Good evening, Daily Kos. Most of you have probably never heard of me before but my name is Cheryl Hudspeth and I am running for Congress in Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District against Rep. Lynn Jenkins. I have plenty to say about her abysmal record of pretending to represent the interests of this district, but that’s not what prompted me to create a Daily Kos account after a long history of lurking. So what did cause me to come out of the woodwork?
It’s simple. I am one of 171 Democratic candidates challenging Republican incumbents for a seat in the US House of Representatives. The DCCC may have good intentions, and I realize resources are tight, but the DCCC is only supporting 29 of those 171 with their Red to Blue program. So I de-lurked to deliver a simple message: Every one of these candidates, not just me, deserve the support of Democrats everywhere.
Last week after watching an episode of the Rachel Maddow show I sent the following note:
Dear Rachel,
On September 20th, you said, "When a political candidate comes from outside mainstream politics, and that candidate gets nominated to represent a major party, and part of that candidate appeal is that they come from outside mainstream politics, there is now a well established process of making that candidate over, suddenly, to make that candidate seem more 'mainstreamy' for the general election."
And, MSNBC gives them endless coverage. And their campaigns raise a million bucks overnight and in come the pros from Dover to run the machine, that gets them more air time.
So, what happens when a Democratic candidate from outside the established mainstream wins the primary? Zip.
We beg for press coverage, campaign dollars, and volunteers. The national and state party asks us how much money we've got to help them while they raise funds in our districts for other candidates. No pros, no press, no $$$.
Rachel, I invite you to do a story about some of these candidates, starting with me. I won the Democratic primary in the KS-02 and will face-off with Lynn "the Great White Hope" (or Dope as Keith Olbermann called her) Jenkins.
Perhaps that is too self promoting. Therefore, I recommend that you do a story about Lisa Johnston, Kansas Democratic Nominee for US Senate, running against Jerry Moran.
I won my primary for under $5,000, Lisa won hers for about $10,000. You see neither of us are career politicians and we are not particularly extreme, unless you consider being a Democrat in Kansas extreme.
There are many Democrats, like myself, who are not incumbents or party insiders. Any of these candidates would love to have one tenth of the air time Christine O'Donnell has received from MSNBC.
If we are to motivate the Democratic base-your viewers-we need more than affirmations that the Republican candidates are awful, we need to see some inspiring new Democratic candidates. Call me <phone # deleted>.
Your fan in the heartland,
And nothing but crickets.
However, I was lucky enough to meet some folks who are ready to move the Democratic Party agenda forward and leave the special interests behind. They blog here on Daily Kos regularly and they too saw what I’m seeing. Not enough support for all of the Democratic candidates in the country. They too realize that the abandonment of the 50 State Strategy after Dr. Dean left the DNC was a mistake, and they’re doing something to try to help candidates like myself and others.
What are they doing? They’re encouraging people to volunteer, to write and blog about candidates like me. They’d love to look back on Election Night and realize that there was at least one diary about each of the 171 Democratic House Challengers, each of the 21 Senate challengers and the 31 Governor challengers. But they need your help to make that dream come true.
In the meantime, you can recommend the diaries like this one and talk to your friends, family and neighbors about myself and my fellow Democratic candidates. Together we can keep the majorities we have in the US Congress and work to break the gridlock created by the GOP and their obstructionist ways.
I’ll return soon with more diaries about both myself and where I stand on the issues and my opponent and where she stands, but with 36 days until the election I decided it was more important to speak out for everyone.
I look forward to talking with all of you soon.
Cheryl
Candidate for Congress
KS-02