So, I made the mistake of posting my first request for help last night just before the system went off-line. Here's a second request for help:
I started posting on DailyKos early and young--I was in my first year of college when I signed up to a blog that, at the time, had just over a thousand registered users.
But in the three or so years I've been here, there's one recurring theme that crops up every time the Primaries get hot: strong opinions about the DCCC.
So in honor of you guys in the trenches, grudges and all, I'm writing my thesis on D-Trip, and I need your help.
Some people might wonder what the motives behind such an analysis are (especially in an election year). The answer is that the party hierarchy used to be the central force in determining nominees, but increasingly over the past decades campaigns have become autonomous structures, operating mostly independently of the party. That's largely a result of the increasing influence and importance of consultants in the electoral process--any candidate capable of raising sufficient funds can afford a full staff, pollsters, media buyers, etc. I'm trying to figure out to what degree the DCCC chair's influence is significant in determining the nominee in a district, to see if the party has created a new mechanism for selecting nominees. But to conduct this analysis I need cases!
I'm in my research phase now, and I'm trying to select cases for analysis. My requirements are:
-there must have been a contested primary,
-the race must have been during the 1998-2006 cycles,
-DCCC support must have been one-sided, especially through open support from the Chair before the Primary (financial contributions from the Chair are preferable, but public endorsements work too), and
-Open seats or Republican incumbents only: there must not be an incumbent Democrat in the race.
I've already got the Ceglis-Duckworth slugfest and the Schneider-Jennings race in Florida.
Do you remember a particularly vicious primary where the DCCC picked sides? Know of a candidate that was pressured to get out of the race by the national party? Ever get D-Trip consultants wandering in and out of your candidate's office? I want to know about it!
If you've got specifics or details, I need those too: Had any of the candidates held elected office? Were they running while holding another office?
If you've got a DCCC story, gripe, anecdote, whatever, please share it in the comments section. Got an inside track, or ever done work for D-Trip? Drop me a line.
Thanks for helping out a collegiate Kossack.