NJDC PAC [
http://www.actblue.com/... ] is pleased to recommend two Democratic challengers who are each critical to Democratic efforts to take back the Congress in 2006.
NJDC PAC has met with each of these candidates. They are each intelligent, thoughtful candidates about whom Democrats can be proud.
Furthermore, each candidate is running against an extreme right-winger -- the sort of candidate whose values are inconsistent with those of the vast majority of American Jews.
Please contribute to one or both of these fine candidates by visiting our "Act Blue" page [ http://www.actblue.com/... ].
Every donation is critical to helping bring about a Congress that can and will balance out some of the excesses of the Bush Administration.
Please note: every penny you donate goes directly to the candidate's war chest - and each candidate knows that the assistance came from an NJDC PAC supporter.
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SHERROD BROWN: Sherrod Brown has a longstanding history of fighting hard for progressive values - and winning!
We all know that Ohio is the epicenter of American politics; if Sherrod Brown can hold onto his current lead over incumbent Senator DeWine, a strong message will be sent that Ohioans regret pushing Bush over the top in 2004 - and will NOT make that mistake again in 2008.
In 2004, Mike DeWine received a 100 percent rating from the far-right Christian Coalition. He has also received consistently high scores from the group for the past decade: 80% (2001), 92% (2000), 91% (1998), and 92% (1996).
Since 1997, DeWine has voted with the ultra-conservative National Right to Life Committee every time. On 39 different occasions, Mike DeWine voted in lock-step with the National Right to Life Committee to restrict a woman's right to choose and eliminate funding for family planning options in the U.S. and abroad.
Senator DeWine is a candidate outside the mainstream of American Jewish values - not just because he holds the anti-choice, pro-religious extremist, anti-environmental views that are rife within the Republican caucus... but also because his views on stem-cell research are at odds with the strong consensus within the Jewish community in favor of life stem-cell research -- and the promise that it holds for cures for many deadly degenerative diseases.
DeWine publicly and strongly opposes embryonic stem cell research: he has stated that he opposes embryonic stem cell research, as well as the purposeful destruction of embryonic stem cells in the name of "science." Senator DeWine will oppose any bill that would expand existing policy by allowing the government to pay for studies on embryos in frozen storage at fertility clinics, even if the couples who conceive them certify that they would otherwise discard them. Senator DeWine strongly opposes the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which passed the House by a vote of 238-194.
Please contribute to Sherrod Brown through NJDC PAC by clicking here. http://www.actblue.com/...
CLAIRE McCASKILL: Claire McCaskill is a dream candidate - how many pro-choice candidates have what it takes to lead a Republican incumbent in most recent polls in a state like Missouri? We absolutely have the right candidate for Missouri, and this is the year in which we can take back the Senate - what the Democrats need is strong, national support for candidates like McCaskill to make Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid the Senate Majority Leader.
And we need to get rid of the likes of Missouri Senator Jim Talent. A leading religious right organization, the Family Research Council, has attributed Talent's narrow 2002 victory to his strong anti-choice views - it is up to us to make Talent pay for his opposition to a woman's right to control her body.
In addition to being anti-choice and a loyal foot soldier for the Christian Coalition (100% ratings from the Christian Coalition in 2003 and 2004), Talent's views on stem cell research are simply indefensible.
Talent represents how Republican extremism on issues like stem cell research is politically dangerous - and the message we can send by defeating him will be heard throughout the country.
Jim Talent's incoherent stem cell waffling: Jim Talent co-sponsored legislation that would have criminalized promising stem cell research, but then in February 2006, he announced he no longer backed the bill because it may have banned ANT (altered nuclear transfer) research.
Most scientists view Talent's approach as fatally flawed and ineffective. The proposal was roundly condemned by both pro-lifers and scientists who favor embryonic stem cell research.
At one point, Talent supported criminalizing stem-cell research. Talent co-sponsored Sen. Sam Brownback's Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2005, which would ban all human cloning, including "somatic cell nuclear transfer" - often referred to as therapeutic cloning - making it a crime to participate in such efforts.
Talent also refuses to take a position on the Missouri stem cell ballot initiative: Now, Talent is waffling on Brownback's radical bill, and refusing to take a stand on Missouri's Stem Cell Initiative... and he is being widely condemned by the radical right for waffling. But most importantly, Talent hardly shares the consensus position within the Jewish community in favor of this cutting-edge scientific research.
Please contribute to Claire McCaskill through NJDC PAC by clicking here. http://www.actblue.com/...