If Katie Merrill had the goal of preventing a primary campaign against Ellen Tauscher, it might not have been the best strategy to provoke the publisher of the most widely read political blog in the world into declaring, “So in CA-10, we will have a candidate, and there will be a primary.”
But as Jane Hamsher noted, Tauscher has greater problems than netroots. Sure, California bloggers are going to cover this race closely (Calitics is averaging more than a post a day on Ellen Tauscher in December of all months and Markos lives in the east bay). And sure, if things get interesting the national blogs will have the ability to get the race nationwide attention. But all of that will be focused towards understanding and supporting what is actually going on in California’s 10th congressional district.
Rototilling the Grassroots
From a grassroots perspective, the DLC fad of the 1990s destroyed the Democratic Party. The reliance on corporate big money all but cut rank and file supporters out of the process.
The new people-powered grassroots wave was a direct reaction to people like Gray Davis who triangulated against the base to be funded by big corporations.
Ellen Tauscher was part of this fad, but her continued contempt for the grassroots is so out of style that it makes it clear she is out of touch.
Since Tauscher bought her seat by spending $1.7 million, she has grown increasingly dependent upon PAC contributions while failing to develop support infrastructure in district. In her first re-election, almost 60% of her funding came from individuals, but her most recent report shows the ration flipping to where she now relies upon (mostly business) PACs for more than 60% of her warchest.
Now here is where the blogs come in and why Katie Merrill’s move was such a political disaster for Congresswoman Tauscher. What the blog infrastructure allows is not just volunteers and tons of money, but the ability for local resentment of Tauscher’s arrogance to have a nationwide voice.
After reading the front page post on Daily Kos, an 18 year old spoke up in the comments. He then learned how easy it was for him to refine his point, set up an account here, and post his thoughts as a diary. This morning, that diary was picked up by Fire Dog Lake and broadcast nationwide.
There is a structure to promote and reward ideas about the race, which is compounded in Tauscher’s case by the unique geography where bay area writers have six different BART stops they can choose from in the 10th district.
In the successful primary campaign against Joe Lieberman in Connecticut, the blogosphere amplified the reporting of Paul Bass and Colin McEnroe turning them into nationwide stars. Do you think this dynamic has escaped Tim Redmond? If a bay area race becomes ground zero in the battle for the future of the Democratic Party, CA-10 could be more thoroughly covered than most people can imagine.
The tools are readily available for grassroots activists to share stories of personal experiences involving Ellen Tauscher. I’ve heard lots of stories that I’m sure others would appreciate hearing and I know there are far more out there. So start an account and tell your stories — people are waiting to listen.
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Some of the comments thanks to Counterproductive Katie’s whine:
Kos, “It’s not surprising that this writer, Ellen Tauscher campaign manager Katie Merrill, would try to head off what will be a vicious fight for this seat in a primary. Unlike her apparent hero Joe Lieberman, Tauscher won’t get a “do-over” if she loses.”
Blue in Colorado, “How stupid can this woman be? A campaign manager-political operative needlessly and untruthfully insulting a several million strong group in her own party.”
zot23, ” I don’t even know who Tauscher was 5 mins ago, but now I support a primary challenge against her. This whiney-ass boo-hoo letter makes me think she’s afraid of a populist net-roots primary challenge for a reason.”
Emetbloom, “I can tell you that there is significant antipathy towards Tauscher in both the El Cerrito and the Lamorinda Democratic Clubs. I can also tell you that a lot of folks in CoCo County are upset because Tauscher belittles people who have challenged her vote on the war, has actively supported a Republican over active Dems for Community College Board, and in general is scornful towards people who don’t agree with her. Also, her support of Filson didn’t exactly win her any supporters among Dems in her district.”
deaniac83, “Ellen Tauscher did her darnest to push Jerry McNerney – now the victorious Congressman from California’s 11th CD (defeating Richard Pombo) out in the Democratic primary. You know why? Because her longtime donor Steve Filson was running. Tauscher put her nose in where it didn’t belong (I know this because but I can’t reveal the exact happenings or the source) to try to force Jerry out, and she was not nice about it. We had to trounce DLC and Tauscher favorite Filson in the primaries 52-25% and then go on to beat Pombo.”
DavidW, “She was dragged kicking and screaming to drop her support for the Iraq War, and to start standng up against Bush. I’m in her district and I attended the district “town hall” meetings when she spoke about the war. Though she wasn’t an active proponent of the war, she didn’t represent her district when she voted for it, and it took her forever before she backed away from her support (via votes) for the war”
hartford for lamont, “by invoking Lieberman, a guy who lost the Connecticut Dem vote, all that Katie Merrill is doing here is showing how ignorant she is about what being a good Democrat is all about.”
machopicasso, “According to Tauscher’s campaign manager, it was a “misguided effort” to challenge an incumbent who was willing to leave the Democratic party in order to retain his Senate seat, campain with Republicans, and draw substantial support from the White House. That’s a totally different ballgame. Quite frankly, I’m surprised Merrill wants to place Tauscher and Lieberman in the same category. The latter already lost his primary; maybe Tauscher isn’t all that committed to the party, herself.”
electricgrendel, “She picked this fight. It was her insufferable and useless “business friendly” Democratic model that helped greatly in getting the Democratic message diluted to the point of uselessness. Not only that, but if I am not mistaken it was Ellen Tauscher who went out boasting about how much power she’d gotten because so many of the newly elected Dems were “conservative”. As for the press flak’s whine that we should be doing X, Y and Z so long as none of that involves rooting out conservative/business-friendly Democrats who make it impossible for us to deliver on a populist message, the only thing I have to say is that there are a whole lot of us. There are a lot of fingers on a whole lot of keyboards and there are a whole lot of small wallets out there ready to open. Don’t worry about us trying make sure that the freshman get elected and that we secure the White House in 08.”
tmo, “Lots of Dems in the district don’t like her and don’t consider her to be on their side. The general wisdom in the district is that she’s out of touch with her constituents and is not interested in being in touch; she knows what’s best and the voters should really just stay quiet.”
Giodude, “As I recall, she got really upset when the legislature unveiled the new maps. She was upset her moderate voting record would be a liability in her safe democratic seat.”
Neutron, “The chickens are coming home to roost for Lobbyistloving Tauscher.”
brittain33, “And here we have “business-friendly” Ellen Tauscher, representing a district substantially more liberal than her. No wonder she didn’t want this outcome. It reduces her ability to be a power player in the middle, who also happens to be exceptionally valuable to lobbyists. If she plays her moderation as a point of principle and not a way to get money from lobbyists and nicknames from George W. Bush, she’ll do well. If she sells out, by all means, primary her ass.”
RevJoe, “And Tauscher should be very, very afraid. She has been out of touch with her constituents for quite some time. She is definitely out of touch with her party.”
Faber, “This county is home to a large number of technical professionals; I’m one of them. Times aren’t as bad as they were in that business, but they’re not what they were in 2000. Ellen Tauscher has been in bed with ITAA since the get-go, and has sold out this constituency every chance she got. It isn’t a matter of ideological litmus tests or “values” issues. Tauscher has simply done a rotten job of representing the issues of her constituents. I will be working actively on a primary challenge for 2008.”
Big Tent Democrat, “The Netroots does not demand ideological purity. The Netroots demands the Democrats fight for Democrats, and that ideological disputes be resolved within our Big Tent. Tauscher’s meeting with Bush undercut our Dem leadership. That was Bush’s goal and Tauscher played along, just as Joe Lieberman always did. But it is more fun to believe there is an ideological test in the Netroots. Pure malarkey in the best tradition of Lieberman.”
AustinSF, “Congresswoman Tauscher serves as National Vice-Chair of the Democratic Leadership Council, an organization that is widely regarded as the intellectual center of the Democratic Party. DLC > them’s fightin words around these Dkos parts.”
mackellanpatrick, “I live in Ellen Tauscher’s district, and I agree that a primary challenge would be good for the district, good for the Democrats, good for democracy, and, frankly, good for Ellen Tauscher. She seems to live in a gilded bubble and has gone unchallenged for too long, which isn’t good for anyone in leadership. The district has truly changed underneath her and become much more liberal. And her campaign manager is just frankly an ass. If you’re going to create enemies, at least be smart enough to be on the right side of history and don’t ramble on with “dying entrenched dinosaur overlord” kinds of things when new tools and communities arise with fresh voices. A real choice for Democrats in the 10 would be a good thing, and maybe this time ALL democrats would rally around and support whoever the actual winner was, and not start their own party if they didn’t like the results.”
michael1104, “I seriously cannot wait to see her go! It is going to be soooo much fun challenging her and making her defend her right-wing corporatist stances against a progressive Democrat who would better represent the district.”
Pthy Cherub, “Nevertheless, she deserves a primary challenger that speaks to the values of the district and not her Liebermanesque view of how the world ought to be. Maybe just maybe, she failed to notice her neighbor district brough done Pombo with a candidate that beat the establisment candidate in the district. Some people have to learn lessons by actually getting in trouble rather than showing leadership and evolving when evidence says their political worldview is undergoing a dynamic shift. She wants to “learn” the hardway – didn’t Joementum start out by poo pooing the netroots too.”
Nemesis22, “If Tauscher wants to avoid a primary from the emboldened left of the party, having her campaign manager whine about the indignity of being challenged by the great unwashed & comparing her favorably to Joe Lieberman isn’t a good start.”
And finally, a letter:
Dear Congresswoman Tauscher:
Today I read your campaign manager disrespecting the netroots Democrats, whining about attacks on pseudo-centrists Lieberman, Harman, and now apparently you. "D-Alamo?" Please.
You want to pick a fight with the netroots? Fine. It's on.
You've just turned another netroot constituent into a political enemy.
See you in two years
Way to go Katie!
UPDATE: Counterproductive Katie responds:
On the contrary, my post far from backfired. In fact, the critical responses to my post on CMR and on different blogs prove my point.
No, you proved our point, catapulted a primary, and in the process an 18 year old high school kid proved he has more game than you when it comes to online communications.