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.
(More below)
The next day, The Hill ran an update on our race, including thoughts from Chuck Schumer:
With Senate Democrats’ growing list of pickup opportunities in 2008, state Sen. Andrew Rice’s (D) uphill campaign for Sen. James Inhofe’s (R) seat has flown largely under the radar. But it appears Democratic leaders and his opponents are starting to take notice.
At a briefing with reporters on Wednesday, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) suggested Rice might make the state competitive. ...
"State Sen. Rice in Oklahoma is a good candidate," Schumer said. "He’s going to surprise people."
Meanwhile, Inhofe remains predictably entrenched and out of touch, recently taking on a vast majority of his own party and nearly every U.S. military expert to spout anti-U.N. conspiracy theories in his opposition to the U.N. Convention on Law of the Sea. Despite his blocking attempts, UNCLOS moved through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Taylor Marsh highlighted the issue, using the remarks of Sen. Joe Biden, Foreign Relations Committee Chair, to emphasize the almost universally accepted importance of this treaty:
"The Convention is long and complex, but for the United States, I believe the choice is relatively simple.
"Do we join a treaty that establishes a framework to advance the rule of law on the oceans, that is clearly in our military, economic, and environmental interests, and that has broad acceptance among the major maritime powers? Or do we remain on the outside, to the detriment of our national interests? I strongly believe that we should become a party to the Convention, and that any risks it poses are far outweighed by the benefits."
Sen. Inhofe and a small minority prefer to remain on the outside. Andrew Rice made these comments:
"As a U.S. Senator who constantly portrays himself as a pro-national security public servant, Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe is now choosing to ignore the pleas of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of the Navy, among other military leaders, when they ask for Senate approval of UNCLOS. American military leaders have made it clear that participation in UNCLOS will enhance our national security and that changes have been made in UNCLOS provisions to explicitly protect American interests. And yet Jim Inhofe and a very small minority are working against our nation's best interests, simply because it might hurt the special interests he puts before the needs of Oklahomans again and again. Inhofe is clearly out of step with our national security needs."
Help Andrew Rice spread his message that Jim Inhofe is out of touch and needs to retire. The attacks have started, and the Republicans are showing that even they believe Andrew Rice could beat Jim Inhofe. Show them just how right they are – contribute $10, $35, $50, or whatever you can to Andrew Rice’s U.S. Senate campaign today.
http://www.actblue.com/...
http://andrewforoklahoma.com
Sincerely,
Karina Henderson
Team Rice