Democrats Getting Pro-Budget Calls

The offices of at least two Democratic members of Congress have received a wave of phone calls this week in support of President Obama's budget proposal, due to a campaign undertaken by the Democratic National Committee that has included canvasses, an e-mail to supporters, and a TV ad that began airing this morning. The two members are Reps. Jim Matheson (UT) and Earl Blumenauer (OR). Blumenauer, it should be noted, is a liberal member of the House Budget Committee who supports Obama's blueprint. When callers push for Blumenauer to support Obama's plan, staffers basically tell them he already does, a spokeswoman told me. Yesterday, his office received around 200 calls; prior to that, it had been averaging 20-30 per day. Matheson, on the other hand, does not support Obama's budget, and has said so. His district is conservative, and he is a Blue Dog. His DC office has received "a fair number of calls" today in response to the DNC's TV ad, according to spokeswoman Alyson Heyrend. But his district office has been getting calls opposing Obama's plan--probably because the DNC has only given out phone numbers for Capitol offices.

"It seems like we hear from a lot of the folks who listen to and agree with Rush Limbaugh, who listen to and agree with Sean Hannity...Glenn Beck is very popular," Heyrend told me.

Democratic sources said that several other Democratic lawmakers have asked the White House to urge the DNC to stop the pressure campaign.  

with reporting from Chris Good