FIGHTING DEM/FIGHTING PROFESSOR READY TO END THE PATHETIC REIGN OF PENNSYLVANIA RUBBER-STAMP REPUBLICAN DON SHERWOOD

As this electoral cycle got started people realized there are a virtual goldmine of moderate Pennsylvania districts filled with citizens who have grown disenchanted with Bush and his rubber-stamp Republican Congress. The DCCC and other observers quickly identified 3 suburban districts near Philly (PA-06, PA-07 and PA-08) as likely targets. But as things started sorting themselves out Democrats started realizing they have a truly outstanding candidate, Chris Carney, running in PA-10. Everything about Carney spelled "ideal candidate." Except one thing: a powerful and entrenched incumbent in a very red district. How red? Until Howard Dean came along with his 50-state strategy, DCCC hacks haven't even been trying in the 10th. There were no Democrats running in 2002 or 2004 (Before a 2002 GOP redistricting that excised Democratic Scranton, another anti-choice reactionary Casey-- son of Gov/brother of current Senate nominee, Pat-- gave the current right-wing kook, Don Sherwood, a couple of close calls. Since then Sherwood has wracked up 93% winning majorities.)

So what made Chris Carney think he could successfully take him on? The district looks and feels more like Appalachia than like Bucks County or even neighboring Monroe County, where I used to live, just south of it. It's virtually all white, mostly rural, and the medium annual income is just under $36,000. Bush beat Kerry with 60% of the vote. Carney isn't a politician and has never run for office before. He's just a civic-minded citizen who, like so many of us, has had it up to here with the Beltway shenanigans that have served the country so poorly of late. A Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve, he spent much of the last 6 years serving either overseas, or at the Pentagon as a senior advisor on intelligence and counterterrorism issues. His other job is professor of political science at Penn State University in Scranton. A Fighting Dem and a teacher-- great combo (something that also makes Rick Penberthy so appealing down in Florida). So why take on so onerous and unlikely a task?

I am fed up with Washington politicians leaving most Americans behind while our national priorities are forgotten. I am tired of legislators focusing on the extremes of issues instead of finding ways to move the nation forward. And I am tired of the values of middle America being ignored. Our families, our small businesses, our teachers, our farmers, and our children all deserve more from our representatives.

I am running for U.S. Congress to change the way congress does business. Now, more than ever we need an effective government that focuses on the issues that affect us all: National Security, Homeland Security, Retirement Security, Job Security, Environmental Security, and Energy Security. In the face of terrorism, growing deficits, disappearing jobs, and skyrocketing healthcare costs, the 10th District deserves a representative who has good judgment, who has the expertise to lead in a dangerous world, and who will always fight for the people of the 10th District.

Chris has moderately progressive, commonsense, non-ideological stands on the issues of the day, stands that are in sync with the area. He sounds like he's the kind of guy with real leadership abilities and a sound moral foundation. But can he win in this kind of district. Outside of his immediate circle, not many thought so-- at least not until last month's Pennsylvania primary.

That changed everything and opened a lot of people's eyes-- inside and outside the district-- to the immense dissatisfaction people are feeling about rubber-stamp wing-nuts like Sherwood. His pathetic voting record shows a garden variety reactionary who has steadfastly gone along with every disastrous bit of Bush's and DeLay's horrendous agenda, an agenda that has especially hit most of his overwhelmingly working and lower middle class constituents very, very hard. When it comes to aid for the poor, the disabled, veterans, the unemployed, workers thrown out of jobs because of corporate trade agreements like the hated NAFTA and CAFTA, Sherwood has a closed fist and a raised middle finger. When it comes to tax policies that help the wealthy and subsidies for the kinds of corporations that give crooked Republican politicians big campaign contributions... well... if Sherwood was as generous to his own constituents as he is, always to big corporate interests, people would be doing a lot better in struggling towns like Carbondale, Williamsport, Kingston and Sunbury-- let alone in the depressed counties along the New York State border.

On election night Sherwood was in a state of shock when a completely unknown, unfinanced school guidance counselor, Kathy Scott, came close to beating him in the primary. In her campaign, she had emphasized that Sherwood is an outrageous corporate whore who takes millions of dollars from business PACs in return for his votes on their very special interests, even when those interests are at odds with those of the district's residents. She also brought up the bizarre sex scandal that has plagued the holier-than-thou fake family-values Sherwood and claimed that he "settled a $5.5 million lawsuit for alleged physical abuse brought against him by his 29-year-old mistress of 5 years." She explained to Republican voters that Sherwood votes to cut benefits for Social Security, Medicaid, veterans, education, student loans, and job-training were not in their interests. Now it will be up to Chris Carney to pound that home.

Although an overwhelming disgust among social conservatives because of Sherwood's sexual peccadilloes, abusive behavior and grotesque hypocrasy, coupled with widespread anti-incumbent sentiment, may help Carney, he will have to overcome a gigantic financial gap between the two campaigns. A member of corrupt Jerry Lewis' earmark-plagued Appropriations Committee, Sherwood has had a "For Sale" on his back for many years and has amassed a sizable warchest to defend his turf.




UPDATE: EVEN CHENEY DOESN'T WANT SHERWOOD'S STIGMA TO RUB OFF ON HIM

You've probably been reading lots of stories about how congressional Republicans have gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid being photographed-- or even seen on the same stage-- with Bush or Cheney. With a 29% approval rating, Bush is considered to be too toxic for most campaigns to handle-- and he's twice as popular as Cheney (who is less admired than OJ Simpson or Michael Jackson and beats exactly one well-known person in the public's esteem: Paris Hilton).

But while other Republicans are running away from Cheney as fast as they can, Cheney is afraid to be seen publicly with Don Sherwood. Sherwood was hoping his sinking campaign would get a jolt of energy from Cheney but when Cheney's staff looked over Sherwood's "family values" situation-- beating up and abusing his young mistress of 5 years-- they called off a fundraiser scheduled for Monday at the last minute. Sherwood is frantically looking for someone else to fill in for Cheney at the $1,500/plate event for which tickets had already been paid for. Although turned down by all current elected officials in Pennsylvania and 3 neighboring states, there is a rumor that the mayor of Hayden Lake, Idaho will come if Sherwood pays for his airfare and two nights in a "decent motel."