Job was his -- and Emanuel delivered

[wyldwolf]

While other Democrats were predicting they would retake the House, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) was cautious and more than a bit superstitious.

The House Democratic political boss would only say of the ripening potential for Democrats that he would "rather be us than them."

He was right. Was he ever.

For the last 22 months, Emanuel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has with a singular focus ran a tough-love political organization that Tuesday reclaimed a Democratic majority they lost in 1994. That sets the stage for the first female speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who tapped Emanuel for the job.

Emanuel is the architect -- the master political strategist -- behind the Democratic win. Hands on -- Emanuel came up through the ranks as a political operative -- his stamp was on every aspect of the operation as an uber campaign manager, from candidate recruitment, to relentless fund-raising to realizing very early on the political implications of a variety of simmering GOP ethics scandals and the Iraq war.

Emanuel also got lucky. The Democrats picked up the seat vacated by former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) after his sexually suggestive e-mails to pages surfaced.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/128180,CST-NWS-sweet08.article

[Olney Blue]

1. Thank you, Mr Emanuel!

:patriot:

[Jim Sagle]

2. Dean RRRRRAWWWKEDDDD. Rahm enjoyed the ride.

And that's the last word on this noncontroversy.

[MoJoWorkin]

4. Agreed!!! Without the 50 state strategy, they wouldn't have had

the ABILITY to compete in all the unexpected areas that opened up so quickly--more money and people on the ground--that was in place, due to the foresight of the good Doctor.

DEAN deserves a GREAT DEAL of the credit, but will not get it.

Sorry, but I wanted to chime in on your "last word."

[KittyWampus]

5. If you think Emanuel coasted then you need to read some facts and stop

this bullshit, kneejerk, reactionary crap against Emanuel.

He worked his ass off and deserves as much credit as Dean.

Some of the reactions on DU against Emanuel border on childish.

BOTH men deserve credit and it speaks poorly of those who can't acknowledge that and need to belittle to work of one man in the attempt to tout their favorite.

[RelativelyJones]

9. Check out FDL, if you want to see why so many of us

have a problem with Rahm:

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/11/08/no/

[jonnyblitz]

10. thanks for that link. very interesting and not surprising at all. nt

[AtomicKitten]

13. I guess you didn't notice

that more moderate Democrats were the winners yesterday. You may hate that notion but Emanuel did an excellent job recruiting candidates that could win, tapping the spectrum of Dems available to do just that.

[Hav]

17. .

I couldn't agree more. Kentucky and Indiana were nice and not every Democrat can win such a race.
He gets much crap here, but I think most of his decisions were simply based on realistic assessments.
I'm thankful for this historic win of the Dems. We should be happy about it.

[cali]

23. We still have to sort that out

It's not true in NH, NY or CA. Yes, quite a few moderates won, but so did an equal number of liberals.

[Cha]

28. Oh, you mean this?

"In private talks before the election, Emanuel and other top Democrats told their members they cannot allow the party's liberal wing to dominate the agenda next year. Democrats will hold 30 or 35 seats that went for Bush in the past, meaning that Democratic candidates such as Brad Ellsworth in rural Indiana are likely to face competitive races again in 2008. Still, their interests are likely to collide with those of veteran liberals such as Reps. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.) and John Conyers Jr., (Mich.), who will chair committees."

What does that even mean? What would they be afraid of? Too much focus on PEOPLE?

[The Magistrate]

29. Some People, Sir

Would complain if the streams ran whiskey, and roast pork hung as fruit from the trees: they are constitutionally malcontents, and incapable of happiness. The person you have cited is one of these unfortunates, and they are thankfully few in number....

[dansolo]

30. Rahm does desereve some credit

I will give Rahm credit for finding good candidates that were able to win. But Dean deserves more. Without the infrastructure Dean put in place, the Democrats wouldn't have picked up as many seats. Rahm fought against Dean's 50-state strategy, and only wanted to funnel money to the competative districts. If he had is way, there wouldn't have been as many upsets as we had.

[JamesJoyce]

14. DEAN

was invisible in the last month.

[blm]

21. Yep- Our votes would've been stolen with the party infrastructure McAuliffe left

but Dean got RID of the Clinton-era Targetted state strategy that collapsed the party infrastructure in way TOO MANY states.

[erpowers]

3. Great Job

Yes, Mr. Emanuel did a great job and he deserves our thanks.

[girlphoenix]

6. When do we hear about the amazing GOTV?

I want to hear about the ground game from the democratic side. To get these results, the GOTV effort must have been tremendous. Why don't the Dems get credit for that???

[wisteria]

7. Oh, brother. Emanuel had A LOT of help. Please. n/t

[priller]

8. Yes Rahm worked hard, but Dean and the netroots deserve

the credit for the "wave", the sheer number of Dems who won. Remember, the big disagreement between Rahm and Dean was over strategy and allocation of money -- Dean wanted to build up the party in every state, to run candidates in every race; Rahm thought that was stupid and a waste of money, that they should concentrate on the 15 or so best chances and squeak by. The fact that we won 30 or so House races instead of 15 is due to the success of Dean's strategy and the enthusiasm of the netroots in supporting candidates everywhere, not just in the places we were likely to win.

Further, Rahm thought it was silly to think years down the road when we should throw everything into winning now. Not only did Dean's strategy work now, he's laying the foundation for Dem victories all over the country, for years to come.

Yesterday was a triumph of the 50-state strategy. No doubt Rahm will claim all the credit, and the media will agree because he's "centrist" and not that crazy yelling guy Howard Dean, but Dean is the real victor here.

[Pithy Cherub]

11. $3 million on Duckworth and she lost. Rahm's pick.

Filson in California 11 - he lost, Rahm's primary pick. The grassroots/netroots brought it home to the Dems McNierney.
Sestak in PA, grassroots/netroots 50 state strategy.

You continue to blow smoke that Rahm is all that - he's not. He did what he was supposed to do and made enemies of the Congressional Black Caucus along the way amongst others.

Dean just gave the netroots/blogosphere some credit too in his press conference.

on edit: she was from his home state- he has no clout in his own state!

There's more, but I am too happy to argue today. But thanks for the additional :rofl:

[LoZoccolo]

15. How much did the netroots/blogosphere blow on Lamont?

Hmmmmmmmm?

Don't cherry-pick the data.

Or assume that Cegalis would have been easier; you have no indication of that (unless you're going to show us?).

[Pithy Cherub]

16. Amused!

Rahm had a vanity pick in Duckworth but every other Fightin' Dem Iraq War Veteran had grassroots/netroots won without the $3million buck infusion. The netroots/grassroots is on the rise, gaining strength! Be happy for us - we got it done. New Hampshire - total netroots/grassroots.

Lamont changed the conversation for all Dems back to what mattered Iraq. He was magnificent! DC is a different place - you might want to look at MyDD and see the totality of the netroots/grassroots people powered movement. ;)

[AtomicKitten]

12. I think both Emanuel and Dean delivered - together.

Dean had the vision to boldly declare a 50-state strategy and to work to build that. Emanuel recruited the candidates to win state-by-state. Together they took back Congress. To only acknowledge one and not the other is simply not true to the reality of this victory and IMO purposely short-sighted.

Some here at DU are not happy with the caliber of candidates Emanuel recruited, hurling the usual epithets of DINO and worse, but with very few exceptions Emanuel was spot-on. It is interesting to note that those Dems that went along with some particularly egregious bills (Stabenow, etc.) kept their seats. But now that a Democratic Congress sets the agenda, they will not entertain Junior's assault on Democracy. So, perhaps in the final analysis, although maintaining the "D" at the cost of compromise isn't the best scenario, it is most certainly a better scenario.

I look forward to the Democratic Congress doing the people's business.

And, again, kudos to both Emanuel and Dean for a job well done.

[Pithy Cherub]

20. The netroots/grassroots did better candidate selection.

Rahm deserves some credit in proportion to his efforts. But to make it equal overstates his contribution and the infrastructure investments by Dean and the political savvy of the powerful netroots/grassroots.

[The Magistrate]

22. That Is It In A Nutshell, Ms. Kitten

Both men made an excellent job, each of his own task, and together, they succeeded in capitalizing on an opportunity presented by the enemy's miscalculations. We should not imagine for an instant this was fore-ordained, and could not have been lost.

[Fabio]

18. He is still a jerk.

[SaveElmer]

26. Maybe...but he is our jerk...and

I would much rather have him on our side than the other!!!

[Sensitivity]

19. Respect and gratitude!

[Trajan]

24. Methinks this is needlessly divisive ...

Rahm AND the Doctor, AND Schumer ; ALL delivered ...

And : The American VOTER delivered ....

Last but not least : DUers delivered .... in spades ....

How bout some unity ? ....

[GetTheRightVote]

25. Grassroots key to wins, one Dem speaks to another then another etc

It is the shear number of Dems speaking to each other, one progressive and another moderate but both desire a repub lost this election. They share the same concerns at least for a moment in time. Dean was key to it all, kept the Dems talking and communicating with each other, nothing beats it not even Emanuel though he did assist in the wave as well but it is the everyday Dem who voted them into office hating what the Repubs were doing to our nation. Dean is a hero today for sure but so are all the other Dems who brought us this day. Thru my tears I thank them all!

:kick:

[Totally Committed]

27. When you're wrong, I tell you, but when you're right, you're right!

I agree 1000% that Rham did his job, and delivered on his responsibility to this Party. Schumer did a pretty good job of that, himself. To the victors belong the spoils.

And, none of it would have happened without the Howard Dean's visionary 50-State Plan.

So, wyldwolf, credit is given where it is due. We now have exactly the Party they were entrusted to deliver us.

TC