Progressxive candidates to back in the upcoming Dem primaries --

[Hell Hath No Fury]

This is from a thread in GD:P -- please take a look at the candidates and see if any are someone who you could be interesed in backing with time/$$$ ;

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x137539



Are you Pissed off proggressives? Lets start now on 2010 with these candidates


Jennifer Brunner, is Secretary of State in Ohio, and much more progressive then the establishment backed Lee Fisher, in the race for Ohio's senate seat.

http://www.jenniferbrunner.com /

Rhode Island State Representative Betsy Dennigan, who is progressive and pro-choice, is running in a primary against current Rep. James Langevin, who voted for the Stupak amendment.

http://betsydenniganforcongress.com/?page_id=10

Andrew Romanoff is the former Colorado House Majority Leader, who has bucked the establishment and even the President to run a primary against Michael Bennet, who voted against the Cram-down legislation, and until very recently was not generally supportive of the public option.

http://www.andrewromanoff.com /

Doug Tudor is a progressive Democrat running in the primary against self-proclaimed "blue-dog" Lori Edwards in Florida's 12 Congressional District.

http://www.teamtudor.org/index.asp

Bloomington Resident D'Ippolito is running against Evan Bayh.
http://www.tamyraforsenate.com /

Marcy Winograd running against DLC Rep. Jane Harman in California.
www.winograd4congress.com

Regina Thomas running against blue-dog John Barrow in Georgia. No website yet.

[No Elephants]

1. Thanks, HHNF Re-posting this in DFA was brilliant.

Did some research.

First, though, you can support most or all of these candidates on Face Book and Twitter, even if you cannot help in any other way.


House

Most of us already know about the Winograd v. Harman race. I made a one time donation to Marcy Winograd via PDA. I plan to donate again soon, this time via her own website or Act Blue.

Doug Tudor, 20 year Navy man, v. Lori Edwards, former state senator, currently supervisor of elections. Neither is an incumbent. (Seat is open.) I fell in love with him just from his website, hers, eh. I feel very optimistic about this one.


Betsy Dennigan against a guy who voted for the Stupak Amendment sounds good to me.



Thomas v. U.S. Rep. Barrow. Supposedly, Barrow votes with the Republicans A LOT. He voted for the Stupak Amendment, but against the House health care bill. I'd love to see him go, but I am not optimistic about his one. It's Georgia. He's a 55 year old white male incumbent; she's an African American grandmother and state senator whose age I could not find. Most telling: He beat her by 51 points last time around. From his wiki:

"In the 2008 Election, Barrow faced a primary challenge from State Senator Regina Thomas, who represents a majority-black district in Savannah<2>. Barrow won the Democratic nomination nomination with 76% of the vote over Thomas with 24% of the vote, 96% of the precincts reporting<3>. He easily defeated his Republican challenger, former congressional aide John Stone, with 66% percent of the vote.<4>"




Senate

Brunner, Secretary of State v. Lee Fisher, Lt. Governor. Not to be shallow, but, after seeing Fisher's photo, I was surprised that he is 59. I thought he looked much older. http://www.fisherforohio.com/news/latest?id=0050 http://www.fisherforohio.com/home

He has not won an election lately on his own, though he came close in 1998.

"Fisher served as an Ohio state representative from 1981 to 1982 and as an Ohio state senator from 1982 to 1990. He was elected attorney general of Ohio and served in that post from 1991 to 1995. In 1994, Fisher lost his bid for re-election as attorney general to Republican Betty Montgomery.

In 1992, Fisher was elected a presidential elector for Ohio. In 1998, Fisher ran for Governor but narrowly lost to Republican Bob Taft, 50%-45%, in the closest gubernatorial election in 28 years." (That was from his wiki.)



He did win Lt. Governor in 2006, but as part of the gubernatorial ticket, not on his own. On the other hand, his profile and name recognition are likely to be higher than Brunner's--and he has raised 3.25 million dollars. Brunner has not released her numbers yet, but they seem much lower. One of the Republicans vying for the seat, a Bushie, has raised more than $5 million.

Fisher seems to be going after members of Brunner's family. I don't think folks will react well to that. She, on the other hand, is going after him for pulling a Palin (or close to it). http://www.ohiodailyblog.com/content/jennifer-brunner-hits-lee-fishers-achilles-heel. But, Fisher, predictably, is getting the endorsements.

(Good grief. Brunner's Secretary of State website is frickin' pink with touches of blue! Looks like a damn virtual nursery. What a tone deaf move! Or should I say color blind--and not in a good way?

And then, there's this: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/us/16vote.html Hard to say, but I have a gut optimism that Brunner has a chance. How much of a chance, I'm not sure, but a chance.



Romanoff's website could be better designed, but he has chosen good stuff for readers to see. Among other things, he came in first in a Denver business magazine poll when he was against both the other Democrats and the Republicans. That's very meaningful, given that Bennet is the incumbent (appointed in 2009 to replace now Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar).


Bennet does have an impressive wiki--and a billionaire friend-- and he is the incumbent, with the name recognition that brings. On the other hand, voters, unlike the DNC, do not seem to be loving incumbents these days.

I think Romanoff may have a good shot at a win!


Dennigan v. Langevin--Intersting candidate. Tough one. She is both a nurse and a lawyer, married to an M.D. Strong candidate. However, her resume is heavy toward women's and children's issues. He is a quadriplegic with a masters from the Kennedy School of Government. A real go getter. From his Congressional website, it's obvious that he knows how to sell himself and is not shy about it. Comes across as a real go getter, even before you read he has been a quadriplegic since age 16. Very impressive. Experienced in areas like Intelligence and Armed Forces. Could be hard to beat, despite his vote for the Stupak Amendment. If there is a feminist backlash vote, he's a goner. Rhode Island is heavily Catholic. How seriously do Rhode Island Catholics take the church's position on abortion? I have no clue.


Sadly, I am not at all optimistic about D'Ippolito winning over Even Bayh, though I would support almost any Democrat against Bayh! I don't see her defeating him.

BTW, I just read up on Birch Bayh. I guess the gene pool got shallow after him? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birch_Bayh

[defendandprotect]

2. While last week this would have been a good idea, post-US corrupt ruling . . .

where are we now with any meaning to giving our $$ to a candidate --

or using our $$ to try to move a more conservative Dem out and moving in a

more progressive Dem?

Our money is now almost meaning less with the dam having been sprung open to

let in all kinds of corporate money -- Chamber of Commerce is ecastic!!



Rachel Maddow addressed this the first night of shock over this horrendous decision --

And, there's a great video with Michael Moore at Amy Goodman's where he addresses this -

What is even Michael Moore's wealth worth now vs ExxonMobil?

I'll post the link for you as soon as I go back and find it!


LINK:

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2010/1/8/howard_zinn_three_holy_wars


If you look to the right under "Recent Shows" you'll see the Michael Moore video!

It's somewhere near the last part -- Try 10 minutes before the end.

I'd also recommend the Howard Zinn video.

[No Elephants]

3. Bottom line: Some support from us is better than none from us. JMO

And, as I said, at a minimum, we can support these folks via Twitter and Face Book and maybe ask our friends and relatives to do the same.

Or we could just give up, unless and until the Constitution is amended. Just sit out every election from now until that happens, if ever. That is not my personality, though. I think what we in terms of supporting good candidates will make a difference. If we don't help good Democrats run, who will? And if no one helps them, they will disappear. That is not a goal whose accomplishment I wish to assist.

Speaking of the decision, though, I was stunned (in a good way) when Obama denounced it during the SOTU, with the Supremes sitting right in front of him and looking none too happy. I cannot recall another President ever doing anything like that. And I was glad, even though it shocked me.