The Hill

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has thrust anti-big bank policy into the 2016 presidential Democratic primary, presenting a new political challenge for front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Warren’s re-introduction on Tuesday of Glass-Steagall, which would require big banks to split up commercial and investment banking, is popular among the liberal base. …

Adam Green, co-founder of the liberal Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said that the bill’s re-introduction “is great news and a reminder the Wall Street’s irresponsible actions deprived millions of people of their homes and life savings.”

“Wall Street reform should be among the economic populist issues at the center of the 2016 debate, we hope to see bold proposals from presidential, Senate and House candidates,” said Green, who is pushing for Democratic candidates to adopt a more progressive agenda, similar to Warren’s.

Democrats lost on Tuesday, as widely predicted. But for months, pundits got wrong what Democrats would need to win.

There was rumor that youth turnout, Latino turnout, and cutting-edge Get Out The Vote practices would tip the balance in close races. But when “close” elections are decided by 7 to 12 points, something much bigger is happening.

Pundits say President Obama was unpopular. Score one for the pundits. But the critical question is: Why was the president so unpopular?

Did voters not show up because of Syria, Obamacare, or Ebola? No.

Was President Obama proposing some big liberal idea, sparking backlash? No. It’s hard to remember the last time the President offered a big idea.

Jobs and economic security are consistently the top issues voters say they care about in red, purple, and blue states. But Democrats did not have a united economic agenda in this election.

Voters did not wake up on Election Day thinking that their ability to have a job, have affordable college education, or to retire with security was at stake. It was a Seinfeld-ian election about nothing. And nothing does not inspire potential voters to vote. In the absence of big ideas, Democrats lost.

Progressive groups, transparency advocates and the whistleblower behind the Pentagon Papers are coming out strongly against a Senate bill to reform the National Security Agency (NSA), arguing the reforms it contains are inadequate.

“Our fundamental civil rights — the human rights we hold dear — are not adequately protected by either the Senate or House versions of the USA Freedom Act,” wrote the groups and individuals, including the Sunlight Foundation, Credo Action, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Daniel Ellsberg and Thomas Drake.

The Senate advanced a constitutional amendment meant to reverse two recent Supreme Court decisions on campaign spending after Republicans opted to back proceeding to debate on the measure.

Democratic political groups, such as the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), pushed hard for a vote, saying the issue motivates Democrats to go out to the polls.

“Citizens United gives corporate special interests the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money in our elections,” said Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who is up for reelection this November. “It’s wrong and I’ve been fighting it since the day the Supreme Court announced its egregious decision.”

First, progressive Senate candidate Shenna Bellows out-fundraised Republican Susan Collins.

Now, Shenna is profiled by US News & World Report and The Hill!

Check out below. Then please donate $3 to help win this huge Senate race.

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT:Ai??

Democrat Shenna Bellows, a former American Civil Liberties Union leader who grew up without electricity or running water until the fifth grade, is attempting to cobble together a unique coalition of liberals and libertarians to try and upset Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

But while sheai??i??s been dubbed ai???the Elizabeth Warren of Civil Libertiesai??? by the liberal Progressive Change Campaign Committee, she also finds herself seeing eye to eye with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on issues of national security and foreign policy…

Bellows is campaigning on repeal of the U.S. Patriot Act and wants to severely curb the National Security Agencyai??i??s bulk data collection program ai??i?? two issues that resonate with the left wing of the Democratic Party as well as libertarian-minded voters who propped up Ron Paulai??i??s strong showing in the 2012 presidential caucuses there.

ai???What I think we need is targeting based on individualized suspicion, reasonable suspicion that people are engaged in criminal or terrorist activity,ai??? she says in response to a question about what she thinks the NSA should be able to monitor.

Bellowsai??i?? candidacy was being largely ignored by national media until she revealed earlier this month she had raised more money than Collins during the last quarter. Now, sheai??i??s trying to capitalize on that news with a press blitz highlighting a grassroots campaign focused largely on local organizing in Maineai??i??s 500 towns.

Help Shenna Bellows continue the momentum! Click here to donate $3 and help Shenna defeat Susan Collins.Ai??

Then, share this great article on Facebook …

Alarmed by the rise of super-PACs, major allies of the Democratic Party are rallying behind new legislation that would provide federal matching funds for small-dollar donations…

Liberal groups said the bill would force lawmakers to pay more attention to voters.

“It’s all about changing incentives for politicians. Instead of sucking up to big-money donors, they will be sucking up to everyday people. That’s the bottom line,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “Politicians are much more likely to act against foreclosures and big polluters and issues like the minimum wage if they are talking to normal people.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has become the fifth Democratic senator to get behind a push to increase Social Security benefits for seniors, as progressives seek to push back against White House attempts to cut the program.

PCCC co-founder Adam Green said the Brown move gives momentum to the bill which is backed by the AFL-CIO and many of its member unions.

“Senator Brown’s endorsement of expanding Social Security benefits is a clear sign that Democrats are ready to go on offense after winning the government shutdown, after years of playing defense,” Green said.

Around 25 liberal figures – including officials with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, MoveOn and Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO – said in their Wednesday letter that Social Security benefits could be expanded if wealthier workers pay more into the system.

“In upcoming budget negotiations, a Grand Bargain that cuts Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits must be off the table,” the liberal officials wrote.

Instead, they said that “Congress should focus on important priorities such as jobs and investment in our nation’s infrastructure.”

A progressive group is hitting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) with online ads focused on the probable government shutdown.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee ads, which will run in Kentucky, Ohio and Washington, D.C., feature the lawmakers’ faces and charge “Shutdown: McConnell Gets Paid. Military families go hungry.”

PCCC has already targeted McConnell, who is up for reelection in 2014, with Ai??television ads hitting him for his support for a proposal to reform the way social security benefits are calculated and would ultimately reduce benefit payments.

The new web ads come as the Senate voted down a House-passed government funding measure, inching the government closer to a shutdown, which will occur when the current government funding measure runs out on Monday, if the two chambers can’t agree on a fix.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has endorsed state Rep. Carl Sciortino (D) in the special election to fill Sen. Edward Markey’s (D-Mass.) House seat.

It’s the progressive group’s first endorsement of the cycle, and comes with fundraising support and access to the PCCC’s thousands-strong member base.

Sciortino has been running as the progressive in the race against five other staunch Democrats in Massachusetts’ heavily Democratic fifth district.

In Montana, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal policy group, has sponsored a series of TV commercials attacking Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D) for his “no” vote on Manchin-Toomey. And the Brady group has launched a texting campaign that puts voters directly in touch with their elected officials on Capitol Hill.

Progressive groups and lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), are blasting the Obama administration for cuts to Social Security and other programs expected to be unveiled in the president’s budget next week.

Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, warned that “progressives will do everything possible” to prevent the cuts.

Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, warned that Democrats who vote against the assault weapons ban could depress liberal turnout in the 2014 midterm election. “With guns, it will be a major election issue for Democrats. Opposing strong gun laws could mean depressing their base, which in the off year would be a very bad idea,” Green said. He said if any Democratic primary challengers emerge, votes against gun laws could become lines of attack.“If there is a credible primary challenger, a vote against strong gun laws would absolutely hurt an incumbent Democrat,” he said.

A progressive group attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on gun control is expanding its ad buy through Tuesday after receiving thousands of donations following the initial airing of the ad. The ad, launched by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, began airing earlier this week. Within the first 24 hours of its airing, PCCC raised over $25,000 from more than 1,500 small-dollar donations, and it has raised overall $50,000 from more than 3,000 donations since it began.

That money raised will go towards airing the ad during the upcoming Cardinals basketball game, the Sunday morning political talk shows in Lexington and Louisville, Ky., and to bracket the State of the Union in both Kentucky and Washington, D.C.

A new poll of New Hampshire by Democratic-affiliated Public Policy Polling showed that nearly half of all voters there — 49 percent — say President Obama’s mandate following his reelection is to focus on jobs. That’s compared to only 22 percent of voters who say the president’s mandate involved reducing the debt. In the same survey, only 36 percent of respondents said that the president was tasked with striking a compromise with congressional Republicans. Voters were more likely to say that the president’s mandate was to stand up for middle-class families, even if that meant a confrontation over the fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts. “The mandate of 2012 was clear. Tax the rich, use that money to invest in jobs, and do not cut Social Security and Medicare benefits for regular people,” said Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Adam Green in a statement. “Americans want President Obama to fight for them if the Republicans stand in the way, not settle for a bad compromise.”

A prominent liberal group launched a last-minute campaign urging Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) to stay on as the top House Democrat next year… The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), a Washington-based liberal advocacy group, sent out a notice at 11 p.m. Tuesday night warning that, if Pelosi steps down, “a conservative Democrat will take over.” Although the PCCC email doesn’t name names, the reference likely is to Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.), the Democratic whip who’s expected to replace Pelosi if she steps down. As highlighted by the PCCC, many liberals fear Hoyer will be too quick to cut programs like Medicare and Social Security for the sake of reaching a deficit deal with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the Republicans.

WISCONSIN — The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) endorsed Mark Pocan (D), who is running to replace Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).

A liberal political group is criticizing Ann Romney’s comment that she and her husband “have not had a financial struggle in our lives.” The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is launching online ads, first set to run in Ohio, that highlights Ann Romney’s quote and suggests it shows that she and husband Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential nominee, are out of touch with middle-class voters.