Americans appear ready to sweep a lot of Democrats into office on November 4. Not only does Barack Obama maintain a solid lead in the popular vote and electoral vote estimates, several Senate races that appeared safe Republican holds a few months ago are now considered tossups.
Polling is harder to come by in House races, but here too there is scattered evidence of a coming Democratic tsunami. Having already lost three special Congressional elections in red districts this year, House Republicans are now scrambling to defend many entrenched incumbents.
In this diary, I hope to convince you of three things:
1. Some Republicans who never saw it coming are going to be out of a job in two weeks.
On a related note,
2. Even the smartest experts cannot always predict which seats offer the best pickup opportunities.
For that reason,
3. Activists should put resources behind many under-funded challengers now, instead of going all in for a handful of Democratic candidates.
In the last couple days, there have been several posts across the blogosphere citing what various candidates running for Congress have said on FISA and retroactive immunity for the telecoms. But so far, it's been all over the map. I'll try to corral all their statements into this diary, so you can see who the "good guys" are.
First, let's start off with the current House and Senate members who voted against this bill. They do deserve credit, as it's their jobs on the line.
Follow me below the fold to see the dozens of Democratic challengers who are standing up for the Constitution, and are against this FISA bill and retroactive immunity.
We are proud to announce JStreetPAC's first round of candidate endorsements. The candidates are Donna Edwards (Candidate, MD-04), Debbie Halvorson (Candidate, IL-11), Rep. Charles Boustany (LA-07), Darcy Burner (Candidate, WA-08), Rep. Stephen Cohen (TN-09), Dennis Shulman (Candidate, NJ-05) and Mary Jo Kilroy (Candidate, OH-15). Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), one of our endorsed candidates, recorded the following video message to JStreetPAC supporters.
Hoyer, smiling, pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Shulman.
"Here's another $2,500. Talk is cheap, right?" said Hoyer. "It's not in the mail. It's in his pocket now."
It was the second $2,500 check that Hoyer's political action committee, AmeriPAC, had given to Schulman's campaign - something he said would be a taste of things to come if Shulman continues to run a vigorous campaign against three-term Rep. Scott Garrett in the fifth congressional district.
Shulman and Hoyer today worked hard to get the point across that Garrett, who is ranked among the most conservative members of Congress, is out of step with this "centrist" district.
This is what we're up against, a very skillful Hoyer who funds some of our best progressives and worms his way into their embrace the same day he's cutting deals to cave on FISA. Shulman, after gaining traction with progressives early on and beating his crazy primary opponent, is now going to be tested. He's a great candidate, a blind rabbi willing to take bold stances on Israel and Iraq. I suppose we'll see how far that takes us this time, and it's possible he can create space for other Democrats to be progressive on foreign policy issues.
And it is these words, and this man, that have inspired rabbi Dennis Shulman (D) to challenge conservative extremist Scott Garrett (R) in NJ-5 this 2008.
Like his spiritual forefather, Shulman has concluded that he can no longer speak about God and remain silent on Iraq, as well as many of the other pressing and important issues of our times.
Before I answer this question, I would like to first thank all the commentators for their interest in my disability and their questions about the obstacles I have faced.
I lost my vision gradually throughout my childhood so that, while I could still read large print when I was ten or eleven, I could not when I was thirteen. Using a cane became necessary in my junior year of high school.
By the time I went to college (Brandeis) and grad school (Harvard) I was totally blind. I started at Brandeis in 1968. These were the pre-personal computer dark ages. For all people, the personal computer has radically changed their lives; for blind folks, this change is downright revolutionary.
I've heard it said that the ideal political candidate is the individual who neither wants nor needs to hold public office. Instead, the ideal candidate is the individual who serves simply because he or she feels a civic and moral responsibility to do so.
This individual is Dennis Shulman, a Democrat running for New Jersey's fifth congressional district seat in the United States House of Representatives.
So, who exactly is this ideal candidate? As a longtime student in Dennis's classes and congregant at his services, I believe I'm in a unique position to answer this question.
STATE BLOGS
