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From Msnbc.com's Tom Curry
In a year in which Democrats are struggling to hold their majorities in Congress, organized labor and progressive groups such as Democracy for America have already waged one titanic effort to defeat a Democratic incumbent, spending millions of dollars in an effort to oust Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. But challenger Bill Halter fell short in a June 8 runoff.
On Tuesday, the progressives try again in the Massachusetts Democratic primary where their challenger, Mac D’Alessandro, is trying to boot Rep. Stephen Lynch, one of the 34 House Democrats to vote against President Obama’s health care bill.
It’s one of the rare ideological battles in the Democratic Party in a primary season in which Republican Establishment candidates have been trying to stave off conservative Tea Party challenges from Alaska to Delaware.
While progressives and organized labor threatened last spring to field challengers against Democrats -- such as South Dakota’s Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and New York’s Rep. Michael Arcuri -- who voted against Obama’s health care plan, D’Alessandro was one of the few who ultimately stepped forward. In New Jersey, first-term Rep. John Adler, another one of the 34 Democratic “no” votes, easily defeated a challenger in the June 8 primary.
D’Alessandro campaign spokeswoman Melissa Threadgill told msnbc.com that one of the campaign’s messages to voters was, “This is your last chance to take out a Democrat who voted against health care.” Lynch voted for the House version of health care reform, but against the final bill because it imposes taxes on high-cost health plans and doesn’t allow states to set up their own public option plans.
As of the end of August, the Lynch campaign had more than $1 million in cash, compared to only $158,000 for D’Alessandro. Lynch has aired one television ad while D’Alessandro has been absent from TV. But, since the beginning of August, the Services Employees International Union (SEIU).has spent nearly $260,000 in independent expenditures on behalf of D’Alessandro – who is on leave from his job as the New England political director for the union.
If elected in November, he’d be the first African-American House member from Massachusetts.
Unlike labor’s crusade to defeat Lincoln, in Lynch’s case SEIU is going after one of labor’s own.
Not only is Lynch the former president of his local ironworkers union, he has a nearly perfect 98 percent lifetime voting record from the AFL-CIO labor confederation and won a 100 percent for his votes in 2009. He touts support from the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, the electrical workers union local, and a Boston firefighters local.
The union neither encouraged D’Alessandro to get into the race nor discouraged him from doing so. “It was Mac’s decision to run and he earned our endorsement,” said an SEIU source familiar with the campaign and endorsement process.
Lynch campaign sources said the incumbent is likely to win less than the 77 percent he got in his only other contested primary, when he faced an anti-war challenger in 2006, but they remain confident of victory.
Tuesday’s primary will be low-turnout affair, Threadgill predicted. But she argued that D’Alessandro voters are motivated to show up, while an anti-incumbent mood will keep some former Lynch fans away from the polls.
The contest isn’t focused only on health care. D’Alessandro also criticizes Lynch’s support for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Lynch voted for the Iraq war resolution in 2002, one of 81 House Democrats to do so.
“We’re spending $13 billion a month, with no end in sight. That’s adding to our deficit,” D’Alessandro said in a debate on Boston television station WGBH. “Congressman Lynch was the only member of this delegation to vote for continued funding,” he said.
SEIU is also waging a “Skip a Space” campaign in Ohio to urge Democratic voters to withhold their vote in November from Rep. Zack Space, another Democrat who voted against the health care overhaul. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates Space’s contest against Republican Bob Gibbs a toss-up, so a few hundred withheld votes might cost Democrats that seat.
Tuesday’s primaries in Massachusetts and six other states are the last ones on the calendar, apart from next Saturday’s in Hawaii.
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ND State Line; It really scares me to read posts like yours. If you were Arabac and a muslim you would be a classic recruit for a suicidal mission.
And when it's Ben Nelson's turn kick his "Sorry Rear" to the curb!
Democrats should just chill out and enjoy the music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs2j8f7H2WY
Democrats motto: My way or the highway.
If you want to be a republican, we'll vote for the other republican.
Who cares both parties are corrupt, they line their pockets and forget why they weree elected to office. They throw a few bones tot the public and the next party comes in and takes the bones back. It is a cycle to keep the public out of the know of the truths of corruption behind the scenes.
Some how the system works with or without all the emotions about liberal or conservative. Do you ever wonder why someone would spend millions for a six figure salary and after two, three, or four years theya millionares.
Cardog...You remind me of that YouTube Video of the little gay boy dressed up like Brittany, Hiding under the Sheet, Crying and Screaming..."Leave Brittany Alone!!" Waah "Leave Obama alone!!!" Waah Watch Out Cardog...Your Massacra is running!!! BTW- In His Own Words, In His Own Book, Obama claims to be More White, Arabian, & Irish than Black( Only 2%)!!!! Therefore You can't throw the A-A Racist Card, unless it's for His White Half!!!!! ROFLMAO
Is this an odd election season or what? Progressive groups, according to the author, are trying to unseat democratic Congressmen and Senators who did not vote in favor of Obama's health care legislation. Yet you cannot find one incumbent democratic legislator who voted in favor of Obamacare campaigning for re-election on the issue that he/she did vote for the bill; knowing that being tied to that bill is the death knell for their campaign.
Just when you thought progressive politics couldn't possibly get any more screwy...
It's just another way for the taxpayer to pay for all the freeloaders that flow across the boarder.
By the time that Obama gets finished with his plan to OVERWHELM Are system. We will be a Socialistic state.
Cardog, I certainly hope you see this and respond. I really need your expert opinion. I have a family of 6 and we are considered the lower range of middle class. Unfortunatey, we don't get to go to basketball games and spend $100 because we can't afford it. We have a $50.00 copay for specialists and I see a pain management physician, sometimes twice a month. So you see, I spend my money on copays. We don't go out to dinner, we eat at home. We sit a the table; and yes, we pray before we eat. No, we are not a crazy religion, just Catholic. Enough about us.
Here's where I need your expert advise. You're just so smart. I have new neighbors. They are renters on welfare, section 8 housing. Sucks. Well, the lady gets the welfare, foodstamps, free lunch and breakfast for the kids, everything, oh and yes, health care. But here's the kicker, she has the babies' daddy living with them, no their not married. Oh and they dress so nice. Fancy clothes and shoes, better than my kids. Funny, how do they afford it. Neither of them work, just sit on their asses. Don't cut their grass. Music blasting. Having their get togethers in the driveway because they don't cut the grass.
Enough of that - expert advise. You said, "Yet, you cannot find it within your so-called American patriotic being to be concerned for fellow Americans, which include children that have absolutely No Health Insurance. It does not matter what your response to this is, shame on you. Remember, what goes around, comes around.... So what do we do about people like this. Should I be patriotic and report them? She would lose all of her welfare, home, etc. Then where would her children be.
What you fail to see is that not all Republicans are wealthy. Why am I a Republican - I am for the death penalty,I believe in the right to bear arms, I am against abortion, and I hate welfare. What a waste. You criticized PuCKie for succeeding while his life was hard. His mother had a hard life yet they rose above it. I, too, have a similar story, raised by a single mom with 8 kids. Never took a dime of welfare but easily could have and life would have been a lot easier. I started buying my own clothes in the 7th grade and never stopped. My mom would break down in tears after she went to the meat market. People driving up in a Cadillac, buying steaks, and paying for them with food stamps. We ate a lot of spaghetti, all she could afford was hambuger.
So again, expect advise. What do I do and don't think they are the only family doing this. Just let it slide by for the sake of the kids. Oh, yes. Then they can turn around and follow the same path themselves. That's what happens.
But guess what. I saved the best for last. I'm from Illinois. From the great state of Obama. Let me tell you my election day story. Sitting at school to get kids. Mom gets call from neice and she asks, "What's the name of that black guy I'm supposed to vote for." For the life of me I don't know why anyone would vote for someone from Illinois, it's the most corrupt state. Take a look at our past govenors. I guess that would explain my neighbor.
Do you really think that people who "dress so nice" shop at Nordstroms or Bloomingdales? You can buy "so nice" clothes and shoes from Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Burlington Coat Factory.
Ohh that person on food stamps has an iPhone! Well go on ebay and search for broken iPhones. Piece a few together and wala, a working model. People sell used "designer" clothes on Ebay not to mention all the fake designer stuff. I bought a $250 FENDI wallet for $70 on Ebay. As far as I know its real but some have said its not.
Its hard for me to believe that you sat down with your neighbor and talked about their finances and living situation.
Millions of people "game" or abuse the system. People here in Portland Oregon register their vehicle in Vancouver, Washington to pay less in fees. Students use a relatives address to receive in state tuition. "Bending the rules" could be considered an inherent human character trait.
Only those with a steadfast belief buck such a generalization. An example are those who vehemently protect the environment (tree huggers that dont pollute). A personal example is my wife was pregnant and before our child was born (and we were married in the triage room), she signed up for Oregon's State Healthplan.
As soon as we were married I added her to my Blue Cross Blue Shield plan although we would now have to pay for various fees and some of the hospital costs.
Why didnt I just let her stay on the State Plan? Because me like yourself, feel that I should pay my own way as I am able to. State assistance should be reserved for those who cannot.
If you feel strongly about your neighbor that they may be abusing the system please fill out the below form. You can stay anonymous. Dont let your concern for the children get in the way of your duty as a citizen of Illinois to reduce fraud and ensure assistance reaches those who need it most.
http://www.state.il.us/agency/oig/reportfraud.asp
Here are some examples of Client Fraud including what happens to the abuser. At most your neighbor will have to pay some benefits they received back to the state. Perhaps they will have to sell some of their material possessions? Either way, you must report any egregious acts of fraud
http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/aboutdhs/fraud/#clientfraud
Damm Health care, it was better when you just went to the ER and then skipped on the bill. This way the rich people that have health care insurance pay for my Dr. visit. Now the government is making me pay for my own insurance…this sucks! I want to go back to sticking it to the man!
The plan limits the possiblity to sue for malpractice. There is in the news today about a Judge that had surgery done a few months ago and was complaining about some pain since having the surgery, they found a 12" x 12" sponge left inside him.
So no the plan is a bad idea. It is designed to make the people more dependent upon the government and that is what Socialism is all about.
Republican's work give power to the Corporations and Banks. That is what Fascism is all about.
Pick and choose which one you like or put a different political party in power.
Bush tax cuts have to be paid for....that is the deal. They can't be extended because they havn't come up with how they will pay for them. perry wants to cut teachers benefits and childrens health benefits to pay for the rich's tax cuts. So the middle class pays for them..Who's redistributing money to the rich?