Extra, extra, read all about it: Jim Himes takes the lead over Chris Shays's sad carcass in CT-04. PLUS: A wingnut outrage you won't believe in NC-05

by Ken

You know Howie well enough to know that even when he's traveling on business, as long as he has any access to information, he keeps an eye on political news. And he's just passed on a big breaking news story:

In a new SurveyUSA poll in this morning's edition of Roll Call, a poll taken Oct. 13-14 among likely voters shows outstanding Democratic challenger Jim Himes taking the lead over the entrenched once-moderate Republican incumbent Christopher Shays:

Jim Himes (D): 48 percent
Chris Shays (R): 45 percent

To me, Shays is one of the sadder spectacles in present-day politics. He's a guy who could once lay claim to being a moderate, a pol of genuine character. But he stood on the sidelines as his party moved farther and farther to the right, to the edge of its flat earth, and when the Bush regime issued its demand for unwavering party-line obedience, he knuckled under without an audible whimper. In fact, faced with the need to justify his appalling voting record, he increasingly sounded pretty nutty himself.

By the last election New England had of course become hostile territory for Bush-rubber-stamping Republicans, but Shays managed to survive. Apparently the home folks are sometimes the last to get the message, as seems to be happening in Maine, where Sen. Susan Collins has spent the Bush years cringing in cowardly acquiescence but seems still able to persuade her constituents that she is some sort of maverick, even in the face of as outstanding (and trustworthy) a candidate as Rep. Tom Allen.

A couple of days ago we had news that one of our favorite candidates, Darcy Burner, whom we expect to see become a progressive force in the House, has finally taken a lead over her rubber-stamp opponent Dave Reichert in Washington's 8th District. If Reichert's and Shays's constituents are finally getting the message, can Senator Susie's be far behind?

It goes without saying -- but we're going to say it anyway -- that you can contribute to the campaigns of Jim Himes and Tom Allen and Darcy Burner and the rest of our "better Democrats" on the Blue America page. It's looking like now you can make those contributions pay off more than ever.


WHILE WE'RE ON THE SUBJECT, CHECK OUT THIS AD
FOR DEM CHALLENGER ROY CARTER IN NC-05

Here's another pass-along from Howie. In NC-05, Roy Carter is challenging Virginia Foxx, whom Howie describes as "a horrible witch and one of the half dozen most extreme members of Congress." The campaign is now circulating this ad:

Summer Lipford is a Gold Star mom from NC.

Her son was killed in Iraq. When he died, Summer contacted Rep. Foxx's office for help with transportation to the memorial ceremony at Ft. Benning.

Foxx never called her back and Summer was never able to afford to attend her son's own ceremony.

Summer ran into two of Foxx's staffers at a couple months later in her hometown. She asked them, "Why has Foxx never called me back, or answered my letters?"

They replied, "Why are you so special that our Congresswoman should talk to you?"

Summer then said, "Because my son was killed in a war she voted for."

One Foxx staffer snapped back, "Well he volunteered for the war didn't he?" And the other one piled on, "Yeah and he was getting paid over there, so what's the problem?"

Yeah, what's the problem?

Besides, don't you know you have to be really "special" to be worthy of your congressmember's attention?


UPDATE: FOR MORE INFO ON THE ROY CARTER NC-05 AD --

Check out Bruce's comment in the comments section. And for more information on the NC-05 race, check out the Roy Carter for Congress website.
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