Knocking Off a Clinton Superdelegate

by: Matt Stoller

Wed May 28, 2008 at 12:15

This is the kind of shit we're dealing with from his opponent, Leonard Boswell.

That's a mailer sent out by an anti-Fallon 527 run by a developer who will reap rewards from one of Boswell's earmarks.  It criticizes Fallon's vote against residency restrictions for child sex offenders; Fallon was the only legislator in Iowa to vote against them. Even though prosecutors of these crimes say these laws don't work.  The pandering on the fears of the middle class and the creation of a fear-based atmosphere is a key hallmark of a politics that doesn't work, and it's precisely this kind of fear-mongering that is paralyzing our political system.

If you want to stop child predators, there are many ways of doing it.  The politicians who voted for this law really didn't care about stopping child predators, just as the developer who paid for this mailer and the corporate PAC backers of Boswell are just seeking standard legislative favors.

I spoke with Fallon's campaign manager yesterday, and she told me that they are going to use the money we raise for response mailers to this piece.  I thought we'd hit $1000, which would pay for about a tenth of what it would cost.  We ended up going beyond that in only a few hours.  If you'd like to contribute, you can do so here.

The Obama campaign is doing well because it is rejecting these kinds of divisive and unproductive political attacks.  That is why, you might have guessed, Fallon endorsed Obama, and Boswell endorsed Clinton.