Who is Rahm Emmanuuel?

Rahm Emanuel is the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In many of the close races where Democrats are seeking to take previously republican seat he has located and financed pro-war Democratic candidates.

For example, Christine Cegelis polled 44% again long time republican Henry Hyde in 2004. Hyde then retired. Instead of backing Cegelis in the 2006 race, Rahm Emanual dug up pro-war candidate Tammy Duckwoth who:

Although she had both her legs blown off in Iraq, she has remained committed to "staying the course" in Iraq (2). Duckworth had no political experience and did not live in the 6th District, but Rahm Emanuel raised a million dollars for her and brought in Dem heavyweights Joe Lieberman, Barak Obama, John Kerry, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton to support her. Despite all this help and with the Cegelis campaign virtually penniless, Duckworth barely managed to eke out a victory by a measly four percentage points.

However Duckworth is not doing very well in the general election. In a recent radio address by Duckworth she offered no timetable for withdrawl in Iraq.

Emanual has back 22 new candidates for congress of which "only one [] is for prompt withdrawal from Iraq. And it is noteworthy that Rahm found pro-war candidates in both red states and blue, like CT and CA. Check out these candidates for yourself."

This leads to the question:

Who is Congressman Rahm Emanuel? From what does he derive his power? What are his thoughts on the future for the Dems? And where is The Nation in all this. More on that coming shortly.

Yes, that will be interesting.

Countepunch.org