Bruce Braley (IA-01) was elected to Congress in 2006 with the support of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue" program. In 2008 he helped manage the DCCC's Red to Blue efforts. For the next election cycle, he's been promoted again:

The DCCC today named the second of its three Vice Chairs - Congressman Bruce Braley (D-IA) will serve as Vice Chair for candidate services, responsible for the DCCC's offensive efforts including recruitment, money, and training.  

DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen said, "The DCCC will stay aggressive this cycle and continue to challenge Republicans who are out of step with their districts.  As a former chair and former member of the Red to Blue program, Bruce Braley knows first hand what it takes to be a successful candidate; his battle tested leadership will be a real asset to our candidates facing tough elections."

Congressman Bruce Braley brings his experience as chair of the DCCC's successful and effective 2008 Red to Blue Program and as a former member of the Red to Blue Program.

Vice Chair Bruce Braley said, "I'm looking forward to continuing my work at the DCCC in this new leadership role.  It's critical for us to continue assisting our candidates with the money, messaging and mobilization they will need to get elected in the 2010 election cycle.  I will work hard to help our candidates win their races."

Congressman Bruce Braley will serve as Vice Chair for candidate services.  The DCCC's candidate services include recruiting, money, and training.  A Vice Chair focusing on Member participation will be named at a later date.

Last month, Van Hollen named Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida the DCCC Vice Chair for incumbent retention. Given her refusal to endorse three Democratic challengers to Republican incumbents in south Florida, it was appropriate for Van Hollen to remove her from a leadership role in the Red to Blue program.

The third vice chair "will seek to increase House member participation in DCCC efforts," which presumably means getting more safe Democratic incumbents to pay their DCCC dues.

So Braley's niche will be finding and capitalizing on opportunities to pick up Republican-held seats. 2010 is likely to be a more challenging environment for Democratic candidates than the past two cycles, but it's good to know the DCCC is planning to remain on offense as well. We have a chance to achieve a political realignment, given the Democratic advantages with certain demographic groups in recent elections. Building on our success in 2006 and 2008 will require the DCCC to do more than protect our own vulnerable incumbents.

Good luck to Representative Braley in his new role. He'll be quite busy the next couple of years, with a seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and a Populist Caucus to lead.

The old adage of "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again" might serve Roland Burris well in his attempt to become the junior Senator from Illinois. He may actually need only to try but once for it seems the unity of the Democrats in blocking the appointment has collapsed. Dianne Feinstein, the senior Senator from California, is urging the Senate to settle the matter and by settle she means sitting Burris.

"If you don't seat Mr. Burris, it has ramifications for gubernatorial appointments all over America," the California senator said. "Mr. Burris is a senior, experienced politician. He has been attorney general, he has been controller, and he is very well-respected. I am hopeful that this will be settled."

Senator Feinstein who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, which judges the credentials of senators argues that the governor has the power under the law to make the appointment. The matter, in her mind, seems settled.  

I am not a lawyer so I have no idea the legality of all this but as a political observer I can only say this entire episode is such a tragic comedy. If the appointment is, in fact, legal then there isn't any point in any further discussions that only serve to distract from the important business facing the nation. So is this appointment legal or not? To answer this question should not consume the nation.

It appears the Bush boomlet is over before it really even started.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will not run for the open Senate seat of Sen. Mel Martinez, he announced in a statement released moments ago.

"After thoughtful consideration, I have decided not to run for the United States Senate in 2010," said Bush. "While the opportunity to serve my state and country during these turbulent and dynamic times is compelling, now is not the right time to return to elected office."

This news almost undoubtedly makes it easier for the Democrats to win the open seat Senate contest to succeed unpopular one-term Republican Senator Mel Martinez -- though at the cost of depriving the party the opportunity to make 2010 yet another election about the Bushes. At this point, despite the prattling of George Bush the elder, my guess is that talk of a Bush comeback will occur nearly every two years into the future, talk that isn't backed up with any real movement towards a restoration of the clan's electoral success (or even real attempts at such a restoration).

We all know that George W. Bush's economic track record has been bad, but just how bad was it. The depth and long term effects of the Bush recession are not yet known, but some of the preliminary numbers compiled by Pew look horrendous.

• While both GDP and per capita GDP rose during the eight years of the Bush administration, by 19.4 percent and 11.0 percent respectively, median household incomes are actually down -- a discouraging signal that indeed not only are the rich getting richer, it is the rich who have benefitted to a much greater extent that other Americans.
  
• The national debt has nearly doubled from $5.7 trillion to $10 trillion -- and that doesn't even include the amounts that the Obama administration will have to spend to try to dig the country out from the Bush recession, as well as the costs of the ongoing war in Iraq. Note, too, that George W. Bush inherited an unprecedentedly large budgetary surplus, so this blowup in debt was by no means a foregone conclusion.
  
• Unemployment is up significantly, from 3.9 percent in 2000 to 6.7 percent today. Even worse, when discouraged jobseekers and the under employed are included, that rate has gone from 6.9 percent to 12.5 percent -- fully one in eight American workers.

Of course these numbers shouldn't come as a surprise to those who have watched American politics in recent years, and certainly not to those who have borne the brunt of Bush's failed economic policies. That said, it's important for these numbers to be firmly established in the record so that Republicans are not allowed to shift blame for the woes their backward ideology foisted upon the country to the current leadership in Washington.

What do you know...shrill blogger Matt Stoller is heading to work on the Hill:

Well, I suppose I had to make the announcement at some point, so here goes.  I won't be blogging at OpenLeft for some time.  I've taken a job inside the House of Representatives (more on that when I've cleared what I can say) to see how the place works and to help create the space for more progressive policies.  
...
As a movement, we need to be promoting and helping our leaders make the right decisions, pick the right policies, and surround themselves with individuals who will frame policy choices in real human terms, without the weak bromides that mask the cruel impact of bad policy decisions.  That's the problem I want to start solving.  And so I'll be moving away from public blogging, though I'm pretty sure I will return eventually, perhaps soon.  Politics is always volatile.

Working on the Hill will be frustrating for a blogger who's worked on primarily national issues - House members, especially junior ones, spend more than half their time working on very local, retail issues for constituents. Larger, national billboard issues are only part of the equation.

But that said, I respect Matt a lot for diving in the deep end. I'm sure he'll communicate what he learns, and the "Rootsgap" he describes will shrink as a result.

I'm running for Congress in the Fifth District of Illinois.  

As a Chicago lawyer for thirty years, I have fought for working people in the Fifth District and throughout the city. I have represented unions as well as people with no unions to protect them. In plant closings I have helped them recover health and pension benefits. I obtained health care for the uninsured. I've been pressing the State of Illinois to crack down on payday lenders.

In my life as a lawyer I have lived out a commitment to one cause above all - to bring economic security to working Americans, in our District, in our country. That's the same commitment I will bring to Congress.  

We're deep in an economic crisis unlike any other we've known. It may last years. We need new and creative ways to protect working Americans, especially our older working people who have no real pensions to live on.

For years we've heard the doomsayers: "We can't afford Social Security."  "We can't afford 'single-payer' national health." One thing we all learned from the $700 billion bail out: We've got the money to do all of this and more.

At the moment, the Federal Reserve is literally printing money, to give not billions but trillions to banks and financial firms. To the people of this District, the banks and others have gotten their money. Now it's your turn.

(Please stay in the loop with my campaign: www.geogheganforcongress.com)

Here's the bailout I will go to Congress to get:

Today at noon EST, the 111th congress will convene and every member of the House and every newly elected member of the Senate will be sworn in.

Some highlights:

• Burris: denied:

  Roland Burris announced Tuesday he was rejected for Barack Obama's Senate seat, in a bizarre rainy-day scene on the Capitol grounds as lawmakers awaited the gaveling of the 111th Congress into session.

  Standing amid a huge throng of reporters and television cameras in a cold and steady rain, Burris, 71, declared that he had been informed that "my credentials are not in order and will not be accepted."

  The former Illinois attorney general said he was "not seeking to have any type of confrontation" over taking the seat that he was appointed to by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich. But Burris also said he was looking at options for taking the seat.

• Cheney will be swearing in Biden:

  The most interesting picture of the day could be Dick Cheney swearing in the man that will soon replace him as vice president, Joe Biden. As sitting vice president, Cheney presides over the Senate -- and Biden is not only vice president-elect, but the newly re-elected senior senator from Delaware. He'll give that position up come January 20, when he takes the vice presidential oath of office.

• Al Franken will not be seated today. From Harry Reid's statement to TPM yesterday:

  "Now that the bipartisan state canvassing board has certified Al Franken as the winner, we hope Senator Coleman respects its decision and does not drag this out for months with litigation. Shortly after Election Day, Coleman criticized Mr. Franken for wanting a recount and wasting taxpayer money. Now that it is clear he lost, Coleman should follow his own advice and not subject the people of Minnesota to a costly legal battle.

  "However, there will not be an effort to seat Mr. Franken tomorrow."

I know a lot of people are heading down to DC for the ceremonies. I wish I could be there as well. All the best to all of our newly sworn in members.

Update [2009-1-6 12:19:12 by Todd Beeton]:On CSPAN2 right now: "Dick Cheney is adminstering the oath of office to Senators 4 at a time in alphabetical order." Just saw Kay Hagan get sworn in. Congrats to all of our new Senators!

Update [2009-1-6 12:19:12 by Todd Beeton]:Dick Cheney moments ago: "Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies both foreign and domestic?" I'd love it if John Kerry were like "Umm, yeah, do you?"

Update [2009-1-6 12:26:46 by Todd Beeton]:The Udalls and Jeanne Shaheen just got sworn in. This is more entertaining to watch than I would have expected.

Update [2009-1-6 12:42:24 by Todd Beeton]:And by the way, the House swearings in are being shown on CSPAN.

How sweet it is...

What else is on your minds?