The inability and/or unwillingness of Congressional Democrats to end U.S. involvement in Iraq has been frustrating for the antiwar left, to say they least. They’ve threatened and pleaded, and sent out thousands of ‘action alerts,’ all designed to force Democrats in Washington to do something to end the war. But after all the cajoling, not much was accomplished. The Democratic leadership ultimately decided that it would be too politically damaging to cut off funds for troops in the field. Angry at the loss on Iraq, as well as a FISA vote that many liberals considered a betrayal, they began to organize primary challenges to sitting House Democrats. The blog OpenLeft has been one of the leaders in promoting primary challenges to ‘Bush Dog’ Democrats, and the site Democrats.com has been tracking them as they materialize. So far, there seems to be relatively little real activity. Congressional Quarterly profiles what may be the most serious challenge to a sitting Democrat so far:
Boswell’s seat is the second-best Republican seat currently represented by a Democrat. If Boswell were denied renomination, the seat becomes a genuine Republican pickup opportunity. A more liberal candidate would likely improve GOP prospects further. Two other incumbents facing netroots-backed challenges from the left are Congressmen Dan Lipinski and Albert Wynn. Their opponents have each earned the highly prized endorsement of the Daily Kos. (Wynn is a curious addition to this list. While he’s cast some votes that have angered the left, he has a strong liberal voting record–with a 9.9 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union.) There seem to be a few other incumbents who may break a sweat, but at most just 2 or 3 will be denied renomination. It’s hard to believe that so much effort will be put into such a small result. Did the behavior of Democrats in Washington really change all that much when Ned Lamont beat Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary? The proof of the pudding is in the tasting: despite beating Lieberman, Democratic Senators humored the antiwar left and then did what they thought was in their best interest. No matter what the outcome of primary challenges this year, the netroots are unlikely to be any happier in 2009.
