One has to tip the cap to GOP Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (WV-02). No other House Republican has managed a perfect record of involvement with each of the major Republican ethical scandals. With her failure as a member of the House Page Board, she has raised the bar for anyone wishing to challenge her status of the Queen of Corruption.
Capito received more Tom DeLay/ARMPAC money than any other House Republican ("swingstateproject"). Capito had to give back dirty money from disgraced Bob Ney and convicted Randy "Duke" Cunningham. And one of her aides fell on his sword to insulate her when tied to the Safavian GSA aspect of the Abramoff scandal.
And in this morning's Roll Call, we find Capito and Mark Foley worked together in the formation of the oddly named PROM Committee.
We have a strong Democratic challenger(endorsed by Charleston Gazette) to Capito in this two-to-one Democratic registration district. His name is Mike Callaghan ("Callaghan campaign website".).
We need to donate to this guy. Do it now at the Callaghan site or here (actblue). He could have won before; now he should win this traditionally Democratic seat.
I am not going to go into analytical detail on why Mike Callaghan should, can, and will win this race. If you are interested in this, you can link onto my past posts here and at OurCongress (
link to my brilliant observations).
I will depart from this only to point out that this is the type of seat we have to flip if Democrats are to regain control of the House. Until Democrats start winning back the traditionally Democratic rural seats, we are doomed to minority status.
And, with West Virginia now a classic swing state in the Ohio Valley region which will determine who wins the electoral college in 2008, knocking off the sole Republican holding federal office will energize the efforts to return the Mountain State to the Democratic column in presidential elections. Oddly, the big national donors and the DCCC don't seem to be paying attention to this race.
If they aren't smart enough to see this opportunity, then we are just going to have to get the job done without them.
And to note that in Mike Callaghan Democrats have an energetic challenger whose tough record as a federal prosecutor and bold retail campaigning style make him a formidable threat to Capito's retention of this traditionally Democratic seat.
And, finally, this is the kind of district where we can get the most bang for our bucks. A bunch of small contributions can really make a difference. West Virginia media rates are dirt cheap.
When we donate in races in big market state like PA, NJ, and the like, it's just a drop in the bucket. A big media buy runs in the millions in these high media-cost states.
In West Virginia, you can run a statewide TV buy for 50K. You can buy radio spots for anywhere between $20 and $5 a run, depending on the station.
Callaghan already has an energized volunteer base...and the enthusiasm has skyrocketed with the growing awareness of Capito's vulnerability. If we give him enough resources to compete in the air war, that could make the difference between coming close and beating Capito. And this one seat could be the difference in control.
Callaghan has called for Capito to resign her membership on the Page Board ("link to call for resignation"). Mike Callaghan passionately and convincingly makes the case that Capito failed to get the job done. Once you read his comments on this matter in the Huntington News story (link), you'll see this candidate has the fire in his belly and his heart and head in the right place.
With his squeaky-clean background as a federal prosecutor and as a signer of the Voters First pledge to clean up the ethical morass in Washington (story link), Callaghan is ideally positioned to capitalize on Capito's vulnerabilities on ethics and her incredible failure to fulfill her duty to keep herself fully informed and act to protect the children in the page program.
In additon, Capito served as Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference on prescription Drugs. Capito played a leading role in ramming through the provision in the Medicare Part D bill which made it illegal for the federal government to use its negotiating leverage to lower prices for seniors' prescription drugs. In short, she used her office to guarantee the pharmaceutical industry got to charge folks full-pop retail for their drugs.
Imagine a law that required everyone buying a car to pay sticker price. Well, that's what Capito and her buddy Billy Tauzin did. And each of them has been amply rewarded. Tuazing got a million-dollar job running PHARMA. Capito has a war chest of two million dollars.
Even if you throw out all the other corruption charges and her ultraconservative voting record, she deserves to lose her job for this scam alone.
And Mike Callaghan is the man who can beat her.
I am not posting this to get into a detailed breakdown on the issues. What scares me is the possibility Democrats will let this chance to replace Capito with Callaghan slip away.
Look at it this way:
Captio is:
1) A firm supporter of Bush's failed policies in Iraq
2) Up to her neck in the corruption scandals
3) A rising star in the GOP House leadership
4) A probable candidate for future statewide office
5) In the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry
6) Went on CNN to prematurely announce the Sago miners were alive
We can take her down. She deserves to lose. We have a candidate who desrves to win. And we can all pitch in to help.
Again, donate at the Mike Callaghan campaign site (link) or on actblue (link).
God Save the Queen of Corruption. Send her home.