HouseQuake: Rahm Emanuel Is Star Of Documentary About 2006 Elections

The New York Times:

Before there was Rahm Emanuel, the relentless White House chief of staff, there was Rahm Emanuel, the relentless House Democratic campaign strategist -- and before there was the party victory in 2008, there was the takeover of 2006 that he orchestrated. A new documentary, premiering in Washington on Wednesday night, tells the inside story of the 2006 campaign that turned Congress over to the Democrats and, arguably, presaged Barack Obama's capture of the White House two years later.

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[leah32]

01:42 AM on 10/23/2009

Emanuel wasn't against the 50 State Strategy. This is a myth propagated by the progressive wing of the Democratic stparty who idolize Dean and are upset with Emanuel for not recruiting strictly progressive candidates.

Dean and Emanuel argued over how to spend money, not ideology.

Dean wanted to stay the course and continue to build the party in all 50 states, including deep red states where Democrats had little chance of winning in 2006.

Emanuel wanted Dean to be more flexible and fund tight races to take advantage of what he saw as a historic opportunity to pick up seats in formerly red states thanks to the Iraq war and other Republican screw ups.

Dean relented and gave more money to the DCCC.

They kissed and made up. Ok, I made up that up. But according to Dean, there is no lingering animosity and the whole thing was overblown in the first place.

Bottom line, Dean helped re-build the party and Rahm helped win a ton of seats in 2006. They both deserve a lot of credit.

If Democrats want to remain the majority party for a long time to come, we need to accept the big tent. It's excruciating difficult sometimes, as with the current health care debate, but the Republicans have shown us what happens when you try to purify your party and only cater to the base.

[frappe]

11:25 AM on 11/06/2009

Yes, the "big tent" (i.e. blue dogs, conservadems) can be excruciatingly painful at times, particularly when "real reform" is being attempted e.g. health care, global warming, green technology, stimulus, etc., etc., etc.

[Michael Gene Sullivan]

02:52 AM on 10/22/2009

I am sick and tired of these twerps taking credit for Howard Deans work. First they denigrate him, ridicule his plan, try to undermine his strategy, try to get him ousted, and then, when the Fifty State strategy works, the Washington insiders all claim it was their idea. The Washington Dem were all set to lose the old fashioned way - acting like Republicans and putting all their eggs into the "battleground state" basket, that good old DLC plan that lost them the House and Senate, when the rank and file elect Dean to fight to win. Now the same DLC losers put together a mocumentary in which Emanuel was responsible? I would say this was Big Brother re-writing history, but in Rahm and the DLC case it's more like Annoying, Pencil-necked, Uncle-you-never-liked slipping you a crapaganda sandwich.

[frappe]

11:29 AM on 11/06/2009

We owe a great deal to Howard Dean. Personally, I believe he deserves much of the credit for the huge victory in 2008. Rahm seemed more preoccupied with building up the ranks of the Democratic party through a more "large tent" type of posture. And that is good because those blue dogs did cement our majority status. But the problems associate with that approach are blatantly obvious when the party is attempting to pass serious reforms i.e. health care, climate, regulatory. That's when we wince.

[frappe]

11:33 AM on 11/06/2009

...meant to say, "But the problems "associated" with that approach...."

[FogBelter]

12:26 AM on 10/22/2009

"A new documentary, premiering in Washington on Wednesday night, tells the inside story of the 2006 campaign that turned Congress over to the Democrats and, arguably, presaged Barack Obama's capture of the White House two years later."

Um, wasn't it Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy that won back the House in 2006? As I recall Rahm was against it.

[NortontheCat]

08:08 PM on 10/21/2009

Shouldn't this also be tagged under "House of Representatives", since the movie is primarily about the 2006 Democratic takeover of the House?