Back in the campaign trenches

[WilliamPitt]

I am writing this from the Christine Cegelis campaign headquarters in the 6th District of Illinois. Cegelis is engaged in a tight three-person race for the Democratic nomination, the winner of which will square off against Peter Roskam, a genuinely frightening right-wing DeLay clone, in the general. It has been a heated race, to be sure. Rahm Emmanuel and the DCCC have recruited an Iraq veteran named Tammy Duckworth, who lost her legs in the war, and have drowned her in campaign cash. The Duckworth campaign has sent no less then eleven very polished, glossy direct mailings in the last several weeks. If she wins this thing, she will have spent enough money for each vote she gets to take every Democrat in her district out for a weekend at Caeser's Palace.

That's cool. We at Progressive Democrats of America, however, take a different view. You see, Emmanuel and the DCCC got into this thing because they think the 6th District, formerly the bastion of Henry Hyde, is in serious play come November. The thing is, there would be absolutely, positively no Democratic campaign or activism infrastructure here were it not for Christine Cegelis, who ran against Hyde in '04, and who has basically been campaigning ever since. The district is in play mostly because of the ground work Cegelis has done, and so we at PDA decided to back her, no matter what the DCCC has to say about it.

It's going to be close when the votes get counted tomorrow. Maybe we'll win, maybe we wont, but at the end of the day, it is the action and activism and campaigning that counts. We are building for the present as well as the future out here, in a district that we could snatch from the GOP when November rolls around. Right now, there are hundreds of Cegelis volunteers canvassing neighborhoods, leaving GOTV literature and finding where our friends are. The headquarters itself is a hive of activity, with that electricty which can only be found in the last 24 hours of a well-fought campaign.

It's good to be back. I HIGHLY recommend that you find your own campaign in your own area, roll up your sleeves, and dig in. Win, lose or draw, it is the effort that matters.

[pinto]

1. As they say, all politics is local, but there's nothing like

a truly local race to feel, see, hear and smell the nature of American politics.
Nice post. May the best Dem win!

[SeattleGirl]

2. ABC News did a segment last night on the veterans who are

running this year, and featured Emmanuel as one of the candidates. I had a pretty good impression of her, but I don't know anything about the other candidates running in that race. I just liked it that ABC did a story on the vets who are running, ALL as Dems.

[WilliamPitt]

3. Emmanuel isn't a candidate

He's the DCCC guy who decides which candidates get the money. Just fyi.

[SeattleGirl]

6. Oops. Sorry. I didn't look back at your post closely enough

to see that. (I was trying to do too many things at once).

[mdmc]

4. hopefully tomorrow will bring unity, and victory in the fall.

GOTV = victory. Mailings = dogshit. It sounds like Cegelis have been building towards this for years. Why did the DSSS go towards Duckworth? Was it that they really like Duckworth or because they didn't see Cegelis as viable.

[WilliamPitt]

5. It's part of a larger DCCC plan

to run Iraq vets in tight races.

As for unity, count on it. Wednesday morning will see the leadership breakfast, where all the candidates will come together to bury the hatchet and game up for Roskam.

[mdmc]

9. peace, God!

:patriot:

[Joe Fields]

7. You know what I like about you, Will?

Even though we may not see eye to eye on a few things, you definitely are committed to helping restore America to the people. You put your effort where your mouth is.

[helderheid]

8. Good on ya, Will. Glad to see PDA involved in her race.

[Kevin Spidel]

10. thx for being here! kick n/t

[GalleryGod]

11. I Agree, Will.

You'll be seeing less and less of me,too. Our cyber community is an OK place to be (The Late, Great "Birdman" called it,"a JR. High School cafeteria")for BSing but the smell and feel of local HQ's is where it's "at".