For the last two cycles I have worked my skinny li'l buns off, trying to get rid of our Virginia 5th National Rube, Virgil Goode. He is a UVA Law School Idiot who does not understand the Constitution, a public embarassment every time he opens his mouth, and the worst of the far-right pandering Republican Pols.
My past calls for help were centered around Al Weed, an experienced organizer, classic Progressive, and a man with a remarkable military career, who tried to get out his message of great ideas for economic development here in rural southern Virginia.
Well, Al has had enough. Driving hundreds of miles a day, coughing up his own funds, unable to get any support from the National Party - he is declining to run this year.
But we have located a replacement candidate!!!
Dave Shreve is running for Congress in VA's 5th Congressional District (the seat inherited and currently held by noted xenophobe Virgil Goode).
Dave is an economic historian and published author on LBJ & the Great Society, and on FDR & the New Deal, with extensive experience in health care reform and anti-poverty organizing. He has the credentials, platform, political savvy, and ability to inspire to persuade voters that it is time to reclaim our Constitution from the right-wing hell it has been languishing in.
Dave is a scholar, an intellectual, a thinking Progressive who understands what has been going on in DC and wants to stand up against the destruction of our Constitution and the society it should support. As an Economic Historian he is qualified to discuss globalization with authority, and he is completely free of those racist and sexist tendencies that so often lay just below the surface of Virginia politics.
Dave's campaign will follow the very successful Howard Dean model of grassroots organizing, based on extensive direct voter contact ("mousepads and shoe leather"). Since Dean came on the national scene and then created Democracy for America, this traditional [before the age of consultants] approach has won election for many good Democrats in "hopeless" districts and states all across the country.
To do this effectively, we need early contributions to introduce Dave to the voters and build a strong, integrated network of supporters throughout the 5th District.
I may call on you later to provide some of that grassroots activism, but right now can you throw $10.01 to Dave's campaign? Act Blue For Dave
You can also visit Dave's website to check out his creds and get a feel for the excitement he can generate here, at the end of the world.
Shreve For Congress
We know how much early seed money can do, and in this purple state, disgusted with Bush and his minions, we have a real opportunity to Dump Virgil Goode.
Let's not make the same mistake the DC Establishment has made so many time in the past. No race is "unwinable". Every race is worth contesting.
Contribute to Dave's campaign chest now, and let give the RNCC fits as they try to defend another Bush tool.