Yes, She Can-- Today... In Utah

Today's a big day in Utah. The Republicans have some kind of teabagger vs teabagger face-off to replace mainstream conservative Robert Bennett, who wasn't pure enough for the state GOP's lunatic fringe. Democrats have a primary pitting a populist grassroots activist, Claudia Wright, against a corrupt Blue Dog, Jim Matheson, who not only votes with Boehner as a default position-- or at least always did until Claudia came along with a serious challenge-- but also takes an ungodly amount of money from Big Oil and uses his perch on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to make sure his corporate buddies know their love is reciprocated. The former "energy consultant" (and governor's son) has bought right into Big Oil's legislative agenda... just like a Republican.

Meanwhile, former Salt Lake County Democratic Chairman Christian Burridge says Claudia's campaign is the best thing that's happened for Utah Democrats in years. Democratic Inside-the-Beltway hacks do not agree-- not one bit. Just as Obama was whining in his Saturday radio address how Republicans are obstructing his legislative agenda-- as they are, quite openly-- he was dispatching OFA to save Matheson's ass in Utah, even though Matheson has been one of the Democrats who most frequently joined Boehner and the obstruction-for-obstruction's-sake folks to vote against core Democratic values and principles. Matheson apologists manage to dig up a vote here and a vote there where he votes with the Democrats. Whoopppie! Are they going to campaign for Ron Paul too? Mike Castle? Will we see "OFA for Mark Kirk" signs sprouting up around Illinois any time soon? Will OFA take Mary Bono Mack's side against Steve Pougnet? After all, Bono Mack and Matheson passed each other as they crossed the aisle-- she going over to vote for Obama's signature climate legislation, Matheson running to Boehner to oppose it on behalf of his pals at Big Oil.

Anyway, these self-declared DC "professionals" have declared it is "impossible" for Claudia to win in November even if she beats Matheson today. Are they correct? Ray Matthews isn't a DC pundit or consultant. In fact, he lives in Utah-- which automatically negates anything he says to the Insider-the-Beltway types. But he writes that it is Matheson who can't win in November! "I wish," he writes, "I had that proverbial nickel for every time I heard from a Democrat, 'I’d vote for Claudia Wright, but it’s impossible for her to win against a Republican in Utah.' Yes, I admit, you can make a good case for that." But is Matheson as invincible as he portrays himself? Matthews says, and with the facts to back him up, that he isn't. and that Claudia Wright is as likely to beat Republican kook Morgan Philpot as Matthews is.

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and Public Opinion Strategies looked at the 70 House seats "experts" feel are mostly likely to change hands in November. UT-2 isn't on the list but a close look at the polling data-- if extrapolated to the district-- shows that if today was the general election instead of the primary, Matheson would lose to Philpot based on the fact that he's an incumbent. To their credit, Utahans-- based on recent electoral history-- are far more likely to toss out incumbents than voters in other state.

In the KSL Sunday Edition Debate broadcast today, Bruce Lindsay said that Jim Matheson “has the highest approval rating of any major political office holder in the state.” He was referring to the statewide Deseret News/KSL-TV poll taken by Dan Jones & Associates on March 22. Matheson’s approval rating was then at an astronomical 64 percent and his disapproval rating statewide was only 27 percent.

The impact of all these national trends will kick in after the June 22 primary when Republican sights become squarely aimed at the Democratic opposition. Matheson is viewed as vulnerable.

Jim Matheson was second on Politico’s list of incumbents who should be looking over their shoulders.

An interesting assessment by conservative blogger Red Diva concerning the primary is that Republicans ought to actually welcome a Matheson victory. She writes:

“Claudia Wright is listed as a Retired Teacher and PROGRESSIVE ACTIVIST. That means absolutely more of the same and worse in Washington if she should be elected to the seat. The Democratic incumbent, Jim Matheson, isn’t conservative by any means, but when compared to Ms. Wright I think it would be safe to call him moderate. In addition, I think he would be an easier target for voters in Utah to remove in November.”

...Utah primary voters might as well vote their conscience in the June 22 primary. For the first time in a decade a vote for Jim Matheson in November is not only not a sure thing, it's a probable lost cause. Barring some misfortunate personal scandal, the polling numbers indicate that the outcome of this election will likely be determined by the forces at work nationally to the benefit of the Republican candidate.

The Magic Of A Vigorous Primary-- Claudia Wright v Jim Matheson (UT-02)

Yesterday Blue America's cable ads started running in Utah's 2nd Congressional District. I called every gay millionaire I know to help with funding the inexpensive spots (which we made ourselves at NO COST, not even a dime). And every gay millionaire I know called their Inside the Beltway contacts, and they all got the same answer: "Who? Never heard of her. Don't waste your money." And all those gay millionaires gave me exactly zero dollars and zero cents. So... we quickly put up this ActBlue page and sold 216 ads for $4,072, an average of less than $20 each. And we did it in three days, mostly via Twitter! It was more productive than listening to some know-it-all battle-weary "progressive" in DC tell me she's a great candidate but she couldn't win because she didn't have any professional photographs taken. (Yes, it's different in DC than in America.)

Unseating an entrenched incumbent in a primary is a thankless and nearly impossible task. The Inside the Beltway (gay and otherwise) organizations that gave Claudia the big thumbs-down-- just because they don't know her and she's not part of their cloying and claustrophobic little world-- may be proven correct on Tuesday. In fact, odds favor their negative approach. Meanwhile, though, the previously homophobic Blue Dog, the ultra-entitled Jim Matheson, scared of his first-ever primary, voted to abolish Don't Ask Don't Tell two weeks ago, and on Tuesday, shockingly, was one of the Blue Dogs who refused to join any of Boehner's maneuvering to rescind healthcare reform, which Matheson had originally joined Boehner to vote against. That's the magic of a vigorous primary.

Yesterday the district's biggest weekly not only endorsed Claudia, they really endorsed her. If, as expected, she gets something similar from the Salt Lake Tribune later in the week, Matheson will be able to fly Steny Hoyer back to the district 20 times and it'll do him as much good as it did when he failed the first time. The Salt Lake City Weekly makes it clear that it's time for a change-- not of direction, but of heart:

Some Utah Democrats living in Rep. Jim Matheson’s congressional district are wringing their hands about what to do come next Tuesday’s primary election. Should they vote for the guy who has, time and again, forsaken them, believing it’s better to have a Democrat in that seat-- any Democrat, even one whom they often despise-- or should they vote for political neophyte Claudia Wright, perhaps risking Utah’s only congressional seat held by a Democrat?

I’m not a handwringer on this one. I’m voting for Wright and have three reasons for doing so. First, Matheson abandoned his Salt Lake County base long ago. The only kinship he retains with that crowd are on environmental and land-based issues in Utah, and claiming he is against open-air nuclear testing. Outside of backsliders like Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee-- the Republicans vying for Utah’s open Senate seat-- most are against such nuclear testing. Thanks to Matheson being descended from Utah’s nuclear Downwinders, he’s gotten lots of mileage out of that issue. Every two years it mushrooms up, then blows away. It’s time to put that old Geiger counter down, Jim. We get it. It’s not only your problem; we’re all in this together.

Secondly, he’s been a lousy representative. If you voted for Matheson in the past, did you expect that he would thank you by not taking your phone calls? Or not returning your e-mails? Or asking you to talk to him instead via electronic public meetings? Or by talking to the press only when it suited him-- as with the little-boy-in-the-sandbox cold shoulder that he gives to City Weekly?

When Holly Mullen was our editor, she began publishing a regular tick of how many weeks had elapsed since Matheson had granted an interview or talked to a City Weekly reporter. It was a number that equated to years of elapsed time since Matheson had spoken to this paper. According to his press aide, we weren’t nice to Jim. Holly’s been gone for over a year, and only this week-- the one just before his most important election date ever-- has he finally been sufficiently scared into answering a couple of questions. So, no thanks, Jim, I’m not voting for a pandering fool such as yourself, and I don’t feel bad about saying so.

And third, I’m with the Tea Party on this one-- it’s time to vote the cynical, incumbent scoundrels out of Congress who do less for us than we can do for ourselves. Matheson, for example, cites his allegiance to due diligence and fiscal responsibility when he defends his vote against what is derisively called Obamacare. He says the bill was flawed. All congressional bills are flawed. The real flaw is that he doesn’t mention how much money he reaps from the health-care industry. He can claim fairness all day long, but it just isn’t so.

It isn’t fair that the health-care bill is lambasted as socialized medicine when he has a taxpayer-paid health plan that is more socialist than the one he would deny his constituents. What is fair is if Matheson finds himself without health care and without health-industry-support dollars in his pocket. It would also be fair if he would do as some of Americans have done-- shoot himself. That way, he wouldn’t be denied admission to an emergency room where he could then show why he’s really there, to renew a lapsed medication, perhaps. Not to worry-- if he loads a gun the same way he handles his public comments, he’d be firing blanks anyway.

Jim Matheson entered office nearly a decade ago upon the backs of tens of thousands of formerly disenfranchised Democrats, their hopes pinned tightly to him. He turned on them. Forget the narcoleptic argument that his district is equally rural, equally Republican and his votes reflect his constituents’ wishes-- he’s been consistent at licking that shoe from Day 1.

He’s made his money. He’s made fools of his Democratic supporters. His Republican detractors know he will do it to them, too. He’s not a man of substance; he’s a man of opportunity. His bus left the depot, and, this time, I and many others, aren’t along for the ride. He’s just one long night of empty foreplay-- not only will he never kiss you back, he wants you to pay for the gas that burned in his engine while he let you fool around.

I don’t want to fool around, but neither do I want to be fooled again. Claudia Wright can win this primary election and she can win in November. It is indeed time for a change-- not of direction, but of heart.

It's why Blue America goes to real people to help elect progressives, not to Insiders. We don't win every time but guess what? In the 2008 cycle, according to the National Journal Blue America's record of success was bigger than every single Insider group. We scored better than every labor union, every environmental group, every gay group, every woman's group, every PAC that endorses candidates-- both Republicans and Democrats. When we urged them to get behind Donna Edwards they laughed. It took two cycles but she beat an entrenched incumbent backed by Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel. When we brought up Alan Grayson even the smartest and savviest bloggers told us to stop wasting everyone's time and money. We don't decide on who to support based on viability-- just on their policy platforms and their character. The viability is part of our job. And, yes, I personally maxed out to Claudia's campaign; she meets every single criteria I look for in a candidate.

Another Oil Spill-- In Salt Lake City!

As the magnitude of the Gulf Oil spill began unfolding, Utah's Republican Governor Gary Herbert decided to use the catastrophe as a talking point in his battle with the U.S. government over drilling policies on federal lands in Utah. Herbert is demanding more drilling for his Big Oil allies. Then this past weekend an oily disaster struck right in Salt Lake City. According to the Salt Lake Tribune "a leak from Chevron's underground oil pipeline may have gone undetected for hours as it spilled 50 gallons of crude a minute Saturday into Salt Lake City's Red Butte Creek. The oil blackened the east-side creek, stained scores of birds, prompted the closure of Liberty Park and sent oil as far west as the Jordan River."

"It's a tragedy. It is horrible." said J.T. Martin, chairman of the Salt Lake City Council. "The whole river corridor is contaminated. It is a major catastrophe for this area and for the city."

State water quality scientists were taking samples to determine oil concentrations. Depending on amounts, the spill could disrupt the food chain for the long term, killing bottom-dwelling invertebrates that feed fish, said Walt Baker, director of the state Division of Water Quality.

...Crews had positioned absorbent booms throughout the contamination path and, as a precautionary measure, on the Jordan River as far north as the Utah Fairpark, said Jeff Niermeyer, the city's director of public utilities.

"We do not want it to get into the Great Salt Lake," Freitag said. There, the lack of a current could allow oil to accumulate and affect even larger bird populations at the world-class flyway. However, he said, the oil appear to be stopped in the Jordan River.

River activist Jeff Salt planned to check out the Jordan River on Saturday night.

"What happens with the Jordan River that's of concern is the water feeds into the duck clubs and to Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area," he said. "Hopefully, there are preventive measures being installed at the key locations along the Jordan River to contain the oil before we get to the wildlife areas."

Residents were urged to avoid affected areas of the Jordan River, while Liberty Park and Red Butte Creek were expected to remain closed at least through today.

Gov. Herbert: “Why are we drilling in the middle of the ocean where there is extreme environmental risk when we could be meeting the demand for domestic production from on-shore development in areas with minimal environmental risk such as Utah?”

I didn't mean to point a finger at Republicans by mentioning that Herbert, with his cozy and profitable relationship with Big Oil, is one. The blame is one that is shared by corporatists and conservatives on both sides of the aisle. Blue Dog Jim Matheson sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a position that has made it profitable for Big Oil and Gas to pump $246,997 into his political career. Although Big Oil gives 75% of its political donations to Republicans, Matheson is so friendly to their agenda that he has gotten more than any other Utah House member... ever. In fact, he's gotten more than any two Utah House members and among the biggest pay-offs to any "Democrat" in the country. In return he looks after their interests on his key committee and subcommittees.

With Salt Lake City residents pissed off over the spill and looking for Chevron to minimize the damage to the environment, people are starting to wonder about the relationship between politicians like Gary Herbert and Jim Matheson to Big Oil and their Big Dollars. Are they looking out for the public interest in their dealings with these big companies? Or their own?

We contacted Claudia Wright, the reform-minded progressive running against Matheson in the June 22 Democratic primary, who was in Torrey on a tour of the sprawling district. "I believe this shows the need for targeted and precise government regulation and oversight for the Oil and Gas industries" she said. Commenting on Gov. Herbert's statement last week, she continued "I do not believe the answer to the disaster in the gulf is to drill more on land as Gov. Herbert has stated, or anywhere else for that matter. This confirms my belief that we need clean, renewable energy and we need it now. I am not sure why others cannot see this as the future and a reality, but I am convinced Utah can and must lead the way in developing better energy solutions for our and our children's future. Our current representative receives thousands from the Oil and Gas companies, where is he on this latest debacle? It's time the people are protected and not these multi-national polluters."

Claudia has already been tying the oil spill disaster to Matheson's oily donations.

Wright says that as a ranking member of the Energy and Commerce committee, Matheson should guide future policy and safety standards.

She implies that campaign donations from big oil are a keeping that from happening.

"I do think that money corrupts," Wright said. "Money corrupts the political process. That's fundamental."

Claudia has been endorsed by Blue America and this week we'll start running the ad below in parts of the district. If you go to the Let's Get Claudia On TV ActBlue page, you'll find a menu of TV programs, from CNN's American Morning ($5) and Situation Room ($7) through Rachel Maddow's show and Colbert's show ($16 each) to more diverse programs like Saving Grace and The Next Food Network Star for $25/each. It's easy, fun and inexpensive to make a contribution that could help replace an oily blue dog with an environmental reformer and a real progressive.

A Very Easy And Effective Way To Make Sure Claudia Wright Is The Democratic Nominee In Utah's Democratic District

Blue America has decided to lend a hand to the grassroots campaign going on in Utah's second congressional district on behalf of intrepid progressive Claudia Wright. Claudia will face Blue Dog Jim Matheson June 22. We need to move forward and get this ad on TV immediately. If you don't have time to read the rest of this post but want to help, you can do it by clicking on this link-- and for as little as $5 get the ad up on CNN.



Yesterday I was shocked that one of the Inside-the-Beltway publications, The Hill, actually took note of Claudia's challenge to Matheson. They rarely do that and kind of function as a part of the company town  incumbent protection program, just like the shills at the DCCC, who are, of course, fully backing Matheson despite his penchant for habitually crossing the aisle to vote with Republicans.

Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) had never been challenged in a primary before this year, in which he’s fighting off a political newcomer who could make him the latest incumbent casualty.

Retired schoolteacher Claudia Wright gained traction in Utah’s 2nd district on a strongly progressive platform, while trying to paint the five-term Blue Dog Democrat as inaccessible and out of touch with constituents.

She had never sought elected office and got on the ballot by capturing 45 percent of the delegates’ votes at the state party convention last month. She needed 40 percent to qualify.

Matheson got 55 percent of the delegates’ votes but needed 60 percent to avoid the June 22 primary.

University of Utah political scientist Matthew Burbank said the convention outcome shows this election will be, more than anything, a referendum on Matheson, who may have alienated his base with his “no” vote on healthcare reform.

...Matheson holds a hefty fundraising advantage, with well over $1 million raised compared to Wright’s roughly $25,000.

But Wright argues her lower fundraising numbers belie her campaign’s appeal, given her performance at the state party convention. She said her campaign is refusing to take corporate political action committee (PAC) money, and is instead relying on the media and volunteers going door to door to get out the word.

“Old-style politics, shoe leather and person-to-person, trying to get them to come our way: That’s what we’ve been doing since day one,” Wright said. “We’ve got volunteers across the state who have been doing all of that ... It’s the only way to do this.” ... Matheson’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

The average Blue America contribution is $45.00 and it's how we raised all the money we've been able to put into campaigns to help elect progressives like Alan Grayson, Donna Edwards, Carol Shea-Porter, Jeff Merkley, John Hall, Hilda Solis, Steve Cohen, Gary Peters, and many others-- as well as to help progressive champions who haven't gone all the way (yet), like Marcy Winograd, Ned Lamont, Doug Tudor, Darcy Burner and Coleen Rowley. But I tried something new this time-- basically because we had no time. I went to every wealthy gay person I know and begged for the money. It was an exercise in humility. But I'm bad at it and I came up blank. Either they're already donating directly to her campaign or they didn't want to take a chance on a longshot candidate. It doesn't matter how good she is, how gay she is, how bad he is... just that she's not a likely winner. Of course her primary challenge has already gotten Matheson-- who voted with the GOP  to table the Hate Crimes Bill-- to vote to repeal DADT (and to even show up at a Gay Pride event-- first time ever-- in Salt Lake City last week). So... I'm putting in the full legal amount I can donate personally and, anyone got $45 they wanna chip in?

Actually, Jacquie's put together a whole menu of spots you can buy with the prices on a special ActBlue page. So that ad up top is what you get to put on the cable TV programs you pick for that price shown next to it. It's kind of fun. Take a look-- and do what you can. Oh, and here's a link to the live chat we did with Claudia last month at Crooks and Liars.

Primary Season: Next Up-- NC Runoff + Georgia, Utah & Oklahoma

Moment of triumph for Arkansas progressives- Joyce Elliott beats Robbie Wills

The U.S. Senate would have been considerably less reactionary-- and less a vehicle for wealthy and corrupt corporate interests-- but Blanche Lincoln won a close reelection race last night. There isn't a lot we know about Bill Halter and I doubt he would have turned out to be some kind of a progressive knight in shining armor but there is one thing we do know about him: he's not Blanche Lincoln. His first priority was never going to be to kill the Estate Tax or try to undercut Democrats at every turn-- from Social Security and healthcare reform to Employee Free Choice. Lincoln has had a disgraceful and hackish career even when she was just a slimy Blue Dog in the House using another name (Blanche Lambert). Watching her seemlessly transition to K Street would have been more than natural. But, alas, she'll still be forcing the Senate Democrats to water down every bill and make each even less family friendly and more in line with her corporate donors' avaricious self interest. Unless-- as is very likely-- she loses in November to corporate shill GOP slob John Boozman.

There was some excellent news out of Arkansas as well. Proven progressive leader Joyce Elliott beat conservative hack Robbie Wills in the second C.D. (Little Rock) and will now face Karl Rove crooked protege Tim Griffin. Please give her a hand (and whatever you can afford). She's a Blue America endorsed candidate and you can donate here. She'll need the help. If she wins in November she'll be the first African American elected from Arkansas since the mid-1800s.

But there's no getting around the tremendous loss last night in California's 36th district, where voters decided to give reactionary warmonger Jane Harman another term instead of doing the sensible thing and electing Marcy Winograd. We'll just have to learn to fight harder and smarter. In the end, Marcy took 41.2% of the vote.

But primary season is far from over and there are still plenty of messages Inside-the-Beltway Democrats need to hear. The next key races coming up to focus on are the North Carolina Senate primary runoff that pits progressive champion Elaine Marshall, the front-runner, against an ambitious but unaccomplished empty suit being pushed by Bob Menendez. That comes up June 22 and yesterday Durham Mayor Bill Bell endorsed her. This past weekend the National Federation of Democratic Women announced she has been selected as the Outstanding Democratic Woman Elected Official for 2010. Former opponent, Ken Lewis, the guy who came in third, not only endorsed her; he joined her campaign as chairman! Please consider adding your support here.

That same day, the 22nd, Utah Democrats have the most exciting and meaningful primary the've had in my memory when progressive champion Claudia Wright faces struggling Blue Dog incumbent Jim Matheson. Matheson has asked the voters to look at his record and she is responding to that challenge.

"Matheson has shown little if no leadership in his 10 years in office and the Second District deserves better" Claudia told us. "I believe he voted for the repeal of DADT simply due to the fact that I am in this race... [and] the fact that he attended the Grand Marshal Reception for Pride the weekend, something he has never done, shows he is pandering the base." Matheson appeared like a fish out of water at the reception unable to interact with anyone there. He left before the annual Pride Awards were presented and skipped the actual parade at Washington Park entirely. Claudia was given the opportunity to address Pride, and took part in the Pride Parade and was welcomed with rousing applause at every turn.

"I also question the timing of his introducing the two wilderness bills this last month, one of which trades land destroyed by off road vehicles and snowmobiles at the Snowbird Ski Resort for pristine wilderness." she said. And at a press conference on Monday, she questioned his statement last week "that we need to look at safety issues when it comes to deep water oil rigs," as too little too late. "He has been on the Subcommittee for Energy and Environment for ten years, where has his leadership been?" Energy companies know exactly where-- and have been very grateful.

Following a successful fundraiser Monday evening, Claudia is now heading out on her Wright Way Tour throughout the sprawling Second District to meet with voters and tell them of her pledge to revisit them each month from DC to share ideas and issues with them, something Matheson doesn't seem to believe it-- and certainly doesn't do.

And that brings us to July, a month with two important races for anyone interested in taking the Democratic Party back from corporately funded conservative Blue Dogs. Both races pit proven progressive state legislators against 2 of the most reactionary Democrats in Congress, John Barrow and Dan Boren. In GA-12 we see a re-match with former state Senator Regina Thomas, except this year Barrow doesn't have the support of President Obama like he did when he lied his way back into office in 2008. Although Barrow is running a well-financed media campaign, Regina has a grassroots operation and the power of constituent rage over Barrow's attempt to undermine healthcare reform and other initiatives backed by President Obama and the constituents who Barrow has routinely ignored in favor of his country club friends who vote for the Republicans anyway.

The following week (July 27) anti-health care fanatic Dan Boren is facing Oklahoma state Senator Jim Wilson, a healthcare reform champion. It is also a classic battle between an outrageously corrupt and entrenched incumbent an a reform-minded clean government type. Like Matheson, Boren has wormed his way onto natural resources committees where he's in line to get tremendous bribes-- disguised as campaign contributions (he's the #1 House member, including Republicans, on the payroll of Big Oil in this cycle!)-- and sabotage effective regulation of the predatory corporate instincts of his paymasters.

You can help us defeat Matheson, Barrow and Boren-- and replace them with Claudia Wright, Regina Thomas and Jim Wilson-- at Blue America's Blue Dog page




UPDATE: Notable California Republican Primary Races

For all their bluster, the Southern California teabaggers completely flamed out, the same way all the statewide teabagger candidates flopped-- Poizner (26.9%), birther queen Orly Taitz (25.7%), and Chuck DeVore (19.0%)-- did. They all lost against the incumbents, although Jerry Lewis and Gary Miller both had unpleasant surprises. In Lewis 41st CD, Eric Stone, the guy who was afraid to campaign against Lewis lest he get whacked, wound up with just over a third of the vote. Imagine if he had campaigned. The final was:

Jerry Lewis- 65.9%
Eric Stone- 34.1%

Pat Meagher, the progressive Democrat running-- with no opposition-- drew 20,607 votes, compared to Lewis' 28,025.

In the 42nd CD crooked conservative Gary Miller had to contend with three teabaggers and they managed to keep him under 50%! The final vote:

Gary Miller- 49.0%
Phil Liberatore- 37.2%
Lee McGroarty- 10.7%
David Su- 3.1%

My highest hopes for a surprise was in the 44th CD (Riverside/Orange counties), where we expect Bill Hedrick to win in November. But conservative Chris Riggs ran a good-- if underfunded-- campaign against Ken Calvert from the right and managed to mobilize church-goers and teabaggers for a respectable showing:

Ken Calvert- 66.6%
Chris Riggs- 33.4%

Conventional wisdom-- and teabagger ravings-- had predicted a close call for corporate shill Mary Bono Mack-- a supporter of the two Bush bailouts and cap-and-trade but the 45th CD Republicans largely stayed with her, although she's likely to be ousted by conservative Democrat Steve Pougnet in November. Last night's finals:

Mary Bono Mack- 70.4%
Clayton Thibodeau- 29.6%

The only other GOP primary I was watching closely was in the 19th CD, where Dirty Dick Pombo was trying to a comeback and had the support of many of his old colleagues and, of course, every major polluter in America. He came in a distant third:

Jeff Denham- 36.4%
Jim Patterson- 30.4%
Dick Pombo- 20.8%
Larry Westerlund- 12.4%

Are Unions Dependable Progressive Allies?

Claudia Wright, the best friend a Utah
teacher could ever hope to have in DC

Mine was the first class to start as freshmen at the SUNY Stony Brook campus. The whole four years I was there the place was under construction. It was a troubled time politically-- the U.S. had invaded Viet Nam and was perpetrating a horrifying genocide in that small country fighting valiantly and courageously for its freedom. To help commemorate Memorial Day yesterday, I reread parts of Rick Perlstein's spectacular account of that period, Nixonland. 

Rick paints a vivid picture of an environment where the unjustifiable and savage bombing of neutral Cambodia was kicking into high gear and the student unrest that eventually ended the war was about to boil over into the tragedy of Kent State. Nixon had just given a cynical and deceptive retread of a fifth-rate speech attempting to justify American aggression and escalation:

"I would rather be a one-term president and do what I believe is right than to be a two-term president at the cost of seeing America become a second-rate power and to see this nation accept the first defeat in its proud 190-year history."

Two hundred State Department employees immediately signed a petition of protest. Nixon responded by calling an undersecretary in the middle of the night: "Fire them all!"

...Cambodia and the Panthers [trial] were catalysts [for an explosion of student fury]. So was Seymour Hersh's new book My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and Its Aftermath. It was excerpted in the May issue of Harper's. A New York Times editorial on April 15 featured quotes:

"Then somebody said, 'What do we do with them?'

"A G.I. answered, 'Waste them.'

"Suddenly there was a burst of automatic fire from many guns. Only a small child survived. Somebody then carefully shot him, too."

Hersh's newspaper articles had only been a rough sketch. He had traveled fifty-thousand miles to complete the book. It described Robert McNamara's Project 100,000, an initiative whereby almost a million men who'd scored poorly on the Selective Service qualifying test were drafted anyway, purportedly for the noble purpose of giving them a better chance in life, actually populating the army with imbeciles. Led by imbeciles, too-- such as Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr., twenty-four, who'd flunked out of Palm Beach Junior College but was given command of a platoon anyway, even though he couldn't properly read a map.

Nixon just kept getting sloshed out of his mind, popping pills and watching Patton over and over again. But Nixon was not without allies. He called them the Silent Majority. At my college they were personified by the construction workers. Unions were no friends of progressives back then. They used to throw beer cans at our demonstrations-- and worse. Generally speaking, these days unions are a lot more supportive of progressive causes. Usually.

In a couple of hours one of the best progressive state legislators in the country will pull the plug on his congressional campaign, ceding the field to a wealthy corporate shill who will be as representative of his district as I would be of a district in the Dallas suburbs. Why? Done in by a teacher's union hierarchy happy to play ball with Democratic powermongers in the state capital and Inside the Beltway.


And last week the 18,000 members Utah Education Association endorsed reactionary incumbent Blue Dog Jim Matheson, "citing his support for a federal stimulus program that the teachers' union says saved 2,000 education positions in the state." Forget for a moment that Matheon's opponent is a sterling progressive and a teacher for 31 years and member of the union. Instead, just keep in mind that Matheson-- who is being heavily pushed by Steny Hoyer and the rest of the Democratic incumbent protection racket, votes more frequently with Republicans than almost any other Democrat in Congress. Since Barack Obama became president (the second column of numbers in the chart directly above), Matheson's putrid voting record has been exactly tied with that of two neo-Confederate reactionaries, John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA) and Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR). Union officials like a little taste of power too, and it's not uncommon for them to completely sell out their own members, just the way the teachers union did in UT-02 and... announcement here this afternoon.

And that teacher of 31 years running against Matheson? Claudia Wright, who has been endorsed by Blue America (and the Teamsters local) and who we hope you'll consider helping with a campaign contribution today. The primary is three weeks from today.

UPDATE: Craig Pridemore Drops Out

Yeah, he was the guy I was referring to. It means that no matter what happens WA-02 will be represented in Congress by a corporate shill and a wealthy conservative with no clue about-- and no interest in-- what's important to ordinary working families.

Senate Armed Services Committee And The Full House of Representatives Votes To End "Don't Ask, Don' Tell"

I want to congratulate Claudia Wright today, the progressive Democrat-- not to mention great, great granddaughter of Brigham Young-- running for the Utah congressional seat currently occupied by reactionary Blue Dog Jim Matheson. In the past Matheson has had the vile stench of homophobic bigotry around him. Last April he was one of 25 bigoted ConservaDems who joined their Republican allies in their attempt to kill the Hate Crimes bill. Yesterday, after an embarrassing thrashing from Utah Democrats at the party convention two weeks ago-- and at the hands of the openly gay Claudia Wright-- he stood up on the floor of the House of Representatives and made an impassioned, if implausible, speech in favor of overturning Don't Ask Don't Tell. Claudia's vigorous primary challenge forced his hand. Conversely, the vigorous primary challenge from the far right by teabagger Clayton Thidodeau saw Mary Bono Mack break with her usual pattern of supporting the large gay population of her Palm Springs-centric district. Bono Mack gave a big homophobic no vote in the hope that by throwing gays under the bus, it would save her worthless carcass in the June 8th Republican primary. This from a woman whose first assignment when taking her dead husband's seat in Congress was to be Lindsey Graham's "fag hag," play footsie with him under the Judiciary Committee table and help him come up with a lame-brained theory about how Bill Clinton should be impeached if Monica Lewinsky had had an orgasm. Last night she joined notorious homophobes like Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Trent Franks (an Arizona Republican closet case), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Wally Herger (R-CA), Dan Lungren (R-CA) and Steve King (all-purpose Iowa hatemonger) to vote against allowing gay men and women who are serving their country honorably in the military to stop forcing themselves to live in the kinds of dark closets that have been driving gay Republicans-- from Mark Foley, Patrick McHenry and Mitch McConnell to Larry Craig and George Rekers-- dangerously insane.

Like myself, Claudia has no intention of enlisting in the military. We're both pro-peace kinds of people who don't believe in wars of aggression. We do, however, believe that all Americans who seek to serve the country by being part of the military should have an equal opportunity to do so without being discriminated against because of narrow and bigoted prejudices. Just yesterday, in fact, Claudia announced her support of Alan Grayson's bill that would end the war and the deficit, HR 5353, The War Is Making You Poor Act.

This bill would reduce the $159.3 billion of “emergency supplemental” funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from the fiscal year 2011 budget, and would instead return that money to American taxpayers, as well as allocating funds against the federal deficit. The War Is Making You Poor Act would not affect the $549 billion already budgeted to the Department of Defense to wage these wars. 

Representative Alan Grayson, a Democrat who represents Florida’s Republican-leaning 8th district, introduced the bill by saying, “Next year's budget allocates $159,000,000,000 to perpetuate the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. That's enough money to eliminate federal income taxes for the first $35,000 of every American's income. Beyond that, it leaves over $15 billion to cut the deficit.  And that's what this bill does.”
 
The War Is Making You Poor Act eliminates the federal income tax on the first $35,000 of every American’s income, using the remaining $15 billion to reduce the federal deficit.
   
Claudia Wright has signed on to the petition to pass HR 5353, and calls on Congressman Jim Matheson to join the bipartisan cosponsors of the bill: 

“Mr. Matheson announced yesterday that it is time for the rubber to meet the road, in terms of cutting government spending. I applaud that sentiment, and hope that Mr. Matheson shares my concern that we should not be giving a blank check to military contractors while working families are struggling.
 
“If the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are worth continuing, I think we should be honest enough with the American people to put that spending in the Defense budget, not hide it as an “emergency supplemental” for a nine-year-old war. But I believe that most Americans share my belief that we can no longer continue to burden our children with debt for these endless wars.”

 
According to a Washington Post poll from the beginning of this month, 52% of Americans believe the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting.

With bitter opposition from the bigoted and homophobic Republican throwbacks led by John Boehner, Patrick Murphy's amendment to end the discriminatory and divisive policy passed 234-194, 26 homophobic Democrats crossing the aisle to vote with the Party of Hate (while 5 Republicans, Judy Biggert, Ahn Cao, Charles Djou, Ron Paul and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen voted with the Democrats to make history). Among the conservative Democrats voting no were homophobic Blue Dogs Bobbie Bright (AL), Chris Carney (PA), Travis Childers (MS), Lincoln Davis (TN), Joe Donnelly (IN), Jim Marshall (GA), Colin Peterson (MN), Mike Ross (AR), Heath Shuler (NC), Gene Taylor (MS) and the newest member of the House, who the DCCC spent over a million dollars to buy the seat for, Mark Critz of Pennsylvania.

Although all the Republican closet queens from Aaron Schock (IL), Patty McHenry (NC), Trent Franks (AZ) and Adrian Smith (NE) to Dana Rohrabacher (CA), David Dreier (CA) and Mark Kirk (IL) voted against gay people. As a gay Republican closet case Charlie Crist wanted to retain DADT. As a gay independent closet case Charlie is now supporting it. Leaving the Party of Hatred and Bigotry can be very liberating! But if they don't want to listen to Charlie-- who did, after all, abandon their crazed, shrinking party-- the GOP self-loathing closet cases should listen to California state Senator Roy Ashburn, who was caught with a young male prostitute, outed and has now changed his tune:



Amazing interview! Inevitable, though, and one that Aaron Schock should start memorizing for his moment on the big state. "My practice in my entire political career," said Ashburn, "when it came to gay issues was to prevent any kind of spotlight from being shined my way, because I was in hiding. So casting any kind of vote might, could in some way, lead to my secret being revealed. That was terrifying to me. It was paralyzing. So I cast some votes that have denied gay people of their basic, equal treatment under the law, and I'm not proud of it. I'm not going to do that again."

Tomorrow Blue America will be formally endorsing New Hampshire progressive Annie Kuster, a community activist who we talked to just before Patrick Murphy's amendment to abolish DADT was voted on.

I was proud to support the effort here in New Hampshire to make our state the 5th in the country to pass marriage equality," she told us. New Hampshire has a bipartisan tradition of believing in less government interference in people’s personal lives, and I think the rest of the country could learn something from us on this issue. As an adoption attorney I’ve been honored to help hundreds of loving couples start their own families, and I have seen firsthand the love and support that same-sex parents bring to their own families. At the federal level, it is time to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and thereby strengthen our military and re-assert our true American values, and I also support ending the discriminatory ‘Defense of Marriage’ Act.

If you're so moved, you can donate to Annie campaign and Claudia's campaign on the main Blue America page or, you might want to check out the more specific Replacing Homophobes In Congress page.


UPDATE: In John Boehner's Face

West Point grad Justin Coussoule has served in the U.S. Army as Boehner, a coward and a draft dodger, has been pushing wars and odious corporate-oriented foreign policies. This morning Justin took exception to Boehner's push towards gratuitous divisiveness in opposing the end of DADT. Justin:

The policy prohibiting patriotic Americans from serving in uniform based solely on sexual orientation is shameful and discriminatory. I support the amendment to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell currently before Congress and urge swift passage as a part of the Defense Appropriations Bill. The men and women of our Armed Forces are one of our country’s greatest resources. At a time when the policies of the previous Administration have stretched our military between two foreign wars, the exclusion of patriotic young Americans from uniformed service based on sexual orientation is indefensible.
 
As a former Army officer and leader of soldiers, my sole concern was military fitness and readiness. The sexual orientation of a soldier, whether gay or straight, is irrelevant on the firing range, on a road march, or on the field of battle. The ability to navigate the treacherous routes lined with IEDs in Iraq or Afghanistan is not dependent on whether a soldier is gay or straight; it is dependent on the military training and discipline found in those who volunteer to serve in our Armed Forces. By excluding those who would volunteer based solely on sexual orientation, we are preventing able and willing soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines from guaranteeing our security, defending our country, and fighting and winning our nation’s wars. 

My opponent says that “Rushing ahead with a political decision without understanding how it will impact the men and women of our Armed Forces ... is deeply irresponsible.” After 17 years of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and countless debates over the policy’s merits, how is passage of this amendment ‘rushing ahead’? Perhaps Mr. Boehner’s lack of understanding the impact on our troops is based on his own lack of personal experience in uniform. I served with men and women who I later learned were gay or lesbian; their sexual orientation had no bearing on their outstanding service to our nation, and in no way changes my view of them as honorable and selfless veterans. 
 
Deployment of our Armed Forces without a clear path to victory before the first shot is ever fired is deeply irresponsible. Buying weapons systems and equipment that the leaders in uniform have unequivocally said are unnecessary, to the detriment of the needs for more boots on the ground, is deeply irresponsible. Mr. Boehner’s implication that repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell jeopardizes our national security is deeply irresponsible. He says that he hopes “Members of Congress who care about our national security ... will stand together to stop it.” I say, Members of Congress who care about our national security must act now, and vote to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. It is a vote that will strengthen our military, expand the ranks of those willing to serve, and ultimately result in an Armed Forces more representative of the great nation that its members serve and defend so bravely everyday.

Blue America-- Proud To Welcome Utah Democrat Claudia Wright

Political punditry will never be the same if Claudia Wright is elected to Congress from Utah's sprawling second congressional district. The district encompasses the whole southern part of the state, the whole eastern part of the state and a nice chunk of Salt Lake City and its southern metro area, from Millcreek and Murray down to Sandy. Almost 60% of the district's population lives in the Salt Lake City area; the rest of the huge district is mostly beautiful park land. It's also Utah's relatively "progressive" district with a PVI of R +17-- which sounds pretty dismal until you look at the first CD (PVI of R +22) and the third district (PVI of R +26). McCain "only" won 57% of the vote in the 2nd (64% in the first and 67% in the 3rd). But the second has been sending a Democrat to the House since 2000-- sort of. The congressman from the second is reactionary Blue Dog Jim Matheson, son of two-term Governor Scott Matheson, and he pretty much always votes with the Republicans on important issues. He first got elected by attacking Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore for his healthcare reform proposals. Needless to say, Matheson was an eager aisle crosser when it came to the recent votes on healthcare reform. And three weeks ago Democratic activists in his district-- despite a parachute jump in by wheeler/dealer Steny Hoyer-- were eager to deny Matheson the Democratic Party endorsement. They forced him into an open primary with today's Blue America endorsee, Claudia Wright.

Inside the Beltway pundits and political "pros" insist that Democrats only win in red areas like UT-02 by running on Republican talking points. Ignoring the outstanding campaigns run by working family champions-- from Alan Grayson (D-FL) and Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) to Dave Loebsack (D-IA) and Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH), each of whom ousted an entrenched Republican incumbent in a "red" district-- the conventional wisdom is that only corporate shills like Jim Matheson can win in places like Utah. We know conventional wisdom is wrong and ignores the reality of the district. And so does Claudia:

Mr. Matheson and the party wasn't prepared for the reception he got at the mass meetings we had last March. He had no idea how angry he made his constituents. He was boo-ed and jeered... The party has misread its membership and misread the fact that we are witnessing a political realignment, not just here in Utah, but across the country. The alignment is shifting right to left and top to bottom. A Large number of delegates at our convention were actually moderate Republicans who are now more at home with our party than they are with the extremist right of the Republican Party. Grassroots candidates like myself agree with tea partiers in that we need to get corporate money and special interests out of politics so that our representatives are accountable to their constituents and only their constituents.

Claudia is running as a full on champion of working families and her campaign platform is about the issues that most concern real people, not the nonsense manufactured by Republican propaganda puppets like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Sean Hannity to persuade voters that hating each other is more important than electing people who will help protect them from powerful predatory special interests and the politicians (and media outlets) they own.

While the banking bailout may have been necessary, handing over billions of dollars of taxpayer money with no strings attached doesn't serve the interests of working families. We gave all this money to big banks so they could give enough credit to small businesses to jump-start employment but the banks used that money for their own purposes rather than what it was meant for. That's what I mean by "no-strings-attached;" it should have been a requirement that that money be used to loosen up credit for small businesses. There needs to be much more oversight of Wall Street than what is being proposed in the new legislation Congress is working on.

I'd like to ask you to consider two things now. Surf over to Crooks and Liars' comments section to meet Claudia (at 11am/PT, noon in Utah) and also please consider making a contribution to her campaign through Blue America's ActBlue page. In fact everyone who donates to Claudia's campaign this weekend (offer ends Sunday at midnight, PT) will have their name entered in a contest to win an autographed copy of Al Franken's book The Truth AND an autographed copy of the Al Franken DVD God Spoke; the winner gets both.

The Rahm Emanuel Side Of Obama Cynically Pits Teachers Against Troops

If the leaders in Congress were confident that U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan was purposeful and worthwhile, they would not have to sugar coat a supplemental war appropriation with billions for teacher retention, Haiti reconstruction, and veterans' health care. Americans deserve an honest vote, a real referendum on the trillion-dollar wars that multiply our enemies and squander our treasury. In Congress, I will not only vote against such bribery, I will work hard to organize the Progressive Caucus as a swing block opposed to deceptive war supplementals. With our states facing massive social service cutbacks, we can't afford to spend half of each taxpayer dollar on perpetual war and occupation. Bring the troops home, stop the drones, and invest at home.

-Marcy Winograd, Democratic candidate for Congress (CA-36) 


There was a little celebration at my pal Roland's school the other day. They had had some good news: the one teacher who had been selected as the cutback had somehow gotten a reprieve. She wasn't being "laid off" after all. Somehow the school district found the money to keep her. Her life wasn't ruined. Her own family wasn't in jeopardy. All the weeks of anguish had been for naught. And all the other teachers felt a little safer too. But they don't know John Boehner.

Melody Barnes is the Director of President Obama's Domestic Policy Council. Last week she addressed the serious concern-- in Washington and in America-- about how the economic downturn has caused the kinds of budget cuts on state and local levels that are threatening hundreds of thousands of public school jobs across the country. (Wealthy conservatives, whose political lives are centered around not paying their fair share of taxes-- and their political handmaidens in Congress-- are unconcerned since their own children go to private schools. That's a very narrow, shortsighted point of view since without an educated workforce America would be unable to sustain a growing and a prosperous economy.) Obama gets this in a big way and explained it at this year’s Teacher of the Year Awards at the White House Thursday. "[I]t's why," he explained, through our recovery efforts, we’ve provided emergency aid that saved the jobs of more than 400,000 teachers and other education jobs-- and why I believe these efforts must continue. I believe these efforts must continue as states face severe budget shortfalls that put hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk. We need and our children need our teachers in the classroom. We need your passion and your patience, your skill and experience, your determination to reach every single child."

He had an appreciative audience. Barnes went further:

Now we need swift, bold action from Congress to respond to state and local budget cuts that are placing public education at risk and endangering teacher jobs. Thanks to the leadership of Senator Harkin and Congressmen Miller and Obey, we have legislation to avert this crisis. Today, our Administration wrote to Congressional leaders indicating the President's support for this critical legislation, and urging Congress to include education jobs funding in the supplemental appropriations bills soon to be considered in the House and Senate.

She published a letter from the president to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid about action needed to shore up local governments with between 100,000 and 300,000 education jobs at risk in 2011. "Without swift action," he warns, "millions of children will experience these budget cuts in one way or another through reductions in class time; cuts to early childhood programs, extracurricular activities, and summer school; and reduced course offerings as teachers are laid off. These budget cuts would also undermine the groundbreaking reform efforts underway in states and districts all across the country." And, he goes on, "budget cuts to police and fire departments threaten to undermine public safety and the emergency readiness of first-responders. All of these budget cuts threaten to cause damage that ripples through the economy as a whole.  The layoffs create a new drag on the economy when-- despite the recent encouraging jobs report-- we still have a long way to go." So what do we do, what do we do? 

Give him the billions he requested for the continued occupation of Afghanistan. Huh? That's right. The president who vowed he would never use the disastrous Bush Regime budget tricks that went into funding wars with unaccountable, borrowing-against-future generations "supplementals," is offering reluctant Democrats a deal: give me the endless billions the Pentagon wants for more pointless war and you can tack on money to bolster local governments so they can prevent teachers, policemen and firemen from being laid off.

We applaud Chairmen Harkin, Miller and Obey for crafting legislation in direct response to these challenges. S. 3206, the Keep Our Educators Working Act, H.R. 2847, the Jobs for Main Street Act, and H.R. 4812, the Local Jobs for America Act, each call for $23 billion in emergency support to preserve education jobs modeled after the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) established in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This funding would keep teachers in the classroom while helping to sustain meaningful and necessary reforms in public education across the country.

We urge Congress to include this funding in the supplemental appropriations bills soon to be considered. We also urge Congress to include $2 billion in support to localities for police and firefighters to ensure that our communities remain safe, as well as $1 billion in funds for the Child Care and Development Block Grant to preserve early childhood education jobs and ensure that our youngest children do not lose the supports and services critical to their learning and overall well-being.

Sickening. And he has an easy to find comic book villain to blame: John Boehner, a well-tanned hack whose entire political career is centered around being a bagman for corporate interests and who spent nearly one in three days last year on the golf course. Boehner loves spending money on wars but hates spending money on teachers. In fact, he favors laying them off.

“The American people recognize that Washington’s out-of-control spending is hurting our economy and stifling job creation, and they’re asking their elected leaders to make tough choices on fiscal responsibility. Unfortunately, the Administration’s call for another $23 billion to pad the education bureaucracy will only make state governments more dependent on the federal government and more vulnerable when the federal funding explosion disappears. This latest state bailout proposal promotes the same flawed logic as the failed ‘stimulus’ bill that has contributed to a record $1.5 trillion deficit and left one in every 10 Americans from our workforce out of work. 

“Last year as part of their trillion-dollar “stimulus” bill, Democrats borrowed nearly $100 billion to bail out state governments and education shortfalls. Even though tens of billions remain unspent, Democrats are demanding even more unchecked spending. We continue to see examples of how this ‘stimulus’ education money was wasted or abused. The American people deserve better.

“Giving states another $23 billion in federal education money simply throws more money into taxpayer-funded bailouts when we should be discussing why we aren’t seeing the results we need from the billions in federal dollars that are already being spent. House Republicans stand ready to work with our nation’s Governors to enact education reform that gives states and localities greater flexibility while protecting taxpayers and students at the same time. If Democrats want to debate spending billions more in taxpayer money on education, then they should do it as a stand-alone bill rather than attaching it to a measure that funds our troops.”

Boehner is rarely right about anything-- and his intentions are always malevolent-- but he's correct this time. Congress should reject the war funding, bring the troops home immediately, and double down on rescuing the economy. I reached out to some of the straightest shooting Blue America congressional candidates to ask them where they stand on this incongruous conflict between the clownish Boehner and a president each one of them admires. Marcy Winograd's comments are at the top of the page. Our newest endorsee is Claudia Wright, a progressive Democrat in Salt Lake City who managed to prevent reactionary Blue Dog Jim Matheson from walking away from the Utah Democratic convention with his party's endorsement last weekend. If you think the only commonsense progressive approach to big problems comes from Washington and New York and Chicago, you're completely mistaken. Caludia:

Although I agree with Representative Boehner that the bill for troops funding and education be split, I am afraid that is where our similarities end. We are on a schedule for withdrawal from Iraq and that should be kept. As for Afghanistan, our foreign policy seems to be catching more operatives than our war. Pakistan, using its own forces, have recently captured several more terrorists than our army has been able to find. This eight year war of ours is dangerous for our already struggling economy. Do I need to remind you that an eight year war in Afghanistan helped to bankrupt the USSR? Adding debt to our future without any way of paying it off is courting chaos.

However, the same is not true about public education. Education is primarily funded by property taxes. With record number of bankruptcies, levels of funding for education have also dropped. This is a temporary crisis. Education is an investment in EVERYONE'S future. These are the future taxpayers of America and all of us need to invest in their future. This investment pays off for all of us three-fold. First, education insures higher paying jobs. Second, public education keeps our social classes fluid. Finally, education should produce better informed citizens, all of these are necessary for a Democratic Republic to function. The temporary nature of the education crisis and the permanent demand of these wars are very different. I would suggest that dividing these demands and considering each part carefully would best serve the public good.

UPDATE: Progressive Democrat Bill Hedrick Agrees With Reactionary Shithead John Boehner... Hey, It's Bipartisan!

Boehner wants to defund local governments' ability to provide essential services like education, health and safety, while spending billions on pointless wars that only benefit politically-connected contractors... typical conservative claptrap. But he's right about one thing: tying funding for the war in Afghanistan to support for public education is disgusting and even if this stroke of genius comes straight from sleazy hack Rahm Emanuel, it is not worthy of the Democratic Party leadership. Hedrick:

I am deeply opposed to linking education funding to the war supplemental bill. Those who disagree with the ever-expanding war in Afghanistan yet support vital education funding are left with a “take it or leave it” scenario. As a teacher and school trustee, I have made public education advocacy my life’s work, but I cannot in good conscience support added funding for a war that I am convinced does nothing to make us safer, damages our military capacity, destabilizes Pakistan, and is simply unaffordable.  It is enormously disappointing that leaders have chosen to use schools to leverage support for a fundamentally flawed foreign policy in Afghanistan. It is wrong to hold schools hostage. Separate the votes!

Bill Hedrick and family

Inside The Beltway Stalinism Crumbling?

[Wander down to the bottom of this post to find out how you can win a k.d. lang platinum album award without having to read about what a destructive jerk Rahm Emanuel is.]


This morning CQPolitics made the case that the out-of-touch, Inside-the-Beltway, Stalinist party organs are shattering. If it turns out to bee true, it would be a blow in favor of participatory, grassroots democracy. Insiders blame everything from a lack of an easily identifiable (and galvanizing fiend), like Bush, to the recession, but the conventional wisdom is that "[t]he inability of Washington Democrats to shape the political playing field has grown more acute with the onset of the primary campaign season," meaning, in effect, that the Beltway types are starting to recognize what everyone in America has seen all year.

Veteran Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania could find themselves out of a job at this time next week, the victims of restless Democratic primary voters and activists who no longer take their cues from the national party establishment in Washington.

Unlike the previous two election cycles, when Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill cleared the field for their incumbents and muscled preferred primary candidates to the nomination in targeted seats, 2010 has witnessed a dramatic slide in party influence beyond the Beltway. Not only are the Arkansas and Pennsylvania incumbents vulnerable in primaries, but the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s hand-picked candidate in North Carolina also is in trouble.

...In Pennsylvania, Specter is fighting Rep. Joe Sestak one year after leaving the Republican Party to avoid an uphill primary battle against former Rep. Pat Toomey. Specter was immediately embraced and backed by President Obama, and the DSCC is now working overtime to salvage his campaign. Specter is running even with Sestak after leading by wide margins just a few months ago.

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey said he expects Specter to win the May 18 primary, adding that the incumbent is working hard and always expected a tough race. Casey won a contested Democratic primary in 2006, but his nomination was never in doubt after Schumer worked to clear out any serious competition.

Yes, Schumer at the DSCC and Emanuel at the DCCC were the heart and soul of insider, anti-grassroots Democratic Party Stalinism-- although Schumer messed up and failed miserably in Montana, where his corporate shill was beaten back by Jon Tester, who went on to beat the Republican corporate shill in November; and Rahm messed up when his signature shill, a bona fide corrupt Republican who Rahm persuaded to change party affiliation-- i.e., jersey color-- days before the primary, Tim Mahoney, got hoist on a petard of delicious irony, ceding the seat back to a red jersey wearing Republican.

Ignoring the shock this past weekend of stalwart grassroots progressive Claudia Wright standing up to reactionary Blue Dog incumbent Jim Matheson and Emanuelist Steny Hoyer in Salt Lake City... and prevailing, the Village is certain that "[t]he first shot across the bow came May 11 in West Virginia, where 14-term Rep. Alan Mollohan fell in the 1st district Democratic primary to state Sen. Mike Oliverio, who hit the incumbent for supporting health care overhaul on his way to a 12-point victory." Always the comfortable default position for Villagey wisdom-- the loser was "too liberal," even when he's a conservative, like Mollahan is, and when the whole campaign was about how incredibly corrupt he is. No room for primaries against Blue Dogs and other conservatives by progressives in that narrative! This morning Greg Sargent at the Washington Post at least came close, closer than anyone else in the DC press corps, to getting the narrative right about the anti-incumbent-- rather than an anti-progressive-- mood. And yesterday's Macon Telegraph was clearly sensing what barnacles like David Broder and Charlie Cook will try to explain in retrospect. Furthering what Sargent alluded to, there is room in the anti-incumbent fervour for insurrgent progressives to oust reactionaries like John Barrow.

Rep. John Barrow's vote against health care in Congress has cost the Georgia Democrat key support within his own party, from officials quietly withholding endorsements to one party leader calling for his defeat.

While other Democrats up for re-election are being targeted by Republicans for passing President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in March, Barrow faces backlash for his "no" vote from fellow Democrats in southern Georgia... Democrats fuming over the three-term congressman's vote will have a chance to vent their anger in the July 20 primary, when Barrow faces a rematch with Democratic challenger Regina Thomas, a former state senator.

"We are very angry about the way John Barrow has sold us down the river," said John Brewer, Democratic Party chairman for rural Montgomery County. "I will go to the polls on primary day and I will vote, but it won't be for John Barrow."

...[S]ome Democrats say Barrow went too far in alienating his own party and Obama on health care, particularly for many black leaders to justify supporting him. Black voters make up 41 percent of Barrow's constituents, and account for a solid majority in Democratic primary races. It's unknown whether Obama will weigh in with an endorsement.

State Rep. Mickey Stephens, a black Democrat from Savannah, made the rounds of local churches stumping for Barrow in past campaigns. However, Stephens refrained from taking sides in Barrow's 2008 primary race with Thomas.

This year, Stephens is openly supporting Thomas in the Democratic primary. Barrow's health vote, he says, wasn't just the last straw - it "was a piece of timber."

"Most African-Americans are under-insured or don't have insurance at all. They need it the most," Stephens said. "John didn't just turn his back. He turned his back and ducked on this vote."

Two other black lawmakers who endorsed Barrow in the 2008 primary have backed off this year. State Rep. Bob Bryant of Garden City says he's now supporting Thomas. State Rep. Quincy Murphy of Augusta said, while he's unhappy with Barrow's health vote, he hasn't decided whether to endorse either candidate.

It's much easier for Villagers to deal with the defeat of conservative Republican Bob Bennett at the hands of a Glenn Beck/Dick Armey-backed teabagger (who wound up coming in second to an even more deranged teabagger) than it is to talk about Claudia Wright's low budget success against Matheon and Hoyer, something the Village is just absolutely not willing to talk about. Wright, a great great granddaughter of Brigham Young, prevented Matheson from winning the Democratic Party endorsement and could actually beat him in the June 22 Utah primary. (Please give her a hand at the Blue America anti-Blue Dog page.) Yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune reported a further worry for Matheson, one that could doom his re-election hopes-- Operation Chaos, Utah style:

Some Utah Republicans who harbor hopes of taking a congressional seat that a Democrat has held for a decade are raising the possibility of crossing over to vote for the candidate they perceive as the weakest in the Democrats' open primary.

State Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, became a topic on KSL Radio's Doug Wright Show on Tuesday after he posted a Facebook suggestion that Republicans vote for Claudia Wright over five-term Congressman Jim Matheson in the June 22 Democratic primary. While Utah Republicans reserve the primary vote to registered party members, Democrats have an open primary that enables independent voters-- with no declared party affiliation-- to vote.

Wright has a great deal of momentum against a Republican-voting Democrat whose only real asset among Democratic primary voters is father's name, and she could very well beat Matheson with or without Winner's version of Operation Chaos. "[S]he believes she has enough interests in common with moderate Republicans and "tea party" activists-- starting with opposition to bank bailouts-- to win the district" and says Republicans are more afraid of Matheon's massive corporate warchest than anything else.

When Wright's BadDogs page hits $2,000 I'm going to pull the name of a contributor out of a hat and send them a Blue America thank you in the form of an RIAA-certified platinum award disc for k.d. lang's Ingenue.

Can Brigham Young's Great Great Gay Progressive Granddaughter Oust A Blue Dog And Win A House Seat In Utah?

I'm finished bashing Utah. Over! Done! A hearty band of awesome Democrats there put their collective foot down and prevented anti-healthcare Blue Dog Jim Matheson from winning the party endorsement at yesterday's convention in Salt Lake City. No more South Park jokes for me. Matheson is one of the most reactionary Democrats in Congress, consistently crossing the aisle to vote with the Republicans on key issues. Since Obama was elected, his ProgressivePunch score-- a dismal 35.37-- has been identical to those of two of the most unsavory of the Old South Blue Dogs, John Barrow (GA) and Mike Ross (AR). And, like Barrow and Ross, he left the Democratic Party to vote for the anti-choice Stupak Amendment and against healthcare reform. Now Utah Democrats are sick enough of the ten-year incumbent to say no.

Sensing that retired school teacher Claudia Wright was making headway, Matheson put in a hysterical call begging Steny Hoyer to fly out to Salt Lake City to save him. Hoyer did fly out, and begged and cajoled delegates to vote for Matheson, but ultimately failed to secure the party endorsement for him. He came up 5% short of the 60% needed.

So what about Claudia? Well, how about this? She's Brigham Young's great great granddaughter! And she left the Mormon Church. And she's openly gay and living with her partner. And, better yet, she's a brilliant woman with a solidly Democratic platform that shows Matheson is really nothing but a tarted-up Republican in a blue jersey!

Can she beat Matheson?

Wright, a retired high school teacher and college gender-studies instructor, fought a spirited campaign at convention to assure delegates she is electable in a district that Matheson's backers said is too conservative for her. Liberal Salt Lake City Democrats had chosen her to challenge Matheson after his vote against the health care reform bill, pushed by President Barack Obama.

Wright went room-to-room in the morning caucuses at the Salt Palace Convention Center telling delegates that Republicans have become so radical in their nominating process that some of their party members will consider Democrats, including her.

"The Republican Party has moved so far right that those Republicans who are moderate are seriously considering becoming Democrats," Wright said in the morning to the Stonewall Democrats, a gay-rights caucus.

"This election belongs to whoever can get voters out to vote," she said.

..."I get it," Matheson told the crowd, not long after dozens of them had held up signs for his opponent and chanted, "Wright for Utah!"

"You're angry about some of my votes," he said, drawing some ironic applause. "But I'm a Democrat and I'm here to tell you I don't run from that label, because it's in my blood."

Wright also was battling a powerful Matheson advocate in U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). He said Matheson had invited him to Utah, and he came to help re-elect him and keep the Democratic majority in Congress.

Hoyer made a pragmatic pitch to delegates, saying that only Matheson can win in the moderately conservative 2nd Congressional District and that he is important to the majority even if he doesn't vote strictly along party lines.

"I expect members of Congress to come and represent their districts," he said in a news conference. He contrasted Democrats' "big tent" to the far-right Republicans who rejected three-term Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and urged Democrats not to splinter in the same way.

"Jim Matheson is uniquely qualified and uniquely in touch with that district," he said.

Not everyone in the district agrees. Bush won UT-02 both times with two-thirds of the votes, but in 2008 Obama held McCain to 57%. Perhaps even more important, moderate Republicans are repulsed by what they've seen their party turn into. This isn't just a party of teabaggers; this is a full-on fascist party of crazed militia loons and separatists. If Wright wins the Democratic nomination, she can win the election-- and Democrats are ready for a real Democrat.

On the issues, there's no question who the real Democrat is. Wright supports Alan Grayson's proposal of Medicare for all, supports women's choice, plain and simple. She's an environmentalist; he voted against the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, promoting clean energy and limiting emissions of greenhouse gases, and he voted against HR2454 (cap and trade). Claudia is a strong advocate of a humane and comprehensive immigration policy; Matheson is all about building a high border fence. Claudia supports public funding for campaigns, and Matheson is another sleazy conservative, taking immense sums of money from the industries and corporations he's supposed to be overseeing. And of course he's a vicious homophobe who voted for a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality. Claudia believes people should have the right to marry whomever they want to. It will probably come as no surprise that Blue America immediately added her to our Bad Dogs page, dedicated to replacing reactionary Blue Dogs with progressive Democrats. I hope you'll join me in supporting her there.