This past Wednesday, Tim Dunn
announced his intention to run against Robin Hayes in NC's 8th district.
From the Charlotte Observer:
Tim Dunn, a trial lawyer and military veteran from Fayetteville who served recently in Iraq, announced his intention Wednesday to challenge four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes for his seat in Congress.
This is critical for several reasons:
For one, Paul Hackett proved that ANY district is vulnerable for Republicans, no matter how the Ken Mehlman's of the world try to spin it. Dunn is the latest candidate coming back from Iraq, and his challenge embodies Howard Dean's 50-state strategy. The netroots should offer any help Dunn may need; here's yet another opportunity to pull an important race into the national spotlight.
Further, the controversial CAFTA debate will be at the heart of this campaign. There are large pockets of NC voters who are particularly skeptical of trade agreements. But also, as we know, Hayes has shown himself to be spineless on this matter. He changed his mind on the agreement after feeling the pressure from the GOP power center:
Dunn, a Democrat, cited Hayes' July vote switch on the Central American Free Trade Agreement as a key motivation for his campaign. Hayes had said repeatedly he opposed CAFTA, then changed his vote at the last moment to ensure passage of the agreement.
"I care deeply that thousands of North Carolina workers have lost their jobs due to bad trade agreements, and that thousands more jobs are threatened because our congressman switched his vote on CAFTA," Dunn said in a statement announcing his campaign. "Robin Hayes' broken promise is just another example of him putting Washington politics ahead of our families and our values."
And of course, just like Hackett, Dunn brings a certain moral authority on military matters:
Dunn, 45, is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Last year, he helped a special tribunal in Iraq prepare for the prosecutions of Saddam Hussein and other senior government leaders in that nation's former regime.
Dunn also served in the 1990-91 Gulf War and in Kosovo and said he is worried that soldiers and Marines in Iraq have not gotten sufficient support from Washington.
"I am troubled that we have failed to give the servicemen and women in Iraq the tools that they need to win and haven't clearly defined our strategy for winning," Dunn said. He also accused Congress of breaking promises to U.S. veterans.
For all our protests about Iraq and the economy, the only way to change the state of things is to win elections. I apologize if other diaries have already been posted recently about Dunn. But even so, we need to make sure that he gets continued attention in the netroots community.