Legend In the CBC Has Something to Say

It Took 5 Weeks to Listen to McChrystal?

Why did it take five weeks of meetings to do what McChrystal wanted in the first place as Quagmire #2 to continues: DRUDGE: REVEALED BY CBSNEWS TONIGHT: OBAMA'S PLAN FOR AFGHANISTAN; send four combat brigades plus thousands more support troops... close to the 40,000 that McChrystal wanted...

Ms. Kilpatrick of Michigan

36 million Americans will be covered.

The Dos and Don'ts of DEEDS

Some of the mistakes made by the Deeds campaign in his run for Governor of Virginia were so obvious they need to be reviewed. That anyone on the gubernatorial level could make this many bonehead plays is amazing. Whether the run is for dogcatcher or U.S. Senate there are some obvious unintended lessons the Deeds camp handed to us.

01. Get out the vote. It doesn't matter what year it is or who else is running. The energy of your entire campaign should be built around getting your voter to the polls on election day. Period. Tales of campaign mailers and robocalls going to the wrong people or to know one at all abound.

02. No half-assing the campaign strategy. Do it all the way or go home. You can't be all things to all people. If you're gonna shun Obama or Bush or whoever is in the White House don't half-ass it. Either shun 100% or embrace 100%. Deeds shun then embrace of Obama was foolish and confusing. Who were they fooling? Deeds was using the same font and color scheme as the Obama campaign. What it told you is that the smart-ass consultants had arrived in earnest. What message did it send to the base of the party that there was confusion on whether to embrace Obama?

03. Dance with who brought you. If certain staff, consultants and advisors helped you win in the primary keep them around until the end. What was the point of switching advisors after winning the primary? The group of in-the-trenches- true believers were emotionally invested in Deeds only to be replaced by those who knew nothing specifically about Virginia politics. Brilliant.

04. More Politics 101: Ask advice of those who know more than you. Rep. Rick Boucher is 63 and has been in politics for 27 years. Rep. Bobby Scott is 62 and has been in politics for 33 years. Rep. Jim Moran is 64 and has been in for 30 years. I could go on but why? Just those three have won over 30 elections in Virginia. You think the Deeds people asked these guys how to win? Nah. One of the singularly dumbest things the campaign failed to do was to simply ask advice of people around them who know more than they did. It's easy: You ask advice then shut up and listen. Doug Wilder should have been called and bugged endlessly and made into a chief consultant to get him invested and involved in the campaign. Instead he turned into an enemy and a liability. An when you consult implement the advice. Don't just use people as props at events and lose their phone number later. I talked with almost all the members of the Virginia Congressional delegation on this point. Did the McDonnell folks do this? You better believe it. The Rs talked with each other all the time throughout the campaign. Randy Forbes and I had a big laugh on this one.

05. Decide who you are and be who you are. The voters can recognize a contrivance and a fake from a mile away. Who was Creigh Deeds? The campaign never decided. If you make decisions and build strategy based on getting votes alone people will see right through it. The reason why Glenn Nye will not be a member of the U.S. House of Representatives this time next year is because he makes decisions based on keeping his House seat rather than having a clear consistent ideological set of reasoning building his decisions and everyone knows it. Everyone knew who McDonnell was. No one knew who Deeds was.

06. Campaign where the votes are. Seems obvious but let's take a drive into "Deeds Country" shall we. Probably the biggest and most consistent strategic blunders of Deeds' campaign. Yeah, yeah your from Bath County. Charming. Now let's win an election. Where are the votes in Virginia for a Democrat? Arlington, Norfolk, Richmond, Hampton, Virginia Beach and so on. When I see towns I've never heard of on the schedule in the final weeks of the campaign I know the smart-asses are in full control. Floyd, Virginia? Max Meadows anyone? Pulaski?

07. Get the schedule together. Be Crazy: Tell people where you are and what you're doing and what time. As a member of the press when I see that a campaign can't get the schedule out until late the night before I know they don't know what they're doing. Period. This is one of the simplest signals a campaign has two many Indian chiefs sitting around trying to micromanage every moment. When I see the schedule has people on it you KNOW for a fact had to have been committed to the event days beforehand I understand the campaign is intentionally hiding their schedule info. But why? The lower the office the easier it should be to get the sched out. When I covered Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign, McCain's 2000 Presidential campaign, Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign, and Bush in 2004 they had scheds out DAYS before and their campaigns involved the Secret Service! When a campaign is behind it's even more important that everyone knows what the candidate is doing. Romney and Huckabee in New Hampshire? They were behind. They made sure everyone knew what they were doing. If people don't know basic information on where the candidate is and what they are doing you're wasting everyone's time. McDonnell's sched —just like Obama's, Clinton's and McCain's in 2008 — was simply put on his website for ALL to see whether press or not.

08. Learn how to deliver a speech effectively. If the VA Dem party blew 15 million as the electorate selected Deeds from Moran and McAuliffe someone could pay for speaking lessons for Deeds. There is no excuse for bad public speaking by any public official who has been in public life for more than a year. I'm tired of the excuses for bad public speaking. I bet Randy Moss and Tom Brady practice catching and throwing to each other during the week to get better. Derek Jeter still attends batting practice before games. Deeds needed to practice his public speaking.

09. Get smart with e-mail use. Learn from the use of technology during Obama's 2008 campaign. When they used mass e-mail they did it wisely and they tended to do interactive things that facilitated political involvement. Of course it's true that Obama is a force of nature and a political freak that peoplle wanted to support. Deeds was not. Do I really need e-mail 1,652 from Bob Cranwell telling me

10. Use the press properly. To add to the point made in #8: If a campaign has no money or is running behind use the press even more than normal. One Sunday Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Scott hosted an event for Deeds with every politico in the area attending: No press. Another morning Rep. Scott and Deeds visited a bunch of churches: No press. Why? And if you're trying for the black vote wouldn't it be helpful to have stills and video of the highest ranking black public official in Virginia and your candidate? I was amazed at how many times I'd find out about events after the fact. I never did get on the press list and had to have my colleague Greg Nash forward the sched to me. But who needs a press list: They should have just posted the events online. As I'm typing this in comes an email from Michelle Obama's office telling me her sched for the week. Here we have someone under Secret Service protection and her sched is made readily available. Why Deeds' people were secretive and late on this I have no clue. Whatever the case they could have used the press as their biggest PR tool if people simply knew where they are and what they were doing.

Health Care Debate Unruliness

I was surprised the Rs didn't delay more. This was the best they could do.

Historic Health Care Vote

The "freedom to be uninsured..."

Clyburn, Pelosi, Hoyer

220 to 215. Five votes and an abortion amendment. That the leadership team of Clyburn, Pelosi and Hoyer brought that close a margin to the floor is pretty daring. Big win for the Lady in Red and a huge win for vote counter and Whip Jim Clyburn. Garamendi and Owens: Amazing timing. Just like Cap and Trade they found the votes and a way to win. Miraculously on Republican joined them, Joseph Cao, who is in Bill Jefferson's seat in Louisiana and, like Glenn Nye in Virginia, has "1-termer" written all over him. But move over Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson. This lady in red is for real and continues to roll the agenda forward at full speed. PHOTO: Last night at about 11:30 p.m. after victory.

Ellison - Health Care - Vote Tweets

Three health care vote tweets by Keith Ellison
— Vote is 220 to 215 - Health Care Reform passes thru the House. Congrat to Pelosi, Hoyer, Clyburn, Larsen and Beccera and AND all the Ppl.
— House passage of HC reform is huge for D momentum. Senate CAN'T do less. I am sure Obama is happy. Puts wind at his back.
— Dingle: It takes $4/per hour less in Canada than in US because of HC.

The Lady in Red

Will the Lady in Red along with her vote counting buddies Jim Clyburn and Steny Hoyer, score big again and launch into the ranks of heavy hitters like LBJ, Jim Wright and Tip O'Neill... or maybe Sam Rayburn? We'll see tonight. She's wearing red today. Typical Aries behavior.

CBCers and the Historic Health Care Vote

Yes, yes it's Saturday. But history calls and I was a history major so I just can't resist. Since Glenn Nye and Tom Perriello aren't in the Crew of 42 there isn't much to say about the health care vote and the CBC. The Crew is on board and on board bigtime. Their amendments include cash for community health care centers and focus on health care disparities. Let the church roll on. I watched Carolyn Kilpatrick sieze the moment during this historic day to get colleagues to sign a copy of the legislation. Good idea. There's an amendment on abortion and some immigration stuff to be worked out later but the buzz in the halls is that Alpha Gal Pelosi has 218. Were the Owens Garamendi elections a big deal or what? PHOTO: CBCers on their way to the Obama Caucus meeting: Charlie Rangel, Barbara Lee, Elijah Cummings, EBJ, Bennie Thompson, Obama entering through the back door and Bobby Scott.

Obama on a Saturday

CAPITOL HILL — Too many cops standing around with nothing to do. Grim faced Secret Service agents. Elevators not working. Snipers on the roof of Rayburn. It must be a visit to Capitol Hill by President Barack Obama. He met with House Democrats six hours prior to what should be one of the most historic votes in Congress in American history. He did'nt mention abortion or immigration. Just a bunch of historic blah blah blah. Of course this is historic. Maybe the biggest vote in 70 years and the biggest since the era of Franklin D. Roosevelt. There were chants of "fired up and ready to go..." at the end. And that was that. The involvement of President Obama in the health care debate has been shaky at best regarding his connection, of lack there of, to members of the House. Some of these members will have to answer for a vote some of their constituents may not like this time next year. Obama came and he left. He made a statement regarding the historic nature of the vote in the Rose Garden an hour later and took off for Camp David. Next: The phone call to Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn later in H-210 if all goes as planned at 6:s0 p.m.

CBC Provisions in the HC Bill IN/OUT

STILL IN

Yvette Clarke - (joined by Kilili Sablan and Pedro Pierluisi) Amendment #26, passed by voice vote, regarding a sense of the Congress that, "the reforms made by H.R. 3200, as introduced, must be strengthened to meaningfully address the health care needs of residents of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and Congress is committed to working with the representatives of these territories to ensure that residents of these territories have access to high-quality and affordable health care..."

Marcia Fudge - (joined by Dina Titus) Amendment #12, passed 28 to 18, on a topic everyone is fixated on: The health care bill's effect on small business. Amendment calls for a commisioner to provide info to small business on the new health care plan. Establishes the definition of "small" employers as "less than 100 employees." Calls for the "distribution of information to small employers with respect to the enrollment and selection process for health plans available under the Health Insurance Exchange..."

Jim Clyburn - To achieve access to comprehensive primary health care services for all Americans and to reform the organization of primary care delivery through an expansion of the Community Health Center and National Health Service Corps programs. (Introduced in March, 131 cosponsors)

OUT
Bobby Scott - Amendment #5 regarding preventative health coverage of children, passed 32 to 17. Reads: "Well baby and well child care and early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment services (as defined in section 1905(r) of the Social Security Act) at least for children under 21 years of age." Aka: To amend the Social Security Act to provide health insurance coverage for children and pregnant women throughout the U.S. by combining the children and pregnant woman health coverage under Medicaid and SCHIP into a new All Healthy Children Program, and for other purposes.

72 HOURS: Are CBC Provisions Still in the Final Health Care Bill?

This is why these pledges to post the final health care bill for at least 72 hours before a vote is a big deal. The Republicans are correct to make a big point on this. This is the period where we find out what was mysteriously stripped from the final bill. Barbara Lee and company have a presser today at the House Triangle at 1:30 p.m. Here is where we learn the wins and the loses. But while everyone focuses on the public option there are other provisions that are just as important that deserve attention. Let's go over the key provisions in the health care bill offered by members of the CBC. Today I go out a check to see if what is listed below remains in a thousand plus page bill.

Jim Clyburn - To achieve access to comprehensive primary health care services for all Americans and to reform the organization of primary care delivery through an expansion of the Community Health Center and National Health Service Corps programs. (Introduced in March, 131 cosponsors)

Bobby Scott - Amendment #5 regarding preventative health coverage of children, passed 32 to 17. Reads: "Well baby and well child care and early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment services (as defined in section 1905(r) of the Social Security Act) at least for children under 21 years of age." A.k.a: To amend the Social Security Act to provide health insurance coverage for children and pregnant women throughout the U.S. by combining the children and pregnant woman health coverage under Medicaid and SCHIP into a new All Healthy Children Program, and for other purposes.

Yvette Clarke - (joined by Kilili Sablan and Pedro Pierluisi) Amendment #26, passed by voice vote, regarding a sense of the Congress that, "the reforms made by H.R. 3200, as introduced, must be strengthened to meaningfully address the health care needs of residents of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and Congress is committed to working with the representatives of these territories to ensure that residents of these territories have access to high-quality and affordable health care..."

Marcia Fudge - (joined by Dina Titus) Amendment #12, passed 28 to 18, on a topic everyone is fixated on: The health care bill's effect on small business. Amendment calls for a commisioner to provide info to small business on the new health care plan. Establishes the definition of "small" employers as "less than 100 employees." Calls for the "distribution of information to small employers with respect to the enrollment and selection process for health plans available under the Health Insurance Exchange..."

Blacks and House Ethics part 1

Just as a basic observation: There are too many black lawmakers involved with House Ethics. Whether they are on the Committee or the subject of investigation I don't care.

What the hell let's list them:
01. Emanuel Cleaver
02. G.K. Butterfield
03. Bobby Scott
04. Maxine Waters
05. Bennie Thompson
06. Dr. Donna Christensen
07. Carolyn Kilpatrick
08. Charlie Rangel
09. Laura Richardson
10. Don Payne
11. Roland Burris
12. Jesse Jackson Jr

Cleaver, Butterfield and Scott are on an investigative committee. Maxine on down are the subject of investigation or a recent investigation (Burris). The silly jaunt to St. Maarten accounts for 6 people. The bottom line remains that 12 of 42 is almost a third of the CBC. If I could get Cleaver, Butterfield and Scott to talk to me regarding their service on Ethics I'd try and extract from them why they got involved with the committee in the first place. Why? Don't they have enough to do? Worse: Ethics has a long and gloriously rich history of doing nothing and punishing no one.

Time to declare the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct for what it is bottom line: A time draining secretive operation that gives nothing back and is thankless to the bitter core. No constituent in any district in these United States will ever walk over to a United States Representative and thank them for their service on Ethics. Indeed, what constituents should be asking is: Why do you spend time serving on Ethics? Since everything about this committee is cloak and dagger there is no way of knowing how much time a member spends but rumor has it the time taken is considerable.

CBCF Channel Rocks

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation has video up of the CBCF Legislative Conference. Did you miss anything? Not if you check this out. This totally rocks.

Rally Against D health care bill on Cap Hill

A panoramnic of the West Front of the U.S. Capitol grounds from today's Republican health care bill rally.

Obama Coming to Hill Thurs?

Confirmed by Pelosi at her weekly presser: Obama coming to Capitol Hill on Friday. Rumors are swirling that President Obama will make a visit to Capitol Hill to meet with House Dems in the Cannon Caucus Room prior to the Saturday health care vote. In looking at his schedule this would have to happen at some time after 5 p.m. Obama does have a meeting at the White House with five members of the Hispanic Caucus. This is interesting because the CBC has been asking for the same type of meeting for months only to end up with a visit with VP Biden at their weekly Wednesday meeting in HC-5. Developing...

Edward Brooke Gold Medal Gallery

Former Senator Edward Brooke was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal last week. President Obama attended. Here is a photo gallery.