DEAD HEAT IN ONE OF THE MOST REPUBLICAN DISTRICTS IN AMERICA-- JAY FAWCETT CAN WIN IN COLORADO'S 5th CD

CNN is on in another part of the house. I just heard Bill Schneider saying "Democrats" and "11%" and I know what he's talking about-- one of yesterday's polls said a generic congressional Democrat would beat a generic congressional Republican by 11%. Today's Washington Post has a nice pie chart that shows 54% of registered voters plan to vote for Democrats and only 41% for Republicans. "Democrats have regained a commanding position going into the final weeks of the midterm-election campaigns, with support eroding for Republicans on Iraq, ethics and presidential leadership, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll."

That's nice. But I'm more excited about a poll in Colorado's 5th congressional district. There are four races in Colorado where Democrats Angie Paccione, Bill Winter, Ed Perlmutter and Jay Fawcett are making strong bids to turn red seats blue. I examined the campaign in the 5th CD at the beginning of September. Although Fawcett, with whom I spoke several times, looked like a phenomenally good candidate and very well suited to the district, the district is frighteningly Republican. The most powerful name in the district is James Dobson, the religionist fanatic and Republican powerbroker. Dobson's candidate, an extremist Know-Nothing loon named Lamborn, is unsuited for public office and a bad match even for this Republican a district (which have Bush 66% of its vote in 2004). Even with no support whatsoever from a narrow and basically defeatist DCCC, I sensed Jay had a shot here. And with the longtime and much admired retiring Republican incumbent refusing to endorse Lamborn-- even signaling to his supporters that Lamborn is an unacceptable extremist-- I figured the race was a toss-up. A toss-up in on of the most Republican districts in the entire nation!

Today the Denver Post confirmed what I sensed in September and what the DCCC may figure out on November 8th: Jay Fawcett has an even shot at becoming the next congressman from Colorado Springs. How is that possible?

It has as much to do with the quality of the two candidates-- especially with Jay though-- as it does with how badly people feel about what the Bush Regime and the rubber stamp Congress have done to America, both at home and abroad. It's as though people in the 5th CD have just woken up, looked around and said "WTF! How did this happen!" A Democrat has never won in the 5th CD. "Fawcett and Lamborn each have 37 percent of the votes, while 26 percent of voters in the six-county district remain undecided. The poll was conducted Oct. 3 through Saturday and included 400 likely voters." The unfolding Foley sex scandal and Republican-engineered cover-up are unlikely to help Lamborn with those undecided voters.

If the DCCC was vaguely competent or if Rahm Emanuel was anything but a glorified Chicago ward-healer with the instincts and principles of Tom DeLay, Democratic Party money would be pouring into TV ads in Colorado's 5th. But Emanuel is not competent and is not something other than a Democratic version of DeLay-- albeit a far less capable one-- so... that leaves Jay Fawcett's race up to grassroots progressives like us. Sending money to organizations like the DCCC or DSCC is a complete waste of time, even antithetical to electing progressives to Congress. If you want to help elect a Democratic Congress and if you would like to help Jay get into Congress, you can donate to his campaign directly right here. He can win-- and it's up to us.