Health Care

Tag Team: Obama, Biden, Interest Groups Push On Health Care

Christina Bellantoni | November 20, 2009, 2:24PM

OFA Organizers Mitch Stewart and Jeremy Bird

The White House, Democratic National Committee and pro-health care groups are going full force to build support in advance of tomorrow test vote on the Senate health care bill.

President Obama had nothing on his public schedule following a return from his 8-day trip to Asia, and administration sources said they believe he and the White House team are pushing senators to at least vote to bring the bill to the floor. So far, they've had good news today as conservative Democrats agree to that first step.

Vice President Joe Biden, who is celebrating his 67th birthday home in Delaware today, has been on the phone with lawmakers to bend their ears and ask for their support on the health care bill.

The DNC used the Obama Twitter feed today to urge: "The senate has unveiled an excellent health reform bill. Call your senators and ask them to move forward."

Organizing for America is asking supporters to phone Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and OFA volunteers showed up yesterday on Capitol Hill when Reid released the bill.

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Fundraising

DNC Outraises RNC, $11.5M In October

Christina Bellantoni | November 19, 2009, 5:40PM

DNC Chair Tim Kaine

The Democratic National Committee raised $11.5 million in October, breaking the fundraising record for an off-year election.

A party source tells TPMDC the DNC will report that it has $12.3 million cash on hand and owes $4.4 million.

The Republican National Committee, as we reported earlier, has zero debt and $11.2 million in the bank. They raised $8.7 million.

Year to date and including transfers and in-kind contributions, the DNC has raised $73.3 million. The RNC has raised $76.9 million.

Late Update: The actual filing has the DNC with $12.9 million cash on hand.

Fundraising

DNC Outraises RNC, $11.5M In October

Christina Bellantoni | November 19, 2009, 5:40PM

DNC Chair Tim Kaine

The Democratic National Committee raised $11.5 million in October, breaking the fundraising record for an off-year election.

A party source tells TPMDC the DNC will report that it has $12.3 million cash on hand and owes $4.4 million.

The Republican National Committee, as we reported earlier, has zero debt and $11.2 million in the bank. They raised $8.7 million.

Year to date and including transfers and in-kind contributions, the DNC has raised $73.3 million. The RNC has raised $76.9 million.

Late Update: The actual filing has the DNC with $12.9 million cash on hand.

John Boehner

DNC Responds To Boehner 'Monthly Abortion Premium' Claim, Would Like To Believe He Won't Say It Again...

Eric Kleefeld | November 19, 2009, 4:29PM

House Minority Leader John Boehner

The Democratic National Committee released a rapid response to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), who claimed that the Senate Democratic health care bill would result in Americans paying a "monthly abortion premium."

The response cites various media outlets that have fact-checked and/or debunked the claim that the Democratic bill would pay for abortions: "With such clear evidence to the contrary, we'd like to believe that this is the last time we'll hear this scare-tactic from Boehner and the Party of NO... but since all Republicans have to offer are more lies, we're not counting on it."

Health Care

OFA Picks Ad Starring Children: 'I'll Die ... Because We Couldn't Afford Health Care'

Christina Bellantoni | November 17, 2009, 5:10PM

David Plouffe

Last month Organizing for America solicited homemade health care ads from supporters, and today they released the winning video.

It stars several children with health care messages, including:

"Two years from now, I'll be diagnosed with Leukemia and I'll die, because we couldn't afford health care."

and

"There are over 8 million uninsured children in America. ... We all deserve health care."

In an email asking for donations to put the ad on television, David Plouffe says the Organizing for America Health Reform Video Challenge shows "our supporters' creativity and passion is more than a match for the slick ads and partisan spin doctors on the other side."

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Tim Kaine

Kaine: Deeds Was 'Nervous' About Virginia Electorate, Shouldn't Have Distanced Himself From Obama

Eric Kleefeld | November 17, 2009, 4:03PM

DNC Chair Tim Kaine and unsuccessful VA-GOV candidate Creigh Deeds (D)

DNC chairman Tim Kaine, the outgoing Governor of Virginia, told the Washington Post that Democratic nominee Creigh Deeds made some key mistakes in his landslide defeat to Republican Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell -- mainly failing to tie himself to President Obama and thus mobilize Democrats:

"After the [June] primary was done, his advisers basically said, distance yourself from the president. We think we have our base locked down, we've got to win independents. And we're going to win by being negative about McDonnell," Kaine said. "That was the basic strategy they pursued, despite some significant urging to the contrary."

...

Kaine said the key to victory for Democrats in a highly competitive Virginia is recognizing that party members need not be "apologetic" about their affiliation to find success. He noted that about 200,000 more people voted in the Democratic primary for president on a frigid February day in 2008 than cast ballots for Deeds this year, and said McDonnell successfully spooked Deeds by suggesting that Virginians had grown anxious about the Democratic agenda.

"I think the issue of being nervous about the Virginia electorate was overdone and I think Creigh did exactly what the McDonnell campaign hoped he would do, which was distance himself from the president and national issues," Kaine said.

Barack Obama

Remember When? White House Staff (And President) Relive Campaign As OFA Plans Reunions

Christina Bellantoni | November 1, 2009, 6:17PM

Organizing for America is putting together campaign "reunions" in honor of the one-year anniversary of Barack Obama's presidential election victory.

Wednesday marks the anniversary of President Barack Obama's historic election, and White House staffers, campaign volunteers and supporters are reliving the moment.

Most prominent in the coming week is Tuesday's HBO debut of the "By the People" documentary, a retelling of the long campaign.

Also happening this week are reunions put together by the volunteers still active in Organizing for America, the next generation of the Obama campaign.

On a sign-up sheet for local reunion events, OFA tells supporters:

"One year ago, President-Elect Obama told us that the election victory was only the beginning of the change we all sought -- and today, through Organizing for America, we're fighting just as hard to make health insurance reform a reality, this year. But while we seek to live up to the President's words, we're planning to gather together to reconnect, celebrate, and remember that moment, last year, when we won a historic victory.

So this week, we're holding reunion events across the country for folks who were involved in the campaign. Can you attend one near you?"

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VA-GOV

Steele Calls Out DNC For Its Commitment To Deeds

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 27, 2009, 2:28PM

RNC Chairman Michael Steele

RNC Chair Michael Steele looked pretty confident when asked talking about Virgina in an interview on Fox News this morning. He's got good reason to smile: a week before voters go to the polls to choose a new governor, GOP nominee Bob McDonnell is dominating the polls with double-digit leads.

Steele seemed so sure of a GOP win in Virginia he was already taking credit for his part in it. The RNC has spent more than $8 million on McDonnell this year. The DNC has only offered Deeds a $6 million investment.

"You've got the DNC running ads on YouTube and on Facebook," Steele said. "But we put real resources on the ground."

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Health Care

DNC Says Michael Steele Is 'Lying' About Health Care Reform

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 22, 2009, 11:31AM

The DNC is targeting RNC Michael Steele's rhetoric on health care reform in a new web video that launched today. Attempting to make good on President Obama's promise, made during his September health care address to Congress, to "call out" claims about health care reform that aren't truethe DNC is claiming Steele is "lying" about the health care reform bills currently the subject of intense negotiations on Capitol Hill.

Fundraising

DNC Raised $8M In September

Christina Bellantoni | October 20, 2009, 2:31PM

DNC Chair Tim Kaine

A Democratic source tells TPMDC the Democratic National Committee will report having raised "just over" $8 million for the month of September.

The news comes after the Republican National Committee announced its haul this morning of $8.7 million for the month.

The Democratic source said the September total puts the DNC ahead of the RNC for the third quarter.

Health Care

Organizing For America About To Win Low Expectations Game

Christina Bellantoni | October 20, 2009, 2:02PM

Organizing for America, the spinoff of the Obama campaign, set a goal of 100,000 phone calls to members of Congress on health care today.

When we broke the news last week that President Obama would join the call-in parties via Webcast tonight, a Hill Republican said the number of calls seemed low given the size of the OFA email list.

Well the Democratic National Committee has offered a peek at their (self-reported) figures, and have been tweeting updates from the Obama Twitter feed all day. At 12:08, they tweeted it had reached 35,000 calls. At 12:53, it was up to 50,000.

As of this writing, it's passed 90,000 calls. It went up by a few thousand calls in the last few minutes, so they will be hitting 100,000 fairly soon. My bet is they will trumpet that as a grassroots win and then raise the goal.

After the jump, a look at the widget tracking the calls.

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Barack Obama

Political Blitz: Dem Candidates Prepare For (And Hope To Capture) Obamarama

Christina Bellantoni | October 19, 2009, 2:34PM

VA-Gov candidate Creigh Deeds at rally with President Barack Obama

As we near the critical two-week benchmark before elections in New Jersey, Virginia and New York, the White House is going all-in to help Democratic candidates. President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are raising money and stumping for hopefuls across the country - in some cases looking beyond the narrow focus of next month's election to the 2010 midterms.

Last week Obama raised more than $3 million for the Democratic party in San Francisco, and Biden helped raise money for Missouri senate candidate Robin Carnahan (D) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

But in the race to the finish, and with Republicans eager to make a loss in Virginia or New Jersey seem like a major national trend for the president, it's a high-profile week for both Obama and Biden.

Obama has eight political events scheduled over the next week. Before he leaves for the Czech Republic tomorrow, Biden has a long day of double political duty.

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Fundraising

Obama: Pelosi Has 'Steel' And 'Doesn't Break A Sweat'

Christina Bellantoni | October 16, 2009, 9:22AM

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), President Barack Obama

"I love Nancy Pelosi," President Obama declared last night at a swank San Francisco fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee. He lauded the speaker (D-CA) and talked about her role in health care.

"She faces down some of the toughest problems -- not just policy problems, but political problems that you can imagine -- and she doesn't break a sweat," Obama said. "She is willing to stare folks down and tell them how things are going to be. And that steel that Nancy Pelosi has is part of the reason why this has been such an incredibly productive Congress and why I'm so confident that we're going to end up getting health care done."

The San Francisco Chronicle has more detail.

DNC officials told reporters the two fundraisers at the Westin St. Francis raised $3 million.

Obama's remarks at both events after the jump.

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Health Care

President Obama To Rally Grassroots Troops On Health Care Tuesday

Christina Bellantoni | October 14, 2009, 6:51PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama will rally grassroots Organizing for America volunteers next week with the goal of making 100,000 calls to Congress in support of health care.

TPMDC has learned that while on political travel in New York Tuesday, Obama will join his most active supporters via Webcast into hundreds of "Time to Deliver" house parties arranged by OFA, the spinoff of his presidential campaign housed at the DNC.

The parties are easy, OFA explains: "If you can print out some call sheets and info about the president's plan - and make sure volunteers have a comfortable place to sit -- you can host a successful call party."

The president, who has relied on his campaign supporters to help pass legislation and during hearings for his Supreme Court nominee, will participate in the parties to pump everyone up for a final push.

A Democratic source told TPMDC that Obama will ask volunteers to call Congress to support health care and tell them, "It's up to you to close the deal." He'll also reprise the talking point from the last few days that it's historic and this is the farthest Congress has ever come in the health care fight.

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Liz Cheney

DNC Slams New Liz Cheney Group And Her Family's 'Sullied Legacy'

Eric Kleefeld | October 13, 2009, 1:12PM

Former State Dept. Official Liz Cheney

The Democratic National Committee is responding to Liz Cheney's new anti-Obama group "Keep America Safe" -- a sign that the Dems might still enjoy having the Cheneys as villains they can kick around:

"Last fall, the American people overwhelmingly rejected a radical foreign policy authored by Dick Cheney that alienated our allies, emboldened our enemies, depleted our resources, distracted our focus and made the nation less secure. The Cheneys lost that debate and their approach was deemed a failure. The Cheneys can continue to focus on securing their sullied legacy if they want to. But, the President will continue to focus on securing the country," said DNC National Press Secretary Hari Sevugan.

Health Care

Taking Stock Of AHIP Report - Last 36 Hours Have Galvanized Both Sides

Christina Bellantoni | October 13, 2009, 12:36PM

Robert Zirkelbach, Press Secretary AHIP, Pricewaterhouse Coopers building, CEO Karen Ignagni

It's been called a "bombshell," but Democrats are saying the America's Health Insurance Plans report has helped unify the party around the health care bill(s). They say it's much easier to fight the big, bad insurance lobby that burned the White House than, for example, a Congressional Budget Office report showing increased costs and insurmountable debt as the American people are wary of skyrocketing deficits.

However, a key Democratic Senate leadership aide told TPMDC that while the report angered Democrats, it is highly unlikely to move any votes for the final bill. Another Democrat agreed the report "should" galvanize the party but doubted Democrats would take full advantage of the report, which left out some key elements in its analysis.

Responding to that news, the DNC's Brad Woodhouse referred to it as the "AHIP Hatchet Job" and warned that anyone using the "phony" report will be subject to one of the party's "Call you out" campaigns.

"This should lay to rest any notion that the AHIP report has any credibility whatsoever or that it should be used by members of Congress in their deliberations over health insurance reform," Woodhouse said.

Organizing for America, the spinoff of the Obama campaign housed at the DNC, hasn't planned any formal pushback yet but is making sure volunteers have the talking points so they can shoot the report down if they are asked while knocking on doors and making calls.

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GOP

Dems Say New RNC Website Suggests 'True' Future For GOP

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 13, 2009, 11:22AM

GOP.com "Future Leaders" page

The RNC launched a new version of its GOP.com homepage this morning and in a statement, party chair Michael Steele said the homepage was the reflection of his vision for the GOP:

"When I ran for RNC Chairman, I committed to improving the Republican Party's online ability to inform our grassroots supporters and mobilize them behind important issues, while also electing our great candidates. With the new GOP.com that went live today, the RNC will be able to accomplish exactly that."

Just a few hours after the launch, though, Democrats are claiming the site reflects the party's current state more than its future. Flying around Twitter this morning is a link to the new site's "Future GOP leaders" page. Instead of fresh faces, it the page lists "404 Error: This page could not be found."

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Health Care

OFA Adopts Obama's Non-Committal Language on Public Option

Brian Beutler | September 16, 2009, 9:16AM

A good catch from The New Argument. The Democratic party's organizing arm, OFA, seems to have changed the language on it's website, which used to be as firm as possible on the public option. The site used to say that health care reform "must... [g]uarantee choice - Every American must have the freedom to choose their plan and doctor - including the choice of a public insurance option."

Now, it's backed away from that insistence. The new language on the site urges members of Congress to support President Obama's health care reform principles, which include a public option--but doesn't characterize it as a make or break issue.

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VA-GOV

National Dems Pumping $5 Million Into Virginia Gubernatorial Race

Eric Kleefeld | September 2, 2009, 6:28PM

VA-GOV Candidates Creigh Deeds (D) and Bob McDonnell (R)

The Democratic National Committee is pumping some serious cash into the Virginia gubernatorial race, with $5 million set to go to Democratic nominee Creigh Deeds and the state Dems.

Deeds currently trails Republican Bob McDonnell in the polls, but is hoping to capitalize on McDonnell's weaknesses -- especially the hard-right manifesto that McDonnell wrote as a 34-year-old for Pat Robertson's Regent University.

It should of course be noted that DNC chairman Tim Kaine's current day job is being the current Governor of Virginia. So if the GOP were to win this one, he'd hardly look good at all, now would he?