Jumpy Dems Announce Shaheen Town Hall—But She’s in DC

Congressional town halls have become the hot and exciting sideshow in the debate over health reform this August recess. Democrats are mounting an organized, ostentatious counteroffensive against concerned taxpayers who have erupted at town hall meetings in recent days.

As NowHampshire.com reported yesterday, Democratic State Chairman Ray Buckley has threatened to use the Obama administration’s political arm Organizing for America to “push back on these thugs.”

But the Democrats might be a tad too jumpy in defense of their Members of Congress.

Organizing for America distributed an e-mail around midnight on Wednesday urging Democratic activists to attend a town hall meeting in Grafton, NH with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen at 10:00 AM on Thursday.

“I wanted to send you an urgent invitation to an important Town Hall with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen on Thursday morning. She’ll be talking to constituents and gathering feedback — this is an ideal opportunity to make sure your support of health insurance reform is seen and heard at exactly the right time to make a huge difference,” writes Tim Arsenault, the state field director for OfA in the e-mail.

“Our representatives are under attack by Washington insiders, insurance companies, and well-financed special interests who don’t go a day without spreading lies and stirring up fear. We need to show that we’re sick and tired of it, and that we’re ready for real change, this year,” he continues.

There’s just one problem. NowHampshire.com contacted Shaheen’s office who confirms that the senator is in Washington and will not attend the town hall meeting. Staff will field questions in Grafton instead.

Arsenault’s e-mail is interesting in one other respect. At the same time Democrats in Washington have derided upset town hall attendees as “Astroturf,” OfA is encouraging people to print out a pre-fabricated sign “Paid for by Organizing for American, a Project of the Democratic National Committee.” The sign reads, “Thank You.”