I don't recall if the figure was 90% or 95% or 99% but when I spoke to one of the top dogs over at the DCCC last month, he assured me-- using one of those numbers-- that the DCCC no longer pushes reactionary candidates over progressives in seriously contested races for open seats. This week they announced their list of 26 races to watch in 2010 (plus 9 "emerging races," where their candidates haven't raised enough money yet to make it onto the real list). Among the 26 they acknowledge 4 primaries, Kirk's open seat in IL-10, LA-02 (Cao), MN-06 (Bachmann), and PA-06 (Gerlach). They even acknowledge a primary between Dr. Maureen Hackett and Jim Meffert in the race against wingnut Erik Paulsen (MN-03), one of their "emerging" races.
None of these races pits a Blue Dog against a progressive. The one race on their list that does-- a primary between progressive Doug Tudor and the only non-incumbent endorsed by the Blue Dogs so far this year, Lori Edwards-- to replace retiring Republican Adam "Howdy Doody Nimrod" Putnam, they come down on the side of the arch-reactionary Edwards. Rahm Emanuel may have moved on but his sleazy tactics and hackish allies remain behind stinking up the place.
Yesterday, as the DCCC signaled their preference for an anti-healthcare, anti-financial reform shill, President Ken Wood announces that Teamsters Local 79 has unanimously endorsed Democrat Doug Tudor in the race. The DCCC never seems to learn in Florida. They pushed Suzanne Kosmas in 2008 against a progressive and she managed to win-- barely-- only to go on to accrue the worst voting record-- worst meaning her marked tendency to vote with the GOP on substantive bills-- of any member of the Florida delegation, worse even than Edwards' chief sponsor, reactionary Blue Dog Allen Boyd (best known as the only Democrat willing to join George Bush's attempt to destroy Social Security). His ProgressivePunch score is 43.75 and Kosmas' is 38.46. Edwards is to the right of both of them. In 2006 Emanuel recruited a registered Republican millionaire, conservative Tim Mahoney-- pushing a progressive, anti-war union member Dave Lutrin out of the primary. (Mahoney went on to vote with the GOP on substantive issues and then get involved in a Republican-type sex scandal and lose the seat).
This race has a simple dynamic. A progressive Democrat with grassroots support is being pushed out by reactionary Blue Dogs-- Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Lynn Woolsey hasn't shown up to campaign for Edwards yet but who knows what will happen after she finishes making her mischief in CA-36 for Jane Harman?-- because Blue Dog members of Congress are shoveling money into the race while progressive members sit on their hands. Then they whine and rend their clothes when no one takes them seriously. Please donate to Doug's campaign at the Blue America Bad Dogs page. Leave it to the Insiders like the D-Trip and next thing you know we'll be losing races in... I don't know... Massachusetts!