Congressional Goings On From Vermont To Missouri

Rep. Peter Welch, progressive Republican?

A few months ago my friend Pach and I went to a voter registration fundraiser for Head Count in DC that featured a concert by Bob Weir. We ran into Peter Welch (D-VT), who had just exposed and prevented a huge Bush Regime taxpayer rip off and we were eager to congratulate and thank him.

Since being elected in 2006 Welch has amassed a stunningly progressive voting record, right up there with Keith Ellison (D-MN), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Yvette Clark (D-NY), John Sarbanes (D-MD), and Betty Sutton (D-OH) all of whom live in much safer blue districts. In fact no sooner had we finished lavishing praise on Welch than he started babbling about how he was in a tough re-election battle and how endangered he is. "Dude," I said, "you don't have an opponent. The Republicans can't even find someone to run against you. That's not endangered."

But sure enough, last week's Vermont primary yielded a strong and admirable Republican candidate: Peter Welch. Enough Republicans in the at-large district wrote in Welch's name so that he will appear on the ballot as both a Democrat and a Republican. Now that's bipartisan!

And speaking of "bipartisan," yesterday we saw Republican Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) say that he could never endorse John McCain, followed today by Republican Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) telling Americans that Palin is not ready for the vice-presidency, let alone the presidency. On top of that, the only Republican moderate in the House of Representatives, Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) endorsed Obama yesterday, calling the Democratic nominee "prudent, knowledgeable...(and that) we can't use four more years of the same kind of policy that's hazardous and leads to recklessness."

Mainstream conservatives like Gilchrest and Hagel think their party has gone way too far to the extreme right and they want nothing to do with wacko candidates like McCain, Palin and some of the lunatic fringe congressional offerings. One of the craziest and most clueless of all is Missouri kook Blaine Leutkemeyer running for Kenny Hulshof's open seat in the northeastern part of the state against mainstream progressive Judy Baker. Watch this video of Leutkemeyer insisting nothing needs to be changed and that "we're going in the right direction."



Still, today's Washington Post posits that Republican chances to hold onto most of their Senate and House seats has gotten better because of the enthusiasm generated by the nomination at the base level by fellow extremist Palin. "Both sides concede that the GOP stands almost no chance of taking back the House or Senate in November, but party leaders think the Palin factor and an increasingly competitive fight for the White House have generated enthusiasm and momentum that could limit GOP losses to only a few Senate seats and perhaps fewer than a dozen House seats."

Republicans are especially bullish about the changing Senate landscape. Democrats have never envisioned an easy path to a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority, but polls suggest that prospect has been reduced to a near impossibility in recent weeks.

Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign has pulled out of Georgia, probably a fatal blow to former state representative Jim Martin in his bid to unseat Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Another long shot, state Rep. Rick Noriega in Texas, has been outraised 9 to 1 by Republican Sen. John Cornyn. State Sen. Andrew Rice is not showing significant gains against GOP Sen. James M. Inhofe in Oklahoma, and Republican Sen. Susan Collins appears to be holding firm in Maine, where she faces Rep. Tom Allen.

Tomorrow, at 11am EST, Blue America will start a competition to address 5 of those tough Senate contests, targeting Republican rubber stamps Susan Collins (ME), John Cornyn (TX), Ted Stevens (AK), James Inhofe (OK), and Gordon Smith (OR). Please join us at Firedoglake.

Yesterday's Primaries-- And A Preview For Tomorrow's Primary In Memphis

Judy Baker, progressive victor in Missouri

Kansas, Missouri and Michigan all had primaries yesterday. Mostly incumbents and Establishment favorites won their races. The stupidest candidate who ran for Congress in any district in any state for either party, Brock Olivo in the Missouri district (MO-09) being abandoned by Kenny Hulsdorf, got wiped out. He came in 4th. If you want to understand why, watch the video at that link back there. What I can't understand is why 4,637 Republicans (10%) voted for him. Blaine Luetkemeyer won the GOP nod with 39%, beating Bob Onder in a bloody, vicious contest between two extremists, and progressive state Senator Judy Baker beat former Missouri House Speaker Steve Gaw (42%-33%) to take the Democratic nomination. It's a very Republican, very white district (PVI is R+7) and includes "Little Dixie." Kerry scored 41% of the vote in 2004.

In the Missouri governor's race, Democratic homophobe Jay Nixon won his primary handily, as was expected, and he will face Kenny Hulsdorf who barely managed (49-45%) to edge by Sarah Steelman for the GOP nod. Nixon is favored to win in November but after his most recent outburt of homophobic hysteria some of his financial support dried up.

There were two congressional races in Michigan people were watching and one in Kansas. The KS-02 race looked like it would be a re-match between radical right lunatic (and ex-Congressman) Jim Ryun and incumbent moderate Democrat, Nancy Boyda. But it appears that Ryun went down to a narrow defeat-- 51-49%-- to Lynn Jenkins. It's a pretty red district but Boyda has done a good job, is known as very independent-minded, and hasn't given the voters any reason to vote her out of office. A side show in Kansas was ex-Attorney General Phill Kline's running for re-election as District Attorney in Johnson County. He's the titular head of the Nazi-faction of the Kansas GOP and he had his head handed to him by a mainstream conservative, Steve Howe.

In Michigan's 7th CD, state Senator and Blue America-endorsee Mark Schauer beat a perennial vanity candidate-- who was the party nominee in 2006-- 66-34%. Schauer will face far right extremist Tim Walberg, a freshman, in November. The more complicated race was in MI-13, where incumbent Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, mother of Detroit's unpopular, hapless and indicted mayor, drew two opponents, Mary Waters and Martha Scott. Aside from being the mother of the reviled mayor, Kilpatrick was a die-hard Hillary supporter, something that went over badly among African-American voters in MI-13, who overwhelmingly and enthusiastically supported Obama. It was neck and neck all night-- with Waters ahead most of the night-- until Kilpatrick's home turf came in late and put her ahead. She raised around $800,000 and her closest opponent, Waters, raised around $10,000.

The other hot race today was the Democratic senatorial primary run-off in Georgia. Moderate ex-state Rep. Jim Martin beat reactionary loon Vernon Jones, 59-41%. He'll be facing extremist Saxby Chambliss, one of Bush's most dependable Senate rubber stamps in November.

Rep. Steve Cohen & Obama

Tennessee holds its primary tomorrow and all eyes are on Memphis, where progressive freshman Steve Cohen, who is white and Jewish, is being challenged by a vicious anti-Semitic, racist pawn of ex-Congressman Harold Ford. It's been a very ugly race-- and the ugliness is all on one side, Nikki Tinker's. Steve Cohen was first elected in 2006 with the help of Blue America and we have enthusiastically endorsed him again. If you know anyone in Memphis, please call them and talk to them about this race. Cohen has been a real leader for working families and he is the only progressive congressman from Tennessee. Tinker is a complete corporate shill and far more conservative across a wide array of issues. Rahm Emanuel, a longtime ally of Ford's, has encouraged institutional support for Tinker and has prevented his DCCC pawn, Chris Van Hollen, from coming to the aid of Cohen, the way the DCCC and Nancy Pelosi backed other challenged incumbents like Kilpatrick yesterday and Al Wynn a few months ago. One of the most corrupt members of the Democratic Party, Gregory Meeks (NY) has been supporting Tinker, as has Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio). More progressive and respectable members of the Congressional Black Caucus like John Conyers and Jesse Jackson, Jr. have been campaigning for Cohen.


EMILY's List Embarrassed By Nikki Tinker's Racist Campaign

We were pretty disappointed when EMILY's List came out for Nikki Tinker in her anti-semitic, homophobic, racist jihad to turn a solidly Blue district reddish. I think they wish they had never gotten involved with this campaign of bigotry. The following statement was issued by Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY's List, in response to recent ads run by the Nikki Tinker for Congress campaign: 
 
"We were shocked to see the recent ads run by the Nikki Tinker for Congress campaign.  We believe the ads are offensive and divisive.  EMILY's List does not condone or support these types of attacks."

Next time DLC Chair Harold Ford makes a recommendation, take it with a grain of salt.

BECAUSE HEATH SHULER HAS BEEN SUCH A GREAT CONGRESSMAN... BROCK OLIVO, CLUELESS REPUBLICAN BONEHEAD

Yesterday, in the post directly below this one, I introduced a gaggle of Lynchburg church ladies who explained why they are supporting Mike Huckabee and how GOP propaganda has completely warped their vision of reality. I mentioned that it is scary to think of people so obviously ignorant as they are, voting in elections to pick a president for all of us. But it isn't just church ladies in backward parts of the country; let me introduce you to a young man who is running for the Missouri congressional seat being abandoned by Kenny Hulshof, who is seeking to move up the career ladder.

Please watch the short video clip below of Brock Olivo, a football "star" from St. Francis Borgio Regional High School and the University of Missouri. He also played for the Detroit Lions for 4 years. He just declared that he's running to replace Hulsdorf and if you think Heath Shuler has been a bad member of Congress, this guy promises to make Shuler look like Albert Einstein.

He's 31 and feels he's qualified because "I'm here and I'm ready to go to work for the people o the 9th district" and because he can't think of a "more normal, humble way to give back to the community." The video was shot at the Gasconade County Lincoln Day in Hermann, Missouri, a scene Olivo claims sent chills up his spine. Issues? No idea. Political philosophy? No idea. "I believe in hard work. I believe in values. My platform will surface in due time."

He claims he was approached many years ago-- let's thank the Lord it was by the Republicans this time and not Rahm Emanuel-- and points out that although everyone knows him as a football player, he was also in social studies class. It's a very red district and I can easily imagine voters like the little church ladies from Lynchburg putting him over the top.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Judy Baker had already started campaigning against Hulsdorf when he pulled out of the race. She is likely to face a primary from former Missouri House speaker Steve Gaw.