Have you heard of Bart Stupak?

[Kber]

He’s the Congressman who has decided that stopping a woman from buying an insurance policy with her own money that covers abortions (i.e. the “Stupak Amendment) is more important than passing Health Care Reform. He’s willing to torpedo the whole shebang, including expanding Health Care for pre-natal care and children, is he doesn’t get to further restrict women’s reproductive choices.

Typical Republican, right?

Actually, no – he’s a Democrat and he’s leading the anti-choice crusade in Congress.

So what to do?

Well, if you have family in his district who are politically active, you can harangue, beg and plead for them to find a credible candidate who is to willing to mount a serious primary challenge.

And it worked!

Yesterday Connie Saltonstall, a life-long northern Michigan resident and Democratic activist, declared her candidacy to challenge Bart Stupak in the Democratic Primary.

Here is a link to her webpage (basic as of now, but it’s only a day old).
http://conniesaltonstall.com/index.html

I hope you will consider supporting Connie’s campaign. A link to her ActBlue page can be found in the upper right corner.

Please pass this along to anyone who you feel might be interested and supportive.

Thank you!

[CrispyQ]

1. Thank you.

I just sent her $25 & bookmarked her site to send more.

[Kber]

3. Thank you CrispyQ!

[AlinPA]

2. How strong is he in his district?

[Kber]

4. He's a strong incumbent

from CNN Political Tickler

Saltonstall admits that defeating a sitting member of Congress will not be easy. Stupak was first elected to Congress in 1992, and has won by double digits in five out of nine campaigns according to the Almanac of American Politics. He easily defeated his most recent primary challenger during the 2000 election by a whopping 89-11 margin.

"As a realist I know that defeating an incumbent is difficult," Saltonstall explained. "But I also know that there are many past supporters who have told me they have voted for Bart in every single election and they'll never vote for him again. It will be a lot of hard work, it will be a serious challenge, but we're going to try because the voters of this district deserve a choice."

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/10/stupak-facing-primary-challenger-over-abortion-funding/?fbid=j0gCXXbOoTh#comment-3306025

But he's pissed a lot of people off and I think Connie could get some real traction.

[Cha]

5. And, stranger things have happened.

[Kber]

11. Not to sound trite

but you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Thanks for the encouragement!

:)

[AlinPA]

6. Thanks. nt

[customerserviceguy]

9. He's also pretty strong in general elections

Last time, he got about two-thirds of the vote. He was down a few points from 2006, when he got damned near 70% of the vote.

Money sent to his primary opponent is pretty much down a rathole.

[Kber]

10. So you like Bart then?

[customerserviceguy]

12. I don't have to like him

to know that he's pretty much a shoo-in come November. Google up a map of his district, there are no really big cities in it that vote reliably progressive.

The Repubes would love to see us piddle away campaign contributions on a primary challenge to Stupak. It diverts money away from progressives who have a reasonable chance of winning their nomination fights, and possibly even the general election come November.

[Kber]

13. OK

Concern duly noted - thank

[customerserviceguy]

14. You're welcome

Stupak may infurate a lot of people, but he's not a target worth our ammunition. We just have to accept the fact that there are a lot of districts that are only capable of sending a Blue Dog (at most) this election year.

On the other hand, there are districts that might just nominate a progressive, and there are other districts that have a Blue Dog, who can be unseated by a tea bagger, and replaced in 2012 by a solid progressive. That's not as satisfying as a progressive primary win, but you have to take the best you can get, sometimes.

[brentspeak]

7. And yet he is pushing to end NAFTA and for the U.S. to leave Afghanistan

While there are Democrats who are pro-choice but are perfectly happy with both NAFTA and us dying in Afghanistan.

So how do we know who's the "real Democrat"?

[golfguru]

15. Great Point !! n/t

[southernyankeebelle]

8. Don't bother to call his office and complain. I got hung up on and I callled

again and the second time they sent my call to a threat security office of some type. All I said was don't hang up on me and he did and I called backed and I couldn't believe the guy on the other end telling me I was threatening them. I cused him and he said he could understand why they transferred me to them. I told him I didn't cuse him and repeated again he hung up on me. I asked the guy what kind of a country this is. Stupid is a prick. He is a prick who lived with the Famiy organization and maybe he is taking payments from that group. I am not sure but you got to worry.

[Blue Owl]

16. Fart Stumpfuck?

Heard he's gonna lose in the next election.