Some of you fellow old time readers will remember Jim Newberry.
Brother uncle to fellow blogosphere resident
Sterling Newberry
He challenged Roy Blunt, House Whip, Delay's right hand man.
He did that at a time when it was considered pointless and foolish to even try.
You might also remember Roy Blunt as the fellow who was the other major contender besides John "Don't call be boner" Boehner for the majority leader spot after Hot Tub Tom took a hike. He's also dad to "baby" Matt Blunt, the jerko who just barely won the MO Governorship.
At the time there was nobody even challenging the Speaker of the House Denny Hastert, and Tom Delay's opponent, John Richard Morrison was virtually completely ignored by the establishment, after all Delay had drew that district for himself and he was invulnrable. Right? (heh)
I'm talking about GIANT killers folks.
John Richard Morrison and Jim Newberry were giant killers, some might call them sacrificial lambs. But you know what? Morrison, an absolute no-name made Delay fight for his seat for the first time ever, and both candidates tied up funds. If we had the muscle then that we have now, we might have won them, who knows?
Now there's nothing wrong with pragmatism, one of the diaries I wrote that generated some interesting feedback was one on rediscovering populism, but specifically Pragmatic Progressive Populism, of the like espoused by Russ Feingold, Brian Schweitzer, Jon Tester, Jack Carter and many more. Make no mistake this is the future of our party.
So I would like to say that yes, Bob Casey is by far better then Rick Santorum and should be supported, and Harold Ford would be much preferable to a Republican in TN. We should always be thinking big, think of it as a movement, not laying odds on the sure thing every time.
Let's look at my signature shall we?
It says: Jack, John and Jerry in '06!
(If could fit it, after John Laesch there would be Jon too, completing the "dudes with J names" series but space limitations... sorry buddy.)
Let's take it in reverse order.
Jon Tester-
So it's conventional wisdom, now that Conrad Burns will be lucky to keep out of a jailcell let alone his Senate seat before the next term, but it wasn't so long ago that many insiders pooh poohed us folks in the blogosphere for a candidate that didn't have the "name recognition" and "instituional appeal" of the insider.
bullshit!
The better candidate won, and ol' flattop there is going to do us proud as the next Senator from Montana and bringing home that pragmatic progressive populism we all so know and love. Gooooo western strategy.
It may not seem like it now, but make no mistake Jon Tester is not only the real deal, he is a giant killer.
Just ask "fireman hater" Burns.
Jerry McNerney
This one is close to home for me, no literally... it's close to home, as in the next district over.
Yup, even in good ol' reliably Oakland where i'm represented by the always amazing and awe inspiring Barbara Lee, just one district to the east, towards the town I grew up at is the nefarious anti-environmental millionaire Richard Pombo.
Jerry McNerney is as good as it gets, and as somebody who actually grew up around the area, I can tell you that he is the kind of candidate that will win in this area, the key is name reco and turnout.
Even Rahmbo and his hand selected pro-war Iraq vet couldn't take out Jerry.
And even though CA is one big incumbent protection racket, Jerry can and will do it.
Heck even (principled) Republican Pete McCloskey has endorsed him, Republicans for McNerney.
say no to pombo!
John Laesch
John's signature says it all:
"Why yes, yes I am running against the Speaker of the House :)"
I met John at yearlykos, he's a great dude, and he's going to take Hastert out and be the next representative for that district. Plain and simple.
As long as we get behind him.
Hastert wasn't even opposed in 2004, which is shameful.
Anybody remember George Nethercutt? The guy that ran and lost against Patty Murray in '04? 10 years ago he took out former Democratic speaker of the house Tom Foley. There is precedent for this, and let me tell you this, I know John Laesch and if anybody can do it he can. Hastert, and all his power and pork are on the run, as long as we have his back.
Granted this is probably Hastert's last term as Speaker anyway, but taking him down sends a huge message beyond just taking out congress.
Plus John is awesome, which I don't have to tell anybody already familiar with the man or campaign, just take a look at his principled stance on verified voting (ok, so i'm biased since I helped him put it together... so sue me!)
Jack Carter
If I have a sentimental favorite in 2006, it's become Jack Carter.
I can track the entire progress of this race on the blogosphere, I remember first bemoaning that we had no challenger in NV when Ensign kind of sucked, kind of a lot. Then there was word that Jimmy Carter's son might run. After the initial shock (wait Jimmy Carter has a son?), I was solidly behind him, even when Oscar Goodman the "colorful" LV mayor and institutional favorite was pondering running himself.
I gave some money, I followed the race hopefully. And I also realized, when I got my handwritten thank you note from Jack himself, that Jack was a real class act.
He also happens to be a great candidate, who just needs the $$$ to boost his name recognition against Ensign-ificant. Check out the recent poll for that
However everything changed after I met the man himself in NV.
I could go on and on, but Jack is the real deal. He's smart, he's folksy, and more then anything else, he really "gets it" with the internet, the people powered movement thing, and everything else.
Replacing Ensignificant, a low profile Bush backbencher with Jack is going to be one of the big stories of 2006.
The netroots is betting on Jack in increasing numbers, despite the lack of an official "netroots endorsement", Carter for Nevada is becoming a movement campaign, which is an excellent thing.
Mark my words, Jack Carter... perhaps more then anybody else, for his name alone, is Jack the Giant Killer.
Too bad for Ensign, that he's looking less giant like every day.
So I say, throw Pete Ashdown some money, can a progressive Democrat win in Utah against a Senate institution like Orin Hatch? I don't know, I hope so, if anybody can do it... it's Pete, and if there is any time for it to happen it's now.
Ba... ba... ba... ba... Barbara Ann v. Kay Bailey in Texas? Sure!
Ned Lamont? Giant killer in action?
(although I doubt I need to sell anybody here about that)
Races aren't competitive?
Let's continue making them competitive I say.
Remember your Overton window (and if you don't know what that is, open up that link and read it ASAP!), if we want to make our ideas political reality we must make gradual changes.
That means that yes, some of our giantkillers will fail, but some will not.
And we will prevail.
Pragmatism is good, the pragmatism in our growing movement has yeilded us some great candidates and some coming victories, however don't let pragmatism blind you to the sheer joy of killing the giants out there, and friends, there are some giants to kill.
It's funny how quickly the bullies fold when you pop 'em one.
-C.
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