Outside influences

Matt Cartwright has snagged the nod of the successor group of the 2004 Howard Dean presidential campaign Democracy for America that will urge it's members to send money his way. That Democratic wing of the Democratic Party thing is working out pretty well for him.

He also picked up the support of the Blue America PAC that has billboards up in the district but I haven't spotted one yet. They are reported to be in Lackawanna, Northampton and Schuylkill counties but not Luzerne county. If you see one please send me a picture and tell me the location.

In a story in the TL yesterday it seems that Tim Holden's spox Eric Nagy was answering a question that wasn't asked saying that Act Blue was a Super PAC. I said that was a lie and a distortion but I realize now it was not a lie but possibly an editing problem, my apologies Eric. The next time you are in town the Yonk and me will take you to Abe's Hot Dog's or Victory Pig Pizza with Chis Lilik to make up for that.


Today we found out that an actual Super PAC funded by a few millionaires is planning to spend big bucks to defeat Holden.

Super PAC Prepares to Spend $200K Each Against Holden, Murphy

This outfit is something of a mystery with most of the money coming from just 4 people. They are going after both Democrats and Republicans in safe districts that have primary challengers. So far they had success knocking of Ohio Congresswoman Jean Schmidt in the Republican primary and got mixed up in another Republican primary in Illinois. The group also went went after Reps. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Jo Bonner (R-AL), Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), each of whom won his or her primary. 2 out of 6 ain't bad.

From the CFC website:

To put the voters back in control of the process, we must challenge long-term incumbents and hold them accountable for their deeds. Enough is enough. As our economic crisis deepens, as the federal bureaucracy continues to expand and as lobbyists gain still more power, we must apply leverage where we can: in primary election challenges to incumbent members of Congress.

During the 2012 primaries, American citizens will stand up as never before, expressing their opposition to an out-of-control Congress, and making their voices heard and their votes count. The people will become more powerful than the politicians. When the people once more have power, there is no problem—even those caused by Congress itself—that we cannot fix.

Then if you look at Tim Holden's FEC report you will see many outside infuences.

DWT has a summery:

Holden, a Blue Dog has taken $688,999 from the finance industry and $414,997 from Big Oil and Gas. Holden has taken even more money from AgriBusiness and he's scooping up checks like mad this year to fight off his first serious electoral challenge ever. [One of the company's eager to keep Holden in Congress is AT&T, which has given House Republicans $896,121 this
year and House Democrats $443,750. $5,000 of that went to Holden.]


And a Facebook page to go with it.