Teaching Democrats to fight for working class people once more

Elizabeth Warren is waging a tough campaign against incumbent Scott Brown in the Mass. senate race. We can only hope Warren wins. It’s time for someone who understands economics and gets what working class people are up against to assume a leadership role in Congress.

In her weekly column for the Washington Post, Katrina vanden Heuvel describes Warren as the people’s champion:

She called herself the “warm-up act” for Bill Clinton at the Democratic Convention, but Elizabeth Warren electrified the crowd by delivering the fierce heat of the truth straight from the heart:

“People feel like the system is rigged against them. And here’s the painful part: they’re right. The system is rigged. Look around. Oil companies guzzle down billions in subsidies. Billionaires pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. Wall Street CEOs — the same ones who wrecked our economy and destroyed millions of jobs — still strut around Congress, no shame, demanding favors and acting like we should thank them. Anyone here have a problem with that? Well I do.” 

Running for the Senate against a popular incumbent in Massachusetts, Warren is an unlikely candidate. She’s a Harvard law professor, and looks the part with her glasses and no nonsense hair, and sounds it as she speaks naturally in full paragraphs, not sound bites. She made her name studying bankruptcy laws, and exposing how that system was rigged against the struggling middle class families who hit the wall after an illness or the loss of a job.

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Help Elizabeth Warren win!

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This deadline matters 1 message

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Mindy Myers, ElizabethWarren.com	Sat, Jun 30, 2012 at 10:31 AM
Reply-To: info@elizabethwarren.com
This is the most important deadline we've got.  View Mobile Version Virginia, For most people, a June 30th fundraising deadline doesn't mean a whole lot. But for us, this is the most important deadline we've got. This deadline is about more than sending paperwork to a government office building. It's about planning what the critical next four months of Elizabeth's campaign are going to look like. We truly believe: This race won't be won by a last-minute cash infusion in October. It's going to be won by the person who invests in a ground game now. Your support helps our team hire more organizers, recruit more volunteers, and go door-to-door in every corner of the Commonwealth, talking to people about the choice they have in this election. That's how Elizabeth will win. We can't make those investments without your help. Will you please chip in $15 -- or whatever you can afford -- by our deadline at midnight tonight? We can't kid ourselves: Scott Brown still has a big fundraising advantage right now -- and he's been getting money from Wall Street like a fire hose is aimed in his direction. But Elizabeth's got one thing he doesn't have: You. This deadline matters. Thank you for doing your part. Mindy Myers Campaign Manager Elizabeth for MA   Follow Elizabeth on Facebook   Follow Elizabeth on Twitter

Scott Brown’s efforts to weaken the Dodd-Frank law

Sen. Scott Brown (R), photo via Boston Globe

Scott Brown has by no means served his constituents as a Right-wing extremist/Tea Partier in his first term as Ted Kennedy’s replacement in the Senate; that may explain why he and Elizabeth Warren are currently engaged in such a tight race up there in Massachusetts. Still, the Boston Globe has done voters a favor this morning by revealing how Sen. Brown first voted for the 2010 Wall Street overhaul and then worked to weaken major provisions.

Noah Bierman and Michael Levenson write:

E-mails between Brown’s legislative director and US Treasury Department officials show that Brown advocated for a loose interpretation of the law so that banks could more easily engage in high-risk investments. 

While the law, known as Dodd-Frank, sets broad parameters for how the financial industry must behave, the interpretation of the law, and the rules that follow, will govern Wall Street’s daily business.

At issue in Brown’s e-mails is the Volcker rule, a particularly contentious provision of Dodd-Frank. The rule, championed by Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, prevents commercial banks from speculating heavily in higher risk 

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Elizabeth Warren: “Who I am”

With a big assist from the media – always eager to make something out of nothing – Sen. Scott Brown (R) and company have been doing their best to sabotage Elizabeth Warren’s campaign in the Mass. Senate race. The race is close, so apparently anything goes from the Republican side. 

The letter from Warren pasted below should put an end to the nonsense regarding her Native American heritage, but then she’s instilled a lot of fear in the 1 percent, so we can only hope. Clearly, Warren needs our help to overcome the Rovian tactics and monetary support that she’s up against. Let’s give her a hand:

Virginia,

When I was a little girl, I learned about my family's heritage the same way everyone else does -- from my parents and grandparents.

My mother, grandmother, and aunts were open about my family's Native American heritage, and I never had any reason to doubt them. 

What kid asks their grandparents for legal documentation to go along with their family stories? What kid asks their mother for proof in how she describes herself?

My heritage is a part of who I am -- and I am proud of it.

But that's not good enough for Scott Brown and the Republican Party. For several weeks now, they have orchestrated an attack against my family, my job qualifications, and my character. Earlier today, Scott Brown even questioned the honesty of my parents -- even though they are not fair game and are not here to defend themselves.

Scott Brown wants me to give up my family and forget where I came from. I'm not doing that -- not for politics and not for anything else. I'll hold on to every memory I can. My family is part of who I am, and they will be part of who I am until I die.

Despite evidence to the contrary, Scott Brown also claims I got special breaks because of my background. That's not true, and I need your help to fight back:

• The people involved in recruiting and hiring me for my teaching jobs, including Harvard professor Charles Fried -- the solicitor-general under Ronald Reagan and a Scott Brown voter in 2010 -- have said unequivocally they were not aware of my heritage and that it played no role in my hiring.
• I did not benefit from my heritage when applying to college or law school, and documents reporters have examined prove it.
• I let people know about my Native American heritage in a national directory of law school personnel. At some point after they hired me, I also provided that information to the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard.

I decided to run for the U.S. Senate because the middle class in this country has been hacked at and hammered at and because Washington doesn't get it.

Scott Brown has a very different vision about who we are as a people, and he votes to make sure the levers of power in Washington continue to work for the big, the powerful and the wealthy.

If everyone in Massachusetts knew where Scott Brown stands on the important issues, voters wouldn't give him a second term in the U.S. Senate. You know that, I know that, and he knows that, too.

That's why he has worked so hard to make this campaign about anything else -- even my heritage. It's why his campaign spends so little time on what Massachusetts voters are really concerned about.

On Election Day, we will prevail because our vision is clearer and our ideas are stronger. We are focused on the issues important to middle class families, and our grassroots team will make sure everyone knows about those issues. I need your help to keep fighting the smears, spread the truth, and help us organize to win.

Thank you for being a part of this,

Elizabeth

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Elizabeth Warren is the real deal! (watch video)

Superhero Elizabeth Warren rises up against Jamie Dimon

Superhero Elizabeth Warren.

I enjoyed seeing Marvel’s Avengers with my son and daughter-in-law yesterday afternoon. I was unfamiliar with all the superheroes in the film, but soon caught on to the plot and appreciated the pervasive humor. My favorite scene showed the Hulk taking out the “puny God” Loki, who was behind all of the evil doings.

Scanning the online news coverage this Monday morning, it occurred to me that America has a superhero in real life – her name is Elizabeth Warren. Warren has been effectively challenging Wall Street – the villain behind the Great Recession - and she just rose up against JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon:

Elizabeth Warren called on JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to resign from his post on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's board, citing the need for "responsibility and accountability" in the financial industry. 

Dimon, who disclosed a $2 billion loss by the banking giant last week, should "send a signal to the American people that Wall Street bankers get it and to show that they understand the need for responsibility and accountability," Warren said in a statement following Dimon's Sunday appearance on "Meet the Press."

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Elizabeth Warren thanks her supporters (video)

Elizabeth Warren needs our help!

Elizabeth Warren is struggling to hold her own against Scott Brown in the race for the late Ted Kennedy’s seat in the Massachusetts Senate. Check out Elizabeth’s latest TV ad below and then donate a few bucks to her campaign. She needs our help.

Celebrating Easter, Passover, and the onset of spring with Elizabeth Warren!

Elizabeth Warren and her grandchildren.

Hello, Katalusis readers:

The latest poll shows Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren leading Republican Scott Brown by five points in the Mass. Senate race. Public Policy Polling reports that Warren is leading Brown 46-41.

But Warren isn’t dwelling on poll numbers this Easter weekend. She’s busy dyeing eggs with her grandchildren. In her letter that I received today, she writes:

Virginia,

I love Easter. It's family all the way.

When I was growing up, I loved to dye eggs with my mother and grandmother. Even my Aunt Bee got in on the action. My eggs were creative, but Aunt Bee's eggs were always these beautiful pastel shades. When I was little, I insisted that we eat her eggs last because I wanted to admire them the longest.

The tradition carried on with our kids -- Amelia and Alex -- and now Bruce and I make a point of dyeing eggs every year with our grandchildren.

This week started a new tradition. For the first time ever, our granddaughters, ages six and ten, have come to town on their own to dye eggs -- and to celebrate the holiday weekend. This year's eggs have sparkles, decals, wax writing and multiple colors, including one experimental egg that turned an ugly blue-brown. (That egg has already been eaten.)

Yesterday, Bruce and I took the girls down to Plimoth Plantation -- history come to life. And we got back from visiting the penguins at the aquarium just a few minutes ago. Tonight we're joining friends at a community Seder, and tomorrow morning we'll be going to the same church where Bruce's Mom and Dad were married right after World War II.

Photo: Elizabeth, Octavia and Lavinia

Lots of memories -- both old ones and new ones.

Whether your family is celebrating Easter, Passover, or just the start of spring -- Bruce, Octavia, Lavinia, Otis and I hope you have a safe and happy weekend.

Thank you for being a part of this,

Elizabeth

Will Obama take his cue from Elizabeth Warren in his reelection campaign?

Put aside the fact that President Obama caved to Republican resistance in his failure to nominate Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau she created and consider this:  

Paul Starobin at the New Republic now suggests that President Obama take his cue from the scrappy defender of the middle class in his reelection campaign.

Pointing out that the women’s vote may be even more critical in 2012 than it was in 2008, Starobin writes:

Elizabeth Warren is poised to thrash Scott Brown in their marquee U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, and the reason is simple: Women voters love her. In the most recent poll, in December, Warren and Brown were virtually tied amongst men, but Warren led by 13 percentage points, 51 percent to 38 percent, amongst women.

Warren’s commanding lead is not about her gender (Masssachusetts has never before elected a woman to the Senate or governor’s office: Brown defeated Martha Coakley just two years ago) or even her party (the state has a history of voting for GOP moderates like Brown: Think ex-Governor Mitt Romney and, further back, Senator Ed Brooke.) Rather, she owes her ascendency to the fact that her communitarian message resonates so strongly with females.

President Obama ought to pay heed: Warren’s campaign can offer important lessons to his own. He too will need to secure women voters if he wants to earn re-election. And he, too, could do so by adopting Warren’s proud communitarian appeal.

Starobin continues:

THE PUREST DISTILLATION of the Warren message can be seen in the video, shot back in August during her appearance at the Massachusetts home of a supporter, which went viral on the Internet and alternately met with applause amongst liberals and apoplexy amongst conservatives.

It’s easy to see why. With evident passion, Warren weighs in against George Bush’s “tax cuts for the rich” and, hands knifing the air, rejects the notion that she is stirring up “class warfare.” Not at all, she says. “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate…” It was a riveting performance that proved her skill as a retail politician, someone able to relate to regular folks—there was not a trace here of the Harvard Law professor with a specialty in bankruptcy statutes or the policy wonk whose 5,000 word treatise in Democracy led to the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

According to the Civic Practices Network:

Communitarianism emerged in the 1980s as a response to the limits of liberal theory and practice. Its dominant themes are that individual rights need to be balanced with social responsibilities, and that autonomous selves do not exist in isolation, but are shaped by the values and culture of communities. Unless we begin to redress the balance toward the pole of community, communitarians believe, our society will continue to become normless, self-centered, and driven by special interests and power seeking.

Starobin concludes:

… Communitarianism is not only about ideals, but about practical action. Obama needs to talk more about his particular policy proposals and how they link up with America’s “underlying social contract,” in Warren’s phrase. That’s perhaps the most promising way to reconnect his campaign, so far lacking in any sense of grand aspiration, with its natural demographic base.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Warren for igniting a conversation in the public domain about a too long-neglected topic: the American social contract.

Tell Congress: Overturn Citizens United and end corporate personhood.

Karl Rove. Photo courtesy of Dailykos.com.

If you’ve paid any attention to the 2012 campaign, you’re aware the recent Supreme Court Citizens United ruling makes a mockery of our democracy. 

In just one consequence, Elizabeth Warren is not only battling Scott Brown in the Mass. Senate race, she’s up against Karl Rove’s super PAC.

The CREDO Action Network invites Democrats, Republicans, Independents (and I’m assuming members of the Justice Party) to take action now.

Dear Virginia,

We deserve a country where our elected officials are not bought and paid for by big corporations.

But the Citizens United vs. FEC Supreme Court decision, issued two years ago this week, overturned over a century of precedent and opened the floodgates for unlimited amounts of corporate money to flow into our political system.

Shockingly, the court came to this decision based on the notion that a corporation is legally a "person" entitled to First Amendment rights, and by equating a corporation's right to spend unlimited amounts of money influencing an election with our right to free speech.

Tell your senators and member of Congress to support a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and end corporate personhood. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Even before the Citizens United decision, we too often saw the interests of Main Street subverted in favor of the interests of Wall Street.

But with the Citizens United decision now the law of the land, large corporations have the power to spend unlimited amounts of money from their general treasuries to buy elections.

To put things in perspective, the roughly $745 million Barack Obama raised to run for President in the 2008 election cycle (which was the most money raised by any candidate ever to run for office in the U.S.) is dwarfed by the $45 billion in profits a single company (ExxonMobil) made in 2008.

What's more, Citizen United opened loopholes that allow corporations to hide their campaign expenditures by laundering the money through non-profit advocacy organizations.

Tell your senators and member of Congress to support a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and end corporate personhood. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Unfortunately, because Congress cannot pass a law that supersedes a Supreme Court ruling, it may take a constitutional amendment to undo the worst aspects of the Citizens United decision and end corporate personhood.

Clearly, the bar to successfully amending the Constitution is very high. But with 85% of the public opposed to the Citizens United decision, there is a potential for a broad coalition of Democrats, Republicans and Independents who all want to restore our democracy.

And let's remember, the stakes are too high to allow inaction on this issue. It's no exaggeration to say that the Citizens United decision fundamentally threatens the integrity of our democracy.

We need a government of, for and by the people. And sadly, we might need to work really hard to re-establish the common sense and democratic view that only people are people, not corporations.

Your senators and member of Congress need to hear from you, regardless of where they stand on this issue. We need to show them that their constituents are part of a broad movement demanding action — not only to convince them that overturning Citizens United is the right thing to do, but also that it's possible.

Today, take a step to be part of that movement.

Click the link below to automatically sign our petition telling your senators and member of Congress to support a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and end corporate personhood:

http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=745044&id=33773-4150669-7kJGUxx&t=10

Thank you for standing up for democracy.

Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager

CREDO Action from Working Assets

Surprise: Wall Street backs Scott Brown; opposes Elizabeth Warren

Greg Sargent at the Plum Line (Washington Post) on Wall Street's support of Scott Brown:

Wall Street executives have been quite open about the fact that they really, really don’t want to see Elizabeth Warren get anywhere near the Senate. And it looks like they’re about to ratchet up their efforts to help Scott Brown prevent it from happening — including the influential U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The Center for Public Integrity reports today that Wall Street and K Street lobbyists are firing up the fundraising on behalf of Brown in a big way. The report quoted multiple big finance types saying Brown’s reelection campaign is crucial, and it noted — without sourcing — that the U.S. Chamber “will be engaged early and heavily in Massachusetts with ads.”

Well, it’s no wonder the 1 percent is up and arms. Watch this video from the Warren campaign:

If you want to help Elizabeth Warren keep the momentum going, go here.

Warren pulls ahead of Brown in MA Senate race

Massachusetts is just one state, still there’s hope for the nation’s electorate when a centered, intelligent, gutsy woman like Elizabeth Warren can challenge an incumbent senator and on a platform of fighting for the middle class pull ahead this early in the race.

Warren is lighting up the 2012 election year with mega-wattage from the Bay State, and she’s doing it with support drawn primarily from women and people earning below $100,000 per year. Here’s the scoop:

Democrats' bet that former consumer finance watchdog Elizabeth Warren could take down Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) appears to be paying off, as a new poll suggests she is pulling ahead.

The survey by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst finds Warren leading Brown 43 percent to 39 percent -- just within the poll's 4.4 percent margin of error.

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Schooling Elizabeth Warren’s attackers on the meaning of hypocrisy

Elizabeth Warren faces down Tea Party heckler. Photo courtesy of Slatest.Slate.com.

Jason Linkins takes on both media dullards who amplify the "stupid" attacks on Elizabeth Warren and the panic-stricken conservatives who make them. Linkins nails it with this one:

If you're trying to keep up with the themes that underpin the GOP attacks on Elizabeth Warren, well, good luck to you. Way back when, her affiliation with Harvard got her branded an elitist. More recently, her support for the Occupy Wall Street movement branded her a dyed-in-the-wool socialist and middle-class rabblerouser. But now, her opponents are back pursuing the elitist angle, trying to drive a wedge between her and the Occupying 99 percent by pointing out that she's too good at capitalism to represent the poor. Some of these people yammered this critique to Politico, and their words were scribbled down like so:

Elizabeth Warren may have embraced the Occupy Wall Street movement and the "99 percent" crowd, but public records reveal the liberal firebrand belongs to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. 

Her financial well-being will likely hand conservatives a new line of attack against the consumer advocate and Democratic Senate hopeful in Massachusetts who has fired up the left and was labeled by one columnist as "the first candidate of the Occupy Wall Street movement."

"I don't begrudge her own personal wealth. I begrudge her hypocrisy of trying to play the demagogue against those who have achieved and who have created wealth," said Rick Manning of the conservative group Americans for Limited Government.

Lots of people -- like Steve Benen, Greg Sargent, and Paul Krugman (who is also very well-off, and yet no one perceives him as a latter day robber baron) -- have pointed out that this is not what hypocrisy means. Warren would be a hypocrite if she pandered to the 99 percent while advocating policies that harmed their economic interests. But she doesn't do that. The policies she advocates involve creating a fairer environment for consumers who participate in the capitalist system. Her bread-and-butter issues involve things like making mortgage agreements more transparent, ridding credit card contracts of their "tricks and traps," and responding more forcefully to the fraud and abuse that's found throughout the banking industry. (Ordinary people would likely be all the more successful at accruing and maintaining wealth if Warren had her way, actually.)

It's not hypocritical for a rich person to seek to end income inequality. What I think Rick Manning is trying to say is that Warren is, in his estimation, a traitor to the moneyed class, and he'd rather that she shut up and went away.

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Elizabeth Warren for Massachusetts raises $3.15 million!

 You heard it first here!

The following is a letter I just received from Elizabeth Warren for Massachusetts:

Virginia,

Our campaign to give working families a voice in Washington is just starting, but we are already gaining strong support from across Massachusetts and our nation. Today, I've got some great news to share, and I wanted you to be the first to know:

In the first few weeks of our campaign, we raised $3.15 million, and the overwhelming majority of those contributions -- 96 percent -- were $100 or less. More than 11,000 people here in Massachusetts contributed.

These are pretty amazing numbers for our first official finance report, raised in a very short period of time, so you can understand why I want to say thanks a million -- and more! -- for this remarkable support. I couldn't do it without you. 

With the big banks and special interests lining up against us, we know it's going to take a strong, grassroots campaign to win. In fact, did you see the headline in Politico a few weeks ago? Wall Street Readies Assault on Elizabeth Warren. The article says that the big banks and their legions of lobbyists are plotting "a strategy to hit hard," and they are "getting ready to pounce." We know they'll pay any price to try to stop us. 

That's why your support is more important than ever. I need you to help us build the strongest grassroots campaign we can by encouraging your friends and family to join us, too:

Forward this email and invite everyone you know to sign up at ElizabethWarren.com. 

Share with your friends on Facebook, or post an update on Twitter. 

However you do it, add to the momentum.

We are in this together. We are fighting back for the middle class families who are getting hammered here in Massachusetts and across the country. We are fighting for the future of America.  

Thank you for being a part of this.

Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren to debate other Democrats opposing Scott Brown today, Oct. 4

Photo courtesy of http://www.hapblog.com/

Heads up: Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats challenging incumbent US Senator Scott Brown, MA will debate today, on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. on the University of MA Lowell campus.

The following was posted by the Univ. of MA, Lowell, Sunday, Oct. 2:

LOWELL, Mass. – Elizabeth Warren is in a virtual dead heat against U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and holds a commanding lead over other Democratic challengers in the Senate race, according to a UMass Lowell-Boston Herald poll released today.

Thirty-six percent of potential Democratic primary voters surveyed say they’d prefer to have Warren face Brown, a Republican, in November 2012, according to the independent, nonpartisan poll of more than 1,000 registered voters across Massachusetts. None of the other five candidates – state Rep. Tom Conroy, immigration attorney Marisa DeFranco, City Year co-founder Alan Khazei, Global Reporting Initiative co-founder Bob Massie and engineer and activist Herb Robinson – garnered more than 5 percent support from those surveyed. 

The poll is the first for a new partnership between the Boston Herald and UMass Lowell’s Center for Public Opinion. The partners will also co-host a debate on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. on the UMass Lowell campus. All six of the declared Democratic candidates have said they will participate in the debate, which is free and open to the public. The debate will be streamed live at www.uml.edu and www.bostonherald.com, and the public can participate on Twitter using #UMLDebate.

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Elizabeth Warren on the campaign trail (videos)

This just hit my inbox – check it out!

Virginia, People in Massachusetts are frustrated with Washington. You can see it when they talk about their jobs, their bills, their homes, and their kids. I see it when I talk with people as I travel the state to talk about running for the U.S. Senate. But frustration isn't the only thing I see. There's something else there, too: passion, hope, and the excitement that we are about to start something great. I've spent my career teaching kids and fighting for middle class families, so I'll admit -- I haven't been to all that many political campaign launches. But from what I saw across Massachusetts, I think this was different. Take a look at the faces of the people I've been talking to. See for yourself. With your help and your support, we can begin to look middle-class families in the eye again -- and fight to give them a fair shake. Thank you for being a part of this, Elizabeth

Elizabeth Warren leads Scott Brown in a general election match-up

She's got spine!

Breaking news from the Elizabeth Warren campaign in MA:

The first independent poll since Elizabeth announced her candidacy was released today:

The poll, by Public Policy Polling, shows Elizabeth Warren leading Scott Brown 46%-44% in a potential general election match-up.

Working men and women all across Massachusetts are frustrated with Washington and want someone on their side. They know Elizabeth will fight for them in the United States Senate.

But we know there's still a long way to go before any votes are cast in this election, and polls will go up and down. So we need your help to capitalize on our early momentum and build a strong grassroots campaign for the long haul.

Click here to spread the word to your friends and family on Facebook -- and share the following message:

Elizabeth Warren leads Scott Brown 46-44 in the latest poll. Join Elizabeth's grassroots campaign today -- and join the fight for working families! http://elizabethwarren.com/announcement?sc=fbs.sp4117941

Or, send this tweet to your friends on Twitter:

Latest poll: @ElizabethForMA leads Scott Brown 46-44. Join her campaign for middle class families: http://elizabethwarren.com/announcement?sc=tws.sp4117941 Please RT!

People clearly responded to Elizabeth's call for Washington to stand on the side of working families as she traveled all across the state during her campaign kick-off last week. You could feel the energy and enthusiasm at every stop along the way.

What's important to Elizabeth is fighting for middle class families and changing the rules in Washington so working people in Massachusetts can get ahead.

Thousands of people like you across Massachusetts -- and across the country -- have joined Elizabeth to continue the fight on behalf of working families.

Now we need more people to stand up and fight, too.

Click here to share the news on Facebook or post on Twitter -- and help us build a strong grassroots campaign that can win on Election Day.

Thank you,

Doug Rubin
Senior Advisor
Elizabeth for MA

Health Care Reform and the Sad Narrative of a Deflated Democratic Party

The Wall Street Journal’s Adamy and Meckler just posted the sad narrative of a deflated Democratic Party the day after the Mass. special election in which voters chose Republican Scott Brown over Democrat Martha Coakley to fill the late Ted Kennedy’s long held seat in the Senate.


Brown’s win in Mass. should not have come as such a shock to the Democrats. During the 2008 Democratic primary, Bay state voters demonstrated they were not owned by the Kennedy clan when they chose Hillary Clinton despite the fact that Sen. Kennedy, Sen. Kerry, and Gov. Deval Patrick had all three endorsed Obama. That should have told party leaders something in their headlong rush to undermine Hillary and speed Obama to the nomination.


Even so, I’m finding small satisfaction in the latest denouement of the Democrats as they continue to plummet back to earth from their euphoric rise with their charming, but inexperienced leader.


About health care reform, Adamy and Meckler write:


One day after losing their filibuster-proof Senate majority in a Massachusetts special election, exhausted Senate Democrats looked downtrodden as they filed into their weekly lunch in a second-floor room at the Capitol. "People are hysterical right now," said one Senate aide.


Party members clashed openly over what to do next. Sen. Max Baucus, a top Senate Democrat, appeared to throw cold water on a bill that would focus only on stiffer insurance regulations. Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, scotched another idea, a complicated parliamentary maneuver to usher a bill quickly to the president's desk.


In an interview with ABC News, President Obama said he would be open to scaling back the legislation in order to salvage it. "I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements in the package that people agree on," Mr. Obama said. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said later the president would prefer Congress to pass the comprehensive package, and has not given up on that option.


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