# Dem apparatchiks install unrepentant lobbyist and senate race loser as DNC chair **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 25, 2021, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445 "2021-01-25T10:11:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/1 "2021-01-25T10:11:29Z")
[https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/535329-democrats-formally-elect-harrison-as-new-dnc-chair](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/535329-democrats-formally-elect-harrison-as-new-dnc-chair) [Democratic party votes to embrace corporate lobbyists, with their new DNC chair in 2017 saying](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/5/14176068/dnc-chair-lobbyists) > “I’m no longer a lobbyist, but a lot of good Democrats are. … I won’t participate in this blanket assassination of various folks because some members of our party don’t agree with what their jobs are,” He has spent record funds on an unsuccessful attempt to win an election, which historically has been a path for promotion for Democrats. What does everyone think about this choice? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/2 "2021-01-25T11:13:31Z")
> [@Manwich](#): > > What does everyone think about this choice? If you’re a pragmatist you’re okay with this. Money makes the political world go round in the United States and he is good at raising funds. It is much the same reason Pelosi has retained a stranglehold on the House leadership - she’s an energizer bunny who truly does sacrifice herself to raise money, money and more money for the party. Relatively few are as obsessively good at it as she is. If you’re an idealist, as I have a very slight notion the OP may be since you set up a bit of a poisoned well (i.e. “apparatchik”, “unrepentant”, “loser”), I suspect you might be troubled 🙂. However this is the nature of most party politics in big tent, first-past-the-post, two-party systems. Idealists typically operate at the fringes, pragmatists usually rule the center. It has ever been thus. There are occasional exceptions, but they remain exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/3 "2021-01-25T11:34:56Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > a bit of a poisoned well This well was about 80% poison, 20% water from the get-go. Plus the OP strangely omits the fact that Harrison gave one of the most powerful Republicans in the Senate a serious electoral challenge in a deep red state, to the point where Graham was virtually crying and literally begging for money at every opportunity. It’s not surprising that the DNC might want to appoint someone into a position to do that to _lots_ of Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/4 "2021-01-25T11:49:55Z")
Raising lots of money is precisely the job of a party national committee chair. It makes perfect sense to choose someone who raised record amounts of money. ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/5 "2021-01-25T11:55:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Raising lots of money is precisely the job of a party national committee chair. Is it time to wean the party from the bloody corporate teat? To find it’s own wings, free from regurgitated meat? (I heard about Hamilton) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/6 "2021-01-25T11:56:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Raising lots of money is precisely the job of a party national committee chair. It makes perfect sense to choose someone who raised record amounts of money. And, presumably, spending it on maintaining the organisation to support its policymaking, campaigning and energising supporters in between? ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/7 "2021-01-25T11:57:01Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > And, presumably, spending it on maintaining the organisation to support its policymaking, campaigning and energising supporters in between? Haha got him, I think. Did you, what did you mean? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/8 "2021-01-25T11:59:42Z")
Not a gotcha. That’s the notion we would have of the chairman of, say, the Labour Party National Executive over here, and I genuinely struggle to understand how parties in the US function outside individual electoral campaigns and their candidates. ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/9 "2021-01-25T12:02:18Z")
As I understand it, the DNC exists to funnel corporate money into particular candidates to avoid popular choice affecting Democratic policy. Is that the general consensus? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/10 "2021-01-25T12:11:14Z")
> [@Manwich](#): > > Is it time to wean the party from the bloody corporate teat? To find it’s own wings, free from regurgitated meat? (I heard about Hamilton Your concern about the party you wish to bring down is very touching. Do you have the same concern about your Republicans? ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/11 "2021-01-25T12:15:11Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Do you have the same concern about your Republicans? No fatten them on the cow of surplus labour for now. For now. ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/12 "2021-01-25T12:22:40Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Money makes the political world go round in the United States Fuck me! That sounds really bad and anti-democratic, what are you doing to stop that being a thing? ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/13 "2021-01-25T12:27:43Z")
Keep raising money for candidates who are paid for by people with money to stop people with money controlling things. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/14 "2021-01-25T13:40:55Z")
He raised a lot of money but still got blown out by 10 points ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/15 "2021-01-25T14:09:32Z")
> [@Manwich](#): > > As I understand it, the DNC exists to funnel corporate money into particular candidates to avoid popular choice affecting Democratic policy. > > Is that the general consensus? “Oh look - I found _another_ barrel of well poison! Let me just tip it in here…” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/16 "2021-01-25T14:17:25Z")
> [@Manwich](#): > > Is it time to wean the party from the bloody corporate teat? To find it’s own wings, free from regurgitated meat? (I heard about Hamilton) Being an Aussie, there is a _lot_ about American politics you don’t understand, and the role of party chairman is but one of those things. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/17 "2021-01-25T15:18:19Z")
You can’t pick someone who’s won, because they’ll already have a different job. You could, I suppose, pick someone who’s retiring, but DNC chair doesn’t seem like a position you’d want someone who wants to slow down. And as for money being central to US politics that is just reality. In a few districts it has proven possible for especially (now) high profile, charismatic politicians to run on “no corporate money”, but the circumstances have not been those of competitive “real” elections and if the whole of the Democratic party decided to reject all corporate donations it would be the same as conceding all but the darkest blue races for the foreseeable future. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/18 "2021-01-25T16:27:33Z")
I remember being quite disillusioned some time during Obama’s presidency/campaigns, when I saw a comparison of the donors to him vs his opponent, and they were VERY similar. The same oil companies, banks, etc. I had been disappointed that Obama was not more active in pursuing more liberal policies than he had. I found it somewhat revelatory to see that the same moneyed interests were backing both horses. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/19 "2021-01-25T16:43:10Z")
He came surprisingly close to winning as a moderate progressive in a state which consistently votes conservative Republican. I assume he’s being promoted because of his ability to turn out black voters and raise money, both of which are important boxes to check. Ironically, out-of-state fundraising might be one reason that late deciders balked at voting for him. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445/20 "2021-01-25T16:45:32Z")
Timing is everything; he still managed to get the recovery act, the ACA, and some liberal justices through, all of which are pluses in the win column. Biden’s in a different spot. I think he has to be like an FDR type leader, and there’s a good interview with former California Gov Jerry Brown in which he says essentially the same thing. > **[What Jerry Brown Could Teach Joe Biden (Published 2021)](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/us/politics/jerry-brown-joe-biden.html)** > > The former California governor and Mr. Biden both inherited acute crises after taking over from celebrity politicians. One achieved a turnaround; the other is just getting started. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dem-apparatchiks-install-unrepentant-lobbyist-and-senate-race-loser-as-dnc-chair/931445.md?page=2)