First things first.
Colorado,
Indiana,
Nevada,
North Carolina,
Iowa,
New Mexico,
West Virginia,
Kansas,
Connecticut,
Illinois,
Missouri,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming,
Wisconsin,
Kentucky,
Oregon,
Minnesota,
Washington,
Virginia,
Nebraska,
Alaska, Hawaii,
Florida,
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware,
Alabama,
Michigan,
Arizona,
Ohio,
Mississippi,
Arkansas,
Louisiana and
South Carolina.
And before we take the jump, I just wanted to remind you again that you can contribute to candidates on this project by hitting this
ActBlue page
And, because I get grief about not pimping my other series, here are the stories in The Basics Series...
New Republican Sales Pitch
DLC Democrats Sales Pitch
City on a Hill
The Napoleonic Strategies of the GOP
The Danger Called Howard Dean
JUMP!
Oklahoma has five Congressional Districts of which four are currently held by Republicans and one is held by Democrats.
OK-1: Tulsa and environs. The red incumbent, John Sullivan, won this with 60% to Bush's 65. Our guy is Alan Gentges, an attorney from a working class background, and the first in his family to graduate high school. Coming to the rescue is a third party candidate, Bill Wortman who walked away with 25% of the GOP primary vote in '04. And polls are showing a lot of dissatisfaction in the district.
OK-1: If all the stars align, this is a pick-up, and that's enough to add Alan to my ActBlue Page.
OK-2: Eastern portion of the state including Muskogee. Our incumbent, Dan Boren, won t his one with 66% of the vote while W snagged 59%. You'd figure the reddies would run hard here. But, no. Once again, Patrick Miller is running on the red ticket. He's never lost a primary, that man, but never won an election. In every election since 1980, his name has stood in the Republican column on the ballot, except one year when he had to get eye surgery. He's an engineer and spent 7 years as a professor, and the guy loves running for office.
OK-2: Safe Blue
OK-3: Western part of the state including the Panhandle. The reddie, Frank Lucas, won this one with 82% of the vote. Out gal is Sue Barton, a children's advocate who you can almost hear screaming "You Have the Power!". However, in the absence of money, there'd have to be a lot of voter discontent here, and with Lucas voting against the "Intelligence Czar", he's got some bona fides as an independent, which seems to be enough here.
OK-3: Safe Red
OK-4: Southern portion of the state including parts of OKC and the OU Campus at Norman. The red incumbent, Tom Cole, took 78% of the vote here. Our guy is Hal Spake, an Air Force veteran who joined the State Department as a diplomat in 1979 where he served until September 2001. He came home to find the same kind of tyranny that he had seen the world over and said "Not In My Country", or words to that affect, and, before he even declared his party affiliation, he came out with this gem:
The idea and use of the word, "Free-speech-zones" is repugnant. We should use a more apt word like, "free-speech-stockade" or "free-speech-gulag". If we use the words and phrases of the right wing, they've framed the issue, and won the argument.
The Bill of Rights does not restrict free speech to prisoners but extends it to all people in this country. Perhaps we need to have one of the State legislators ask the Attorney General his opinion on free-speech-stockades in Oklahoma. If the AG says they are illegal, then Oklahomans don't have to go to jail to express their legitimate concerns about the Bush government.
Esquire Magazine, of all people, got involved in this race and endorsed Spake. I wouldn't count Spake out.
OK-4: I think we might have a winner here.
OK-5: The rest of OKC and surrounding areas. The red incumbent, Ernest Istook, took 66% of the vote last time. This is an open seat, though, and the reddie chosen to replace him is Lieutenant Governor Mary Fallin, the first woman and the first Republican to serve in that position. Quite the heavyweight. Our guy is Dr. David Hunter, who has been practicing medicine in OKC for some 25 years, and has served as Chief of Surgery and Chief of Staff. Recent polling has the reddie mopping the floor with the good doctor, though, and while she raised nearly 5x what he was, she only has 3x left. I'm sorry, I just can't see it.
OK-5: Safe Red