RICK RENZI-- CORRUPT IN DC, CORRUPT IN AZ-- LOSING HIS CONGRESSIONAL SEAT TO PROGRESSIVE ELLEN SIMON

Since I've started blogging I've met a lot of incredible men and women who I probably would never have gotten to meet otherwise. One of the most impressive is Maria Leavey, a media consultant in Washington whose e-mails I always look forward to anxiously. In between the incredible work she has done for Tom Harkin, Howard Dean, the Campaign for America's Future, Democracy Radio, and the American Prospect, I managed to convince her to write up the story of the campaign in Arizona's first congressional district between right wing nincompoop/slimy crook Mike Renzi and a shining beacon of progressive American hope, Ellen Simon. Here's Maria's report:

WE CAN TURN THIS ONE BLUE


While Democrats are taking back the country, progressive Dems are taking back the party and Ellen Simon, running in Arizona's First CD, is one of the ones doing it. Her opponent, the ethically-challenged incumbent Rick Renzi, is under federal investigation, behind in the polls, and getting desperate. He can't engage Simon on the issues, as he's wrong on all of them, so he's attacking her for standing up for our constitutional rights. "ACLU Ellen," as he has clumsily dubbed her, has fought for the rights of individuals and families her entire life. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, she knows better than most how carefully we must guard the liberties our constitution guarantees. Renzi calls this dedication "Cleveland values," in another futile attempt to coin a catchphrase. Apparently he means that dedication to civil rights is a decadent and dangerous trait peculiar to Easterners (as people from Cleveland are considered in Arizona), but the voters of the district aren't buying it. Simon's campaign has been largely self-funded with Renzi bringing in more than twenty times the donations, largely from right-wing special interests and corporations. The DCCC has moved AZ-1 into their "Red to Blue" program but Rahm Emanuel hasn't kicked in any funds. Ellen Simon isn't his kind of Democrat, but she's ours. Check out her web page.


Maria Leavey