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Blue Jersey Radio's excellent interview with Jeff Hauser is here.
When Accountability Now - a new national PAC - rolled out a couple of weeks ago, there were some dustups about what its purpose was. Were founders like Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos and Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake and the high-octane groups aligning with them really going flat out after moderate electeds of their own party? That's the kind of thing some of the headlines suggested.
But Accountability Now's new Executive Director Jeff Hauser, who ran Dennis Shulman's interesting but ultimately unsuccessful challenge to Rep. Scott Garrett last year, has it clear:
He talks about watching Democrats, the new power, being showered with lobbyist attention, and the risk that incumbents of his own party might begin to toe K Street's line or succumb to D.C. groupthink, just like Republicans did. The rationale makes sense. Incumbency is a cushy advantage; reelection almost a reflexive privilege. That leaves incumbents vulnerable to losing touch with their own districts, and caving to the demands of corporate interests. The organizational support AN hopes to provide - to challengers - is designed to making it more likely that if incumbents get out of touch they'll have a serious primary challenge. It's designed to get them looking over their shoulder and not too comfortably. Incumbents doing right by their districts, he says, have little to fear from AN.
How will AN zero in on their targets? Watershed votes on issues like economic recovery, the budget, healthcare, Employee Free Choice, energy/climate change and immigration reform will be watched. And polling will study the districts.
Hauser sat down for an on line chat with Blue Jersey yesterday. He calls the current system dysfunctional:
[snip] Unlike you or I, who are reviewed in our work constantly, members of Congress too often get a free pass.
AN wants to connect prospective candidates - viable candidates with fundraising mojo or the clear ability to attract resources - with national, people-powered movements, like MoveOn, SEIU, DailyKos, ColorOfChange.org, 21st Century Democrats and BlogPAC. And Democracy for America (DFA).
DFA Chair Jim Dean called in on Blue Jersey Radio last night, to underscore DFA's enthusiasm for the way vigorous primaries empower voters. Dean:
If this party embraces that, we're going to be around end prosper for a long time. But if it reverts to the power of incumbency we saw during the Clinton administration we're going to be out on our ass. |
| [Full disclosure: Jeff Gardner and I are co-Chairs of DFA-NJ]. DFA was a high-profile player in several campaigns mentioned in coverage of AN's birth, including Ned Lamont and Donna Edwards.
Both those candidates were raised up by a developing culture of progressive activism with its roots in Howard Dean's meteoric (in both rise and fall) presidential campaign, and in the surge year of 2006. And the movement is maturing, hitting its stride with Obama's victory over Clinton and McCain. And this looks to me like a show of strength; only a movement with real vigor would have the guts and power to clean house at home. We'll expect pushback on this from some quarters in the Democratic Party, but it's good policy for Democrats to keep a watch on their own.
And it may signify a new level of power for the netroots. FireDogLake's Jane Hamsher and Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald serve in advisory roles, and Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos will poll, with an analytical boost from 538.com's Nate Silver. Many of us here recognize the democratizing effect netroots promotes. It's great to see things emerge that build structure on that foundation. And then there's this:
Dreamcasting ... We'd love to start identifying the progressive leaders we'd like to see in Congress -- even if a district has a great incumbent, let's start identifying and nurturing the next generation of leaders now.
State blogs like Blue Jersey are coming on board to serve as lookouts to identify incumbents gone wrong. So, Blue Jersey, do some dreamcasting. Who would you love to see in Congress? And is there anyone there now who is no longer accountable? |
