Yesterday I received a call from the DSCC asking for money.  Usually I just say that I support individual campaigns and hang up.  But it was the day of the House vote and I was on edge.  So I started berating the DSCC (with due apologies to the guy on the phone, who wasn't at fault).  I said unless the DSCC makes clear to the Senators who refuse to vote for the reform bill that they will not receive a dime from the DSCC and no support from the President in their next election, I couldn't give any money to them.  

Mary Landrieu is one of our senators.  She is smart:  she knows that she is in a position to extract promises in exchange for her vote.  But no matter what promises she extracts, she's not going to vote with the Democrats.  She is owned by the oil companies and the insurance companies.  It is probably a political reality for her that she would lose votes if she voted for the bill.  ( I don't know if she would lose the campaign funds from the oil companies.) But why should I give money to an organization that will turn money over to her just because she puts a D after her name and then continues to vote R?  The DSCC rep told me that we have to work to retain our majority.  I said we don't have a majority in the Senate except in name only.  When I asked who the new head of the DSCC was, he didn't know!  That's how visible the leadership in the Democratic party is right now. 

Maybe Rahm Emmanuel is putting the squeeze on the Dem Senators:  I hope so.  But we need everyone in the party to put the squeeze on them.  What can we do?

  Let's start by telling the DSCC that we won't give them any money unless they align their campaign funding with the party's agenda.