Democrats rubbed out another five republican Congressmen in the Northeast yesterday, including three in New York, one in New Jersey, and, in a historic victory, finally ending the tenure of New England's last remaining Member of the House, Chris Shays.

In NY-29, Eric Massa succeeded in his second attempt to knock off incumbent Shotgun Randy Kuhl. In NY-13, City Councilman Michael McMahon took Vito "More families, more values" Fossella's formerly safe seat with over 60% of the vote. In NY-25, Dan Maffei will replace retiring republican James Walsh.

So that's that. Republicans just stopped being a national party. Too bad for them.

Brandon English at the DCCC emails over some further distressing news for Progressive NY-13 candidate Steve Harrison: his opponent in the Demcratic primary, Michael McMahon, has been added to the DCCC's Red to Blue program.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced today the next round of candidates who earned a spot in the DCCC’s highly competitive Red to Blue program. These 14 candidates qualified for the third round of the Red to Blue program by surpassing demanding fundraising goals and skillfully demonstrating to voters that they stand for change and will represent new priorities when elected to Congress.[...]

“The candidates for change being named to the DCCC Red to Blue program are running strong campaigns and are committed to making things easier for middle class families in their districts,” said Chris Van Hollen, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “With less than five months to make their case for change to voters in their districts, the Red to Blue program will give these candidates the financial and structural edge to be even more competitive in November.”

Michael McMahon is the only candidate in the Northeast to be added to Red to Blue in this wave, joining Dan Maffei (NY-25) and Eric Massa (NY-29) on the rolls of the DCCC's frontline candidates.  read more »

As personal problems and scandal ended the political career of Staten Island Congress Member Vito Fossella, some Democrats and reporters seem to have awoken to what they say is a once in a generation opportunity to turn Democratic a Congressional seat long held by Republicans. (See also SI Advance, here .) As a result, the (in my opinion, conservative) Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, local Congress Members, Democratic Party "regulars" and the Working Families Party have endorsed NYC Council Member Michael McMahon over progressive, anti-Iraq-war candidate Steve Harrison. None of these groups, thus far at least, have shown any interest in the positions of either Mr. McMahon or Mr. Harrison. My sometimes ill-informed judgment is that ignoring the merits is a mistake. The reason why Democrats John Hall and Kirsten Gillibrand beat entrenched GOP Congress Members in 2006 was that they presented clear progressive programs to counter the Bush-clone policies of their opponents. In my view, to the degree that the Democratic party presents Bush-Cheney-Lieberman-clone candidates to the voters, it will lose.

To focus then on some of the issues which are crucial, in my view, I asked Council Member McMahon some questions He replied in part and you can (and should) judge those answers for yourself.

Below, however, are three questions which Council Member McMahon didn't answer. Because I respect the abilities of those who prepared the answers, I am persuaded that the omissions are deliberate. Those omitted answers concern issues which members of the next Congress will actually face.

More war? Mr. McMahon did not state whether, were he a member of Congress, he would favor or oppose further Iraq war funding. Billions of dollars, needed at home, are funneled into Iraq-war-profiteers and into an immoral and evil war. Check it out in more detail here . If we're to believe Nobel-prize economist Joseph Stiglitz, the total tab will come to three trillion . Can Mr. McMahon say no to such squandering? He doesn't say.  read more »

A great deal of virtual ink has been expended on a single quote from Conservative Party Chairman Jerry Kassar about Democratic City Councilman Mike McMahon. The quote, as it has been discussed at length, is this:

"[McMahon] appeals to us on his opposition to gay marriage, and he told us he continues to support U.S. action in Iraq.”

No one who has discussed it here knows what was said to Conservative Party Chairman Jerry Kassar to give him the impression that McMahon supports Bush's Iraq Quagmire. Focusing on the quote above also has allowed some to claim that McMahon's stand has evolved since the meeting with Conservative Party Chairman Jerry Kassar and perhaps he no longer supports the Bush Quagmire. This view rests on the assumption that some time has passed since the meetig between McMahon and Conservative Party Chairman Jerry Kassar and that the Conservative Party's view is out of date.

But let's look at the full quote from Politico:  read more »

In Daniel Millstone's excellent piece on the Iraq War positions of NY-13 Democratic primary contender Michael McMahon, the latter, a sitting member of the City Council, is quoted as saying this:

With regard to various city council resolutions on the War, I do not believe that the City Council, which has some very difficult issues to face, is best prepared to spend its time working on these issues. In my time in the Council, I have worked very hard on issues that affect the working men and women of my district and the City.

Now, one might argue that the Iraq War does indeed directly affect a district with 45,046 civilian veterans in the last census. One might further argue that the cost of the Iraq War in the Thirteenth District, $1.8B to date, with $462.7M online for FY 2008 and FY 2009 also coming from the district, is indeed a matter of interest.

Of course, as McMahon implies, resolutions by the City Council, even if passed by the bushel, do not in and of themselves carry much weight in the national legislature except as a debatably effective tool of persuasion. That would be an entirely fair point to make. However, a quick review of McMahon's record reveals that he has indeed sponsored and voted for such appellative resolutions, including some that should make Democrats cringe.  read more »