Prediction: Elizabeth Dole Loses North Carolina Senate Seat

Two who have done more than enough damage-- au revoir

This isn't a blog where you've found any enthusiasm for North Carolina Democratic nominee Kay Hagan. She's not progressive by any stretch of the imagination and the best we can come up to say about her is that she looks like a C to Dole's F. So I have to admit that we did cheer for her a little when it started to look like she'd win.

Hagan pulled ahead of Dole late in September and she's stayed ahead of her since then, though not by much... until about two weeks ago, when Hagan's numbers took off. What did she do to pull out so clearly ahead? She ran against an idiot surrounded by bigots and smear artists. Elizabeth Dole lost the race when she ran an ad that seemed to claim that Kay Hagan is "godless." And when Hagan pushed back, Dole doubled down. The polling average shows Hagan with a modest 4.4 lead over Dole-- Hagan 48.2. Dole 43.8, but the Public Policy Polling data released this morning shows Obama only 1 point ahead of McCain, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bev Perdue only 1 point ahead of McCrory but Hagan with a startling seven point lead over Dole. Here's how it happened:



Dole was losing and panicky when she ran the ad. But she lost herself the election with it-- as well as her credibility and dignity. McCain's campaign advisors declared the race over for her at that point.

Republicans Plan To Go Down Dirty And Ugly

Although the Republican Party has made a concerted effort to keep Bush and Cheney out of public sight this month, the latest polls show that most American voters associate McCain with all the Bush-Cheney policies and the entire toxic GOP agenda that has done so much damage to the country. AP is reporting that, around the country, Obama supporters are energized and celebratory and that the McCain supporters are depressed and glum.

With Mr. Bush’s job approval ratings at historic lows, political analysts have long said Republican candidates simply do not want to be seen with him. But now, with the election just days away, it seems that Republican candidates do not want Mr. Bush to be seen, period.

“One of McCain’s biggest challenges has been how to deal with Bush, and he never quite got it right,” said Scott Reed, a Republican strategist who ran Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign. “Now, the best thing is silence.”

So the president has temporarily dropped out of sight. Until recently, Mr. Bush was giving talks about the battered economy on nearly a daily basis, prompting some Republicans to grumble privately that so much presidential face time was hurting their election chances. This week, Mr. Bush stepped back, holding just four public events, none with real policy implications.

House candidates most closely associated with Bush-- especially the ones for whom he has done publicized fundraising events-- are all losing:

CT-04: Jim Himes- 433.6 vs Shays- 42.9
MI-07: Mark Schauer- 44.6 vs Tim Walberg- 35.1
MI-09: Gary Peters- 42.8 vs Knollenberg- 39.0
NM-01: Martin Heinrich- 47.5 vs White- 42.9
NY-29: Eric Massa- 49.3 vs Kuhl- 42.9
WA-08: Darcy Burner- 50.4 vs Reichert- 46.1

AP has served as part of the McCain hype machine this year. They have been shameless in their slanted coverage and in their unsubstantiated and vicious attacks on Obama. So their report today on the emotional disparities between McCain and Obama supporters is especially telling. When they write about McCain supporters feeling suicidal, they're projecting their own shared reaction to their failure in swaying voters with their shameful garbage reporting:

That smiling guy walking down the street? Odds are he's a Barack Obama backer. The grouchy looking one? Don't ask, and don't necessarily count on him to vote next week, either.

Supporters of John McCain, long less enthusiastic than Obama's, have become increasingly glum about the presidential campaign in recent weeks, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Saturday. Their feelings have turned more negative during a period that has seen Obama, the Democratic senator from Illinois, take a firm lead in many polls.

Obama's backers have retained a higher level of excitement. One expert says the contrasting moods could affect how likely the two candidates' supporters are to vote on Election Day, possibly dampening McCain's turnout while boosting Obama's.

...More McCain supporters also feel angry and bored, while Obama's are likelier to say they are proud and hopeful.

All of this is a bad sign for McCain, according to George E. Marcus, a political scientist from Williams College who has studied the role emotion plays in politics. Negative feelings about a campaign can discourage voters by making them less likely to go through what can be a painful process: Voting for someone who will lose.

This is causing the desperation that has turned the end of the Republican campaign into the worst smear-fest seen in contemporary American politics. The absurd stories about Obama's (and other Democrats') personal lives is not meant to sway a single vote-- just to fire up the pitchfork wielding base and get them to the polls-- not so much for McCain-- a lost cause-- but to save the skins of endangered GOP rubber stamps like Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina and John Shadegg in Arizona. Dole's series of "godless" ads against conservative Democrat Kay Hagan will probably go down in ad history as the worst blunder an incumbent senator has ever made.

Other Republicans-- aside from McCain-Palin-- whose especially vile smear attacks seem to be backfiring against them include Robin Hayes (R-NC), Dave Reichert (R-WA), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Ric Keller (R-FL), Mean Jean Schmidt (R-OH), Erik Paulson (R-MN), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Darren White (NM), Tim Walberg (R-MI), Jeb Bradley (R-NH), and John Gard (R-WI), the worst of this year's smear artists.

UPDATE: CHENEY POPS HIS HEAD OUT OF HIS HOLE

...in Wyoming and endorses John McCain and Sarah Palin in one of the few non-Confederate states where they will win. Watch:



Biden noticed: "If you ever had any doubt that John McCain would continue George Bush's policies -- you can put those to rest. Just today, Vice President Cheney came out and endorsed John McCain. Do we need any more proof? I'm not surprised. Dick Cheney has been wrong on everything else the last eight years. He's on a roll."

The Republican National Convention: McCain, Bob Dole and Larry Craig

McCain's VP surprise?

McCain won't be lonely-- after all, Bob Dole, the Republican he is most frequently compared too, will be there-- but he must be wondering why so many Republican elected officials are loudly declaring to media in their home states that they are too busy to bother showing up for his nomination in St Paul next month. Today vulnerable Republican rubber stamp Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), confirmed that she can't make it. She's busy. At the same time, Tom Cole (R-OK), chairman of the NRCC warned Republican candidates to stay away from what, if McCain's vicious, negative ad campaign is any indication, is bound to be seen as a controversial Hate Fest.

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.

McCain's outlandish, desperation politics:



But even if no one else wants to get anywhere near a "dishonest, disreputable and dishonorable" character like John McCain, there's nothing they can do to prevent the always frisky Idaho Senator Larry Craig from showing up-- something about the criminal always returning to the scene of the crime. Maybe that isn't fair. After all, his favorite type of arguments, the oral ones, will take place in Minneapolis just after the GOP Hate Fest wraps up. A three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals will consider Craig's appeal of his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea after being caught soliciting a handsome young undercover copy in a public toilet, something he is notorious for doing in Washington, DC's Union Station.

Club For Growth Clubs McCain And Frightened Liddy Dole Decides To Skip GOP Hate Fest This Year

Wouldn't be caught dead at the GOP Convention this year

Last week we listed a number of Republican officials hoping to run away from their own rubber stamp records by avoiding the Republican Hate Fest in the Twin Cities. It's just too risky for reflexive rubber stamps like Gordon Smith, Ted Stevens and Susan Collins to be caught on film with Bush or McCain or even old Twin Cities hand Larry Craig. Today another endangered Republican, North Carolina wingnut Liddy Dole, announced she already had a "busy week scheduled" and she won't be able to make it.

Dole, widely considered a carpetbagger with no current connection to the state she represents, claims she just can't pull herself away from North Carolina to attend the nomination ceremonies for the man she hopes to rubber stamp for the next 6 years.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole will be a no-show at her party's big bash in St. Paul, Minn.
Dole spokeswoman Katie Hallaway confirmed Monday that Dole won't be at the Republican National Convention in September.

"She's got a busy week scheduled in North Carolina," Hallaway said. "When there are breaks in the Senate schedule, she spends as much time as possible in North Carolina."

Hallaway said nothing should be inferred about Dole's missing the convention-- either about her support for Sen. John McCain or about the security of her re-election in November.

Kay Hagan, the Republican-lite, me-too opportunist that Chuck Schumer saddled North Carolina Democrats with, seems so bent on proving that she is exactly-like-Dole-but-a-tad-better, that she is also toying with the idea of not going to the Democratic Convention. I hope she doesn't go and that the enthusiastic Obama voters in North Carolina remember in November and ignore her.

Meanwhile, Club for Growth isn't waiting for the Republican Convention to start attacking McCain. We weren't the only ones appalled by McCain's performance/trainwreck on Stephanopoulos' show Sunday.

"We listened with concern yesterday to your interview with George Stephanopoulos on Social Security," the club's president Pat Toomey writes in a letter to McCain. "When asked if you would be open to raising the payroll tax, you refused to rule out a tax increase, saying 'There is nothing that’s off the table.' This statement was particularly shocking because you have been adamant in your opposition to raising taxes under any circumstances."

Then, the club pulls out one of McCain's own quotes from February of this year: “No new taxes... In fact, I could see an argument, if our economy continues to deteriorate, for lower interest rates, lower tax rates, and certainly decreasing corporate tax rates, which are the second highest in the world, giving people the ability to write off depreciation in a year, elimination of the AMT.”

"We strongly applaud the above statement and believe further tax cuts would play an important role in stimulating the country’s economy," Toomey continues. "But your comments yesterday send American taxpayers and businesses a mixed message about where you stand on this issue."

The close: "We hope you will clarify where you stand on this important issue and reaffirm your commitment to eschew all tax increases."

Toomey-- and the rest of the country-- needs to come to grips with the fact that McCain has no policies and that his "agenda" is just getting elected. He will say whatever he has to say to whatever audience he's speaking to, even if it's the exact opposite of what he said to another audience 5 minutes ago. And because he has pre-TV instincts, he never seems to remember that whatever he says is on tape. That's why people are starting to go light on the flip-flopper appellation and get right to the "bodacious liar" description.

CHUCK SCHUMER POWER PLAY IN NORTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY?

Not unlike last cycle, I've been hearing from quite a few grassroots candidates that the Inside-the-Beltway Democratic committees are surreptitiously working against them in primaries or, where there are no primaries, ignoring or even being hostile to their campaigns. Earlier today we talked about the progressive Democrat, Roger Waun, running against rubber stamp loon Mac Thornberry in northern Texas and why he is so angry at the DCCC. The DSCC likes to brag to candidates that they're not like the DCCC and that they don't play favorites. This has never been true and it certainly isn't true this year.

Jim Neal is a Blue America-endorsed candidate who wants to take on Senator Dole in North Carolina. Although DSCC head Chuck Schumer claims, rather ingenuously, that he stays neutral in hotly contested primaries, there are at least two big ones this year where he is backing Insider Establishment candidates who give every indication that they will not support core Democratic initiatives. Kentucky's Bruce Lunsford has been a consistent supporter of Republican candidates and has been judged by Kentucky Democrats in the past to have proven himself unworthy of their votes. Still, Schumer has muscled aside other candidates and brow-beaten Democratic support groups and some unions into backing the same Lunsford they have loathed and campaigned against in the past. Ironically, Kentucky has a real progressive, grassroots Democrat, Greg Fischer, in this race-- running on a platform that clearly and authentically contrasts with incumbent Mitch McConnell's.

There is a similar situation in North Carolina, where Schumer seems to feel that voters aren't sophisticated enough to elect a progressive candidate, Jim Neal, who, among other things, is openly gay. Schumer twisted the arm of a mediocre insider, Kay Hagan, to get into the race after she had bowed out. And now, he has the DSCC, which is officially "neutral," signaling Democratic donors to support her and not Jim. This is standard operating procedure for the DSCC and DCCC. Schumer got slapped down when he tried the same tactic against populist Jon Tester in the 2006 Montana primary that pitted Jon Tester against an establishment shill Schumer was backing. Schumer's shill was slaughtered in the primary and Tester, of course, went on to defeat the Republican incumbent. Rahm Emanuel tried the same tricks in the House where he attempted to ax John Hall and Jerry McNerney with establishment insiders who would never have been able to inspire the kind of grassroots support to beat the incumbents the way Hall and McNerney did.

But insiders like Schumer never learn. You can't beat a Republican with a Democrat who acts like a Republican. On issue after issue Jim Neal's positions clearly contrast to those of Elizabeth Dole's, while Kay Hagan's are pretty much... more of the same, just not as terrible. Schumer has promised to stay neutral in this race, which would be an excellent idea because polls show the two candidates in a dead heat. But this morning I got a copy of a letter from James Spencer, president of the Campaign Network which works for the Jim Neal campaign, to the executive director the DSCC. Spencer, who told me he's run up against some rough campaigns in the past 35 years of electoral work, but never as bad as this, gave me permission to reprint it.

J.B. Poersch
Executive Director,
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
120 Maryland Avenue NE
Washington, D.C. 20002

April 14, 2008

Dear Mr. Poersch:

I am writing to follow up on a phone call I placed to you regarding the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Jim Neal, Democratic candidate for the U. S. Senate in the North Carolina primary.

Mr. Neal is running a strong grassroots campaign and is tied in the polls with State Senator Kay Hagan.

However, you wouldn’t know it by reading the DSCC web site.

The DSCC site includes numerous newspaper articles about Senator Hagan, but none about Mr. Neal. The Race Profile for North Carolina features a positive summary of Senator Hagan’s campaign, but Mr. Neal is mentioned only in passing, lumped together with three minor candidates who have not mounted serious campaigns.

This is not an insignificant oversight and will have a serious impact on the Jim Neal campaign. As you know, would-be donors to Mr. Neal are likely to check the DSCC web site for an evaluation of the race. The inaccurate description and the fact that Mr. Neal is all but missing from the official DSCC synopsis of the Senate race serves to discourage donors from writing a check.

My staff has provided the DSCC staff with press coverage of the Neal campaign and other material to facilitate updating the DSCC site. Betsy Lin on the Regional Desk, responding to repeated phone calls by my staff member Curtis Ellis, told him that web site issues were "an internal matter" and that she had no say over what was posted. Consequently, Mr. Ellis then spoke with DSCC Political Director Martha McKenna, who told him the Neal campaign had "more important things to worry about" than what appears on the DSCC web site.

My understanding and concern is that Ms. McKenna was dismissive of the request, and repeatedly and pointedly refused to say that the DSCC site would be updated to give Mr. Neal fair and equal treatment.

This is particularly troubling in light of assurances the DSCC made to both myself and Mr. Neal.

As you recall, in our November 1, 2007 meeting at DSCC headquarters in Washington D.C., attended by Mr. Neal, myself, Ms. McKenna, and Chuck Wolfe of the Victory Fund, you assured us that Mr. Neal would receive equal access to services from the DSCC. And on February 13, Senator Schumer reassured Daily Kos readers the DSCC hasn’t endorsed in the primary.

These assurances notwithstanding, I understand the DSCC has the prerogative to endorse any candidate it chooses, at any time and for any reason. If that is the case, please say so openly.

Millions of voters across the country are looking to our Democratic Party and its leaders to set an example and encourage participatory, grassroots democracy in our nation.

I would hope that the DSCC would allow the people of North Carolina to choose their Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate without interference and favoritism from Washington.

With fewer than 30 days remaining before North Carolina’s primary, I look forward to your timely response. I am posting a copy of this letter which you should receive tomorrow.

There are many ways to donate to candidates these days without going through the DSCC or the DCCC. ActBlue has collected over $43,000,000 from grassroots donors for Democratic candidates. It's a much better way to donate and it cuts out the sleazy would be king makers like Schumer and Emanuel and puts the money directly into the hands of the candidates' campaigns. On the Blue America ActBlue page, for example, you can donate to Jim Neal or to Greg Fischer or, better yet, to both of them. If you do it today, add one cent as a message to Chuck Schumer to allow Democrats in North Carolina and Kentucky to pick their own nominees. They know better than he does how to defeat Elizabeth Dole and Mitch McConnell.

NORTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATS CAN OPT FOR A REAL CHOICE AND A REAL CHANGE OR... FOR MORE OF THE SAME

Same, same

The North Carolina primary is only a month away. Obama is way out ahead of the Insider candidate who is frantically peppering him with vicious Rovian smears to try to damage his momentum. But in a Democratic primary these tactics backfire and the more the Insiders attack, the lower their polling numbers sink. When will they learn? May 6 is also important for North Carolina Democrats because it is the day they pick the candidate to go up against one of Bush's most pathetic rubber stamp lemmings, Senator Liddy Dole. Blue America has strongly endorsed grassroots progressive Jim Neal. Neal is being challenged by another Insider, Kay Hagan, who was recruited by Chuck "Lizard Brain" Schumer who doesn't think North Carolina voters are sophisticated enough to elect an openly gay men to the Senate. So far Jim has been holding his own in polls-- and even beat the Republican-lite Hagan in a straw poll, 54-46%. And he beat her in one of the most conservative districts in the state, the 10th CD, home of the diminutive neo-fascist congressman and betrayer of military secrets, Patrick McHenry.

The clueless Hagan, whose positions mirror Dole's and Bush's in many areas, has chosen to avoid debates with the articulate Jim Neal and is blanketing the state with slick-- and very expensive-- TV spots (paid for by special interests lobbyists, of course, who are eager to see her elected where she will work for them instead of working families).

Jim is supporting Obama for president and Hagan is frightened and laying low, though Clinton surrogates are campaigning for her.

North Carolina media has taken note of Hagen's disingenuous campaign. Friday the Ashville Citizen-Times reported that Hagan has refused to participate in a serious, televised debate.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan declined an invitation Friday to participate in the only televised debate her campaign was considering, frustrating her chief rival for the party's nomination.

The campaign of Jim Neal responded sharply, saying the state senator from Greensboro is trying to buy an election victory with television ads and is avoiding a discussion of the issues.
"Sen. Hagan's cynical and disingenuous refusal to debate flies in the face of her claim to be a candidate of change," Neal spokesman Curtis Ellis said.

The Democratic front-runners have only participated in one debate, hosted by the League of Women Voters and Public Radio East late on a Friday night last month. That meeting did not allow the candidates to counter each other's answers or provide rebuttals, but Neal tried on several occasions to contrast himself with Hagan.

Jim has asked Hagen to debate from the instant she was lured by Schumer into the race. But the DSCC is advising her that she will lose the primary in a landslide if TV viewers see trying to debate him. Schumer is frantic to keep the race as undercover as he can so that he doesn't wind up with another embarrassment when he attempted to slip a Republican-lite Democrat into the Montana Senate in 2006, only to be rebuffed and made to look like a fool and a tool. Jim's campaign claims Hagen's spinning of why she is afraid to debate isn't fooling anyone. "Hagan wants to buy this election with TV ads and avoid a real discussion."

Senator Hagan’s campaign strategy is to raise more money, avoid legitimate debate and blanket the airwaves with television ads. It is typical Washington politics-as-usual and it amounts to selling our elections to the highest bidder.

Senator Hagan’s cynical and disingenuous refusal to debate flies in the face of her claim to be a candidate of change.

Political candidates and elected officials are supposed to answer questions from, not dictate terms to, an independent news media. We’ve had enough of the latter from the Bush Administration.

Progressives who would like to help Jim Neal challenge the Big Money Insiders of both political Establishments can donate directly to his campaign through our Blue America ActBlue page. Democrats, like Jim, who offer a clear contrast to the reactionary Republican agenda beat Republican incumbents like Dole. "Me-too" Democrats, who buy into GOP policies, like Hagan, never, never beat Republicans. There are only two choices in North Carolina-- Jim Neal a sensible and independent-minded progressive or Liddy Dole, a robotic Bush era throwback.

GOP FAILS TO MAKE TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH PERMANENT

John McBush's mini-Me, South Carolina shill Lindsey Graham, offered an admendment in the Senate today to make Bush's tax cuts for the rich permanent. Even his butt-buddy Lieberman couldn't vote for it. And not one Democrat did. On top of that, two Republicans were too embarrassed by the gross unfairness to go along with the GOP on this. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and George Voinovich (R-OH) were the only Republicans today to stand up with the Senate Democrats for the middle class.

Among the Republican rubber stamps who decided that what middle and working class Americans need to protect them from the impending recession is to make sure the wealthiest 5% of us pay obscenely low taxes (forever) were a gaggle of reactionaries kissing up to big campaign donors in preparation for likely losses to Democratic challengers in November. Among the Republicans who voted for the richest 5% and against the 95% of normal Americans were:

John Cornyn (R-TX)
Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Ted Stevens (R-AK)
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
Gordon Smith (R-OR)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
and, of course, John W. McCain (R-AZ).

I asked two of our Blue America-endorsed candidates for the Senate to give me their perspectives since each, Rick Noriega (D-TX) and Jim Neal (D-NC), is running against a reflexive rubber stamp who, of course, supports more tax cuts for the wealthy. Rick Noriega thinks the Bush-Cornyn agenda has served Texas and the rest of the country very poorly.

"Texans have had enough of a government run by and for the richest few. Unlike John Cornyn, I will work for working families and not simply the privileged elite. 

We need a change in leadership in Washington to end our addiction to skyrocketing deficits, which have increased by 42 percent under the current Bush/Cornyn administration. I support putting our financial house back in order by eliminating obsolete federal programs and questionable subsidies, closing corporate loopholes, cutting special-interests earmarks, limiting no-bid contracts, and reversing tax cuts that only benefit a very small subset of the very wealthy."

All the populist and progressive Democrats endorsed by Blue America for the Senate are backing real steps to put America's finances back in order after the irresponsible and profligate spending spree of the Bush Regime. Like Rick, Jim Neal wants to see real action to help ease the burden on ordinary American families who are starting to suffer from the years of Bush economic policies, policies that were completely rubber stamped by the clueless candidate he is running against.

“We have a monstrous debt to foreign bankers and wars raging in foreign lands, which the working people of this country are expected to pay for with their tax dollars and their blood, while the rich refuse to make any sacrifice whatsoever.

True conservatives know we couldn’t afford Bush’s tax cut for the wealthiest in the first place; there is no reason to make them permanent now, especially with a recession brought upon us by the very same people who benefit from this tax cut. Senator Dole and my Republican-lite primary challenger look the other way while their wealthy, elitist donors evade taxes, ship our jobs overseas, and hide their money in off-shore tax shelters.

Any tax cuts should go to the hard working, middle class Americans who spend their money at the corner store.”

It may take many years to straighten out the mess created by 8 years of Bush but unless we replace rubber stamps like Cornyn and Dole with forward-thinking progressives like Rick Noriega and Jim Neal, we'll never even get started. Each of these guys is up against an entrenched-- though disliked-- incumbent flush with corporate millions. Each of our guys is counting on grassroots support from Americans who believe, like they do, that America can be a much better place again. If you can, please consider helping Rick and Jim afford to get their messages out in Texas and North Carolina, two states where people are ready to go from red to blue.

WHO WOULD VOTE FOR LEAD PAINT IN CHILDREN'S TOYS? THE WHOLE GOP-- IF THEY COULD GET AWAY WITH IT

Yesterday the Senate passed--overwhelmingly-- H.R. 4040, the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act, which many people think of as the act that will protect our children from lead paint and other harmful substances. Basically the bill gives the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a regulatory agency, more resources and authority to catch dangerous products before they can cause harm, something Republicans always oppose as an outgrowth of their laissez faire ideology and their predilection to give corporate donors dangerous self-policing leeway.

Only 13 die-hard right-wing fanatics-- all Republicans, of course-- voted against it. How is that possible, you ask? Let me explain. The American people are demanding this bill to protect their children from the unregulated greed and callous selfishness of big corporations which care more  about their bottom lines than about dead or sick children. So, when has that ever stopped a Republican from voting in the interests of the Big Big lobbyists who bribe them with campaign contributions? Well, if you look at the list of who voted yesterday, you will notice that not a single Republican up for re-election in November-- regardless of past votes against this sort of legislation-- have the cajones to oppose it. Oh, wait... I'm wrong. Two kooks did: John Barrasso and Michael Enzi but they're both from Wyoming and... do they care there? Even the most fanatic right-wing maniacs like James Inhofe (R-OK, who absented himself from the chamber for a few moments while the vote was being taken), John Cornyn (R-TX), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Ted Stevens (R-AK)... even Miss McConnell, the ultimate proponent of "free" trade with China (meaning free of any restrictions or regulations whatsoever), all voted with the Democrats yesterday. Why? They are all afraid of angry voters. Their ideological twins who are not up for re-election-- like Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC), David Diapers Vitter (R-LA), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Richard Burr (R-NC), etc all voted against the bill.

But Republicans got to show their true colors earlier in the day when amendments, designed to weaken the bill, were being considered. By a much narrower margin the Senate rejected Vitter's amendment that would have given courts discretion to require losers of consumer product lawsuits to pay attorneys' fees. The bill allows state attorneys general to collect attorneys' fees but does not allow manufacturers that prevail to do the same (i.e., to collect from taxpayers). It lost 56-39. In the amendment process, which is never reported by the media, Republican reactionaries felt safer in letting their hair down and their freak flags fly. The right wing fanatics who feared voter retribution if they opposed the final bill, voted as one giant rubber stamp with Vitter, including James Inhofe, Elizabeth Dole, John Cornyn, Lamar Alexander, Saxby Chambliss, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, John Sununu, Norm Coleman, Susan Collins, et al.

Same story on an equally lame amendment by Cornyn which would have prohibited attorneys general from hiring outside counsel and paying them contingent on the monetary outcome of a consumer safety trial. Cornyn, of course, wanted to put up as many roadblocks to consumer safety prosecutions as possible. All the Democrats plus 3 Republicans and Lieberman voted against Cornyn's poison pill. McCain, of course, was off sucking up to religious fanatics and lobbyists but the rest of the GOP supported Cornyn; all of them.

Jim Neal is a Democrat seeking to replace one of these sneaky Republicans who helped in an attempt to gut the bill, Elizabeth Dole (R-NC). Neal, a father of two, feels particularly strongly about this legislation and has been talking with voters about it for weeks. This morning he told DWT that he found it difficult to believe "that Americans tolerate a single member of Congress who is so blatantly in-the-pocket of special interests that they'd frustrate the CPSC from protecting consumer welfare over corporate self-interests that contribute to career politicians like Senator Dole."

"This bill begins to correct the neglect and starvation of the public health watchdogs that has occurred under 3 decades of rigid Republican rule. Ronald Reagan said 'government is the problem.' Republican ideologues gutted the CPSC, FEMA and agencies like them, staffed them with partisan lackeys and then used their failure as evidence to prove Reagan's maxim. 

We need to take our government back from the special interests, and make sure the cop on the block is watching out for us, not bought off to look the other way."

The choice in North Carolina is very clear-- you either get a Liddy Dole using subterfuge to allow her corporate donors to poison us-- and our children-- at will, or you get Jim Neal who sees the problems clearly and wants to take them on and solve them. Last week Blue America endorsed Jim Neal and we encourage you to donate what you can to his campaign through Blue America. Even a $5 or $10 donation will go a long way towards building a fund to counterbalance the big money that is rolling into Dole's campaign coffers from K Street lobbyists who appreciate her blind support for their masters' selfish interests.

NORTH CAROLINA ELECTORAL OVERVIEW (FEDERAL RACES)

The filing deadline for the North Carolina congressional races passed on Friday. The picture is now clear who exactly is running for what. As you may recall, this weekend Blue America endorsed Jim Neal, the progressive, grassroots candidate running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Bush rubber stamp Elizabeth Dole. (You can read the transcript of his two hour blog session with us here and if you'd like, you can contribute to his campaign here.) Before Jim gets to go head to head with Dole, he has to overcome the Republican-lite candidate of the Insider Establishment, Kay Hagan, a shallow and transparent Dole wannabe, as well as a truck driver named Duskin Lassiter, a podiatrist named Howard Stanley and a lawyer named Marcus Williams. Only Hagan-- a veritable money machine with deep connections to every lobbyist in Raleigh-- and Neal have raised any money, $536,000 and $215,000, respectively. She can depend on Big Business and special interests. He needs to count on regular folks who want to see real change. (As an aside, a perennial candidate named Peter DiLauro is challenging Dole in the Republican primary; she is expected to prevail and has already raised nearly $5 million. You see, if Hagan is lobbyist-connected in Raleigh, Dole is that times 50. She did an historically abysmal job as Chair of the RSCC-- and they couldn't get her out of there fast enough and replace her with John Ensign-- but she's used all the contacts she made there to fill her own coffers.) If you'd like to vote for Jim Neal today you can do it at the eQualityGiving website which will award $1,000 to whichever Democrat gets the most votes. When I voted a while ago, Jim was gigantically in the lead with 60% of the votes.

There are five congressional seats the Congressional Quarterly rate as worth watching. The big one is, of course, is in the 8th CD, a rematch between our old pal Larry Kissell and another pathetic Bush rubber stamp, Robin Hayes, who managed to hold on to his seat by just over 400 votes in 2006. Larry was virtually unknown and had no support from the DCCC. This time Emanuel is no longer running the D-Trip and Van Hollen is championing Larry big time. The Republican Establishment and lobbyists have pumped way over a million dollars into Hayes' desperate bid to hold the seat while grassroots Democrats have donated $400,000 in mostly small donations to Larry. He's done a great job of drawing sharp lines of distinction between himself and Hayes, especially on the unending war in Iraq, on helping military personnel and veterans, and on popular domestic issues like S-CHIP.

In the 11th CD reactionary Democrat Heath Shuler has the worst voting record of any freshman Democrat and voted so similarly to the right-wing Republican who he replaced, Charlie Taylor, that local Republicans are happy to keep him. When Rahm Emanuel needed a patsy to carry anti-immigrant legislation, he knew he could depend on Shuler to team up with Tom Tancredo on a bill. Unfortunately no Democrat has challenged Shuler in the primary. The Republicans running against him are like the 3 stooges and it looks like the Democratic caucus will be burdened with another 2 years of this worthless member.

On the other end of the spectrum, progressive incumbent Brad Miller (NC-13) is being challenged by a former state senator, Hugh Webster, a right winger but not one nearly as extremist as Vernon Robinson, the loon who managed to get only 36% in 2006 against Brad.

There are two Republican incumbents to watch. In NC-03 Walter Jones is one of the few Republicans in the House opposing endless war in Iraq. The GOP Establishment has targeted him for political extermination and they've recruited a slobbering wingnut, Joe McLaughlin, to go after him. Jones has $191,000 in his warchest and the wingnut has only managed to tuck away $30,000. It is expected, however, that independent expenditure groups like Club for Growth will dump money in the district to slime up Jones. The two Democrats in the race, Craig Weber and Marshall Adame, both former Marines, haven't managed to raise enough money to put up competitive campaigns so far.

And that brings us to the 10th, home of the only closeted gay Republican who has come under suspicion of murder (and in relation to a gay GOP prostitution ring he's involved with). McHenry, who has been a constant source of embarrassment for his district, is one of the only Republicans to score a zero on Progressive Punch's When the Chips Are Down ranking of congress-- indicating, basically, that he is far to the right of Mussolini and Hitler in his approach to governance. McHenry is being challenged by a mainstream conservative, a retired Air Force officer named Lance Simon who hasn't raised any money. The real hope for retiring McHenry-- other than an indictment in the Orlando murder case (which is unlikely to ever happen)-- is decorated Navy veteran Daniel Johnson.

"Wake Up Everybody" was the song Jim Neal was listening to when he made his mind up to run for the Senate against Dole. It's a great idea, not just for North Carolinians, either:

BLUE AMERICA WELCOMES JIM NEAL (D-NC)

Jim Neal and his son Graham

Enthusiastic progressives often suggest candidates for our Blue America endorsement. We encourage that. I have to say, though, that since the beginning of Blue America in 2005 no candidate has come close to the amount of requests that we've had in regard to today's guest, Jim Neal, who joins us at FDL at 2pm (EST). I've been talking with him on the phone for several months, following his campaign closely at Pam's House Blend and I have come to understand why people are so excited about the prospect of Jim Neal replacing Bush rubber stamp, Elizabeth Dole, in the U.S. Senate... in a seat once held by arch-reactionary Jesse Helms. The delicious irony however is just a small bonus. Jim Neal in the Senate would go a long way towards righting the wrongs that have been inflicted on our country in recent years by corporatist rule.

Before I turn this over to Jim, let me mention that not everyone is as enthusiastic as the North Carolina grassroots Democrats and I. Remember a couple years ago when Inside the Beltway characters like Rahm Emanuel at the DCCC and Chuck Schumer at the DSCC were axing progressive, anti-war and grassroots candidates in favor of their own brand of insiders? The grassroots fought hard for Jon Tester against a Schumer placement in Montanan and against Emanuelist shills who fought John Hall, Jerry McNerney, Carol Shea-Porter. We won those battles. Schumer urged a reluctant Insider, Kay Hagan, to run when he made the decision that North Carolina needed a someone to run against Dole who is... well, just like her. I asked Jim how he and Hagan are different.

The differences are pretty stark. There were only 4 instances that I know of where we have both responded to specific questions about issues at the federal level. First, we were both asked by the Raleigh News & Observer whether or not we would have voted for the appointment of Judge Mukasey as Attorney General. My opponent's response was that she didn't know... she wasn't in the Senate and didn't have access to the testimony... it wouldn't be appropriate for her to comment... and so on. My response was 'Hell, no!' I wouldn't support anybody who has to parse words about whether or not water-boarding is torture.

Another instance was when just recently, within the past 10 days, she announced that she favored retroactive immunity for Telecoms that had committed felony violations of the FISA law. I do not.

Third, she indicated that she is in favor of expansion of S-CHIP but not if it taxes tobacco companies. It was exactly what Senator Dole said when voting to uphold President Bush's veto. [Note: this was the same position several reactionary Democrats took in the debate-- all of whom eventually backed away from it except Georgia's Jim Marshall. Blue America helped convince North Carolina's Mike McIntyre and Bob Etheridge it wasn't a proper position for Democrats.]

In addition she explained her vote in the state senate to lower income tax rates on the wealthiest North Carolinians by saying that if we hadn't lowered income tax rates on the wealthiest they would have moved out of state and we would have... lost them as part of the tax base. It made me wonder if she gets to Washington she will vote to grant an extension to the Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest people out fear that the richest Americans will move to the Cayman Islands. It struck me as somewhat nonsensical. Those are four very specific, very tangible points that will help people see the contrast between the two of us. Fundamentally, there's very little difference between her and Senator Dole. That's why she won't be able to beat Senator Dole. And that's why I will; I contrast so much with the Senator. The stances I'm taking are going to appeal to the Democratic base, to progressives, to young people who are turning out in record numbers, to the African-American community who is also turning out in record numbers and they're going to appeal to independent, unaffiliated voters. 70% of those voters in North Carolina are Democrats just looking for a reason to vote for a Democrat. And that's how I'm going to win.

What motivated Jim to run-- his campaign's principal underlying theme-- is his feeling that Congress has not been responsive to the people who own and pay for and fund our democracy. "I believe that special interests-- money-- has become the single most corrosive influence in our political system. The Senate has ignored the will of the people of this country. In 2008 I happen to be fortune, being on the right curve in terms of where the electorate is because this is a year of change. Changing the status quo in Washington equates to what voters are looking for: new brand of leaders-- people with fresh ideas from outside of the whole political bubble mindset that has gridlocked Washington. It's a problem for both political parties. An example would be the number of Democrats just willing to role over on that FISA vote last week; they completely rolled, the way they did when they voted to give George Bush the power to go to war in Iraq. I would have never voted for that. The person who can attest to where I stood on that is my son Winston because he was out on the streets in Manhattan protesting with me. I remember the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

Polling shows a dead heat in primary, although Hagan, as co-chair of the state Senate's Appropriations Committee, is able to depend on the big institutional money from political insiders and lobbyists. Jim is depending on the grassroots to help him get out his message, a message that shows the stark contrasts between himself and Dole and Hagan. Please consider making a donation to his campaign through the Blue America ActBlue page.

Yesterday, Jim made a little clip for us so we can get a better feeling for who he is and what he intends to do when he gets to Washington. Take a look:

THE ANTIDOTE TO NORTH CAROLINA'S RUBBER STAMP REPUBLICAN ELIZABETH DOLE: JIM NEAL

Jim Neal with NC blogger Pam Spaulding

Polls in North Carolina are showing a dead heat between progressive Jim Neal and insider Establishment Democrat, Kay Hagan. Both candidates are vying for the seat currently held by Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole. Hagan has the very Old School Inside the Beltway approach of trying to blur differences between herself and Dole and make them fuzzy. No one will ever accuse Jim Neal of that! Just take a look at how strongly and resolutely he's been speaking out about Bush's warrantless wiretaps and retroactive immunity-- while Hagan does the ole "me too" to Dole's rubber stamp routine.

As the insurgent Democrat running for this seat, Neal can use our support. On Feb 29th, volunteers around North Carolina and beyond will be holding Leap Friday house parties around the state. And on March 1 Jim will be doing his first live blog session at Firedoglake. (I think you know what that means.)

I asked Jeff Smith, a Boston-based sculptor and an editor of Literary Outpost, to write up his interview with Jim for DWT.

INTERVIEW WITH JIM NEAL

When I heard the first openly gay man to ever run for the U.S. Senate was doing so in the red state of North Carolina against the beloved Elizabeth Dole, I laughed for a long time until I stopped.  Then I laughed again.  Was this the most Quixotic quest I had ever heard of, or was I just being a damned Yankee?
 
Jeff Smith:  Which do you prefer, North Cackalacky or the Tar Heel State?
 
Jim Neal: The Tar Heel State.
 
Jeff: Not North Cackalacky?
 
Jim: The Tar Heel State. It takes a lot of explaining before people can grasp it, but having grown up here and been here as long as I have, it just comes second nature to me.
 
Jeff:  What does it mean, The Tar Heel State?
 
Jim: During the Revolutionary War soldiers fighting from North Carolina got the nickname because they had tar apparently stuck to the bottoms of their boots which is where the moniker came from.
 
Jeff: Where did all that tar come from do you think?
 
Jim: I don't know. There's more red clay down here than tar.
 
Jeff: Back when George Bush was running against Al Gore, voters seemed more concerned about who they'd rather have a beer with than anything else. Didn't people know that it's not a good idea to drink beer with an alcoholic?
 
Jim: I think George Bush has proven to be a very dangerous drinking buddy, whether he consumes alcohol or not.
 
Jeff: Do you know of anybody who would want to drink beer with Elizabeth Dole?
 
Jim: I am sure there are plenty of people who would love to sit down with Senator Dole if for no other reason than that she has led a very long and interesting life in public service, and, not withstanding all the things that may separate us, frankly I would love to sit down and have a beer with Elizabeth Dole some day.
 
Jeff: So tell me then, what is Elizabeth Dole doing wrong that makes you want to take her job? I mean, she seems so nice and good looking and she ran the Red Cross and married Bob Dole. 
 
Jim: Because Senator Dole hasn't done anything for our state and she's been a poor representative in the Senate for our country. She doesn't have the same mass broad appeal that she had when she established her residency here in 2002 to run for the Senate. She moved from North Carolina when I was two years old and moved back a few years ago to run for the Senate. And we don't see much of her around here until now that it's election season, and she's back more frequently.
 
Jeff: But do you really expect the voters of North Carolina to elect a gay Democrat as their senator?
 
Jim: Why wouldn't they? I don't think the voters of North Carolina care a whole hell of a lot about narrow issues like my sexual orientation anymore than the voters of Massachusetts cared that Mitt Romney was a Republican Mormon. We are a blue state with two red senators. I've got to tell you, you sound like just another a misinformed Yankee.
 
Jeff: I grew up in Tennessee and if we talked long enough, you would start to hear a southern drawl.
 
Jim: I'm waiting. (Laughs) So far, you're sounding like some elitist from Beantown.
 
Jeff: Well, I wouldn't even want to ask you any questions about your sexuality because I don't think it's any of my damned business-- it's just the man bites dog aspect of the stor...
 
Jim: I'm not doing this for kicks and giggles for God's sake. Why wouldn't they accept a gay man as their senator? We are about to accept a black man as our president, but we might have had a Mormon, and we might have a white woman, and God forbid we elected a Roman Catholic from Boston to the presidency. We're all different in many ways, but there are more things that unite us than pull us apart. Anything's possible.
 
Jeff: Have you ever held elective office before?
 
Jim: Never.
 
Jeff: What in your background gives you the right stuff to be a senator?
 
Jim: In a sense, the same sorts of things that gave the last Democratic senator from North Carolina a decade ago the right stuff to be senator, and he'd never run for elective office and wasn't particularly well known around the state-- a guy named John Edwards. John Edwards was a trial attorney who was well known within the realm of the legal circles. I'm someone who has spent my life working on Wall Street, running a couple of small businesses and raising two kids as a single parent.  I've stood in an unemployment line and my mother was born in a mill village. My grandparents worked in a cotton mill, so I come from a kind of humble background. I was the first member of my family to get a college degree.
 
Jeff: You have been a fundraiser for the Democrats. Is that true?
 
Jim: I raised money for General Wesley Clark's presidential campaign and Senator Kerry's and Senator Edwards's bid for the White House as well as Erskine Bowles' run for the US Senate here in North Carolina.
 
Jeff: Are you a superdelegate by any chance?
 
Jim: No I'm not, thank God.
 
Jeff: What do you think of the superdelegates anyway? The whole concept seems more outdated than doilies. In fact, once humanity gained the technology to count votes, why were they ever necessary?
 
Jim: I don't understand the nature of many things that happen within our party. The superdelegates are the quintessential insiders … I don't think they are a very good representation of the democracy that the Democratic party is supposed to be upholding.
 
Jeff: What can we do about global warming?
 
Jim: The first thing we can do is quit debating and start acting. From the federal government standpoint we need to attack the issue with the same type of ferocity that we came together as a nation during the second world war. Global warming poses that kind of threat, except this time it's not just our country, it's our planet. The U.S. is the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth, and we've got to be a leader here. And the only way you lead is by example. So we need to be the nation that is setting standards for the world to follow in terms of developing alternative energy sources and weaning ourselves off fossil fuels… We don't have another two years or another four years or another six years to debate this. 
 
Jeff: Your background is business and finance, so maybe you can answer this question: Is our country completely broke?
 
Jim: We are not completely broke. We are still the wealthiest nation.
 
Jeff: Don't we owe a lot of money?
 
Jim: What we've done is we have spent beyond our means. We have borrowed too much and we have embarked on follies like the war in Iraq which has been a catastrophe on so many levels and cost so many lives of Americans and innocent Iraqis. The soaring cost of that war is going to top two to three trillion dollars. 

We still have an enormous amount of wealth in this country, and what we are going through right now as a society as we transition into a new global economy is we're going to have to compete more aggressively and strengthen our education system. We need to continue to be innovators and leaders in technologies and the new industries that are part of the new global economy where we can compete effectively. We've always been able to compete with anybody. We are a country of innovators , but we will go broke if we don't continue to maintain an edge in the educational opportunities we provide our young people.
 
Jeff: How can we compete in the manufacturing sector with people who make 25 cents an hour?
 
Jim: It's going to be damned difficult, frankly. In our trade agreements we should build in provisos for living wages and parity of work conditions as well as environmental standards, but the reality is that, with certain of the embedded costs in the U.S. within the manufacturing process, it is difficult.

In our state, textiles, apparel and furniture have all but disappeared. That's the loss, but with that loss comes the opportunity for innovation. I'll give you an example: we have the second largest boat building industry in the U.S., and we've begun looking for ways to capture more of the value chain--the supplies and components that go into boat building. We can create new jobs here. For every door that's slammed, there's a new one that's opened. We're just going through a very bumpy transition period here right now, but I think we're going to be able to compete as a leader in the new clean energy technologies, in agriculture and in the research and development that's coming out of the NIH and our colleges and universities in sectors like biomanufacturing, bio technology, and certainly in the new information age. Look at companies like Google and Yahoo. These were start-up businesses 20 years ago or less, and they've created enormous opportunity and growth. In fact, Google opened up a facility here in North Carolina this year.
 
Jeff: I want to ask you a question it is every American's right not to answer.
 
Jim: I have never refused to answer a question, so fire away.
 
Jeff: Who do you like for president right now?
 
Jim: Obama. I think the best ticket for the Democratic party would be Obama/Clinton. That's the ticket, the winning ticket for our party.
 
Jeff: I have one last question: If you're ever in Boston, could we go grab a beer?
 
Jim: Sounds good to me. I love Beantown.
 
Jeff: I won't call your state North Cackalacky if you don't call my city Beantown
 
Jim: You've got a deal.


UPDATE: CHARLES MERRILL EXPLAINS WHY HE ENDORSED JIM NEAL

Charles Merrill is a respected philanthropist and activist and a big supporter of Jim Neal. He explains why in an open letter. "...Jim Neal is not your typical political candidate. In fact, he is not a politician at all. He is a single father who raised his sons while working as an investment banker, and later, as a financial consultant, and he understands that it takes more than pandering to the public and a catchy slogan to solve the everyday problems faced by the average American."

DO CHUCK SCHUMER AND THE DSCC HATE GAY PEOPLE?

I went to James Madison High School in Brooklyn. We had two future U.S. Senators and a future Supreme Court Justice... and a bunch of future record business presidents. But only one person who was "out." It wasn't me; it was an incredibly brave thing to do back then. Julius was not only out, he was one of the only African-American males in an almost all-white school. Wow, was he brave! And did he get gay-bashed! But not by Chuck Schumer, at least not as far as I can recall. Schumer was the valedictorian in 1967 and went to Harvard and then Harvard Law. Since then, Chuck grew up to be my old district's Assemblyman and then the congressman and now the moderate U.S. senator... and the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, where he has the reputation of being effective and ruthless, something like a slightly more sophisticated version of Rahm Emanuel. He's a moderate on gay issues-- supports including gays in hate crime legislation and is ok with civil unions but opposes gay marriage.

Yesterday you may have read at Swing State Project or BlueNC that Schumer is trying to recruit someone to run against Jim Neal, a moderate to progressive, grassroots Democrat. After Rep. Brad Miller announced he wasn't going to run against Elizabeth Dole, Schumer's dream candidate was Grier Martin. He helped push State Senator Kay Hagan of Greensboro out of the way for Martin. But when Martin announced he wasn't going to run, Jim Neal announced he was in. Recall that on Sunday we discussed Neal's candidacy from the perspective of him being an out gay man. Apparently, the DSCC has been doing the same thing-- except coming to a different conclusion.

The rumors I'm hearing-- persistent, loud, widespread, unsubstantiated, off-the-record-- are that Schumer blew his stack when he heard about Neal running and has declared-- in his pompous, know-it-all way that high school valedictorians always do-- that an openly gay candidate cannot win in North Carolina. Well, a gay will never win in North Carolina if his own party doesn't back him; that's for sure. I called Jim Neal this morning to ask him about the rumors. He wanted to talk about his vision for North Carolina, not about the DSCC. I don't know him yet but he seems to pride himself on being a non-politician and a non-insider. "I don't owe anything to anyone but the people of North Carolina," he told me. He wouldn't comment on the rumors about Schumer. "As for the DSCC, we can’t control them nor can we focus upon them. We’ve had no direct contact with Senator Schumer. We’re focused on fundraising and building our campaign organization."

I asked him if he thought Schumer would be more enthusiastic about his candidacy if he was in the closet. Most insider politicians always seem cool with gays who stay in the closet. He talked a little about what an admirable record Schumer has had on civil rights issues-- Schumer did vote against the right-wing proposal to ban gay marriage with a Constitutional Amendment-- but he said wouldn't speculate. "I can't really answer that. I’d certainly hope that’s not the case."

But before Schumer makes gay people think HRC was correct after all when they endorsed Alfonse D'Amato for Senate instead of him, he should take a look at the most recent polling on the North Carolina race. In head to head match-ups, the only Democrat shown beating Dole is Governor Easley (who isn't running)-- and it's close. The rest of the potential Democratic field, including Neal, does around the same against her. His numbers are identical with North Carolina Democratic Party Chair, Jerry Meek. The poll was conducted after Neal had publicly acknowledged that he is gay.

I liked the way Jim Neal discussed the S-CHIP debate. He said if Elizabeth Dole couldn't support tax-funded health care for needy children she should consider giving up her own (far more lavish) tax-funded health care. Schumer needs more plainspoken men and women like Jim Neal running for the U.S. Senate. If you'd like to learn more about Jim or if you'd like to volunteer for his race or contribute to his campaign, please surf right over to his website.



UPDATE: DO ALL THE GAYS IN THE SENATE HAVE TO BE REPUBLICAN CLOSET CASES?

Lucas just found this at Salon and he insists I include it (you can click on it to enlarge it):

MEET JIM NEAL, AN EXCEPTIONAL CANDIDATE FOR THE U.S. SENATE FROM NORTH CAROLINA-- AND A NON-CLOSETED GAY MAN

Two of my online pals, Pam and Teddy, were the earliest in sending me e-mails this morning. Teddy was eager that I see an exchange over at a great North Carolina blog, Blue NC. Jim Neal,who my friend Lanya from Traction has been telling me about, is the Democrat running against North Carolina's do-nothing rubber stamp Republican senator, Bob Dole's wife. He was chatting with the community online earlier this morning.

Submitted by omega_star on Sat, 10/20/2007 - 10:09am.
I've heard you're gay...

Submitted by JimNeal on Sat, 10/20/2007 - 10:18am.
I am indeed. No secret and no big deal to me-- I wouldn't be running if I didn't think otherwise

Submitted by omega_star on Sat, 10/20/2007 - 10:21am.
Do you really think a gay man can be elected in North Carolina?

Submitted by JimNeal on Sat, 10/20/2007 - 10:26am.
I'm not running this race to lose. I'm not running to make some social statement. I'm running to lead in the Senate for the voters in NC-- something Senator Dole has not done.
When people meet me, they'll see beyond the labels and into my character.

Submitted by omega_star on Sat, 10/20/2007 - 10:28am.
Where do you stand on gay marriage?

Submitted by JimNeal on Sat, 10/20/2007 - 11:05am.
It's okay if churches want to unite same-sex couples; it's okay if they don't. That's their Constitutional right which I support 100%.
But when it comes to the Government, I'm not in favor of any laws that discriminate against anyone for any reason.

The whole discussion went over very well at BlueNC-- and it certainly got Teddy's attention, who immediately asked me to contact him for Blue America. Pam wrote it up at Pam's House Blend and her post is a virtual compendium of the unsuitability of Elizabeth Dole and why Jim Neal, regardless of his sexual preference, would make an extraordinary senator for the state.

The South hasn't had an insurmountable problem electing gay men to office-- but they prefer their gay men stay in the closet. "Everyone" knew Mark Foley (R-FL) was gay but he would never admit it. So he kept getting re-elected over and over and over until the pressure of living a lie drove him to alcoholism and to molesting young boys. Republican closet queens like Mark Foley give gays a bad name. A few weeks ago I wrote about Mississippi Congressman John Hinson who was caught in a compromising situation with a man before he was elected, gave the Larry Craig "defense" ("I'm not gay and I apologize and I'm married") and was elected. Soon after he was caught not just making it with a man but with a Black man and he resigned and never went back to Mississippi.

In South Carolina it is an open secret that their U.S. senator, Lindsey Graham, is gay as a goose. But, despite having a male lover, he lives a closeted life and it manages to get by in the treacherous South Carolina political shoals. When homophobic fanatic Ed Schrock (R-VA) was discovered advertising for placing very explicit ads on a gay dating service line, he quickly resigned and disappeared... to spend more time with his family. As soon as Louisiana loon Jim McCrery was outed he immediately married his secretary, installed her back in Shreveport and went about winning re-election and living the life of a gay bachelor in DC. And, even closer to home, it doesn't seem to bother North Carolina Republicans that their itsy bitsy teeny weeny nutcase Patrick McHenry is not just a closet queen, but walking way over the edge with his involvements in a gay prostitution ring and, allegedly, a triple homicide.

But is North Carolina politically mature enough to accept an upfront, non-closeted gay person? Can they choose a senator based on his policy positions, attributes and his vision for the state? Everyone I know in North Carolina tells me the state has come a long, long way since Jesse Helms made a religious tenet out of homophobia, and that North Carolinians will look at Jim Neal and at Dole and pick the better candidate for the U.S. Senate. This will be a fun campaign to watch.

IF BRAD MILLER RUNS AGAINST LIDDY DOLE-- AND HE SAYS HE MAY-- NORTH CAROLINA GETS A CLEAR CHOICE

Last August DWT readers got to meet Congressman Brad Miller. He's sharp, progressive and the kind of forward-thinking moderate who wins elections in North Carolina. With the exception of Mel Watt and Miller, the state's congressional delegation is a complete mess-- two rubber stamp wingnut senators-- Dole and Richard Burr-- plus a gaggle of extremist lunatics on the Republican side-- including both the congressman with the most hard right voting record and the congresswoman with the most extreme right voting record. All 7 Republicans in the House delegation from North Carolina are on the outer fringe of the GOP-- and the other 4 Democrats aren't exactly that great either. Miller's voting record stands out as a shining example of enlightened populism.

Today's Charlotte Observer confirmed what North Carolina Democrats have been yearning for: that Brad is seriously considering challenging Dole for the U.S. Senate seat she has used so disgracefully. If he does, there will be a very clear choice for North Carolina voters: a highly intelligent and thoughtful moderate on the one hand and a reactionary tool whose voting record is nothing short of sickening for anyone who isn't a greed-obsessed multimillionaire and shallow bigot.

Brad is 53 and Dole, although only 70, seems far older than her age. Like most political observers, he believes she is vulnerable. "I think she will be judged on her record as a politician in 2008 and not judged as a celebrity, as she was in 2002," he said. "And she has simply been a down-the-line partisan Republican on every issue from Iraq to privatizing Social Security to opposing the minimum wage increase and supporting CAFTA." On the occupation of Iraq, Brad has voted to require Bush to bring the troops home by next year. Dole is a staunch stay the course zombie. Except on one minor inconsequential bill, she has voted with Team Cheney on every single roll call between the October 10, 2001 Authorization of the Use of Force through her thumbs down of the Joint Resolution of March 15, 2007 to revise U.S. policy on Iraq. She had 2 dozen chances to ask Bush to reassess his Iraq policies and instead she has endorsed his policies each time. Now she owns them.