Just a few weeks ago, if you claimed that anyone other than Mike Castle would be the next U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware, every political pundit in the beltway would have laughed you out of the room, telling you that it was pointless for Democrats to even field a candidate because Castle was a lock.
Well, how lucky we are that we didn't roll over and play dead, right? Democrats could have abandoned the contest and put up a loony candidate like the GOP's Christine O'Donnell, but instead they stepped up to the plate and rallied behind New Castle County Executive Chris Coons. And now Coons is the odds-on favorite to take that seat that the punditocracy was reserving for Castle.
The best thing about Coons isn't just that he's going to beat a truly dreadful Republican nominee. It's that he's a going to be a good Democrat while doing it. On the issues, Coons is solid: he supports employee freedom of choice, wants to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, believes we need immigration reform that includes a reasonable path to citizenship, and wants to see energy reform like cap and trade that reduces greenhouse gas emissions while strengthening our economy.
And his personal resume is impeccable, including a nice little detail that is sure to drive Republicans batshit insane (I've bolded it below):
Chris grew up in Hockessin, and now lives in Wilmington with his wife, Annie, and their three children, Michael, Jack and Maggie. Chris is a graduate of Amherst College with a B.A. in Chemistry and Political Science, and earned his law degree from Yale Law School and a Master's in Ethics from Yale Divinity School. Chris also studied at the University of Nairobi in Kenya.
I mean seriously. How could we pass up the chance to embrace the candidacy of a guy who spent time in Kenya? (Wink, wink! You know what I'm talking about, right? But shh, don't tell Orly! Or Newt! Or Dinesh!)
The icing on the cake is of course the fact that Coons is running against a flat-out lunatic like Christine O'Donnell. O'Donnell might be an absolute sweetheart of a human being, but she is possessed by ideas so extreme that she makes Michele Bachmann seem reasonable.
Coons should win this race. In fact, he's an enormous favorite. But he can't just waltz across the finish line -- he's got to take O'Donnell seriously, and so do we. The last thing we want is to see the words U.S. Senator before her name. So please join us in supporting Chris Coons for U.S. Senate by donating $5 or $10 to his campaign today.