Progressive candidates flood Washington for targeted training

[Jim Lane]

This is where the rubber meets the road: practical help for progressive candidates, in the form of a training session. "Progressive candidates flood Washington for targeted training":

Unlike the memorable, mega-events from [Bernie Sanders's] presidential campaign, with throngs of mostly young voters, a year and half later this room was made up of 450 fresh-faced, Democratic candidates seeking public office themselves, many for the first time.

The scene Thursday afternoon was a snapshot of the revolution the independent senator always wanted -- or at least the one he hoped for after his bid for the White House fell short -- coming to pass.

Candidates from 48 states, running in races big and small, gathered in Washington, D.C., for a four-day training session to learn tricks of the trade from some of the savviest grassroots organizers in the country with the hope of perpetuating a progressive brand of politics back home in their districts.

Sanders' legacy political organization, Our Revolution, partnered with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) to host the conference and the organizers were excited by the number of signups. According to event representatives, 70 percent of the conference attendees were actively running in 2018 -- 64 percent of them in districts President Donald Trump won in 2016. The group was noticeably diverse too: 55 percent women, 40 percent people of color and 82 percent who have never held political office.

With most of them running in pro-Trump districts, I have to assume that a lot of them will lose. Still, with the blue shifts we've seen in other elections since the Inauguration, Democrats rate to be more widely competitive.

And those who lose? They'll build name recognition, contact lists, and campaign skills, and be in a better position to win next time around. Also, I'm sure some of them will run in districts where, in the last cycle, the Republican ran unopposed. Losing by 65-35 is better than giving a Republican a complete free ride.

[lapucelle]

1. PCCC raises a lot of money. Here's where it goes.

https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenditures.php?cycle=2018&cmte=C00458000

[George II]

2. Interesting, of about $3.2 million they only spend $569,000 (18%) on campaigns (Media and Strategy)?

[SidDithers]

3. Their 2016 numbers are even worse...

https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2016&strID=C00458000

They raised just over $6 million.
They spent ~ $5.9 million.

But where did they spend it?

They gave only $44,475 to candidates. (All Democrats)
https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cmte=C00458000&cycle=2016


they spent $2.9 million on their own salaries
https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenditures.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00458000


Sid

[George II]

5. In the pie chart shown here, they spent:

60% on salaries
13% on "administrative"
9% on fundraising

82% on anything but helping candidates.

On the only two categories for which they're in existence, they spent a mere 18% - 13% on media and 5% on strategy.

[SidDithers]

6. They gave $2,197 to candidates during the 2018 election cycle...

https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cmte=C00458000&cycle=2018


I've posted before, that if you want to donate to a candidate, then donate directly to that candidate.

A donation to PCCC, that someone thinks is going to a candidate, absolutely isn't.



Sid

[George II]

10. Sounds like the old 7% United Way before the big scandals.....

....it's quite evident that "supporting progressive candidates" has become a booming cottage industry.

[crazycatlady]

27. I get the PCCC emails

I don't donate but I also don't get the impression they're giving it to the candidate.

[Blue_true]

4. Wow. Better to give directly to the candidate. nt

[Gothmog]

9. Or better yet, take to the local Democratic Lawyer Association monthly meeting

I was pissed at the Our Revolution treatment of a candidate and so I took him to the monthly meeting of the local Democratic Lawyers Association. Sri had a great deal of fun

[George II]

11. BOOM!

[crazycatlady]

28. If you want to invest in training

Give to your state Democratic Party. There's also the National Democratic Training Committee (although other than sending emails, I'm not sure what they do). EMILY's List and Democracy for America also host training sessions (I've been to all including PCCC-- but EMILY is no boys allowed).

Candidate (and staff) training is important to build the bench.

[Gothmog]

34. Agreed-i have help sponsor one of these training session by state party(I bought lunch)

I trust real democrats to provide effective training

[mcar]

23. And these are the same types who slammed the Clinton Foundation

[Gothmog]

7. Were there any Asians in this training group?

According to the local Our Revolution group in my area, Asians are not welcome by Our Revolution http://www.indoamerican-news.com/local-democrats-infighting-attempts-to-smear-sri-kulkarni/

Like many other youngsters going through their tumultuous teen years, Kulkarni attributed the episode to youthful indiscretion, similar to what George W. Bush, Barak Obama and Bill Clinton experienced in their youths.

But Beaton, who is backing candidate Steve Brown in the primary, is throwing out all sorts of minor issues to sideline Kulkarni’s bid. He has challenged Kulkarni’s full name, his residency in the district, his voting record and even his registration application saying he wanted to run in Massachusetts.

Inspite of these diversions, the Indian American community as well as the rest of the South And East Asian communities are staunchly behind Kulkarni and they have shown it by the sheer numbers who have come to his events and are donating funds to his campaign, sensing a chance to have an Asian in Congress from the Metroplex. They came together last night, Tuesday, February 20, at Madras Pavlion to rally behind Kulkarni and push back against these charges.

Encouraged, Kulkarni is counting on their support. “We’re pushing back against this stigmatization and slander,” Kulkarni said. “The Asian communities need to come out and vote to get us over the top in the primary.”

From another article http://www.indiawest.com/news/global_indian/texas-congressional-candidate-sri-kulkarni-acknowledges-teen-drug-arrest-youthful/article_54a39be6-1e55-11e8-8db1-6f520552146f.html

Doug Beaton, the leader of the chapter, warned Fort Bend County Democratic officials on Kulkarni's previously undisclosed past in a letter posted on social media, it said.

The letter suggested that Kulkarni, whose full first name is Srinivas, is running under an assumed name and that he had previously registered with the Federal Election Commission to run for a congressional seat in Massachusetts.,,,,

Fort Bend County's past Democratic chair, Don Bankston, a member of the party's state executive committee, said the attack on Kulkarni is off base and potentially slanderous, according to the report.

I figured the best way to respond to these attacks was to take Sri to the local Democratic Lawyers Association. It was fun seeing a candidate in a room of Democratic lawyer. This was after the last fundraising reporting deadline but the next report will be interesing

[Jim Lane]

12. My guess is Yes, but I don't know. Here's a more interesting question....

Why is it that, in response to an OP about a program to train Democratic candidates, nobody has a comment about the program itself? All the responses are sniping at the sponsors on other grounds.

I guess mentioning that word "Progressive", let alone the phrase "Our Revolution", was just too great a provocation.

OK, now that everyone has unloaded on The Enemy for helping Democrats do well in the 2018 elections, we can go back to saying how important it is that Democrats do well in the 2018 elections.

[Gothmog]

13. Your OP talk about targeted training,

I just want to know who is being targeted? The local Our Revolution group targeted a candidate in my district[ because that candidate was "not one of us" and that Our Tevolution group did not want "one of them" on the ballot.

Candidate training is a good thing. I hosted ( bought lunch) a traing sessions held by the state party for candidates back in 2015'. Just for my county we had 80 people attend. 450 people serns low in that we have almost 200 races in Texas being contested for state and federal offices

Given the track record of the local Our Revolution group, it would would be nice to know who is being targeted

[Demsrule86]

15. They target Democratic seats...I have not seen any Gop seats targeted by this anti-Democratic Party

organization.

[Demsrule86]

16. That would be because Our Revolution hates Democrats and target sitting Democrats and

has said they will support Republicans and Greens...IE non-Democrats. Personally, I despise Nina Turner and our revolution. I view them as a danger to our efforts to take Congress in 18.

[lapucelle]

17. The rank monetization of what looks like "activism"

needs to be called out whenever it's discovered. The organization is cynically self-serving. People need to beware before they donate.

[Gothmog]

18. The faux outrage is amusing

Our Revolution is trying to undermine the Democratic Party. The term progressive has been hijacked by candidates who are not members of the Democratic party and who want to hurt the party. These candidates are trying to undermine the Democratic Party in the real world

If being a progressive means booing Congressman John Lewis at the national convention, then the Democratic Party does NOT need these progressives. I was at the Nationsl Convention and I was warned of this stunt 15 minutes before the booing started. Sanders was told about this stunt but refused to stop it. I know that your friends at JPR applauded this stunt

Again, I want to know who is being targeted by this training

[LanternWaste]

30. Let us all hang from these our crosses...

"I guess mentioning that word "Progressive", let alone the phrase "Our Revolution", was just too great a provocation..."

A wonderfully creative justification to better ignore the paucity of their assistance. Let us all hang from these our crosses designed specifically to avoid cause, and focus only on effect.

[crazycatlady]

31. PCCC does several training programs

Both in person and online. I can't speak for this one (as I'm not a candidate) but in general their training programs are pretty good.

I say this as someone who attended an in-person field training of theirs and did several webinars.

[Jim Lane]

32. Thanks for the first-hand report! (n/t)

[Gothmog]

35. Who is being targeted?

Are Asians allowed to attend? In my county, Our Revolution believes that an Asian candidate is not "one of us" and this group does not want one of "them" on the ballot.

[crazycatlady]

36. The one I went to was in 2014

It was in PA. I don't remember the demographics of the training.

[Gothmog]

37. So you do not know who us being targeted?

[Gothmog]

8. Prof Murray has some good observation on Sri

Link to tweet

From the NYT article

Richard Murray, a professor of political science at the University of Houston, told me to keep an eye as well on the 22nd District, a largely suburban swath of the Houston area that he described as a microcosm of demographic changes that are making the state ever more hospitable Democratic turf.

“The suburban counties that led Republicans to dominance here 25 years ago are getting significantly less Republican fast,” he said, adding that Fort Bend County, in the 22nd, is roughly 20 percent Asian-American now. The first-place finisher in the district’s Democratic primary, Sri Preston Kulkarni, is Indian-American. Murray said that if Kulkarni wins his runoff, that could be a significant boost to Democrats’ chances to nab this House seat.

[Demsrule86]

14. Progressive candidates are not necessarily Democratic candidates according to our revolution.

Thus I send a giant fuck you to Nina Turner and Our revolution...who's mission is to destroy the Democratic party in my opinion. I would never vote for any of their candidates in any primary. And in the case of Mello (and I agree with getting people who can win in red states) they basically threw pro-choice under the bus.

[Gothmog]

19. Agreed

The tetm progressive have been hijacked by candidates who are not members of the Democratic Party. These candidates wish to hurt the party

[Demsrule86]

20. They do. Clearly Turner and her minions hate Democrats.

[Gothmog]

21. Many of The so called progressive candidates are thugs

These idiots can only get money by calling themselve progressives. Many of these idiots are not electable in the real world

[Demsrule86]

22. Yep...I think many are anarchists and libertarians.

[Gothmog]

24. The OP is hiding

The OP bragged about targeted training i want to know who is targeted

[Demsrule86]

25. exactly right...they target Democrats...let's hope they all lose...because most can't win

generals.

[Gothmog]

26. From the silence of the OP it appears that these targeted trainings were targeting democrats

No one is surprised by this and the fact that these groups are targeting democrats. These tow groups hate the Democratic Party,

I wonder if they had courses on when to boo true Democrats like Congressman John Lewis. Such attacks are evidentle acceptableto these groups

[Jim Lane]

29. It's my turn to thank YOU for the amusement

Yeah, "the silence of the OP," right. I conspicuously failed to provide a complete roster of each of the 450 candidates, their demographics, the races they're in, their policy positions, and their proofs of loyalty to DU orthodoxy. The obvious inference is that they all hate the Democratic Party and are probably being bankrolled by the Russians and/or the Koch brothers. That would explain why Bernie Sanders spoke at the event, although tarring Elizabeth Warren with the same brush might be a bit much even for the Bernie-bashing brigade.

Of course, another possible inference is that my post included the link to the article and that the linked article constitutes the sum and substance of my knowledge of this event.

But, hey, it's much more fun to engage in guilt by association. The event was sponsored by two groups that don't agree with you 100%, therefore the whole thing was evil. Allowing for the possibility of nuance would take too long.

[Gothmog]

33. I have received so much amusement from your posts that it is not funny

Not one of your silly predictions on the DNC fraud case has came true. I was amused to see that the idiot who filed this joke of case finally figured out that there are special pleading rules for class actions filed in federal court under diversity jurisdiction. Evidently the court had to explain these rules to this idiot. Have you bought this moron's book yet? The book appears to be the only reason for filing this joke of a lawsuit

Again who's being targeted? Our Revolution is targeting Asians in my part of the state because they are not "one of us" and the Our Revolution group does not want one of "them" on the ballot. It is clear that targeing is being use by so called progressives and I would like to know who is being targeted.

again thank you for the amusement

[Gothmog]

38. The briefing in the bogus but funny DNC fraud lawsuit appears to be complete

The attorneys who filed that lawsuit are idiots. https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210544462