Mediaboss Marketing

DNC Chair Tom Perez. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In May 2017, the Democratic National Committee (DNC)postedits worst fundraising month since 2003, and April 2017 was its worst since 2009. Its abysmal fundraising turnout has continued into June, during which it only raised$5.5 millionand added $200,000 to the organizations debt of $3.3 million. The DNC has $7.5 million in cash on hand. For comparison, the Republican National Committee (RNC) has over $44 million and no debt. The DNCs lack of cash doesnt bode well forDemocratshoping to recoup their losses in 2018.

While the DNC has repelled progressives, voters, and even the wealthy donors that new DNC Chair Tom Perez was instilled to appease, theDemocraticCongressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is abandoning progressivesto shift the party further to the right. The DCCC receivedcriticismfor pouring funds and resources into Georgia special election congressional candidate Jon Ossoff while ignoring Bernie Sanders-backed candidates in special elections in Montana and Kansas. Ossoffs campaign received over $23 million in campaign funds, making it the most expensive congressional election in history. His election was supposed to prove that fiscally conservative neo-liberals running in wealthy suburbs was the key toDemocrats recovery. Even though Ossoff came up short, the DCCC is doubling down on running Republican-lite candidates.

IBTimesreportedon July 20, To the scorn of progressives,Democratstrying to win back the U.S. House next year are relying on the conservative wing of the party. TheDemocraticCongressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the Houses primary campaign group, is coordinating with the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 18 moderateDemocratsthat has shriveled in numbers and power in recent years, BloombergreportedMonday. The Blue Dog Coalition and the DCCC have widely favored courting Wall Street donors and appeasing them by propping up candidates who dont engage in rhetoric perceived as anti-Wall Street. By relying on moderate candidates, the DCCC is doubling down the faction thatran the party into the ground during theObamaadministration.

These people are the absolute last ones theDemocratsneed. Not only have the tectonic plates of politics fundamentally shifted from 2008, when the Blue Dogs peaked, the caucus ideology is bad and political poison, wrote Ryan Cooper in an op-ed for The Week. It may still be possible to win a race or two with a Blue Dog candidate. But their knee-jerk fiscal conservatism during a huge recession was politically catastrophic for the party as a whole (in addition to being stunningly economically illiterate).

The enthusiasm and energy within theDemocratic Partyis with the progressive wing, which champions policies like Medicare for All. TheDemocraticestablishmentresists progressives, and their failure to harness their energy ultimately benefits Trump and the Republican Party. Democratshave provided a pathetic opposition to Trumpand Republicans so far, and its likely these weaknesses will translate into losses come election season.

Steven ThrasherexplainedhowDemocratshave built the foundation for this weak opposition in a recent op-ed in The Guardian,TheDNCsinability to be an effective opposition party has been almost a decade in the making, exacerbated by their loss of over900 legislative seats since Obama took office in 2009; Obamas failure toprosecute Wall Street bankersafter they stolenearly half the black wealthin the country; the partys failure to develop an economic vision that waslittle more than Republican Lite(or, as Obamaput it, 1980s moderate Republicanism); and,unfairly helpingHillaryClintonduring the 2016 primaries, even though Bernie Sandersconsistently polled betterthan Clinton and the political winds (fanned by Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter) haveclearly moved onfrom neoliberal Clintonomics. Rather than harness progressives enthusiasm, which has gained strength withBernie Sanderspollingas the most popular politician in the country, Democratsto their detrimentare trying to revive past ideologies and strategies.

Go here to see the original:
Fundraising Trouble for DNC, DCCC Ignores Progressives for Wall ... - Observer