From the beautiful coast of Maine, a great
editorial about our 2014 Senate race:
Right now — as with any incumbent except those for whom sex-filled Tweets or presidential birth certificates are standard fare — it’s Collins’ race to lose. She’s leading Bellows 59-20 percent, with 22 percent undecided. Even Democrats favor Collins by 14 percent.
If the poll had been taken a week before, it is difficult to know where Bellows would have been, but likely something less than 20 percent.
The election is nearly a year away, but Bellows is running like the election is next week. She criss-crossed the entire state in her first week and has plans to visit every hamlet in Maine.
…
For the people who care about them, the next few polls will be interesting, as Bellows meets voters and becomes a household word. In mid-February, Congress will have to take another run at budget issues and the debt ceiling, and Collins will be pressed again to show where she stands.
We hope Collins and Bellows agree to several debates, in different formats, in different parts of the state, preferably before Labor Day 2014.
Meanwhile, here’s hoping the Maine Democratic Party avers from recent practice and backs a brilliant young female legal mind who can address core party values in a state that desperately needs a fresh face and new ideas in the U.S. Senate.
Followers of Maine politics here at DailyKos may have picked up on the excitement this race is generating. (See earlier diaries
here,
here, and
here to name a few.)
The excitement is even stronger among activist Dems here in Maine. We're throwing our full support behind a candidate who offers real change from the status quo.
Join us below the fold for thoughts on how to bring about that change.
What's behind the interest in an underdog challenge to a popular incumbent? What makes us think Shenna Bellows can pull this off?
She's not afraid to take on big challenges.
In her position as Executive Director of ACLU Maine, she fought for LGBTQ rights for years- through multiple legislative battles and three citizen's referendums. In 2005, while ENDA languished in Congress, she was a leader in the "Maine Won't Discriminate" campaign, which succeeding in protecting Mainers against discrimination in employment, credit, housing and education.
Back in 2009, when the Maine legislature passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, right-wing opponents immediately took the issue back to the voters with a referendum campaign. Bellows was there:
Shenna Bellows, Executive Director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, who co-led the lobbying efforts for the legislative campaign and continues as on the newly-formed Executive Committee, said, "When people commit their energies and talents to a common goal, there’s no limit to what we can achieve together. Our success in the legislature is a testament to the Maine values of fairness and respect. Led by a dynamite political team, Maine Freedom to Marry is ready to continue the conversation about marriage equality Mainer-to-Mainer, neighbor-to-neighbor, one voter at a time."
Bolstered by NOM, opponents won that time around, but Bellows stayed in the fight. The grassroots efforts begun in 2009 continued quietly and steadily to change hearts and minds in Maine. And as we all know, that paid off in 2012 when marriage equality won at the ballot box in Maine. Bellows
helped build the coalition that made that victory possible.
If that were her only contribution to civil rights in Maine, we'd have reason to celebrate her candidacy. But that is just one example. Under her direction, the ACLU of Maine had a number of other important victories.
• Rejecting the REAL ID initiative.
• Resisting warrantless surveillance of telephone and email communications. Maine became one of only two states to pass warrant requirements for surveillance of cellphone communications.
• Reducing solitary confinement in Maine prisons.
• Restoring same-day voter registration.
She's a coalition builder.
Bellows would be quick to acknowledge that these successes come through persistence and hard work by allies. And she never hesitates to find allies in unusual places in order to bring about change. For instance, she gives the example of prison reform. Some of her closest allies on that issue were conservative Christians who were fierce opponents in the battle for marriage equality. And in working to pass the cellphone privacy bill, she worked across the aisle, bringing on board libertarian-leaning Republicans who shared her concern for privacy rights.
This ability to bring diverse coalitions together over shared values is a rare gift. It requires listening skills as well as persuasion skills. It doesn't require compromising principles, but it does mean treating today's opponents with respect and empathy, because they may be allies tomorrow. Bellows has this gift. Don't we need a leader with these skills in DC?
Isn't it time for "a fresh face and new ideas in the U.S. Senate"?
Bellows for Senate
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