You can’t miss the impact of one well-networked blogger, Chris Bowers of MyDD.com, on the final weeks of the election. About a week ago he had a brainstorm: if the DNC was going to borrow $10 million to try to support Democratic challengers in races that might be breaking their way, why not try to pressure the 70 Democratic House incumbents who are cruising to victory because they face no meaningful opponent to part with, say, 30% of the approximately $50 million in excess campaign funds they’re hoarding? Within days, MoveOn’s leaders decided to up the ante, sending emails to their members in all the districts Bowers highlighted, urging that they call their reps.
So far, it looks like Bowers’ “Use It or Lose It” effort has generated a ton of press, and at least three safe Democrats–Barney Frank, Grace Napolitano, Adam Schiff and Hilda Solis–have tossed something like $590K into the DCCC’s coffers as a result. One well-connected NY insider I talked to was pretty impressed about Bowers’ gambit, noting that it was not something any established player could have ever done, given that there are too many feathers to be ruffled if you point out the obvious fact that most politicians, whatever their party label, are mainly ambitious and selfish actors who mostly care about their own careers and survival, regardless of what they say about party loyalty.
Bowers is also pursuing an open-source style effort to Google Bomb Republican congressional challengers with negative articles that has prompted a counter-response from rightwing bloggers. (Danny Glover reports on it here.) I’m dubious on what the impact of this tactic will be. But kudos to Chris for demonstrating how much a political blogger with a couple of sharp ideas can do in a hot election season.
Technorati Tags: Adam Schiff, Barney Frank, Chris Bowers, GoogleBomb, MyDD.com, Hilda Solis, Danny Glover