Mediaboss Marketing

The Democratic Party has some problems.

It keeps losing elections, some of which have been extremely winnable, and its message has fallen flat with voters not just in the South, but in the Midwest as well. The party has suffered four straight special election losses since Donald Trump was elected president.

Democratic leadership is scrambling now for solutions.

To that end, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced this week the creation of an office whose head has been tasked with the singular objective of training Democratic candidates on how to connect with voters in the Midwest. It has come to this.

The DCCC's office of Heartland Engagement, as it's being called, will be chaired by Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., who represents the Quad Cities area and is currently the only Midwesterner with a role in House Democratic leadership.

"Cheri is a key member of our leadership team, and her efforts to help recruit and mentor candidates and carry our economic message is critical to our strategy this cycle," DCCC chairman Rep. Ben Ray Lujn, D-N.M., said this week.

The Democratic Party took severe beatings in both the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections. In both years, their losses were particularly staggering in the Midwest. In 2016, presidential nominee Hillary Clinton barely carried Minnesota and won her home state of Illinois and that was it in the entire Midwest against her historically unpopular competitor.

With the creation of its new office of Heartland Engagement, Democrats hope to turn all this around.

The position is new and Bustos is the first person to chair it, her office confirmed to the Washington Examiner. The Illinois congresswoman comes to the leadership position fresh, and she is free from the expectations normally associated with political ascendancies.

However, that's not to say her mission is an easy one. Indeed, to sum it up, Bustos has been given the enormous task of teaching Democrats on how to connect with small-town and rural areas, and all of this in the hopes that they can recapture the House in 2018.

That's no small order, hoping a single Illinois congresswoman can train her colleagues to speak clearly and effectively to areas where their message has been rejected for the better part of a decade.

As daunting as this sounds, she said this week that she is excited by the opportunity.

"The heartland is critical to winning back the majority, and we must do a better job listening to the hardworking families from small towns and rural communities if we hope to earn their support," Bustos said in a statement.

"As Democrats, we believe in making sure everyone has a chance to find a good-paying job, raise a family and live the American dreamregardless of where they call home. As the Chair of Heartland Engagement, I'm looking forward to helping lead our efforts to build a lasting partnership with the hardworking men and women of America's heartland," she added.

The creation of the office of Heartland Engagement, and the announcement that Bustos would head it, marks another telling moment of introspection from a party that has not enjoyed many electoral successes outside of Barack Obama's successful White House bids.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., himself said this weekend that one of his party's biggest problems is that they have no coherent or winning message.

"I think if we come up with this strong, bold economic package, it will it will change things around. That's what we were missing. People don't like [President Donald Trump]; he's at 40 percent. But they say what the heck do the Democrats stand for?" the New York senator asked in an interview this weekend.

"[W]e better stand for something and it can't be baby steps," he added.

They may be somewhat late to realizing their weaknesses as a party, but hey: Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.

Go here to see the original:
Democrats realize they have a problem: Part 2 - Washington Examiner

For San Francisco Rep. Nancy Pelosi, theres nothing new about being targeted by Republicans. After 30 years in Congress and 15 years as leader of the House Democrats, it comes with the territory.

But since a devastating June 20 loss for an open House seat in the Atlanta suburbs capped a 0-for-4 run in GOP-friendly special elections, the 77-year-old Pelosi has found herself taking fire from fellow Democrats who argue that the famously liberal minority leader is just too controversial and add, in whispers, too old to effectively remain the face of the party.

We cant keep losing races and keep the same leadership in place, said Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York, who hosted a meeting of about a dozen dissident Democrats in her office last week. You have a baseball team that keeps losing year after year. At some point the coach has to go, right?

Texas Rep. Filemon Vela was even more direct.

I think youd have to be an idiot to think we could win the House with Nancy Pelosi on top, Vela said in a Politico interview.

Pelosis answer has been simple. Shes not going anywhere, she said, so bring it on.

When it comes to personal ambition, having fun on TV have your fun, she said in an undisguised shot at her Democratic opponents at a news conference last week. I love the arena. I thrive on competition.

Theres little argument that with former President Barack Obama and defeated 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gone from the political landscape, Pelosi and the liberal city she represents has become the go-to bogeyman for Republican campaigns across the country.

In the race for the Georgia congressional seat, for example, voters could barely turn on their televisions or open their mailboxes without learning how 30-year-old Democrat Jon Ossoff, who was born in that district, was nothing more than a stalking horse for Pelosi and her San Francisco values.

One 30-second TV spot, for example, featured a huge Pelosi-Ossoff banner hanging from the Golden Gate Bridge and a hipster-looking guy enthusiastically saying, Ossoff and Pelosi. Thats a dream team!

Democratic losses in four House special elections have spurred some party chatter about replacing Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Democratic losses in four House special elections have spurred some...

And then there was the mailer that showed a sinister-looking Pelosi pulling off a rubber Ossoff mask. Behind Jon Ossoff is Nancy Pelosi ... Only YOUR vote can STOP them, the ad read.

If voters in that Georgia district, once represented by former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich, were more intent on voting against Pelosi than for Republican Karen Handel, the eventual winner, thats no problem for Republican leaders.

Pelosi continues to be a huge liability for Democratic candidates, Corry Bliss, executive director of the Republicans Congressional Leadership Fund, said in a memo released Tuesday. His group, which spent more than $6 million on the Georgia attack ads, will spend millions of dollars highlighting Nancy Pelosis toxic agenda and reminding voters across the country that Democratic candidates are nothing more than rubber stamps for her out-of-touch, liberal policies.

Pelosis backers were quick to dismiss Bliss plan, arguing that four special election wins in deep-red districts in strong Republican states like Georgia, Montana, Kansas and South Carolina dont make a trend.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks to reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks to reporters...

There is no evidence to suggest this strategy works, said Jorge Aguilar, a spokesman on Pelosis political team. Desperation is not a strategy.

But in at least those four special elections, tying Democrats to Pelosi worked.

Thats an old trick. (Former Assembly Speaker) Willie Brown was used in exactly the same way by California Republicans, said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a professor of public policy communication at the University of Southern California. Parties will alway find someone to be a target. For Democrats now, its Donald Trump. Like it or not, its politics.

But for House Democrats, those results are hard to ignore, especially when theyre accompanied by a taunting tweet from Trump saying: I certainly hope the Democrats do not force Nancy P out. That would be very bad for the Republican Party. And things like an electronic card from the California Republican Party thanking Pelosi for being such a wonderful contributor to Republican victories!

The issue I think strategically is that Trump energizes their (Republican) base, and Leader Pelosi energizes their base, Rep. Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat who unsuccessfully challenged Pelosi for the House leadership last November, told The Associated Press.

That focus on Pelosi effectively nationalizes the local congressional races and takes the focus off the hometown candidates battling on issues that directly affect voters in those districts.

Still, its a hard call for Democrats to talk about ousting a longtime party leader because Republicans are saying bad things about her, especially when whoever leads the Democrats instantly becomes a GOP target.

Republicans always want to choose our leaders. And usually they go after the most effective leaders, Pelosi said at last weeks news conference. But I dont think that members of a party should pick up the line of the Republicans.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 27, 2017. (Eric Thayer/The New York Times)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Capitol Hill in...

With congressional primaries across the nation beginning in less than a year and fewer than 18 months before the November 2018 midterms, the last thing Democrats need is internecine battle that could shatter the party just when it most needs unity to win the 24 GOP seats needed to take control of Congress, said Bruce Cain, a professor of political science at Stanford University.

The real problem for the Democrats is who is going to moderate between the (Vermont Sen. Bernie) Sanders and the Clinton factions, he said. Replacing Pelosi with a more centrist leader would mean the cleavage between the two groups is only going to grow larger.

Besides Pelosis unparalleled ability to raise the type of campaign cash Democrats will desperately need in next years congressional contests, the San Francisco congresswoman also has an ability to serve as a unifying force for Democrats that no one else can match, Cain added.

Thats where Nancys unique contribution is, he said. As the daughter of a former Baltimore mayor who also served in Congress, Pelosi was raised to play the inside game. But at the same time shes one of the most liberal and progressive Democrats ... someone able to deal with both the centrists and pragmatists, and the idealists and the progressives.

That could be one of the reasons that, despite the grumbling, no strong candidate has talked seriously about challenging her. The most likely contender, 55-year-old Rep. Joseph Crowley of New York City, is No. 4 in the party hierarchy and turned down calls to take on Pelosi last November.

Since party rules make it nearly impossible to challenge a Democratic leader before the end of the two-year congressional term, even those most eager for change are resigned to standing behind Pelosi through the 2018 elections. Even Rice, the New York congresswoman, now says that all she wants to do is start a conversation about new leadership.

But after the election, all bets are off.

If we take the House back in 2018, then I think shed stay leader, Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, told the Associated Press. If we dont, then I think its incumbent upon her and all of us to reassess who our leadership should be.

John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermth

Read the original:
Nancy Pelosi rebuffs Democrats antsy to change - San Francisco Chronicle

RICHMOND Former congressman Tom Perriello, who drew national attention in his bid for the Democratic nomination for Virginia governor but came up short at the polls, will lead a new political action committee aimed at ending the GOPs longtime majority in the commonwealths House of Delegates.

The Win Virginia group has already raised $260,000 from four wealthy donors, three of them longtime Democratic supporters from Fairfax County. The fourth is from California.

Del. David Toscano (D-Charlottesville), the House minority leader, said the donors, including financier Edward Hart Rice and tech executive Shashikant Gupta, were motivated after the election of President Trump to find a way to shore up Democrats at the state and local level.

It was the Trump election that led them to say, We have to up our game a bit, Toscano said. And the first chance to really do that is in the Virginia House races.

The group reached out to Perriello to lead the effort after his surprise run for the nomination this spring. He had attracted big money from outside Virginia but lost to Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, who spent years lining up support within the state.

Northam will take on former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie in the November election.

[Northam, Gillespie win nominations for Virginia governors race]

Running with the endorsement of two national progressive icons, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Perriello made the Virginia race a referendum on the policies and style of Trump and Republicans in Washington. His strategy was to attract young people and voters in rural areas who dont usually participate in primary elections during a year outside of a presidential election.

Theres some irony in his new role: Perriello cast his campaign as a call for a new direction for the states Democratic Party, but now hes working with the party machinery to try to take back the statehouse.

Its a unique opportunity because we have such dynamic candidates up and down the ticket and such an enthusiasm gap in our favor, Perriello said in an interview. We think this is the year to break some of the normal rules of the political landscape in Virginia.

The organization will not only raise money, he said, but also will help candidates find ways to use technology to campaign more effectively. Perriello cited his own campaigns use of Facebook Live events to reach thousands of voters at little cost.

Republicans enjoy a commanding majority in the 100-seat House of Delegates, with 66 seats to Democrats 34. All 100 seats are on the ballot this fall. Just a few months ago, Democrats were talking of picking up a handful of seats, at best.

But with Trumps approval ratings at historic lows only 36percent of Virginians approved of his performance in a poll last month by The Washington Post and the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University the party is feeling energized. It has fielded an unusually large slate of candidates, challenging 47 Republican incumbents.

Democrats also boast what may be a historic number of female candidates 42 for the House of Delegates, in which women held only 17 seats in the most recent legislative session.

[Women running: Number of female candidates for Va. House has jumped]

Democrats have done well in Virginias statewide races in recent years the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and both U.S. senators are Democrats.

Virginia also was the only Southern state to go for Hillary Clinton last fall, as changing demographics especially in vote-rich Northern Virginia paint the battleground state increasingly blue.

But Democrats lost control of the House of Delegates years ago, and redistricting since then has helped Republicans increase their edge. Republicans also control the state Senate, 21 seats to 19. Those seats are not up for election this year.

Calling the election an uphill battle against a legislative map rigged by Republicans, Perriello said the party has a chance to pull off an upset.

Toscano credited that momentum to the election of Trump: Ironically, it has created an energy within the Democratic electorate that we think is going to be good for us this fall.

Clinton won 17 House of Delegates districts that are represented by Republicans. Those districts now form the heart of Democrats plan to retake the House.

Such a big swing in the balance of power is a long shot. But so was Trumps victory in November.

Once the Virginia primary ended, the big question was whether Perriello and the progressives who came out for him with such fervor would stick around for Northam and the rest of the party.

Perriellos quick moves to endorse Northam and to lead Win Virginia, and the fact that one of the PACs initial donors was a Perriello supporter during the primary, suggests that at least some of them will.

Rice gave $100,000 to the PAC; Gupta gave $60,000; and government contracting executive Dario O. Marquez Jr., also from Fairfax, gave $50,000. Marquez supported Perriello in the primary.

The fourth, San Francisco venture capitalist and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, gave $50,000.

Gupta said the group of donors had approached both Northam and Perriello during the primary and told them about their plans to start a PAC, hoping that whoever failed to get the nomination would agree to join them. After Northam won, they officially asked Perriello and he agreed quickly, Gupta said.

Northam issued a statement of support Wednesday night, saying Perriello had "helped make the Democratic party stronger" with his candidacy and that his leadership would help with a "historic opportunity" to win a majority in the House of Delegates.

Continued here:
Perriello, wealthy donors team up to help Democrats chase seats in Va. House - Washington Post

President Donald Trump on Wednesday highlighted what he called the dangers posed by illegal immigrants ahead of an important House vote on two bills aimed at cracking down on those who commit crimes and cities that refuse to help deport them.

Appearing with families that were victimized by immigrants, Trump called on lawmakers to "honor grieving American families" by sending the "lifesaving measures" to his desk quickly. The House action marks the first major legislative test of tougher immigration laws under Trump, who has tried to impose sweeping executive orders to limit immigration and ramp up enforcement.

"You lost the people that you love because our government refused to enforce our nation's immigration laws," Trump told the families in the Cabinet Room. "For years, the pundits, journalists, politicians in Washington refused to hear your voices but on Election Day 2016 your voices were heard all across the entire world. No one died in vain I can tell you that."

The president's focus on immigration, a day after Republican leaders in the Senate postponed efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, illustrated the White House's eagerness to get back onto comfortable footing. Trump has consistently employed strong rhetoric to paint immigrants - both those in the country illegally and some who arrive through legal channels - as potentially dangerous.

"The president's involvement has brought the pace of this up, and we're doing it this week because he wants it to happen," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, a fierce advocate for strict immigration laws who co-sponsored the bills set to be passed Thursday. "The members are ready for it, too."

The House votes - coming six months into Trump's presidency - are also highlighting the limits of congressional action and the frustrations of conservatives who expected much more to have been done already.

Trump's executive actions have had limited success. His travel ban on refugees and immigrants from several majority-Muslim countries was held up in federal court until the Supreme Court ruled this week that some of the provisions could be enacted while the Justices prepare for a hearing on the ban in the fall.

Arrests of undocumented immigrants have spiked under Trump compared to the final couple of years under his predecessor, President Barack Obama, who had sought to shield more immigrants from deportations. Illegal border crossings have fallen significantly since Trump took office, which immigrant rights advocates have said could be an effect of Trump's harsh rhetoric about illegal immigrants.

But on the legislative front, there has been little activity. Trump had suggested in February that he would be open to a comprehensive immigration reform bill that eluded presidents George W. Bush and Obama, but gaining buy-in from Democrats, and even some moderate Republicans, is seen as unlikely unless Trump is willing to compromise by allowing many unauthorized immigrants to gain legal status.

The House bills, by contrast, aim to enact tougher enforcement policies. One bill known as "Kate's Law" is named after Kate Steinle, the 32-year-old woman who was shot and killed in 2015 by an illegal immigrant who had been deported five times. The bill enhances penalties for convicted and deported criminals who reenter the United States illegally.

The other bill, called the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, would bar some federal grants from so-called "sanctuary cities" that do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement authorities and allow victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants to sue those cities.

"This is about protecting law-abiding citizens and getting criminals off of our streets, plain and simple," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Tuesday.

But several House conservatives - already frustrated that Trump has not acted more quickly to undo Obama's executive immigration actions - lamented it took so long into Trump's presidency to get any immigration bills onto the House floor. And they quietly questioned why a more far-reaching immigration bill passed by the House Judiciary Committee in March was not being voted on.

Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., who beat the sitting House majority leader in a 2014 GOP primary after campaigning on immigration, said leaders were more interested in "a couple of the name-brand messaging pieces" than pushing for a more thorough bill.

"I won on those issues. Trump won on those issues," Brat said. "Hello - only in D.C. can you not hear outside of the bubble."

Democrats, meanwhile, cast the bills as a mean-spirited attempt to rally Republicans around legislation that would mainly harm undocumented but otherwise law-abiding immigrants at a time when other major parts of the GOP agenda are foundering.

"They're going to have a hard time figuring out the budget. They're going to have a hard time figuring out their tax cuts. They're going to have a hard time figuring out health care. The one thing they don't have a hard time figuring out is being mean and nasty to immigrants," said Rep. Luis V. Gutirrez, D-Ill.

The House bills have little chance of success in the Senate, where Republicans have only 52 seats and need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. A version of Kate's Law introduced last year by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, failed on a 55-42 vote.

Still, the White House made the legislation a centerpiece of its message on Wednesday. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., a hard-liner who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, joined Trump in the immigration meeting.

At the daily White House press briefing, Thomas Homan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and John Huber, the lead federal law enforcement official in Utah, took the lectern to update reporters on the administration's efforts to arrest and deport immigrants.

Kate's Law, Huber said, would send a message that apprehending and punishing immigrants who repeatedly return to the country after being deported is a priority.

"It also sends a message to the judicial branch, to the judges that the more that these people commit crimes in their communities, the more often they come back, the more serious the penalties will be," Huber said.

Homan added that the other bill, focusing on sanctuary cities, would ban any municipal restrictions on cooperating with federal immigration agents or any restrictions on allowing law enforcement officers to inquire about a person's immigration status.

"If you enter this country illegally and violate the laws of this nation, you should not be comfortable," Homan said.

Some Democrat-controlled state legislatures and city governments, including in California, have vigorously opposed Trump's efforts to impose penalties on sanctuary cities. Some have passed statutes forbidding the jurisdictions from using public funds to support some federal immigration enforcement efforts.

Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have denounced such efforts. But a federal judge in April temporarily blocked the administration's effort to withhold federal grants from such cities, ruling that only Congress had such authority over spending matters.

An official with the American Civil Liberties Union said the House bills are "riddled with constitutional violations that completely disregard the civil and human rights of immigrants."

The Washington Post's Jenna Johnson contributed to this report.

Read the rest here:
Trump immigration, sanctuary city policies face first big legislative test - Chicago Tribune

Wed., June 28, 2017, 4:32 p.m.

Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador, the new chair of a House subcommittee on immigration, told Idaho reporters this afternoon that he hopes to fix the broken immigration system between now and the end of his current two-year term, after which hes running for governor rather than seeking re-election. I dont think its limited time I actually think its the perfect time, Labrador said. This is what I came to Congress to work on, is to modernize and fix the broken immigration system. This is a golden opportunity for me to do this while Im also running for governor. I can walk and chew gum, I think Ive shown that, at the same time.

Labrador said, You have the first term of a new president, you have the House and the Senate, and we can make the major reforms to the immigration system that we need to do, we can bring the immigration system into the 21st Century have a system that puts Americans first and looks at the needs of the United States, not the needs of people that are here illegally. So Im excited about this, because its something Ive been working on, Im passionate about, and Im the person in the House who is the expert in this area.

Labrador, an immigration attorney, currently is sponsoring two bills, an immigration enforcement crackdown bill dubbed the Davis-Oliver Act, and a bill to limit refugee resettlement that cleared the House Judiciary Committee today. He said taken together, the two measures are major reforms to our current immigration system, and said, I think you guys have heard me talk about, for the last eight years, about how we need to do immigration reform in a step-by-step approach, we need to modernize the immigration system, make sure local law enforcement can work with the system, and make sure we vet refugees and other immigrants coming to the United States carefully. All of those things are being done by these two bills.

Asked whether that was the extent of his proposed reforms to immigration, Labrador said no. We have right now five bills, he said, that deal with interior enforcement. We are then going to move on to working on the guest worker program, and especially the H2A (visa) that deals with our farmers. That could include expanding that program, which currently doesnt cover year-round workers, to allow foreign dairy workers to fall under it and work in the United States for up to three years, if they return to their home country for a month a year, he said. Were also going to deal with visa entry, e-verify. We have a pretty big, broad agenda of all the things were going to do to modernize this immigration system.

He said his proposed expansion of the H2A visa program, which still is in draft form, likely wouldnt allow dairy workers who are already in the country illegally to apply. The way it should always be done, if you entered illegally, you should go back to your home country or at least leave the country in order to apply, he said.

Labrador said another reason he thinks this is the right time for immigration reform is that you get past this cycle, this next 18 months or so, then you get into the silly season, where youre talking about re-election of a president and things like that. So I think now is the time.

Excerpt from:
Labrador says he can both reform nation's immigration system and run for governor: 'I can walk and chew gum' - The Spokesman-Review (blog)