FL-18: Wasserman Shultz in public endorsement of Annette Taddeo for US House; Closing difficult chapter?

l-r: Annette Taddeo, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Raul Martinez, Kendrick Meek, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Garcia.

This was a long time coming, and so quite choreographed. A rising star among Democratic congresswomen, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, of Florida District 20, stood on a stage in Little Havana Thursday and publicly endorsed the candidacy of the Democratic challenger to one of Wasserman Shultz’ friends in the House.

This is an observation and supposition I’m making without having interviewed her or knowing all the influences that brought her to this new point. I hope it means that she’s decided that Annette Taddeo, a successful businesswoman making her first foray into elective politics, is going to defeat the 19-year veteran, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, in District 18.

District 18 is where I live. I campaign some for Taddeo, whose half-Colombian, half-American background is perfect for this district that spans from Key West in the Florida Keys to Miami Beach and a good bulge of Little Havana and downtown Miami on the mainland. The district is majority Hispanic but not quite as Cuban as before, so Ros-Lehtinen, who’s Cuban American, is fighting hard with a mass of TV ads that fail to mention her links to neo-con misleaders and play up her “service” to the district.

As I try to persuade some brilliantly intelligent people to vote for Taddeo, they often reveal themselves as having been conned by Ros-Lehtinen’s supposed “service.” They ignore or are unaware of her repeated votes for the Iraq war, for torture, against the expansion of children’s health insurance. Hardly anyone seems aware of her hardline position on Iran, and they profess to admire her ability to get the Miami River dredged. (Big deal – some say it’s the shortest river in the USA, at 4 miles. Though it certainly needed dredging. Took forever. Anyway…) Once in a while they can change their minds after hearing her voting record. More have been swayed by her saccharine manner, and if they go to her office in Washington, they get such a nice cup of coffee.

It’s disgusting what dupes we are. How so many of us agree to be bribed by federal dollars. How we vote against our interests. I know, this behavior has been analyzed to hell and gone, and Americans are well established as having a tendency to let their vote be swayed by vague feelings of patriotism or by which candidate presents as a good social pal. Not that we’d ever get close to the snob. But we’ll take our emotional leaning as somehow related to attaining the American Dream, and we throw away our chance to vote for someone who has a solid and intelligent view of our situation. Well, I’m thinking of good old wooden Al Gore there, but he’s not a very good example, since he really won.

Let’s get back to what’s publicly known about Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her many months of reluctance to get on the side of Annette Taddeo and her two fellow strong Democratic challengers, Joe Garcia against Mario Diaz-Balart in District 25 (the outer suburbs and the Everglades) and Raul Martinez against Lincoln Diaz-Balart in District 21 (inner suburbs of Miami).

This came into the public eye in March, started by the Miami Herald’s featuring it on the front page. This blog picked that up pretty quickly (first post on March 9) and the story ran repeatedly on Daily Kos and elsewhere in the blogosphere. Wasserman Schultz was regularly creamed for not using her position of influence in the DCCC – Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – to help the Democrats challenging in her neighboring districts.

At one point I was quietly happy about it, because it got Taddeo, Garcia and Martinez much more publicity locally and nationally than the little-known challengers had two years earlier. I know that too well, as I was nominal campaign manager for Dave Patlak, who didn’t quite get 40 percent against Ros-Lehtinen in the 2006 midterm election. We made her spend over $1 million – so there was some satisfaction for that.

What was Wasserman Schultz’ justification this year? Best guess was some collegial loyalty among fellow members of the U.S. House. They were all in the business of promoting federal bucks for South Florida and had to act together. There may have been some socializing. She told a skeptical audience once that it was a difficult balance. Not convincing. Many of us walked out because she came down on the wrong side of that teeter-totter. A report from March 21 at this link.

This affair caused me to think a lot about our political predicament. And it’s not just South Florida. This is all over our beloved country: the invulnerable incumbent. Their districts are so gerrymandered that they worry little about re-election. Wasserman Schultz and her Democratic colleague, Kendrick Meek of District 17, do not even get Republican opponents. Their districts are 70-percent safe Democratic.

They don’t benefit from the American tonic of competition. (Remedy: there’s a petition circulating to amend the Florida state constitution to ban political considerations in laying new district boundaries. This must be a priority after this election.)

If the two Democrats are invulnerable, the three Republican incumbents have less of a built-in advantage nowadays, though they started out with more solidly Republican districts. Demographic changes have put them in danger, and their three challengers, with strong campaign staffs and decent financing, are evidence that all three Republicans are seen as vulnerable, like their fellows most everywhere in the last months of George W. Bush.

Yet it still took forever for Wasserman Schultz to be more open in backing first Martinez, then Garcia and finally Taddeo. She wasted a lot of time being unnecessarily tenacious in backing Hillary Clinton. Then she spoke in favor of Taddeo at a meeting of Florida delegates at the Denver convention, where she somehow also cadged a slot to second Barack Obama’s nomination. Now it’s the last lap before election day, early voting is already under way, and finally Wasserman Schultz is in public at home in Florida before the TV cameras. And not alone.

Before I name her companions, here’s the quote:

“We need to make sure that we have leaders in the Congress who will stand up and be your voice. To make sure that the middle class ... that they have members of Congress who are in Washington fighting for them. And these three candidates, Raul Martinez, Joe Garcia and Annette Taddeo, are the people that we need to elect so that we can make sure that they do that…

“This is the most important election of our lives. We are at a turning point in the United States of America. The wealthy have had their leaders in Washington. The wealthy have been taken care of for a long time. It is time to elect these three candidates to Congress so that we can have a voice for people who have not had one for a very long time.”

You can see from her words that all three Democratic challengers were in the room with her, Annette Taddeo, Raul Martinez and Joe Garcia, along with Rep. Kendrick Meek. The star in the room was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who for months has been trooping to South Florida doing fund-raisers for Garcia and Martinez. This was her first for Taddeo, I believe, and she also did fundraisers for Garcia and Martinez during a busy day.

Taddeo stood beside Wasserman Schultz and served as interpreter for the largely Cuban audience in the Little Havana Center for Activities and Nutrition, a senior center. Joe Garcia handled interpretation duty for Nancy Pelosi, who gave ringing endorsements of all three Democratic challengers, touting Taddeo’s strong business background, Garcia’s work in community organizing and Martinez for his long public service as mayor of Hialeah.

It’s time to say Thank You, Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz. I fervently hope you’re right in guessing that Annette Taddeo is going to win.

One last question, though. Those ads that the DCCC is running on TV here … the ones that criticize the Diaz-Balart brothers for their rotten votes in Congress. Why don’t they also mention Ileana Ros-Lehtinen? After all, she voted the same way as the rubber-stamp brothers. The ads run in the very same TV market that serves potential voters for Annette Taddeo. You’re a big wheel in the DCCC. Why, O why, don’t the ads also mention the third rubber-stamper, and maybe give your fellow Democrat a little boost? Why?

Bush rubber-stamp identifies Democratic "dear friends"

Attention in the camps of Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Kendrick Meek. This is what you get from your failure to be fully on board the campaigns of your Democratic colleagues. Your Republican incumbent friends will use your names – your Democratic names – in their desperate attempts to fend off strong electoral challenges.

Here is some murky video from Mario Diaz-Balart, FL-25 Republican incumbent, talking at a church in Homestead FL in June about why he should be re-elected for a third term.

(Apologies that I can't make the video appear here. Email this blog and I'll email you the file.)

He doesn’t say he is endorsed by Wasserman Schultz and Meek, but he says – untruthfully, but what the heck – that they’re not supporting his opponent, Joe Garcia. And it’s because they are his “dear friends.” And “I work with them.” They are his “colleagues.”

And, he says, they’re “getting a lot of criticism” for this. Who’s criticizing? He says with a deprecating gesture that “some groups” are doing it.

Hey, bloggers. He’s talking about us. This blog. DailyKos. We are his “some groups.” And to him, we’re communists – Communists. He doesn’t say it in this video clip but we know it’s in his heart because that’s what his foes all are.

Here’s the rough transcript from this short clip:

"… who are dear friends. Who are getting a lot of criticism by some groups because they are not from the party that I'm in. And yet they refuse to help my opponent. Not that my opponent may not be a good guy, or (inaudible) on the issues. Because I work with them. These two colleagues are, one of them is Debbie Wasserman Schultz, from north part, center part, actually like Broward and above. The other is our own Kendrick Meek."

Before more analysis of this clip, some reportage from Nancy Pelosi’s appearance Wednesday at a fund-raiser for Joe Garcia at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. Also present were Annette Taddeo and Raul Martinez, the Democratic challengers against respectively, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18) and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL-21).

Speaker of the House Pelosi, whom Garcia introduced as the “most powerful woman in the world,” was abundantly clear whom she backs in these races.

“I’m here to show the House Democrats’ support for Joe Garcia, Annette Taddeo and Raul Martinez,” she said. She referred to “these three races” and the “three quality candidates.” The opposition in Congress, she said, was not simply conservatives but “radical right-wing, status quo, special interest, not in the people’s interest” Republicans.

Your blogger should not go on any further since he had been admonished to be present as a loyal Democrat rather than as media, and he’d like to be invited back in the future. Also, ran out of scribbled quotes.

Except for this last gem, in which she said the “synergy of the three candidates … has its own drumbeat.”

That’s a fine rhetorical touch – the “drumbeat” coming from the three Democratic challengers running in Miami-Dade (mostly, plus parts of Broward and Collier Counties and all of Monroe comprising the Florida Keys).

So I’d say Speaker Pelosi is openly and strongly for the three Democrats. And she’s the head of the Democratic Caucus in the House, and overall the boss of the Democrats’ Congressional campaign. So it’s doubly hard to understand how Wasserman Schultz and Meek get away with not being fully supportive of the three Democratic challengers. Stressing fully is meant to acknowledge that Wasserman Schultz has donated money herself to Garcia and Martinez. But she hasn’t donated to Annette Taddeo, and she and Meek are notably absent from this sort of event that drew other Democratic politicians and donors.

The only explanation we’ve heard is that Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Annette Taddeo’s opponent) befriended Wasserman Schultz when the latter entered the U.S. House two terms ago, and the bond of legislative colleagues somehow trumps party loyalty.

This would be more understandable if the Republican had not voted repeatedly for the Iraq war, for torture, for wiretapping and against expanding children’s health care. This would be the point where a good Democrat restricts the bonds of collegiality to the halls of Congress and polite chat with the friendly Republican – and meanwhile works like crazy to get good Democrats elected instead in the neighboring districts.

Now it’s time to look more at what Mario Diaz-Balart said in that short clip.

He’s wrong:

• Saying that the Democrats don’t support his opponent, since Wasserman Schultz has donated to Garcia. More correct would be that they don’t fully support Garcia, and also not fully support Annette Taddeo in FL-18;
• Identifying Wasserman Schultz’ constituency as if it’s all in Broward County, when 20 percent of it or so is in Miami-Dade. His utterance here just sounds confused. He seems to be saying that Meek’s District 17 is all in Miami-Dade (“our own”), though a substantial part of it is in Broward. He ought to know these districts, since he helped draw the lines to carve out a U.S. House district for himself when he was still a member of the Florida House of Representatives. Sorta like the infamous Tom DeLay, known for redoing the lines in Texas in the middle of a decade, thumbing his nose at the quaint American notion of fairness.

Next on Mario Diaz-Balart’s schedule this week is an appearance Saturday at a health center where Kendrick Meek is also to be present. Groan. If this weren’t less than 90 days from the election, it could just be colleagues representing their joint work to constituents.

The last thing that’s really hard to see about these two errant but young and promising Democrats, who vote wonderfully progressive on most every issue, is why they don’t see the landslide juggernaut coming. Why are they not fully supporting the winners?

OK, now the last thing, really. Meek and Wasserman Schulz are afflicted with bullet-proof constituencies. I say afflicted because they don’t have the tonic of competition in their 70-percent solid districts. No Democrat challenger in the primary (Aug. 26) and no Republican bothers to run against them in the November general. It’s like the arrogance of absolute power. They can do whatever they like. And call it representing the people

Joe Garcia endorsed by Kos/Blue Majority

This was another strong development for the Democratic surge in South Florida: The Kos of DailyKos, Markos Moulitsas, endorsed Joe Garcia for the U.S. House in Florida’s District 25, which puts Garcia up on the Blue Majority top tier of endorsed candidates in the nation.

Not long ago it was Democracy for America urging his election. More recently it was the DCCC – Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – publicly offering strong support for him in a letter signed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and four of her top colleagues in the House Democratic leadership. That was a roll, and it extended, too, to Raul Martinez’ candidacy in District 21 against Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Annette Taddeo’s challenge to Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in District 18. They are included, too, in the Blue Majority/Kos endorsement as "sister districts."

My friends, we’re looking at sweep city now in Miami-Dade County. But it won’t happen without our whole-hearted work and donations. And it won’t happen if the Miami Herald is correct in predicting that a quarter of Democratic voters might stay home in November because of the early-primary fiasco. I know, they had a poll saying it – not exactly a prediction – but somehow the poll was bogus. I mean, are there really so many small-minded people out there that they’d withhold their vote because the Republicans connived to have that primary too early. The question was a little loaded, I think. Another in that category is their poll saying that Florida Democrats aren't going to vote for John McWar -- McCain, I mean -- even if he picks Charlie Crist for vice president. Who's dumb enough to pay a pollster to ask that question?

So I urge you now to do what I did: romp over to that Kos diary and click on the link to donate to Joe Garcia’s campaign. And while you’re feeling generous, remember Raul Martinez and Annette Taddeo, too.

See the DCCC letter

Over at Draft Joe Garcia the resident genius has figured out how to show the letter from Nancy Pelosi et al promising support for our three challenger candidates for the US House. Here's the link.

Breaking news: Pelosi leads DCCC in supporting our D challengers

We may have a hard time getting our local Democratic congressmen to back fellow Democratic challengers, but how about a nice letter from Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, James E. Clyburn, Rahm Emanuel and Chris Van Hollen.

Dated March 14, the letter from the five top figures in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee congratulates Joe Garcia on a "strong start" to his campaign for Florida Congressional District 25.

It concludes: "We look forward to supporting your campaign and helping you become our newest Democratic partner for change in Washington."

Identical letters went to Raul Martinez, challenging in District 21, and to Annette Taddeo, candidate in District 18.

Dear friends: this is a scoop. I think. I've checked the AP, the NY Times, the Miami Herald and its blog. They don't have it. Is it unimportant? I don't think so, in the context of a solid six days of turmoil and heavy blogging since the Miami Herald published an expose on Page One last Sunday.

UPDATE: Early Saturday the Herald put up a story online reporting the same development. UPDATE II: It's in the newspaper, too, p. 1 of the Metro section.

Readers of this blog and Brownsox' posts on DailyKos the last three days know the drill: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20) and Rep. Kendrick Meek (FL-17), two rising young Democrats in the House, are somehow unable to back the three strong challengers to the three Republicans who misrepresent Miami-Dade County and chunks of Broward, Collier and Monroe counties.

The Democrats have "allegiances," in the Herald's terminology, with those Republicans, even though they are far right on the Iraq war, health insurance for children, torture, illegal wiretapping, executive powers, you name it -- the whole spectrum of Bushite folly.

Wasserman Schultz and Meek still may have begged off any close association with the campaigns of Joe Garcia (Fl-25), Raul Martinez (FL-21) and Annette Taddeo (FL-18). But with Pelosi, Hoyer, Clyburn, Emanuel and Van Hollen behind the three challengers, this will be a powerful campaign to turn South Florida blue and blue and blue.

This must be taken as a victory for the party grassroots, which rose in righteous anger when the Herald's story came out last Sunday. This was quickly blogged wherever possible, with DailyKos diaries ringing in with 200-plus comments -- all negative toward the position of Wasserman Schultz and Meek.

Earlier in the week the turn of the tide was signaled on the DCCC's own blog, where on Wednesday Brandon English had the byline on a post declaring that the DCCC would support the three challengers.

With the demurral: "While some of our Members may not always be able to actively campaign with every candidate, you can be assured that the DCCC will be there."

My friends, this practice of "allegiances" must be rooted out wherever it exists. There is a difference between having civilized debate with friendly opponents, on the one hand, and being bound not to oppose the re-election bids of neo-con hardliners just because they happen to live in your same county. This is politics, not junior high.

The Speaker's blog

If you want it straight from the office of our highest elected Democratic official, here's the link to Speaker Pelosi's blog.