When Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced that Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) would again chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, sources told Roll Call that he was “surprised”. He might not have been the only Congressman to be surprised by the unexpected announcement. Democratic Colorado Congressman Jared Polis was considered a possible successor to Israel, who, prior to the election, wasn’t expected to return prior to the post.
The move could have helped Polis’s climb to Democratic leadership, according to Roll Call‘s background on the position:
“…the position has produced party superstars, including former Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), who went on to be Caucus chairman and White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama and is now Chicago’s mayor. House Budget ranking member Chris Van Hollen (Md.) directed the DCCC during the 2008 and 2010 election cycles and is a top Obama surrogate.”
This is at least the second time this year that Polis has come up short in his quest for a leadership position. Roll Call also pointed out that Polis was in the running for the Democratic Caucus vice-chairman position, but that Rep. Joe Crowley of New York “increasingly appears to be in command of the race.” This fact was confirmed yesterday when Polis dropped out of the race and backed Crowley.
It must be difficult to be Jared Polis. He’s so used to buying his way to positions of power (e.g., Colorado’s Second Congressional District and Colorado’s State Board of Education) that it must be awful to learn that his tender isn’t accepted in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Then, again, perhaps it’s simply that he’s not a good representative for Democrats as a whole. The picture above, tweeted to his throngs of fake Twitter followers, is just one of many examples of Polis’s less-than-statesmanlike behavior over the years.
Polis probably considers himself a one-man DCCC:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/polis-spreading-his-bucks-around-to-dem-friends/article/1348941#.UKcp0I5hrvY