Cross Posted at VetVoice.com
2008 has been, and will continue to be, a great year for veterans running for office all over the country. We have reached the fortunate problem this year of having so many qualified veterans running campaigns focused on change that it can sometimes be hard to know where to put our resources. One campaign that I find particularly exciting (exciting enough that I came to work on the campaign after six years in the Army) is that of Hal Bidlack, the 25-year Air Force veteran running as a Democrat in Colorado's 5th Congressional District.
As soon as I saw Hal's website, I knew that I wanted to work for him. Having followed politics with increasing disappointment for the six years that I was in the Army, I wanted to make sure that I was involved with the effort in 2008.
I called the campaign manager and, within a week of signing out of my unit, I was working full time and living out of the office.
But even as I sought the job, I knew how hard of a campaign it would be. Growing up here, I'd known how conservative it was, but I also knew that you can't win if you don't play. And after working here for a few months, I know that this is a district that can be won, even if a Democrat hasn't won it since it was formed in 1972.
Having grown up in Colorado's Fifth District, I've followed politics here at least loosely since I joined the Army six years ago. And although I was in Iraq for the 2006 elections, I followed the happenings in my home district especially closely.
That was the year that Jay Fawcett, a retired Air Force Lt. Col. himself, showed the world that it was possible for a Democrat to be competitive in a district that had long been dominated by the most conservative of right-wing Republicans. I watched with excitement from Baghdad as the race progressed. And while I was a disappointed when he eventually lost, my spirit was lifted by his earning 20 percent more than any Democrat had ever won in that district. And the Fawcett campaign was only the beginning.
Since 2006, there have been a number of local contests in the Colorado 5th--things like school district races and a state minimum wage initiative--that have shown the grip of radically conservative politicians slipping in CO-05, the home of James Dobson's Focus on the Family. The citizens of our six counties have begun to recognize that anti-tax policies don't guarantee prosperity. They've begun to agree that no group has a right to define morality for all others. And more importantly, in a district with five important military bases and one of the largest percentages of veterans in the country, people here have begun to understand the damage done to our military by an unnecessary, poorly planned war and the abuse levied on those who have fought that war by an under-funded and unresponsive VA system. Like so much of the country, the people in this part of the state are ready for a change.
And so when I saw Lt. Col. (Ret.) Hal Bidlack's website a few months ago, I knew that I wanted to work for him. With 25 years in the Air Force, Hal has had duty positions ranging from ICBM launch officer to National Security Council adviser. He spent several years teaching the Constitution and Political Science at the Air Force Academy. And his duties at the State Department in 2001 led to his being in the Pentagon on the day that the plane hit. His experience with the worst that humanity has to offer has given him a deep desire to capture and stop those who would harm America, while his knowledge of the Constitution leads him to know that if we give up our rights in the pursuit of those enemies we will have already lost.
Of course, we won't be the only race running in the general. But Doug Lamborn, the current holder of the seat and the likely winner of the Republican primary, is just the sort of guy who needs to lose. Having voted with the hard-line Republican line 99.3% of the time, he has some horrible votes in his short, two-year record. Most recently, he voted against the new GI Bill, and he has stood solidly by the president on Iraq throughout his term. While he did fight for a new Veterans' Cemetery in Colorado Springs, he seems to have forgotten that it's good to take care of veterans before they die, not just after.
The fact is that just a few months ago I thought that I would come back to home state and spend six months getting some great experience on a campaign destined for a loss. But since I've gotten here I've realized how unnecessarily low my expectations were. With all of the local factors, combined with the national mood of the country, Hal Bidlack has a very real chance of defeating Doug Lamborn and his anti-veteran agenda.
There really are a lot of things working in our favor this year, but none of that matters if we don't raise enough money. The end of the month will also be the end of the quarter, and money raised now is worth more then money that we raise later down the road. A lot of groups and major contributors will look at our second quarter figures when they decide who to give to. Please consider giving to our campaign. If you're able to give a max donation, or you can only afford a few dollars, every penny that we raise improves our chances of winning. So please, visit Hal's website and help us elect a veteran to the House of Representatives for Colorado's fifth district.