DCDL

Chris Bowers at MyDD wrote yesterday about how the media portray Ned Lamont’s primary challenge against Joe Lieberman as an attempt by extremists to purge the party of anyone deviating from their liberal beliefs, but never have similar stories about primary challenges from the right. This morning NPR’s Morning Edition had a story headlined “Democratic Hawk Faces Antiwar Primary Challenger” about Marcy Winograd’s primary challenge to Rep. Jane Harman in California. It followed the script described by Bowers, so I decided to use the contact form to send a letter to NPR:

The story by Rachael Myrow highlighted the primary challenge to Jane Harman, as well as mentioning the challenge to Lieberman, and portrayed this exercise of democracy within the system as an attempt to purge the party of anyone disagreeing with the liberals.

If such a purge is going on, it’s certainly not getting very far. Liberals are not at all in control of the Democratic Party.

Will you have a similar story about the primary challenge to Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island? It’s much more likely to succeed than the one against Harman, and it’s much easier to make a case that Republican conservatives are purging moderates from their party. It seems that you’re depicting liberals as unreasonable extremists tearing their party apart, while finding the same behavior by conservatives perfectly acceptable.

If you’re a Virginia resident who’s not yet registered to vote, there’s still time to get it done and participate in the primary election coming up on June 13. Download the form from the Virginia State Board of Elections site and get it postmarked by Monday, May 15.

Then, if you’re a Democrat, you can have a say in whether former Navy secretary Jim Webb (warning: site has background noise) or former IT lobbyist Harris Miller will get the nomination and go on to face fake cowboy and presidential aspirant Republican George Allen in the Senate race. Depending on where you live, there may be other primary contests as well.

Primaries are important. Participate in the process!

Three interesting book events this week, and I’m going to try to make it to all of them:

• I just got this message from MoveOn about an event tonight that’s on the theme of this MyDD post by David Sirota:
  

  Tonight, Tuesday, May 9, our friends at The American Prospect magazine and the AFL-CIO are hosting a book launch party and panel discussion entitled, “Fighting the Hostile Takeover in America’s Red States” Speakers include Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D), author Thomas Frank, columnist Harold Meyerson, David Sirota and, ah…well me. I’ll be joining the panel to talk about how MoveOn members make a difference across the country.

  You are invited. Here are the details.

  What: “Fighting the Hostile Takeover in America’s Red States” panel discussion and book party.

  Who: Special guests include Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D), author Thomas Frank, columnist Harold Meyerson, David Sirota and MoveOn’s Tom Matzzie.

  When: Tonight: Tuesday, May 9, 2006 at 7:00 PM.

  Where: AFL-CIO Building, 815 16th Street N.W., Washington, D.C
  (Metro: Red Line Farragut North or Blue/Orange Line McPherson Square)

  Books will be made available for purchase at the event by Politics & Prose bookstore.

  The book explores how corruption is supported in Congress and takes a critical look at the dealings of politicians in both parties. It is a useful reference book. For example, when you hear an issue discussed — like energy — you can look up all of the big ideas progressives have for dealing with energy issues. At the same time it provides the facts for de-bunking the right-wing spin. […]

  —Tom Matzzie

• The insanity of the prison-industrial complex and how it affects elections and other facets of our politics is something I’ve been getting more interested in lately. It also ties into the prisoner abuse scandals perpetrated by Americans outside the US. This event on Wednesday at Busboys & Poets (2021 14th St NW) features authors of two books on the subject:
  

  6:30 - 8:00 PM (Langston Room) Two Authors/One Event! — Sasha Abramsky and Marc Mauer — In his revised edition of his seminal book on race, class, and the criminal justice system, Race to Incarcerate, Marc Mauer, executive director of one of the United States’ leading criminal justice reform organizations, offers the most up-to-date look available at three decades of prison expansion in America. The book tells the tragic story of runaway growth in the number of prisons and jails and the over reliance on imprisonment to stem problems of economic and social development. Race to Incarcerate documents the enormous financial and human toll of the “get tough” movement, and argues for more humane and productive alternatives.

  In his new book Conned: How Millions Went to Prison, Lost the Vote, and Helped Send George W. Bush to the White House, Abramsky takes us on a journey through disenfranchised America, detailing the revival of antidemocratic laws that came of age in the post-Civil War segregationist South, and profiling Americans who are fighting to regain the right to vote. Sasha Abramsky is a freelance journalist. His work has appeared in The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, New York magazine, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone. This event is free and open to the public.

• Finally, on Saturday, there’s an event at Politics and Prose (5015 Connecticut Ave NW) that several of us from DCDL are going to go to (e-mail dcthu@drinkingliberally.org if you’re interested in joining us):
  

  Saturday, May 13, 1 p.m.
  ERIC BOEHLERT
  LAPDOGS (Free Press, $25)
  Boehlert, a former Salon.com journalist, has written an extended indictment of the mainstream media in their coverage of the Bush administration. Rather than performing the role of watchdogs, such media giants as the New York Times, CNN, and CBS, he contends, have committed journalistic malpractice with their soft coverage and failure to challenge President Bush.

Jamin “Jamie” Raskin is a professor of constitutional law at American University, and I’ve heard his name many times, especially in connection with attempts to obtain DC voting rights through the courts. But I only recently became aware that he’s running for state senate in Maryland’s 20th district, the area around Takoma Park and Silver Spring. He’s been getting some attention in the left-leaning neighborhoods of the Internet because of this March 1 exchange he had with a Republican state senator at a hearing about a bill banning same-sex marriage (the story has circulated so much that it’s made it to Snopes, the urban legend reference site):

“As I read Biblical principles, marriage was intended, ordained and started by God — that is my belief,” [Nancy Jacobs] said. “For me, this is an issue solely based on religious principles.”

Raskin shot back that the Bible was also used to uphold now-outlawed statutes banning interracial marriage, and that the constitution should instead be lawmakers’ guiding principle.

“People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution; they don’t put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible,” he said.

Some in the room applauded, which led committee chairman Sen. Brian E. Frosh, a Democrat from Montgomery County, to call for order. “This isn’t a football game,” he said.

Sounds like our kind of guy.

Now I see that populist humorist Jim Hightower is going to be at a fundraiser for Raskin tomorrow, March 24, in Silver Spring. There’ll be “fine grub from the Texas Chuck Wagon and the Dominican Kitchen (including vegetarian selections)”, as well as “a Bush-blastin’, Cheney-apprehendin’, Democrat-transformin’ revival”, and “square and salsa dancing for the whole family”. Could be fun (assuming you can spare $50 for a progressive candidate). Anyone up for a field trip to the wilds of Silver Spring?

Speaking of Ned Lamont’s primary challenge to Joe Lieberman, our friends at DC for Democracy are holding their monthly meeting this week and will have a special guest: Lamont senior campaign adviser Aldon Hynes, who will “talk about why progressives are challenging Senator Lieberman and answer your questions about his campaign and the tactics of challenging an incumbent Democrat.”

In addition, people will be talking about DC4D’s efforts at the local level to improve DC public schools and promote a living wage for DC workers. If that sounds like the sort of thing you’d like to help with, show up and find out more.

In national-level politics, DC for Democracy will be continuing with its “Change the Course” campaign — reaching out to Democracy for America chapters across the country to lobby for discussion in Congress about how to end the US occupation of Iraq. The campaign has a specific plan, focused on a stalled bill in the House called the Homeward Bound Resolution. It’s still in its early stages and could use your help.

The meeting is Wednesday, March 1, at 7pm at Ben’s Chili Bowl, 1213 U Street NW (near the U Street Metro stop). For more information, see the RSVP form.

Today is Joe Lieberman’s 64th birthday. Wonder if he can make it through the day without opening his mouth to support George Bush or attack Howard Dean or otherwise help the Republican Party or hurt the Democrats?

This year Lieberman has a richly deserved primary challenge from Ned Lamont. Lamont’s campaign is just getting under way, but it’s looking better than some expected. Lieberman is much more popular among Republicans than among Democrats, but Republicans don’t get to vote in the primary. Even if Lamont doesn’t win, it’s important to at least give Lieberman a scare to get him to think about the effect of his statements before speaking.

If you want to celebrate Joe’s birthday, consider a gift to the Lamont campaign — perhaps through the ActBlue Netroots page (where you can also give to former Texas congressman Ciro Rodriguez to help him regain his seat from Henry Cuellar, who seems a little confused about what party he’s in).

To learn more about the Lamont campaign, come to next week’s DC for Democracy meeting (Wednesday, March 1, at 7pm at Ben’s Chili Bowl), where a Lamont staffer will explain their strategy and answer questions.

The Carpetbagger Report (via Kevin Drum) alerted me to a story that starts off as yet another example of a Bush event being restricted to only rabid supporters:

Command Sergeant Major Tim Walz is a twenty-four-year veteran of the Army National Guard, now retired but still on active duty when a visit from President George W. Bush shortly before the 2004 election coincided with Walz’s homecoming to Mankato, Minnesota. A high school teacher and football coach, he had left to serve overseas in Operation Enduring Freedom. Southern Minnesota is home to a large Guard contingent that includes Walz’s unit, the First 125th Field Artillery Battalion, so the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are naturally a pressing local concern — particularly to high school students headed into the armed services.

The president’s visit struck Walz as a teachable moment, and he and two students boarded a Bush campaign bus that took them to a quarry where the president was to speak. But after they had passed through a metal detector and their tickets and IDs were checked, they were denied admittance and ordered back onto the bus. One of the boys had a John Kerry sticker on his wallet.

The story goes downhill from there, as the Bush staffers subject the veteran to further disrespect. But it then takes an interesting turn: Rather than just complain to the media, Walz decided to run for Congress, as a Democrat. He’s now one of 53 and counting Democratic veterans running for Congress.

Today saw an event long awaited among a large segment of Virginia Democrats. James Webb, who was secretary of the Navy under Reagan, decided to run for the Senate as a Democrat, aiming to replace Republican George Allen. And DCDLer Lee Diamond played a part in persuading Webb to run:

Webb has been the subject of an aggressive political draft effort on the Internet at http://www.draftjameswebb.com/ , which claims more than 999 signatures on his behalf.

The Draft James Webb movement was a project of Lee, together with Josh Chernila and Lowell Feld of Raising Kaine, and they’ve met with Webb and promoted him as a possible candidate for weeks. Looks like their persistence has paid off. Congratulations, Lee!

There is another declared Democratic candidate, Harris Miller, so there will likely be a primary in June. As an outsider, I’ll leave the choice up to Virginians (including all of my immediate family), but I look forward to seeing a serious challenger to Allen emerge.

I do like this bit from the Associated Press story:

Webb said his campaign will also focus on ways to help middle- and low-income families and “restoring the traditional role of Congress” by checking the growth of presidential authority since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

For celebratory coverage of Webb’s announcement, see my favorite Virginia blogs, Raising Kaine and Waldo Jaquith.

The Washington Post launched a new blog today, DC Wire, which will focus on DC politics and this year’s city elections. I wish it luck, and so far it already has posts about the stadium deal and the school modernization bill, but I’m a little worried by the first post by Eric Weiss, which happens to be about the council race in my ward. It starts off like this:

Ward 3 council candidate Sam Brooks, who’s been involved in a low-key pie-tossing contest with fellow candidate Jonathan Rees, wants to engage in some multilateral disengagement.

Both have been saying mean things about each other for months. Rees questions when Brooks moved into the ward and Brooks says Rees may be behind negative web postings.

So Rees spreads messages accusing Brooks of fraud because of when he moved into the ward, even though the law doesn’t require candidates to reside in the ward until they are nominated, which would occur in September. And Rees spams Craigslist, DCist, DCpages.com, and loads of other websites and e-mail lists with messages promoting himself and attacking Brooks, often in juvenile ways. This week he apparently forged a message from the list admin to spam the Cleveland Park e-mail list, from which he’d been banned.

On the other side, Brooks complains about some of Rees’s attacks.

Clearly both sides are equally guilty — just as Jack Abramoff gave to both Democrats and Republicans, just as the Kerry and Bush campaigns were equally untruthful, just as experts differ on whether the moon landings were faked.

It’s not a “pie-tossing contest” if only one person is throwing pies, and so far I haven’t seen any pies thrown by Brooks. But maybe Weiss has learned the importance of “balance” from the same editor who slanted the scandal scorecard in Chris Cillizza’s Post blog a few months back.

Usually when a candidate’s bid for a party’s presidential nomination fails, the campaign organization goes away, or at least goes into hibernation for four years. In Howard Dean’s case, however, his organization, Dean for America, evolved into Democracy for America (DFA), a group “dedicated to supporting fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates at all levels of government — from school board to the presidency”. Though I wasn’t involved in the Dean campaign, I have been a member of DC for Democracy, our city DFA group, for a while (and there are other DFA groups in the area and around the country).

After Howard Dean became chair of the Democratic National Committee, his brother Jim took over the leadership of DFA. And this weekend Jim Dean is in DC to kick off the 2006 Plan for Victory. It starts tonight with a fundraiser:

Friday, January 20
6:30–8pm
Hawk and Dove
329 Pennsylvania Ave SE
(Capitol South Metro)
Suggested contribution: $20
To RSVP, please contact Dina Wolkoff:
dwolkoff{at}democracyforamerica.com

Then tomorrow morning there’s the 3rd annual organizing summit in Adams Morgan:

Join Democracy for America Chairman (and Howard Dean’s brother) Jim Dean and DC for Democracy activists for our 3rd Annual Organizing Summit on Saturday, January 21st! Breakfast starts at 9:30 and we’ll have you out the door right after 1:00.

2006 promises to be a big year in the District and we need your help to chart the course for the new year - from DC’s Mayoral elections to our brand new “Out of Iraq” initiative. Bring your ideas and suggestions, and be prepared to roll up your shirt sleeves to make sure 2006 is even more successful than our last two years.

Saturday, January 21
9:30am to 1pm
Marie Reed School
2200 Champlain St NW
RSVP here
More info: dcfordemocracy{at}gmail.com

And finally, there are three house parties later on Saturday, in McLean, VA, Silver Spring, MD, and Severna Park, MD.