$100K for Better Democrats

[babylonsister]

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2262

$100K for Better Democrats
by: Matt Stoller
Wed Nov 07, 2007 at 16:21:14 PM EST


When Nancy Pelosi announced she was going to headline a fundraiser for Al Wynn on October 15, I was stunned. Al Wynn voted for the Bankruptcy Bill, the war in Iraq, the Bush Energy Bill, against net neutrality and against the estate tax. His list of corporate PAC donations is remarkable: AT&T Federal PAC, Walmart, NFIB, US Chamber of Commerce, Nuclear Energy Institute, Raytheon, Verizon, Bellsouth Federal PAC, Bechtel PAC, Comcast PAC, Constellation Energy, DTE Energy, Northrup Grumman, Entergy, Excelon, First Energy, Lockheed Martin.

And that's just for starters. Wynn also was caught lying this cycle about his record and last cycle lying about endorsements he had received. He won in 2006 in a tight primary race with highly controversial voting problems, with his staffers involved in allegedly attacking a Donna Edwards volunteer (here's the youtube clip) and multiple FEC violations over the years. How could Nancy Pelosi, a leader in the House whose credibility comes from her history as a progressive caucus stalwart, raise money for Al Wynn? This was crushing, because it suggested to many of us that the Democratic leadership simply did not care that they were beholden to big money interests and had an 11% approval rating because of semi-regular capitulations to George Bush.

So we decided to do what we did for Darcy Burner earlier this year, and raise Donna Edwards $100k. We hit that target today, with 2300 donors and $102,312.

It was a remarkable coalition, with Color of Change, MyDD, Swing State Project, Americablog, Dailykos, Digby, Firedoglake, Atrios, Crooks and Liars, DownwithTyranny and Openleft all banding together. And it worked, in more ways than one. It wasn't just the cash; over the course of the week, Donna got the endorsement of Progressive Maryland, the proponent of a living wage in Maryland which Wynn opposed, and Emily's List.

I think the most resonant moment was when I went to a fancy New York fundraiser on Monday and asked Speaker Pelosi about her support for Al Wynn. Instead of answering, she simply turned her back on me. This resonated with a lot of Democrats who feel that she has turned her back on us and thrown in with the corporate special interests that back people like Al Wynn.

And so we wanted to send a message to Speaker Pelosi, Rahm Emanuel, Steny Hoyer, the corporate PACs and the whole incumbent protection racket that we aren't just going to call and write and protest anymore. We are going to organize, not just for more Democrats, but for better Democrats.

[OHdem10]

1. Splendid--you give me hope.