As many of us here are already aware, Chuck Pennacchio is running for the seat of Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania, a GOP hack of the worst odor. Now, I'm not from Pennsylvania, I don't have any connection to him, never talked to the man or even nodded to anyone from his campaign over latte's at Starbucks.
Why do I care? Well, there is so much noise about abandoning pro-choice as a part of the Democratic platform in a headlong sprint by DLC-types to push the party to the right that we need to take a practical stand where we can. (And please don't waste comment space saying there is no such thing until you've mastered the DKos "search" function and looked for any diary containing the word "abortion.") Pennacio is running against Bob Casey for the Democratic slot in the 2006 election, and Casey is a strong anti-choice candidate.
AP owes its readers more than recycled party press releases
Why This Is Important
According to the Associated Press, Pennacchio doesn't exist. Despite much contact from his campaign to the contrary, AP ran a story quoting Ed Rendell's office as saying "we're not expecting anyone to file against Bobby" in the Senate primary.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party may have decided that Casey is their man and AP is dancing to their tune. And many believe that because Casey has the best chance of beating Santorum that we should all get behind him. But I'm sorry, I'm just not willing to go away that quietly.
Handing Casey an easy win is not a good thing. It says we don't care, that we're willing to stand down and safely allow candidates to adopt an anti-choice platform for the sake of political expedience, and that we won't put up a fight. I'm totally willing to admit that Casey is highly favored, and that Pennachio is not well known (although running from the outside can be a strength). And if it comes to a race between Casey and Santoroum, there is no doubt who'd inflict less harm. But I'm not there yet.
Helping Pennacchio to raise his profile by making some noise sends a message that we're not willing to just lay down our values for the sake of the party. That the netroots community can and will get behind a candidate who supports pro-choice, that we will not let this issue go gently into that good night.
Atrios has a good rundown this morning of the situation, and notes that running anti-choice candidates against Santorum in the past have not been successful in a modestly blue state. And he notes that "Generally, I think the uncontested primary idea is a really bad one for Democrats, though they still cling to it. So, I'm glad that Pennacchio at least is still in the race, even though the press is trying to pretend he doesn't exist."
Tim from Pennacchio's campaign tells the story of what happened during his AP contact over at MYDD. He is asking for people to email the AP reporter, Peter Jackson, and also send a copy to AP directly. And I guess I'm doing the same; it's time to Get Out The Kossaks (GOTK).
Hell, even if you're not pro-choice, it's worth dropping a line to support Pennacchio. You've already got Casey out there representing for you, and Pennachio has taken the trouble to come to Kos and present his positions, and he has many admirable ones in addition to pro-choice that are worthy of support, you can check them out at his website.
And it shouldn't be so easy for any party, either Republican or Democrat, to just decide who the candidate is going to be and then tell the press to toe the line. The best way is for the issues to be aired and for the public to get involved and learn as much as they can about the candidates through the process of debate and interaction.
May the best person win.