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Following a few Key Senate Races |
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A few of us at The Seminal have decided to follow four key Senate races in 2008. The purpose of this, in my mind, is twofold: 1) To offer some respite to ourselves and our readers, from the primary horseraces and what is sure to be a grueling general election, and 2) To build relationships with state and local bloggers, as well as the campaigns themselves, in order to offer support to both.
The four races we’ll be looking at are in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Minnesota.
Texas
Republican John Cornyn is being challenged by Democratic State Rep and Aghanistan veteran Rick Noriega. Noriega is going after Cornyn on issues such as SCHIP, immigration, higher education and prescription drug costs. He also advocates tying war funding to a “logistically reasonable” timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.
Cornyn is pro-war, supportive of signing statements, tied to Jack Abramoff and has been described as one of big oil’s ten favorite members of Congress. This guy has to go.
You can contribute to Noriega’s campaign here.
Oklahoma
James “Global Warming Denier” Inhofe is being challenged by State Senator Andrew Rice. Rice is actively reaching out to bloggers, which is nice, and has been getting some attention lately for his personal connection to our health care crisis. Rice is going after Inhofe on issues such as Iraq, Global Warming, and Veteran’s health care, all of which are weak areas for Sen. Inhofe. Andrew is very strong on Iraq:
Rice believes that:1) By never questioning the wisdom of this war, Senator Inhofe’s rubber stamp support for the Bush Iraq War policy has betrayed American soldiers and their families who are asked to sacrifice;
2) Congress should force the President to implement an orderly redeployment of American troops from the Civil War in Iraq and adequately finance their health and well-being as they return home;
3) Once the Iraq Civil War is no longer draining American lives and treasure, the U.S. can refocus our might and skill on identifying and destroying terrorist cells around the world. Just 18 days before the start of the Iraq War, America enjoyed one of our greatest successes since 9/11 when our intelligence forces cooperated with Pakistani intelligence to capture Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Rather than refereeing a civil war, this surgical raid in a Pakistani village 4 ½ years ago serves as an example of American strength against terror. Mohammed remains in U.S. custody today.
I especially like the way he frames Inhofe as a Rubber Stamp for the Bush administration for his Iraq votes.
You can contribute to Rice’s campaign here.
Colorado
With republican incumbent Wayne Allard out of the race, Colorado is looking like one of the best pickup opportunities the Democrats have in 2008. Possible Republican candidates for the seat include former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer, Delta County Commissioner Wayne Wolf, U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez and a slew of others.
The Democratic challenger will be popular Congressman Mark Udall. Udall is a strong proponent of responsible redeployment from Iraq, as he explains in this statement:
We must end our continued entanglement in this war, but we must do so in a way that inhibits the development of terrorist bases, manages to salvage our national reputation in the region and keeps faith with the humanitarian obligation we have to the Iraqi people.I believe that we should begin the process with a phased withdrawal that makes clear to the Iraqi political leadership that they alone have the ultimate power to settle their differences and build a stable society. America can help. The United Nations should help. But in the end, the solution to unending war in Iraq rests with the political will of the Iraqi people.
He is also focusing his campaign on education, health care and energy independence. You can contribute to Udall’s campaign here.
Minnesota
Genius and funny-man Al Franken is challenging incumbent republican Sen. Norm Coleman this year in Minnesota. Coleman, former Mayor of Minneapolis, was an original sponsor of the infamous Lieberman-Kyl Sense of the Senate resolution designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. Many progressives and independents fear that this could be used by the Bush administration as justification for a pre-emptive strike on the country. Coleman has also been criticized for flip-flopping on whether or not the U.S. should be drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a hot issue for environmentalists. He was opposed to drilling as a candidate in 2002 and supportive of it as a Senator in 2005.
This campaign is beginning to heat up, with the Franken campaign launching their first two television ads.
Joe Bodell at Minnesota Campaign Report has more on the ads:
The ads will appear on all four major Twin Cities network channels and in limited spots on cable channels including CNN and MSNBC. Franken staff said that while they would be buying TV time in weekly chunks, the ads would run at least through precinct caucuses on February 5th.
You can contribute to Franken’s campaign here.
Look for more in the coming months on these four Senate races.
Just like to point out that in Texas, the Democratic primary is being hotly contested. Besides Noriega, an educator from Corpus Christi named Ray McMurrey is also running. McMurrey is the only progressive in the race - he favors single-payer national health care, publicly funded elections, and a one-year timetable for withdrawal on Iraq. Noriega is a more traditional, corporate candidate, who is currently employed by a big energy firm, and was formerly an energy lobbyist. If you’d like to find out more about McMurrey’s platform, go to mcmurreyforussenate.com. McMurrey has made a pledge not to take any money from registered lobbyists (unlike Noriega), so he could really use your support!
Also, big ups to Al Franken for taking on Norm Coleman. Maybe he can be the next Paul Wellstone.
Thanks Jeff. We’re just starting to look into these races and we’ll definitely be covering the primaries as well.
We at Democracy for Texas have endorsed Rick Noriega for U.S. Senate. Our membership when polled voted for him by over 80%, making him the first candidate our progressive organization has ever endorsed. You can read his answers to our questionnaire here.