"Progressive Challenger Defeats Washington Establishment in North Carolina" (The Nation)

[KoKo]

Progressive Challenger Defeats Washington Establishment in North Carolina
Ari Berman | June 22, 2010

The progressive groups who unsuccessfully backed Bill Halter over Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas’ Democratic Senate runoff on June 8 scored a victory tonight when Elaine Marshall <1> defeated Cal Cunningham in North Carolina’s Democratic Senate primary. Marshall will now face first-term incumbent Senator Richard Burr in November.

Marshall-Cunningham did not have the prominence of Halter-Lincoln, nor were the ideological distinctions nearly as stark. But groups like Democracy for America and MoveOn.org did rally behind Marshall in the final weeks of the race, to the dismay of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic political establishment <2> in Washington, which hand-picked Cunningham, an attorney, Iraq war vet and former state senator. Marshall was not exactly an outsider—having served as the state’s secretary of state for four terms, defeating NASCAR legend Richard Petty in her first race—but she ran as a progressive populist <3> and grassroots advocate during the primary, playing up her opposition to the surge in Afghanistan and support for healthcare reform, including a public insurance option, and Wall Street reform. “The voters of North Carolina don’t like that someone is trying to anoint or elect their candidate,” Marshall said before the vote. Washington intervention has been a decidedly mixed blessing this election year, paying off in Democratic primaries in Arkansas and Ohio but backfiring in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. “The Democratic Party should welcome the competition of ideas,” says Jim Dean, chair of Democracy for America (DFA), “and not become an incumbency-protection racket.” Dean says the current clashes inside the party pit “a culture of activism versus a culture of incumbency.”

As has been well documented, it’s been a rough year for incumbents in both parties so far, even though Lincoln did squeak through in Arkansas (and now trails her Republican opponent, Congressman John Boozman by thirty points <4>). Halter’s loss obscured the excellent organizing work progressive groups did on his behalf. Arshad Hasan, DFA’s executive director, told me that Halter’s campaign exceeded its turnout targets for the runoff—yet so did Lincoln’s. Her base proved bigger than his. “What we need is a lot more and a lot better long-term organizing on the ground in places like Arkansas,” Hasan concluded after running Halter’s get-out-the-vote operation. Going forward, the Halter campaign, though ultimately unsuccessful, provides a framework for insurgent, outside-the-Beltway progressive engagement that can now be replicated and bolstered in other red and purple states, including in North Carolina, this fall. “If we want progressives in office, there’s never been a greater need for a fifty-state strategy,” Hasan says.

More at.....

http://www.thenation.com/blog/36544/progressive-challenger-defeats-washington-establishment-north-carolina

[zipplewrath]

1. It will be interesting in the fall

If all the "progressive" candidates (ones supported by labor and various progressive groups) win and the ones backed by DSCC, DCCC and the White House tend to lose. I wonder if anyone will notice, especially inside the White House, which is to also say the DNC.

[rpannier]

2. Of course they'll notice

and they'll tell us how we (progressives) are sabotaging the Democratic Party -- They might even get Evan Bayh out there to tell everyone how the party must be protected from Progressives

[Alcibiades]

3. Marshall was simply a better candidate

If you are taking on an incumbent senator, you want a candidate who has sought and won statewide office. Marshall has done that, and any amount of money from Washington Democratic Party insiders could not change the fact that Cunningham has not. Cunningham's stances on the issues-at least, when trying to appeal to Democratic primary voters-were solidly liberal. The difference is that, not only does Marshall have a better track record of statewide success, there's more trust in the belief that she will stand where she says she stands if elected.

[BR_Parkway]

7. Actually Cunningham wasn't so solidly liberal over GLBT issues as

Marshall as was covered extensively at Pam's House Blend (NC Lesbian blogger). Cal had a hard time really embracing the GLBT community or issues and we're all pretty damn sick of that "I need your money, I need your vote - but can't risk anything on your behalf" behavior.

Today's candidates who want the segment vote need to quit acting like we need to stay in the closet and not demand equal treatment. Fuck that - if our money and our votes are good enough - than there needs to be nothing 2nd class about the rest of our citizenship either.

[Alcibiades]

8. That's absolutely true

Cunningham made a lot of noises on GLBT issues, and other issues, that either conflicted with his earlier record or didn't go far enough. It's as if he didn't think the primary voters of NC would notice. If given a choice between a real liberal (even a moderate one like Marshall) and a fake one, why pick the fake one?

[NorthCarolina]

4. Isn't this type of post in violation of the New DU rules since it promotes a progressive agenda?

:shrug:

[JTFrog]

6. No, but your false accusations might be.

:shrug:

[pscot]

5. How much money did the DLC waste

on Cunninghams failed bid?

[Alcibiades]

9. +1

Somebody notify the White House: if you're going to call out unions on "wasting" money on primaries, you ought to call out the DLC as well.