Hillary Clinton appears to have an easy path to winning the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 should she run, and that has left many liberals and progressive organizations who harbor deep reservations about her frustrated.

That is an opinion shared by many others on the activist left, says Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. Ideally, they would like to see somebody like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., get the nomination.

“Regardless of who runs for president, we’re organizing to ensure every Democratic candidate, including Hillary Clinton, is asked whether they agree with Elizabeth Warren on key economic populist issues,” Taylor told the Washington Examiner.

Democrats’ top message man Chuck Schumer criticized how his own party handled Obamacare’s political strategy on Tuesday, joining a list of prominent Democrats who’ve chastised their own party in recent days as they struggle to come to terms with a crushing defeat earlier this month.

Schumer commented at an event in Washington that Democrats “blew the opportunity the American people gave them” by concentrating on health care during the teeth of the recession in 2009 and 2010, calling it a focus on “the wrong problem.”
But groups that have advocated for broader acceptance populist policies from the “Warren wing” of the party couldn’t help but poke Schumer after his speech.

“If Senator Schumer feels this way, he should support big ideas that positively impact the lives of every American… like breaking up the big banks so they can’t crash our economy again,” said Stephanie Taylor, a Progressive Campaign Change Committee co-founder and boisterous Warren backer, taking a shot at Schumer’s Wall Street ties.

Debates between liberal and “Wall Street” wings, tensions among leadership and rank-and-file members, and the increasing clout of populists in the party pose challenges for Democrats as they work to build a cohesive message and brand identity.

Liberal outside groups actively campaigned against Himes, a former Goldman Sachs executive, saying that naming him chairman would send the wrong message to voters and could discourage liberals from running for Congress.

When House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi instead this week named Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico as DCCC chairman, the influential Progressive Change Campaign Committee rejoiced, saying that a Himes chairmanship “would have been disastrous for progressives and hurt Democrats’ chances of winning back the majority in 2016.”

Being able to downscale after a campaign ends can be equally important in terms of cost-effectiveness. And when it comes to upscaling and downscaling quickly, the Cloud is the obvious way to go.

That is what the people at Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) have been working on.

This past year, PCCC has built a software tool called PIES to help candidates run their campaigns according to best practices and without wasting time or money. Candidates can track their fundraising efforts, campaign events and get-out-the-vote progress, launch a campaign website in minutes, collect signatures and endorsements, and engage their supporters with an easy-to-use email blaster. This cycle, 150 candidates used the beta version of PIES to manage their campaigns at the federal, state, and local level.

Since the election, the PCCC has been telling Democrats to run on Elizabeth Warren’s bold agenda of big, popular ideas like Wall Street reform.

When rumors swirled around Washington D.C. last week that Nancy Pelosi might nominate former Goldman Sachs executive Jim Himes to chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — the PCCC got alarmed.

Like the PCCC, the DCCC recruits Democrats to run for Congress. Unlike the PCCC, they don’t always choose progressive candidates. Having the DCCC chaired by a banker who Businessweek called “Wall Street’s Favorite Democrat” would have been disastrous for progressives and hurt Democrats’ chances of winning back the majority in 2016.

That’s why PCCC members took immediate action to head off Jim Himes’ appointment — calling Nancy Pelosi’s office, sending her tweets and, in the process, making headlines in Time Magazine, The Hill, Politico, The Associated Press, and more.

PCCC members calls and tweets made a difference!

Here’s the statement PCCC co-founder Adam Green made when Pelosi announced that Rep. Ben Ray LujA?n of New Mexico will chair the DCCC:

We thank Leader Pelosi for not selecting Jim Himes to lead the DCCC — thereby rejecting the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party. In order to win key House races, Democrats must run on big, bold, populist ideas like those championed by Elizabeth Warren. This means recruiting economic populist candidates — especially in red and purple states — and working with them to integrate a populist vision into their campaign messaging. The PCCC will be doing this, and we hope to partner with Rep. Ben Ray LujA?n and others to achieve success in 2016.

To see the difference this will make, read the statement Rep. LujA?n made when the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill was signed into …

Democrats lost big on Election Night in 2014, but Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts argued Wednesday that some of the results were positive for the liberal wing of her party.

“Here is the second piece of really good news, we know what to do and the American people get it. They are ready,” Warren said at the Center for American Progress “Making Progress” policy conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. She then launched into a portion of her speech about how some post-election polls found that battle ground voters stood closer to Democrats on certain issues.

Liberal groups have also argued that the 2014 election proved that liberal Democratic policies, like those Warren championed on Wednesday, are the future of the party.

“Warren was the most popular Democrat on the campaign trail for a reason: Her message of taking on Wall Street, reducing student debt, and expanding Social Security benefits is popular everywhere,” wrote Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor, heads of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, in an opinion-editorial for The Hill. “Focusing on big ideas is the path forward for progressives and Democrats. The Warren wing of American politics is ready to lead.”

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) believes that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) passed him over as the next head of House Democratic campaign efforts because of his ties to the financial services industry.

Though Pelosi didn’t choose Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) to chair the DCCC, as Moveon.org had urged her to do, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which had called on her to not appoint Himes, celebrated her pick.

“In not selecting Jim Himes to lead the DCCC, Nancy Pelosi rejected the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party,” PCCC co-founder Adam Green said.

The congressman, who has taken more in campaign donations from the investment industry than any other field, has defended his record by citing his work on the Dodd-Frank bill and says he has been a staunch defender of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The op-ed below appeared in The Nation on Nov. 19.

From the rubble of the 2014 election, a conversation has started about the future of the Democratic Party. Senator Elizabeth Warren is central to that conversation.

This week, we learned that Warren will be joining the Senate Democratic leadership as strategic policy adviser to the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. In this role ai??i?? created specifically for her ai??i?? she will help craft the partyai??i??s policies and priorities as well as serve as a liaison to progressive groups.

While there is some skepticism about the idea of a “liaison” to base Democratic voters, there is largely agreement that it is a good thing for the Democratic Party to follow her political footsteps. After all, she’s adored by big swaths of the Democratic electorate and the public at large. On the campaign trail this fall, she was welcomed with open arms in Kentucky, West Virginia, Michigan, and other reddish-purple states, drawing overflow crowds cheering on her message of tougher Wall Street regulation and kinder policies for working people.

But what is it that works about her? What is her special sauce? Other Democratic and progressive candidates ask me all the time how they can capture the intangible “it,” that Warren magic. Below, I’ve dissected her tactics and her policies, which are one and the same, to help candidates better understand how to tread her path.

Take, for example, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB); the idea that students should be able to borrow money for school at the same interest rate as banks can borrow money from the federal government; and the idea of adding basic banking ai??i?? check-cashing, bill-paying, and small loans ai??i?? to post office locations.

These proposals have a number of things in common. Whatai??i??s Warrenai??i??s …

Fresh off his election to a fourth term, Rep. Jim Himes faced opposition from liberals in his own party who lobbied against the former Goldman Sachs banker in a race for a Democratic leadership post in the House of Representatives.

Himes, who represents Connecticut’s Gold Coast that includes Wall Street workers and an outsized Republican electorate in an otherwise heavily Democratic state, drew fire from liberals contrasting him against populist Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said Warren, who has made opposition to Wall Street excesses her signature political issue, is establishing a populist and winning stance for the Democratic Party.
“Jim Himes would be pushing in an opposite direction,” he said.

The progressive group sent an email that urged recipients to call House minority leader Nancy Pelosi “and tell her that appointing a Wall Street banker who opposes Wall Street bashing is a losing strategy for Democrats.”

Wall Street is indeed a one-way street for U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn. and not just on maps.

Adept at mining campaign cash for House Democrats from the financial services industry, which he once worked in as a Goldman Sachs executive, Himes said Tuesday that those very same connections likely factored into his getting passed over for his caucus’ top political leadership post.

A request for comment was left Tuesday for Pelosi, who also bypassed the candidates suggested by the liberal PAC, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee — Reps. Donna Edwards, D-Md., and Jared Polis, D-Col.

Still the committee’s co-founder applauded the snub of Himes.

“In not selecting Jim Himes to lead the DCCC, Nancy Pelosi rejected the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party,” Adam Green said. “Appointing a Goldman Sachs banker to lead the DCCC would be marching House Democrats in the exact opposite direction they need to go in order to win. An economic populist agenda consisting of bold ideas — like breaking up `too big to fail’ banks and jailing Wall Street bankers who broke the law — is wildly popular in red, purple, and blue states.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Monday appointed Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., to head the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Party wing devoted to electing Democrats to the House in 2016.

Himes had been careful not to openly campaign for the post but made little secret of his interest in winning the appointment. Himes’ spokesman, Greg Vadala, said last week that Himes “understands what it takes to run and win competitive races’’ and “would be honored to be considered.’’

A liberal group, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, last week called on Pelosi not to appoint Himes, saying the former Goldman, Sachs executive who represents most of Fairfield County was too cozy with Wall Street. Himes is sensitive to the charge and his spokesman, Vadala, pointed out that Himes sponsored the provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act that placed a measure of control over the high-flying derivatives market.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced Monday that U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján of Santa Fe will chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the political wing of the House Democrats.

A liberal activist group called the Progressive Change Campaign Committee praised Pelosi’s decision — but mostly for not choosing another Congressman who was interested in the job, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut.

“We thank Leader Pelosi for not selecting Jim Himes to lead the DCCC — thereby rejecting the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party,” the group’s co-founder Adam Green said in a statement. “In order to win key House races, Democrats must run on big, bold, populist ideas like those championed by Elizabeth Warren. This means recruiting economic populist candidates — especially in red and purple states — and working with them to integrate a populist vision into their campaign messaging. The PCCC will be doing this, and we hope to partner with Rep. Ben Ray Luján and others to achieve success in 2016.”

Nancy Pelosi said Monday she wants Rep. Ben Ray Luján to be the next chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). The House Minority Leader called the New Mexico Democrat a “dynamic and forward-thinking leader” who would be ideal for the role of recruiting and supporting candidates going into the 2016 election.

The news of Pelosi’s support for Lujan ahead of Tuesday’s vote the position comes in the wake of mounting pressure from progressives to reject Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who was also in the running for the top spot at the DCCC. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee blasted Himes as a “Wall Street Democrat” who would “hurt Democratic chances in 2016.”

“The reason Democrats lost in 2014 was that there was not a united and bold Democratic economic vision, it was very much an election about nothing, in some cases, small-bore or conservative ideas,” Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told The Hill.

“The real issue is that the Democratic Party has not painted a picture in people’s minds of what a bold, populist Democratic governing agenda looks like.”

Green and his co-founder, Stephanie Taylor, wrote in an op-ed days after the electoral rout that the party needs to coalesce an agenda that aggressively trumpets issue like Wall Street reform, cutting the cost of college and student loans, and expanding Medicare and Social Security. They pointed out that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat beloved by their organization, was popular on the stump for many embattled Democrats because she touts that message.

Liberals have high hopes that Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) promotion to Democratic leadership will give them more sway in the next Congress.

TJ Helmstetter, director of candidate communications support at the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), said Warren’s message “is exactly the direction the party needs to take in order to win again.”

“Warren’s appointment to Senate leadership is a reflection of the leadership she already exerts among the party faithful,” Helmstetter said. “No matter who runs for president in 2016, they’ll need to adopt Elizabeth Warren’s economic populist agenda of big, bold ideas in order to excite voters and win.”

To obstruct or not? It’s the question churning inside the Democratic Party after its historic Senate losses a week ago. Add to that a secondary one: Just how much legitimate, ideological resistance to Republican proposals will voters tolerate?

“The reason for Democrats to filibuster isn’t obstruction for its own sake. It’s to stick up for millions of everyday people who will be harmed by right-wing politics,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. His sinking fear is that Democrats will play it too safe and lose anyway. “Is the theory about winning in 2016 that passing Republican bills that hurt Americans will do it?”

While progressive activists praised Democrats’ move to elevate Warren, they are fretting over how the leadership will respond when faced with Republican legislation they oppose on taxes, health care, Social Security and the environment. “The reason voters didn’t vote was because Democrats didn’t stand for a big, bold, populist agenda like the one Elizabeth Warren is pushing Democrats to adopt,” Green said.

“There is some tension,” he added. “The large majority of the Democratic caucus agrees we need to fight but there are certainly some that crazily believe voters want Washington to pass something—anything—even if it means cutting Social Security for Grandma.”

Instead of running away from the progressive accomplishments of the Obama era, he embraced them, railing against bankers, advocating for student loan reform—even defending the Affordable Care Act. Franken ran as an Elizabeth Warren-style Democrat, running a populist campaign that didn’t shirk discussion of the specific policies Democrats could pursue to help the middle class. And voters rewarded him. “This wasn’t a safe seat,” Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said in an e-mail. “He earned his victory by being a proud populist Democrat for six years and inspiring voters.”

A major progressive group is hoping to pressure House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) against appointing a congressman close to Wall Street as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) sent an email to more than a million members on Thursday, urging them to “call Nancy Pelosi right now and tell her Jim Himes appointment would hurt Democratic chances in 2016.”

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee email was sent following victory for the liberal base. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined Senate leadership on Thursday and will act as a liaison between Democrats and the party base. Warren has aggressively pursued tighter regulations on large banks.

The news that Senate Democrats are adding Elizabeth Warren to their leadership team raises an important question about the trajectory of the party’s most popular figure not named Hillary Clinton: Will she be co-opted by the establishment?

For the moment, Warren’s progressive fans are ecstatic over her promotion, symbolic or not. “There’s really not much of a downside. We’re pretty psyched,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which led a Draft Warren for Senate effort in 2012. Green argued that Warren’s elevation was a sign that her liberal agenda was winning the battle for the future of the Democratic Party. “It’s a huge imperative for progressives and a political imperative for Democrats to remold the party in Elizabeth Warren’s image,” he said.

As for whether Warren would have to become a saleswoman for policies she may not support, Green said he was unconcerned. “Elizabeth Warren has kept it real since entering the Senate,” he said. Added influence, even in the unpopular halls of official Washington, remains important. “The whole point of pressuring from the outside is to change what happens on the inside,” Green said.

Senator Elizabeth Warren will be part of the Democrats’ leadership team in the Senate, the party decided on Thursday morning. At the urging of Majority Leader Harry Reid, a new position was created for Warren: strategic policy adviser to the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a major Warren backer, immediately sent a triumphant e-mail blast to one million PCCC members, declaring that “This is a good reminder that when we invest early in progressive leaders, it’s not just about winning elections in the short term — it’s about building power over time.”

Vice President Joe Biden will join Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other leading progressives in addressing a closed-door gathering of elite liberal donors — a roster of speakers that notably doesn’t include Hillary Clinton.

“Ideas are what inspires many of these donors — big, positive ideas like those that Elizabeth Warren is advocating,” said liberal operative Adam Green, who plans to attend the conference. The group he co-founded, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, worked to draft Warren into her 2012 Senate race, and it is among the second tier of groups that the Democracy Alliance recommends its donors support. “My guess is there will be a big appetite among progressive donors to champion bigger and bolder ideas than the current White House is championing,” said Green, citing Warren’s support for making college more affordable, tightening financial regulations and expanding Social Security.

The moves are helping to rally a dispirited Democratic base while re-establishing Obama’s political leadership after he was sidelined during the midterms.

Adam Green, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said the efforts on net neutrality and climate were “great news, and the kind of big ideas that America needs — and that voters need to associate with Democrats.”

But, Green argued, Obama needs to keep his foot on the accelerator, fighting for additional “bold ideas” championed by progressives like expanding Social Security benefits, taking on Wall Street and making college more affordable.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is asking its members to lobby House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi against choosing Connecticut U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, as the next head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Why does the group, which backs progressive members like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., oppose appointing Himes as DCCC chairman?

Because they see Himes as too sympathetic to Wall Street.

In a blast e-mail, the group cited a Businessweek article that said, “Wall Street doesn’t have many friends in Washington these days—especially among Democrats on Capitol Hill. There is one House Democrat who’s shown some sympathy for Wall Street: Jim Himes. A former Goldman Sachs (GS) investment banker . . . he isn’t shy about defending the industry or decrying Wall Street bashing.”

TheAi??Huffington Post reports:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) gained a leadership position in the Senate Democratic caucusAi??Thursday […] Warren’s role, which is a new position created specifically for her, will be in crafting the party’s messaging and policy.

This is a good reminder that when PCCC members invest early in progressive leaders, it’s not just about winning elections in the short term — it’s about building power over time.

As Elizabeth Warren advocates for big ideas like reforming Wall Street, making college affordable, and expanding Social Security benefits, her voice will now be even louder — because she’ll be at the Democratic leadership table.

Click here to sign a congratulations card to Elizabeth Warren (and add a personal note), which the PCCC will deliver to her.

The PCCCAi??ran the “Draft Elizabeth Warren for Senate” campaign and was herAi??#1 grassroots supporter in 2012Ai??raisingAi??over $1.17 million through over 70,000 small-dollar donations for her campaign. The PCCC partnered with Warren on big legislative pushes in 2013 and 2014.

With this news, that partnership grows stronger — and all of Elizabeth Warren’s and the PCCC’s work together has more impact.

MSNBC reported that Clinton and her team have scheduled an unlikely powwow with leaders at the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the small Democratic group most strongly aligned with Warren and the populist economic agenda championed by Sanders.

Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founders Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor are among them. They sent a message to Democrats after the midterms, scolding the party for engaging in a “Seinfeld-ian election about nothing” and declaring that “Warren was the most popular Democrat on the campaign trail for a reason: Her message of taking on Wall Street, reducing student debt and expanding Social Security benefits.”

Because when the real campaign begins, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Warren and Sanders will all be there. Sanders is the most likely to actually run against her, and the Warren faction is a necessary ally in winning the Democratic primary.