Joseph Cao

Americans United To Run Another Ad Praising GOP Rep. Joseph Cao

Eric Kleefeld | November 18, 2009, 11:31AM

Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA)

Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) is getting more support for his status as the only House Republican to support health care reform -- from the pro-Barack Obama, labor-backed group Americans United For Change.

Americans United has already run an ad in support of Cao, as part of their ad campaigns praising key swing members who voted in favor of the bill. And they'll be having another one soon, too, the Hotline reports.

Cao is widely seen as a vulnerable incumbent going into 2010, having been elected in an upset against an indicted (and later convicted) Democratic incumbent in a district that voted 75% for Barack Obama.

Organizing for America

TPMDC Exclusive: Inside DNC's Organizing For America

Christina Bellantoni | November 11, 2009, 8:15AM

Nine months ago when the Democrats who ran Barack's Obama campaign created Organizing for America, no one was sure exactly how it would work or whether it was possible to harness the enthusiasm for the new president and translate it into action.

But nearing the anniversary of Obama's election, OFA has strengthened into a (smaller) mirror of the campaign, with volunteers in every single Congressional district and staff on the ground in every state but Oklahoma.

They also are growing the Obama donor base.

TPMDC has learned that 24.7 percent of the donations made online to OFA are new donors - people who didn't give during the campaign. That's a pretty striking figure give that a record 3 million people donated during 2007 and 2008.

Organizationally, the boots-on-the-ground, Washington outsider vibe has translated into real results as well. Saturday morning, an OFA volunteer in Louisiana flagged for the team that Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) might end up supporting health care.

The administration had been talking to Cao behind the scenes, but it was the volunteer who emailed OFA staffers to report that the Republican's office wasn't saying he was against the bill which opened the floodgates. OFA volunteers made 550 calls to the district office on Saturday in the hours before he became the lone Republican to back the bill.

In an exclusive interview with TPMDC, OFA officials laid out their metrics so far and stressed the results have exceeded expectations.

It was no surprise that Mitch Stewart, OFA's director, and Jeremy Bird, the deputy director, remained on message at all times. They told me nearly a dozen times the OFA mission is to support the president's agenda, and downplayed any disappointment that Obama voters couldn't make the difference in last week's state races in Virginia and New Jersey.

But the wide-ranging interview did lift the curtain on the organization, officially deemed a special project of the Democratic National Committee.

As I detailed earlier this year, OFA and the DNC share a building and merged finances, but keep many things separate. Among those are the list of email supporters, which stood at 13 million at the end of the long campaign. (They won't disclose its size today.)

Campaign geeks may like the transcript of our interview, and come along after the jump to delve into how OFA is doing.

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Joseph Cao

Club For Growth: Challenging Cao In GOP Primary 'Would Be A Waste Of Money' For His District

Eric Kleefeld | November 9, 2009, 1:21PM

Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA)

Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) may have an interesting built-in line of defense against Republicans who would want to seek retribution over his vote for the health care bill: His overwhelmingly Democratic district.

I asked Club For Growth executive director David Keating, whose group has often supported insurgent conservatives -- Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey, Stephen Laffey and Doug Hoffman, just to name a few -- whether the group might support a primary against Cao. "Our PAC doesn't plan on backing any primary challengers to him," said Keating, "because it would be a waste of money, probably, for the general election."

Cao's district, centered around New Orleans, voted 75%-23% for Barack Obama in November 2008, by far the most Democratic district to be currently represented by a Republican. Cao won a shocking 50%-47% victory in a specially scheduled December election (due to hurricane damage) against Democratic Rep. William Jefferson, who was then under indictment and was later convicted on corruption charges.

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Joseph Cao

Cao To Steele: Come And Get Me -- Just Remember You Need My District

Versha Sharma | November 8, 2009, 1:26PM

Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA)

Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), the lone GOP vote for the House health reform bill that passed late last night, has responded to RNC Chairman Michael Steele's warnings about stepping outside of party lines. (WATCH Steele: "We'll come after you.")

Cao told CNN that Steele retains "the right to come after those members who do not conform to party lines, but I would hope that he would work with us in order to adjust to the needs of the district and to hold a seat that the Republican party would need." He represents the second congressional district of Louisiana, a solidly Democratic district that includes New Orleans. Cao said earlier today that he put the needs of his district over what was popular with his own party.

Cao's opponent was former Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), who was under indictment on corruption charges at the time of the election, widely seen as the sole reason the Republican was able to triumph in this specific district. His unique victory was celebrated by Steele and other GOP leaders, a fact which the young lawmaker is not letting party leadership soon forget.

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Health Care

Obama Says He's Grateful For Lawmakers Who Took 'Courageous' Health Care Vote

Christina Bellantoni | November 8, 2009, 1:18PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama today said "millions of Americans whose lives will change" when health care reform finally becomes law are grateful to the House for passing a sweeping overhaul bill late last night.

"Given the heated and often misleading rhetoric," Obama said during a brief statement in the Rose Garden, he wanted to recognize the "courageous vote" and add his own gratitude to the House "for taking us this far."

Obama, who spent the night at the Camp David presidential retreat, said he'd called a Montana woman this morning to thank her for telling him about her health care struggle, telling her that the bill pass in part because of her willingness to share her story.

He lauded "extraordinary activism" of those fighting for health care, as his campaign arm Organizing for America put together thank-you welcoming parties for supportive lawmakers as they arrived at their home airports today.

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Joseph Cao

Who Is Joseph Cao?

Eric Kleefeld | November 8, 2009, 12:01AM

Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA)

So who is Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), the one Republican who voted yes on the House Democrats' health care bill?

Cao was first elected to Congress in 2008 from the solidly-Democratic New Orleans district, winning a shocking victory against Democratic Rep. William Jefferson, who was then under indictment (and was later convicted) on corruption charges. Over the course of his life, he was a child refugee from Vietnam, a former Jesuit seminarian, and an attorney.

Cao's district voted 75%-23% for Barack Obama in 2008, but Cao was able to beat Jefferson in a December election (held at that time because of the rescheduling of some Louisiana Congressional elections, due to a hurricane). Cao had held out on voting for this bill -- he is strongly pro-life and wanted full assurances that abortion would not be funded -- but his vote for final passage, after the passage of the Stupak Amendment, could give him a positive card to play with his Democratic constituents.

Ironically, right after Cao was elected, the House GOP boasted of his upset win as a sign of the GOP's comeback, and that he presented a path to future victories. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) declared: "The Future Is Cao."