The Seattle Post-Intelligencer endorsed Suzan DelBene today:
DelBene seems to understand such matters as the need to have government support basic research, and the role of community colleges in retraining adults: The average American adult changes jobs seven times in a lifetime. She recognizes the need for high-speed rail service in the Vancouver, B.C.-Seattle-Portland-Eugene corridor.
She's a smart candidate, with the ability to ably represent a technology-export driven House district, and to quickly become a player in Congress. The House needs members with executive-level experience, and usually puts them to productive work.
What's more, she is pulling even with her opponent, David Reichert.
The subject is jobs.
I wrote yesterday about Suzan DelBene, why I support her -- and how she is closing in on David Reichert, who you will remember from Darcy Burner's campaigns in 2006 and 2008.
Suzan DelBene is a scientist and businesswoman who understands that we need a government that reliably supports and protects all business interests, not just those of the large, entrenched corporations. The focus has been on huge companies, and that leaves the middle class in a holding pattern. We have to be more comprehensive and focus on smaller enterprises if we are going to put people to work and get them back on their feet.
The GOP's Big Government Socialism vs. Apple Pie Capitalism is a false dichotomy. Empowering large corporate interests with tax breaks and policy only makes the playing field anti-competitive. What's best for huge, entrenched corporations does not work for anyone else.
I met Suzan for the first time earlier this year, and I am continually impressed at how deeply she understands the problems today, and how directly she attacks the issues surrounding jobs, economy, and our sustainable future. She really gets it. She undertands how the banking system is broken, what it takes to support basic science and why it's needed, and that we must invest in long term infrastructure projects that support transportation, sustainable energy, and education.
The time is right for Wa-08 to turn blue -- mostly because the focus is on jobs, and the Republicans have done nothing for the little people. DelBene spent her career creating jobs. She lead startup companies, worked as a VP at Microsoft, and she created microcredit loans for people in Peru and Nicaragua for a non-profit. She was inspired to run for congress because she wanted to help the people who were struggling get back on their feet. She knows what small businesses need from their government in order to thrive -- and understands what the government has done to cripple the job market. She can help us fix both.
The Seattle Times -- a paper that usually supports Republicans -- endorsed DelBene yesterday, throwing their usual favorite "under the bus" for creating too much distraction and paying too little attention to governing:
By contrast, Reichert supports repealing health-care reform, an effort that would further distract Congress from guiding a still-fragile recovery.
DelBene is committed to disengaging from our current wars, and thinks the stability in Afghanistan is best lead by Afghans. Now that we have health insurance reform, she wants to work toward health care reform. She wants to bring back the modern equivalent of Glass-Steagall, and supports net neutrality. And her no BS approach is getting people's attention.
Wa-08 has never seated a Democrat before, yet there is a first time for everything. The Republicans will throw the kitchen sink at DelBene in order to save this seat. Media is crucial right now, and she could use help soon -- particularly before October 15, when the ballots go out.
If you have the means, please donate to support DelBene's TV ads -- ballots go out October 15, and airtime is critical now.
If you are looking for a place to work toward gaining a seat, this is it. She could win this, folks.