Democrats chances of keeping control of the Senate in 2014 dont look great. FiveThirtyEight polling guru Nate Silver recently predicted that Republicans are now slight favorites to win at least six seats and capture the chamber, and the Washington Posts Monkey Cage blog gives the GOP an 80 percent chance of taking the Senate in 2014. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) isnt up for election this year. But the liberal darling is throwing her name—and her fundraising mojo—behind an effort to preserve the Dems majority. Warren has already raised $1.2 million this election season for 22 Senate candidates, including Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), according to Warrens political operation. Thats a lot of dough. Most members of Congress are not capable of raising that much for their colleagues…Shes a rock star, says Viveca Novak, the editorial director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks the influence of money on politics. And in late March, the Massachusetts senator expanded her 2014 efforts even further, joining up with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), a liberal PAC, to endorse two lucky Senate candidates: Rick Weiland, who is running to replace outgoing Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota, and Rep. Bruce Braley, who is vying to take the place of retiring Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). Landing a Warren endorsement is great news for candidates without a lot of name recognition at the national level, says John Halpin, a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress. Weiland, the South Dakota candidate, says Warrens endorsement has been extremely helpful so far, adding that after Warren and the PCCC sent out their fundraising pitch, there was quite a spike [in donations] in the first couple of days. (The Weiland campaign does not yet have final fundraising numbers for the initial Warren-PCCC push.) Officials with the Braley campaign say the same thing. The campaign couldnt give out fundraising details, but an Iowa Democrat familiar with Braleys campaign says, Let me put it this way. Theres a reason why the [Warren] endorsement was rolled out before the March 31 fundraising deadline. Warrens office says that the senator is spending so much time fundraising for her colleagues because she believes it is critical for Democrats to maintain control of the Senate. But the back-scratching is good for Warrens political future, too—whether or not she ever runs for president. I see mixed motives that are not incompatible, says Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. The heros wings she wins for campaigning for congressional progressives can be pinned on again in a future presidential effort. It is a win-win for her. -Erika
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 17:00:00 +0000
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