Joe Sudbay at the progressive political powerhouse Americablog has excellent political instincts. People laughed at him last year when he predicted Hillary Clinton would run into serious political trouble during the primaries - heck, I was one of them.
It's not easy to get an endorsement at this high-traffic blog; Joe and the crew over there carefully consider who they back in races, and are looking at the impact of swing states and the growth of progressive politics -- and they have endorsed Jim Neal for the U.S. Senate. See Jim Neal's new video below the fold.
Americablog is running an ActBlue page for him, and features a video introduction to Jim for its audience:
Jim is a proud Democrat running for Senate. And, clearly, he is right on the issues. He'll run circles around Liddy Dole. We set up an ActBlue page for Jim.
The primary is May 6th (yes, the same day as the all-important Democratic primary in NC, so turnout will be huge.) Jim is not the "establishment" candidate for the primary. However, the polls we've seen show a close primary race at this point. PPP's latest survey shows the primary race is wide open -- and money will matter.
Thanks Joe. He knows the importance of the local netroots community in this NC primary, which has turned into a real contest for the presidential candidates, and that spotlight means it can have a real impact down ticket as we're going to have a huge turnout this year.
The blog has given props to the progressive community blog BlueNC, which deserves it for the kick-ass work folks there have done to secure liveblogs with candidates for local, statewide and federal office this year. The campaigns and the local media have been regular readers there for some time, and the candidates themselves frequently show up in the comments, including Jim Neal.
Related:
* Pam's House Blend files on Jim Neal
* Jim Neal stuns James Carville into silence at NC Young Democrats event
* DSCC's Chuck Schumer is staying neutral on the N.C. Senate race - NOT
* Jim Neal picks up additional high-profile endorsements
* Independent poll: Neal and Obama take the lead in NC