The DCCC raised $11.6 million last month, more than they ever raised in any February. Tragically, online donors gave nearly $3 million, at an average contribution of $18. Most of these donors have no idea they're feeding their money into the ravenous, bloody maw of Moloch-- a DCCC working to hobble primary opponents to corrupt, conservative incumbents.

Last week the DCCC announced a new rule-- something they've been doing, secretly, for years: Anyone who works with a candidate challenging an incumbent Democrat will be blacklisted.

This cannot move forward.

If you do TV ads and work for someone like, say, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez against corrupt establishment icon Joe Crowley (circa 2018), you can no longer do any work for the DCCC or its candidates.

Sound anti-democratic to you? It is, especially when you consider that millions of Democrats in scores of deep blue districts in every part of the country have no way to hold their reps accountable except through primaries.

And AOC is hardly the only Democrat who got into Congress by challenging and beating an incumbent. Dozens of current members did exactly that. Last year Ayanna Pressley beat Mike Capuano in Boston. Ro Khanna beat Mike Honda in Silicon Valley and Eric Swalwell beat Pelosi-crony Pete Stark in the San Francisco suburbs in 2012. Beto first won his race in El Paso by winning a primary against a Pelosi-crony who no longer was seen to be serving the best interests of the community.

When Yvette Clarke ran against another uber-corrupt member, Major Owens, he decided to retire rather than face a sure defeat, whining that her challenge was "a stab in the back." Current Harlem congressman Adriano Espaillat ran again the corrupt Charlie Rangel in 2012 and 2014, nearly beating him. Finally Rangel announced he'd retire and let Espaillat have the seat, which is a seat-for-life, without voters being able to turn to a primary.

Nydia Velázquez was first elected by winning a primary, against my old congressman, nine-term incumbent Stephen Solarz. One of Pelosi's heirs-apparent, Hakeem Jeffries, entered a primary in 2012 against Edolphus Towns, scaring the 30-year incumbent into retirement. In Chicago 1992 saw Bobby Rush defeat Democrat Charles Hayes and in 2016 Dwight Evans beat prison-bound Chakka Fattah in a Philadelphia primary.

Remember Pelosi foe Seth Moulton? I bet deep down she hopes he is beaten in a primary next year, which is how he got into office in the first place, beating Pelosi-pal John Tierney in 2014 (after almost jumping in against him in 2012 as an independent).

Another really right-wing dirt-bag incumbent-- this one whining about liberals trying to take him out-- is Texas Blue Dog Henry Cuellar who was first elected in 2004 by primarying progressive Democrat Ciro Rodriguez, doing some vote rigging and managing to win the deep blue seat by 58 votes in a shady recount. Cuellar is target numero uno for Blue America and several other progressive groups that help Democrats beat fake-Democrats.

The thermometer on the right will take you to the Blue America "Primary a Blue Dog" page. If we don't push back, hard on this they will ruin every bit of progress we've made since the 2016 election. Please give generously.

This new move by bone-headed DCCC chair Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL) was, well... bone-headed. She should apologize to the grassroots of the party and to the dozens of good, solid members who are in Congress now-- like Matt Cartwright-- because they successfully challenged corrupt conservatives. Bustos, by the way is a protégée of Rahm Emanuel. (And we all know how well Democrats did under his reign.)