2010 elections

Obama To 26K Cheering College Kids: I'm Going To 'Fight As Hard As I Can' (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | September 29, 2010, 11:45AM

President Obama rallied college students in Madison, Wisconsin last night, returning to his fiery 2008 campaign rhetoric and telling young voters he needs them "to stay fired up."

You can watch the full speech below. It's part of a big push from the Obama White House to rekindle the campaign energy from two years ago in hopes of saving the House for the Democratic Party.

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Repealing health care

Dems Go All-In On Health Care With New Ad Slamming GOP's Repeal Promise (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | June 10, 2010, 12:00AM

President Obama speaks at a bipartisan White House gathering with Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) in the background.

Democrats on Thursday will launch a new 60-second ad on national cable television accusing repeal-happy Republicans of wanting to get rid of health care reform and all its benefits. The ad, obtained by TPMDC, is timed to coincide with the government mailing to seniors the first $250 Medicare rebate checks fixing the so-called prescription drug "donut hole."

The ad is titled "We Can't Afford To Go Back." It outlines the positive parts of the health care law signed by President Obama this spring and charges, "Republicans want to take it all away."

I've learned that DNC Chairman Tim Kaine on Thursday will dare Republicans to make repeal the focus of their fall campaign to try and win back control of Congress, challenging the GOP to tell senior citizens and others benefiting from health care exactly which parts of the reform law they'd scrap.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Here Comes Kagan! Dems Mount PR Offensive With Hearings Starting Next Month

Christina Bellantoni | May 19, 2010, 4:12PM

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan meets with (clockwise, from top left) Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

With the big Super Tuesday primary elections out of the way, the White House and the Democratic National Committee have mounted a public relations offensive to sell Supreme Court nominee Solicitor General Elena Kagan to voters and the senators tasked with her confirmation. Meanwhile, key Democrats are asking for more information on her record on abortion rights.

Judiciary Committee hearings will begin June 28, the panel announced today. It's an earlier start than ranking member Sen. Jeff Session (R-AL) had sought, and Leahy said he wants to wrap the hearings by July 4. Staffers from both parties are poring over Kagan's 202-page questionnaire detailing her record. Kagan herself has done a charm offensive while doing the standard in-person meetings with senators on Capitol Hill.

Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, a co-chair of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, sent Leahy a letter asking for more information on the nominee's pro-choice stance. Slaughter (D-NY) argued that Kagan's position is relatively unknown given her lack of a judicial record.

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PA-SEN

Plouffe Sends Email Calling Specter Key Obama Ally

Christina Bellantoni | May 17, 2010, 4:23PM

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and David Plouffe

The mastermind of the 2008 Obama campaign David Plouffe today is making a last-minute push for Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania, asking the most loyal of President Obama's supporters to help the struggling senator prevail in tomorrow's primary election.

"President Obama is committed to seeing Senator Specter re-elected. Whenever he has needed a crucial vote for a top priority, Arlen Specter has been there for our President and this movement," Plouffe wrote in an email that will be sent today by the Democratic National Committee's Organizing for America and obtained by TPMDC.

Plouffe was the campaign manager for Obama and has been a special adviser to the president ever since. The White House had him take on a more visible role this winter following the loss of Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts.

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PA-SEN

With Specter Suffering, White House And GOP Looking At Surging Sestak

Christina Bellantoni | May 17, 2010, 1:18PM

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA)

When a brutal television ad hit the airwaves starring Sen. Arlen Specter and his then-ally President George W. Bush, the incumbent Republican-turned-Democrat did little to defend against it. How could he, when it used footage of his own words from his days as a Republican?

With voter opinions of the longtime politician already formed, the ad helped drive home a reminder for Democrats -- they'd been voting against Specter for decades. That allowed Rep. Joe Sestak in the weeks since putting the Bush ad on the air to surge to the lead before tomorrow's still too-close-to-call Democratic primary race.

Republicans and Democrats say they started to think Specter was toast in early May, when Sestak went up on television with what they described as a "just brutal" campaign ad starring Bush. Specter countered with an ad starring President Obama, who won the state in 2008, but did not mount an aggressive defense against his own party-switching.

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2010 elections

Dem '10 Strategy: Get First-Time '08 Voters To Make It A Second Time

Christina Bellantoni | April 28, 2010, 5:42PM

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine

Democratic National Committee Chariman Tim Kaine today outlined a new strategy aimed at keeping his party's large Congressional majority in this fall's midterm elections, and it's mainly geared around preserving the young, diverse voting coalition that helped elected President Obama in 2008.

He said the DNC will try to get those 15 million new, first-time voters from 2008 to show up in an election that does not attract as much interest by having Democratic grassroots operatives make "hand-to-hand" communication with them. He said if the DNC speaks frequently to these voters (1.3 million in Texas, 400,000 in Ohio and 750,000 in Colorado) and remind them that their vote for Democrats is integral to Obama's success that will make the difference. He said they are above all else loyal to Obama.

"We know who they are," Kaine (D-VA) said on a call today for reporters and bloggers. "If we are able to significantly increase by 8 to 10 percent, it can have a sizable affect."

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Health Care

Health Care Reform Win Jumpstarts 2010 Campaigning

Christina Bellantoni | March 22, 2010, 1:34PM

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)

Now that House Democrats have passed sweeping health care legislation that's poised to become law within a matter of days, the Democrats and Republicans are positioning themselves firmly on opposites sides of the reform battle in preparation for the next face-off: November.

With both political parties staking the 2010 elections on health care legislation, it's worth looking back and see who took a gamble on pushing the reform fight month in and month out. Democrats have taken a pounding for the long focus on health care, but feel confident voters will be happy with the legislation they finally delivered after months of compromise and negotiations. Eager Republicans think they can convince Americans the bill will bankrupt the nation and cuts Medicare and Medicaid, and that health care reform has so badly wounded the majority party and President Obama that the Dems will lose control of the House this fall.

The midterm elections are a political eternity from now, and the health care bill isn't yet law. But, in the last year, interest groups have spent millions on advertising and activists have dialed Congressional offices millions of times, all in an attempt to shape and influence health care legislation. TPMDC took a look at how much time - and political capital - have been expended on health care.

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Health Care

Busy Signal Or Breakthrough? Congressional Switchboards Flooded With Health Care Call Deluge

Christina Bellantoni | March 16, 2010, 1:05PM

Women at a switchboard

Interns are scrambling to get the talking points right as the phones ring off the hook. Press secretaries' BlackBerries are running out of batteries from downloading hundreds of emails along the lines of, "Will your boss switch his vote?" Constituents asking about taxes aren't able to get through the clogged switchboards.

In what seems to be the final (really!) push on health care reform on Capitol Hill, offices have been deluged with phone calls from across the country. They are pro-reform, anti-reform, blasting reconciliation or begging for an up-or-down vote - engaged voters who are attempting to influence the course of what will be a razor-close vote this weekend.

No one has been more targeted than the 37 House Democrats who voted "No" the first time around on health care, the majority of which did so under the mantle of fiscal responsibility. They are prime gets for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House, who need to peel off a few to make up for the lost votes due to retirements and a change in the abortion provisions in the legislation.

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Barack Obama

OFA Makes Final Push For Health Care Reform

Brian Beutler | February 9, 2010, 10:17AM

President Barack Obama

President Obama's reconstituted campaign arm--Organizing for America--says it's renewing its commitment to passing health care reform legislation. At a moment when health care reform seems precariously close to defeat, OFA is once again reaching out to its members to push members of Congress to get the job done.

"Congress is weighing options and hearing plenty of special interest voices telling them to give up," reads an email to supporters from OFA Director Mitch Stewart sent this morning.

They need to understand that their constituents want them to keep fighting. So today, we're relaunching our Health Care Action Center to give you all the tools and information you need to fight for reform. At the Action Center, you can make calls, write letters, speak out in your community, and weigh in directly with Congress. There's information about what the President stands for, and personal stories that show why reform is so important. So check it out today: http://my.barackobama.com/Action Many of our senators and representatives are working overtime to gather support for a final bill and pass reform, and they should know we're standing with them. And the rest need to understand their constituents still demand action. We're so close to real reform -- we can't stop now.

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Questiontime

White House Jumps On Unexpected Boost - Touts Obama's Q&A With GOP

Christina Bellantoni | February 1, 2010, 9:10AM

The State of the Union was supposed to be the event the American people talked about this weekend at the dinner table, but when President Obama's question-and-answer session with House Republicans caught fire on the Internet, the White House went with it.

Aides weren't prepared for the mid-afternoon talk to generate so much buzz - and weren't even sure the full session would be televised - but even Obama critics of late praised him for answering every question. Democrats especially liked seeing Obama, in some cases, calling Republicans on the carpet for misleading voters about his policies.

Obama also surprised Republicans by revealing that he'd read their bills.

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2010 elections

Plouffe's Return Gives Dem Supporters Hope For 2010

Christina Bellantoni | January 25, 2010, 11:22AM

David Plouffe

David Plouffe's official return to the Obama inner circle of advisors is as much to reassure nervous Democrats as it is to do the job he's been assigned to do.

Plouffe, who penned an op-ed in this weekend's Washington Post saying the party needs to emerge victorious and pass health care, has been regarded by Obama loyalists and supporters as a smart political outsider who helped the candidate make smart choices during the long presidential campaign. He will help oversee the White House effort to retain as many Congressional seats and governorships as possible for the Democratic party this fall.

The White House selectively leaked details of Plouffe's new "expanded" role to news outlets this weekend as Democrats are questioning Obama's decision-making. Congressional Democrats have called for Obama to take a stronger leadership role in the health care fight, political operatives say he allowed Republicans to win the messaging war over the bill and progressives say they haven't seen Obama demonstrate much if any of the change they voted for.

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2010 elections

Massachusetts Voters Deluged With Calls From Nation's Political Activists

Christina Bellantoni | January 18, 2010, 9:46AM

Women at a switchboard

Out-of-staters descended on Massachusetts this weekend, flooding the Bay State with money and manpower in the final days of the special election to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.

In a bit of a shift from other big elections, activists in both parties are dialing in to help as the race is down-to-the-wire and closer than either party would like.

Administration staffers and Capitol Hill types flocked to phone banks in D.C. to dial in for attorney general Martha Coakley (D) while Republicans across the country rallied to help state Sen. Scott Brown (R).

Former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove told his nearly 100,000 followers yesterday, "#RETWEETTHISIF You want to help Scott Brown but don't live in MA." He sent out a link to the Brown campaign's Web site allowing for supporters to "call from home."

Arkansas Democrats asked their supporters to "Help Win the Massachusetts Senate Seat," blasting out a link to the DNC's Organizing for America phone banking site which also says Democrats can "make calls from home."

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Health Care

A Very Hawaiian Health Care Bill?

Christina Bellantoni | December 4, 2009, 5:56PM

President Barack Obama

The White House has long been saying President Obama wants a health care bill on his desk this year.

That's the messaging used by the DNC's Organizing for America, pro-health reform groups and, as Brian reported this week, the Democratic leadership is prepared to work "right through Christmas."

A reporter today asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about the lag as the Senate debates its version of the bill.

"Given that it took four days to vote on the first two amendments in the health care bill do you think realistically you're looking at a date closer to the state of the union for a bill?" the reporter asked in the morning gaggle.

"I'm not going to wiggle on a date," Gibbs said.

TPMDC followed up asking Gibbs about the First Family's annual Hawaiian vacation. The dates aren't public yet, but Obama will be in the Aloha state for a good chunk of time in late December.

"If the bill is passed the president would be happy to sign it in Hawaii - I could think of any number of picturesque locations," Gibbs said.

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Health Care

Senate Switchboards On Fire As Health Care Calls Flood Zone

Christina Bellantoni | November 20, 2009, 6:48PM

Women at a switchboard

We've heard all day about senate offices getting flooded with phone calls about the upcoming vote on the health care bill tomorrow.

As we reported earlier, Organizing for America is doing a call blast urging supporters to ask their senators to back the first procedural vote to start debate. Republicans also have been working the phones to ask senators to block the bill.

An aide to a Senate Democrat tells TPMDC their boss' phone rang so frequently today, the lines were busy for hours.

The calls "continued to fill our voicemail box over and over again," the aide said.

The overflow prompted another flood of calls to state offices. The majority of calls to this senator, who already supports the legislation, were in favor of the bill.

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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Organizing for America

Like An '08 Flashback: OFA Targets Sarah Palin As 'Dangerous'

Christina Bellantoni | November 20, 2009, 10:30AM

Fmr. Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

Organizing for America, the DNC's campaign arm set up to support President Obama's agenda, has a familiar target today: Sarah Palin.

Mitch Stewart, OFA's director, told supporters in an email just now they need help to raise "$500,000 in the next week to push back against Sarah Palin and her special interest allies."

His argument is that Palin's "lies" about health care are "widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform." He uses her death panels meme as an example.

In his book "The Audacity to Win," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said he was shocked that Palin was such a good fundraising driver for the team.

He writes that he looked at the online fundraising numbers a few hours after Palin made her big debut at the Republican National Convention going after Obama as his only experience being a community organizer.

"I couldn't believe what I saw," Plouffe wrote.

More from the book:

"We had taken in millions of dollars in the three hours since Palin had started speaking. We hadn't even asked for most of it; we had sent out just a single unplanned fund-raising email highlighting her attacks on community organizers, but it was just starting to hit people's in-boxes as I checked the numbers. So the big response from the last three hours meant people were merely venting via contribution. Her speech might have ginned up their base, but apparently it had sent ours into orbit."

He said he thought, "I hope she keeps this up. Sarah Palin has now become our best fund-raiser."

Sounds like that hasn't changed much.

Stewart's email from today after the jump.

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Health Care

Obama's Campaign Arm Plans Rally For Senate Bill

Christina Bellantoni | November 18, 2009, 5:53PM

President Barack Obama

As the Senate Democrats dropped their health care bill tonight, the DNC's Organizing for America is arranging asking supporters to attend an "impromptu" rally to encourage senators to back the bill.

OFA volunteers were calling Washington, D.C.-area people on the campaign mailing list tonight asking them to show at the Capitol Visitors Center at noon Thursday.

A volunteer who called TPMDC said the goal was "just to show support for reform."

Late update: This post has been updated. A Democratic source tells us it's not an official OFA event, and said volunteers have been directing supporters to Majority Leader Harry Reid's official roll out of the health care plan.

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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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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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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Health Care

Obama Tells Dems They Can Be 'Own Worst Enemies' And Asks For Health Care Unity

Christina Bellantoni | October 20, 2009, 10:36PM

President Barack Obama at the George Mason University Patriot Center in Arlington, VA

President Obama tonight pleaded with Democrats to remain unified in the final health care stretch, detailing for his loyal supporters in New York the good things in "the bill you least like."

"There are going to be some disagreements and details to work out ... but I want to say to you Democrats, let's make sure that we keep our eye on the prize," Obama said during a Webcast for the thousands of Organizing for America volunteers who were gathered for call parties across the country.

"Sometimes Democrats can be their own worst enemies, Democrats are an opinionated bunch ... y'all are thinking for yourselves," he said. "I like that in you, but it's time for us to make sure that we finish the job here. We are this close and we've got to be unified."

Obama said "the bill you least like in Congress right now, of the five that are out there," would give 29 million uninsured Americans health care, would ban preexisting conditions and would create an exchange that would encourage competition among ensurers.

His comments were live in front of an audience in a New York ballroom, and streamed out to the parties (where volunteers were proud they made more than 234,000 calls to Congress today). The refrain about "the bill you least like" sounded a bit like presidential foreshadowing since senators are meeting privately to merge the more conservative Senate Finance Committee bill with the more liberal Health, Education, Labor and Pensions version.

(Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is standing firm.)

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Health Care

Organizing For America Hits Another Goal As Hill Staffers Say Phones Are Ringing Off The Hook

Christina Bellantoni | October 20, 2009, 4:11PM

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)

The Congressional switchboards have been lighting up all day with health care supporters calling members through the Organizing for America call parties, and OFA is about to hit its second goal of 150,000 calls.

A staffer for Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) called to detail that office's experiences with the calls today, saying the volunteers offer a sample of varying perspectives on health care. Some are calling for a single-payer system, some are asking the Congresswoman to stand firm for a public option, while others are offering general support for President Obama's plan.

The staffer told TPMDC that more than 100 calls flooded in today. During a daily staff meeting they usually can have one person listen for the calls, but today they had to halt the meeting so a handful of aides could answer the phones.

"It's more calls in a single day than we've ever received on health care, and pales in comparison to efforts done by opponents. It's no small feat," the Schakowsky staffer told me. "It's definitely noticed and having an effect."

Work for a member of Congress? Is your phone ringing? Please share your stories with us.

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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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VA-GOV

Obama Grassroots Step Up For Deeds

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 15, 2009, 11:53AM

Va-Gov Candidate Creigh Deeds (D), President Barack Obama

The Obama campaign organization is flexing its considerable muscle in the Virgina gubernatorial race. This morning, Organizing For America -- the post-election name for Obama's 2008 campaign organization -- sent an email to its Virginia list calling on Obama grassroots activists to sign on with Creigh Deeds.

The email is good news for Deeds, whose trailing in polls and needs a boost among the core Democratic demographics OFA leveraged last year when it turned Virginia blue for the first time since 1964.

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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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Health Care

Flawed Insurance Industry Report Is Rallying Cry For Obama Grassroots Group

Brian Beutler | October 14, 2009, 9:12AM

President Barack Obama speaks at a Human Rights Campaign event.

One of the key dynamics at yesterday's historic Senate Finance Committee hearing was the schism between Democrats and Republicans on the findings of a health insurance industry-designed analysis of the Baucus Bill. While Republicans were cautiously willing to accept the report, Democrats used it to highlight the need for true reform. And now, President Obama's grassroots political organization is attempting some similar jujitsu.

In a letter to members, Organizing for America describes the industry report as "a blatant scare tactic designed to frighten voters and bully Congress...Send a message urging Congress to stand with voters, not D.C. lobbyists, and pass real reform."

You can read the entire letter below the fold. Yesterday, Democratic senators were almost giddy that the unpopular industry had decided to take them on, predicting that the move would actually make reform more likely to pass. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) even predicted that the report had even improved the chances that the final bill will include a public option.

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VA-GOV

Obama Campaign Organization Sends Out E-Mail To Virginia List, On Gubernatorial Race

Eric Kleefeld | October 7, 2009, 3:50PM

Organizing For America has sent out an e-mail to its Virginia list -- which contains a very large number of Obama supporters in the state -- seeking to mobilize support for Creigh Deeds in the gubernatorial race.

The e-mail attacks Republican nominee Bob McDonnell's right-wing grad school thesis, which denounced working women:

In his masters thesis, written when he was 34, McDonnell clearly spelled out his regressive vision for life in Virginia -- including his view that women working outside the home are "detrimental" to the family, that couples should not have access to contraception and that the government should "restrain, punish, and deter" homosexuality.

...

In the 2008 election we faced a choice between fear and division, or coming together to build a stronger future. We chose that path forward last year, and if you're able to help now, it will make a huge difference in making sure Virginia says no to Bob McDonnell's destructive vision for the Commonwealth.

The full e-mail is available after the jump.

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Health Care

OFA: Those Public Option Talking Points Were a Goof...But They're Not Wrong

Brian Beutler | October 1, 2009, 3:12PM

President Barack Obama

We noted earlier that President Obama's political arm Organizing for America had distributed internal talking points urging organizers to describe the public option as a "small part" of health care reform.

Apparently, though, that was a bit of a snafu--the talking points emerged at the state level, were not approved from up on high--and the group doesn't stand by them. Instead, they're sticking with the bullet points on OFA's website, which describes Obama's plan as one that includes a public option.

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Health Care

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

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

President Obama

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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