Emanuel's campaign against progressives and grassroots Democrats has been pervasive, systematic and vehement. And, far beyond IL-06 and a district here and there. It never fails to astound me that bloggers supposedly paying attention completely fail to see that Emanuel is the greatest evil inside the Democratic Party-- an absolute brand killer (unless the brand is "we can be as anti-democratic and corrupt as the Republicans")-- a kind of mirror image of Tom DeLay-- with the hapless and pathetic Pelosi playing the role of Hastert.

Gee guys, if Rahm Emmanule didn't spend his time recruiting "establishment" candidates for Democratic primaries, you might actually think he's doing a good job and then you'd stop attacking him. That might lead the Congressman to believe you didn't like him anymore.

So let me get this straight.  You are upset with Rahm Emmanuel because he is backing the Oneida DA who is from the largest county in the district and has proven he can get elected over a public health official whose website bio mentions work everywhere in the world but the 24th CD of NY.  

Unless I missed something in all the threads about IL-06, one of the major complaints about Duckworth was that she was an outsider who did not have deep roots in the district while Cegilis has run once and worked hard locally.  

It appears in this race that Arcuri is the one who has worked hard locally while Roberts has recently returned and decided to run for Congress.  If I have this wrong, Roberts really needs to re-write his website bio because most voters care a lot more about what you have done locally than your work in the Congo.  You may not like that but it is true.

Whatever.  It's not as if they're not recruiting everywhere.  With our full dance card in Georgia, we're down to 16 still unopposed races and counting down.

Seems to me, Roberts or Arcuri would each make a fine new Congressman against Bush. Let the good people of the district decide which to send.  And if it turns out Roberts can't beat Arcuri, why would you think he could beat the Gooper?

Of course, Spitzer and Schumer and Emanuel are going to get behind Arcuri.  He's been elected before, which means they know that he can raise money and run a campaign and actually connect with some voters, as opposed to a "public health expert" who might be able to raise money and might be able to run a tight campaign and who is a complete wild card with respect to how the public will react to him.  

It's the Moneyball approach to candidate recruitment and you don't need any wild-eyed conspiracy theories about Rahm trying to control the world to understand why the DCCC is more interested in Arcuri.

"Insiders" are the people who win elections. "Outsiders" are the people who run and lose. If they win, they officially become "insiders".

A lot of the grassroots in NH-01 are supporting a wonderful woman, Carol Shea-Porter http://www.carolforcongress.com/.  But rumor has it that Nancy Pelosi is coming to raise money for Jim Craig, who is a perfectly nice guy who will get eaten alive by the Republican money machine backing Jeb Bradley.  He has a lot of money and no supporters we can see and a website that doesn't work.  We also have a couple other guys running.

Also the DNC is calling people to raise money and telling them that there are only two guys in the race.  I don't know if this is ignorance or on purpose, but it is nuts.  Carol is such a contrast to Bradley, has been following him around the state for 3 years now, to local town meetings he holds, asking the hard questions and keeping track of his evasions.  

This is really pissing people off, and NH needs the grassroots to stay blue this year.  

Why are you quoting stories from The Hill.  The Hill is a Republican paper.  It's editor is also the head of the American Conservative Union.  It's publisher is Hugo Cox, the husband of America's Worst Mother(tm).  They are not our friends.  They have an interest in stirring sh-t up and turning us on each other.  I have no interest in what they have to say about Democratic affairs and neither should you.

Roberts clearly called shotgun. And apparently, that's all that matters now.

Obviously, Emanuel and the rest of the DCCC are going to keep going like this until they are sent a clear message that the crap they are shoveling isn't going to work with progressives.  We need to make sure that Emanuel himself is defeated, even if it means we take a hit and a Republican wins the seat for a term.  I know this sounds like "eating our own", but sometimes the long view requires a really good house-cleaning.  Perhaps if Emanuel and his hand-picked candidates like Duckworth lose, then their lack of success will allow the insurgents to gain the credibility we need the next time around.

OK, so you hate Rahm Emanuel - I get that.  

And you apparently hate anyone that he supports - I get that.  

What I don't get is how that has anything to do with the job that the DCCC is doing or with who is the better candidate in this race.  Seriously, what the hell should the DCCC be doing if not ACTIVELY RECRUITING the strongest candidates in vulnerable districts.  Should they refrain from encouraging any stronger candidate from getting into a race simply b/c someone else has already filed?  That's just stupid.

For what it's worth, I have no idea who the "better" or "stronger" candidate in this race is.  But deciding that based purely off of who Rahm Emanuel is supporting is ridiculous.  I really wonder what all you Rahm haters are going to do when the Dems do win control of the House in November.  I imagine I'll see a lot of posts saying "Yeah, but we would have won even MORE seats...."    

I notice many comments on this thread have been unfairly rated.  Perhaps debating the problem instead of abusing those with whom one disagrees would make the arguments of those who aggressively support Rahm more compelling.  But their abuse of the ratings system leads me to believe that they are intolerant of dissent and criticism.  I also believe they should refrain from ad hominem statements and other slurs.  

les roberts would have absolutely no chance versus State Sen Maier.  Acruiri is the MUCH stronger candidate.

I know little about Les so I won't comment.  However, being a former Syracuse University student and Upstate NYer, I am familiar with Acuri who is very popular in the community and has received positive reviews as the county DA.  Plus he runs marathons so you know he has the endurance and wont quit.

This is no Duckworth redux so lets stop slamming how brightest hope to retaking the House!

I like how the blogosphere never obeys what it preaches in regards to staying out of primaries, and has openly endorsed Jon  Tester in the Montana primary despite the fact that very few people in the blogosphere actually live in Montana and Morrison was in the race first.  Nor did we stay out of the Virginia Senate race: no, the blogosphere actively recruited Jim Webb even after Miller announced his candidacy.   It's not like the blogosphere has been a shining example of even-handedness or local control, it's just that we don't have as big an influence as the DCCC, and I guess that makes some people bitter.

I think Tester should be on the Netroots funded page, because he's the better candidate and I don't think it's unfair of me to make that decision even though I don't live in Montana and even though Tester announced after Morrison.  And I think it was right for us to draft Jim Webb and we should definately support him now that he's in the race: it wouldn't be fair for him to jump in on the premise of some broad netroots support only to have us snub him when it comes time to raise some funds.  And no, there's no reason we should wait until after the primaries to support these candidates because early money counts a lot more than last minute fundraising.

Isn't our goal to increase the influence of the netroots in our party?  And if we're successful in doing so, will we stop recruiting candidates in races where we already have one?  Will we stop supporting candidates who have yet to pass their primary?  Or will we at least stop bitching when other Democrats do the same?  I hope it's the latter, personally.

to start promoting this candidate unstead of bitching about Rahm doing this, after the candidate has gone down in defeat like you did with Cegelis. He won't stop doing this because you bitch so lets nationalize the campaign, on both sides.  This is all about the war.  Rahm and Schumer are hawks, who have both been part of neocon front groups.  They're goal is pretty transparent. They are trying to deny the antiwar movement a choice of having a candidate to vote for.

also why don't you post this at boomantribune and myleftwing.  mydd and kos are the least progressive of all the scoop blogs.

By your own citations Arcuri and Roberts were getting into the race at the same time. So how could the DCCC be recruiting against Roberts?

The fact of the matter is the DCCC went out and tried to recruit a good candidate, which is the DCCC's job.

The fact of the matter beyond that is that Roberts is a crappy candidate and a poor fit for the district. We need a Brian Higgins, not a Maurice Hinchey to win the district. Of course none of you probably get the reference because you dont know Upstate politics and you don't know the district.

NYDC24 is my hometown (of origin) district. I was just searching late this past week, and Accuri doesn't even have a website up yet!

DCCC best get advising if they are gonna recruit these people!

I am still mad about Duckworth, and at Schumer and Emanuel.

This was a diary entry I made on Sunday, Apr 09, 2006 -- It should explain a few things. (I do not abuse the ratings system -- though evidently many have done that here. I work at the description and not the description end of linguistics, so I don't worry so much about spelling.)

Hamilton Project - The Empire Strikes Back

You should know that there is now definitive information to the effect that what are being called the "corporate forces within the Democratic Party," or "Wall Street Democrats" are organizing a project to neutralize the party's grassroots movement. They call their putsch "the Hamilton Project." This is probably not "only a test," folks.

This information has appeared at Sirotablog HERE, AT WORKING FOR CHANGE, and at TODAY'S SIROTABLOG 4/9/06.

Ahem.

I work at the description and not the prescription end of linguistics, so I don't worry so much about spelling.

have now discovered the importance of choosing candidates with strong local roots who are "insiders" who have run for office before!

In other news, the temperature in hell was just reported to be 0 degrees Kelvin.

I don't have a horse in this race but I agree with Michael's basic point: if this new candidate is so strong, let him raise money and run his race on his own, like every other candidate -- then the strongest candidate will actually be the one who wins the primary. Oh, and something called "democracy" will have actually taken place.

Yesterday, I was talking to someone I respect who supported Duckworth. He freely admitted that she is unquestioningly letting the Washington insiders tell her exactly what to do. He had hoped that she would begin to take control of her own campaign after the primary but sees no evidence that she is. Of course, this came as no suprise to those of us who backed Cegelis.

As Kos and Jerome point out in their book, those who are beholden to the DC insiders for their campaigns are not likely to buck them. Of course, Kos is now on record as backing a campaign (Duckworth's) that is a textbook example of what NOT to do according to their book!

Regardless of the merits of the two candidates in that race, I think it was a HUGE mistake for so many in the progressive community to play footsie with Rahm Emanuel et al. All you do is enbolden his ilk and convince those in the middle -- like Barack Obama and Jan Schakowski in that case -- that there is no price to be paid for opposing the progressive activists who fueled their own original campaigns.

If the DCCC thinks there aren't Democratic organizations in NY-24, they're in for quite a surprise.  

I think what is happening is that people don't know who they want to support yet.  That's the way it is in my local Democratic Committee.  

That said, the only candidate of the two to come and speak to the committee has been Les Roberts.  

As for upcoming events:

There will be a Congressional Candidate's Forum on Wednesday the 24th of May at 7:00 at the Clinton House Mural Lounge on Cayuga Street (Ithaca). Both Les Roberts and Mike Arcuri will be in attendance.  Each candidate will give a short ten minute statement at which time the floor will be opened to questions and answers.  This will be a great time for folks to get to know both of these candidates before petition passing season.