New York's upstate District 23 is currently represented in Congress by Republican incumbent John McHugh. At the beginning of the cycle, the district did not appear to be in contention. The NRCC was not worried about it, and the DCCC was not interested in it. They were content to let the 23rd remain a red backwater, unaffected by the November winds that are going to sweep all the other Republicans out to sea like the flotsam that floated into the Gulf when Katrina roared through the Gulf region and knocked Trent Lott's house flat as a pancake.
Enter our candidate, Dr. Bob Johnson:
http://www.johnsonforcongress.org/
Bob is a surgeon who served in the United States Army Reserve from 1989 to 1991 as Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Medical Corp. His determination to try to unseat the Republican incumbent began last cycle, and was triggered by the Medicare "reform" package pushed by the Bush Administration and backed by the incumbent in this district. He was also worried about the privatization of Social Security. McHugh ate his lunch in 2004. Turns out, the incumbent has a sweetheart relationship with the newspapers in the district. In a Presidential year, with up-ballot races genuine contests that year, Dr. Bob couldn't get his message out.
The 6-term Republican incumbent, John McHugh, talks about health care reform. He does. He does talk about it. He calls it "socialized medicine." He's put the words "health care" on his web page over and over again, presumably because his opponent is a doctor, and he hopes to finesse the potential issue, but without actually supporting any meaningful reform.
The word that Congressman McHugh doesn't have on his web page is torture. He voted to give the President unlawful powers to suspend the Great Writ of habeas corpus, flout the Geneva Conventions, and permit the torture of detainees. Bob Johnson has called him on it:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
The Congressman's subsequent meltdown shows that this is the most potent weapon in our arsenal. If our Democratic candidates confront them with the meaning and the consequences of that vote, and explain it to the voters in simple language, all those incumbents are in danger. Dr. Bob is showing us the way. A list of all the Senators and Congressvarmints who voted away these elementary human rights protections was posted earlier on daily kos, at:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Doctor Bob is ready to win this race on a shoestring, if he has to. He learned a lot, last time; and the context is different this year. He'll have the coattails of Senator Clinton and of Governor-to-be Eliot Spitzer (who's endorsed Dr. Bob, by the way). He's got a sophisticated ad campaign ready to go, using the inexpensive media outlets in his district to best advantage. Check out his ads at:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
It is almost comical, but also sad, to look up these worst jokers in Congress on the FEC filings from the Exxon/Mobil PAC and find out that they are invariably on the take there. John McHugh took $ from Exxon in the 2004 cycle. Wouldn't you know.
So if you live in or near the district, please volunteer for Dr. Bob's campaign. Get involved.
If not, please visit Dr. Bob's web site, or the ActBlue page below and drop a few actual dollars in the tin cup--if you have any left after paying your gas bill. Think how much better you'll feel.
http://www.actblue.com/...