In CT-04, we're lucky. We get to vote for a great candidate twice. The More half the equation is November 4th; the Better half is today, August 12th, primary day.
I'd be proud to support Jim Himes no matter where he was running (or against whom), but against Loony Lee Whitnum in this primary (and Both Ways Shays in the general!), it's twice as nice and twice as important. Two years ago we helped put Ned Lamont over the top; now let's give his good friend and one of his earliest supporters as resounding a victory as possible.
Jim would certainly be More--here's why he's Better. He left Wall Street to work for a non-profit foundation that builds affordable and green housing, has been an active Democrat (including Town Chair), and is running a people-centric campaign, the kind we've argued Dems should run. Most recently, he showed his true colors in soundly condemning the FISA "compromise" and would have made Connecticut's House delegation unanimous in opposition.
More below the fold...
When you combine his background with his positions and campaign, you get a potential congressman who would use his expertise to make the just practical, not the reverse. That is a view, an ability, needed in Washington--and needed in the Dem caucus as well. So we have a real escape from that scourge of elections, the lesser-of-two-evils choice. But before the general, Jim--and we--have to worry about the primary.
Words do not do sufficient, hilario-tragic justice to his primary opponent. Jim Himes was unanimously endorsed at the convention in May; Lee Whitnum...didn't show up. Jim Himes arrived on time at the debate and thanked News 12 for hosting; Lee Whitnum...went to Kinkos to file her late (rather than the usual non-existent) FEC report, arrived a half-hour late, and attacked Jim Himes in her first sentence. Jim Himes, in her eyes, is a Nazi who is in the tank for Israel and the illegal alien armada. And he supports being mean to the Taliban. Her statements are as much an ad for Jim as Novak's visage is for Dems.
So rather than thinking of the negative, let's think of the positive: getting to vote for Jim Himes twice. If you live in the fourth district, Fairfield County, please vote today (if you haven't already!). If you know someone who does, spread the word.
(And, since you go to the election with the system you have, not the system you wish you had, money helps too (direct or via Orange-to-Blue).)
(first diary--hope it's in spec!)