And it's a good one. I'm stealing the post wholesale from
Jerome over at
MyDD.
After talking with an inside source in the DCCC, here is what they are grappling with today. Remember, this is from their perspective, not the candidate. Ginny Schrader is the candidate, and the DCCC isn't going to replace her. Early on, she was the candidate they wanted, and backed, but to date, she's had little fundraising success on her own, and has resisted help from the DCCC (not money-wise, but ground-wise & advice-wise). The DCCC is in the midst of acessing her candidacy, again, not in terms of whether she will be the candidate, but in terms of how deep they are going to invest. There are concerns as to whether she is willing to commit to a candidacy that's going to take a lot of money and aggresive campaigning. So, basically, the DCCC is doting their i's and crossing their t's.
What bothers me, and probably you, is that the complaints are all logistic stuff, which have nothing to do with the progressive stand that Ginny Schrader takes on the issues. It's terribly discouraging to find a candidate, in a winnable district no less, that is having a hard time being taken seriously, simply over the issue of money.
I'm sure if you ask the Schrader campaign, you'll hear a similar complaint that Matsunaka and other Dem House candidates have-- not being given any seed money. And as anyone that's every worked in a campaign knows, without that initial step forward, it's hard as hell to get started.
Well, the blogosphere has seeded the Schrader campaign with the clout needed to raise it to the next level. There's no way she can win the 8th without the help of the Party infrastructure. The DCCC might not be as responsive as we demand, but they do work, and as their recent fundraisng success shows, it's getting better.
If things between the DCCC and the Schrader campaign get quickly resolved, we'll see the DCCC get behind her with six-figure backing, feet on the ground, and national recognition.
In terms of seeing the blogosphere raise $20K for Ginny in a day, the DCCC is thrilled. Now they need to make the right move. A blog post by Ginny on the DCCC's Stakeholder would be a good start.
Regardless of whether they end up putting significant resources into the race or not, the least they can do is offer unqualified and enthusiastic support for her candidacy. It really isn't too much to ask.
And while I was over at MyDD, I saw this chilling post about voter purges in Ohio. Talk of Ohio being the "Florida of 2004" may prove prophetic in more ways than one.