***Please Recommend this diary if you want to support a Fighting Dem and stick it to a Bush lackey!
Dear Daily Kos community,
I present to you an introduction to Doug Tudor, your Democratic candidate for the US House of Representatives, FL-12. In case you are wondering, the seat is currently inhabited by the (Bush) Bully's little helper, Adam Putnam. Putnam basically exists...how do I put this nicely...to cater to the Bush Administration's needs, no matter how humiliating and subservient they may be.
Tudor is a retired Master Chief Yeoman from the United States Navy, and his wife is serving active duty as an Air Force Technical Sergeant. For more on Doug Tudor's military bio, visit here.
I saw Tudor speak last night at a Democratic meetup for I-4 corridor Democrats in Central Florida. Tudor is very knowledgeable and straightforward when he speaks, and he is unashamed to stand up for the progressive principles, such as getting out of Iraq, universal healthcare, and making America #1 in education again. He also, in response to a question asserting that illegal immigrants were taking our jobs, called that kind of question out as a Republican-inspired wedge issue and as "race baiting", so he's not afraid to call them as he sees them. He is a member of DFA, and went to their candidate school.
He is running against one of the most despicable of Republicans: a Bush lackey who is afraid to stand up for our troops, who calls his own base rednecks, spreads false rumors about Nanci Pelosi, and, according to Doug tonight, votes with Bush over 98% of the time. Putnam is just 33 years old, and he has already ascended to the highest echelons of the Republican minority in the House (he now ranks a whopping third) -- probably because he is so adept at serving large corporations at the expense of the average American citizen and Floridian. Putnam himself has increased his personal wealth tenfold since being elected to office, and as of today, has even more than the $12 million he amassed by 2006. Clearly, Adam Putnam only knows how to look after the constituency of Adam Putnam.
Doug Tudor is a family man with three wonderful children. He is one of us, with "us" meaning all of the people in FL-12. Adam Putnam is a Washington politician, bent on destroying the life of the everyday citizen for corporate greed. Take some time to donate to Doug Tudor!! Doug needs donations to get his campaign off the ground. This district voted for Bush by 16 points in 2004, but people here are fed up. According to Doug tonight, the Putnam campaign is already push-polling and asking constituents if they would vote for Putnam or an generic retired Naval officer. And as Doug said about this (paraphrased because my memory isn't so good tonight), "you know you are getting close to the target if you can feel the flak". Doug needs to become a viable enough candidate for the big money donors like the unions and the DCCC to step in and help him out, but if the Kos community wants to make him a Fighting Dem and help him get started, we could give the House's third ranking Republican a good scare -- and who knows this year, maybe even send him packing.