A LITTLE UPDATE ON OUR FAVORITE NORTH CAROLINA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE, LARRY KISSELL

I get a lot of e-mail asking me to update everyone on the candidates we've talked about (and who aren't being covered elsewhere; I mean we pretty much are all following the in's and out's of Ned Lamont's heroic campaign against the Lieberhund). Unless you live in southern North Carolina, there's a good chance you haven't heard much about what's been happening with Larry Kissell since our live chat with him at Firedoglake in June. The front page of today's Fayetteville Observer features an article that is bad news for Larry's rubber stamp opponent: "Lost Jobs Could Put Rep. Hayes At Risk", and there are virtually no voters in NC-08 who won't be reading that story today. The import of the story was best summarized by a local bumper sticker spawned after Hayes succumbed to intense pressure from Cheney, DeLay and Blunt to support the catastrophic CAFTA legislation (which one by one-- his-- tearful vote): "NAFTA plus CAFTA equals SHAFTA."

While voters in the district are assessing the role Hayes has played in the devastating consequences to the district of the passage of CAFTA and the death knell of NC-08's textile industry, Hayes has been doing his durndest to avoid being associated with Bush (for whom he has been a complete and utter rubber stamp for nearly 6 years). Last week the Troy Post reported that Hayes avoided Bush's appearance at Bush's photo op at Fort Bragg on July 4th. Larry pointed out that Bush "has campaigned with Hayes extensively over the past six years and Hayes has supported [Bush's] programs like CAFTA and voted for" his agenda 90% of the time. "When it helped him, Robin was publicly at the President's side, but the second that the Bush policies come under attack, Hayes heads for the hills. If that's not a fair-weather friend I don't know what is." Of course, out of view of tv cameras and journalists, and in no danger of being photographed with Bush, who by June had lost so much support in NC that only 45% of the state's residents said they approved of the job he was doing, Hayes claims he "met privately" with Bush after the photo op.

Now, 3 weeks later, people in the southern part of the state are starting to ask the tough questions about what their congressman has accomplished in Washington. And, according to what they're telling the Fayetteville Observer may are wondering if it isn't time for a change of representatitives. When talk turns to jobs, as it always does, there is considerable dissatisfaction, to put it mildly, with Hayes. "Officials with WestPoint Stevens Inc. announced last week that one of their two Wagram plants would close in September, taking 370 jobs with it. The plant's operations will be relocated to Pakistan, but company officials would not say when. It's the second textile plant to leave the county in two years... Textile plant closings have become commonplace in Scotland County and across the state. Since 1993, more than 674 textile and apparel mills have closed in North Carolina. Between 1997 and 2002, about 100,000 textile jobs and 70,000 apparel jobs were lost."

The Observer says residents are unsure who to blame-- with the corporations, the government, themselves and their "high" wages-- but goes on to present Larry Kissell, who has no doubt where the blame lays. Kissell knows that the "free trade" (free but never fair) policies pushed
by the Bush Regime and rubber stamped by Republicans like Hayes have caused many of NC-08's problems. "Kissell recently blasted Hayes for voting in favor of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, a pact to promote trade liberalization between the United States and six Central American countries. It's an agreement that some critics, Kissell included, say steals jobs from Americans in favor of cheap labor in foreign countries... 'There is no question that free trade has been bad for the 8th District,' said Kissell, a high school teacher who worked as a textile worker in North Carolina for 27 years. As confirmation, Kissell points to the plant closings in Wagram and to the 34,150 manufacturing jobs that have left the state since NAFTA was implemented in 1993."

If you take a look at our Blue America Communities page at ACT BLUE, you'll see that we've raised just over $1,500 for Larry about 5% of what he's raised on Act Blue. It's a winable seat and even a small donation of $10, if enough of us go for it, will help Larry amplify his message across the district. His grassroots campaign has been effective and the district looks ready for the red to blue switch-- not just red to blue, but, more important, reactionary to progressive.