Several weeks ago, in a conference call bloggers had with Chuck Schumer, the Chair of the DSCC pointedly told us that the DSCC is an "incumbent's organization". When pressed, he would not commit to supporting the Democratic nominee in the Connecticut Democratic Senate primary.
As far as anyone knows for sure, Chuck Schumer stands by that decision today.
Meanwhile, Joe Lieberman is on record as saying:
"I think it's going to be harmful of our party and the chances of our congressional candidates, our Democratic challengers and our gubernatorial candidates," he said. "But it's his decision."
So tell me something: why does Chuck Schumer insist on supporting Joe Lieberman? Why is the DSCC an incumbency protection racket instead of an organization dedicated to its "sole mission... to elect more Democrats to the Senate?"
Well some friends and I have done some thinking about this. We don't believe Mr. Schumer is untouchable, we just think we need a different approach if we are going to reach him. We need to speak his language.
Follow me over the flip for the plan. I think you'll like it.
We can call his office all we want to (and we have). I want you to ask yourselves if you ever remember Mr. Schumer responding to his constituents. Because I do not.
He thinks he's untouchable.
As Chair of the DSCC, Chuck Schumer understands money. In fact, money is Chuck's first language. Democracy, loyalty, integrity... well, they are all nice places that Chuck likes to visit, but he's not going to take the time to learn the language. Why should he? Chuck thinks he is untouchable as long as he's mastered the language of greenbacks.
Our primary language is democracy, but I've taken a crash course in Chuck's first language. I've learned that we can download all the reports Chuck has filed that tell us who the contributors to the DSCC are.
This sets up an interesting opportunity for those of us that speak democracy, loyalty and integrity to force Mr. Schumer to learn something about our way of doing things.
Here's the plan:
- We need a DBA - someone to set up a database with all the DSCC donors.
- Once we've got the database set up, we run reports
- I suggest we extract all Connecticut Donors for a first pass
- We send letters to our targets telling them that Chuck Schumer is spending DSCC money (their donations which could be spent to support real Democrats - Democrats like John Tester, Claire McCaskill and Jim Webb) on his personal good friend, Joe Lieberman.
- We ask that they halt their contributions to the DSCC and instead send their money to individual candidates through ActBlue. We ask that they call the DSCC to verify our claims, and let the DSCC know why they won't be repeat contributors.
- If we are successful in focusing on Connecticut, we run more reports targeting large donors.
- We'll also need a media component. This has to get written up in Roll Call, The Hill, Washinton Post, etc. So we'll need a media team in DC
I hope y'all like the idea because now I have to ask for your support.
In addition to the DBA (a volunteer and the lynchpin of the entire operation), we're gonna need people to print up and stuff envelopes. We'll need money for postage.
I will commit to printing and posting 50 letters myself. If you can do the same (or more, or fewer) email me at stark.m~at~gmail.com. If you are a DBA with some time on your hands, please get in touch. And if you've got media experience, I need to hear from you. If you've got additional, complementary ideas, tell me about them!
If you can't do any of the above, clicking the recommend button would really help a lot also.
Update [2006-7-5 12:38:3 by Mike Stark]: I just finished posting this and saw pontificator's rec'd diary about Raw Story's scoop.
I've got to say that I don't think it's any more than a hill of beans.
...the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is likely to back the winner of the Democratic primary in Connecticut...
...A senior Democratic party official confirmed that the DSCC is unlikely to back Lieberman...
"Likely... Unlikely..." In other words, "Trust me." Schumer's from New York. Here in New York, especially in politics, there is a synonym for "Trust me." It's "Fuck You."
It's very simple. The DSCC has a "sole mission" to elect Democrats. The answer to our question is binary - a yes or a no... Schumer should say as much.