Why Are So Many Republican Incumbents Afraid To Debate This Year? Just Look At Their Voting Records

Ric Keller lost some weight-- and his sense of dignity and honor

Republican incumbents don't seem to want to debate. They want to wave air tire gauges over their heads and yell "Drill here now." When it comes to health care, ending the war in Iraq, getting relief for overburdened working families, real solutions to energy problems... they have nothing they want to say-- at least nothing they feel comfortable with the public hearing.

Last night I spoke with Alan Grayson, the Democrat running for Congress in Orlando. He was telling me how he went to a southern regional hotel workers union meeting a couple of days ago and that he strongly advocated for universal health care and paid vacations like they have in so many other industrialized nations. I remember that the ultra reactionary editorial board of the Orlando Sentinel had opposed him in the Democratic primary-- which he won so handily-- and that they opposed him basically because they oppose paid vacations (for others, not themselves). I asked Alan if his Republican opponent, Ric Keller, a slimy hypocrite better known for sleazy personal attacks than for ever debating issues, would challenge him on that. He only hopes he will so lucky, since how does someone asking for voters to support them explain why they oppose paid vacations and health care?

Fact of the matter, Keller's record on health care, if it gets out to low-info voters, will destroy his already slim chances to be re-elected. Already vulnerable on many issues, his consistent opposition to health care for needy children and for military veterans puts him on very shaky grounds. Keller, though, will in all likelihood agree to at least two somewhat low key debates with Alan. Many other Republicans have been ducking or minimizing getting up before the voters and going at it mano a mano.

Take Oregon's desperate Bush rubber stamp Gordon Smith for example. With his re-elect numbers sinking into oblivion and his chances of re-election nearly nonexistent he has taken to running millions of dollars of the worst negative ads anywhere in the country against Jeff Merkley, all the time refusing to commit to debates. Smith is so busy turning his corporate bribes into ads that attempt to tie Jeff to rapists that he is doing everything he can to avoid appearing with Jeff in front of audiences to discuss the issues. Jeff has agreed to a series of eight debates across the state, most of them from non-partisan civic organizations and media outfits.

It's even worse in House races which aren't as high profile as Senate races like Jeff's. Along New York's Southern Tier Eric Massa has been attempting to get another rubber stamp Bush Republican, Randy Kuhl, to participate in a series of debates they have both been invited to. Eric has agreed to all. Kuhl would rather run around doing cheap stunts for his friends at Big Oil-- who, so far, have paid him $37,600 for his services-- than accept invitations from to speak in front of his constituents at any of these forums:

1. WXXI Forum
Proposed date: Monday September 22, 2008
 
2. Alfred University Political Science Club
Proposed dates: Wednesday October 1, 2008 or Wednesday October 8, 2008
 
3. League of Women Voters
Proposed date: Thursday October 2, 2008
 
4. St. John's Meadows Political Forum
Proposed date: Monday October 6, 2008
 
5. WETM Debate at Elmira College
Proposed date: Tuesday October 21, 2008
 
6. League of Women Voters Elmira, NY
Proposed date: Sunday October 26, 2008
 
7. GRAPE Candidates' Forum
Proposed date: Friday October 3, 2008
 
8. 13 WHAM Candidates' Forum
Date open
 
9. R News at St Bonaventure University in Olean
Date open
 
10. R News in Rochester
Date Open

Kuhl, like so many other bought-off Big Oil shills in the Republican House caucus, claims he has no time to debate his opponent because he has to spend all his time trying to pass "Drill, Baby, Drill." But his career record on energy is one of the very worst of any member of Congress. "I think it's more important to debate this energy bill on the floor of the house and solve the problem than it is to worry about a political debate with somebody in some remote section of the district," is what he's telling the media. But what he's not telling that media is about the sickening voting record that has led directly to massive profits for Big Oil and massive debt for consumers who are being ripped off at the pump-- and will soon have to face winter hearing bills. Do you think Kuhl tells anyone he voted to oppose legislation that would have provided stricter penalties for gasoline price gouging, while outlawing market manipulation and empowering state attorneys general to enforce the law? Do you think he wants to explain his votes against expanding tax breaks for renewable energy, hybrid cars, energy efficient buildings and appliances and paying for it by reducing current tax benefits for oil and gas companies? How about his votes against extending and creating tax incentives for energy conservation and renewable energy production and paying for it by eliminating or reducing the manufacturing tax deduction for oil and gas companies? That's the real Randy Kuhl energy record-- that plus taking "contributions" from Big Oil. And that's the real reason Randy Kuhl is reusing to debate Eric Massa.

You have to feel sorry for some of these self important incumbent dullards who are petrified to face up to Democrats who will publicly cite their voting records. And when you get one as pathetic as Randy Forbes in southern Virginia, you find another factor-- a brilliant and articulate opponent running against him. How is an uninformed rubber stamp like Forbes ever going to be able to face up to someone like Andrea Miller? He's scared to death and he's doing everything he can to avoid her. In fact, when her campaign manager showed up at a public picnic yesterday to hand deliver an invitation to him to a TV debate, Forbes called the security guards to have him escorted off the property!

Forbes has taken in $531,519 so far this year, much of it from defense contractors, commercial banks, lobbyists, and other special interests while Andrea has been given $31,583, almost entirely from small grassroots donations. As long as Forbes refuses to debate her on TV he can just keep running his negative ads and distortions and never have to face up to a truly disgraceful voting record. With that in mind, DWT has just started an ActBlue page for Andrea. Anyone who donates today will be entered in a drawing to win one of six Georgie Is Out Of Here Party-in-a-Box kits. Just donate here through ActBlue.

Why Are Republican Incumbents Afraid To Debate In Their Home Districts?

After seeing what an incredibly effective speaker Oregon Senate candidate Jeff Merkley is, I was interested in knowing if he would be debating Bush's rubber stamp mouthpiece Gordon Smith. So I asked. His campaign has proposed a series of 8 debates. Merkley has committed to five specific debates around the state with different Oregon television stations and nonpartisan public service groups. So far Gordon Smith hasn't committed to any. But let's be fair, if you had a record like his-- in a state like Oregon-- would you want to defend it in public? But they I started seeing a surprising pattern: Republican incumbents all over the country are avoiding or minimizing the number of debates they're willing to have with Democrats.

Yesterday, almost in passing, we saw how Bush rubber stamp Charlie Dent refuses to debate Sam Bennett about energy policy. “Congressman Dent is so deep in the pocket of Big Oil companies and special interest groups he’s refusing to publicly defend his record and have an open debate about the issue,” said Kathryn Seck, Sam Bennett’s campaign manager. “He should explain why he’s taken $75,000 from Big Oil and given them billions in tax breaks while middle class Pennsylvanians are struggling to afford high gas prices.  Voters deserve an open dialogue on the issues and Congressman Dent is ducking the issue.” Then this morning I got a press release from Iowa's 4th CD (the north central part of the state, centered in Ames). And sure, enough, the Bush rubber stamp incumbent, Tom Latham, is refusing to debate the Democratic candidate Becky Greenwald.

Tom Latham refused this week to debate Becky Greenwald while he is home on the August recess. The Greenwald campaign accepted a debate with Latham at the Iowa Farmer’s Union Convention, an event that Latham is attending. Latham refused to debate.
 
“We are disappointed that Tom Latham refused to debate Becky Greenwald at the Iowa Farmer’s Union Convention. We tried to work with his schedule and find a venue for a debate at an event Latham would already be attending,” said Campaign Manager Robert Brennan. “Iowans deserve to hear from Tom Latham why after 14 years in Congress, he has done nothing to address the energy crisis, lack of care for our veterans and the high cost of healthcare.”
 
Last week, the Greenwald campaign sent a letter to the Latham campaign asking to hold four debates over the August recess. The Latham campaign refused the debates saying their schedule was full. The Iowa Farmers Union tried to accommodate with his schedule and arrange for a debate at their convention in Marshalltown, IA on Saturday August 23rd, an event that Latham will be attending. The Latham campaign refused to debate.

Was I looking at a pattern? I reached out to a few of the campaigns I speak to regularly. Gary Peters (D-MI) has accepted invitations from the Troy Chamber of Commerce-- and even from the Troy Republican Party Club, as well as from other groups who have been trying to set up debates. Joe Knollenberg-- a Big Oil shill who has accepted $66,250 in "donations" from Big Oil and owns over $90,000 in oil company stocks that increase in value as gasoline prices rise-- is petrified to stand up in front of an audience of voters and defend his energy voters.

Annette Taddeo debates empty chair in Miami

In May the AFL-CIO, which had endorsed Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart in 2006, invited their 3 candidates plus Democratic challengers Annette Taddeo, Joe Garcia and Raul Martinez to a debate. The three Republicans, panicking at the last moment, ducked the debate. Each blamed scheduling conflicts. The AFL-CIO went on with the debate-- Annette told me she debated Ros-Lehtinen's empty chair-- and then endorsed the debate winners, the three Democrats.

South Florida congressional Republicans backed out of next week's debates. Their opponents say they're hiding.

Miami's three Cuban-American Republicans in Congress have scrapped plans to participate in a series of debates with their Democratic challengers.

The South Florida AFL-CIO, which in recent years has hosted debates for mayoral and gubernatorial races, planned three debates next week for the nationally watched contests. But the Republicans said this week that they're not going, throwing the bipartisan nature of the event into doubt.

The union-- which endorsed the three incumbents in 2006-- says the events will go on next week as scheduled. All three Democrats, who represent the first significant challenge to the incumbents, said they plan to attend and suggested the Republicans were reluctant to spar face to face.

"We just want to give our working families a chance to talk to the candidates,'' said union president Fred Frost, who met late Wednesday with representatives from two of the Republican campaigns in a bid to revive the events. "I think they'd be squandering what I'd consider a great opportunity."

In New Jersey Dennis Shulman has been trying to get incumbent Scott Garrett to debate him in front of voters. Apparently Garrett-- like fellow extremist loon and Big Oil shill John Kline in Minnesota-- just doesn't think he has to do debates. Kline's spokesperson said his record speaks for itself. It does-- and if voters were actually reading it Kline wouldn't get 30% of the vote.

Last year Darcy Burner was eager to debate incumbent Bush rubber stamp Dave Reichert everywhere in the district. His staff, wary of putting him into unscripted settings because he has a tendency to either put his foot in his mouth or reveal his lack of policy depth, allowed him to do one debate, which was sponsored by the Seattle Times. The Times debate for 2008 is scheduled for October 8 and Reichert is going to do it. Meanwhile, though, there have been debates proposed by KCTS-9 and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as well as by TV station KING 5 and radio stations KUOW and KIRO 710. Darcy wants debates. Reichert wants to hide. Similarly, Bob Lord has challenged John Shadegg who refuses to talk, only waves his toy air pressure gauge over his head and mutters incoherently about running for the Senate. Shadegg won't say yes or no about debates. Last year Vic Wulsin was able, after embarrassingly her repeatedly, to get Mean Jean Schmidt, one of the House's most woefully ignorant members, to do one debate. Vic would like to do a series of debates across the district to talk about how to help solve the economic conditions of Ohio families hit hard by recession, the housing crisis, gasoline prices, unemployment, the health care crisis and inflation but Mean Jean isn't answering. The Ohio News Network has asked both candidates to debate in October but it looks like Vic may have the stage to herself.

Most of the Senate races have at least one debate scheduled. But Gordon Smith isn't the only senatorial coward hiding from his Democratic opponent. John Cornyn (R-TX) doesn't feel comfortable unless he's speaking at places like the Petroleum Club in Fort Worth. Big Oil has given him more money this year ($480,100) than any other member of Congress (other than the million plus they gave to ExxonJohn McCain) and he's backed them all the way, which is precisely why you're paying around $4/gallon at the pump. But when it comes to debating Rick Noriega about his votes, Cornyn is full of... petroleum. Plenty of TV and radio stations, as well as civic organizations throughout Texas, have reached out to the two campaigns for debates. Noriega keeps accepting invitation. Cornyn claims he's negotiating. But he isn't even doing that-- unless he's negotiating with himself.

Just as I was about to publish this, I got an e-mail from Andrea Miller, the powerfully articulate and knowledgeable Democratic candidate running against dull rubber stamp Randy Forbes in southern Virginia. Her experience is almost identical to at least half, perhaps three-quarters of Democratic challengers:

Randy Forbes is avoiding me big time. There have been at least 3 requests (2 from radio and 1 from TV). Additionally, there has also been a debate request from a group that simply wants to schedule a public forum.
 
What is he afraid of? I have an energy policy and he has energy questions. I have solutions to our education challenges and he doesn't even know there is a problem.

My guess: he's just afraid of Andrea Miller and getting his ass kicked publicly in front of the electorate when she exposes his indefensible voting record.

Equal Pay For Equal Work Passes By Large Margin, Despite Dogged Republican Opposition

Yesterday the House passed, by 247-178, the Paycheck Fairness Act. Every single Democrat voted for it and 14 Republicans-- mostly cowards running from their records-- joined then. The worst of the GOP ideologues and extremists all voted no. Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro explained why this bill is so meaningful:

"With this resolution, we take up an effort that began more than 150 years ago when visionary women came together to stand up for women's rights, to better the status of women in our society. In this tradition, more than 11 years ago, I first introduced the legislation that we consider this morning, the Paycheck Fairness Act, and I cannot help but think of all the Aprils we have commemorated Equal Pay Day without legislative movement. But today the legislative inertia we have experienced for years have come to an end. The wage gap is real… Over the course of her lifetime, a female high school graduate will make $700,000 less than the young man she graduates with. Compared to a man, a female college graduate stands to lose up to $2 million in the course of her career. This is true across the board."

Although endangered, petrified Bush rubber stamp reactionaries like Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the Diaz-Balart Brothers (Rs-FL), Charlie Dent (R-PA), Robin Hayes (R-NC), Dave Reichert (R-WA), Phil English (R-PA) and a small handful of Republicans being encouraged to abandon Republican "principles" by Tom Cole and to run against the GOP, crossed the aisle today so they can lie to women and tell them they support equality, most Republicans up for re-election in November didn't have the sense to dodge this one.

During a conference call, the National Republican Congressional Committee chairman instructed candidates, campaign managers and press secretaries that given the anti-incumbent environment, it could be beneficial for House GOP candidates to distance themselves from politicians they may be serving with next year.

“These [congressional approval] ratings are worse than we had on the eve of losing the majority,” Cole said. “Don’t be afraid to say you are disappointed in fellow Republicans… don’t hesitate to be anti-Washington, D.C.”

The NRCC chief discouraged candidates from attending the national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, saying that spending days there would be a “waste of time,” and they would be better off campaigning.

Among the Republicans voting against equal pay for women-- daring Republican women to vote against them-- were a wide range of Republicans from make believe moderates like Mark Kirk (R-IL), Judy Biggert (R-IL), and Mary Bono Mack (R-CA or FL; who knows anymore) to died in the wool far right radicals like Michele Bachmann (R-MN), John Culberson (R-TX), Thelma Drake (R-VA), woman-hating closet queens David Dreier (R-CA) and Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Randy Forbes (R-VA), Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Virgil Goode (R-VA), Ric Keller (R-FL), John Kline (R-MN), Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Randy Kuhl (R-NY), Tom Latham (R-IA-- who is still voting the way Bush wants but is at great pains to claim he's not a Bush clone by bragging to Iowa newspapers that Bush isn't welcome on his campaign), Mike McCaul (R-TX), Steve Pearce (R-NM), Mike Pence (R-IN), Adam Putnam (R-FL), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Mean Jean Schmidt (R-OH), John Shadegg (R-AZ), Tim Walberg (R-MI), Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Bill Young (R-FL).

We reached out two two of self-made women who have been endorsed by Blue America for congressional seats whose opponents are against equality of pay for equal work. Debbie Cook is the mayor of Huntington Beach in Orange County, CA and she's running against reactionary--and somewhat batty-- incumbent Dana Rohrabacher. His vote yesterday may have disgusted her but she wasn't surprise. She told us that "Rohrabacher has voted to increase his own pay 10 times in 11 years. While voting himself $90,000 in pay raises, he's voted against equal pay for women, against access to birth control, against Head Start programs, and against health care for children. Dana Rohrabacher's record on women's issues is clear: he doesn't care at all about the health and well-being of the women in his district."

Judy Feder in Northern Virginia had a similar reaction to the anti-woman vote from her member of Congress, Frank Wolf. "This is the third time in just the last couple of weeks that Congressman Wolf has voted against hardworking Americans and hardworking families in Virginia. And I have to say, as a woman, this particular vote is the most offensive to me," Judy told us this morning. "Not only is this an issue of basic fairness, but as families try to deal with stressful economic times, equal pay for women is also about helping millions of families meet their needs on a daily basis."

Nor, of course, is it only women who are supporting equal rights for women. Bob Lord, the Arizona progressive Democrat running against sleazy reactionary John Shadegg, who has a shady and disgraceful history with women and now thinks he's going to inherit John McCain's senate seat, finds Shadegg's vote against equality as typical of a disturbing pattern among rubber stamp Republicans. "John Shadegg just voted against equal pay for women," Bob told DWT this morning. "Shadegg keeps showing us that he is one of the most conservative members of Congress that votes with Bush nearly 100 percent of the time and this clearly is one of the worst examples yet. Shadegg epitomizes what is wrong with Congress and he made that loud and clear yesterday-- that and it's time to elect new leadership."

Watch George Miller (D-CA) answering disgraceful Republican charges that there is no disparity between men and women.



A thorough analysis from Andrea Miller, the exceptionally brilliant progressive running against garden variety rubber stamp Randy Forbes in southern Virginia:

Randy Forbes has been voting again and here's reason 1,245 why I'm running against him. It's hard to imagine in the 21st century that some legislators still can't accept the idea that women deserve equal pay for equal work. If you follow his voting record, it's hard to believe that Congressman Forbes is actually from humble beginnings, though now he's a millionaire and maybe that's the key to the real problem. Forbes has gotten so rich that he simply can't or won't remember what it's like to really depend on a paycheck. He also seems to consistently forget that while folks on the Chesapeake and Chesterfield side are doing reasonably well, though we're not rich by any means, more than 35% of the district exists on less than $30,000 per year and many of these are households depending upon a woman's salary for their daily bread and butter. Do the words "out of touch" and "totally clueless" come to mind?

There are two critical components of this bill that can really help women. First, the long overdue salary adjustments that are certain to result and second, women will be offered negotiation skills. Women instinctively "fight" for their children and when necessary, even for a husband. Women often are not willing to "fight" for themselves because their mothers taught them to put others first. Putting others first has helped create the paycheck inequality in the workplace.

Randy Forbes, with this vote, just voted against the working women in the 4th District. That's no surprise since he's voted against veterans, children's healthcare, mortgage relief and just a bit of tax relief.

ANDREA MILLER (D-VA): IN A FREE SOCIETY, THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT SPY ON ITS CITIZENS

Count on these 5 and it'll be like living under Stalin

Last night I had dinner with an English friend, an attorney and businessman. He asked me how likely I thought it was that if the economy kept spiraling downward America would turn to a military strongman or a veiled proto-fascist dictatorship. Here? It couldn't happen here... could it? Today the U.S. Senate is debating a FISA bill that certainly sets the stage for exactly that. With it Congress allowing a runaway, powermad executive to usurp powers specifically prohibited it by the Founding Fathers and the U.S. Constitution, powers to invade American citizens' privacy without a court warrant. We have come to expect this from George Bush and his cronies and the rubber stamp Republicans in Congress who have enabled him to do our nation such grievous harm. But Bush and the Republicans couldn't do it alone. They needed some Democrats.

Enter bribe-happy Democratic powermongers Steny Hoyer and Rahm Emanuel, flush with gigantic "contributions" from the big telecoms looking for retroactive immunity for illegally spying on Americans. Hoyer and Emanuel were able to bribe and pressure enough Democrats who are unfit for office to cross the aisle with them and vote with the Republicans. Tomorrow the telecoms' best friend (i.e.- the one, other than presidential candidates, they give the most bribes to ), Jay Rockefeller (D-$51,500 this year alone) will try persuading Democrats in the Senate to do the same thing and vote with Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Joe Lieberman and John McCain to neuter another piece of the Constitution. It is nearly a foregone conclusion that Rockefeller will succeed. He's had a lot of grease spread for him by the Telecoms. Here are a list of some of the senators who seem ready to sell us out for the bribes-- and let's face it, ladies and gentlemen, these huge "contributions are bribes-- they have been given by the Telecoms this year alone:

Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)- $51,500
Ted Stevens (R-AK)- $37,900
Susan Collins (R-ME)- $32,850
Mark Pryor (D-AR)- $31,350
Max Baucus (D-MT)- $28,000
Gordon Smith (R-OR)- $26,750
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)- $26,700
Roger Wicker (R-MS)- $26,600
John Sununu (R-NH)- $24,600
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)- $20,250
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)- $15,750
Sam Brownback (R-KS)- $14,200
Pat Roberts (R-KS)- $13,250

We contacted some of the candidates running for Congress against incumbents who voted to rubber stamp this frightening development. John Barrow in Georgia has been one of Bush's closets conspirators among right-wing Democrats. He has bragged how he has supported Bush "every step of the way" in Iraq. And he has been supporting Bush's dismantling of the constitutional protections that Americans cherish. A week from today Barrow-- who accepted $19,500 in bribes from Telecoms this year-- will face a primary challenge from state Senator Regina Thomas. She says she is stunned and outraged that Bush would pull this stunt. She remembers when the FBI illegally wiretapped Rev. Martin Luther King and she is dismayed that her own congressman is cheerleading this. "The concept of retroactive immunity is an affront to the American people. There shouldn't be two classes of Justice in this country, one for wealthy campaign donors and one for the rest of us."

Yesterday we published a statement from Dennis Shulman, whose opponent, right wing crazy Scott Garrett (R-NJ) has accepted $9,000 from the Telecoms this year and was happy to vote in favor of warrantless wiretaps and retroactive immunity. You should hit that link and read Dennis' statement. It's very powerful. So is one we got last night from Andrea Miller, a brilliant educator in Virginia who is running against a garden variety Republican pod who never says no to anything Bush wants, Randy Forbes. Of course it doesn't hurt that Forbes takes bribes right and left from all the corporations with special interests and dealings before Congress. The Telecoms have given him $8,550 this year. Andrea doesn't address his corruption, just the crisis in identity our nation is facing:

"As a teacher, I look at a lot of things from a historical perspective. Can anyone say 'Constitution,' does anyone remember Civics class from elementary school? The House recently passed a FISA bill that is an embarrassment to the concept of freedom and America. In a free society, the government does not spy on its citizens. The United States Constitution was written to create a free society and protect the individual rights of its citizens for all time. We just celebrated Independence Day, American independence from a tyrant's rule. It seems that we have simply exchanged a tyrant from one century for a new set of tyrants in the 21st century. The Constitution was written so that the new American democracy would never grant any individual the power of king. And now the House has decreed that the President is above the law and the President at any time can break any rule and declare that the law does not count. All parties involved in the FISA issue clearly understood that their actions were not allowed under the Constitution-- they simply decided that the Constitution no longer applied to them because they simply chose to ignore it.
 
If we are not a nation of laws, what kind of nation are we? If we break our laws in the name of national security, what kind of security can we have as a nation?"

And if you have any doubt about which way the Insiders-- whether Bush, McCain, the Republican sheep in Congress, or the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- are taking this country, watch this short video taken yesterday in Denver as a 61 year old librarian, peacefully exercising her express constitutional rights, was harassed and threatened by the police for saying what everyone in America already knows:

McCain = Bush



Had enough?



UPDATE: AND THE FISA BILL IS ACTUALLY WORSE NOW THAT HOYER HAS WORKED HIS MAGIC

Like the Republicans, Hoyer and Emanuel are taking a great deal of money from the Telecoms. They spread this money around to more corrupt members of the Democratic caucus, the easy votes on corporate matters-- like John Barrow and Chris Carney. In any rational discussion, this would be called "bribery," but Congress makes the "rules" that it has to live up to and they carefully redefine bribery to not include this kind of behavior. Hoyer took the lead in working with the Telecoms to make sure they get their money's worth. The resulting "compromise" is even worse than the atrocious bill Jay Rockefeller and Mitch McConnell got them.

The 114-page bill was pushed through the House so quickly that there was no real time to debate its many complex provisions. This may explain why the telecom immunity provision has received so much attention in the media: it is much easier to explain to readers not familiar with the intricacies of surveillance law than the other provisions. But as important as the immunity issue is, the legislation also makes many prospective changes to surveillance law that will profoundly impact our privacy rights for years to come.

Specifically, the new legislation dramatically expands the government's ability to wiretap without meaningful judicial oversight, by redefining "oversight" so that the feds can drag their feet on getting authorization almost indefinitely. It also gives the feds unprecedented new latitude in selecting eavesdropping targets, latitude that could be used to collect information on non-terrorist-related activities like P2P copyright infringement and online gambling. In short, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 opens up loopholes so large that the feds could drive a truck loaded down with purloined civil liberties through it. So the telecom immunity stuff is just the smoke; let's take a look at the fire.

NO SAFE REPUBLICAN SEATS-- AND THAT MEANS WE NEED TO LOOK AT ANDREA MILLER'S RACE AGAINST RUBBER STAMP RANDY FORBES

Few people would have classified Bush rubber stamp Randy Forbes as a vulnerable incumbent. In 2006 his southeast Virginia district-- recently gerrymandered to decrease the African-American population from 39% to 33%-- returned him with 76% of the vote. In 2004 Kerry only managed 43% of the vote. So this morning when I saw an e-mail on the November Victory list from VA-04 Democratic candidate Andrea Miller I was ready to write it off as just another idealistic lost cause. But there was something about how she wrote it-- and then something about how she wrote her website-- that made me look into the race a little more and, eventually, led to me calling her on the phone. First, the e-mail that alerted me to the campaign:

It's official. Yesterday I was voted the Democratic Nominee for the Virginia 4th Congressional District. At the last minute Party conservatives in my home Democratic Committee put up a "fake" candidate. He had no political experience whatsoever, did not even bother to register with the FEC and told people he was running because he wanted to retire and needed something to do.

I have a dynamite political team (TruBlu Politics) who also worked on the Donna Edwards campaign. I arrived at the convention with a 6' banner, rally signs, palm cards, business cards, bookmarks and 10 people working on my team. The good doctor showed up with a one page flyer listing 5 issues.

While I didn't really stack the convention, I had met over 80% of the people in the room and they responded to the fact that I had a thorough knowledge of the issues, the needs of my district and my opponent's weaknesses. One person actually asked if I thought it would be a problem being perceived as a radical running in a conservative district. I told her that there was a time when the idea of women voting was a radical idea and that remark brought the house down.

Let's all hang in there. I believe we can make it work. Now I'm working to gather 4,000 volunteers both in-state and out to really work the district.

Andrea Miller

Andrea, a mother of three, an educator, and a small business owner, has never run for office before. But a short phone conversation knocked my socks off! She is on fire and a ball of can-do energy. She very much reminded me of Donna Edwards. Andrea is the regional coordinator for MoveOn in her area. Her grasp of the facts and figures and issues is as thorough as it gets, something you would expect from a MoveOn activist-- if not, alas, from a Democratic congressional candidate. But Andrea is hardly a cookie cutter DCCC/Rahm Emanuel creation. Her outspoken positions on core Democratic issues-- from the Iraq war, reproductive rights, and universal single payer healthcare to her powerful championing of net neutrality-- is the kind of stuff that drives multimillionaire Establishment creeps like Emanuel bonkers. Her bio, unlike Emanuel's, is the bio of the kind of congressional representative we should aspire to. "As a parent, as a teacher and as a progressive social activist, Andrea is firmly committed to social justice as the door to peace, prosperity and national security." Sounds very much like the kind of person I want to see serving in the U.S. Congress.

Now, about Forbes' electoral vulnerability. VA-04 has a PVI of R+5, not nearly as red as the Mississippi district just won by Travis Childers (PVI R+10). Nor is it as red as LA-06, just won by Don Cazayoux. It's exactly as red as IL-14, the district that just replaced Denny Hastert with Bill Foster (instead of garden variety Republican millionaire Jim Oberweis). In the presidential primary, motivated and enthusiastic Obama supporters so dominated the election in VA-04 that he wound up with 4 times as many delegates as Hillary did (and wound up with 72.69% of the district's votes). In the GOP primary Huckabee narrowly edged McCain 22,770 to 22,104. In all 48,722 Republicans voted. Obama alone drew 68,325 (of the 93,992 who voted Democrat in VA-04). In 2001 Governor Mark Warner carried VA-04 by a substantial margin, 91,585 to 78,546 (and he'll be on the ballot with Andrea in November). So how did Forbes wind up with 76% of the vote in 2006? The moribund Democratic Party in the district didn't bother to run a candidate. In fact, the last time the Democratic Party actually tried to win the congressional seat was in 2001 when state Senator Louise Lucas ran and nearly beat Forbes (52-48%). The GOP promptly redistricted Lucas out of this previously Democratic stronghold and Forbes has held it, virtually unopposed, ever since-- until now. It's important to remember that Forbes has amassed a breathtakingly radical right voting record, one of the worst on a broad array of issues of concern to Virginia voters. Voters looking for someone to hold accountable for the policies that have led to high energy and gasoline prices, to the mortgage meltdown, to the growing chasm between the very rich and the rest of us and to the endless occupation of Iraq, need look no further than Forbes who has rubber stamped every disastrous initiative and proposal Bush has sent down the pike. VA-04 is a mainstream, moderate typically American congressional district but it's being represented in Congress by a right wing extremist whose views are completely out of touch with his constituents. If you'd like to help replace him with the extraordinary Andrea Miller, please consider giving her a hand here.