Watching the Lamont-Lieberman debate was a defining moment for the progressive, people-powered movement. Months of tension and excitement culminated in
an impressive debate for Ned Lamont - and another example of Angry Joe being, well, a meanspirited, Rovian-esque Lying Liar.
Well, needless to say, the event got me excited. I was charged and ready to do whatever I could to help our budding movement. I'd love to send Ned Lamont a big check and volunteer, but I live too far away from Connecticut and am a college student - so a token check is the only option available. Instead, I decided to look at home - and see were I could help, here. As they say, all politics is local.
And I found something interesting. Massachusetts is a lot like Connecticut: blue state, but filled with DINOs. One of those DINOs, who has a shoddy women's choice record and is still in favor of Iraq is Rep. Steven Lynch, of the 9th Congressional District. One would think there'd be a massive movement against him --- except, well, the media doesn't think it needs to cover incumbents (even one who only earned his seat with 39% of the vote).
I think that's pretty damn lazy and it's time we do something about it. It's time we do something about it because there's a real alternative to Rep. Lynch - vying to defeat Lynch in the primary. That man's name is
Phil Dunkelbarger.
How different is he, positionally? Well, try this on for size:
But, like I said, he's getting no coverage. How pathetic is the media coverage of this race? The 9th covers a large chunk of Boston and most of the South Shore - which one would think falls under Boston Globe's regional coverage. The Globe covers politics daily, including a city and regional section. Most casual observers would expect Lynch and Dunkelbarger stories to be picked up. Well, throughout 2006, most people would be wrong.
Worst of all? Not only is the Boston Globe the prominent paper in Boston, but it's actually the newspaper that's covered Dunkelbarger the most. According to the Globe's archives, there have been only 3 stories written with "Dunkelbarger" in the name that were actually about the 9th Congressional Race - but they were all from December of 2005. In approximately six months, the Globe hasn't published a single story about Dunkelbarger - but in the past year, almost 2,000 stories include "Representative Lynch." Suffice it to say, Rep. Lynch has had coverage in the Boston Globe.
The Boston Herald? Dunkelbarger appeared in their archives only once - a Letter to the Editor - about a residence's displeasure with Rep. Lynch. The local community papers? They've completely shirked their responsibility. Searching for "Dunkelbarger" in the entire network of community papers that represent most of the 9th Congressional District lead to zero results. A search of "Rep. Lynch" on the community newspaper website yields twenty five stories - again, Lynch has been covered - at least significantly more than Dunkelbarger (in this case, 25x0 doesn't equal zero).
So let's sum this up: the Boston Globe has barely covered the race, the Herald hasn't covered it at all (but did allow an angry reader to submit a Letter to the Editor about Lynch, which mentioned Dunkelbarger) and the local newspapers, as far as I am aware, have completely ignored him. Yet all of these papers print stories about Representative Lynch. Do people even know there's an alternative? No. Most of them don't.
If it weren't for this awesome story by a political reporter out of Boston's alternative newspaper, the Phoenix, even I wouldn't have heard of Dunkelbarger (and I'm a news-junky Bay State blogomaniac living next door in the 8th Congressional District). In fact, people in Massachusetts are so hungry for change that there's been a rapid spread of Dunkelbarger stories on the Bay State's progressive blogs and netroots since that lone Phoenix article - but is it too little, too late?
No one knows where this race stands and the primary isn't until September. Rep. Lynch supports positions that are very unpopular, even in the 9th Congressional. The 9th may trend slightly more conservative than most of Massachusetts, but being against choice and bitterly supporting Iraq in Angry-Joe style isn't going to make him Mr. Popular in his district, especially when he barely got there in the first place.
The media has a responsibility to help let people know about what's going on. And, in the 9th, Dunk is going on. He's going person to person, train station to train station and trying to meet everyone he can possibly meet. But if he's totally ignored by the local and regional media, none of his sweat will pay off. Ultimately, whether or not Dunkelbarger wins, it's important for the sake of Democracy that his voice is heard. At the very least, a close primary will make Lynch think twice: even incumbents are responsible to their constituents.
And for that reason, the media should be ashamed for making it almost impossible for progressive candidates to build movements in time to mount incumbent challenges. I just wish this were a Massachusetts problem, but I'm too smart to be so niave.
[Note to readers: I've NEVER worked for Dunkelbarger, been paid by him, consulted with him, volunteered for him or done anything similar. I've simply read this independent story written by the Boston Phoenix (an alternative newspaper) and did a little further reading (and investigation of the media coverage since there was almost no available info in the newspapers). My point in writing this is not to advance Dunkelbarger's chances, but to expose the Media's despicable coverage of an important race.]