Can The Democrats Win A Veto-Proof Senate? If Andrew Rice Beats Jim Inhofe...

In 2006 everything went right and the Democrats took back the Senate. Since then McConnell and a core of reactionaries-- sometimes with the help of Lieberman, sometimes with the help of right-wing corporatists like Ben Nelson, Evan Bayh, Tim Johnson and Mary Landrieu-- have managed to obstruct everything the Democrats have tried to accomplish. I've never seen so many filibusters-- de facto filibusters, since Reid doesn't make them actually filibuster for real-- in my entire life. Without referring to any history book, I'll say that McConnell has gotten in the way of more legislation than any other senator in history. If there is one member of Congress to be blamed for the dysfunctionality the legislative branch, it is Mitch McConnell. But, of course, he could never have done it alone.

Without the connivance of Gordon Smith (R-OR), Susan Collins (R-ME), Norm Coleman (R-MN), John Sununu (R-NH), John Cornyn (R-TX), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Ted Stevens (AK), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Elizabeth Dole, (R-NC) and, of course, Oklahoma's tone-deaf lemming James Inhofe, McConnell, would have bee brushed aside. Even if Obama wins a landslide victory in November-- with a genuine mandate for change-- and even if the Democrats pick up 6 or 7 seats, as now seems likely, McConnell will still be obstructing and filibustering and preventing progress.

Radical right Republican Phil Roe proved 2 weeks ago, by ousting right wing radical David Davis from his Tennessee congressional seat, that even Republican voters are sick of the status quo, sick of congressmen taking-- in this case $221,843,888 from Big Oil since 1990-- and then repaying their "generosity" with billions of dollars in tax breaks and with policies designed specifically to raise the cost of gasoline. (After all, these companies are donating all these hundreds of millions of dollars because they want to pad their bottom lines and there are only two ways for them to have earned the massive profits-- the most of any quasi-legitimate business in history-- and that is thru tax breaks and higher prices-- which our representatives have provided them with.)

It is certainly not just a Republican problem-- there are also Blue Dog and DLC Democrats who perform exactly like Republicans-- but it is telling that the vast bulk of the $222 million dollars in legalized bribes went to Republicans. In fact Democrats only got 75% of the loot. And the Democrats who got the lion's share are fully own subsidiaries of Big Oil, like Mary Landrieu (D-LA- $616,744) and Dan Boren (D-OK- $379,860). The hundred thousand and more "donations" went mostly to Republicans, but Big Oil took good care of Blue Dogs and reactionaries as well, like Rick Boucher (D-VA- $242,467), Jack Murtha (D-PA- $232,945), Charles Melancon (R-LA- $204,450), Nick Lampson (D-TX- $174,942), Steny Hoyer (D-MD- $165,395), Jim Matheson (D-UT- $164,997), William Jefferson (D-LA- $152,425), Bart Gordon (D-TN- $120,550), Mike Ross (D-AR- $113,100), John Tanner (D-TN- $112,650), Ellen Tauscher (D-CA- $89,000). Of course, all these Democrats together didn't rake in as much as just two of Big Oil's most outrageous shills, John Cornyn (R-TX- $1,317,825) and James Inhofe (R-OK- $1,090,023)-- and that's not even looking at the $1,642,810 that Big Oil has lavished on Mr. Straight Talk Express (R-AZ) and his long record of sabotaging renewable energy.

Anyway, that brings us to where we started, making sure there is a filibuster-proof majority in January. It isn't going to be easy. And you won't see Blue America supporting the easy candidates like Mark Warner (D-VA) or Mark Udall (D-CO). That doesn't mean we don't want them to win; they must win for this to work. But traditional, institutional Democrats are pouring massive resources into those races. Mark Warner has raised $9,300,791 and Mark Udall has raised $7,197,413. Each is massively ahead of his opponent. Instead, Blue America will focus on the less institutionally-supported races, the long-shots-- long shots we must win to reach the filibuster-proof majority for Obama.

One of our key Senate races is in Oklahoma, where progressive/populist state Senator Andrew Rice is facing off against one of the 3 most reactionary extremists in the entire Senate, James Inhofe. (Inhofe ranks as the most reactionary among all the senators up for re-election in November.) Inhofe has raised over $5,000,000. Andrew is closing in on $1,500,000.

This morning the DSCC reported a very encouraging poll they just completed in the bright red state many insiders are writing off. Two months ago, Inhofe had a 20 point lead on Andrew. Now that Andrew is running TV and radio and visiting every part of the state-- again and again-- he is getting better known. And Oklahomans are taking to him. He's cut Inhofe's lead back to a manageable-- and winnable-- margin. If the election were to be held today, Inhofe would squeak to re-election with 50% while Andrew would get 41%. But the election isn't being held today.

How about considering three ways to help? You can go volunteer at Andrew's website or you can donate directly to Andrew's campaign-- he uses his money well-- via our Blue America ActBlue page or you could donate something to keep this ProgressiveKick independent ad on the air in Oklahoma