No Love This Holiday Season for Pelosi and Her Democrats

December 27, 2011

Nancy Pelosi Struggles to Persuade Her Caucus to Donate to Make Her Speaker While Senior Dems Opt for Retirement and Occupiers Spurn Her Overtures

Nancy Pelosi had a tough December. Recent reports indicated that Pelosi is twisting arms to get even her own senior Democrat allies to donate to the campaign effort to help make her speaker again. If Pelosi can’t convince her own caucus that she can take back the majority, she certainly can’t convince anyone else.
Senior Democrats are effectively giving Nancy Pelosi a vote of no confidence in her leadership. Many are jumping ship, opting for retirement rather than joining Pelosi’s losing quest to retake the majority.
Desperate for some strategy to lead them back to the majority, Democrats have tried to curry favor with the radical Occupy movement—only to have their overtures spurned and protested.

BACKGROUND

Nancy Pelosi had a tough December. Recent reports indicated that Pelosi is twisting arms to get even her own senior Democrat allies to donate to the campaign effort to help make her speaker again. If Pelosi can’t convince her own caucus that she can take back the majority, she certainly can’t convince anyone else:

PELOSI “PUTS SCREWS TO FELLOW DEMOCRATS,” FEW OF WHOM HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE PELOSI SPEAKERSHIP FUND: “CASH SQUEEZE: PELOSI PUTS SCREWS TO FELLOW DEMOCRATS — ‘House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is squeezing her colleagues to turn over campaign funds to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, asking them to write checks immediately to prove they are part of ‘our team,’ ‘ John Bresnahan and I write for POLITICO. ‘In an unusually direct appeal for cash, accompanied by a detailed chart of who’s given and who hasn’t, the California congresswoman notes that lawmakers’ donations account for just 16 percent of the DCCC’s receipts this year, compared with a historical norm of about one-third. ‘In order to meet our goals to support enough candidates to win the House, we need to know how many members are on our team,’ Pelosi wrote in a letter delivered to all members of the Democratic Caucus Wednesday night. ‘The missing piece to our success is low member participation.” (Jonathan Allen, Scott Wong and Kevin Robillard, Politico’s “Huddle”, 12/16/2011)

SPURNED: FIVE OF PELOSI’S MOST SENIOR DEM LIEUTENANTS “HAVEN’T DONATED A DIME”: “But Democrats continue to have sore spots among the roster of well-funded veterans. Five Democrats who hold their party’s top ranking spot on legislative committees haven’t donated a dime: Howard Berman (Calif.) of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Bob Brady (Pa.) of the House Administration Committee, John Conyers (Mich.) of the Judiciary Committee, Bob Filner (Calif.) of the Veterans Affairs Committee and Collin Peterson (Minn.) of the Agriculture Committee.” (John Breshnahan and Jonathan Allen, “Pelosi Appeals for More DCCC Cash,” Politico, 12/15/2011)

85 DEMOCRATS HAVE GIVEN NOTHING TO DCCC: “In all, 85 Democrats have given no money to the party this year. Outside of ‘frontline’ candidates, who are given a pass because they are running in tough and potentially expensive districts, the DCCC continues to have problems raising money from the black and Hispanic caucuses.” (John Breshnahan and Jonathan Allen, “Pelosi Appeals for More DCCC Cash,” Politico, 12/15/2011)

OTHER LEADING AND WELL-FUNDED DEMOCRATS ARE VOTING WITH THEIR CHECKBOOKS: “Congressional Black Caucus icons John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who are both members of the party whip organization, have given nothing. Similarly, several leading members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) have zeroes next to their names.

“But the frugality is hardly limited to those caucuses. Despite having more than $2.2 million in his treasury, Rep. Richie Neal (D-Mass.) hasn’t transferred any money to the DCCC. Ditto for Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), who is flush with more than $1.5 million in the bank, and Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), who has about $3.3 million on hand.” (John Breshnahan and Jonathan Allen, “Pelosi Appeals for More DCCC Cash,” Politico, 12/15/2011)

Senior Democrats are effectively giving Nancy Pelosi a vote of no confidence in her leadership. Many are jumping ship, opting for retirement rather than joining Pelosi’s losing quest to retake the majority:

ROLL CALL CASUALTY LIST: 9 HOUSE DEMS RETIRING FROM POLITICS, JUST ONE REPUBLICAN: (“Casualty List: 112^th Congress (2011-2012),” Roll Call, 12/26/2011)

17 TOTAL HOUSE DEMOCRATS RETIRE TO DATE THIS CYCLE: “Of the Democratic retirements, eight are running for another position while nine are flat-out retiring.” (Emily Goodin, “Frank 17^th House Democrat to Announce Retirement,” The Hill, 11/28/2011)

TIME: “RETIREMENTS PLAGUE PELOSI’S PUSH TO TAKE BACK HOUSE”: “Is there something these old timers know that we don’t? After all, if Pelosi had a shot of taking back the House next year they would have plum positions of seniority – many of them would be committee chairmen. … Still, a few more retirements and Pelosi might seriously start to worry. It’s never good when one’s own flock threatens a chance at taking back the majority.” (Jay Newton-Small, “Retirements Plague Pelosi’s Push to Take Back House,” Time, 11/28/2011)

THE WASHINGTON POST: “BARNEY FRANK’S EXIT SIGNALS GROWING DEMOCRATIC RETIREMENTS”: “And the more Democrats retire, the more it looks like rank-and-file members don’t believe the DCCC’s insistence that they can win back the House majority next year.” (Aaron Blake, “Barney Frank’s Exit Signals Growing Democratic Retirements, But Not Yet Quite an Avalanche,” The Washington Post, 11/28/2011)

MSNBC’S ANDREA MITCHELL: FRANK RETIREMENT AN “INDICATION THAT DEMOCRATS DON’T THINK THEY’RE GOING TO RETAKE THE HOUSE AND REGAIN THOSE CHAIRMANSHIPS”: “And it certainly could be an indication — and we’ll talk to others from the DNC coming up right now about that — it certainly could be an indication that Democrats do not think they’re going to retake the House and regain those chairmanships.” (Remarks from Andrea Mitchell, MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” 11/28/2011)

FORMER REP. ARTUR DAVIS (D-AL): “SIGNS OF A TREND THAT WILL SWEEP IN ANOTHER FIVE TO TEN SENIOR DEMOCRATS,” “NO SERIOUS DEMOCRAT IN WASHINGTON” WHO THINKS DEMS WILL WIN HOUSE: (David Mark, “Ex-Rep. Artur Davis’ Response to ‘Barney Frank Among More Dems to Exit,” Politico’s “The Arena”, 11/28/2011)

Desperate for some strategy to lead them back to the majority, Democrats have tried to curry favor with the radical Occupy movement—only to have their overtures spurned and protested:

DEMS COURT OCCUPIERS:

DEMOCRAT LEADER NANCY PELOSI: OCCUPY “POLITICALLY HELPFUL TO DEMOCRATS”: “Despite some unfavorable polling, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi still thinks the Occupy movement has been politically helpful to Democrats.”(Brian Beutler, “Pelosi: Occupy Movement Enhances Dems’ National Message,” Talking Points Memo, 12/5/2011)

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE HAS PETITION FOR “STANDING WITH OCCUPY WALL STREET”: (“Goal: 100,000 Strong Standing With Occupy Wall Street,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Accessed 11/23/2011)

OCCUPIERS SPURN DEMS:

“AS OCCUPIERS PROTEST DEMOCRATS, DEMOCRATS COURT OCCUPIERS”: (Jessica Brady, “As Occupiers Protest Democrats, Democrats Court Occupiers,” Roll Call, 12/3/2011)

“OCCUPY, LIBERALS CAN’T GET TOGETHER”: “A planned meeting today between the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Occupy Wall Street activists was scuttled late Tuesday after Roll Call inquired about it, highlighting increasing tensions between Democrats and the movement.” (Janie Lorber, “Occupy, Liberals Can’t Get Together,” Roll Call, 12/14/2011)
BUT DEMS ARE STANDING BY THEIR OCCUPIER BASE:

HOUSE DEMS BRAINSTORMING WAYS “TO MAINTAIN TIES WITH THE LEFTIST PROTESTORS”: “Congressional Democrats still haven’t quite figured out how to harness the energy behind the Occupy Wall Street movement for political gain, but they nevertheless are incorporating the group into their messaging as a way to maintain ties with the leftist protesters.” (Jessica Brady, “As Occupiers Protest Democrats, Democrats Court Occupiers,” Roll Call, 12/3/2011)

“DESPITE ATTACKS, DEMS STANDING BY OCCUPY WALL STREET”: “For weeks now, Republicans have attacked Democrats for voicing support for the Occupy Wall Street protesters, in particular faulting the DCCC for standing up for them. And the incidents of violence and excess have led some neutral commentators to predict that Dems will pay a political price if they align themselves with the movement.” (Greg Sargent, “Despite Attacks, Dems Standing by Occupy Wall Street,” The Washington Post’s Plumline Blog, 11/22/2011)

“NANCY PELOSI STANDS BY OCCUPY WALL STREET IN FUNDRAISING E-MAIL FROM DCCC”: (Aliyah Shahid, “Nancy Pelosi Stands by Occupy Wall Street in Fundraising E-mail from DCCC,” NY Daily News, 11/22/2011)

OBAMA TO “OCCUPIERS”: “YOU ARE THE REASON I RAN FOR OFFICE”: “A few minutes later, Obama acknowledged the Occupy protest movement again, saying: ‘You are the reason I ran for office.'” (Bernie Becker and Alicia Cohn, “Obama Heckled by Protestors at New Hampshire Speech,” The Hill, 11/22/2011)

EARLIER PELOSI COMMENTS ON OCCUPY WALL STREET: “GOD BLESS THEM”: ” ‘God bless them,’ Pelosi said, ‘for their spontaneity. It’s independent … it’s young, it’s spontaneous, and it’s focused. And it’s going to be effective.'” (John McCormack, “Pelosi on Occupy Wall Street Protestors: ‘God Bless Them,'” The Weekly Standard, 10/6/2011)