Who do we have to thank for last night's success?

[kay1864]

IMHO, two guys by the name of Rahm Emanuel and Charles Schumer. What did they do, you ask? Fortunately electoral-vote.com posted the answer on Oct 18.

And read to the end to see how the House Dems might reward Emanuel:

Do you know what the NRSC, DSCC, NRCC, and DCCC are? If not, here's the story. Each party has a committee in each chamber whose job is to maximize the number of seats they get in that chamber. They are:

- NRSC - National Republican Senatorial Committee -- chaired by Sen. Liddy Dole (R-NC)
- DSCC - Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee -- chaired by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
- NRCC - National Republican Congressional Committee -- chaired by Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY)
- DCCC - Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee -- chaired by Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL)

The job of the chairperson is to raise money and to find candidates. Good candidates don't grow on trees. You have to talk them into it. It is especially hard to talk a representative with a safe seat into taking a gamble on upsetting an incumbent in an expensive Senate race.

(Note: this is why Katherine Harris got the Senate nomination in Florida--no House GOP wanted to risk running against the Dem Senate incumbent. But she was crazy enough to do it--and lost 60%-38%)

Let's examine what happened. By any measure, Elizabeth "Liddy" Dole, senator from North Carolina and wife of Viagra enthusiast Bob Dole has done very poorly. Her job was to find strong opponents for seats the GOP might pick off. Clear targets were Maria Cantwell (D-WA) who won by a whisker in 2000; Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), whose state is reeling from job losses; Bill Nelson (D-FL), who is not popular and polled badly for a year; and Robert Byrd (D-WV), who is 89. Then there is Kent Conrad (D-ND), who is personally popular but comes from a state that gave Bush a 27% margin of victory in 2004, and Ben Nelson (D-NE), whose state gave Bush a 34% margin.

Against Cantwell she runs an insurance executive; against Stabenow she runs a County Sheriff; against Bill Nelson she runs the much-hated Katherine Harris; against Byrd she runs a guy who has run for public office in WV four times and lost badly all four times; against Conrad she runs a young farmer; and against Ben Nelson she runs an unknown businessman. All the Democrats are coasting to reelection. The only Democratic Senator in a tight race is Bob Menendez (NJ), and recent polls show him to be ahead. In short, she dropped the ball (Go Liddy!).

In contrast, Chuck Schumer found powerful candidates to oppose to weak Republicans in Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Montana also has a strong Democrat, but he wasn't Schumer's choice; he won a contested primary. Then there are Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. in Tennessee and Jim Webb in Virginia who are in very close races. All in all, a stellar performance by Schumer.

The House candidates are too numerous to mention, but the idea is the same. Rahm Emanuel came up with powerful candidates in dozens of congressional districts and many of them are going to be elected to Congress in November. In contrast, Tom Reynolds will probably lose his own seat (actually he kept it :(, despite his association with Mark Foley) and most likely will not pick up a single Democratic seat (they didn't).

Here's where the leadership battle comes in. Emanuel thinks that his efforts have paid off spectacularly well and he should be rewarded with the position of majority leader, the second in command after Speaker Nancy Pelosi if the Democrats win back the House. Trouble is, Rep. John Murtha, a 38-year Marines Corps. veteran and now representative from Pennsylvania, who openly criticized President Bush about the war earlier also wants the job. And Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the current whip may also have ideas. Each one can make a valid claim to leadership, which will lead to a battle if the Dems win.