In March of 2006, political newcomer Ned Lamont jumped into an unlikely race against the execrable Sen. Joe Lieberman. The early portents were not promising: a Quinnipiac poll taken the prior month showed Lieberman with an almost preposterous 68-13 lead. With time enough for only a five-month sprint to the primary, few outside the netroots thought there was any hope here. For the local politicians who made up Connecticut's electoral establishment, there was every reason to stick with the safe horse.
But among the bold few dissenters was a Democratic Town Chair and affordable housing executive named Jim Himes. Just weeks after Lamont's kickoff, when there was little reason to doubt that February Q-Poll, Himes took a stand and endorsed Lamont. Even more impressively, he convinced his fellow town committee members to join him - in total, sixteen went with Lamont, and not one backed Lieberman. Himes's early leadership helped pave the way for other delegates to the crucial May state convention to declare their support for Lamont.
Ultimately, Lamont won more than double the 15% he needed at the convention to secure a spot on the ballot, and then of course went on to shock Joe Lieberman and the political world with a stunning primary victory that August. And at that point, Democratic endorsements for Lamont flooded in.
But during that cold month of March right at the beginning, the easy choice for a guy like Jim Himes - or anyone in Connecticut politics, really - would have been to stay quiet. Crossing the Lieberman juggernaut meant you were probably consigning yourself to political purgatory once the junior Senator inevitably steamrolled in the primary. Yet Himes was not willing to remain silent. He knew that he had to take action against Joe Lieberman's support for eternal war in Iraq and ceaseless attacks on what were, at the time, still his fellow Democrats. Standing up for the party and standing strong against a disastrous war were more important to Himes than any personal political ambitions.
Jim Himes, in other words, acted like a progressive's progressive. I'm not sure you could ask for more. But of course, there is more - plenty of it. He supports virtually the whole panoply of core progressive issues: universal healthcare, Iraq withdrawal "beginning tomorrow," net neutrality, restoring habeas corpus, protecting Social Security, safeguarding reproductive freedom... and that's just for starters. He's also fluent in Spanish, having lived his first ten years in Peru and Columbia, and left a successfull Wall Street career to join a non-profit devoted to building affordable housing.
So when it comes to our mantra of "better Democrats," you can see how Himes fits the bill perfectly, and that's why we're proud to welcome him to Orange to Blue. Those of you who have followed this campaign a bit, though, might be wondering why we're getting involved with a top-tier race like this one, when we've usually stuck to more under-the-radar affairs. It's a fair question, but it has a very good answer.
The maddening truth is that certain fellow Democrats and ostensibly left-wing groups have been undermining Jim Himes - the epitome of a true-blue, bona fide movement progressive - at every turn. It's as baffling as it is dismaying. Yet there is still a very dysfunctional segment of the party which insists on cozying up to so-called "moderates" like Chris Shays, the Republican incumbent in CT-04. Here's just a partial list:
- The League of Conservation Voters just endorsed Shays - and didn't even let Himes fill out their questionnaire. Shays's anomalous voting record aside, does the LCV seriously want the Republicans back in charge?
- Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin co-sponsored a healthcare bill with Shays - one that has zero chance of passing, but allows Shays to claim the mantle of "bipartisanship" and look good on an important issue.
- Alleged Democrat Harold Ford came to Connecticut and declared: "There is not a better Congressman in Washington than Chris Shays." Yeesh.
- While the rest of Connecticut's House delegation earns straight As, Citizens for Global Solutions inflated Shays' weak B- grade to a B+ through "extra credit" - this despite his vote for the odious Military Commissions Act.
- The Human Rights Campaign, whose mission it is to support GLBT equality, also endorsed Shays. Once again, there's just no debate as to which party cares about HRC's goals - and Chris Shays ain't a member of it. (Is this starting to sound familiar?)
- And in perhaps the biggest betrayal of all, Rep. Lynne Woolsey - a co-chair of the Progressive Caucus - also co-sponsored another no-hope bill with Shays, this time on Iraq. Needless to say, Iraq is a huge vulnerability for Shays, and Woosley, who should be eager to welcome more progressives into the caucus, is doing her best to shut the door on one.
Just as Jim Himes did at the very start of Ned Lamont's campaign way back when, it's our duty to take a stand here. We need to show what our values are, what it means to be a movement progressive. When other would-be allies turn their backs on a candidate like Himes, we need to fill that void. And when people who should be our partners instead side with our adversaries, we need to demonstrate once and for all that we no longer accept this kind of destructive politics of the past.
I think Jim Himes could one day be a real progressive leader in Congress. To get there, though, he'll need all the help he can get, including the support of progressives like us. And once he is there, we'll want him to know that he has a broad, solid group of friends he can count on. So please give to Jim Himes and the other Orange to Blue candidates, and help us reach our goal of 1,000 donors before the end of the quarter on June 30th.
Update: Despite that League of Conservation Voters endorsement, Shays just came out in support of coastal drilling for oil. This is yet another example of how too many groups that should be supporting Jim Himes are supporting someone who's nowhere near as good as Jim Himes, and why he needs our support.