Jane Harman - Info About Her Campaigning/Giving to Other Dem's

Man, I don't know what kind of paper the Daily Breeze would be without Nick Green. That guy's a real workhorse for them and is a good reporter.

His latest article covers Jane Harman and very helpfully fills in some blanks (for me, at least).

How much has ultra-safe Jane Harman done this cycle for other Democrats in competitive districts? From the article:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee received at least $110,000 from Harman's campaign. And more than three dozen congressional candidates received tens of thousands of dollars in smaller contributions.

By the way, it appears that the latest $50K she contributed to either Dem's directly or the DCCC (it's unclear where this money went - still no announcement on her campaign website ) is not included in the amounts mentioned.

I won't get on Harman's case because I am very glad she did respond to the netroots push to get safe incumbent Dems like her to cough up some of their unneeded campaign cash. However, I will point out that every member in the Dem caucus has to pay dues to the DCCC as a matter of course, and it's higher if you're on a powerful committee. So some of the money that went to the DCCC she was simply required to give to stay a member in good standing.

Other items from that same article:

- She's funded her own campaigns with millions of her own money.

- Her Republican challenger had a grand total of $28 in cash on hand as of Sept 30.

- And some explanation why it's easy for her to rake in military industry cash:

It comes down to guaranteeing access to a lawmaker, said Michael Genovese, a political science professor at Westchester's Loyola Marymount University who is an expert on federal politics.

"Corporations favor incumbents," he said. "No defense contractor, for example, wants to get on the bad side of Jane Harman. It would be dysfunctional from a business standpoint. And believe me, legislators know who does and who doesn't contribute."