DES MOINES REGISTER ENDORSES ED FALLON OVER BLUE DOG LEONARD BOSWELL... UPSET IN THE MAKING?

The next member of John Hall's & Paul Hodes' congressional band?

I want to remind everyone that all this week DownWithTyranny is the guest blog for AirAmerica. We decided to donate the generous weekly salary to one of the Blue America candidates and I'm hoping you'll help us pick which one. I laid out how to do it yesterday, although the short version is just signal us which candidate you want to vote for by adding one cent to a donation to his or her campaign (or just donate one cent) on the Blue America ActBlue page. The candidate who gets the most votes (not the largest amount of money, just the largest amount of one cents) wins the AirAmerica check.

Yesterday's big winner was Debbie Cook, the progressive Democratic Mayor of Huntington Beach who is running against GOP kook Dana Rohrabacher. I have a feeling that today will be Ed Fallon's day. This morning he was endorsed by the Des Moines Register. Considering that the Register usually endorses incumbents and has always endorsed Boswell's re-election bids, this is pretty earth shaking. A week from today Des Moines Democrats will decide between their Bush rubber stamp congressman and a very progressive alternative.

[H]olding the job of congressman doesn't mean a candidate automatically deserves to be re-elected. After interviewing both candidates and reviewing their records, the editorial board can no longer embrace the congressman as the best person to represent Iowa in Congress. Fallon is running under the slogan "new energy for Iowa." On June 3, Democrats in the 3rd District should give Fallon a chance to unleash some of his ideas and energy in Washington.

Why Boswell falls short

Boswell's own record of accomplishment in a dozen years in Congress is relatively light, and, in a recent meeting with the editorial board, he seemed out of touch about some serious issues facing the country.

One example: Boswell expressed skepticism about the financial problems facing Medicare, asking what economists the Register had consulted to conclude the health-care program was in fiscal trouble. It's hardly an issue for debate. The Medicare Board of Trustees has issued numerous reports outlining the trust fund's looming deficits. David Walker, former comptroller general, has expressed concerns about projected Medicare spending. Yet Boswell talked about further studying the issue rather than proposing how to address it.
On immigration, he suggested that undocumented immigrants should go back to their home countries and "get in line" for a chance to come here. That's hardly realistic considering there are an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

When asked about Republican presidential candidate John McCain's prediction the previous day that most American troops could be home from Iraq by 2013, Boswell seemed unaware of McCain's statement. When asked about education in Iowa, Boswell said the state does "pretty good." And when asked what he based that on, he said Iowa's history and his own experience. But Iowa's educational system-- not to mention the world economy-- looks nothing like it did in Boswell's childhood.

How Fallon stands out

Though Fallon was viewed as a maverick in the Iowa Legislature, he was frequently on the right side of issues. He argued for community-based corrections for nonviolent offenders and against building more prisons. He was the only House member to vote against the 2,000-foot residency restriction for certain sex offenders, a law that virtually banished them from many communities, making them harder to track, while driving up costs for law enforcement.

He's right on many federal issues, too. He supports a taxpayer-financed health-insurance system that would cover everyone, and he wants to reform the wasteful prescription-drug program.

A longtime peace activist, he has steadfastly opposed the war in Iraq.

During his meeting with the editorial board, Fallon said climate change is the single biggest issue the country faces. He arrived with his own reusable water bottle and said if sent to Washington he will continue to try to bike to work and "grow a few tomatoes."

This may make him seem an odd fit in the bustling bureaucracy of the nation's capital, but it's also a sign he's willing to chart his own path, a refreshing approach for Capitol Hill.

...Fallon said Washington needs more people to "think independently and critically." That's the best argument for selecting him as the 3rd District Democratic nominee.

We have three crucial and very winnable primaries coming up in the next two months. June 3 in Iowa is the first. The following week, June 10, Leslie Byrne, faces a corrupt insider with a lot of money and a suspicious record of flip flops on Iraq. And then on July 15 Regina Thomas is going up against Blue Dog and Bush rubber stamp John Barrow. All three of these candidates deserve support from progressives and anti-war Democrats and independents. All three are on our Blue America ActBlue page


UPDATE: BOSWELL AND RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY

Boswell has been carrying Bush's water on retroactive immunity for his criminal coterie, working behind the scenes to subvert the will of the majority of the Democratic House caucus. Matt Stoller over at Open Left published a letter Ed Fallon wrote to Boswell about his shady role in this. Boswell has refused to debate Fallon so there is no way for him to be challenged publicly on his egregious Bush Dog record.