- The strategy comes with fairly clear and open biases. To be seen as an attractive candidate by the campaign committees, one major attribute — maybe the biggest — is whether you are rich enough to self-fund the campaign, or have enough rich friends who can bankroll it for you. While not necessarily an ideological tactic, the life experience and worldview of a self-funding politician necessarily differs from a teacher or ironworker or community activist. There’s a comfort with power that goes along with wealth, a mindshare that is hard to overcome.
Next, it’s seen as critical that you “fit” the district, based on a largely arbitrary left-right continuum. Fitting the district does not necessarily equal speaking to a district’s concerns, like a farm community dominated by agribusiness or a small business sector that cannot compete with big box stores. The local issues of local people are not part of the equation. It’s more about the candidate choosing from a grab-bag menu of “moderate” positions at odds with the Democratic platform, to prove some manner of independence.
Other facts are less central to the DCCC’s thinking: backing core Democratic values, for example, or pre-existing support within the district or having lived in the district a long time (or ever). The DCCC consistently airlifts in its own candidates, big-footing the ones locals have endorsed but whom the Party has determined cannot win for whatever reason.