Blue America Welcomes Wayne Powell (D-VA)-- And Do I Ever Have A Headline For You!

On November 7, 2012, the headline on the top of the New York Times will read, "Obama Reelected to Second Term. Democrats Retake House of Representatives, Hold Senate."

And right below that:

"Majority Leader Eric Cantor Defeated."  

Yes, it can happen. If we all work together, we can fire Eric Cantor and elect a progressive Democrat to the Richmond, Virginia area House seat he occupies, Wayne Powell. Blue America is formally endorsing Wayne today and he'll be joining us for a live chat at 2pm (ET) at Crooks and Liars.

Wayne's a retired Army Colonel who is running for political office for the first time. He's a small business owner and a community lawyer who has lived his whole live in Virginia's 7th congressional district. And he's a progressive Democrat who's the best challenger ever to run against Cantor. He did a guest post for us a couple of weeks ago about Cantor's leading role in Washington's Culture of Corruption. Yesterday Wayne expanded on that... with a promise:

"We have the best Congress money can buy, and those without vast resources are left out of the system. To put it simply, money has corrupted our democracy. On my first day in Congress, I will join all attempts to establish that 'corporations are not natural persons' in a Constitutional amendment. The Citizens United ruling must be overturned. Further, I will introduce legislation to limit and make transparent all independent political expenditures. We must ban corporate expenditures in elections-- shadowy SuperPACs with secret donors have no place in a democratic society."

Much like Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor hasn't had a serious election in his life. He's had everything handed to him-- the exact opposite of Wayne Powell.

The son of a welder, Wayne has never had anything handed to him. He put himself through college, and rose in the Army the only way you can-- grit and hard work. After our country was attacked on September 11, 2001, Wayne was mobilized to help defend our country. He commanded troops, directing military intelligence assets and living away from his family for a year. Like most of the Republican chickenhawks, Cantor managed to avoid military service, although he loves sending other people's sons to fight wars for corporate aspirations and profits abroad.

Wayne is the kind of tough progressive we need to fight Eric Cantor's culture of money, greed, and corruption. And the people of the 7th District are fed up with Cantor's smug rejection of their vital needs. A recent poll bears this out. Just 40% of voters in the district want to see Eric Cantor reelected, while 46%-- and 66% of independents-- would rather vote for someone new. Moreover, only 51% of voters think favorably of Cantor and 43% of voters dislike him, indicating that he is a polarizing figure with no room to grow his support.

The 7th Congressional District is ripe for a progressive, populist turnaround in 2012. Voters in the Richmond suburbs have been trending increasingly Democratic, and in 2008, Mark Warner won a commanding 58% in the district. With a strong populist message-- from the Buffet rule to ending tax breaks for private jet owners, from ending Big Oil's unjustifiable taxpayer subsidies to ending incentives for Big Business to outsource American jobs, all hallmarks of Eric Cantor's watch-- Wayne Powell is patiently persuading the voters in central Virgina that he's on their side... and that Cantor deserves to be fired.

Here's a promise: Every dollar you invest in Wayne Powell's campaign will force Eric Cantor to spend $20 protecting himself. That's $20 the highest-ranking member of the Tea Party can't spend on this GOP cronies. And that makes a buck for Wayne Powell a dollar very well spent.

We just added Wayne to the Blue America official ActBlue page. Let's make those headlines come true!