End the DNC malpractice

From The Hill

The Democratic National Committee (DNC), in a stunning example of political malpractice, recently filed a lawsuit involving the same matters now being investigated by nonpartisan special counsel Robert Mueller. Democratic workers, candidates and donors should demand that the DNC publicly release the full details of its planned budget for this horrendously ill-advised venture, and then demand that the DNC deploy its resources instead in ways that will elect Democrats to regain control of the House and Senate.

The great news for Democrats is that the tidal wave of revulsion against the swampland that Trump and Republicans in Congress have brought to Washington is so deep and wide, and voter turnout in support of change will be so enthusiastic and large, that recent elections throughout 2017 and 2018 strongly suggest that even polls favorable to Democrats underestimate the potential magnitude of the Democratic victory in the midterms.

House Republicans, including the Speaker of the House, continue to retire in large numbers. Recent elections show that more than 100 House Republicans are vulnerable to potentially being defeated. Democrats now have a realistic chance of regaining control of the Senate as well as the House.

However, Democrats should be warned that many House and Senate elections could be decided by razor thin margins. Democrats could lose enough close House and Senate races that they ultimately lose seats in the Senate and fail to gain control of the House.

With little margin for error, it is malpractice for the DNC to waste a penny of money, or a minute of time, on a lawsuit that literally does absolutely nothing to elect Democrats to the House or Senate in the most important midterm election in generations. How many voters will witness this lawsuit and conclude it makes their lives better in any way, for even one moment? The answer is none!

Memo to the DNC, pardon my bluntness, but it's the turnout, idiots, not the lawsuits, that win elections. The greatest asset Democrats possess in the midterm elections is not the lawyers who file cases, or DNC leaders who praise themselves on television for bringing these cases, but the deep wellspring of public outrage against the GOP status quo, from the liberal base to independent voters, from women to students and minority voters, that explains the strong blue surge even in some deep-red places.

While Women's Marchers, student leaders and minority activists are spearheading efforts to register voters and mobilize turnout, it is malpractice for DNC leaders to be merchandising court filings and discussing legal briefs that voters do not give a damn about compared to their jobs, health care, wages and standard of living.

The DNC should focus with tenacity and aggression on registering and motivating voters. For every additional voter that the DNC can help register and bring to the polls, that voter can help elect a Democrat to the House, Senate and state races wherever he or she votes.

Equally important, at a time when the Democratic Party brand is only marginally more popular than the Republican Party brand with voters, the DNC can produce high quality party branding ads, speaking tours and town meetings that highlight and showcase an extraordinarily appealing new generation of Democratic voices who embody the best of the party's past and the great hope for the party's future.

To lift the appeal of the Democratic cause, the DNC should produce ads and public events to provide huge visibility to appealing Democratic figures with names such as Michelle Obama, Reps. Joe Kennedy III (Mass.) and Beto O'Rourke (Texas), Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Tammy Duckworth(Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Cory Booker(N.J.), and former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander among others.

All Americans should support the nonpartisan Mueller investigation of the Russian attack against America and condemn Republicans who refuse to protect Mueller from attempts to obstruct his work.

The DNC should be registering voters, mobilizing workers, increasing turnout, lifting the party image and helping Democrats win elections in 2018 and 2020.