Rep. Donna Edwards for DCCC chair.
Last week I talked about the
problems with Sen. Jon Tester as head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a conservative Democrat in tune with his state, but not with the national party nor key constituencies like Latinos, environmentalists, and economic populists.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi still hasn't made the decision on her side of the aisle at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and several names have been bandied about including Colorado Rep and Third Way devotee Jared Polis and Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes. But neither is as exciting a possibility as a third possibility: Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards.
Some of you old timers might remember Edwards as a two-cycle, twice-endorsed Daily Kos candidate facing off against a corrupt and deeply entrenched incumbent. While defeating an incumbent is always a tall order, and especially so in our party, Edwards' charisma, smarts, and high energy accomplished the near-impossible. Now, six years later, we could benefit from that energy in our efforts to win back the House this decade.
The chair of a party committee has a handful of duties. First, she has to raise money, and this ability carries great weight among party elders. You cannot win an election without money. However, money doesn't guarantee you'll win an election. Did you know that the DCCC outraised their Republican counterparts $172 million to $131 million? And what did all those extra negative attack ads buy the committee? A loss of seats, of course.
In fact, the Democratic Party as a whole outraised the Republican Party $731 million to $574 million. That doesn't account for Koch money, of course, but when it comes to party fundraising, we crushed the GOP, and yet the election results turned out the way they did because our team didn't turn out. Money won't fix that. Good candidates and a compelling party message will.
Edwards is no fundraising slouch, but in a party that is increasingly funded by small donors (the DCCC raised 1/3rd from people like you and me), her profile is far more compelling than the alternatives. She inspires. And nothing opens up checkbooks like being inspired.
Next, there's is candidate recruitment. Of course, candidates have to look like their districts, so there is quite a bit of pragmatism involved. Still, we need a candidate pool that reflects the people who vote for us—browner, more female. Running for office is grueling, thankless work, and the "reward" if you win is a trip to a Congress with approval ratings below the Bubonic Plague. Helming the committee, Edwards would hopefully be an effective advocate for those non-traditional candidates (like Jon Tester, actually) who generally get overlooked in favor of your politician-y lawyer types.
Finally, there's messaging. The Democratic Party still refuses to grok basic math: that there are more of us than there are of them, and if the base turns out, we win. It doesn't matter what Republicans do, it doesn't matter what true independents do. If we turn out, we win! Yet much of the messaging this last cycle was focused on "persuasion," trying to get the mythical undecided voters to chose Team Blue. Doesn't work! Pretty much everyone has picked a team, and those that haven't probably won't vote anyway (looking at you, Alison Lundergan Grimes).
People want to be inspired. They want to feel hope. And they certainly want to wash away the stench of this past cycle's DCCC, with its never-ending email blasts of DOOOOM.
The DCCC needs a clean break from its past, and a hopeful direction for the future. Donna Edwards can provide that as chair.
12:58 PM PT: And just like that, Pelosi picked Ben Ray Luján. No thoughts on the matter since really, he's been invisible until today.
1:10 PM PT:
And Pelosi taps her close allies, Rosa DeLauro and Donna Edwards, to co-chair the policy and steering committee.
— @edatpost