Press Coverage

In the north suburban Illinois Tenth House Democratic primary contest, a new poll taken by a group backing Ilya Sheyman shows Sheyman ahead by two points of Brad Schneider but in a statistical tie. John Tree, who jumped in the race late, is behind. The poll shows the situation before the March 20 Illinois primary very fluid: 49 percent are not sure who they want.

Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) can breathe a sigh of relief: a potentially formidable primary challenger, attorney Glenn Ivey, has decided to exit the race. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, an outside liberal group backing Edwards, celebrated Ivey’s decision.

“This is great news,” said PCCC co-founder Adam Green. “Donna Edwards is a bold progressive leader and a true fighter for working families. We were proud to endorse her early and were ready to make this race a top priority. We look forward to working with Donna to ensure many progressive victories in 2012.”

Elizabeth Warren raised $5.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, a campaign aide confirmed to The Hill. It’s the best quarter of fundraising by any Senate candidate this cycle, and beats Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) in the fourth quarter by $2.5 million. Warren said she has $6 million cash on hand.
Over $600,000 of Warren’s campaign cash — including almost $200,000 of her fourth-quarter haul — came from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the group said on Wednesday. The liberal PAC was one of Warren’s earliest supporters and launched a movement to “draft” Warren into the race in 2011.

Armed with Politifact’s strange ruling, the campaign of Rep. Charlie Bass (R-N.H.) attempted to get advertisements sponsored by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which rapped Bass for voting to “end Medicare,” pulled from two New Hampshire television stations, WMUR and WHDH. Here was the first critical acid test of this Politifact ruling. However, as Greg Sargent reported yesterday, officials at the two stations found the Bass campaign’s assertions wanting.

Earlier this week, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee aired a TV ad, timed to the GOP presidential debate, attacking GOP incumbent Rep. Charlie Bass for voting to “end Medicare.” The Bass campaign sent letters to two stations that air in New Hampshire — WMUR and WHDH — demanding the ads be yanked. Crucially, the Bass campaign repeatedly cited PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year designation to bolster its case.

Both stations refused.

It’s not the general election yet, but we already know what one key issue will be: Medicare. Republicans in the House voted to basically end Medicare as we know it, a position Mitt Romney fully embraced in December. Progressives think it’s never too early to remind voters where Republicans stand on the issue.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America are raising money to air an ad on the issue during the two debates this weekend. The ad, which aired this June, is aimed at New Hampshire rep. Charlie Bass who voted for the Ryan plan — and who endorsed Mitt Romney.

The first major test of the activist progressive fundraising machine for the 2012 elections is developing in North Carolina, where a Republican-engineered redistricting plan will likely pit Democratic Reps. Brad Miller and David Price against each other… Few progressive fundraisers are eager to publicly criticize Price. But the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, an influential liberal grassroots organization, has made Miller’s reelection a top priority for 2012, raising over $10,000 for him thus far… “Re-electing Reps. Brad Miller and Donna Edwards (D-Md.) will be a top progressive priority of 2012. Like Elizabeth Warren, Brad Miller is a bold fighter for holding Wall Street accountable, and in this era of Occupy Wall Street ascendency we absolutely cannot afford to lose his voice in Congress,” said PCCC co-founder Adam Green.

After President Obama decided not to fight to make Elizabeth Warren the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency she had conceived and gotten off the ground, most of official Washington assumed she would return to Harvard and teach law. But the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and National Nurses United had another idea: they wanted Warren to run for the Senate from Massachusetts. The PCCC push, and an early endorsement from the nurses, created an old-fashioned draft campaign. And it worked.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Reddit have been pushing a campaign arguing that SOPA, as written, would harm future innovation. “Big corporations are lobbying Congress to pass a bill that would prevent sites such as Reddit, YouTube, Google or Bit.ly from ever getting off the ground,” the group’s campaign asserts, before issuing a call to have participants calling on their members of Congress to oppose the bill.

This weekend, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) made a big announcement on MSNBC’s Politics Nation: We’ve passed the half million fundraising benchmark for Elizabeth Warren. Specifically, PCCC has raised over $535,000 from over 27,000 donations averaging less then $20 each.

The PCCC said it has already received pledges from about 52,500 people to take their money out of major financial institutions by Saturday as part of the Move Your Money “banxodus,” with just under 22,000 consumers planning to remove their money from Bank of America specifically. About 6,900 customers told the PCCC they have already moved their money.

Seven liberal House candidates in town this week for Democratic meetings plan to deliver more than 20,000 petitions to Speaker John Boehner’s office this afternoon from people saying they “stand with the 99%.” Participating in the rally, organized by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, are Eric Griego (NM-1), Lois Frankel (FL-22), Ilya Sheyman (IL-10), Marko Liias (WA-1), Franke Wilmer (MT-AL), Wenona Benally Baldenegro (AZ-1) and Lori Saldana (CA-52). This is part of the broader effort among would-be elected officials on the left to both channel and lay claim to the energy of Occupy Wall Street activists.

Draft Warren organizers in Northampton hosted a house party for Elizabeth Warren and over 200 Warren supporters. Organizers said her appearance at the home of Margaret Lucey and William Noel on Bridge Road drew a crowd who spilled out onto the lawn in front of the home.

A small handful of people made a final transaction with Bank of America on Thursday. They came to close their accounts, to protest debit card fees the bank will start imposing in 2012. “It’s not just the fee, it’s a tipping point as far as their greed,” Cheryl Anderson said. “It’s unbridled and I think that we gotta vote with our dollars and that’s what I’m doing.” The account-closing protest was organized by a group called Progressive Change Campaign, and although other banks are planning debit card fees, they targeted Bank of America as the worst of the worst.

With help from national fund-raising groups, Elizabeth Warren has already raised $3.15 million for her United States Senate campaign, catapulting ahead of her Democratic primary opponents. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has raised more than $400,000 on Ms. Warren’s behalf so far.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee announced support Friday for three House candidates. The liberal group will back state House Speaker Chris Donovan’s bid for Connecticut’s 5th district, attorney Ann McLane Kuster’s bid for New Hampshire’s 2nd district and former MoveOn.org organizer Ilya Sheyman’s bid in Illinois’ 10th district.

If there’s ever any doubt about the momentum former White House financial reform adviser Elizabeth Warren brings to the Massachusetts Senate race, just check in with the national fundraising effort led by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

The fundraising drive began a couple months before Warren got in the race, and on the first day of her official candidacy, the PCCC surpassed $200,000 raised.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee raised more than $105,000 for a Draft Warren effort, and according to PCCC, almost another $10,000 has been donated to Warren’s exploratory committee.

Cynthia Curtis was put in touch with three other Warren supporters, and in a week, set up a “Draft Warren” house party in her Wellesley home for more than 50 people, many of whom she didn’t know.

“The enthusiasm was electrifying. Everybody knew she wasn’t going to be there. It’s not something affiliated with her exploratory committee and all these people came,” Curtis said.  “I think she will immediately leap to the head of the pack and certainly hearing from folks in attendance last week, there’s not an awful lot of enthusiasm for the other candidates.”

WASHINGTON—A liberal grass-roots group has raised $100,000 to support consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren as she takes steps toward a possible challenge to Republican Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts.

The liberal groups Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the Wisconsin division of Democracy For America, and MoveOn have a new ad up in the state Senate recalls, going after one of the higher-value targets, state Joint Finance Committee co-chair Alberta Darling.

Progressive groups are speaking out against the debt ceiling deal currently being hashed out in Washington. The response from two of the nation’s largest organizations goes essentially like this: Really?!?

National Democratic money is flowing into the Wisconsin state Senate recalls, with a new $100,000 ad buy from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy For America, in just a single targeted race.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is heading up the Draft Warren campaign and says around 24,000 people have signed it so far. More important for Warren and her potential campaign plans, PCCC tells TPM signers have pledged to give funds “in the large six figures” to a Warren campaign and offered up “tens of thousands of volunteer hours” should she need them.

Elizabeth Warren may be going on vacation with her grandkids to Legoland. But the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is already hauling in funds for what they see as an eventual run for the Massachusetts Senate seat.

“Elizabeth Warren was the best qualified to lead this bureau that she conceived — and we imagine Richard Cordray would agree,” said Stephanie Taylor, a consumer advocate who collected 350,000 signatures on a petition calling for the president to nominate Ms. Warren. “That said, Rich Cordray has been a strong ally of Elizabeth Warren’s, and we hope he will continue her legacy of holding Wall Street accountable.”