Wednesday’s political round-up

August 3, 2005

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* America Coming Together, which was largely successful in 2004 in raising money and boosting Dem turnout, is scaling back operations dramatically. ACT began informing the group’s 28 staffers this week that their paychecks would stop at the end of August. All the state offices have been, or are soon to be, closed. For now, ACT will be reduced to a research operation, analyzing strategies to turn out key blocs of voters.

* In Detroit yesterday, incumbent Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D) and former deputy mayor Freman Hendrix (D) emerged from a 12-candidate mayoral primary to advance to November’s general election. The challenger, Hendrix, led the field with 44%, while Kilpatrick was a distant second with 34%.

* In New York, Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro (R) had told GOP officials that, next year, she would run for either the Senate (against Clinton), governor (against Spitzer), or state attorney general (against Andrew Cuomo). Yesterday, Pirro scratched one of the options off her list, announcing that she has ruled out running against Clinton.

* Republicans in DC and Michigan have been trying to lure Domino’s Pizza CEO David Brandon into next year’s Senate campaign against Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), but Brandon has apparently decided to skip the race. Brandon was a particularly attractive candidate to the GOP because, as a millionaire, he would have been a “self-funding” candidate in a race that most believe will cost $20 million to win. Brandon’s announcement clears the way for the Rev. Keith Butler, a former Detroit city councilman, to win the Republican nomination in a race no other Republican wanted to be in.

* In Kansas, Rep. Jerry Moran (R) hasn’t been able to make up his mind about the state’s gubernatorial campaign. In May, Moran announced he would not take on Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) next year. In June, Moran had second thoughts and told reporters he might change his mind. Yesterday, he went back to where he was before, announcing (again) that he will not seek the Republican nomination for governor.

Not so fast, Carpetbagger. Cuomo is only one name in a tough Dem primary field for NY Attorney General. Toughest of all is likely to be Mike Gianaris, Assembleyman from Queens. Check him out.

http://www.mikegianaris.com/

  • Toughest of all is likely to be Mike Gianaris, Assembleyman from Queens

    Good point, James. My apologies to Gianaris and his campaign.

  • CB-

    Isn’t ACT non-regulated 527? Why would they scale back their staff of 28? Don’t Dems have some deep-pockets to fund this stuff?

    I may be crazy, but it took 20 years and crazy investment to fund the Republican spin/think tank machine, and Dems won’t pony up for a program that works?

  • Seems that ACT’s prime benefactors, George Soros and his close associate, Progressive Corp. Chairman Peter Lewis, who together put $38.5 million into ACT and its sister group The Media Fund, have pulled the plug on ACT.

    Also, as most are aware, there is a huge fued taking place in the organized labor world, especially between the AFL-CIO and the recently-seceeded SEIU, both of which were critical to ACT’s on-the-ground voter registration activities.

    These two things, combined with the facts that Kerry “lost” and it will be another three years before the next Presidential campaign kicks into high gear (so donations from the little guys are probably way down), goes a long way towards explaining ACT’s incredible shrinking act.

    Still, Eadie is right…this is disappointing, and seems to show that Dems are not willing to fight for their values. Sad indeed.

  • Dems won’t pony up for a program that works?

    They do — and they will — but this is just one entity. Dems learned a lot in ’04, both good and bad, and they’ll apply these lessons carefully in the future.

    The specific fate of ACT is independent of this, however. This was, as A.L. explained, a project of specific progressive benefactors. After the election, these financiers began shifting attention elsewhere.

    I really don’t think this is necessarily an example of Dems failing to fight for their values, so much as its the natural decline of political entity that was created to take on Bush and came up short. It’s not the end of the left’s effort to create a stronger infrastructure, so much as it’s the not-entirely-unexpected downsizing of a group that didn’t have much to do in 2005.

  • I agree with your observations CB, but I cannot share your trust for a party hell-bent on losing. I see “long haul” politics winning–for Republicans. Where is the Dem counter to that type of long-range planning? ACT got more people voting, and critical ’06 elections are coming, and more voters is better for Dems.

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