Tom Bowen here, campaign manager for Alexi Giannoulias.
We're just about one week away from the primary election to fill President Obama's former seat in the U.S. Senate. Republicans are already chomping at the bit to take this seat.
Primaries matter.
While our opponent is on air repeating GOP smears against Alexi (the same ones Republicans tried against the President in 2008), our campaign is focused on the issues. And I'm here today to highlight some critical policy differences between David Hoffman and Alexi.
It's not enough to elect a Democrat to the U.S. Senate. We need to make sure that the type of Democrat we pick can beat the Republican in November and be a Senator who will work for middle-class families.
Alexi is the only candidate who can do both.
Alexi Giannoulias is the Illinois State Treasurer. He's a progressive Democrat who is endorsed by Planned Parenthood, SEIU, AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club, progressive stalwarts like Rep. Jan Schakowsky and reformers like Rep. Mike Quigley. Alexi himself was here last week highlighting his progressive policy positions.
David Hoffman is the former Inspector General of the City of Chicago. After law school, he worked for conservative Senator David Boren (D-OK)(one of only two Democrats to vote for the Bork SCOTUS nomination). He then chose to work for Judge Dennis Jacobs on the 2nd Circuit, a Bush appointee and Federalist society judge who's been described as one of the most ultra-conservative judges on the federal bench. After helping Jacobs write his opinions, Hoffman chose to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Rehnquist. He's described Justice Rehnquist as "the smartest guy I know." When he first started running in this primary, his campaign deleted Hoffman's clerking for Rehnquist and Jacobs from his resume but was then called out on it.
In the wake of the scandals affecting Democrats in Illinois - from Gov. Blagojevich's arrest to Senator Burris' tainted appointment -- Hoffman has based his entire campaign on painting himself as a reformer. While Alexi has swept the endorsements from labor organizations, issue groups, and elected officials, Hoffman has amassed endorsements of editorial boards from all across the state, including glowing endorsements from conservative editorial boards. The Peoria Journal Star, in endorsing Hoffman, had this to say:
In talking about health care, not many Democrats endorse removing the anti-trust exemption for insurance companies and allowing them to compete across state lines to ultimately reduce costs. Hoffman does. Not many Democrats or trial attorneys favor tort reform as it pertains to the practice of medicine. Hoffman does. He gives Democrats a "D" on transparency in their conduct of the health care debate, doubts some of their cost-control claims, and says he'd demand better.
Many a Democrat falls back on that tired "free but fair trade" line, but while Hoffman aspires to that as well, he describes himself as a "pro-growth, fiscally moderate Democrat" who wouldn't turn back the clock on previous trade agreements, working instead to tighten up enforcement and start to work on new, better ones. He also talks of appealing to the "economic patriotism" of U.S. corporations.
Not many free-spending Democrats invoke former Sen. Paul Tsongas' name, the latter's Concord Coalition and his battle to tame the deficits. Hoffman does. He'd keep the Bush tax cuts in place "until the recession ends."
Hoffman also describes himself as a "fiscal conservative" Democrat. He philosophically believes the current rates for the wealthiest 1% is the best tax policy.
While publicly for the public option, he also agrees with the core pillars of Mark Kirk's "GOP alternative" health care "plan" -- tort reform and allowing insurance companies to sell insurance across state lines. And, when SEIU endorsed Alexi, Hoffman attacked SEIU with such right-wing talking points that Kirk, on his campaign website, quotes extensively from Hoffman in arguing against SEIU and its campaign for health care reform.
In his TV ads and speeches, Hoffman touts his string of editorial board endorsements, but there's one glaring thing missing from each and every one of them: any discussion about the economy or creating jobs.
It's stunning really. Not only are the editorial boards woefully out-of-touch with voters this election season (who consistently rank the economy and jobs as their number #1 issue), but Hoffman himself has virtually ignored the issue of the economy and jobs on the campaign trail.
He's released several TV ads, worth some $1 million. But out of all those ads, the only time he mentions the word "job" is when referring to his own job.
We need fewer Senators who spend their time patting themselves on the back and more Senators who spend their time reaching out to working families and their problems.
Alexi will be that type of Senator.
Since day one on the trail, he's been focused on reinvigorating the middle class by spurring job creation, investing in education, and cracking down on Wall Street.
He doesn't believe the rich should be paying less in taxes. He's for fair trade and supports renegotiating NAFTA. He was here on Daily Kos last year pushing for a public option before it was the popular thing for a Democrat to do. He was the first Democrat in this race to announce his support for full marriage equality ("it could be risky, but it's what I believe") and he's the only candidate with a detailed, six-part economic plan that shifts our priorities back to middle-class America and the small businesses that form the core of our economic growth.
Primaries matter. Alexi's the frontrunner in this race, up by double-digits and gaining more support every day.
But we need every progressive Democrat to turn out on Election Day and ensure that we get a Democrat elected who can stand up and present a sharp contrast with Mark Kirk on policy.
If you're in Chicago, please consider stopping by headquarters to phonebank.
If you're outside of Chicago or out of state, please help us in our virtual phonebank.
Thanks for listening.