The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

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"It was awfully presumptuous of them, wasn't it?" says a DNC advance staffer. "McAuliffe told us not to get too agitated over this until it was a done deal, and he was right. It turned out to be nothing. But if Tipper had run, you would have had some pissed off party people. This was not something they wanted."

p> LUIS, LUIS br> Today's Illinois primary finds Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez in a tough race for his 4th Congressional District seat against Chicago lawyer Marty Castro . Though now expected to win, just weeks ago he seemed headed for a loss, thanks to the efforts of his Washington colleagues. According to a Democratic House leadership aide, several influential House Democrats, including Whip Nancy Pelosi , House fundraiser Nita Lowey , and Texan Martin Frost , steered money to Castro's coffers in the hopes of knocking Gutierrez out of the race. /p>

"He's just not a team player," says one Democratic House member. "And we need team players more than ever. There is no trust there because he's a single issue guy and those folks never work well with others."

That single issue is Puerto Rico, about which feels passionately. In fact, he backs statehood for the island and was one of those arrested on Vieques in protest of U.S. Navy bombing exercises. His main problem is the perception among colleagues that he does nothing for them and virtually nothing for his constituents. "It's rare that you see so many people lining up against a sitting Democrat other than Jim Traficant," says the Democratic leadership aide. "But they've been doing it with Gutierrez."

topics:
Nancy Pelosi, Business, Law, NATO