The Next DNC Chair: TOM PEREZ WINS, makes Ellison deputy chair

[The Other Castro]

Pete Buttigieg had considered a run, then stopped short. But today he officially enters the race.

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https://petefordnc.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/us/pete-buttigieg-democratic-national-committee-chairman-race.html?_r=0

[The Other Castro]

Josh Earnest says Obama will not endorse a candidate.

[The Other Castro]

Info on the DNC Chair candidate forums:

[The Other Castro]

DNC Forum Moderators:

Phoenix - Jon Ralston
Houston - Evan Smith
Detroit - Ron Fournier
Baltimore - April Ryan

[The Other Castro]

Alex Seitz-Wald ‏@aseitzwald
Format for Phoenix DNC Chair forum: 2 min opening statements, then moderator @RalstonReports admins Qs from DNC members + public, per doc.

[The Other Castro]

There will also be a debate on January 18.

[The Other Castro]

Oh I didn't even notice this but the debate will be at GW. Like with the Paul Ryan town hall, I'll post if I've been selected/asked to provide a question.

[The Other Castro]

So the first of these has now happened.  Anything interesting occur in Phoenix?

Ralston was funny, and I think the surprisingly good performance may have been from Buttigieg. He had a lot to prove, and seemed to answer questions pretty honestly. Buttigieg, Ellison, and Perez did pretty well, though the rest didn't really have much appeal. Also it turns out a 7th candidate, FOX analyst Jehmu Greene, entered the race (though she's irrelevant). The main thing is everyone pushes a 50 State/Every County solution type plan, and wants to avoid comparisons to the Clinton/Sanders divide.  My personal ranking for chair is: Ellison>Buttigieg>Perez>Buckley. However, it still seems to be mostly an Ellison vs. Perez race, with Ellison favored. Greene and Brown might as well not be there, Buckley and Harrison don't really add anything, and Buttigieg probably doesn't have a lot of support at the moment.

[The Other Castro]

Per Free Beacon, no candidates except Pete Buttigieg attended the Women's March. The other candidates went to David Brock's donor retreat.

http://freebeacon.com/politics/dnc-chair-hopefuls-skip-womens-march-david-brock-donor-retreat/

[The Other Castro]

Ellison commits to keeping Iowa as the first nominating contest, but doesn't say the word "caucus".

[The Other Castro]

I believe the current count of known DNC supporters by candidate is:

Ellison - 15
Buckley - 10
Harrison - 3
Buttigieg - 2

Perez and other also have private whip counts, and they apparently show a very fluid race. Many of the endorsements that are being reported for people like Ellison and Perez are not actually DNC members, so they do not directly count towards their numbers.

There are 447 members, so 224 are needed for victory. 20 DNC member endorsements are needed to make the ballot next month.

[The Other Castro]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden endorses former Labor Secretary Tom Perez to head the Democratic National Committee.

Obviously a biggie

Sanders responds:

[The Other Castro]

Grossman endorses Buttigieg.

Butt-mentum!

[The Other Castro]

Quite the admission here from Perez:

Dave Weigel ‏@daveweigel  37s38 seconds ago
Now in answer mode, Perez criticizing DNC in 2016: "We failed to be transparent. We failed to make sure we didn't put a thumb on the scale."

[The Other Castro]

O'Malley backs Buttigieg

That's a pretty big snub of Perez, who was actually nominated for state Labor Secretary by O'Malley.

[The Other Castro]

Kasim Reed endorses Perez. Reed is also a DNC voter.

[The Other Castro]

Guys Ellison is gonna win I don't get all this nervousness about a few big name backing Perez

This race is hardly locked up for anyone. Honestly it feels like Perez is gaining the upper hand now.

[The Other Castro]

If Perez wins, then the DNC will have the same cloud of doubt around it as it did in 2016.

Throw Bernie folks a bone to shut them up, give them Ellison or Buttigieg.

Getting Bernie folks to "shut up" really shouldn't be the goal of any Democrat. Ellison is the best choice because both Clinton and Bernie folk can support him without reservations outside of religion.

If Perez does win, then expect a ton of party takeovers at the local level.

Bernie supporters complaining about the DNC, thinking they rigged it, is one of the key reasons why Hillary lost. The DNC become a liability, instead of an invisible support, in 2016.

Even Perez admits that the DNC rigged the primaries. The DNC didn't alter the vote counts or anything like that, but rigging can come in the form of unfair general advantages given to a particular candidate. They unquestionably had a favored candidate in the race and made several moves signalling a preference for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.

[The Other Castro]

I know it's probably a longshot, but I really hope Pete Buttigieg wins at the end of the day.

[The Other Castro]

So who is it that's actually voting? How many people?

The 447 members of the DNC.

[The Other Castro]

So who is it that's actually voting? How many people?

The 447 members of the DNC.

Out of curiosity, who (s)elects those 447?

Most (~70%) are chosen by state parties, and the rest are chosen by national Dem groups or the Chair.
-112 spots go to state party chairs and vice chairs (from 50 states, 6 territories)
-208 are chosen by state parties (allocated by population, factoring in Democratic voters), and can be chosen in a variety of methods depending on the state (elections, conventions, etc)
-48 for national groups like College Democrats, YDA, or groups representing elected officials (this also includes the 9 DNC office holders)
-4 for Democrats Abroad
-75 appointed by the DNC Chair

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/23/13703720/dnc-chair-election-rules-members
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/306401-mystery-surrounds-dnc-race
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/8/84345/-

[The Other Castro]

The importance ascribed to this position seems grossly exaggerated to me. Why all the fuss?

People are hungry for elections.

[The Other Castro]

Tom Perez finally accepted an interview from TYT Politics and he pretty much failed and showed his true colors. Especially at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=g81xG3e0oYI

The witchhunt against Tom Perez is quite disgusting. "Who in the Bernie Sanders world is supporting you?" Who f**king cares? The party does not revolve around a guy who's not even in said party.

Tom Perez told the Hillary campaign to use ugly identity politics to claim that Bernie supporters were all racist and sexist white males. That's what's actually quite disgusting, not people going after this vile trash.

Got a source for that?

[The Other Castro]

I think it's very possible this goes to multiple ballots, which could give Buttigieg a chance.

[The Other Castro]

I think it's very possible this goes to multiple ballots, which could give Buttigieg a chance.

If it goes to multiple ballots, would either Ellison or Perez have a better chance?

Well, first you would probably see the no-name candidates like Jehmu Greene, Sally Boynton Brown, and Peter Peckarsky all drop out (along with that random guy wearing the sweatshirt who no one knows). Those are the tier 4 people. The tier 3 people I consider Ray Buckley and Jaime Harrison, who would maybe stay in for another round or two before withdrawing. Tier 2 is Pete Buttigieg, and tier 1 is Perez and Ellison. I feel like the non-Perez/Ellison voters supporting the tier 3 and 4 candidates may be more predisposed to voting for Ellison than Perez. However, these voters would have reasons for not backing Ellison or Perez on the first ballot, and that could lead them to seek a new alternative in Buttigieg before jumping to one of the two frontrunners. This assumes that they like Buttigieg over Harrison and Buckley as much as Atlas does, which could very well not be the case. If they do go to one of Perez or Ellison, I think Ellison would be in a better shape to pick up votes in the general theme of Perez (Establishment) vs. Ellison (Outsiders).