On Tuesday evening I attended the Eric Massa fundraiser about which I had diaried in advance on December 2. Held on the Senate side of the Hill (?) in a townhome owned by longtime Democratic activist and owner of a small company which does Washington representation, Julie Domenick, it was well attended. Eric at first did not recognize me, never having seen me without a beard prior to this event (it came off while I was campaigning for Chap Petersen against the wife of Congressman Tom Davis). Only three of the Representatives who were cosponsors came, but I was able to talk with all three, about which I will share a bit more below the fold. And the only other Kossack (other than Eric himself) was Howard Park - the three of us had shared a cab to an get-together of former Clark supporters at Yearlykos in Chicago (I was an invited interloper).
Allo me to share a few observations from the evening.
The three Congressmen present were Carolyn Maloney of NY, who was first to arrive, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Gene Taylor of Mississippi, perhaps the most conservative member of the House Democratic Caucus (the most liberal member, Barney Frank, was also a co-host, but was unable to be there - there were a LOT events going on tonight).
Eric has become a much more skilled candidate. He is now superb at making sure he greets everyone, finds out who they are and tries to find a common connection. As he remarked during one conversation, he has learned how to talk in sound bites. He has also learned the key thing to say at events like this:
"If you have any money, give it to me. If you brought a check, add a zero."
Eric originally was in Washington as a Congressional liaison for General Clark. Later, after he had recovered from his cancer, he was a Republican staffer on the Armed Services Committee. One of the people present was a long-term Democratic staffer for that committee with whom he had become close friends while he worked for the committee. Here I note that I imposed on Bill Natter to come talk to my students, and he agreed, so naturally I think highly of him!!!
In the interest of brevity I will note of Congresswoman Maloney that she was gracious and her words were appropriate albeit a traditional set of remarks.
Leader Hoyer made clear that he had just come from being with the Speaker, and that "Nancy" strongly supported Eric as well. He talked about how this race was very important to the Democrats. He reminded the audience that in July of 2006 he had predicted the Democrats would pick up net 30 seat (gee, that number seems familiar, doesn't it?) and that while this was still 6-7 months earlier in the current cycle, he had every expectation that the Democrats would pick up at least 10 more net, and if so Eri would be joining him in Congress. He then handed over a check for I think 2,300, remarked that it brought his totally to over 9,000 and that he would max out at 14,600 - that would be 2,300 personal for the primary and the general, and 5,000 each from his leadership PAC. I would say that indicates the priority placed on this race by the Democratic House leadership team.
I had a chance to talk with Hoyer briefly. We had met at a charity fundraiser (So Others Might Eat) back when he was still in the Maryland State Senate, perhaps 20 years ago. Also, the school at which I teach is in his district, and he has visited the school on a number of occasions, and several of our former students have received their appointments to the service academies from him. When I told him I was a blogger at dailykos he immediately commented that they weren't very friendly towards him recently - he IS aware of the criticism about him on the site. I was able to talk with him about education policy for about 5 minutes, and he was willing to listen to what I had to say.
Gene Taylor is an interesting case. He has a dry sense of humor - when I reminded him at the end of our conversation that I was a blogger but that if he wanted to put any part of it off the record I would let him, his response was "It is not true that I first met Eric Massa in a House of ill-repute." When I jested back that some might describe the House of Representatives in precisely that fashion, he laughed.
He has known Eric since Massa first came to the Hill on behalf of the Navy, back when he was in Southern Command, before he worked for General Clark. Taylor said that as Navy officers went he was a decent guy, unlike many of the others he has encountered, whom he can barely remember.
There is a further connection between the two men - Ethan Rabin, who was a key part of Eric's 2006 run, is now a staffer for Gene Taylor, and as it happens deals with education. I met Ethan at the celebration for Jim webb's victory back in January, and now we will have ongoing contact as I had him to my list of Congressional staffers with whom I communicate about education, this at Taylor's request.
Taylor offered some analysis on the Lott seat. He fully expects that Lott will not officially resign until January 1 or later, precisely to allow Hale Barbour to appoint someone to serve until the November election. He expects that person to be Chip Pickering. He thinks that Mime Moore would be a stronger candidate against Pickering that Ronnie Musgrave, and thinks primary between the two would be harmful because of the money it would cost, and because it might focus too much attention on the liberal parts of each man's position.
I learned one other thing that might be of interest to this community. On Tuesday December 18th another netroots fave and fighting dem, Charlie Brown, is coming to DC for a fundraiser. Three retired military veterans, including one I know from the Webb campaign, have organized this, with four members of the California delegation - George Miller, Bob Filner, Mike Honda and Zoe Lofgren - serving as honoary co-hosts. The minimum level listed is only $100, and it will be from 7:30-9:00 at 40 Ivy Street SE, just up the block from the DNC headquarters. For information people can contact info @ brownforcongress dot org. I think I will try to clear my schedule to go to that as well.
Oh, and in case anyone wants more info on either Eric or Charlie, or perhaps might consider an online contribution?
Charlie Brown for Congress
Massa for Congress
peace.