President Obama is going to unleash his grassroots army this week in support of his budget proposal. This is the moment when we will discover the power and effectiveness of community organizing, and whether it can compete with mere rhetoric and traditional activism.
Democrats that do not respond to this grassroots push will be easy to identify. And they will become the targets of the next generation of progressive organizing. Now, I do not kid myself that much can be done on the Senate side of things, even though that is where the most movement is needed. It’s just a fact of life that it’s almost impossible to knock off an incumbent Democratic senator. The closest we came was with Joe Lieberman, and even that effort ultimately came up short. It is much easier to knock off members of the House. I want to point out some obvious targets.
1. Jane Harman (CA-36)
2. Rob Andrews (NJ-01)
3. Artur Davis (AL-07)- running for governor
4. Adam Smith (WA-09)
5. Jim Cooper (TN-05)
6. Jim Costa (CA-20)
7. Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
8. Shelley Berkley (NV-01)
9. John Barrow (GA-12)
10. Jason Altmire (PA-04)
I’d start looking for primary challengers to those ten Democrats, plus Ellen Tauscher (CA-10). Let’s just scare the crap out of these people. All we have to do is beat one of them to send a message.