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So I normally don't donate to Blue Dogs because even though I like that our party is a big tent party and we can legitimately make that argument, I do have my limits. Now I am happy to see the Blue Dog caucus shrink and being from Pennsylvania, I was happy to see both Tim Holden and Jason Altimire lose their primaries. Matt Cartwright is a great progressive candidate and even though Mark Crtiz is also a Blue Dog, he's not a corporate shill like Jason Altimire. Critz is actually a good friend of organized labor. But I've also had certain cases where I have supported Blue Dog Democrats, and these are very rare exceptions. For example, I was a huge supporter of Congressman Patrick Murphy from PA's 8th District. I also backed Charlie Melancon's Senate race back in 2010 because David Vitter is a corrupt scumbag and Melancon's emotional testimony during the congressional hearings on the BP spill made me like him more, even though there were quite a few issues I disagreed with him on. My theory is the only way we are going to greatly decrease the numbers of corporate and conservative Democrats is to get progressives elected at state level first. We need to make Blue states more progressive and Swing States bluer in order to send better Democrats to Washington, D.C.
Now I am going to endorse one Blue Dog this campaign season and that's congressman Joe Donnelly of Indiana who is running Dick Lugar's old seat. This is an important race for two important reasons:
First, Richard Mourdock is a dangerous right wing ideologue. He is a tea party obstructionist. Now Mourdock says he believes in bipartisanship but here's his definition of bipartisanship:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
"I have a mindset that says bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view," he said Wednesday on "Fox & Friends."
He continued, "I've said many times through this campaign that one of the things I hope to do is to help build a conservative majority in the United States Senate and continue to help the House build a Republican majority and have a Republican White House and then bipartisanship becomes having Democrats come our way. So that’s what we’re working towards and I think in the days ahead, Mr. Lugar will join our effort." - Richard Mourdock, 5/9/12
So yeah, he would be a huge obstructionist on the Koch Brothers payroll. I don't think Obama is going to win Indiana again but Mourdock is too extreme for the Hoosier state hence why poll after poll shows the Indiana Senate race tied. Even Real Clear Politics has this race in the Toss Up section:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/...
Plus Republicans in Washington like Paul Ryan and Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma are hurting Mourdock's chances:
http://indiana.onpolitix.com/...
Second, Joe Donnelly has proven to be a much better friend to organized labor than Evan Bayh. I was looking up Donnelly's voting record and he votes 77% of the time along party lines. Now there are a few reasons not to like him. He doesn't support the DREAM Act, he's pro-life and he's one of the few Democrats to vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt. I hate to admit this but Evan Bayh was much better on issues like immigration reform and women's reproductive rights but Bayh is also a corporate Democrat who crossed party lines to obstruct and water down President Obama's agenda. He even gave the Democrats the finger in 2010 when he abruptly decided to retire, handing the republicans another win. After Bayh retired he went on to join the Chamber Of Commerce to help push their anti-regulation agenda:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/...
http://www.motherjones.com/...
Now I worried that Donnelly might be a corporate Democrat like Bayh. I knew Donnelly was pro-life but he at least believes in exceptions such as rape, incest and if a mother's life is in danger. I don't like his anti-amnesty views at all and he will be a pain in the ass on this issue but he will be a good ally for organized labor in the U.S. Senate. I checked out both Donnelly's and Bayh's voting records regarding Trade from ontheissues.com and here's what I found:
Joe Donnelly On Free Trade:
http://www.ontheissues.org/...
Strongly Opposes topic 13:
Support & expand free trade
(-5 points on Economic scale)
Oppose CAFTA; support fair international trade: Strongly Opposes topic 13
Existing trade policies export jobs: Strongly Opposes topic 13
Tariffs against countries undervaluing their currency: Opposes topic 13
Review free trade agreements biennially for rights violation: Strongly Opposes topic 13
Impose tariffs against countries which manipulate currency: Opposes topic 13
YES on assisting workers who lose jobs due to globalization: Opposes topic 13
NO on promoting free trade with Peru: Opposes topic 13
Now here's Evan Bayh's record on free trade:
http://www.ontheissues.org/...
Favors topic 13:
Support & expand free trade
(+2 points on Economic scale)
Build a rule-based global trading system: Favors topic 13
Free & fair trade is key to economic growth : Strongly Favors topic 13
Rated 33% by CATO, indicating a mixed record on trade issues: Neutral on topic 13
YES on permanent normal trade relations with China: Strongly Favors topic 13
YES on expanding trade to the third world: Favors topic 13
YES on removing common goods from national security export rules: Favors topic 13
YES on granting normal trade relations status to Vietnam: Favors topic 13
YES on extending free trade to Andean nations: Strongly Favors topic 13
YES on establishing free trade between US & Singapore: Favors topic 13
YES on establishing free trade between the US and Chile: Favors topic 13
NO on implementing CAFTA for Central America free-trade: Strongly Opposes topic 13
NO on free trade agreement with Oman: Strongly Opposes topic 13
YES on promoting free trade with Peru: Favors topic 13
Donnelly has also received the AFL-CIO's endorsement:
http://in.aflcio.org/...
Here are some remarks from the AFL-CIO on Joe Donnelly:
As U.S. Senator, Joe Donnelly will fight to oppose a national Right to Work law. Joe knows that when workers have a strong collective bargaining voice, they can ensure that they can provide for their families, be safe at work, and be respected in the work they do. (IN AFL-CIO questionnaire)

As U.S. Senator, Joe Donnelly will put Americans back to work immediately. Joe knows that our country needs funding for important infrastructure projects that generate good jobs immediately, such as transportation systems, school modernization, clean energy, airports, and water systems. (IN AFL-CIO questionnaire)
As U.S. Senator, Joe Donnelly will stop offshoring of jobs and bring good jobs back to the United States. Joe believes that we must do all that we can to protect American jobs, and to do this he will work to close tax loopholes that encourage companies to ship American jobs overseas. (IN AFL-CIO questionnaire)
Here are some other issues Donnelly either has good or mixed ratings on:
Strongly Favors topic 5:
More federal funding for health coverage
(-5 points on Economic scale)
Expand the availability of health insurance: Strongly Favors topic 5
Medicare Part D plan is huge giveaway to drug companies: Favors topic 5
Better and immediate funding for Medicare & Medicaid: Favors topic 5
Repeal ObamaCare reporting requirements for small business: Opposes topic 5
Require insurers to cover breast cancer treatment: Strongly Favors topic 5
YES on giving mental health full equity with physical health: Favors topic 5
YES on Veto override: Extend SCHIP to cover 6M more kids: Strongly Favors topic 5
NO on repealing the "Prevention and Public Health" slush fund: Strongly Favors topic 5
NO on the Ryan Budget: Medicare choice, tax & spending cuts: Favors topic 5
YES on requiring negotiated Rx prices for Medicare part D: Favors topic 5
YES on adding 2 to 4 million children to SCHIP eligibility: Favors topic 5
YES on overriding veto on expansion of Medicare: Favors topic 5
YES on expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program: Favors topic 5
YES on regulating tobacco as a drug: Favors topic 5
Favors topic 11:
Make taxes more progressive
(-3 points on Economic scale)
$8 trillion deficit is a hidden tax on all of us: Favors topic 11
YES on paying for AMT relief by closing offshore business loopholes: Strongly Favors topic 11
YES on extending AMT exemptions to avoid hitting middle-income: Opposes topic 11
Strongly Favors topic 16:
Stricter limits on political campaign funds
(-5 points on Economic scale)
Fight for real campaign finance reform & more transparency: Strongly Favors topic 16
Supports Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance Reform: Favors topic 16
Reduce the salary of Members of Congress: Favors topic 16
Ban stock trading based on Congressional insider knowledge: Strongly Favors topic 16
Repeal automatic Congressional pay raises: Favors topic 16
YES on requiring lobbyist disclosure of bundled donations: Strongly Favors topic 16
Strongly Opposes topic 6:
Privatize Social Security
(-5 points on Economic scale)
Opposes any plan that tries to privatize & recklessly gamble: Strongly Opposes topic 6
Opposes private retirement accounts: Strongly Opposes topic 6
You can check out the site to see where else Donnelly falls on the issues. He has been rated as a Populist in terms of ideology according to ontheissues.org's scale.
Donnelly is a Blue Dog who has earned the NRA's endorsement in the past over his Republican opponent and he won a tight re-election race back in 2010. Due to Republican redistricting, Donnelly would've had a very difficult time running for reelection in his home district.
There are two good cases for us this year in terms of the Senate. The best one is to increase our numbers in the Senate. It will be at least two more election cycles until we can get 60 seats again. We are already getting Maine with Independent candidate Angus King and we are going to lose Nebraska. Now if we can pick up Indiana, Nevada, Arizona and Massachusetts as well as hold onto Wisconsin, Connecticut, Montana, Missouri, Virginia and North Dakota, we'll be good. We will hold onto New Mexico, Ohio, Florida and Michigan, I'm confident about that. The other scenario is Obama is re-elected and the Senate is 50-50 with Biden being the tie vote. Now if we can get the more progressive candidates like Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Baldwin, Mazie Hirnono, Martin Heinrich, Chris Murphy and Angus King all elected in a 50-50 Senate, we'll have less obstruction than before and we'll have Joe Biden as the tie breaker. We'll have people like Mary Landrieu to worry about, for sure but at least we'll have a stronger Democratic Party that can rile up the support to push the Democrats and President Obama in the right direction. Personally, I think Shelley Berkley's race in Nevada is incredibly important because she is a strong voice for women's rights, Latinos and environmental issues, especially regarding the Yucca Mountain area. You can read my diary about Berkley here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Now with Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, we'll have our concerns with her but this diary at least makes Heitkamp's views on Wall Street sound more in line with former North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan. Dorgan was one of the few Senators to vote against repealing Glass-Steagall and predicted that the repeal would lead to the economic crisis:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
This recent diary showed that Intrade is now claiming that the Senate will be 50-50:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Now I personally want a bigger majority in the Senate and I know that Democrats coming from red states like Indiana and North Dakota aren't going to be as progressive as guys like Tom Harkin, Jeff Merkley or Bernie Sanders but until we can get progressive candidates and initiatives enforced on a state level, this what we have to work with. With Donnelly, he can at least cover our losses and organized labor and the AFL-CIO will have a new friend fighting for them in Washington D.C. Now I promise you that I will help Donnelly get elected but once elected I promise to put the pressure on him regarding issues like immigration reform, women's rights, gun control and environmental issues. But at least we know he'll be much better for unions and the middle class than Evan Bayh was. Feel free to donate to his ActBlue page:
https://secure.actblue.com/...