I've fallen off a bit on blogging, so I'm going to try to fit as much into this post as I can.

Recently, loyal Republicans around the 7th District received something like this in the mail:
(Click to enlarge.)

[Edit March 07, 2008: I realized just now that I forgot to black out the street address of the couple who are hosting the fundraiser. That was just sloppiness on my part. While I might disagree with their politics, they don't need to have their address posted on a political blog. Fred and Arlene, if this caused any trouble for you, I sincerely apologize. I'm mostly hoping that no one noticed it before.]

Now, it turns out some loyal Republicans in the district aren't all that loyal to Tim Walberg, or else they wouldn't be sending me their invitations. But that's a subject for many, many future posts.

A lot of people, myself included, can't stand the money in politics. It takes a ridiculous amount of money to run for office and actually win, and, as painful as it is, fundraising is the main measure of viability for a candidate. Except, if the candidate wins, he's beholden to the rich contributors that made it possible. It's not the kind of representative government the Founding Fathers had in mind.

But, as frustrating as it is, that's how the system works. And if you can afford to buy influence, why not take advantage of it?

So suppose you're a Republican donor who got one of these invitations in the mail. You've just been asked to hand over $500 per person or $1,000 for a photo of you and Vice President Cheney. Besides that very expensive souvenir, what kind of influence can you expect to be buying?

Let's set aside, for the moment, that Vice President Dick Cheney has a favorable job rating from only 22 percent of Americans (with a negative 71 percent). Instead, let's focus on Walberg. From his "annual report," Walberg makes it sound like he does a lot. Is it worth it to contribute to him?

To Republicans looking for influence, it turns out Tim Walberg is a bad choice.

The website Congress.org ranks every member of Congress by their influence, with leaders in the majority at the top, majority members in the upper middle, minority leaders in the middle, and minority members toward the bottom. So it's not reasonable to expect Congressman Walberg to be incredibly powerful.

When he was ranked last year, just a couple of months into his term, he was tied for 423rd most powerful member of the House of Representatives. That's out of 435 members total. Basically, there's nowhere to go but up, right?

Wrong. Tim Walberg dropped to 424th most powerful member of the House of Representatives, the lowest of Michigan's delegation. Another way to think of it: Tim Walberg is the 12th least powerful man in Washington.

This raises a natural question: who are the other 11? Well, here's the list, with potential reasons for why they're less powerful than Tim Walberg:

• Rep. Walberg (R-MI-7), 424
• Rep. Smith (R-NE-3), 425 - Freshman; another CfGer
  
• Rep. Inglis (R-SC-4), 426 - "Freshman"
  
• Rep. McCarthy (R-CA-22), 427 - Freshman
  
• Rep. Doolittle (R-CA-4), 428 - Under investigation (Abramoff)
  
• Rep. Bilirakis (R-FL-9), 429 - Freshman
  
• Rep. Davis (R-TN-1), 430 - Freshman; only two bills, including one to create "American Eagle Day."
  
• Rep. Broun (R-GA-10), 431 - Only elected in July 2007
• Rep. Wittman (R-VA-1), 432 - Only elected in November 2007
• Rep. Latta (R-OH-5), 433 - Only elected in December 2007
• Rep. Jefferson (D-LA-2), 434 - Indicted for bribery
• Rep. Renzi (R-AZ-1), 435 - Recently indicted on 35 counts

In other words, Walberg is more powerful than the ones who have broken the law, the ones who only just got elected, and the other freshmen who haven't done... anything. Yes, Tim Walberg sure is a rising star.

Fun fact: Luis Fortuno, Republican Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico, is ranked higher (421) than Tim Walberg, despite not being able to vote on final passage of bills.

I'm not a big Republican donor, and if I had $1,000, I certainly wouldn't spend it on a political candidate. But to me, it seems like for the folks that can afford it, $1,000 for Tim Walberg is a bad investment. Why spend money on the bottom of the barrel, especially when he's alienated his own party?

My advice to GOP contributors in the 7th District is to not go to the fundraiser, it just isn't worth it. And it's not like I have an agenda or anything.

My advice to Democrats, meanwhile, is to invest in a Democratic candidate. Be it Renier or Schauer, Democrats have a great shot at taking the seat. It's worth the investment. Will $20 buy you access? No. But it will get you a representative who can accomplish... something. (Or, donate to the eventual nominee in the upper-right corner of Walberg Watch.)

On that note, some other folks are also encouraging you to donate.

The Schauer campaign sent out a fundraising e-mail related to the Cheney fundraiser:

We promised you when we started this campaign that members of this email list would be among the first to learn about breaking news in our effort to replace Tim Walberg. Well, we're delivering by passing along the secret email below from Dick Cheney to worried Walberg supporters about his upcoming trip to the 7th district. Walberg's message of the status quo is not resonating with people, so it looks like he's calling in the big guns. If you want to help fight back and give him a nice warm welcome, visit http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802200304. We'll keep you posted as we get more details on the incumbent's desperate attempt to keep his job, while his constituents keep losing theirs.

To: Worried Walberg Backers I'm going to be appearing at "an undisclosed location" somewhere in Michigan's 7th District on Friday, March 7, to help bail out Tim Walberg. He has shown blind loyalty to my agenda since the day he arrived in Washington. (I would say the "Bush agenda" but really, who are we kidding?). Without him, we wouldn't have been able to stay the course in Iraq or keep denying millions of children health care. And if he gets beat, who's going to keep preaching about fair trade while we sneak Michigan jobs overseas under a cloak of darkness? Those suckers in Michigan don't even know how to craft an energy plan the right way. They're actually talking about state initiatives right out in the open – no secret meetings, no classified memos, no unnamed group of corporate executives pulling the strings. Believe it or not, they actually think the purpose of a long-term strategy is to create jobs, protect our air and water, and even reduce – not raise – costs to consumers. We can't let Walberg fall victim to people with those kinds of priorities who don't even see the value in a secretive government. The one thing that is surely no secret is how horrible Walberg has been at something we pride ourselves on – raising heaps of campaign cash. Looks like the people there just aren't buying what he's selling, so I'll have to swoop in to sell it for him. Discretely, of course. Don't worry, though, I've still got some pretty generous connections (the boys at Halliburton STILL owe me big). And the Club for Growth's not going to let their investment lose without a fight. Ah, just remembering the CFG's tactics and hit job on Schwarz gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in the place where my heart used to be. So get ready Michigan – you may not yet know exactly where or when, but Cheney's riding in to the rescue again. Sincerely, Dick Cheney (The REAL Commander-in-Chief)

P.S.

Okay, okay, obviously the message above is a joke, but the event and the date are not:

"Cheney to stump for Walberg in Marshall" http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802200304

It's kind of silly, but it gets the point across.

The websites Michigan Liberal and Blogging for Michigan are also running a counter-Cheney pro-Schauer fundraiser:

Parents take your children inside! Mr. 20% is coming to town!

In less than a week, the real President Vice President will be here to help Temmeh Walberg raise some cash. You know things are bad for Republicans when they have to call on Dick Cheney to boost their popularity. Apparently, Walberg's Wacko Club for Growth Conservatism isn't well liked in his moderate district.

Cheney will be in Marshall next Friday, to attend an invitation-only fundraiser for Walberg. To celebrate Walberg's downward mobility, the Michigan Progressivesphere is having an invitation-only fundraiser of our own for CD-07 candidate Mark Schauer.

And you're all invited!

Simply jump on over to the Act Blue page we've set up for Mark, and drop some coin in his bucket.

Labels: 2008 Election, Fundraising, Mark Schauer, Tim Walberg