In yesterday's Washington Post Chris Cillizza gave us a little update on the magnitude of the Democratic senatorial tsunami in November. Citing the most conservative prognosticators who are not-- as far as I know-- on the GOP payroll, Cillizza comes up with a net gain for Democrats that will give them 57 or 58 seats, more seats than anytime since 1978. Cillizza, of course, is playing an insiders game. He lives and works Inside the Beltway for the ultimate Inside the Beltway establishment newspaper, catering to a universe of Inside the Beltway power-mongers. His sources are the insidest of the Insiders. That's not meant as a criticism; just an assessment. His world is the world of the DSCC, RNSC, and a consulting class that gets more wrong than right but is inevitably showered with sobriquets like the "top Senate handicappers in the business."
What does this have to do with the grassroots and the netroots? Well, some of us see our roles as providing support to the Democratic Committees and prioritizing efforts so as to ensure victories for Democratic Party candidates in Virginia, Colorado, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and even Kentucky, regardless of the likelihood that those Democratic candidates will work for the issues most important to us. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Tim Johnson (D-SD), for example-- the 2 vulnerable Democratic incumbents Cillizza lists-- have voted more often for Bush's positions and agenda than any other Democrats (except proud quasi-Democrat Ben Nelson). Only Evan Bayh is close.
Others of us think a better strategy is to put our energy and resources behind Democrats likely to work for progressive values and ideals, like Jeff Merkley (OR), Tom Udall (NM), Tom Allen (ME), Mark Begich (AK), Al Franken (MN), and two challengers rated by the Insiders as long shots, Rick Noriega (TX) and Andrew Rice (OK).
Even Cillizza seems to have a feeling about Rice, whose campaign he calls "credible" while linking to his effective advertising videos. It makes no difference to Schumer or Charlie Cook or Stu Rothenberg that Noriega's and Rice's opponents are the two worst and most destructive members of the Senate and that both Noriega and Rice are strong supporters of working families, rather than of special interests.
Last week I looked at some of the reasons why James Inhofe's record needs to be spotlighted. Progressive Kick isn't advocating that people do anything except look at Inhofe's record on veterans and active duty service members. They're running an incredibly powerful TV ad on the cable networks in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Take a look at the ad:
They could use some help keeping this ad on TV. If you'd like to give them a hand, this is Progressive Kick's dedicated ActBlue page for Oklahoma. You want a veto-proof Senate? It's not going to happen by everyone shoving all their energy and resources into the relative easy races. People interested in the "better" part of More And Better Democrats, would be wise to look into candidates like Andrew Rice.