In shift, DCCC active in primaries

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has in recent weeks injected itself into almost all of the major primaries remaining despite pledging previously to abstain.

DCCC officials have often said that they would try to avoid mixing in primaries as a general principle, but that they reserved the right to do so under “extraordinary circumstances.”

{mosads}As the cycle wages on and Republicans appear more vulnerable this November, those extraordinary circumstances have become the norm.

The addition of Iraq veteran Jon Powers to the DCCC’s Red to Blue program last week made the New York House candidate the latest to gain the national party’s fundraising assistance.

Over the previous month, the committee used Red to Blue to back another New York candidate, as well as candidates in open primaries in Alaska, Arizona and Louisiana. It had previously added a candidate in Michigan in March.

Only six races with competitive Democratic primaries are currently listed as “toss-up” or “lean Democratic” by the Cook Political Report. The DCCC has now picked a side in all six of them.

DCCC spokesman Doug Thornell emphasized that the candidates have been named Red to Blue because they have demonstrated tremendous institutional support, including from local political figures and unions.

“All of these Democrats have met difficult goals to be named to the Red to Blue program,” Thornell said. “We look very closely at the support that they have within their district and how their campaigns are progressing.”

Thornell said the late nature of those primaries is part of the equation, but that the progress of their campaigns is the prevailing factor.

He said the committee doesn’t plan to get involved in any other primaries but wouldn’t preclude it either.

“We’ve consistently said our policy is to stay neural, but there could be exceptions if extraordinary circumstances arise,” Thornell said. “At this point, no specific races come to mind, but we can’t rule anything out.”

The primary support marks a shift for the committee, which had previously avoided primaries even in their top races.

The DCCC recently declined to get publicly involved in the primary for Senate candidate Rep. Steve Pearce’s (R-N.M.) seat, as well as retiring Rep. Tom Davis’s (R-Va.) seat. It also declined to endorse recently sworn-in Rep. Don Cazayoux (D-La.) during his primary runoff victory in April, despite asserting that he was a top candidate.

The move has drawn anger from some of the Red to Blue candidates’ opponents, many of them returning from a losing campaign for the same seat in 2006.

In fact, five of the six races feature a Democratic candidate from the 2006 general election, and none of them were chosen by the committee. Most of these candidates are poorly funded but could pack significant name recognition on primary day.

They and others plan to use the Washington support against their opponents.

“I am running a race independent of the power brokers that want to override the voters’ choice in this race,” said attorney Alice Kryzan, who is running against Powers in retiring Rep. Tom Reynolds’s (R-N.Y.) district. “Voters of this district tell me they do not want their choice of a candidate to be decided by Washington insiders and good-old boys.”

Also in New York, the DCCC has backed New York City Councilman Mike McMahon in the race for retiring Rep. Vito Fossella’s (R) Staten Island seat. Powers and McMahon have both earned the unanimous endorsements of the county parties in their races.

In the race for Fossella’s seat, the DCCC has already booked $2.1 million in ad space. The committee would not say whether it would spend that money on 2006 nominee Stephen Harrison if he wins the primary.

Arizona state Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, the Democratic frontrunner in the race for retiring Rep. Rick Renzi’s (R-Ariz.) seat, was named Red to Blue after earning Gov. Janet Napolitano’s (D) endorsement.

Kirkpatrick senior adviser Michael Frias said the Red to Blue program served as validation of the campaign.

He said Kirkpatrick’s second-quarter report will be “significantly better” than the first quarter, in which she raised $260,000.

“Everything kind of dovetailed,” Frias said. “We worked really hard on the ground, absent Red to Blue, and built up some strong support. We really turned the corner, and it was accelerated by Red to Blue.”

Other candidates receiving the Red to Blue help are former Alaska state Rep. Ethan Berkowitz, Caddo Parish District Attorney Paul Carmouche in Louisiana and Michigan state Sen. Mark Schauer.

All three have raised significantly more money than their opponents, even without Red to Blue.

Republicans said the primary support shows how Democrats have lost credibility.

“The DCCC’s decision to break their pledge not to pre-primary endorse is just the latest in a laundry list of Democrat broken promises this Congress,” said a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, Ken Spain.