I support OBAMA for president.
I support JIM NEAL for US Senate.
Both Obama and Jim Neal are inspiring progressive Democrats.
Both Obama and Jim Neal speak up loudly about the ills of our society and can truly bring change to Washington.
Both Obama and Jim Neal have had uphill battles to climb to fight the Washington establishment, and both have been discounted at some point.
Please vote Obama-Jim Neal tomorrow!
I support OBAMA for president.
I support JIM NEAL for US Senate.
Both Obama and Jim Neal are inspiring progressive Democrats.
Both Obama and Jim Neal speak up loudly about the ills of our society, and can truly bring change to Washington.
Both Obama and Jim Neal have had uphill battles to climb to fight the Washington establishment, and both have been discounted at some point.
Please vote Obama-Jim Neal tomorrow!
Here is what the Triangle Independent says about OBAMA...
BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT
Here's a multiple-choice question: How do you feel after eight years of Dubya?
a) downtrodden b) paranoid c) penniless d) hopeless e) all of the above
Top 10 reasons to endorse Barack Obama
- All combat troops would be withdrawn in 16 months, starting with an immediate pullout of one to two brigades. There would be no permanent U.S. bases in Iraq.
- His plan for criminal justice reform includes expanding hate crime statutes, eliminating sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine offenses, and expanding drug courts to funnel first-time offenders into rehab programs.
- He would amend NAFTA and fight corporate attempts to prevent workers from union organizing.
- There would be a crackdown not only on predatory mortgage lenders, but on predatory credit card practices.
- The federal Family Leave Act, which allows parents to take time off after the birth or adoption of a child—and keep their jobs—would expand to include businesses with 25 or more employees. The cutoff now is 50.
- Similar to AmeriCorps, the green Job Corps would train and employ young people in clean energy jobs. Obama would also propose increasing the federal minimum wage and peg it to inflation.
- Although his health care reform falls short of universal health care, it would provide mandatory coverage for children up to age 25, guaranteed eligibility and subsidies for the uninsured who don't qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP.
- He unites people, rather than divides them.
- He has a better chance of beating John McCain than Hillary Clinton does.
- If he can implement his policies with a cooperative Congress, in four years there's a better chance that we will not be downtrodden, paranoid, penniless, hopeless or all of the above.
Here is what the Triangle Independent says about JIM NEAL...
JIM NEAL FOR US SENATE
On the issues, there's a clear progressive choice in the Democratic primary: Chapel Hill businessman Jim Neal is our pick to take on Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole come November. And let's put it right out there: Neal is openly gay, which should no more influence whether he gets your vote than the fact that he's also openly white. What should influence it is his platform: Neal opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq and supports getting our troops out now; he supports universal health care; is against capital punishment; wants to scrap No Child Left Behind, Bush's counterproductive education program; proposes making the federal tax system more progressive; and advocates an Apollo-style program to wean the country from imported oil and develop alternative-energy sources, including conservation.
On gay rights, Neal supports full equality, including marriage, as a matter of law. But he also recognizes that the First Amendment guarantees religious freedom when it comes to whether same-sex unions should be sanctioned by various faiths.
Given his background as a Wall Street investment banker and venture capitalist, Neal is at his best when dissecting the causes of the nation's widening gap between rich and poor and the erosion of middle-class jobs. He calls it "unconscionable" that corporate CEOs make 400 times as much money as the average worker. His prescription for fixing what ails us includes sweeping investments in education and our economic infrastructure, not war, and for junking free-trade policies in favor of fair-trade ones. He thinks the federal government should prepare to buy mortgages and refinance them to prevent foreclosures.
Neal is hardly a perfect candidate. He's never run for office, can be long-winded and abstract about policy, and while he grew up in North Carolina, he's lived elsewhere most of his adult life. He acknowledges that his business life has had its ups and, recently, some downs. He's not rich, and has had trouble raising money despite having been a top fundraiser for the '04 Democratic ticket of Kerry-Edwards.
That said, Neal didn't get into this race until every potential "establishment" candidate from Gov. Mike Easley on down had walked away from it. That includes state Sen. Kay Hagan, D-Guilford, who announced that she wouldn't run, but changed her mind a few weeks later—after Neal declared. Party leaders in Washington and Raleigh quickly endorsed her; the inescapable conclusion was that they feared having a gay candidate on the ticket.
And here is Jim Neal at the senatorial debate the other night...
North Carolina, please vote for OBAMA and JIM NEAL tomorrow. Tell your friends to vote for OBAMA and JIM NEAL tomorrow. Spread the word. We can change things for the better!
http://www.barackobama.com/
http://JimNealforSenate.com