Montana Democrats Nominated Rob Quist For Congress Today-- Can He Win In May?

Rob Quist

I hope you remember Blue America's old friend from Montana, Franke Wilmer, a professor of political science at Montana State University, who served in the state House, including as Speaker Pro Tem, and brought us as close as the country's ever gotten to electing someone like Barbara Ehrenreich to Congress. I asked her if she could help us understand if the Democrats have a legitimate shot to win the at-large House seat in Montana-- to replace Trump's new Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke-- in the May 25 special election.

Late this afternoon, the Democratic Party nominating convention in Helena selected, on the 4th round of voting, Rob Quist, a popular singing cowboy backed by former Gov. Brian Schweitzer over half a dozen other candidates. Tomorrow the Republicans are likely to pick clueless multimillionaire extremist Greg Gianforte, who lost the governor's race in November to Democrat Steve Bullock, even while Hillary was being wiped out by Trump. So how does Quist beat the Republican? Here's where Franke came in, just moments ago:

The Montana special election is one of the first special elections following the Trump takeover/inauguration. It will absolutely be viewed by the whole country, but especially those in elected office, to figure out which way the political winds are blowing as a measure of Trump's eroded or continued support. Nothing is more important right now and until we do everything we can to elect our Democrat nominee.

Because turnout in special elections is so low and unpredictable, if we put the same energy into getting every possible Dem voter to the polls as we put into turnout for the Women's March, WE CAN WIN THIS AND THIS IS THE STRONGEST MESSAGE POSSIBLE TO SEND TO TRUMP-- from a state where he won by 10 points, no less. At the least, sitting Republican members of congress and state legislatures will be reluctant to support Trump’s most extreme agenda if they fear a similarly strong turnout in their 2018 elections.

SO PLEASE PROMISE TWO THINGS: Start now to line up fundraising and volunteers to get out the vote for the Democrat nominee whoever it is, and immediately following the convention pledge strong and unified support for our nominee.

SECOND, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, more than any other election, this special election will be about TURNOUT. If each of the 10,000 people who showed up Jan 21 votes and can guarantee twenty additional votes from folks who, for one reason or another, were not in Helena on Jan 21, that 200,000 can be our "win” (or scare the hell out Repubs) number.

So start with family members, friends who were out of town or down with the flu, friends who attended a march elsewhere but live and vote in MT, people who are or have attended one of the other rallies recently-- the votes of Democrats in eastern Montana and rural parts of the state will count more than ever-- then ask of all them to commit to vote for our candidate in the special election, and make it your responsibility to get their votes in the mail ballots turned in. It does not appear that we've had a special election like this in some time (1934 and 1969 are the only two I could find), and the data on turnout for primaries, general elections (presidential and off-year) is all over the place-- between 40-74%. But I can confidently say that if 200,000 people show up for the Dem candidate, we will shake things up monumentally. I had 27 people on my list in the first day. And two of them are making their own lists of 20! This election is a referendum on the Trump presidency. WE CAN DO THIS!

And we are not alone-- watch what Rachel says about our special election!

UPDATE: Republicans Must Be Worried

A day after the Democrats nominated Quist, Ryan's Congressional Leadership Fund SuperPAC launched a $700,000 ad buy against him, with all the standard rote bullshit Ryan uses against all Democratic candidates regardless of where they stand on any issue:

Can Montana Democrats Get Back In The Hunt? You Bet They Can!

On Thursday we updated our Montana post about the likelihood that centrist Democrat John Walsh-- who the DSCC brain surgeons had forced on Montana Dems-- would withdraw by announcing he had just dropped out. He had no real chance to win anyway and should have never been selected over more populist choices. Now the Montana Democratic Party will pick his replacement as their candidate at a nominating convention next Saturday (August 16, 9AM) at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds in Helena. There are something like 175 local and state Democratic elected officials and party officials who are being tasked with selecting the party's Senate nominee. Better them than Guy Cecil, Michael Bennet and Harry Reid, who have made such a mess of it so far.

Jim Larson, chairman of the state party: "We look forward to bringing together Montanans from across the state to select our Democratic Senate nominee. As we move through this process, we must remember this election is not about any one candidate; It’s about ensuring our public lands aren’t sold off to the highest bidder, women are free to make their own health care decisions, every Montanan has the opportunity to succeed, and our kids and grandkids are not denied quality education."

The Democrats' dream candidate, former Governor Brian Schweitzer, has taken himself off the list of potential replacements. So have current Governor Steve Bullock, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau and state Auditor Monica Lindeen. The candidate Blue America has been trying to get to run for the nomination is state Rep. Franke Wilmer (D-Bozeman). She's pointed out that "even with all the advantages-- money, incumbency, name recognition, and a wounded opponent-- [Republican Steve] Daines's numbers didn't budge and he's never edged over 47%. So it’s not true that he’s unbeatable. He still has all those things except a wounded opponent-- if he gets a real opponent, we can move those numbers. Montanans are not convinced he's their voice."

Daines would be a disaster in the Senate and, from a Montana perspective, cancel out everything Jon Tester stands for and tries to get done. We tried to persuade Wilmer that if she could get the Democratic Party's support, she'd not only be the first woman running for this seat, but also the most qualified Montana Senate candidate since Mike Mansfield. All that and a blue collar American Dream success life experience-- and that’s what’s slipping away under "more jobs less government trickle down policies." Her main qualification? Well, she's certainly not a billionaire or multimillionaire who thinks creationism should be taught in science classes. This was what we said about her when we first introduced her in 2011:

She's currently serving her third term in the state legislature where she has sponsored legislation on behalf of women’s rights, public employees, firefighters, teachers, tipped employees, unions, gay rights, American Indians, and veterans. Her work on behalf of veterans has been recognized twice by Veterans’ groups, most recently being named "Legislator of the Year" by the Vietnam Veterans of America Montana Council. She has the kind of remarkable record of legislative leadership that always interests Blue America… Franke is no ordinary state legislator. She was elected to serve as Speaker Pro Tempore in her second term and from 2005 to 2007 she was Chair of the Montana Human Rights Commission. She's also a Full Professor at Montana State University teaching courses on International Human Rights, International Law, International Relations Theory and the Politics of War and Peace. She also taught Indigenous Peoples’ Politics at Montana State University and Blackfeet Tribal College in Browning, Montana. She's written three books and has traveled to 56 countries as either an invited guest lecturer or for her field research, including five trips to the former Yugoslavia beginning during the war there in 1995.

But just as important as her academic accomplishments and record of public service are her life experiences before completing her graduate degrees. In her early 20s, Franke was a divorced single mother with no child support and few prospects. All she knew was waitressing, so she relied on that again to support herself and her daughter and was determined to eventually complete her college degree. It took her 16 years, often working two jobs and even 2 years working as a carpenter. She finished her B.S. degree in political science with a minor in economics (imagine a politician who has some knowledge of economics... like Alan Grayson!) and with the help of scholarships completed a Master’s and Doctorate in 1990. "I know what it’s like not to be able to afford health insurance,” Franke said in a conversation with me last week. “I know what it’s like to take a pocket full of tips to the energy company to pay my heating bill.”

As far as I can tell, Franke’s commitment to human rights and progressive values comes both from the quality of her character and the breadth and challenges of her own life experiences.

Last night she told me that "I know first hand what a long shot it is and how much hard work it will take… beating Daines in a few debates, landing a few punches in the campaign, and firing up voters to turnout votes-- all of which I can do-- is also worth it." But she also felt that Montana Democrats have several good candidates and that she couldn't give-up her race for the state Senate seat she's been running for (SD 32), a key to winning a majority in the state legislature. "The work we do in the state legislature," she told me, "is so very important to me-- making sure public money goes to public schools and quality public education, keeping our public lands open and accessible to the public for sport and recreation, protecting women’s privacy and right to make their own reproductive health choices, and making sure all Montanans’ right to vote is not obstructed.

I hear so many of my Democratic friends telling me they need to support tepid Democrats from the Republican wing of the party because the Republicans are so terrible and so much worse than even conservative Democrats with no backbone and questionable character. Daines is no less terrible than Thom Tillis (R-NC), David Perdue (R-GA), or Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) but, unlike in those races, we can support a candidate as visionary and capable as Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Rick Weiland or Shenna Bellows who stands strong and proud for working families, rather than for… well, you know. A week from Saturday, Montana Democrats will decide if they're going to offer the voters a real choice against Daines or they're just going to offer up someone who's just "not as bad." Even though they won't be able to turn to Franke, let's hope they come up with a worthwhile choice and not just cede the seat to the GOP.

An Opportunity In Montana-- A Chance To Swap Out John Walsh For Progressive Icon Franke Wilmer?

UPDATE: John Walsh officially dropped out of the race this morning.

When the DSCC under Schumer tried to insert a Beltway-oriented corporate DLC hack, John Morrison as the Democratic candidate against floundering Republican incumbent Conrad Burns in 2006, Montana Democrats rose up and slapped Schumer down by nominating insurgent populist John Tester (now Senator John Tester). Though Schumer made sure Morrison could outspend Tester two to one, Democratic voters gave Tester a 65,757 (61.8) to 38,394 (35.5%) drubbing and then went on to win a seat that the pundits said would be "impossible." Rasmussen consistently reported polling numbers for Tester that "proved" he couldn't win-- 38%, 44%, 48%… until Nov. 3, a couple days before election day when they finally acknowledged what was about to happen and reported he was leading Abramoff-crony Burns 50-46%.

This cycle, the DSCC pushed to get another Beltway corporate centrist, John Walsh, into the Senate race. When Montana's ultimate corporate whore, Max Baucus, conveniently resigned his seat to take an ambassadorship, the DSCC didn't have to face Montana Democrats; they maneuvered to get Walsh appointed by the governor… and Montana Democrats were stuck with him-- a candidate who could not possibly win-- against a dreadful Republican hack. And then Walsh melted down in a plagiarism scandal while he was at the U.S. Army War College. All three of Montana's biggest newspapers have called on him to withdraw his candidacy by August 11th so that the state Democratic party can pick someone else to run against Daines by August 20, the cutoff date. From the Missoulian editorial:

Plagiarism is a big deal. It is an act of deception that has serious consequences-- not the least of these being a loss of trust… Walsh’s paper did not just incorrectly attribute a few statements. It lifted entire passages of works from other sources without citing them.

…Montanans simply cannot-- and won’t-- trust a senator who portrayed the words and ideas of others as his own for his own personal gain.

And since Montanans deserve a true choice between candidates this November, Walsh should bow out of the Senate race immediately. With each passing day that Walsh remains in the race, Montana Democrats lose time to replace him with a more viable candidate.

Walsh could resign his Senate seat immediately. Bullock could then appoint a temporary replacement who isn’t running for election, as many Montanans had hoped he would do earlier this year, before he went with Walsh. That replacement could see that the legislation Walsh supported received continued support.

But if Walsh doesn’t do that, at a minimum, he should drop out of the Senate race. He has until Aug. 11 to do so and get his name removed from the ballot, which would allow the Montana Democratic Party to name a replacement candidate by Aug. 20 - just in time to make sure that candidate’s name appears on the ballot.

Indeed, that might be the party’s best hope of getting a Democrat elected, because as it is, Walsh stands very little chance of winning in November.

Polling has been miserable for Walsh and yesterday GOP pollster Vox Populi released a new one showing Daines beating him 47-34% (while Democrat John Lewis is closer to Republican Ryan Zinke in the at-large House race, 44-37%. Skirting the definition of a push poll, they included these two questions:

This week he started canceling campaign events without explanation. Politico reported yesterday that Walsh "is engaged in internal deliberations with his political team about whether to stay on the ballot this year." Politico tossed out a bunch of Beltway-oriented non-starters like Stephanie Schriock from EMILY's List and bankster Dirk Adams. In Montana people have been mulling Missoula state Senator Dave Wanzenreid, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau and Bozeman state Rep Franke Wilmer. Many see Wilmer as the intellectual engine of the Montana Democratic Party's populist/progressive wing. She's been a longtime Blue America fave and we hope she'll agree to run. I November 2011 she did a guest post for us explaining why she chose to become a Democrat:

My parents were Republicans-- and they were right about the importance of individual responsibility, hard work, and sacrifice. Having lived through the Great Depression as young adults those values enabled them to survive hard times. They were working class people, but they were also privileged because they were white. I don't recall hearing them talk about justice or injustice.

My mother was from Terry, MT-- where the federal government lured homesteaders to settle on the railroad line by telling them that if they planted enough crops the climate would change-- that planting more corn would make it rain more. The government called it "agricultural science."

Many in eastern Montana to this day don't trust the federal government and many don't trust “government backed” science either. This mistrust is based on the lived experience of their parents and grandparents. My grandparents gave up after 3 years of drought followed by a fire that destroyed their homestead. They took the railroad east, all the way to the eastern shore of Maryland, where they started over doing what they called "dirt farming." They brought their mistrust of government with them.

I became a Democrat during the civil rights movement because Democrats were right about civil rights. I have a passion for justice-- liberty and freedom are imperfect without justice and fairness. Fairness is a core value for Democrats. The fear among conservatives is that advancing justice diminishes freedom, and they have a point. We should always ask whether, when justice is being advanced, what's being diminished is freedom or privilege. Ending racial discrimination in employment opportunities, for example, could make those who previously enjoyed employment preferences based on race feel as though they lost something. But what they lost was a privilege, an unearned advantage that disadvantaged others. There’s a difference between liberty for all and privileges for some that diminishes others.

What is this "American Dream" we say is being destroyed and needs to be rebuilt? The American Dream is not about rich people getting richer. It's not even about poor people becoming millionaires. The American Dream is about everyone having a fair chance, through hard work and sacrifice, to make the most of their talents and abilities and to make a decent life for themselves and their families.

The key words are everyone and fair chance. Everyone has a fair chance… Not an opportunity determined by arbitrary circumstances or characteristics like race, gender, or economic class. Making the most of one's talents through hard work and sacrifice-- the only limits are the limits of one's own talents and willingness to work hard and make sacrifices.

I often hear my conservative friends (as well as several Republican presidential hopefuls) say, "Life's unfair. Get over it." True-- we should not let the unfairness of circumstances be an excuse for failure or for not working hard and being willing to make sacrifices in order to improve our circumstances. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't also try to do something about unfairness when it is caused by human behavior and public policies.

Who would say to Martin Luther King Jr. "Life's unfair. Get over it"? But where would civil rights be today if Dr. King had said, "Well, it is unfair that I am denied opportunities just because I am black and I cannot change that." His willingness to make sacrifices in the name of justice make him a patriot and an American hero. He believed deeply in the vision of what America could be and he died moving us toward it.

We all have our reasons for loving this country. Unlike other countries, this country was intentionally founded as a democracy, however limited it was at the time of its founding to a privileged class, race, and gender. What is so remarkable is that our founders created a system that would enable us to progress, to create a more perfect union, a more just society in the future. And that promise is also a challenge, even an expectation that we, collectively, can be better people than they were, collectively.

We ended slavery, enfranchised women, and have made progress toward ending many forms of discrimination. There are still many issues on the frontiers of justice today, but the one coming increasingly into focus and a flashpoint for mobilizing mass discontent is economic injustice.

Democrats today must fight the injustice of policies that are making the rich richer and diminishing opportunities for everyone to have a fair chance to develop their talents and make a decent life for themselves and their families. That’s what restoring the American Dream means and that’s why I am still a Democrat.

I don't know if Franke will run or not, but if she does, you can count on Blue America backing her and helping raise money for her.

People Of Franke Wilmer's Character Are More Needed In Congress Than Ever... But Steve Israel Has Another Calculus He Uses

Franke Wilmer is an author, a professor of International Law and International Relations at Montana State University and a Democrat representing Bozeman in the Montana House of Representatives. She also served as Governor Brian Schweitzer's Chairwoman of the Montana Human Rights Commission. If you don't live in Montana, you still may remember Franke as the progressive candidate running for the at-large Montana House seat in 2012. Ignoring Howard Dean's message that "you can't beat a Republican by being a Republican," the Beltway Democratic Establishment backed some rich corporate shill in the primary, who outspent Franke and was then, predictably, crushed by a Republican. Alan Grayson: "If the public has a choice between a real Republican and a fake Republican running as a Democrat, they'll choose the real Republican every time." Thanks, Steve Israel.

Before the 2012 election, I had a long talk with Glenn Greenwald about who the best candidates running for Congress were in the whole country. He chose three of the Blue America-backed candidates to interview, write about and endorse: Norman Solomon, Cecil Bothwell and Franke, all very strong civil liberties backers. Here are a few paragraphs from his section on Franke:

Wilmer told us that she’s "very concerned and deeply troubled by the notion that the policy that led to the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki essentially defends the practice of extrajudicial execution," and added that the "suspension of habeas corpus for American citizens [in the NDAA] is equally troubling." She cited to us a remarkable op-ed she wrote in the Great Falls Tribune on September 12, 2001-- less than 24 hours after the attack, when most people were in full-on panic and vengeance mode-- that calmly warned of the dangers of excessive reactions. The whole op-ed is amazing: it describes her experience with war in Yugoslavia to warn how brutal and savage it is, and ends this way: "Only by the rule of law, only through a just response which punishes the individuals responsible, can we preserve what cannot be destroyed through violence, our commitment to democracy." There are all too few people demonstrating that perspective even now, more than a decade later; she was urging this on the day after the 9/11 attack.

Wilmer compares current threats to militarily attack Iran with the attack on Iraq, arguing that both are examples of invalid "preventive war" dogma; "instead," she argues, "what we need is to invest time and resources in the development of an effective and enforceable international non-proliferation regime based on the Non-Proliferation Treaty." She questions the legality of unmanned CIA drones ("Under international law weapons must be able to discriminate between civilian and military targets and drones do not do that"), and argues that drones are "military weapons" and thus "should only be used in military operations, and military operations, in turn, necessitate a declaration of war by Congress." She decries the lack of Wall Street prosecutions: "I don’t believe the investigations have been rigorously pursued, nor have those responsible been held accountable." And as former Chair of the Montana Human Rights Commission, she has worked extensively, in a not-very-friendly environment, to secure equal rights for LGBT citizens and same-sex couples.

Truly, she’s not just an extraordinary Congressional candidate but an extraordinary person. She combines impressive academic research and theory with all kinds of practical, brave real-world activism. But she’s also been an accomplished legislator, which means, as she explains in that Klein essay, that she’s quite strategic about enacting legislation. There would literally be nobody like her in Congress.

But Montanans are now burdened with a corporate whore, Steve Daines, representing them in the U.S. House instead. After losing the primary, Franke was persuaded by the Montana Democratic Party to challenge a Tea Party incumbent in a tough Bozeman swing district. Her opponent was best known for railing against people on food stamps and children getting subsidized or free lunches at school. The race had a huge turnout and she won with a bigger margin than anyone ever gets in that purple seat. Montanans are lucky she won too. With her help, the Democratic minority was able to decriminalize gay sex in the 2012 legislature! And she was instrumental in killing 6 of 7 so-called "school choice" bills and one anti-abortion bill. She also did a little heavy lifting that helped Democrats get a fix for the public pensions passed instead of letting the Republican majority privatize it.

Having served four terms, she's now termed out of the House. There are two local state Senate seats up for grabs-- an easy Democratic district and another really hard swing district. The state party is trying to get her to run in the swing district and I have a feeling she's going to do just that. Blue America hasn't endorsed many state legislators... but she's one of them. You can contribute to her campaign here. Here's a guest post she originally published in several local newspapers.

Terrorists Win If We Lose Our Democracy
by Rep. Franke Wilmer

The 9/11 attackers have won. Their goal was to provoke fear that in turn would lead Americans to destroy their own democracy. We are well on our way.

The Department of Defense defines terrorism as “The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.” The attackers have achieved their political, religious, and ideological goals.

The U.S. government has suspended habeas corpus, commits torture on prisoners held in indefinite detention, commits extrajudicial executions of American citizens, suppresses freedom of the press, and now, we discover, engages in warrantless surveillance of millions of Americans. Most Americans probably cannot tell you where in the constitution these acts are prohibited. But those we elect ought to know-- they swear to support and defend the U.S. constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.

Many say “I’m fine with surveillance if it prevents terrorist attacks.” Fine trashing our bill of rights if it prevents terrorist attacks. Some say just the level of surveillance now-- “metadata,” emails, holding on to content for 5 years to decide whether reading it is warranted... This much is OK because it may have prevented terrorist attacks (even though they don’t know we are any safer...)

Americans believe we are exceptional. Other people in other countries have to live with their vulnerability, but we don’t. Surely we have enough power, wealth, and technology to be invulnerable. And when our power, wealth, and technology are not enough, then we will offer our civil liberties up in sacrifice to those who hold our democracy hostage. “You can have them; just don’t kill us,” we are pleading.

So which civil liberties and protections of due process should NOT be sacrificed EVEN IF doing so might prevent a terrorist attack? We cannot be in a perpetual state of war without eventually and inevitably destroying our democracy. Either we learn to live with our vulnerability, or without our civil liberties.

On September 11 2001, in an editorial published the next day, I wrote:

“Democracy requires tolerance; war intolerance. Democracy cannot exist without the rule of law; war relies on violence that is always, to some degree, indiscriminate. Democracy asks us to regard each person and judge the merits of his opinion as a unique individual; war has room only for enemies and allies. Democracy rests on a faith in our common humanity; war always dehumanizes someone. Clearly this was an act of war on the part of the attackers, but we cannot respond in kind without abandoning democracy ourselves, and that would be a victory for these faceless perpetrators.”

There will be other terrorist attacks. Even the complete destruction of civil liberties will not prevent it. It could be any sort of attack. We have already gone from “anyone can be the enemy” to “everyone is the enemy.” Our government collects information on everyone, without probable cause, without judicial review. When there is another attack, those who accept the current level of surveillance will tell us that it was obviously, inadequate. And then we will destroy whatever is left of our democracy at that point.

There is a metaphor for the slow destruction of something we hold dear: Drop a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will scream and try to escape. But drop it into a pot of cold water on a stove set to slow heat, and it will never see the boil coming. We did not lose all of our civil liberties on September 12 2001, but most of us did not see the boil coming either. It’s time to scream. It’s time to get out of the pot. Repeal the Patriot Act. Demand that your congressional representatives protect your civil liberties or be defeated in the next election by someone who will.

Tomorrow... Our Future

For those of us in Wisconsin, California, Montana and New Mexico, let's keep these words by Elizabeth Warren in our minds when we vote

Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 5, could be an historic day. First and foremost, there's Wisconsin-- a chance to replace a destructive anti-democracy shill of the one percent, Scott Walker, with a decent Democrat whose career in politics has always been in support of working families, Tom Barrett. In 2010, Walker campaigned on creating jobs and economic development, decided to pit neighbor against neighbor in an effort to drum up support for the radical Koch agenda, and ended up losing more jobs than any other state in the country. Tomorrow, of course, all hinges on turnout. It's going to be close. There are plenty of Wisconsinites who get their information from Fox and from Hate Talk Radio. They'll be out in force for Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch. Will ordinary working folks be able to overcome the 30-1 spending advantage the right put into this race?

If you live in Wisconsin, or if you have friends or family in Wisconsin, here's where you can find your polling place. Polls open at 7am and stay open 'til 8pm. In Wisconsin voters do NOT need an ID to vote and can still register at the polls as long as they bring proof of their current address. Democrats are also attempting to replace a gaggle of reactionary state senators. Good idea! Walker hasn't been able to carry out the Koch/ALEC agenda on his own. And among the Democrats most worthy of winning a seat is Lori Compas, who's running against Scott Fitzgerald, Walker's Senate henchman.

Few in Wisconsin are more identified with the grassroots resistance than Lori Compas, a 41-year-old wedding photographer and mother of two. With no assistance from the state Democratic Party, Compas led an unlikely yet successful drive to recall the Senate majority leader, Scott Fitzgerald, Walker’s most essential and visible ally. Compas lives in Fort Atkinson, a small town 30 miles east of Madison, and has never run for office before. She is now Fitzgerald’s improbable opponent.

Would that ever be icing on the cake!



The other big races tomorrow are primaries in Montana, New Mexico and California, where Blue America has outstanding progressives going up against run-of-the-mill, garden variety Democratic hacks in most cases. The exception is in CA-25 (Santa Clarita, Antelope Valley and Simi Valley-- the northeast corner of L.A. County) where Democrats-- along with many independents and even some Republicans-- have completely united around Dr. Lee Rogers in a grassroots effort to oust corrupt corporate shill Buck McKeon. In California's "jungle primary," everyone, regardless of party, runs on the same ballot and the top 2 vote-getters go on to the November general election. There are 3 Republicans plus Lee and the latest poll from the Antelope Valley Press shows Lee leading the pack with 46.25% and McKeon struggling to stay in second place with 25%.

One of the most respected and admired Republicans in the Santa Clarita Valley, Scott Wilk, is running for an open Assembly seat. Wilk was formerly McKeon's district chief and there's no one who knows McKeon and how he operates better than Wilk. One of his opponents in the primary, although she appears to be coming in a distant fourth, is McKeon's batty wife, Patricia. My theory has always been that she's never been a serious candidate for office-- she's 70, unaware of any serious issues facing the state legislature and best known for her reply to a question about California's budgetary problems during a debate by stating the obvious, "I have no idea"-- but that her candidacy was a way to funnel illicit campaign dollars from the Military Industrial Complex into the McKeon household. Anyway, Wilks is running against Patricia but over the weekend he penned an editorial about the single biggest issue that is leading to a collapse in support for Buck-- the CEMEX Mine.

On Thursday, our community reaped what its federally elected leadership sewed.  When the CEMEX truce expired with the City of Santa Clarita, our worst fears became a reality.  With nothing to stop them, CEMEX could begin their mega-mining operation in Soledad Canyon any day.  And our Congressman continues to insist that he cannot help us because of a clause in a rule that he voted for.  Its time to make right on his mistake.
 
CEMEX’s projected mine in Soledad is not merely another issue facing our community. It is THE issue facing us. The scale of the mining project is nearly 20 times larger than what is currently mined in Soledad Canyon today, and it will last for 20 years. The daily operation of the mine will result in 18-wheelers and gravel trucks entering and departing from the mine every 2 minutes, which will add an additional 1200 trucks traveling each day on our local freeways and roads. The dust created by the project will greatly harm the air quality of our city and will exceed acceptably safe levels by nearly 200 percent.
 
The City of Santa Clarita has done its part.  They have spent millions on advocacy, on legal wrangling, and frankly begging Congressman McKeon to do what is right and stop this mine.  This issue transcends partisanship and is simply about protecting our community’s quality of life.  
 
Unfortunately, the current federal leadership has failed to prevent today from happening.  Our community is one step closer to an ecological disaster because of this failure.  According to Mayor Bob Keller, Senator Boxer has pledged to do all that she can to help us.  Its time for Congressman McKeon to do more than lip service on the topic.  Its time for him to introduce the companion bill and stop this disaster from happening. 
 
Congressman McKeon likes to tout that he stopped Elsmere Canyon from becoming a landfill, well why is it that this is so much harder than that?  It took him three years to make that legislation reality, in ten years, the Congressman failed to even achieve a hearing on this issue in Washington.

...It is time for leadership on this issue.  It is time for action.  In our community’s time of need, I ask Congressman McKeon to put community ahead of partisanship and quality of life ahead of politics.  For if the mine is to become a reality, our community will face an ecological disaster unrealized to date.  It is time to make right with this community.

Last week we saw Jason Schaff executive editor of the district's biggest newspaper, the Santa Clarita Valley Signal explain why they had decided against endorsing McKeon, for the first time in his entire two decade-long congressional career. He said CEMEX is the most important issue to many voters in the district, but so is anger against incumbents. “I think it goes back to the mood locally, and throughout the country about incumbents. And is 20 years too long to be in Congress?” Washington Dems don't "get" this race. I suspect they will after tomorrow.

Northern California has a completely different dynamic to deal with in the primary to replace the retiring progressive champion Lynn Woolsey in the 2nd CD. This primary will result in two Democrats facing off against each other in November. There are 8 Democrats, 2 Republicans and 2 independents in the primary. The latest polling shows Assemblyman Jared Huffman, author and progressive activist Norman Solomon, Marin County Supervisor Susan Adams, and wealthy hobbyist Stacey Lawsen as the top contenders, in that order. Lawsen is widely viewed as a junior Meg Whitman type candidate. She's got a lot of money she lucked into and has never been involved with politics but needs something to do with herself and got the idea of moving up to the district to run for Woolsey's seat. Huffman has sown himself to be a captive of the corporate interests who have financed his career. Adams is a respectable Democrat who would make a reasonable alternative if CA-2 didn't already have one of the single most outstanding candidates running for Congress anywhere in America, Norman Solomon (the Blue America endorsee). Thursday Jackson Browne played a concert to help Norman raise funds to counter the last minute influx of money from Lawsens' bank account in her desperate and rather pathetic attempt o buy the seat. And yesterday Dennis Kucinich barnstormed with him up and down Marin and Sonoma counties. Kucinich:

"Norman will be an instant leader in Congress-- on war, on bloated military spending, on Wall Street, on threats to Social Security and Medicare (from either party). Norman Solomon was an advocate for the 99%-- challenging the 1%-- before there was an Occupy Wall Street movement. Every supporter of mine should be a natural supporter of Norman. Help him carry on the legacy of strong peace and justice advocacy in the U.S. Congress.”

Virtually every important progressive leader in America has endorsed Solomon, including Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, John Conyers (D-MI), Alan Grayson (D-FL), Dolores Huerta, Glenn Greenwald, and countless others looking for innovative, independent-minded leaders to implement a peaceful and prosperous agenda for this country.


The link above for Glenn Greenwald, also references Rep. Franke Wilmer's race in Montana. It's an at-large district-- so, it's for the whole state, like a Senate race-- and it's an open seat. Like Norman Solomon, Lee Rogers and Eric Griego, Franke is the Blue America-backed candidate. I'll let Greenwald explain:

This Montana candidate’s biography is almost as impressive as her views on key issues. In the 1980s, Wilmer was a single mother raising her daughter, working as a waitress and a carpenter while putting herself through college. Typically working two jobs at the same time, it took her 16 years to finish. Now she’s a full professor at Montana State University, a third-term state legislator, and an author who specializes in solving international problems without resort to war. She spent substantial time in the former Yugoslavia as it was falling apart.

...She’s running in a Democratic primary against two corporatist, Blue-Dog-type candidates of the kind that has helped make so much of the Democratic Party worthless or worse. She wrote an essay for Klein about the basis of her worldview and why she’s running that’s as provocative and smart as it is inspiring. As soon as I read it, there was no question for me that she’s an extraordinary candidate and person; as but one example, she explains that her work in the middle of the horrific war in Yugoslavia led her to devote herself to an examination of “the question of dehumanization (and psychoanalytic explanations for it) as a political dynamic that rationalizes political violence,” both domestically and internationally.

Wilmer told us that she’s ”very concerned and deeply troubled by the notion that the policy that led to the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki essentially defends the practice of extrajudicial execution,” and added that the “suspension of habeas corpus for American citizens [in the NDAA] is equally troubling.” She cited to us a remarkable op-ed she wrote in the Great Falls Tribune on September 12, 2001-- less than 24 hours after the attack, when most people were in full-on panic and vengeance mode-- that calmly warned of the dangers of excessive reactions. The whole op-ed is amazing: it describes her experience with war in Yugoslavia to warn how brutal and savage it is, and ends this way: “Only by the rule of law, only through a just response which punishes the individuals responsible, can we preserve what cannot be destroyed through violence, our commitment to democracy.” There are all too few people demonstrating that perspective even now, more than a decade later; she was urging this on the day after the 9/11 attack.

Wilmer compares current threats to militarily attack Iran with the attack on Iraq, arguing that both are examples of invalid “preventive war” dogma; “instead,” she argues, “what we need is to invest time and resources in the development of an effective and enforceable international non-proliferation regime based on the Non-Proliferation Treaty.” She questions the legality of unmanned CIA drones (“Under international law weapons must be able to discriminate between civilian and military targets and drones do not do that“), and argues that drones are “military weapons” and thus “should only be used in military operations, and military operations, in turn,necessitate a declaration of war by Congress.“ She decries the lack of Wall Street prosecutions: “I don’t believe the investigations have been rigorously pursued, nor have those responsible been held accountable.” And as former Chair of the Montana Human Rights Commission, she has worked extensively, in a not-very-friendly environment, to secure equal rights for LGBT citizens and same-sex couples.

Truly, she’s not just an extraordinary Congressional candidate but an extraordinary person. She combines impressive academic research and theory with all kinds of practical, brave real-world activism. But she’s also been an accomplished legislator, which means, as she explains in that Klein essay, that she’s quite strategic about enacting legislation. There would literally be nobody like her in Congress.

And that brings us to Albuquerque, where progressive champion, state Senator Eric Griego is up against a couple of corrupt careerists, Marty Chavez (corrupt and conservative) and Michelle Lujan Grisham, whose disgraceful and self-serving record of Director of Aging and state Secretary of Health should disqualify her from any elective office anywhere. She's perfect for EMILY'S List, the least trustworthy component of the corrupt DC Democratic Establishment. Griego has been endorsed by women in Congress who are actually trying to work for the protection and safety of American women, like Donna Edwards (D-MD) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME), as well as by Dennis Kucinich, Alan Grayson and Raúl Grijalva. In end of the campaign rallies in New Mexico this weekend Griego sharpened the distinctions between himself and his two mediocre (at best) opponents:

We have to “send people to Congress… who are willing to stand for what we say we believe in, even when it’s tough… we’ve got to stand for something as Democrats, that’s what people are yearning for,” Griego said to the packed crowd. “We need someone who’s like us, has our values. Who wants to fight for Social Security, fight for the environment, take on the special interests and Wall Street.”
 
“One race is not going to do it, but if we add my voice to Elizabeth Warren’s… and we send 15 or 20 vertebrates up there, then the conversation has to change,” he continued, emphasizing his commitment to fight for New Mexico’s working families.

Kucinich is showing himself once again as an important national leader. Last week he came out swinging for Eric. "Let me introduce you," he wrote to his own supporters, "to a champion for Wall Street reform, Eric Griego. Eric is running for Congress in New Mexico's first district, and he is the first candidate in the nation to run a television ad saying, 'Wall Street bankers who broke the law belong in jail.' That's a bold stand for a congressional candidate. Since Eric is shaking up the status quo, he's come under attack by his more conservative opponents. With just four days left before his primary, he needs our help.
 
"Eric has a record of standing up for what we believe as Democrats. He passed public financing on the City Council and a green jobs bill in the State Senate-- he's one of the few candidates in the nation who can say that. In Congress, he wants to put Americans back to work by passing a real jobs bill-- rebuilding crumbling schools, wiring the country with high-speed internet, and investing in 21st century energy and transportation projects."

Eric Griego, Franke Wilmer, Norman Solomon, Lee Rogers... 4 champions of ordinary working families we hope to be fighting for all the way through November. But first, they have to win their primaries tomorrow. Do you pray? In case you missed it Saturday night, here's some inspiration from Wisconsin musicians Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons:

One Week From Tomorrow: Super Tuesday... For Progressives

Kucinich passing the baton

Next Tuesday, June 5th, is primary day in several states, including three where we have crucial contests pitting progressive, dynamic leaders against, at best, garden variety Democrats. In California, two races stand out above and beyond all others: the CA-2 primary to replace retiring Lynn Woolsey and the first shot in twenty years for the Democrats to replace corrupt reactionary curmudgeon Buck McKeon. Our candidates, respectively, are Norman Solomon and Lee Rogers. Also here in the West, there is a primary for Montana's one at-large House seat and there is one outstanding candidate, state Rep. Franke Wilmer. Similar story in New Mexico, where the Albuquerque district has a corrupt conservative and a well-funded careerist being challenged by one of the most important progressive leaders running anywhere in America, state Sen. Eric Griego. These are 4 of the most outstanding candidates for office running anywhere and it's crucial to elect each of them-- and polling in all 4 races looks good.

Blue America would like to appeal to you to help us hit the ground running for these candidates for the general election. We want to get right into action against House Armed Services Committee chairman/bigot Buck McKeon in northeastern L.A. County and against extremist crackpots Janice Arnold-Jones in New Mexico and Steve Daines in Montana. And, because California's strange new "jungle primary" is likely to force Norman Solomon to face off against a corporate garden variety type Democrat, Jared Huffman, we need to help explain to voters why Norman is the exceptional candidate worth their trust and support. A lot of work.

Here on our Blue America ActBlue page, it's easy to contribute to all of our candidates or any one or two or more of them. And we love you for doing it. We'd also like to ask you to think about contributing to the Blue America PAC this week as well, a fund we use for one thing: communicating to targeted voters. We've been using TV, Internet and radio spots, mailers and billboards. There is no such thing as a contribution being too small. So whatever you can do, we'd be really grateful.

Last week Dennis Kucinich sent a note out to his own northern California supporters-- as did Alan Grayson and Raúl Grijalva. (By the way, Raúl has also endorsed Lee Rogers, Franke Wilmer and Eric Griego.) This is what Dennis told his folks why he's so enthusiastic about Norman, who he referred to as "one of the top peace candidates for Congress anywhere in the country":

Norman and I have been friends for almost 15 years. He is a powerful intellectual, a gifted writer and an activist who is willing to put himself on the line for the principled causes of peace, justice and the environment.

He will be one unique member of Congress...

Norman is a true progressive. He is an independent thinker. Too many Democrats go along with outrageous military spending, deadly wars and Wall Street greed, all of which demoralize our nation, drain our federal treasury and cause resentment around the world. Norm Solomon is unafraid to stand up and speak out when others are silent.

Norman will stand up to the Wall Streeters who continue their high-stakes gambling at public expense. He refuses to take corporate PAC money or lobbyist donations. That puts him at a disadvantage in this primary battle.

As you know, I will not be returning to Congress next year. We need Norman in Congress so that he can share his insight with all members. Because of his fierce dedication to the public interest, Norman will be an instant leader in Congress-- on war, on bloated military spending, on Wall Street, on threats to Social Security and Medicare (from either party).

Norman Solomon was an advocate for the 99%-- challenging the 1%-- before there was an Occupy Wall Street movement. Every supporter of mine should be a natural supporter of Norman. Help him carry on the legacy of strong peace and justice advocacy in the U.S. Congress.

And that is what Blue America has sought out in all of our candidates and it's what these four candidates all have in common-- proven leaders who will be advocates for the 99% and will not buy into the abysmal bipartisan corrupt ways of Washington. Unless you live in Montana you've probably never heard of Timm Twardowski. He runs AFSCME in that state and knows Rep. Wilmer well. "There is no doubt that Franke is the only candidate that understands what it means to do the 'work' for Montana in Washington, he told us. Which is why AFSCME endorsed Franke. "Franke's Montana experiences have shaped her deep commitment to the issues that affect us here at home and I know she will bring that message and hard work to Washington. Franke understands the unique nature and challenges of America's working families and will work to protect the middle class and restore the American Dream. It’s not about politics; it’s about doing the 'right thing' and putting our trust into someone who has walked in our shoes. Franke understands the work that needs to be accomplished in Washington and will always defend our beliefs."

This year Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is working harder than I've ever seen progressives work to help elect more progressive candidates to Congress. Raúl has endorsed all 4 of these candidates. Here's what he had to say about Eric Griego in the state next door, New Mexico:

Eric Griego believes that "the last thing we need to send to Washington is a Democrat who's a kinder, gentler version of the Republicans." I agree. Democrats must fight for a government that works for all people, not just those with deep pockets and fancy titles.

Eric fought to get corporate money out of politics as an Albuquerque City Councilor, where he passed one of the strongest local campaign finance reforms in the nation. As State Senator, he took on the Big Oil companies and put middle-class workers first by passing a green jobs bill into law.

Eric is supported by leading progressive groups and major labor unions-- and he is the only candidate in the race to have a lifetime 100% rating from Conservation Voters New Mexico.

I need Eric Griego fighting by my side in Congress.

Alan Grayson also wants one of our candidates fighting on his side when he's back in Congress next year. Last year Alan sat down with Lee Rogers at a medical convention in Orlando and got to know him and to give him some of the helpful advice that is helping Lee beat the Buck McKeon machine. Here's the endorsement of Lee Rogers that Alan Grayson sent us:

I'm happy that Dr. Lee Rogers, candidate in CA-25, is a solid progressive. I'm happy that a Rogers victory means the defeat of Buck McKeon, who has been called the most corrupt Member of Congress. But I'm especially happy that Dr. Rogers knows something about something-- a quality that Congress sorely needs.

When I was a lawyer, I had a client with a severe case of diabetes. I watched his health deteriorate over the years. The circulation in his legs weakened to the point where a foot was amputated.

It was terrible.

Dr. Rogers is a podiatrist and medical researcher. He pioneered a new protocol for such cases that reduced amputations by 72%.

Dr. Rogers runs the Amputation Prevention Center in Los Angeles. He teaches medicine. He has received awards for his research.

Healthcare is now one-sixth of the US economy. Imagine how good it would be to have someone in Congress who knows it so well.

Let's face it; many Members of Congress are good at only two things: getting elected, and getting re-elected. Whether Dr. Rogers is good at either of those things remains to be seen. But for the good of Congress, and our health, I'd like to see it happen.

All the Blue America candidates are on the same page. And they all will need the help to go all the way in November. And the race to keep an eye on for tomorrow? Progressive insurgent Beto O'Rourke is challenging corrupt El Paso incumbent Silvestre Reyes in Texas' 16th CD. This could be another blow against the DC Establishment Machine and polls show Beto winning handily among early voters.

A Guest Post By Montana Rep. Franke Wilmer

I think most DWT readers are aware that Montana state Rep. (and professor) Franke Wilmer is one of the earliest and most enthusiastic endorsements Blue America made this cycle. And now it all comes down to next Tuesday when she faces off against a gaggle of garden variety Democrats for the party nomination to face off against far right corporate shill Steve Daines, a walking, breathing exemplar of the selfish, greed-obsessed 1%. Franke did a guest post I want to share with everyone, another example of why we need her, and people like her, in Congress-- instead of more of the same crap we're stuck with now. If you like what she has to say, please consider giving her a hand beating Daines in November, here at the Blue America ActBlue page. (It's alphabetical and she's way at the bottom, so don't spend all your money on the top few awesome candidates.)

Restoring The American Dream

by Rep. Franke Wilmer (D-MT)

The Founding Fathers-– or our Founders-– gave us the most incredible political system ever invented, one grounded by the rule of law, majority rule, and protection of minority opinions and dissent. They could not agree to renounce the slave trade, they did not extend political participation to women and non-property owners, and they dispossessed America’s First Nations from their land and resource base. But they gave us a system that would enable us to be better people, collectively, than they were. Indeed, they expected it. They invented the American Dream, and I’m running for Congress to restore it.

The American Dream is not about rich people getting richer, or the exceptional case of someone born into poverty becoming a millionaire, though both are possible in America. But the American Dream is a promise, a hope and a responsibility. It is our shared vision of the good society, of what we as Americans are all about.

The American Dream is that everyone has a fair chance to make the most of their talents and abilities, earn a decent living for themselves and their families, and pass along better opportunities to the next generation.

Every generation until now has moved that dream forward. In my lifetime that meant overcoming discrimination based on race, religion, gender, national origin, disability and age with sexual orientation on the frontier of justice today. The American Dream enabled me to overcome the challenge of being a divorced single mother waiting on tables to completing an undergraduate and two graduate degrees to become a university teacher, Chair of the Montana Human Rights Commission, and a representative in the Montana state legislature.

I have spoken all over the world about democracy and human rights. I’ve spoken to victims of war crimes in a war zone. I trace my own passion for democracy to falling in love with the idea of America after reading about our earliest revolutionary American patriots.

That dream-– that fair chances and hard work will enable everyone to make the most of their abilities, meet their needs including health care, and aspire to pass along better opportunities to their children-– is threatened today like no time I can remember.

Our public education system-– the cornerstone of equal opportunity or as Jefferson called it, “the great equalizer” has slipped from 3rd in the world to 15th. The middle class, the powerhouse of our economy and backbone of our democracy, is in decline as the U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2011 one in six Americans now live in poverty. Since 2000 the U.S. has seen 10% of our middle class jobs-- from 72 million to 65 million-- disappear. And while we commonly use the status and treatment of women to evaluate how democratic and progressive other countries are, women’s rights are under attack in the U.S. and our income remains stuck at 77% of our male counterparts. That’s up from 68% in 1970. At this rate we will achieve pay equality in 475 years. With a high school degree, this amounts to a loss of $750,000 for women over their wage-earning lifetimes and with a college degree the loss is $1 million.

When I say I am running for Congress to restore the American Dream, rebuild our economy and strengthen the middle class this is what I mean. It’s about time we sent someone to Congress who understands from her own experiences the importance of good public education, accessible and affordable higher education, and that hard work, fair chances, and improving opportunities for the next generation are core American values.

Earth Day-- Mañana

A reaction to fanatics-- both religionist and capitalist-- had a lot to do with the first Earth Day. Extreme capitalists-- predators and sociopaths-- just want to rape and pillage for their own profit and have no concern for their neighbors or our descendants. Religious loons view this planet as a temporary way station on the road to eternal life with harps. The Old Testament verse most frequently sited as proof that rape and pillage was God's plan is Genesis 1:28--

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

That-- having dominion over-- means pillage and plunder in the Republican Brain, but means taking care of God's creation to normal people.

It would be hard to find a less environmentally friendly senator than Ayn Rand devotee Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. His a pillager and plunderer. The irony is that Johnson's seat was once held by a real Senate icon, Gaylord Nelson, the progressive who started Earth Day on April 22, 1970. He inserted this into the Congressional Record at the time:

I am convinced that all we need to do to bring an overwhelming insistence of the new generation that we stem the tide of environmental disaster is to present the facts clearly and dramatically. To marshal such an effort, I am proposing a national teach-in on the crisis of the environment to be held next spring on every university campus across the Nation. The crisis is so imminent, in my opinion, that every university should set aside 1 day in the school year-the same day across the Nation-for the teach-in.

Tomorrow half a billion people will be observing Earth Day in 175 countries around the globe. The The Earth Day Network is helping mobilize and coordinate activities all over the world. To prepare for the festivities tomorrow I spoke with some of the Blue America candidates about what Earth Day means to them. The first to respond was Norman Solomon, who is running for Congress in one of the most beautiful regions of the world-- the Northern California coast-- Redwoods country.

"I remember listening to news of the first Earth Day on the radio in 1970," he told me. "Today, our awareness of ecology is much greater-- but the damage to our planet's environment has been terrible during the last several decades. We must rededicate ourselves to living in harmony with-- and protecting-- nature. And we can only do that with a democratic upsurge that challenges the huge power of Wall Street and mobilizes the potential power of the grassroots."

Within minutes of Norman's response, Cecil Bothwell's was on my desktop. Cecil is also running in an extraordinarily beautiful district, the westernmost region of North Carolina. And he also remembers the first Earth Day:

I started work in the building trades in 1970, the year of the first Earth Day, and had the Whole Earth Catalogue in hand as I grew in my knowledge of construction and our ecological footprint. By 1979 I had moved off the grid, powering my life with photovoltaics and low energy technologies. I stayed off the grid until 2001, when other events in my life led me into the city. During the 1990s I began to pursue a career as a writer and lecturer, and offered talks on alternative energy and other impact-reducing techniques, including organic gardening. In the mid-90s I was founding editor of the Warren Wilson College environmental journal, Heartstone, and had the good fortune to publish and meet such movement figures as Bill McKibben (now of 350.org), Jane Goodall, Thomas Berry, Janice Ray, and Edward O. Wilson. I wrote radio essays for a series called Time for the Earth, recorded by Goodall and William Least Heat Moon.
 
Today my work on the Asheville City Council, and as Council liaison to the Sustainability Advisory Committee on Energy and the Environment, and to the Asheville Tree Commission, have permitted me to help implement public policy consistent with the earth ethic I have developed over many years. During my term we have voted to cut Asheville's carbon footprint by 4 percent per year, implemented a single-stream recycling program that has greatly increased participation and diversion from the waste stream, made multi-modal transit a key goal (encouraging walking, biking, and transit use instead of autos), and replacing all of our street lights with LEDs-- a move that will save taxpayers $365,000 dollars per year (and that includes paying for the new lights!). Each Earth Day I look back over my career and can see that the movement shaped me and helped me shape the movement.

This year, despite the best efforts of the fossil fuel industry, more and more people are making the connection between human carbon emissions and climate change. The sweltering summer heat and mid-winter tornadoes are offering a wake-up call that average folks can't ignore. I'm hopeful that this year's celebration will kick off a renewed call for progress to a lower energy future. We can do better. And we must.

The district right next door to Cecil's, NC-10, is now represented by Global Warning Denier and corporate shill Patrick McHenry. The progressive Democrat taking McHenry on is Rep. Patsy Keever who is a commonsense grandmother who would like to make sure her grandchildren get more than a toxic waste dump of a planet as their heritage.

I’m a big supporter of Earth Day as a way to raise our consciousness about the duty we have to nurture and our natural surroundings. I’ve participated in the event almost every year since the beginning, and I look forward to the Asheville Earth Day event over the weekend.

You may not remember this, but when Earth Day began in 1970, it had backing from both Republicans and Democrats, industrialists and labor leaders, city dwellers and farmers. In fact, much of the landmark legislation of the era-- the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act-- came about through the momentum created by thousands of concerned citizens coming together in common cause. On a personal level, I began recycling, composting and taking measures to conserve energy, and I began encouraging others to do the same.

When I get to Congress, I will work to recapture the bipartisanship that fueled the early years of Earth Day as well as the eagerness of citizens to make a difference. We must come together to deal with the causes of climate change-- community wide, nationally and globally. I intend to continue to take a strong stand for a healthy and clean environment, not only for myself, but for my grandchildren and their peers who all deserve a flourishing planet to live on.

Alan Grayson (D-FL) also recalls his first Earth Day, which was the first time people were celebrating it back in 1970: "On the first Earth Day, when I was in junior high school, our Science teacher took us all across the street to the park. We spent the afternoon enjoying the company of the best possible companion on Earth Day: the Earth."

Nick Ruiz is also based in Central Florida and he's from the next generation after Norman's, Alan's and Cecil's. From what I know of him, a lot of his reverence for Earth Day comes from his devotion to surfing and to Florida's beautiful, pristine beaches. "I'm an advocate for biodiversity and the stewardship of our planet Earth," he told me yesterday, "because not to do so, is self-destructive. It's also why I propose to integrate the tasks of federal space, health and environmental agencies, such as NASA, NOAA, EPA, NIH, etc. with our federal educational agencies, and the regulation of K-20 education in all fifty states. There is no better way to educate our people about our planet, and how important health and ecodiversity are to humanity, than right from the beginning of one's education in kindergarten. Citizens then need to proceed through the educational system and grow-up with a rich ecological understanding regarding these basic environmental concepts. In the end, citizens that understand what is at stake in the planet's health and sustainability, will then be better placed to do the right thing. Such a proposal is the path to a sustainable future."

And, still in his 20's, Trevor Thomas is younger yet-- though not less committed to the survival of the planet and his beautiful part of Michigan. "West Michigan has a thousand reasons to celebrate Earth Day. No matter where you go in our region, you’re surrounded by breathtaking forest, farmland, rivers, in lakes, even the Great Lake of Lake Michigan to our west. We’re so fortunate to have these natural resources all around us-- and we should be doing everything we can to preserve them for future generations. But you wouldn’t know how lucky we are by looking at Rep. Justin Amash’s record on the environment. Although Republicans from West Michigan have been more interested in environmental issues than Republicans nationally, Rep. Amash has changed that course and has consistently voted to block the EPA from doing its job. He’s been targeted by the Environmental Defense Action Fund as one of the members of congress who is keeping clean air legislation from moving forward. Even President Gerry Ford, a Republican who represented West Michigan in Congress, supported clean air. Protecting and preserving our land, water, and air shouldn’t be partisan issues, and Earth Day gives our community a chance to come together and really appreciate all that we have."

When I want the perspective of a deep thinker among the Blue America America candidates, I know Franke Wilmer, a state Rep and a professor in Montana, will never fail me. Nor did she when I asked her about Earth Day.

I propose renaming Earth Day “We’re All In This Together Day.” Unfortunately, some of us don’t realize that we’re all in this together. It’s never been about saving the Earth. The Earth will save itself. It’s about securing our own future against the consequences of our ecologically irresponsible behavior in the present.

Today big businesses that profit from our failure to halt CO2 emissions deny the science of climate change the same way that big tobacco challenged science that linked smoking to lung cancer decades ago. But over 90 percent of the world’s scientists agree that we are experiencing effects of human-induced climate change, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences, American Geophysical Union, World Meteorological Organization, American Academy of Pediatrics an 71 other national and international science organization. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists, once the lone dissenting scientific organization, rescinded its dissent in 2007.

Most Montanans wouldn’t mind a slightly warmer climate, but that’s not what the science is about. It’s about the extinction of species that, according to Nobel Laureate Dr. Eric Chivian of the Harvard Medical School, may provide medically valuable knowledge, like treatments for peptic ulcer disease affecting 25 million Americans, end stage renal disease that kills 80,000 Americans a year, osteoporosis that kills 70,000 Americans a year, Type 2 diabetes killing a quarter of a million people each year, and arrhythmias.

It’s about the economic and geo-strategic impact of regional climate change on agriculture and energy. It’s about migrations of species like bark beetles and their impact on forestry and wildfires. In impoverished countries it’s about more death and suffering from increases in malaria and water and air-borne diseases. It’s about increased radiation and corresponding increases in skin cancer and melanoma, particularly in higher altitudes. It’s about understanding that our destiny, our fate is in some critical ways shared. It’s about understanding that we’re all in this together.

More responses from more Blue America candidates tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, think about what Earth Day means to you and your family-- and how much you value clean air and clear water and the beauty that God gave us to enjoy. And think about contributing to the campaigns of our Blue America candidates. They're all on the same page.

How To Make Small Political Contributions Make A Real Difference In A Political System Dominated By Wealthy Special Interests

Ilya's crucial primary in Illinois is the day after tomorrow. It looks very good for a progressive win. But that's hardly the end-- not for Ilya, who then has to go on and beat GOP hack Bob Dold-- and not for the progressive movement, which has quite a few more tough primaries against conservative Democrats between now and the general. Last month Jonathan Bernstein, sitting in for Greg Sargent at the Washington Post penned a column that flies in the face of Beltway conventional wisdom, Want to make your money count? Don't give it to Obama. Most realists recognize that, in the end, the presidential election will come down to a battle between a conservative standing up for the status quo and, in some areas trying to move it marginally in favor of the less privileged (marginally) and a reactionary, dead set on moving the clock backwards as far as he can get away with. Obama isn't my idea of a great president but Romney? Come on. In 2008 Blue America had already recognized what Obama is and, unlike virtually all of our colleagues we refused to endorse him. We knew what was coming. Better than McCain? Of course... marginally. But we concentrated our efforts on House and Senate races where there was a chance to elect a progressive who would actually work to move things in a new direction. And that's what Bernstein is counseling for this year as well:

If you’re planning on making political donations this year, and you really want your money to help the cause, here’s what you should do: Instead of sinking cash into either presidential campaign, put it where it will really matter-- into Congressional or state and local races.

Here’s why: The battle for the House and Senate may well shape up as toss ups, which means that control of Congress is hanging in the balance. This matters just as much, and in many ways more, than control of the White House. The least bang for your buck comes in presidential general elections. Your money will make a much bigger difference in practically every other type of election.

If you’re a typical donor of the $25, $100, or even $5000 variety, your money is just a drop in the ocean of the hundreds of millions of dollars that both sides are going to spend on the presidential election. But more importantly, what we know about voter behavior suggests that money is least important in presidential (general) elections. Money matters more in nomination fights-- where the candidates share a party label-- than in general elections, where most voters will use the party label as a powerful cue. Moreover, voters will pay less attention to information they hear through paid advertising when there is plenty of other information available, as is the case with high-profile presidential elections. Add it all up, and your money just matters more-- a lot more-- in lower profile contests.

If you’re a partisan, that probably means finding the most competitive House and Senate races, or state and local races, and investing your money in those. If you are ideologically driven, that may mean getting involved in primaries. I’d recommend that liberals find nomination battles with clear liberal vs. moderate lines in states or districts where Democrats should win easily in November.

He points to the Hawaii Senate race, where moderately progressive Mazie Hirono is facing right-wing corporate whore Ed Case. Not a bad idea. I'd like to suggest a lucky seven House races that matter, races where a stalwart progressive is facing at least one conservative and/or corrupt Democrat. In order of when their states vote:

Matt Cartwright (PA-17), April 24. Matt faces off against corrupt reactionary Blue Dog Tim Holden, who voted against health care reform, hysterically opposes Choice for women, supports fracking and the whole right-wing corporate agenda. Matt explained the race better than anyone else could in his announcement speech:

This is a new beginning, a new chance for working families to have a representative in Washington who will vote to put the economic well-being of the middle class first. This is your chance to elect a representative who will vote for legislation that benefits the middle class… and not the corporate special interests that fund his congressional campaign.

Working families throughout the new 17th Congressional District, like working families all across the country, are hurting. For those that aren’t struggling with unemployment or underemployment, their incomes have been stagnant. Even as we struggle to emerge from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, large corporate profits continue to go up, while middle class incomes go nowhere.

Why? Because incumbent congressmen continue to support policies and cast votes that put corporate profits over people. For too long, their priority has just been to get reelected, to protect their own jobs, so they wind up representing the deep pockets of the special interests instead of the people. It is wrong and it has to stop.

Working families in the new 17th Congressional District do not need a representative who votes against legislation making Wall Street and the big banks accountable for how they spend taxpayer money meant to prevent the collapse of our economy.

Working families in the new 17th Congressional District do not need a representative who, while the economy is still struggling, votes against legislation that helps distressed families keep their homes.

Working families in the new 17th Congressional District do not need a representative who votes for legislation that makes it harder for struggling families to get out from under crushing credit card debt.

Working families in the new 17th Congressional District do not need a representative who votes against legislation that makes medicine and health care more accessible to seniors and young adults, that allows coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and that also includes coverage for women’s preventative health care services.

To vote against legislation ensuring that taxpayer money in the TARP funds is used to benefit the economy and the middle class instead of stuffing the pockets of Wall Street executives-- that doesn’t represent middle class values or interests of working families.

To vote for legislation that makes it harder for folks to get a second chance in life… just so the credit card companies can squeeze their last nickel from them doesn’t represent the values of the middle class or interests of working families.

To side with the big banks… who helped create the economic crisis to begin with… and vote against legislation that helps avoid more home foreclosures doesn’t represent middle class values or interests of our working families.

To vote with big health care insurance companies and HMOs, doesn’t the interest of our seniors, young adults, people with pre-existing conditions and women.

I will stand up and fight for the middle class values and the interests of our working families.

If you'd like to contribute to Matt's campaign, you'll find it on the Bad Dogs ActBlue page. All of the other candidates are on the regular Blue America House page.

Chris Donovan CT-5), April 24. On the same day voters in Pennsylvania decide between Matt Cartwright and vile Blue Dog Tim Holden, voters in Connecticut will be picking a successor for Rep. Chris Murphy who is trying to regain the Joe Lieberman Senate seat for the Democrats. His opponent is a wealthy son of a sleazy lobbyist who plenty of trashy DC Democrats owe lots of favors to. Donovan is arguably the most successful state House Speaker in the entire United States, responsible for passing the kind of legislative agenda working families in the rest of America craves. In Donovan's own words:

If you dig deep in the most recent weak unemployment numbers, you’ll notice a disturbing trend. The drag on job recovery is not from lack of growth in private sector jobs but the deliberate destruction of public, government jobs. Private business added 57,000 jobs in June, while the public sector lost 39,000 jobs (bringing state and local public-sector employment to their lowest point in five years). The Congressional Republicans' goal to shrink government is working, and the result is higher unemployment and a stagnant economy. More Americans are losing their jobs due to government cutbacks, with teachers, nurses, police and firefighters joining the unemployment lines. D.C. Republicans can add stifling middle class job growth to their apparent ongoing goal to stunt our economic recovery.

Jobs in the private sector are picking up, but public-sector jobs are disappearing. This is out of line with the recoveries of the early 1990s-- in the last two economic recoveries, public-sector job growth averaged 1.7%. Since the recovery started, we have lost 430,000 public-sector jobs. If public sector job growth matched the historic average of growth during recovery, 800,000 more people would have jobs today, and our unemployment rate would drop a full half point from 9.2% to 8.7%.

But Washington Republicans are championing the loss of much-needed public-sector jobs-- a mad rush to cut the taxes of the Wall Street CEOs who put us in this mess and half-century-long ideological wars trumping the suffering of actual people. And their argument, "we can't afford it," is profoundly regressive. American families need jobs now and they will support ending tax-loopholes for the corporate fat-cats and Wall Street CEOs who created this economic morass in order to create them. We can't afford not to grow jobs by repairing our crumbling highway and bridge infrastructure. We can't afford not to grow jobs by rebuilding our aging water and sewage infrastructure. We can't afford not to grow jobs by supporting education from pre-school through college. We can't afford not to grow jobs by investing in green jobs and alternative energy sources provided by companies like PV Squared in New Britain and Litchfield Hills Solar in West Cornwall. And we certainly can't afford not to grow jobs by investing in the technology and modes of transportation of the future, projects like the electrification of the Danbury and Waterbury commuter rail lines, connecting Boston and New York through projects like the Tri-City High Speed Rail and commuter rail corridor that will pass through my hometown of Meriden, and potentially connecting Waterbury to Hartford via rail along the I-84 corridor. These projects aren't just a price tag, they are job engines and are desperately needed improvements that will relieve congestion on Connecticut's crowded highways, improve safety and public health, and create new job hubs in Connecticut's 5th Congressional district.

The American middle class, and projects like the Hoover Dam and the Eisenhower Interstate Highway system, didn't just appear. They were built, brick by brick and person by person, by soldiers returning home with a promise of new opportunities for education and health care, by immigrants seeking a new life in a new world, and by businesses, small and large, that sought American workers, required a well-educated workforce, and relied on American infrastructure. And they were built by the toil of our parents and grandparents with the collective strength forged by the unions that represented them. It's long past time to start rebuilding America, and the economic security of American families through good jobs with strong benefits, brick by brick, person by person.

Cecil Bothwell (NC-11), May 8. Having driven right-wing Blue Dog Heath Shuler out of the race (he's now soliciting jobs with shady, conservative-oriented lobbying firms), Cecil will face a Shuler political operative, Blue Dog Hayden Rogers. Cecil is likely to win the primary and the thrust of his campaign is drawing the contrast between progressive solutions and the toxic conservative agenda:

We American workers need immediate action. Our government can and must put people to work, now. The current recession will only end when unemployment levels are cut in half, and only the U.S. government has the power and obligation to make that happen quickly.

Federal law requires the government, in particular the President and the Federal Reserve, to create jobs. This legal duty comes from three sources: (1) full employment legislation including the Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act of 1978, (2) the 1977 Federal Reserve Act, and (3) the global consensus based on customary international law that all people have a right to a job with favorable remuneration to provide an adequate standard of living.

This is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of law.

It isn’t easy to stand up to the lies and corruption coming from Wall Street, from the multinational corporations, from Fox News and the right-wing noise machine. But we can be heroes and stand up for our families, our neighbors and the future of the American Dream!

Patsy Keever (NC-10), May 8. Before Patsy can take on diminutive neo-fascist closet case Patrick McHenry, she has to beat a conservative Democrat, Terry Bellamy, who is weak on protecting Choice, weak on LGBT equal rights and weak on standing up for working people when they're being set upon by corporate interests.

As a teacher, I have many causes, but my real passion is social justice, and public education is the path to a just society. Public education is the backbone of our democracy. The majority of my 25 years of teaching was in 8th grade social studies and language arts, although I have taught students in every grade from kindergarten to soldiers in the Army. Teaching was a career which I loved, but the lingering illness and subsequent death of my husband ended that career prematurely. He was a Vietnam veteran who was exposed to Agent Orange in 1970 and developed a very aggressive case of prostate cancer 30 years later. When I realized that he was never going to get better and that I probably didn’t have much time left with him, I left the teaching profession.
 
Although I am no longer teaching, my passion for leveling the playing field remains as strong as ever. I still fight for those children who live in poverty, whose only chance of a better life is a good education. I still care about the students who need to be challenged and those who have far too many challenges at home. As a state and nation, we need to invest in our children from a very early age all the way through college and beyond if we want to develop citizens who can and will contribute to our society.

For 25 years I have watched the Republican party pick away at our public education system. They have tried to treat our schools as a business which turns out a product. It is not a business! It is a service our government provides in order to maintain a just society. The question is how do we develop each individual to reach his or her potential to be a functioning, successful member of the community. Vouchers and charter schools are not the answer. Defunding good programs and instituting unfunded mandates are not the answer. Adding more students to each classroom while decreasing support systems for teachers is not the answer. Teachers, parents, students, businesses, elected officials and entire communities must find ways to work together for the good of all. Our lives depend on it.

Norman Solomon (CA-2), June 5. This is a solidly Democratic district and Democrats should opt for a perfect candidate, not one flawed by one-percenter conservative values and not one flawed by corporate corruption, like Norman Solomon's two primary opponents.

What's at stake is democracy-- rule by the people, as opposed to rule by big money. But I will be blunt here: Progressives must take much more seriously the necessity of gaining electoral power for the 99 percent. While we may often say and write very perceptive things, government continues to largely function in the service of large corporate interests. As an antidote to the poison of "corporate personhood," we've got to nurture genuine grassroots campaigns that are infused with progressive values.

That's what my campaign for Congress is about. We already have 850 volunteers, 3,800 individual donors and tremendous momentum, while I refuse to take a dime of corporate PAC money. In this "grassroots vs. AstroTurf campaign," voting begins in less than 60 days for an open seat in the new coastal district north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Right now, time is of the essence. How many lawn signs and brochures will our campaign be able to afford as we go to the printer later this month? In a significant way, that's up to you.

Franke Wilmer (MT-at-large), June 5. Another tough primary-- this time with the populist/progressive candidate, Franke Wilmer, facing two insiders, one very rich conservative and one compromised careerist.

“It seems like any news you get of Washington these days is either disappointing or crazy. Making pizza a vegetable was crazy, and the Super Committee failing to come to an agreement is disappointing. I think Congress may be the only place in America where you can ask 12 people to take 2 months to come up with a solution to an important problem and end up with nothing. It is unbelievable that 12 people couldn’t find $1.2 trillion in wasteful spending. Ending the Bush tax cuts just to the top 1% would be a good place to start. Or ending the tax breaks to corporations that export our jobs overseas. Don’t forget how much we are spending on wars ($1.2 trillion so far).

"Then one of the richest members of Congress, Denny Rehberg, comes out with his 'viable' option. In his mind there are really only two options-- either cut Social Security, Medicare, and Veterans Benefits or defund programs set up to help people cover outrageous health care costs. In his mind cutting the wasteful spending to defense contractors (the Commission on Wartime Contracting reported to Congress that $60 billion alone has been lost to waste and fraud in war spending) or cutting subsidies to the oil and gas companies would be insane. Insisting on cuts to Social Security is the wrong place for Republicans to draw a line in the sand. Senior citizens didn’t cause this recession. Congressman Rehberg ironically decided people can live without health care and presented his “viable” plan.

"There was a time in this country where our elected leaders governed using common sense. There was a time where the issues facing this country were more important than the next election. I am running for Congress to help restore some of those principles in Washington.”

Eric Griego (NM-1), June 5. State Senator Eric Griego has a record in New Mexico that indicates he will be a staunch and effective fighter for working families. His main primary opponent, the corrupt and conservative ex-Mayor Marty Chavez has a record too-- a really bad one for the 99%.

“We need a Democratic Congressional candidate who will unapologetically stand up for Democratic values. The current Republican leadership in Congress wants to dismantle the protections that it has taken generations to build, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. We need a strong courageous advocate for working families and who has a record of taking on those who put the interests of the richest two percent of Americans and the largest corporate interests ahead of our children, our environment and our local businesses... I stand with seniors, the disabled, and the working and middle class families of New Mexico in calling on President Obama and Congress to keep their hands off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as they negotiate a solution to the federal debt default crisis. While I support President Obama in his effort avert the catastrophic collapse of our recovering economy, any deal with Republicans that cuts Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid for New Mexico seniors and working families while failing to ensure that our nation's wealthiest are paying their fair share is entirely unacceptable."”

Do any of these messages resonate with you? Let me know here.