Today I attended a fundraising luncheon for Alexi Giannoulias where Gloria Steinem was the featured speaker. She told us how her first involvement in an election was to help Jack Kennedy become a senator, and she also spoke about her involvement in the Harriet Woods v. John Danforth race in MO in the 80s. Woods lost a close race for want of $100K to combat false attacks in the last weeks of the campaign. After Danforth won, he became a mentor to Clarence Thomas and made sure Thomas was in the right places and met the right people. Eventually this took Thomas, as we all know, to the Supreme Court, where he's been part of many hideous decisions including the fateful Florida vote count decision, Bush v. Gore, which gave us President W.
She quoted this proverb:
For Want of a Nail
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
We can't let this race to to Mark Kirk "for want of a nail" - or money, calls, signs, etc. It's just too important. Alexi mentioned several key issues, including Don't Ask Don't Tell, on which Kirk has yet to take a stand. This is not leadership. We've all read/heard about Kirk's ongoing and nearly infinite exaggerations and lies. This is not honesty. We've also seen him cast countless votes for the powerful and against the middle class, against our military (yes, he's voted to deny them needed equipment), against separation of church and state, and against choice. This is not character.
You may not think Alexi is your perfect candidate. You may not know about his strong record as treasurer or about his early and moral stands for gay rights and for the rights of muslims to build a community center in lower manhattan. But most of you know how Kirk has lied, at least a bit about how he has voted, and how he conveniently changed his mind on many issues as soon as he needed the votes of a more conservative, statewide constituency.
I urge you to support Alexi Giannoulias. Put up a sign, make some calls, send a check (or go online and donate), or just tell 10 friends about how important it is for Alexi to win this seat.
Thanks for paying attention.