IL-06: Tuesday Fighting Dem: Tammy Duckworth

I have teamed up with Majority Report Radio to feature a Fighting Dem every Tuesday. Today's edition features Tammy Duckworth in Illinois' 6th Congressional District.

Duckworth is probably the most controversial of the Fighting Dems, and it's a shame because she has one of the most compelling stories of this cycle.

In 2004, this district was a lost cause, a lean-Republican district with an incumbent, Henry Hyde, that had served for about 7,000 years. Christine Cegelis took up the hopeless cause with no party backing and no local party infrastructure of note. Yet with little money, Cegelis scored 44% percent of the vote and helped kickstart local progressive activism.

With Hyde retiring after this current term, the DCCC's Rahm Emmanuel took a look at Cegelis' 2004 fundraising and decided to cast about for a "better" candidate. And he found Duckworth and sort of thrust her into the district.

In a lot of ways, this story isn't fair to Duckworth, portraying her as sort of a tool of Rahm and the party establishment. She is a woman of incredible courage and accomplishment:

Life for Maj. Tammy Duckworth, 36, and her husband, Illinois Army Guard Capt. Bryan Bowlsbey, has changed dramatically since the afternoon of Nov. 12. That's when a rocket propelled grenade hit the chin bubble of the Blackhawk she was piloting in Iraq and exploded between her legs, according to the on-line journal her husband is writing.

Her copilot, from the Missouri Army Guard, landed the crippled Blackhawk before other crewmembers, air ambulance personnel and doctors began working feverishly to save her life, Bowlsbey stated. The helicopter's crew chief, Spc. Kurt Hannemann, from Illinois was apparently hurt but "was listed as not seriously injured," Illinois Guard officials reported.

Duckworth lost half of the blood in her body, said the woman who had served in Iraq with the Illinois Army Guard's 1st Battalion, 106th Aviation, an assault helicopter unit, since last March. All three bones in her right arm were broken but have since been pinned and plated together.

Nearly all of her right leg has been amputated, and she has lost her left leg beneath the knee. Her left leg will be fitted with a prosthesis, and Duckworth is grasping at every hope that she can also be fitted with a right-leg prosthesis, her husband explained, so she can again fly helicopters or fixed-wing airplanes or at least remain in the Army Guard.

By all accounts, she is a great person and would make a great congresswoman to represent the district. But, to put it bluntly, the way Emmanuel got her into the race was simply bullshit. People from me to Howard Dean have preached the power of people taking charge of their political futures and organizing locally. Yet here in this district, Rahm decided what was best for the locals. And the ham-handed way he did this ensured a great deal of unecessary local bitterness toward both the Democratic Party and to Tammy Duckworth.

I am nuetral in this race, though I have a great interest in the outcome. This district is my old stomping grounds. At 17, I was a precinct captain for the local GOP and worked to get Henry Hyde reelected in 1988. I'm still atoning for that "youthful indiscretion", and so I'll be extra motivated to recapture this seat for the Dems. And that'll be on behalf of whoever the district's Democrats decide should represent them in November.

Both candidates are stellar. Both can win the seat.

But this series is in celebration of our men and women in uniform who are deciding that they've endured enough Republican bullshit and will work to take our government back. And given that Republicans claim to be the party of the troops, it's quite telling that while about 40 veterans are challenging Republican seats as Democrats, only one veteran is doing the same as a Republican.

This is a story that needs to be shouted at every opportunity. Let America see who our veterans prefer. Let America see Republicans attempt to swiftboat our heroes. And whether our vets, several who face primary challengers, make it to the November ballot is irrelevant. Their decision to fight back against those in DC that are getting our men and women killed in unecessary wars speaks legions about which party is really the party of veterans.

The Illinois 6th:

(Click image to enlarge)

More:

• My take on why the Fighting Dems matter.
  
• The Mother Jones article on Fighting Dems.
  
• The Atlantic Monthly covers the Fighting Dem phenomenon.
  
• Tammy Duckworth's official campaign site.

The segment will run at around 9:20 p.m. ET, though your local Air America affiliates may have it at different times.

Previous Featured Fighting Dems:

• Bill Winter (CO-06)
  
• Tim Dunn (NC-08)
  
• Charles Brown (CA-04)
  
• Eric Massa (NY-29)
  
• Dave Harris (TX-06)
  
• Andrew Duck (MD-06)
  
• Patrick Murphy (PA-08)
  
• Paul Hackett (OH-Sen)
  
• Bryan Lentz (PA-07)
  
• David Ashe (VA-02)

You can get streams of these segments on Air America's Fighting Dems site. And there's a Fighting Dem ActBlue page, so show your support if you can.

Race tracker wiki: IL-06