratic candidates are trying to retire their huge debts but many intend to run again. Next time let it be with financial support from the national (and state) Democratic Party structures (sans Emanuel and the DLC types).

WayneMadsen Report