July in Oklahoma heats up, especially in election years.
With the primary election four days away, Andrew Rice's campaign is getting more intense. We took it to the next level on Monday by launching our first TV ad, called "Leader." This 30-second ad has received great feedback from all corners of Oklahoma.
PAC for a Change, led by Sen. Barbara Boxer, seeks to support progressive leaders who will reshape Washington's partisan ways. The winner of the PAC for a Change "Choose a Challenger" contest will be featured in a national email to thousands of potential new supporters. Winning this contest could raise tens of thousands of dollars from grassroots activists across the country, so your vote is critical to helping make this Andrew Rice's best financial quarter to date.
Certainly, there are a lot of worthy candidates Sen. Boxer has submitted for your support. But, even beyond the fact that I live in Oklahoma and work on Sen. Rice's campaign, I know of at least five good reasons why you should vote for Andrew.
Candidate filing for Oklahoma elections began yesterday, and both Andrew Rice and Jim Inhofe filed for U.S. Senate. Immediately after filing, Andrew talked about his campaign, making one central message clear: Though his name is the one on the ballot, this campaign is not about him. It’s about the people of Oklahoma – and across the country – who want a change in the status quo, who want their voices to be heard, and who want a Senator who looks out for their interests.
Videos - both from our filing and from Inhofe's campaign - below the fold...
Monday's Roll Call noted that the DSCC, having far outraised its Republican counterpart, the NRSC, is ready to take action in states not normally considered good opportunities for Democratic Senatorial challengers. One place they've been focusing on is Oklahoma. In part due to the strength of the challenger (state Sen. Andrew Rice) and in part due to the weakness of the incumbent (Jim Inhofe), Oklahoma this year is up for grabs.
But it’s in Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and possibly other Republican states — where the GOP generally doesn’t expect to have any trouble — that the DSCC believes it might be able to sow the seeds of a filibuster-proof Senate majority. [...]
In Oklahoma, the DSCC is planning to send out as many as 10 field staffers to aid state Sen. Andrew Rice’s bid to oust Sen. James Inhofe (R), according to state Democratic Party Chairman Ivan Holmes.
Andrew Rice, state senator from Oklahoma and Jim Inhofe's sole opponent for U.S. Senate this year, will be here at 4:30 pm Central (5:30 Eastern/2:30 Pacific) to liveblog about his US Senate race. He'll focus on the problems created by a combination of record gas prices and record oil company profits, but all questions will be welcome!
PS - If you want to find out more about Andrew, go to http://www.andrewforoklahoma.com . And if you'd like to make a contribution now (so you're not having to nav away from the liveblog later), how about donating to our "Turn Oklahoma Green" page on ActBlue? Click here - http://www.actblue.com/...
In his 35 years, Andrew Rice has accomplished a lot.
He represents a diverse Oklahoma City district in the state senate, where he has established himself as a consensus-builder and a strong advocate for children and families. As a freshman senator, he has already built an impressive legislative record that includes cosponsoring and helping pass the "All Kids Act" – legislation similar to SCHIP – and forming a bipartisan coalition to create the Hunger Task Force, in order to find solutions to Oklahoma’s hunger crisis.
Before his election to the state senate, he received a master’s degree in theology, worked with the Texas Freedom Network, founded the Progressive Alliance Foundation, and performed other humanitarian work abroad. After his brother, David, was killed on 9/11 in the World Trade Center, Andrew became heavily involved in the push for the creation of the 9/11 Commission and worked with victims’ family groups in opposing the Iraq War, citing it as a distraction from the fight to destroy the terrorist networks that killed his brother.
Topping off his best fundraising quarter to date, Andrew Rice today announced that he has raised $1 million during this campaign cycle. Over $430,000 came in during the first quarter of this year alone,
With nearly 2/3 of the total funds raised coming from Oklahoma and over 95% of his contributions raised from individual donors, it's clear that Andrew Rice has burgeoning support from everyday people.
This campaign is on pace to becoming this cycle's classic "David vs Goliath" victory, similar to that of Jon Tester in 2006. Tester's campaign made it to the million mark days before his June 6 primary. Andrew Rice is nearly two months ahead of that pace, and doesn't have a primary opponent to contend with.
(Originally posted at Swing State Project) Democracy for America today announced their endorsement of Oklahoma State Sen. Andrew Rice in his campaign for U.S. Senate.
We can make this Sen. Inhofe's last year in office.
Andrew Rice has a proven record in the Oklahoma Legislature having worked on issues like health care, veteran's rights, and the environment. Andrew will bring his experience to Washington to fight to end the War in Iraq, provide access to health care for all Americans, and solve the crisis of global warming.
State Senator Andrew Rice, whose brother David was killed in the WTC on 9/11, blogs about the tragic mistake of the Iraq War, and how it has set us back against Al Qaeda.
Ever since the New York Times suggested earlier this month that Oklahoma could be the critical 60th Democratic seat in the U.S. Senate, evidence backing up that statement has been pouring in.
First, Andrew Rice - an Oklahoma state Senator and the only challenger to incumbent/entrenched Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe - became the first U.S. Senate candidate to pick up the endorsement of the Sierra Club.
Signaling a significant departure from the Southern Baptist Convention’s official stance on global warming, 44 Southern Baptist leaders have decided to back a declaration calling for more action on climate change, saying its previous position on the issue was "too timid."
Echoing the concept of the seven cardinal vices -- set to paper by Pope Gregory I in the sixth century -- the new list adds a social dimension, Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, said in an interview yesterday with the Vatican's official newspaper l'Osservatore Romano.
"You offend God not only by stealing, taking the Lord's name in vain or coveting your neighbor's wife, but also by wrecking the environment[."]
Last night, State Sen. Andrew Rice spoke to a crowd that packed the public library in Muskogee, Okla. From the Muskogee Phoenix:
Frustrated by the direction federal government has taken since terrorists attacked America, first-term state Sen. Andrew Rice, D-Oklahoma City, says he’s ready to unseat U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma.
"He embarrasses me — as someone who is supposed to be a public servant from Oklahoma," Rice said Thursday evening during a meeting of the Muskogee County Democrats. "I don’t think we can afford him any more."
As many of you know, because of the widespread dissatisfaction with seven years of incompetent federal government in DC, many Americans are hungry for change and therefore Democrats are showing the signs of being competitive in places for the first time in years. Oklahoma's U.S. Senate race is among them.
As Many of you may be aware, most of Oklahoma has been devastated by an ice storm that has cut off electricity for over 500,000 Oklahomans (which also means no heat for most people as well, in the midst of frigid conditions)
State Senator Andrew Rice spent much of today touring and helping out in his urban State Senate district, which has been hit particularly bad.
As Kos noted in yesterday's open thread, The Oklahoman published a straightforward profile about Andrew Rice and his campaign for U.S. Senate. From newsok.com:
Rice will be running against an incumbent with a long record, who has made some enemies in Washington, particularly in the environmental community. [...]
But Rice sees an opening for a new face, at a time when, he said, voters are tired of partisan gridlock in Washington and nasty campaigns.
"They want competent and responsible government," he said. "I think sometimes (political) races are portrayed as people are looking for the ideal candidate.
"People are pretty down-to-earth and realistic about what they expect. People want you to pay attention to what they're saying. They want immigration reform. They want affordable health care."
The conventional wisdom surrounding State Sen. Andrew Rice’s campaign to defeat Jim Inhofe for U.S. Senate is shifting. While Inhofe and his Republican friends are showing signs that Rice is making them worried, more Democrats are seeing that Rice has everything it takes to send Inhofe into retirement.
You may have noticed the post from kos last week regarding the website the Oklahoma GOP put up attacking Sen. Rice for his "tangled web of left-wing political connections," including scary groups such as the Sierra Club and – of course – DailyKos:
Oklahoma Republicans are a special breed of nuttery apart. This is the state of Inhofe, "global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people," and the state of Tom Coburn, "lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they’ll only let one girl go to the bathroom." ...
Meanwhile, after seeing how scary Andrew Rice is, I hope no one goes and checks out his site and volunteers, contributes, or signs up for his email list.
Jim Inhofe is trying to rewrite history. After spreading false claims and casting votes against the recent SCHIP bill, he now is cosponsoring a Senate-Republican-Incumbent-protection bill to maintain the status quo on SCHIP. He's claiming to support children's health, but all he's doing is trying to hide his voting record behind his co-sponsorship record.
On his website, Inhofe claims to support the SCHIP program. He states:
Congress needs to pass a reauthorization of SCHIP that maintains the original intent of the program by providing health insurance for the millions of uninsured, low-income children across the country, not middle-class adults.
Andrew Rice, state senator from Oklahoma and Jim Inhofe's sole opponent for U.S. Senate this year, will be here at 4:30 pm Central (5:30 Eastern/2:30 Pacific) to liveblog about his US Senate race. He'll focus on the problems created by a combination of record gas prices and record oil company profits, but all questions will be welcome!
