YES, WE VERY MUCH WANT BARRY WELSH TO WIN. CAN HE?

If the Democrats manage to take back the House, it's very likely it will be because of victories in what are thought of as traditionally reddish states like North Carolina, Colorado and Indiana. Three corporate, right-of-center Democrats look likely to take down extreme right wing rubber stamp Republicans in Indiana. If there's a 4th seat to be had in that state, it's going to be in the 6th CD, currently held by fanatic ideologue Mike Pence. I asked a friend of mine from Indiana, Eric, a brilliant Latin scholar, ex-communications director for Gretchen Clearwater's valiant congressional campaign and founder of Bloomington's Dringking Liberally, to do a little snooping around and report back about any progress from the progressive candidate in the district, Barry Welsh. Eric brings hopeful tidings:

UPDATE ON BARRY WELSH
by Eric Foster aka mtullius

I live in Bloomington, which is actually in the 9th CD of Indiana, but I have been following Barry Welsh and his inspirational campaign for several months. That’s because the 9th district features Blue Dog DLC Democrat [I won't keep interrupting but I do want to point out how polite Eric is. To me, he's talking about a bigoted corporate whore, hardly worth a trip to the polls on election day. -Editor] Baron Hill versus rubberstamping millionaire wingnut Rep. Mike Sodrel. Now don't get me wrong, Hill will be a much better representative than Sodrel. But one can only watch Hill’s new commercial, in which he solemnly intones, "marriage is between a man and a woman," over video of him praying with his family so many times before one tunes out. Baron Hill is a "hold your nose and vote" Democrat; Barry Welsh is a "stand up and cheer" Democrat.

Here's a video from Barry Welsh to contrast with the Baron praying video.

Now that's a speech!

Barry is a great, inspirational candidate. He embodies real progressive values, and he's comfortable talking about the kind of values that make many Democrats nervous. That might be because Barry
is a Methodist minister. It might also be because Barry understands that moral values include things besides abortion and gay-bashing, things like access to health care, economic justice, and peace.


Barry's opponent, Mike Pence, likes to talk about his values: he calls himself "a Christian, a
conservative, and a Republican, in that order." (Barry asks: "Where is 'American' on Pence's list?")  He is one of the most conservative Republicans in the House, chairman of the Republican Study Committee (a group which studies how to make America into a fascist theocracy), and a former radio personality.

Just look at him: can't you see the smugness oozing out of his every pore?

Now think about how sweet it would be to send him back to being a Rush Limbaugh wannabe. Of course it would be a huge upset. Of course it's unlikely. But it's probably not as unlikely as we've been led to believe.

You see, Democrats have mostly given up on Indiana. Our Presidential candidates don't come here.  Our state party is only interested in funneling money and help to corporate types like Baron Hill (word is that Barry Welsh was not even allowed to address the whole state party convention, though he gave a rousing speech to the 6th district delegation that you can also watch on YouTube). And a place like the
6th district is considered a lost cause. No big money donors. No polls. No effort to change minds or even to get Democrats to vote. Just Barry and his dedicated team, criss-crossing the district, talking
to voters, raising hope.

Think about what Barry has already done for the progressive grassroots: his website launched a 50-state Strategy section, encouraging Democratic candidate recruitment in every Congressional district
in America (only 10 Republicans went unopposed this cycle, thanks in part to Barry). And now, Barry's latest innovation: the People-Powered Poll.

Barry and his supporters (like ManFromMiddletown) realized that one of the things that keeps races like his out of the spotlight is the perception that they're unwinnable. That perception might be backed up by numbers like Bush's percentage in 2004 (64%)-- but not by current polling numbers.  The theory is that there are probably winnable races that the DCCC and the mainstream media (and even the blogosphere!) don't know about.

So the idea was to use volunteers, including volunteer statisticians and phone callers, to do a cheap but scientific poll. Barry's campaign will make their model available to anyone who wants to use it. With some refinement and a lot more data, this could be a huge help to underfunded campaigns
everywhere.

Oh, and by the way-- Barry's early poll results (I guess some data is still coming in that could change it a bit): Pence- 38%, Barry- 26%, undecided- 22% planning on abstaining- 14%. Sound hopeless? Not to me... Barry could use some love from the netroots: donations, buzz, volunteering if you're in the area, and a resounding thank-you, win or lose.