A good inexpensive first salvo: Letters to the local papers of these targeted congresscritters. Better than phone calls to congressional offices, especially if you’re not from their district. Plus, the people who read newspapers in those CDs are, by and large, not the same ones who read liberal blogs; however, they (especially those who read the Letters sections) are usually more likely to vote, so we get to reach a fresh audience.

Any progressive incumbents who lose their primaries will run as independents.

Count me in for time and money.

Who is high on your list to challenge?

I’d put Pelosi at the top, personally. People in San Francisco are political about their sexualities and Nancy even letting the Stupak Amendment on the floor ought to be enough to put the likes of Cindy Sheehan (if she’s running?) within reach of the plurality. The best part is you don’t even need to mess with a primary — Cindy ran on the Green ticket last time (receiving 12% or 17% of the vote — enough that the Democrat attention whore blog Daily Kos presumed to call the non-blue kettle black) and presumably would be willing to do it again given sufficient support.

Unfortunately, I haven’t heard much coming out of Ms. Sheehan’s camp lately.

Some states have “sore loser” laws preventing just that. Pennsylvania is one of them, if memory serves.

In such districts, if two reliable candidates can be found, might be better to prepare a sleeper candidate that actively runs if and only if the primary fails to produce results. Defense in depth…

True, Schakowski won’t, but if there’s no public option, I guarantee more than 3 won’t vote for it (the margin in the House.) It doesn’t matter whether it’s ping-pong, pre-conference, etc., the House will get to exert its will regardless, they’ll just call that process by a different name.

“Jan Schakowsky’s gonna buck the White House.”

Perhaps she meant that in a different way, although the mental picture of her and Rahm is way too much for my simple little mind to assimilate…

I admire your loyalty to Cindy but you need to be a little more realistic. Cindy is NOT going to beat Nancy. No one is going to beat Nancy as long as she runs. She is not vulnerable – has all the connections and money she needs. If she were even remotely threatened millions would be available. You can’t beat the SF machine no matter what.

unfortunately, with our campaign finance system as broken as it is, I’m not sure this is a realistic option. ’tis not a multi-party democracy anymore.

There is plenty of evidence that well placed primary challenges concentrate the minds of time-serving legislators. Note Jane Harmons skepticism about the Afghanistan war while facing a challenge from Marcy Winograd. Come on, until challenged, Harmon never met an imperial initiative she did not love.

The time to challenge Pelosi was in 2006 — to get her more strongly on record against Iraq before she became Speaker. Not worth the energy now, though someone will do it.

Pick the right ones, just a few, and make their lives hell. Even if they pull it out, they will learn something.

i’m from a very red state (idaho) and my congresscritter walt minnick prides himself on leaving little blue dog turds all over the place. he calls himself an “independent democrat”.

if this bill has a smidgen of promise with regard to making health insurance less expensive and more accessible, there are going to be a lot of angry voters questioning his stance against the public option.

a progressive challenger will certainly beat him in the primary. that person may eventually lose to a republican, but it’s better than the current outcome where there’s no distinction between the two – at least, theoretically, the progressive will a chance, and voters like me will have a choice.

Come on, until challenged, Harmon never met an imperial initiative she did not love.

I’ve wondered about that. Your explanation clears it up for me.

I’m not opposed to someone challenging Nancy as long as no one plans on them winning. IMO, Nancy is about as safe as anyone could be.

One thing we have working in our favor is the conventional wisdom that Democrats can rarely if ever be successfully primaried from the left. We’d only have to prove that wrong a few times to make a lot of people start shitting their pants.

And ditto to ShotoJamf

she’s also frankly not been that bad on this issue, quite frankly. I’d take her behavior in the House on healthcare over Leader Reid’s “leadership” in the Senate any day of the week. She hasn’t been perfect – not even close to it… but nor has she sold out. yet.

If she got a really serious challenge, do you suppose her face would actually move? I guess that’s how you’d know if she felt threatened, right?

damn right. Without Nancy Pelosi the public option would have been dead this summer the first time a tinfoil hatter stood up at a town hall.

“I’d take her behavior in the House on healthcare over Leader Reid’s “leadership” in the Senate any day of the week.”

I concur.

Reid was engaging in “leadership?” Who knew?

One thing we have working in our favor is the conventional wisdom that Democrats can rarely if ever be successfully primaried from the left. We’d only have to prove that wrong a few times to make a lot of people start shitting their pants.

word!!! i’d love to see blanche lincoln run for Depends to Walmart.

That’s what they said to Harvey Milk. ‘Course then the shot him when he refused to listen…

It sure worked for Joe in Connecticut in 2006.

Looks like the signatures from all of those in the progressive caucus “vowing” to defeat any bill without a “strong public option” was really bullshit. Jane, I hope you at least got a kiss out of this act of fornication!

Let’s not forget that if it wasn’t for Nancy Pelosi, George W Bush would have succeeded in privatizing Social Security and it would have gone down the AIG/bankster rathole the past year.

There’s lots I have to argue with her about, but she is still the only Democratic leader standing between Kent Conrad and his Cat Food Commission. She’s doing us lots of good, despite her inexcusable table-setting in 2007.

This, “health care reform” is the precise issue to unite TeaBaggers and Progressives. There is much agreement on this issue.

Ewww. Bad mental image, dude!

I thought the teabaggers hated the idea of gov’t run health care….. especially for non-whites.

I bet Jane’s going to have a pretty interesting list of targets; after the bill is completely determined, of course.

I’m reading this post as a generic warning/shot across the bow similar to the “I DARE Blanche Lincoln” thing.

Not likely when the filing date for all candidates is the same, meaning all candidates appear on the ballot unless someone withdraws by a certain date. Once the ballots go to the printer that’s that and they go to the printer as late as possible. A “sleeper” would have to take resources away from the other candidate. The less name recognition the more resources required.

AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen Hamsher and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:

NOW you’re talkin’ Sister Jane!!! Nationally orgainized pressure on “progressives” in safe seats as well as huntin’ down the “blue dogs” like Blanche Lincoln and One Hung Harry Reid…it doesn’t matter if the Democrats lose a few of these mangy curs as long as what is left is a lean, mean and PROGRESSIVE majority. I worry about ObamaRahma’s game of reducin’ the Democrats’ majorities to triangulate with newly invigorated fascists but if what remains of the Democrats in both houses is significantly more progressive and with new leadership at least in the Senate, the White House will have no where to go because the lunatic, racist Republican Party is NOT gunna “compromise” with a Black president even if he has the Likudnick Rahm Emmanuel as his strategist.

But I don’t think that this healthcare thing is over yet…threaten primaries on ALL progressives right now and start the whip in the House immediately. Organized progressives can be the hammer that drives the wedge of healthcare between some of these professional citizens and their corporate subsidies and it won’t go away as a winning issue in November of 2010 even if real healthcare doesn’t pass this Congress.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you that the multi-millions that the high priced DC hookers at NARAL and NOW have stashed away would go a long way in the next few weeks toward puttin a real effective squeeze on some very powerful phonies like Nancy Pelosi…please don’t let these middle aged sorority sisters take away my daughters’ and my grand daughters’ futures.

KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, THIS FIGHT IS NOT OVER UNTIL WE SAY IT IS!!

…although the mental picture of her and Rahm is way too much for my simple little mind to assimilate.

Nor should you have to.

take two aspirin and call me in the morning….

A lean, mean progressive majority is gonna take more than one or two election cycles. We may end up with a Dem majority next year, if we bust our ass, but I don’t think it’ll be a progressive majority. I’m lookin’ at the “long haul” bein’ the next 5-6 years. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will a progressive majority. Pick off as many as we can each cycle until we’re in the catbird seat.

emptywheel is upstairs!
Why We Can’t Fix Wall Street

We all are pretty much aware that if the progressive block in congress had the stomach, or the will, to fight hard, we would be looking at much better HCR bills. The progressives always cave, even when they are holding a strong hand worth playing. We need to examine the voting records of progressives in both houses and the history of their involvement in the production of lobbyist based legislation. Let us begin a concerted effort to understand how the progressives operate in congress, who their main donors are and how this affects their votes. Then we can begin to fashion a strategy to strengthen the backbone of the progressive block and to weed out the pretenders. The Democratic establishment is not composed entirely of moderate and conservative Democrats. We need to cut the cord between progressives and the Democratic establishment before we can expect to start making a difference in the direction of the country.

Weiner, Grayson, Schakowsky, Griljava, Pelosi…

They all voted for stupak, they should all be targets. They’re the so called “leaders” of the progressive movement and every single one of them didn’t put their money where their mouth was.

Damn right kick em out. You can’t seriously build and expand on your message until those who we send to fight for it actually fight for it.

Even if we take losses.

The critters you mentioned all voted AGAINST stupak. Here’s the roll: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll884.xml

Thanks, that was a funny list as it stood . . . . hard to believe any of them were FOR Stupak. ;-)

Jon Walker is upstairs!
Public Option Grand Compromise Becomes A Grand Big Nothing

So what, precisely, WON’T the House progressives lie down for? If the Senate passed a bill abolishing breathing, and Obama told them to circumvent conference, would they OK it?

Orange is going nuts over this…

Definitely go after Pelosi’s spot (everything we want or need is “off the table”), but not with Sheehan; she comes across as something of a crackpot, although her intentions are good & heart’s in the right place. Try Tom Ammiano or maybe even Gavin Newsom, both very popular with SF residents.

The inevitable knife in the back of the party’s base. Thanks, Honorable Senators. Thanks a lot.

Missing in this discussion is the fact that 2010 is a census year with re-districting soon to follow. If progressives are willing to take a long view, the next push should be to get as many democrats as possible elected to state legislatures. When it comes time to re district, it won’t matter how far to the left or right they stand they will be united in their effort create as many safe seats as possible and to sequester as many republicans as possible in safe seats as well.