DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY IN PA-03-- A CASE FOR MIKE WALTNER

Almost a year ago, Blue America re-endorsed a stalwart progressive for Congress in northwest Pennsylvania's 3rd CD, Dr. Steven Porter. I say "re-endorsed" because Steve was one of our candidates in the last election cycle as well. At the time, and with absolutely no support whatsoever from the DCCC or any other establishment Democrats, Steve held rubber stamp Republican hack Phil English to a 54% share of the vote, signaling deep vulnerability. He has become more than moderately disillusioned with the Democratic Party and has decided to run as an independent. Please take a look at his most recent visit to Firedoglake to get an understanding about why he's decided to leave the Democratic Party behind.

Soon after our session with Steve last August, I got calls from several of the other candidates considering making the run for the Democratic nomination. The first guy who called was a living, breathing example of all Steve's complaints about Democrats who are as clueless-- and complicit-- as Republicans. But eventually I spoke with Mike Waltner, a minister from a solidly working class family with a compelling lifestory. Since then he has emerged as the grassroots fave among Democrats running for the nomination. A DWT reader from a neighboring congressional district asked if he could introduce Mike's campaign here and I was happy to give him the space. His report:

PENNSYLVANIA PRIMARY, APRIL 22-- 3rd CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

-by Pittsburgh Steeler Fan Working for Universal Health Care



National media attention is currently focused on the presidential race in the upcoming Pennsylvania Primary, scheduled for April 22, 2008. However, the Democratic primary in the 3rd Congressional District deserves much wider coverage because of a fundamental difference between candidate Mike Waltner and the other three candidates. This difference speaks to the type of Democratic Party progressives hope to build.  The winner of the Democratic Primary will face incumbent Phil English-R in November. Because of the past record of Rep. English and the current political climate, it is assumed that the top vote-getter on the Democratic side can win this race.  
 
I am a member of the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Single Payer Health Care and was drawn to Mr. Waltner's campaign because of his position on health care. I live in Pittsburgh, PA where our group advocates for HR 676, which is co-sponsored by 89 members of the House of Representative and would establish a single payer health care system in this country, essentially "Medicare For All".  We are fortunate that our representative in Congress, Rep. Mike Doyle, is one of the co-sponsors of HR 676.  
 
Pennsylvania CD-3 is a sprawling district that encompasses the city of Erie and spreads southward to Butler County, which is just north of Pittsburgh. When supporters of HR 676 became aware of Mike's campaign, we decided to become involved because he has made health care a centerpiece of his message, and he clearly speaks of his support for a single payer health care system on his web site. During the first week of April, a number of individuals supportive of our efforts held a fundraiser for Mike in Pittsburgh and raised over $3,000 for his campaign.

This past weekend, seven supporters of HR 676 traveled to Butler to hand out campaign literature on Mike's congressional campaign and we also distributed material on HR 676. We worked jointly with seven of Mike's Butler supporters, some of whom are UAW members working at the local steel plant. Incidentally, this steel plant is one of the few remaining industrial workplaces in Butler and the town is a shadow of its former self-- much like Erie and hundreds of other rust-belt cities in Pennsylvania.

In terms of the difference between Mike and his opponents, a debate held on April 7th in Hermitage, Mercer County is instructive. The other contenders for the nomination are Kathy Dahlkemper, a small-business owner; Erie County Councilman Kyle Foust; and Tom Myers, an attorney. Michael shaped the debate on health care by announcing that he would work for a bill to bring universal health care to all Americans. Though the other three candidates said that they agreed with the concept of universal health care and would support such a bill if it got to the House floor, they didn't pledge to fight for it and doubted that such a bill could succeed. 

It's this type of wishy washy, "have it both ways" position that points to the difference between leaders who would fight for a policy that would clearly benefit their constituents and others who are simply interested in getting elected. Mike will be a leader who will fight for the types of policies articulated on his web site. And this is why Mike is deserving of the support of Blue America and Down With Tyranny readers… even though it is important to defeat a Republican rubber stamp such as Phil English, it will not be enough to simply elect any Democrat. "Not more Democrats, but better Democrats."


The ActBlue pages for Mike's campaign are all here.