Donna Edwards for DCCC chair

Donna Edwards for DCCC chair

by digby

Howie at Down With Tyranny has a great piece up today making the case for a real progressive, Donna Edwards, to succeed Steve Israel as the head of the DCCC. He quotes a letter from one of Blue America's favorite candidates (who barely lost his race in 2012 and would have won with a little more help from the powers that be) Nate Shinagawa:

We need a DCCC chair who leads with values, elevates the discourse and inspires action. That leader is Congresswoman Donna Edwards. I know first-hand how effective, inspiring and wise Congresswoman Edwards is. In 2012, I was the Democratic nominee for United States Congress in New York’s 23rd Congressional District. I ran as a progressive Democrat in a conservative, rural district against a Republican congressman who spent $2.4 million against me. Every pundit and campaign analyzer, from left to right, said our campaign didn’t stand a chance. The DCCC listened to the pundits and wrote us off. Despite that, we received 48% of the vote, making us one of the most competitive races in the nation and out-performing the vast majority of candidates that the DCCC prioritized as “Red to Blue.”  

Throughout the campaign, we showed the DCCC that we could win. We hit our targets in field and finance. We had polling that showed the race was competitive. We were told that if we kept working hard, they’d come in and help us. The help from the DCCC organization never came. I remember how demoralized my staff and supporters were the final months of the campaign. We were like soldiers surrounded by enemy forces, assured that reinforcements would come, and realizing in our final moments that we’d be left behind. Luckily, like a hero who does what’s right instead of what’s told, Congresswoman Donna Edwards came to our rescue.  

She not only endorsed the campaign. In the final month, she flew to Ithaca, NY, and rallied my supporters and staff. She gave us, and especially me, the morale boost needed to push onward. What made her visit especially powerful is that she is a leader within the DCCC. It was the little signal to our team that we had a fighting chance. Even though the DCCC as a whole ignored us, she took individual initiative to help us. After she came, there was an electric feeling of hope among my team. After months of being demoralized by the DCCC, she gave us the inspiration to continue the fight.  

That’s the kind of leader the DCCC needs. Yes, Congresswoman Edwards raises money and works hard. Plenty of contenders for DCCC chair do. What makes her unique, though, is her values. She’s compassionate, open-minded, and progressive. She knows how small investments in people can yield tremendous returns later on. She’s simultaneously strategic and tactical, caring and analytical. I believe she can change the course of the DCCC and the Democratic Party. 

That's just a piece of it.  I urge you to click over and read the whole thing.

Edwards is a real progressive. She's also a savvy leader who will do everything she can to create a Democratic majority.  But unlike those who've been doing this job since the Rahm era, she's very smart and has a creatively strategic mind.  Simply put, she is not going to miss opportunities to win with progressives like Shinagawa and she's not going to assume that the only way to win is by being as conservative as possible. She may very well back some conservatives --- sometimes there's no other choice.  But she will not sabotage progressives in races they can win and she won't set out of recruit only the most conservative candidates she can find regardless of whether or not they are the best choice for the district. She's not a member of that club that made a bunch of promises to protect each other from liberal incursions on their gravy train.

Howie points us to a link to this Move On petition to have House majority leader Pelosi name Edwards to the job instead of one of the usual suspects like the Wall Street friendly Jim Himes.

And he included this awesome video of Edwards: