Spring Break
No Time to Rebuild
Midterm elections are sooner than you think
Bryan Cockrell '08
Issue date: 10/1/06 Section: US News
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At a dinner to celebrate Bill Clinton's election to the presidency in 1992, Rahm Emanuel, Clinton's campaign finance director, stood up, called out a list of Clinton's political enemies, and after each name, yelled "Dead!" while jamming a steak knife into the table. As one attendee remarked, "It was like something out of The Godfather." Emanuel, now a Democratic congressman from Illinois and a leader in the Democrats' bid to retake the House of Representatives in 2006, exudes a similar, though perhaps less violent, zeal in rounding up strong candidates to compete for House seats. Yet recently, Emanuel, the Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), a body which is only responsible for the House elections, has been embroiled in a quarrel with Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Howard Dean over how to achieve this most pressing Democratic endeavor: regaining a majority in both houses of Congress by winning at least 15 House seats and 6 Senate seats currently occupied by Republicans.
Emanuel seems to envision Democratic candidates who lean more to the center than Dean might like and wants to primarily devote resources to certain races (ones where Democratic candidates have considerable potential to win), while Dean prefers injecting money and workers into all 50 states.
Can the party afford this schism? Is the party veering more to the left - where Dean's political views lie - especially in light of Ned Lamont's win in Connecticut?
Although these are fair questions, they are largely irrelevant for the time-being. The party should not go so far as talking about a divide for fear of losing a golden opportunity to recapture majority control of the House and Senate. November is just around the corner, and despite some politicos who dismiss Emanuel as too much of a firebrand, he has an appropriate attitude and a shrewd strategy for achieving a much-needed midterm victory.
Emanuel's emphasis on "new blood" in the House is refreshing. He continually asserts that Democrats must show they are "candidates of change" in November to counter the "culture of cronyism" that Congressional Republicans have bred over the last decade. Each week on the DCCC website, a new "GOP Crony" is exposed.
Emanuel seems to envision Democratic candidates who lean more to the center than Dean might like and wants to primarily devote resources to certain races (ones where Democratic candidates have considerable potential to win), while Dean prefers injecting money and workers into all 50 states.
Can the party afford this schism? Is the party veering more to the left - where Dean's political views lie - especially in light of Ned Lamont's win in Connecticut?
Although these are fair questions, they are largely irrelevant for the time-being. The party should not go so far as talking about a divide for fear of losing a golden opportunity to recapture majority control of the House and Senate. November is just around the corner, and despite some politicos who dismiss Emanuel as too much of a firebrand, he has an appropriate attitude and a shrewd strategy for achieving a much-needed midterm victory.
Emanuel's emphasis on "new blood" in the House is refreshing. He continually asserts that Democrats must show they are "candidates of change" in November to counter the "culture of cronyism" that Congressional Republicans have bred over the last decade. Each week on the DCCC website, a new "GOP Crony" is exposed.
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