Representative Chris Van Hollen, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has appointed two out of the DCCC's three vice chairs. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida is the DCCC Vice Chair for incumbent retention. Bruce Braley of Iowa will be responsible for "offensive efforts including recruitment, money, and training."

The third vice chair, yet to be named, "will seek to increase House member participation in DCCC efforts," which presumably means getting more safe Democratic incumbents to pay their DCCC dues.

That's going to be a big job, since the DCCC ended the 2008 campaign some $21 million in debt.

The debt has reportedly been reduced to $13 million, with the help of a $3.5 million transfer from Barack Obama's presidential campaign. But that is still a large debt, especially since Democrats have a lot of one-term and two-term representatives to defend in 2010, which will probably be a less favorable political environment for the party.

According to Politico,

Democrats are gearing up for a tougher, more defensive cycle. While Democrats want to take advantage of Obama's bank account, party officials are anxious about getting out of the red and are telling members and donors to pay up -- quickly.

Democratic leaders put the squeeze on last month, asking each member in a memo for $35,000 before Christmas. The memo also listed, by name, those who had paid their committee dues and those who hadn't.

Shortly before the election, Chris Bowers spearheaded an effort to put grassroots pressure on safe Democratic incumbents who had not paid their DCCC dues. We all have a lot on our plate this year, and Bowers is recovering from a broken arm, but the netroots need to assist the DCCC vice chair for member participation once that person has been named. We should not wait until a few weeks before the 2010 election to start pressuring incumbents who are delinquent on DCCC dues. The sooner the DCCC retires its debt, the easier it will be to recruit strong challengers and build a healthy bank balance for the next campaign.

If you are willing to help with this effort in any way (such as compiling a spreadsheet showing who has not paid and how to contact those representatives), please post a comment in this thread.

I am just a poor boy, though my story is seldom told.
I have squandered my resistance,
For a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises.
All lies and jest.
Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest . . .

In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade,
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down,
Or cut him 'til he cried out in his anger and his shame,
"I am leaving, I am leaving."
But the fighter still remains.

Lie-la-lie ...

Who knew that Paul Simon was talking about Senator Harry Reid, our former pugilist turned Majority Leader?  For heaven's sake, Harry pick your fights better. This fight over Roland Burris is over. Behind on points and cut about the eye, it's a TKO in the second round.

Jane Hamsher has the rest of this sad tale over at Firedoglake. Otherwise, an open thread.

Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first and one of two Muslims now in the US Congress, talked to Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi about the Israeli offensive in Gaza and why he feels so few US politicians understand the Middle East. Whatever your views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I think it important to listen to alternative voices. Congressman Ellison is one such voice.

PPP releases more of it's New York Senate poll, and the numbers are a wake-up call:

The latest Public Policy Polling survey finds that both Andrew Cuomo and Caroline Kennedy would both lead possible U.S. Senate faceoffs in 2010 against Rep. Peter King (R-NY), although there's a wide disparity in the margins.

Cuomo would beat King, 48% to 29%, while Kennedy would barely edge him, 46% to 44%.

Of course, this assumes King would be the Republican nominee and not a stronger candidate such as Rudy Giuliani.

But no fear, Kennedy backers - Maureen Dowd provided an endorsement in her column today. Dowd's response to Kennedy-doubters:

People are suddenly awfully choosy about who gets to go to the former home of Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond and Robert Torricelli.

It's an argument I hadn't considered: Kennedy isn't racist or corrupt. Point Kennedy.

Just a few days ago, Obama stood with a united Senate caucus in opposition to seating Roland Burris:

"Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant, but the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat. I agree with their decision, and it is extremely disappointing that Governor Blagojevich has chosen to ignore it."

But then something odd happened this morning.

Obama softened his stance on seating Burris, just a few minutes after the AP reported (from blind quotes) that Burris will get seated:

"That is a Senate matter. But I know Roland Burris, obviously he's from my home state. I think he's a fine public servant. If he gets seated then I'm gonna work with Roland Burris just like I work with all the other senators to make sure that the people of Illinois and the people of the country are served."

Now it's just a "Senate matter?"

Reid, for his part, is denying the AP's story. And now Huffpo reports that it was actually Obama's people that decided to 180 on Burris. Did they not send Reid the memo?

We'll have to wait and see how this shakes out more. But my gut instinct says that this is the second time since Monday that Obama's people didn't communicate their decisions to Congressional allies quite as well as they could have.

Enjoy.

• Steve M delves deep into Minnesota statutes to answer the question Does Franken Finally Win? A Legal Analysis.
• Contrasting leadership, esconded concludes Harry Reid, You're No LBJ.
• DOMA must go, writes louisprandtl, and it seems the author of the act agrees.
  
• Abuse and forced religion at Utah's West Ridge Academy in Chino Blanco's Trapped in a Mormon Gulag.
  
• Campaignmonitor, short and sweet on Panetta pick: Dianne Feinstein Can Go Suck an Egg.
  
• Ryeland follows that with some background of Feinstein/Rockefeller antics in Bush-Enablers Feinstein and Rockefeller are Running Scared.
  
• Edger brings news of Dawn Johnsen and Big Changes at the Office of Legal Counsel.
  
• Bobswern offers the first batch of 2009 Democratic Truthiness: It's a Depression.
  
• A handy rundown from bored now: Who's Up in the 5th (IL-05).
  
• Accurately framing Mitch McConnell's legacy and The Republican Model for Labor in America. (RDemocrat)
  
• Trouble for the steel industry and WTO in johnny venom's Manufacturing Tuesday: Week of 1.05.09.
  

MSNBC is reporting that Senate Democrats are caving and will indeed seat Roland Burris as Barack Obama's replacement. It did appear increasingly difficult to justify resisting his appointment but this guy's string of public appearances have been rather embarrassing. A talking head on MSNBC just said he suspects he "sees the Obama transition's hand" in this as they've been mortified by the circus surrounding the Burris appointment and likely told Harry Reid to end this.

Update [2009-1-7 11:3:16 by Todd Beeton]:MSNBC now reporting "No deal in place on Roland Burris." Added question mark to the title.

Update [2009-1-7 11:29:8 by Todd Beeton]:Jill Zuckman from The Chicago Tribune on MSNBC: "No deal, Burris is not being seated, this is a false baloon."

Update [2009-1-7 11:29:8 by Todd Beeton]:Harry Reid is now holding a press conference and he seems to be holding firm on delaying Burris' seating at least until the question of whether the IL Secretary of State's signature is required to seat Burris is settled in the courts. No deal. Changed title to reflect this.

From the Associated Press report just hitting the wires this afternoon here in Israel, it appears as though the news from earlier in the day that Israel would be easing up on its offensive against Gaza for three hours each afternoon may augur a more meaningful ceasefire to come.

Israel said Wednesday that it "welcomes" an Egyptian-French cease-fire proposal for Gaza as long as it halts militant rockets and weapons smuggling in a possible sign that the bloody 12-day offensive could be winding down. Hamas said it would only support a deal that included an opening of Gaza's borders.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in Paris that both Israel and the moderate Palestinian leadership in charge of the West Bank had accepted the truce proposal. And in Turkey, a diplomat said that country will be given the task of constructing an international force for Gaza.

Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post, as does the AP, that Israel is conditioning an agreement to a ceasefire to a meaningful cessation of violence and aggression -- namely an end to rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and the smuggling of arms to restock Hamas forces. The AP suggests that Hamas is similarly open to a ceasefire if Israel will life its blockade of Gaza. However, Yediot Ahronot reports almost the exact opposite, that "a Hamas representative in Lebanon, said that the Egyptian-French initiative is unacceptable and that new ideas should be discussed."

Whether or not Hamas is potentially on board, it's clear that there is still a great deal of room between the position of Israel and the position of Hamas that will still need to be bridged. That said, there appears to be at least a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel -- more than could be said even few hours ago.