Tester named chair of Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

[IDemo]

Source: KXLF

Senator Jon Tester today moving up in the Democratic Party Committee.

According to MTN Political analyst Dr. David Parker, the position has two main functions.

"One, recruit candidates to run for the us senate as democratic candidates and raise money to help democratic candidates," he said.

Parker says this is an important position, held by John Kerry in the 1980s.

Read more: http://www.kxlf.com/news/update-tester-named-chair-of-democratic-senatorial-campaign-committee/

[femmocrat]

1. Well..... good luck to him.

He will need it.

[silvershadow]

2. Well, obviously we could do worse. As has been evidenced. And, I mostly kinda like Tester.

Bring back Dr. Dean please, now.

[mountain grammy]

3. This does nothing for me.

[mazzarro]

4. This is another blue dog put in place to recruit blue dog candidates for the senate

I am not thrilled by it.

[RandiFan1290]

10. The corporations paid good money for these peole

We know they will not let a few silly voters get in their way.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

12. abSOlutely!!

[freshwest]

5. He's a Keystone, fracking, mining man, IIRC.

This would implement the Dean 50 state strategy as some states will never be liberal, no matter what we at DU would like to think. They were not liberal in FDR's day, nor Kennedy's.

When LBJ passed the VRA that created the southern GOP. The regions he will appeal to will be for many things liberals despise. It's unfortunate, but it wins. We are reduced to this.

[Cha]

6. Have they learned Nothing from the Midterms?!

Last edited Fri Nov 14, 2014, 04:53 AM - Edit history (1)

[bigdarryl]

7. The answer is a big fat NO

[monmouth4]

8. He reminds me of beige, just plain, uninteresting blah, blah beige..n/t

[davidpdx]

9. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Orsino]

11. Well, there goes 2016.

There will be no fresh start for the DSCC, it appears.

[LiberalFighter]

13. The Democratic Senators elected the wrong person for the position.

Electing someone from Montana to run the campaign? Really? He doesn't have a clue about the states that really matter.

[brooklynite]

15. Um, I thought that ALL States mattered

Or did I interpret all this 50-State Strategy yelling wrong?

[Old Nick]

14. Untested Tester

Rather typical for this circular firing squad of a party.

[brooklynite]

16. What this thread tells me is that people are clueless about what DSCC does

You want Howard Dean; you want a 50 State campaign; you want "real Democrats" to run...

Let's review a couple a points, shall we? First, the DSCC Chair is a member of the Senate. This is because a lot of the money it raises is from Senate members who need to be cajoled by one of their own. So as much as you all love Dean, he's not going to run the Senate campaign.

Second, the DNC Chair has no role in selecting candidates. Dean didn't do in 2006 and he didn't do it in 2008. Candidates are a mix of self-selectors from the various States, and efforts by State Party and DSCC people to encourage people to run. So if you want Dean to come back, great, but understand what he will and will not be doing.

Third, the DSCC doesn't play ideological favorites. If looks for candidates who are competitive and electable IN EACH STATE. I'm sure you'd all like 60 clones or Sanders and Warren, but find a way to get them elected in Idaho, Texas and Mississippi first. Now, this is the point where you tell me that we'd do better if we ran "Real Democrats" rather than "Republican lite". Let me respond with "Amanda Curtis", a progressive school teacher everyone here loved. How did she do? She lost by 18 points. Looking ahead to PA, I'm sure you'll want a progressive alternative to Pat Toomey. Well, let's be clear. Pennsylvania ELECTED Pat Toomey AND Rick Santorum, twice!) and when they kick Ed out Santorum, they replaced him with pro-life Bob Casey. So tell me where you'll get a suitably progressive Democrat who can win in "Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Alabama".

Finally, the DSCC is NOT going to dump incumbents, absent scandal, or significant political damage. Again, a lot of DSCCs money comes from Senate members who aren't going to be prepared to chip in to support their own defeat, and how exactly would anyone decide who WAS and WAS Not Ideologically pure enough to warrant re-election?

All that being said, if you think Tester's not up for the job, fine, (I note nobody's suggested an alternative) but please be cognizant of what the job is.

[Midwestern Democrat]

17. Good points. It must be remembered that Senators are usually DRAFTED to be DSCC chair -

it's by no means a prize that Senators are actively campaigning to get.