Huffington Magazine Issue 12-13 | Page 54

THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES ing the piece of Wall Street reform that dealt with derivatives. She shocked K Street and the Washington establishment when, six weeks before her primary, she released tough legislation that tightly regulated the derivatives market. The move sapped her progressive challenger, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, of momentum. Lincoln beat back most efforts to weaken her language. The night of Lincoln’s victory in June 2010, a senior White House official got in touch with POLITICO reporter Ben Smith to snipe. “Organized labor just flushed $10 million of their members’ money down the toilet on a pointless exercise,” the official said. “If even half that total had been well-targeted and applied in key House races across this country, that could have made a real difference in November.” Labor may have lost that specific vote to oust Lincoln, but by taking the fight outside, it won legislative language that strictly regulated trillions of dollars of financial transactions. Considering the end result, the price tag was cheap. A LOSING STRATEGY Voters delivered a firm rebuke to the president in the November 2010 midterm elections. Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives, and the president’s health care law proved to be a rallying point for Republican voters. Obama’s top advisers concluded that they needed to demonstrate the appropriate humility. HUFFINGTON 09.09.12 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT), speak to the media after the Wall St. Reform bill passed.