On Friday, I received an email from my friend and AL-03 candidate Joshua Segall. He regretfully announced he would be withdrawing as a candidate and his rematch of Mike Rogers. I was disappointed although I understand Josh's decision. I had the opportunity to speak with him on the phone and we discussed the factors.
The political climate in Alabama is tough for Democrats. We are likely going to lose control of the State Legislature on the House and Senate side which means that this seat +3 R PVI Seat would be diced up in redistricting. Furthermore there may be some Democratic state legislative indictments in the pipeline. All that aside, this was intended to be a Democratic seat but that Never happened because the national Democratic establishment failed us miserably.
You see in 2002 the DCCC pulled out of this race at the last minute costing us this seat by 3,000 votes and. In 2008, the DCCC failed to adequately help Josh as some believed was promised as they chose to focus on AL-02 and AL-05 where we elected Blue Dog's Bobby Bright and Parker Griffith who ultimately switched parties. And now in 2010 the DCCC failed to put Segall on its first wave of Red to Blue despite his near 6 point loss in 2008.
If you are like me you have long chosen not to donate to the DCCC and instead give directly to the candidates that you support. That is one way we can support great candidates that have a chance to win.
Another way is by joining together and supporting great efforts collectively like the Peanut Butter Pac. We have also added PB Pac to our Progressive Electorate/ Daily Kos Act Blue Page.
We can bypass the national traditional structure of inside baseball party politics and build our own mechanisms. We have done it before and we will do it again. In the future with such efforts like PB Pac we won't need 200k from the DCCC to elect a Joshua Segall in AL-03. We can help fund these candidates. We don't have to be represented in Congress by such ineffective Members like Mike Rogers who after nearly 8 years in Congress was ranked 405 out of 435 members of Congress in terms of effectiveness. We can do better. We need not wait on the DCCC to permit us to make a race competitive. We can carve out the seats that we feel can be won, even in Red State Alabama and make our own trail.
*I'm not a paid member of Peanut Butter Pac but just a supporter who wants to help them get off the ground
cross posted at Progressive Electorate