Electability

I was appalled when, on Wednesday morning, I read this headline in the Post & Courier:

Democrat Archie Parnell, who once beat his ex-wife, easily wins SC primary

No, it wasn't glaring red, but it might as well have been.

Sadly, it doesn't take much to get to this point when our own Democrats are so willing to jump in and push good candidates -- and elected officials -- off the ship.  Bakari Sellers, who has turned from a decent and caring public servant to a famous celebrity, was among the first to try to shame Parnell into stepping down.  Either no skeletons in his closet, or no plans to run for office.

Apparently, republicans have realized that all they need to do is to dig up (or invent) some dirt on a candidate who threatens their feifdom, and then step back and let us Dems pummel that candidate into the ground.  Lordy, the best they could come up with was college party videos of Jon Ossoff, who scared the crap out of republicans in Georgia last year.  They couldn't have done it without us.  While most Dems continued to stand by Ossoff, enough backed away to give his republican opponent the win.  That's all it takes.  Remember Hillary?  Thirty years of republicans flinging mud, with James Comey putting the icing on the cake and leaving him, and us, with feelings of nausea -- and with Donald Trump.

Focus, Democrats!  Focus on the issues here, because we stand to lose good candidates who MIGHT JUST WIN unless we get distracted by rumor, innuendo and the occasional irrelevant fact.

We are the party where we stand by people who have had tough times in their lives, made horrible mistakes, and come out better for it.  We don't need to support people who live bigotry and misogyny; we can leave that to the republicans.  We have enough good Democrats who will fight for us.  But we have to accept that they may be flawed.

We need to stop looking for the perfect candidate, because that is our Achilles heel:  the strength that becomes our vulnerability.

In fact, we don't even have the ability to look a gift horse in the mouth and say, "Aw, thanks."  As when our own Dimitri Cherny made the outrageous decision to run against Mark Sanford in the republican primary.  It was hilarious to watch the republicans (who have used the open primary system against us a number of times) squeal about how unfair it was.  What wasn't as much fun was watching our own party have conniptions over what they saw as Dimitri jumping ship.

Because in the cold light of day, there was absolutely nothing for us to lose in Dimitri's candidacy.  At best he might topple the horrible Mark Sanford, who has been like a piece of chewing gum stuck to the feet of South Carolina for decades.  At worse, he would... what?  lose?  In fact, he did lose, but the three percent of votes that he got just might have been what lost Sanford his cushy job.  To that I say, "Thanks, Dimitri."  Of course, now we need to garner some enthusiasm for Joe Cunningham instead of cowering over the fact that he will be running against a right-wing wacko Trump supporter.

Meanwhile, the DCCC, in an effort to prove their irrelevance once again, is currently sniffing around, looking to put the money they suck from us whenever they can into candidates that are "electable."  It saddens me to say that Nancy Pelosi, once my hero, is now so desperate to win in November that she is leading the charge against candidates that may be too progressive to be electable.  Pelosi: once a progressive firebrand herself, the woman who held the damn bag of cats that was the Democratic House together to pass Obamacare.  I have until this recent news defended Nancy with every breath I had, and continue to believe that it is ageism and misogyny that has been behind the push to push her from her position of party leader in the House.  And yet this picture of Pelosi seeking to support Democrats who appear safe -- electable -- and pass on those who aren't afraid to talk about significant change, that is the real threat to the Democratic Party and our success in taking back Congress.

We had Bernie "the socialist" shake things up in 2016.  In 2017, among other headline wins, Danica Roem became the first transgender elected official.  People are electing Muslims and gays without fear these days.  And yet we continue to have a party afraid to support "progressive" candidates.

On the other side, we had a child molester in Alabama who nearly beat an amazing Democratic candidate.  Thankfully, Doug Jones didn't have any scandals that could have been dug up.  And don't forget the current "president" of the United States, who ran happily on being capable of every possible crime that could be committed (including shooting someone on Fifth Avenue). While good Democrats stayed away from Hillary, muttering about "emails," "Benghazi," and never proven financial crimes.

I don't know how much more proof we need that voters want radical change.  They want to hear about their own lives and needs.  Donald Trump didn't win (he really didn't) on grabbing pussy.  He won because he lied about giving everyone health insurance and good jobs.  And now we have solid proof that the republican party has not only failed in those goals, they have actively legislated killing health care and job creation.  They convinced some of us that a $14.00 a week increase in our paychecks was a win, but psychotic economic policies have caused the price of gas to go up over $1 a gallon since the maniac-in-chief took office.  Social services are being cut to fatten the pockets of Trump, Ryan and McConnell, and all their rich buddies.  Trade wars with our once-friends will eat up more of our miserable incomes while Jeff Sessions and the cabinet of deplorables works to make sure that, from education to employment, we won't have a chance at a level playing field.

Archie Parnell is serious about winning this thing.  And he is damn close.  All it takes for him to lose is friends like Bakari Sellers, and us.

I did not support Parnell in his special election primary last year.  Rather I supported a young, smart, African American woman.  Big name Democrats came out in droves for Parnell, because he was "electable."  It is a shame that we do that to ourselves, keep women and minorities from representing us because we are afraid they won't win.  Talk about your vicious circle.  But when he was chosen, he became by far the best candidate, and I continue to wholeheartedly support him.  I'm glad he has the guts to stay with it, rather than hand this victory to the republicans.

On June 13, BuzzFeed published this friggin' headline:

National And State Democrats Won’t Support Archie Parnell In South Carolina

“What Archie Parnell did is inexcusable and deeply disturbing, and he should drop out of this race immediately.”

Well, there's a surprise.

Farther down in the article was a video posted on Facebook by Parnell.  The same video was published by the Post & Courier before the primary, and before their egregious post-primary headline.  I would like to post the video here, but can't do it from Facebook.  I urge you to listen to Archie talk about his decision to continue to run, in its entirety.  This is the kind of candidate we should throw our support behind, enthusiastically.

You know what, we might get hoodwinked.  But at some point we need to trust what we see with our own eyes.  And if we don't, for sure we will be the ones to lose.

When They Go Low...

In that sparkling election campaign that was Hillary Clinton's, Michelle Obama led the call and response:  "When they go low... we go high."  Problem is, and the election of 2016 is proof, when they go low... we lose.

This is what republicans are good at.  In The Cynic, a disturbing book about the political career of Mitch McConnell, we find a gawky, not-very-popular young man who supported women's reproductive rights (!) as well as collective bargaining (!) in his early years.  He soon found out, though, just how sweet was the taste of victory, won in any way possible.  And the easiest way to win was by attacking your opponent.  And claiming to support any cause that would win the election, followed by enacting legislation that benefits the wealthy and powerful.

This is the republican playbook.  The moral vacuity that is the republican party will stoop to any depth to win.  The wealthy and powerful pay their way.  Voters hear what they want to hear, and believe the lies they are told writ large:  in ad buys, billboards, Russian fake news (yeah, that's what fake news was until Donald Trump appropriated it to his narcissistic ends).

We Dems just aren't comfortable with lying to win an election.  We shy away from attacking our opponent, whether it is because of our values or fear of retaliation.  I don't believe we need to, or could possibly, stoop as low as has the republican party.  But we have let republican strategists beat us to a pulp while we fight among ourselves.

I imagine that republican opposition research just can't be any more fun these days.  What happens is:  they find some questionable detail about a candidate, toss it out, and watch Dems fight about it.  And if they can't find some small actual thing, they make something up.

Take Jon Ossoff.  It wasn't that long ago that he ran the most exciting campaign since Bernie, in the truly red (don't get me started on gerrymandering) district in Georgia from which Trump's handlers plucked the evil Tom Price to Orwellize the Department of Health and Human Services.  It is no accident that they have been plucking their deplorables from redder than red districts (South Carolina has been fertile ground).  But Georgia's 6th, while solidly republican, also has its share of intelligent republicans, who chose Trump over Hillary by only one percent.

So imagine their alarm when republicans saw the populist excitement over candidate Jon Ossoff.  Of course, they did not spend much time biting their nails.  They went into action, fund raising and scheming.  They (RNC, PACs, and those even shadier groups) went into overdrive.  Had the situation been reversed, Dems might have made excuses for why they probably wouldn't win, or complained about how unfair it was that someone from the other side was giving them a tough race (only Donald Trump, in his robocalls, did that, telling voters not to let Democrats STEAL THE ELECTION).  Republicans immediately regrouped.  McConnell's playbook from his early years proves to have been the gift that keeps on giving.  When you are running against a formidable candidate there are two things that work:  lying about your opponent, running attack ads, and running attack ads that lie about your opponent (three things...).

Beginning with an ad showing clips that under a more, shall we say, objective framework, would have us think: "What a fun guy, and he sure is clever."  But in the hands of the Congressional Leadership Fund, it became a dark-tinged piece of hysteria that nonetheless made national news.  And why shouldn't it?  Republicans and republican supporters know how to get oppo research and negative messages into every crevice of the American media.  That success was followed by pieces of work that became progressively more desperate and evil, from falsely linking Ossoff to "Bay area liberals" and Nancy Pelosi, to a last truly disgusting ad that pronounces that "Now the unhinged left is endorsing and applauding shooting republicans."  Of course, once it was out, it was an easy matter for opponent Karen Handel to denounce the ad.  But fact is, it may have gotten those last crazies out to the polls, for which she is no doubt quietly grateful.

Yes, there was some grumbling about the ugliness of these ads.  But what did not happen was Democrats coming out in droves to talk to the voters about what they were seeing, that is, a desperate, nasty effort to manipulate the election to vote for the least popular candidate of the two.

If you are planning on running for office as anything other than a right-wing republican these days, you need to start with the assumption that the first thing republicans are going to do is find dirt on you.  If it's not dirt, they will make it so.  If they can't find anything to turn into dirt, they will lie.  So you need to tell the voters that this is going to happen.  You need to say:

"Republicans are going to do everything they can to win.  They will turn over everything in my past to find something they can twist to make it look bad.  They will distort everyday aspects of my life to make them look questionable.  They will lie.  They will put ads on TV that you won't want your kids to watch....  Why will they do this?  Because they can't run honestly on the issues.  They know that if you take a good look at their candidate, you will see that they don't have your interests in mind.  They know that if you are able to hear my message, without their lies and distortions, you will vote for me.  So know that, and let's run this campaign on the issues."

And you need to say it and say it again, every time there is a negative ad or attack.  Keep bringing voters back to the issues.  Keep reminding them why your opponent is going so low.

The other thing we Dems need to all get together on is getting together on our candidates.  These are people who for the most part don't have donors with deep pockets.  If they do, as did Hillary, you can bet republicans (talk about the pot and the kettle) will bring up their ties to Wall Street.  If they have gone to Harvard, they will make the Ivies sound like dirty words.  For gods' sake, they will bring up Nancy Pelosi and make it sound like you cohabit.

And here is where they get us, every time.  I am still hearing the smackdown between Bernie and Hillary supporters.  Trump taunted us by talking about his love for Bernie, gloated in the in-fighting.  Could he have done better after Bernie's admittedly half-hearted pleas to support Hillary than to have us turn against each other?

And then they threw out the Ossoff bones and sat back and watched us fight.  Does he support Pelosi, and why didn't he stand up for Pelosi?  Republican hate of all things liberal even became, "Is Jon Ossoff really a liberal, or is he just pretending?"  After the attack ads claiming that Ossoff wasn't really a small business owner, I heard Democrats repeating their concern that he wasn't really a small business owner.  Boy-o, talk about getting bang for your buck.

In some ways it is truly nice that Democrats don't toe the line the way republicans do.  But it is time to get political, folks.  I may have my problems with the Democratic Party, but I value any candidate that steps up to what is likely going to be a bloodbath.  Republicans don't just control all three branches of government, plus most of the states.  They have made sure that their tentacles reach the media and college campuses, where they successfully divert attention from their own manipulations by attacks on "liberal media" and "liberal college campuses."

And what they will do every time in every way, is support their candidate.  Right-wing republicans represent corporate America.  Period.  And they will do anything they need to do to get that victory.  McConnell is the master at controlling the message and the race.  Ryan knows where his financial bread is buttered.  And voters routinely mistake the unity of those who run the republican machine for truth.

Democrats can "go high," but we need to recognize the reality of politics.  You are not going to get your perfect candidate.  That means you confront a candidate that threatens not to support those democratic causes that make us Democrats.  But when it comes down to the vote, you ALWAYS vote for the best person.  That means Hillary over Trump, no matter how your heart aches for Bernie.  That means Archie Parnell even though you could see Alexis Frank, another woman on the floor of the House over the years becoming a national treasure.  And that means, stop chasing those nasty old bones the republicans throw out so they can step back and watch us fight.

About Pelosi.  She is the person who brought a bunch of hissing cats together to get the Affordable Care Act passed.  And Hillary.  She is the one who has fought internationally for the rights of women, standing up to Putin knowing that he would be a nasty and powerful enemy.  When republicans are done with them as useful targets, they will turn their sights on Elizabeth Warren (as both Trump and McConnell have already done).

These women are being targeted, not only because they are women, but because they are smart, powerful women.  And they tell truth to power, and to everyone else who will listen.  We need them, and we need to support them, wholeheartedly.  Shame on those who say Pelosi is too old to be effective, when republicans stand behind the old white men who are united with Trump in his plan to destroy our democracy (After the Georgia election there was a time when I was hearing Dems say Pelosi is too old AND Ossoff was too young, both bones tossed out by republicans.).  And shame to those who have let the unproved allegations of thirty years keep them from taking a look at all Hillary has done for us.

Fact is, when they feel threatened they attack.  What threatens them is candidates that will fight for the people and for democratic values.  And the louder we shout, the more voters respond, the bigger and uglier the attacks.  We know this.  We can fight back.

2018 is happening.  Let's stand with our courageous candidates.  Let's stop fighting among ourselves; let's stop listening to the lies and rumors put out by republican opponents.  Let us vote for our values, but let us be loud in our outrage at the perversion of our democracy that has been created by money and power.

We can go high when they go low, but we need to get down to their level to look them in the eye when we call them out.

One Last Thing about Ossoff and Parnell

Tuesday is the day it seems we have been waiting for since forever.  We have been hammered with emails.  We have been prodded and pestered about donating just $3.  We have heard from nearly every party Democrat about how important these races are.

I just have one last thing to say before Tuesday.

On Wednesday, if Karen Handel has won in Georgia, or if Ralph Norman has won in South Carolina, will you be sad, or angry, or worried?  Will you wish there was that one more thing you could have done?  Would you wish you had called your friend in Georgia’s 6^th, or SC’s 5^th, and told them what you know about the difference between the candidates?  Would you wish you had offered your neighbor a ride to the polls?  Will you wish you had gotten out and voted, even if it meant getting up early before work, or getting home late, or putting off some important errands?

If our Democratic candidates lose on Tuesday, and Handel and Norman get to Congress and vote to repeal your health care and cut social security benefits, will you have regrets?

A lot of us are living with the fact that there was just that one more thing they could have done to elect Hillary Clinton, and wish we could go back in time and fix it.  Like the Brexit voter who thought it was just a protest vote, there are more than a few of us who voted against Hillary or who sat on the sidelines because Hillary was not our perfect candidate.  There are those of us who were tired of promises by Democrats that seemed to be lies, and who voted for the other candidate because they were sure he he wasn't lying because of the outrageous things he was saying.

On Wednesday, we may elect someone who is going to fight against tax cuts for the rich that take away our safety nets.  We might elect someone who will fight to make our schools, our jobs, our lives better.  Or we may decide that our vote doesn’t matter and stay home.

I hope you will each do that one last thing to elect Jon Ossoff and Archie Parnell.  If there was ever a time that our democratic vote meant something, it is now.

This is my one last thing.

Unsubscribing from The DCCC

I imagine most of you are getting the same kind of hysterical emails from the DCCC that I am, with headings like:

"BIG LOSS!"

"SHOCKING NEWS! (Special Election)"

"BIG WIN!"

"GEORGIA UPDATE"

or the ever hopeful:

"FINAL-NOTICE@dccc.org"

They all turn out to be fund-raising emails (of course), and they aren't asking for much, even $1.  But they are like a three-year-old who really, really, really, wants JUST ONE MORE cookie.  The begging never ends.

The content is either we have Trump on the run, or Trump has us on the run.  In other words, moronic.  There is nothing about issues, or about why any of us would want to care, much less donate a dollar.

I have had some terrible jobs in my life, but I have never had to fund-raise.  I may be wrong, and this ham-handed, annoying, harassing technique may actually bring in millions of dollars, and may get people really fired up about the candidate.  So I asked a group of friends who had the DCCC for a penpal how they responded.  "I don't even read those anymore."  "I just throw them away."  "No, I've never given them anything."  My unofficial poll was unanimous.

And it isn't just DCCC.  Other Democratic groups, including candidates themselves, have taken on that exact same format, although I have to say, Archie does work to achieve a folksier tone in his messages (I may have made a fortune at Goldman Sachs, but I really am still one of y'all.).

Now a couple of months ago, our own South Carolina Democratic Party actually changed their modus operandi, and began to send messages that were actually relevant to issues that affected our lives.  And today, first out of the corral, with a bright new party chairman and a candidate for the general election, came the SCDP's email, with the heading:

"SC's Next Congressman:  Archie Parnell"

Trav Robertson, SCDP via bounce.myngp.com	9:53 AM (4 hours ago)
to me

Dear Agnes,

 

As the general election campaign in the 5th Congressional District special election begins, I want to thank all three Democratic candidates—Alexis Frank, Les Murphy, and Archie Parnell—for throwing their hats into the ring and for running a positive, issues-focused campaign.  Pursuing elective office requires significant sacrifice, but in this challenging time, we need Democrats throughout South Carolina to follow their example and become candidates for offices up and down the ballot.  

 

Congratulations to Archie Parnell on becoming the Democratic nominee!  Archie won the most votes of any candidate in either party, reflecting broad support among voters who want a congressman who will fight for people in the 5th District.  Archie is committed to lowering the cost of prescription drugs, cutting taxes for the middle class, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and preventing corporations from hoarding money overseas to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

 

The choice on June 20 will be clear.  Join us in uniting behind Archie Parnell, and let's put him on the path to victory!

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Trav Robertson

Chair, SCDP 

 

 

 

 

Paid for by the South Carolina Democratic Party

South Carolina Democratic Party
915 Lady Street, Suite 111
Columbia SC 29201 United States

If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please unsubscribe.

Not to be too snarky, but you just can't turn SC blue by telling us we can do it.  Or that it is important.  I truly hope you plan on pacing yourselves with the Parnell emails.  Because: congrats, SCDP, you've managed to be the first to begin the process of immunizing the voters to the fact that there is an election coming up.  And sending a special message to the young potential voters by encapsulating Archie's goals of tackling the cost of prescription drugs and protecting Medicare and Social Security.

What I would like to suggest here is:

1.  Stop sending fund-raising emails.  Nobody reads them anymore, nobody likes them, they are an insult to our intelligence.  In fact, if you do find someone who donates a dollar every time they get an email, you might want to consider that it is being sent ironically.

2.  If you really, really, really want people to get involved in this election, tell them what is going on.  Busy people can't possibly know all the terrible things the House of Representatives has been up to.  If you send a news alert every couple days that has one sentence about a bill that those creeps are voting on or actually passed, with a message that Archie Parnell (or Jon Ossoff, or that bluegrass musician in Montana) would oppose those bills or even would propose their own bill)... well, now even I might be interested.  You could even put an unobtrusive link at the bottom for donations and I wouldn't mind.  Just for god's sake, end with the name of the candidate, the office, and the DATE OF THE ELECTION -- for god's sake.

Because when you don't do that, it's like you aren't even pretending this is about winning an election and changing the bad things that are being done to our country by the republican Congress.  It's like you want people to just send you money for the sake of making money.  Jeez, even Donald Trump sends out a pair of socks when he gets a donation.

3.  Actually listen to the people.  Pay somebody to not just put some thought into those emails, but one who understands the issues and will respond to people who attempt to communicate.  This is actually the most important thing you can do to get a candidate elected.  Because if somebody is going out of their way to send you a message, a reply is going to be memorable, and appreciated.  Enough so that they might even end up sending a donation and more important, telling their friends about it.

It seems that Archie Parnell had a lot of people on the ground being his surrogate.  I don't think that is going to work because Archie just doesn't have the passion to fight for the people, and it shows.  But I hope I am wrong.  Jon Ossoff has the passion.  He is also a progressive, despite what Bernie thinks.  He understands the issues as well as the quality of life that is at stake.  Ossoff might have been helped by the DCCC but it is communicating his message to people who got excited about him that will win him the election.

If the DCCC can help with that, maybe their emails won't get sent to spam quite so often.  And maybe next time I find myself on their email list, I won't hit "unsubscribe."

Dems with Time on Their Hands

I have been known in these pages to gripe about the Democratic Party standing on the sidelines while good candidates struggle to be heard against well-connected and well-heeled republicans.  I have urged in a strident tone party Democrats to jump in and help level the playing field.

Well, be careful what you wish for.

While Tea Bagger Mick Mulvaney is fulfilling all his wet dreams by being able to use the eraser end of his pencil to cut from the budget every penny his former constituents depend on to survive, the race to replace him in South Carolina's District 5 has heated up.

In Kansas, in a district in which Trump won by 27 points, the House seat in last week's special election went to the republican candidate, but beating Democrat James Thompson by less than 7 points.  It appears that, while actual Democratic voters are fired up and ready to go, the Democratic Party took a look at the race and said, "Nah, too hard."

In Georgia's 6th, Jon Ossoff has had such a head of steam by virtue not only of his great credentials, a strong endorsement by Congressman John Lewis and the excitement of voters, that the Democratic Party has leaped into the battle.  He has been in the news for months, beginning with Rachel Maddow's interview with Daily Kos' David Nir, in which she scolded Party Dems for sitting on the sidelines and ended up lighting a fire under them.  He is so hot that republicans are paying for ridiculous attack ads to counter the groundswell of support.  And don't be surprised if the Trump-and-Pence show makes an appearance.

I am proud to say that here in South Carolina's 5th, while the republican clown car predictably is full (seven candidates) we have had three good people stand up to run in the Democratic Primary for Mulvaney's seat.

Here's the thing.  A few weeks ago, to my amazement, I got an email from Daily Kos endorsing Archie Parnell.  Not too long after that I heard that he was being endorsed by former Congressman John Spratt.  Then, last week, my email box was hit by pleas for donations from familiar names like Robby Mook, Daniel Barash, and the candidate himself.

Since I am not in the district, my first thought was to wonder who had given away the email list.  I hadn't gotten any mass emails from the woman I am endorsing, Alexis Frank.

And the publicity has been skewed.  The Union Daily Times reported on an event appearance by a Parnell staff member by referring to Parnell as "the sole Democrat" running.  Take this headline in The State:  "In SC Congress race, Goldman Sachs executive faces student."  Maybe if Alexis was a guy, the headline might have been "...Goldman Sachs executive faces army veteran."

This was an octopus of a candidate.  Suddenly he was everywhere.  It was a slick political race of the type we don't usually see in sleepy South Carolina towns.

When I first became aware of the race, I had sent an email to Alexis, asking for her positions on an array of issues.  She responded immediately, and I wrote endorsing her on my blog.  Parnell may look harmless,

and the video of his announcement with his wife wisecracking in the background was certainly clever.  But behind it all is the fact that he is a former Goldman Sachs senior advisor -- a fact that he does not explicitly mention, merely talking about his international financial expertise.

And with that, along with all the fund raising spam I have been getting from the various and sundry familiar names, and with the professional slickness of the campaign, I realized that Parnell's connections come not just from GS, but from Hillary.

I can almost picture those big guys at GS urging Archie to run.  And political contacts being made.

I hate to say it.  I believe Hillary's heart is in the right place, as are the campaign staff that don't really want to be twiddling their thumbs while Democratic candidates fall in special elections.  But here's the thing.

A primary is a different animal.  A primary is where the Democratic Party gets a chance to make headlines, to get people to show up.  It is a time when the Party can say, "look at all these great candidates that want to run for office.  Give them a listen."  It is a way of making people aware that, for one thing, there is an election happening, and for another, that there are real issues that need to be talked about.  And we Democrats have a few really good people that aren't afraid to get up there and debate those issues.

And, by the way, it gives the eventual winner the experience and confidence to go on and make their case to all the people.

Instead, we have the national Democratic Party coming into our town and putting their finger on the scale.  Much like what the DNC did under Debbie Wasserman-Schulz, when she decided that it would be better to try to block Bernie Sanders from the spotlight because he might hinder Hillary Clinton's shot at the nomination.  When in fact, the more the merrier should have been the call.

Meanwhile, Parnell never got back to my email asking for his stand on the issues, but at least now he has issues listed on his website.  It concerns me that his primary cause seems to be simplifying the tax code so we all can pay less in taxes.  That is a republican game, wherein they throw a few dollars at the middle class, millions more to the 1%, resulting in budget cuts to important programs to cover the loss in taxes.

The other concern I have is that he is running on his ability to "work with" republicans.  Wow.  So we have a Congress run by an extreme right-wing party which purpose is to cut needed programs from the working class and the poor, and Archie wants to work on compromise?  For too many years our party has been Charlie Brown hoping to get a chance at the football.  We make deals that cost us dearly, like Obama backing off on a public option so that the health insurance industry could retain control over the market, for that matter Ted Kennedy "working with" W. on the Medicare drug plan that would fatten the already bulging pockets of the pharmaceutical industry.

We saw President Obama get smacked around by a party that will do anything to win, including refusing to hold hearings for a moderate, well-respected Supreme Court nominee.  That is an insult to the Constitution that I believe even Scalia might have balked at.

It is a sad day when once again, the Democratic Party chases down the shiny object instead of doing the smart thing -- and more important, the right thing.

So here is what we can do about our SC District 5 special election.  The primary is coming up fast, on May 2.

1.  Continue to spread the word.  If you aren't in District 5, you surely know somebody who knows somebody who lives there.  Facebook, phone calls, or over Easter dinner, introduce people to Alexis Frank.

2.  Tell them why it is important to vote in the primary.  Let them know we don't need another representative of Wall Street going to Washington to simplify the tax code in order to make his old buddies richer.  And we don't need someone who is eager to work with republicans to cut programs.  It chills me when I hear people even suggest "working with" Trump on health care.  Because I guarantee, whatever we gain we will have more to lose.  We have been sliding down that slippery slope of compromise for too many decades.

3.  Those who live in District 5, show up whenever there is an event.  Support Alexis, ask questions of her and Parnell.  Ask Parnell the tough questions he hasn't yet had to answer.  What would he do about the minimum wage?  About raising the Social Security retirement age?  About vouchers for schools?  What business incentives does he support/oppose?  Where does he stand on women's reproductive rights?  Funding Planned Parenthood?  What rights should religious institutions have?  What would he do about campaign finance?  What should be done about immigration?

4.  Donate.  She's like us.  She doesn't have Wall Street bankrolling her.  That's why we need her fighting for us.  But she needs all we can give.

And Vote, Vote, Vote.  Remember that these special elections have low turnout, and getting out there, and taking someone with you, will make a difference.

Let's show the Goldman Sachs / Hillary bunch that we Dems can make our own decisions among ourselves.  And when we have a primary winner and we really need the power, the expertise and the deep pockets, we hope they will stand there with us.

Alexis Frank for Congress

SC District 5

Primary Tuesday May 2

With Us or Without Us – Special Election Edition

It was a bad news/good news thing.  The bad news is that Mick Mulvaney is now in charge of the federal purse-strings.  The good news is that there is an opening in Congress.  And we – the people of South Carolina – are fired up and ready to go.

Except that there appears to be a huge information vacuum.  Typically informed people (like myself) are scrounging around Facebook and the internet trying to get information about who and when.  There appears to be an awful lot of information about the republican side of the equation:  a clown car full of enthusiastic right-wingers eager to fill the stingy shoes of Tea Partier and loyal Trumper Mick Mulvaney.  It seems obvious that they are looking at it as an easy win for their side, and well worth the fight.  On the Democratic side, there are three, all new to politics, and there are even a couple of independents.

Isn’t this when the Democratic Party should be stepping in?  We’ve got two good people who have stepped up to run, and a primary coming up on May 2.  And District 5 has gone Democratic enough times in the recent past that one could imagine voters angry enough about losing their health care and tax cuts for the rich that this district could flip.

In typical Democratic fashion, I have my fears and my hopes for my party.

My fear is that we won’t hear much from the party, state or national, other than the ubiquitous fund-raising email.  In the few weeks before the primary, we are going to hide somewhere and let the republicans fight it out.  And then after the primary, there will be some half-hearted support, with the general philosophy being that the Democratic Party should save their strength (and financial support) for 2018.  Over the last election season, with a number of great candidates, there was little party support, and even South Carolina hero Jim Clyburn commented in one of our major newspapers that there was little chance of a win.  I am not expecting that I will hear much more from Jim than those auto-generated emails asking for money or explaining that while he enjoys hearing from me he is much too busy to answer.

My hope?  I am thinking that, much as the Democratic Party has woken up to support Jon Ossoff in Georgia's 6th, our SCDP and the DNC will take off.  I am hoping that they won't wait for a kvetch from Rachel Maddow, whose where-is-the-Democratic-Party rant appeared to light the fire under the party in the Ossoff race.  And I am hoping that they won't wait till the primary is over to act.  This is why:

There are a couple of factors that will ensure a republican victory.  One is that no one has ever heard of the Democratic candidate.  I have seen this happen time and again in races in South Carolina.  Everybody knows Tim Scott, because the republican party and wealthy right-wing donors have put his face and name front and center in the media for as long as they have been grooming him to carry their water.  He does photo-ops at elementary schools and gets fake awards from right-wing organizations that commend his fight for seniors and the environment.  And the last time he ran, even though he had a strong and passionate opponent, a man who represented the ideals of the Democratic Party, who fought in the community and for the people of South Carolina, to most voters he was running unopposed.  ETV refused to sponsor a debate.  There was no push to get him in front of the cameras or in the newspaper.  And that was true of the other good candidates, who threw themselves into their races in spite of the lukewarm enthusiasm of the party.

And it isn't just name recognition.  The other factor that moves the republicans to victory is that they have been making their arguments in the public forum for months before the final election.  By the time someone has won in the primary, they have been debating the issues and they know their stuff.  And the public has heard them speak.

The Democratic primary candidates need to have that same opportunity.  They need to rehearse their positions and become more confident about them.  They need to get out in front of the people, and the cameras, and do a bunch of interviews.  The Democratic Party needs to use their influence, their fund of knowledge, and their media clout to generate the publicity.

And debates.  We -- my party -- made a big mistake during the presidential election by trying to avoid letting Bernie and Hillary debate.  Not only did it look like favoritism, which it was, it gave the appearance that the party did not think the voter had the right or the capacity to listen to the candidates and make the best decision.  In other words, to be exposed to the democratic process.

The more debates, the more publicity, the more exposure Democrats can generate in the primaries, the more experience they can gain, the more likely they will be entering the general race equal to the fight.

So, I am hoping that the SCDP will get busy letting us all know a) that we have candidates in this race and b) that we have a primary.  I am hoping that they will see the primary race as an opportunity rather than an obstacle.

I can't emphasize enough how much enthusiasm there is for this race.  We people on the ground -- you know, the voters -- could really use the resources of the Democratic Party to help us move the election.  We need information about the candidates, maybe fact sheets, position papers, but done in a way that we will all be sharing the information on social media.  We need youtube videos to share.  We need exposure to the candidates themselves; they need to become familiar to not just us Dems but to everyone.

And because this is a social media world, I hope the party will be aware that it won't just be District 5 that will be watching this race.  We will all be working to inform our friends about the candidates.  We can truly work together, even without the deep pockets of the republican side.

Indivisible has given us the tools, and the travesty of the Trump administration and the 115th congress has given us lots of voice and motivation.  Most important, it will be the issues that will lead us to this win, and not the party identity.  And yet, without the party, the candidates will have to fight with less organization and media presence.

This race could be the one that proves that the Democratic Party and the people can be the formidable force that will begin to take down Trump's destructive reign.

Where Are the Democrats? - Special Election Edition

I've been wondering, as I often do these days, when the Democratic National Committee is going to get their act together and start helping out in the struggle to save democracy.  Actually, we really should be wondering when they are going to take charge, not just help out.

Look at the republicans.  They had a new chair weeks ago.  When there was a race for a Senate seat in December, both Pence and Trump showed up.  The Democratic Party was nowhere to be found.

They are still fighting among themselves to determine who should chair the damn party.  Progressives are squabbling over who is the more progressive.  They are even fighting over who failed the team by supporting Hillary.  Somewhere in the back of their minds, they must be aware that Trump is attacking the Constitution from one side while congressional republicans are ripping out the throat of our individual rights on the other.

Apparently, the battle for party chair is coming down to two contenders.  Keith Ellison has been in the US House of Representatives since 2007, and is backed by John Lewis, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.  He truly is progressive, on the side of minorities, farmers, women, unions... need I go on?  On the other hand, and I really believe this is the elephant in the room (there is always an elephant in the room, striking fear into the hearts of Democrats and causing them to crawl back to the center), Ellison is not just African American but a Muslim.  Oh my gods.

On the other hand, Tom Perez, while also progressive, could be considered a safer minority.  He is also a safer Democrat, having come from the beloved Barack Obama's cabinet as Secretary of Labor.  He, too, checks off all the right boxes when it comes to his stand on issues.  But, again, this is my opinion, he might be less scary, being a Catholic and all.

Part of my frustration, besides Democrats who are afraid to be exposed for supporting a democratic agenda, is that Ellison threw his hat into the ring months before Perez.  We actually may have had a strong consensus candidate. Then, in mid-December, along comes Perez.  Because we couldn't just go with a strong national figure, get the election over with, and then proceed to fight the real war.

This election, that nobody but the Democratic Party gives a damn about, will be happening in two weeks.  But there is another, more important election coming up on April 18.

When Tom Price became the Trump cabinet deplorable running the HHS, he left vacant his seat in the House of Representatives for District 6, an Atlanta suburb.  This district, conservative and traditionally republican, voted for Romney in 2012 with a 24% margin.  But in 2016, the anti-Trump vote brought the lead to one percent:  48-47.

The strategically placed republican running for this seat is African American Trump surrogate Bruce LeVell.

That's right, the republican party chose LeVell hoping that black voters wouldn't notice that he is a Trump-man.  Well, that is the Trump campaign, isn't it?  Assuming African Americans would vote the color and ignore the racist policies behind the candidate.

But on the Democratic side is Jon Ossoff.  Jon has been fighting for justice and civil liberties throughout his professional life.  He has investigated and uncovered corruption and crime, and worked in national security as a senior staffer.  Jon has been protesting the unAmerican policies of the Trump administration...



...and he has the endorsement of Civil Rights leader John Lewis:

“Jon is committed to progress and justice and he knows how to fight the good fight. We should unite behind Jon and send a clear message that Donald Trump doesn’t represent our values.”

– Congressman John Lewis

I know those of us reading this blog care passionately about the travesties that the Trump administration is committing and the republicans in Congress who are aiding and abetting his crimes.  We understand that this election in Atlanta is critical, and not just in moving Congress closer to representing our values.  The turnout in this election will send a message to the rest of the country -- that we are here and we are fighting for them.  It will tell the republicans who are trammeling our democracy with abandon that they are, as Trump likes to put it, "on notice."

The Trump cabal knows this election is important.  I guarantee they will be throwing buckets of money into ads, and they will be showing up.

Our Democratic Party needs to be there.  We need their commitment, their money, their bodies, their voices.

Here in SC, we need US Representative Jim Clyburn to get out and shout with John Lewis.  And we need Jamie Harrison and our state Democratic Party to extend a hand to our partners and friends in Georgia.  This is not a time to be self-absorbed, to be concerned with the party.  America is watching.

And Democrats are marching, are writing, are going to town halls, are shouting.  This is truly the time for the party to stand up and lead, without fear.  Put a good Muslim progressive at the helm on February 23, and send out a real message of fearlessness and belief in our values to the rest of the country.  And then get out and fight like you mean it for Jon Ossoff on April 18.