Check out the clip from my latest trip to MSNBC.

I was cut-off at the end by Contessa before I could make a key point. In response to whether the Blago scandal in Illinois is “red meat” for Republicans, my reaction is simple: bring it on. If Republicans think that attacking the President-elect while his poll numbers are at 80%, his cabinet picks are being widely celebrated by both parties and our country is in a financial crisis, then they are more tone deaf and inept than I ever could have imagined.

After all, it was only a few weeks ago that American’s voted resoundingly against the very type of politics that the Mike Duncan and the RNC are pushing.

Republicans will continue to be lost in the wilderness if they continue to tack Obama to the mess in Illinois. This tactic makes them look petty and in the end is counterproductive towards what they really should be doing which is recruiting new leadership at the national level who can turn their proverbial ship around.

Enough said. Enjoy the clip.

Rahm Emanuel, the tough talking head of the Democrats’ Congressional Campaign Committee has announced that he will not serve another term in that capacity.

From The Hill:

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) will step down from the House Democrats’ campaign operation after the November elections to spend more time with his family, he told The Hill yesterday.

Emanuel has been a leading strategist, fundraiser, cheerleader and recruiter for House Democrats as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) since the beginning of last year. His uncommon pairing of cunning efficiency and profanity-laced outbursts has won him both plaudits and opprobrium, but nearly all Democrats concede that he deserves substantial credit for their rosy election prospects this year.

“I served one term, and my kids are all at a certain point. They’ve had it,” Emanuel told The Hill. “I’ll do whatever the caucus wants in the sense of helping the next chairperson in any capacity, but I will not serve as chairman another cycle.” He and his wife, Amy, have three children under 10.

Although most DCCC chairmen serve only a single term, many Democrats welcomed Emanuel’s presence and held out hope he would serve a second term.

Emanuel is a bad ass, no doubt. It is still to be determined whether his tough talk will be enough to help the Democrats take control of the House in 2006. I, for one, am disappointed with the “new direction” message that I’m sure he was part of creating. However, I’ve heard many stories about his interesting ways while serving in the Clinton White House (”Somebody in this room rat-fucked the president last night“) so I can only hope that he’s going to pull this one off for us!

The New York Times did a very interesting story today on the all-important suburbs and ‘exurbs’, which are expanding rapidly throughout America. These new neighborhoods are sprouting up everywhere and they could hold the political key for whichever party does a better job of presenting a message that resonates with these voters. Both parties are scrambling to organize and are building the infrastructure needed to turn out voters on Election Day.

After years in which Republicans capitalized on rapid growth in outlying areas, Democrats now see an opportunity to make gains in close-in suburbs where changes in the composition of the population are working in their favor. In a dozen or so Congressional districts that are leading battlegrounds in the midterm elections, older, more densely packed suburbs are trending Democratic, helping to offset Republican dominance on the sprawling exurban frontier.

Both sides are taking steps to tailor their messages to, and train their firepower on, those swing suburbs. On Friday, President Bush will fly into this prosperous district as the draw of a fund-raiser intended to help Representative Dave Reichert hold on to his seat. The president’s arrival will follow hard on the heels of a visit by Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who is in charge of the Democrats’ efforts to win back the House.

Click on this image to see some of the suburban targets in 2006.

I know first hand that these suburban neighborhoods are hard to organize. Housing developments and condominium farms with thousands of new voters pop up within months and it’s a challenge to identify your voters and make sure they are registered and mobilized for Election Day. However, this is a long-term strategy and the Democrats must prevail. We must build databases and voter files capable of easily accounting for these new voters and we must knock off Republican incumbents who are now out of touch, ideologically, with their constituents.

Democratic hopes of retaking the House, party strategists say, could hinge on places like Bellevue, a city of 107,000 just across Lake Washington from Seattle. Here, a fast-growing Asian population and an influx of empty-nesters and singles living in new residential complexes have helped to make this the kind of district that, while continuing to send a Republican to Congress, has turned increasingly Democratic.

Read More…

New Politics Institute: The Next Frontier, A New Study of Exurbia

Newsweek did a very interesting piece on Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), who is the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Rep. Emanuel served as a top White House advisor to President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1998, first as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then as Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy. After leaving the Clinton White House, Rep. Emanuel was elected to Congress and is now serving his second term in the House.

Emanuel, the former Clinton White House enforcer who is only in his second term in the House, is not a great spokesman for the party. All that coiled energy can make TV viewers nervous. But he thrives as an inside player, in touch with old-style operatives and the party’s Internet vanguard. As chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, “Rahmbo” is essentially managing 40 House races from a war room a few blocks from the Capitol, helping with candidate recruitment, fund-raising and “rapid response.” One minute he’s ordering a colleague to plant an editorial trashing a Republican front runner in his hometown paper (”Write this down!”); the next, he’s telling one of his hand-picked candidates that the guy’s stump speech lacks passion (”If you think that’s inspiring, get out now”). Emanuel pulls it all off with a mixture of profanity and horse sense that gives Democrats the feeling they might not blow it this time.

The problem…overconfidence:

And that’s what worries him[Emanuel]: overconfidence. He knows that despite President Bush’s unpopularity, the odds still favor continued GOP control. “Voters used to choose their representatives; now representatives choose their voters,” he says, neatly summarizing how incumbents in both parties have persuaded state legislatures to redraw maps to all but end competitive elections. Gerrymandering has meant that the Democrats have little margin for error to win the 15 they need. “It’s like picking a lock,” Emanuel says.

This article highlights the insider political game that is being played right now in the run-up to the 2006 elections. The article does show that despite having an aggressive leader at the DCCC and having perceived political momentum, the election is still months away and Democrats will need to fight like hell to get where they want to go.