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Friday, September 06, 2019

"To Win Power, Progressives Must Embrace 'Primary' as a Verb."

Common Dreams.

Vox, from mid-June.

DownWithTyranny, today. "Will Schumer's Attempt To Destroy The Primary System Protect The GOP Senate Majority?" stating mid-item:

[...]

Yesterday, Jennifer Haberkorn, writing for the L.A. Times reported that the DSCC, still 100% controlled by Schumer, is being accused of trying to hinder progressive candidates in key Senate primaries. She doesn't have the story exactly right, but she's figuring it out. Schumer is doing his best to disadvantage progressives Andrew Romanoff (CO), Maggie Toulouse Oliver (NM), Betsy Sweet (ME) and Eddie Mauro and Michael Fracken, both in Iowa, while pushing-- furiously-- for his more conservative picks, Frackenlooper, Ban Ray Lujan, Sara Gideon and Theresa Greenfield.

Progressives have been complaining that Schumer is interfering with their primaries and telling him to stay out of their states, accusing the DSCC-- technically run by a very right-of-center puppet of Schumer's Jackie Rosen-- "of actively working against them in primaries" to help corrupt conservatives who will never exercise any idependence, and-- like Rosen (a 2018 Schumer pick for Nevada)-- will do exactly what he tells them to do. "Progressive candidates in Colorado and Maine-- two of the most competitive 2020 Senate races-- say political consultants and vendors have refused to work on their campaigns after being warned that doing so would risk a future boycott by the DSCC, which endorsed other Democrats for those primaries," wrote Haberkorn.

“They want to blackball us,” said Andrew Romanoff, a Democrat who is hoping to take on GOP Sen. Cory Gardner in Colorado in next year’s election. “We heard the same from enough firms. It’s not an accident.”

The DSCC threw its support behind former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a pro-fracking moderate [Haberkorn uses the charged word "moderate"-- to describe conservatives; she isn't terribly bright, reflexively buys into Beltway spin and doesn't know any better] almost immediately after he announced his bid for the Senate seat late last month.

Romanoff, who backs “Medicare for all” and aggressively combating climate change, said at least five political vendors that had expressed interest in working with him later told his campaign that officials at the DSCC, which helps recruit and finance Democratic candidates, said the vendors would get no other business from the committee if they worked for Romanoff’s campaign.

A political consultant at one of those firms confirmed the account but refused to be named for fear of retribution, saying that the firm was told by an intermediary for Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) that “under no circumstances were we to work with Andrew Romanoff.” If it did, the firm would get no more DSCC-related business, including lucrative referrals to work on other campaigns or to put together outside political advertisements...

Schumer’s office referred questions to the DSCC.

[...]

[link in original] The DWT post notes the cited item uses the euphemism "moderate" for the more accurate word, "conservative."

Also today, same source, "Primaries-- More Important Than Ever" focused more on the House than the Senate.

No excerpt, but an updated version of an image saying more than its proverbial thousand words:

With a sidebar as bonus words.

_____________UPDATE_____________
The DSCC-Schumer item from DWT mentioned New Mexico candidate Maggie Toulouse Oliver (Wikipedia page), with Wiki footnote 53 linking to contest detail, "Wilson, Reid; Lillis, Mike; Wong, Scott (March 27, 2019). "New Mexico Dems brace for crowded race to succeed Udall". The Hill. Retrieved April 11, 2019." This followup arose because the DWT post said less about NM Secretary of State Oliver than about other progressive primary contestants facing the Schumer unwanted and unappreciated thumb on the scale against progress and in favor of same-old.

Rep. Ben Ray Luhan is the Schumer choice, see also, OpenSecrets, here and here. Second of those links is the Lujan top contributor, and look at those recipients named. All are either actual Republicans or from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Lujan has been characterized as in House leadership, which is headed by Pelosi, Hoyer, etc. The same old, same old; rich folks set in their ways.

The Intercept, in detail, on the very galling counterproductiveness of Schumer-DSCC dirty tactics against progress.