Dana Garrett at Delaware Watch:
I just heard Christopher Bullock speak about the need for the US to withdraw from Iraq and to stop spending $28 billion a month on a war we never should have entered and cannot win. I heard him ask what could $28 billion a month do for the people of the USA and, since [Castle] clearly [has] forgotten about them, the people of Delaware. He had some great suggestions, ones [Castle] probably never heard of lounging about Caribbean resorts paid for by the Aspen Institute ....
....
Bullock was electrifying, one of the top 5 best speakers I’ve ever heard in my life. If Bullock decides to run against [Castle], and I SO hope he does, I suggest that [Castle] up your blood pressure medicine now. If Crazy Denny Spivack sent [him] to the hospital, Bullock will send [his] blood pressure through the roof.
Dana was referring to Castle's stroke during the campaign last year. Indeed, Castle's health remains a concern, as Castle rarely makes public appearances and when he does, he appears frail and old. This August recess, when Congressmen and women are to reengage their constituents at county fairs and carnivals and picnics and the like, Castle has nothing on his schedule.
What was once a juggernaut left alone and unchallengeged by the Democratic Party is now considered a potential retirement in 2008. Castle's percentage of the vote plummeted from the intimidating 70 percent he has customarily polled in his previous 7 elections to a very mortal 57 percent against an under-financed candidate, lawyer Dennis Spivack, who did not have the enthusiastic support of Senator Carper or Biden nor the DCCC. And now, like all Republicans, Castle has to deal with being in the minority in the House for the first time in 12 years. He has lost his institutional clout and is now a minority within a minority, since Castle likes to claim that he is an independent moderate who strikes his own path, even though he has voted with Bush nearly 90% of the time.
But, according to an aide in Castle's office, Castle is back raising money for a reelection campaign in 2008, so it would appear that our retirement hopes were misplaced.
Yet, the state Democratic Party still operates under the assumption that it is better to leave Castle alone thatn to take him out. Why? Call it the Delaware Way of Politics. Delaware, for some ridiculous reason, likes to believe itself to be above the poltical fray and partisan bickering. Incumbents, no matter their party, are normally not seriously challenged in their reelection efforts. There are "gentlement agreements" about trading jobs. For example, in 1992, Governor Castle ran for Congress, and Congressman Carper ran for Governor. And when an incumbent is challenged seriously, it is a scandal.
In 2000, Senator Roth was up for reelection. He had been in the Senate since God was a boy. Needless to say, it was time for Roth to retire. But no, Roth soldiered on. Governor Carper, who was term limited in his current job, decided to seek a promotion anyway, even though that would mean running against Roth. Now, normally when a popular two term Governor challenges an aging incumbent who is no longer in touch with either his facilities or his constituents, the Governor wins in a landslide. Yet, I am to this day convinced Carper would have lost to Roth but for the unfortunate incident of Roth literally falling asleep during their only debate. Indeed, Castle himself, while longing for a chance to run for Senate, has not challenged Carper or Biden in any of the recent elections.
So Delaware is a state that likes the status quo. We elect Castle every year because we have been electing Castle every year. That credo is true even if we have become a legitimate deep blue state.
So even though our Democratic bench is solid and fulled with young rising stars, such as Lt. Gov. John Carney, State Treasure Jack Markell, and State Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn, none of them will challenge Castle, and instead will challenge each other for the Governorship and Lt. Governorship.
Thus we are left in search of a contender.
Dennis Spivack, a lawyer who was our candidate in 2006, is running. And now Reverend Christopher Bullock is supposedly thinking about running. Rev. Bullock has been quoted as saying he is very interested in the race and is looking at it seriously due to his misgivings about the Iraq war and the state of the economy.
And now Rev. Bullock has excited a lot of people. But some questions remain.
Jason at Delaware Liberal:
Say Reverend Christopher Bullock runs against Mike Castle as is being suggested by some .... how does this race shake out?
Bullock has made his living speaking and by all reports he is a great speaker.
....
He’ll have to prove that he can raise money (both here in Delaware and with the DCCC, ActBlue and other online activist sites). And here is a big one in my mind, Bullock will have to get REAL support from Biden and Carper. Not the chump change and occasion kind word they gave to Spivack.
True. Being a great speaker and being against the Iraq War are great. But they are not the only things we look for in a candidate.
It is helpful to check into his background.
And whoah boy, we find out that Rev. Bullock was a Republican as recently as two years ago. Indeed, the GOP tried to recruit him to run in 2006 against Sen. Carper. To his credit, Bullock turned it down and changed his party registration to Democratic.
Now, I am not saying once being a Republican is a sin that cannot be forgiven. (It is a sin, but we can forgive). But being a Republican as recently as 2006 raises the possibility that the Rev. Bullock is just using our party for his own political gain. Can we trust him? Will he stay true to liberal and progressive principles? What are his positions on the other issues? These are legitimate questions, and I will be exploring them in the coming weeks. For it appears that a bandwagon is forming, and before we all jump on it, let's be sure.
So here is a biography
The Rev. Christopher A. Bullock, a distinguished Wilmington, Del. minister and human rights activist, .....serves as senior pastor at Canaan Baptist Church, whose congregation is committed to a number of faith-based initiatives. Rev. Bullock was elected first pastor of the church in 2004 and in prior years served as third pastor of historic Progressive Baptist Church of Chicago, Illinois, where youth ministry, membership and community outreach had significant growth under his leadership.
He is the founder and president of the Progressive Community Development Corporation (PCDC), which operated the Higher Ground Technology Center, a state-of-the-art computer laboratory for technical skills training. Rev. Bullock is a former president of the Chicago Southside NAACP, where he led an unprecedented increase in membership. He also established the Family Technology Center funded by AT&T.
From 1990 to 1998, Rev. Bullock was pastor of the historic Eighth Street Baptist Church in Wilmington. The congregation experienced phenomenal growth under his visionary leadership. Two key accomplishments included increased membership and acquisition of a multi-purpose facility valued at $2.5 million.
A winner of the Thalheimer Award in 2001, Rev. Bullock holds a bachelor of social work with a concentration in criminal justice from the University of Alaska-Anchorage, a master of divinity with a concentration in Black Church Studies and pastoral theology from the Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, and a doctorate of ministry in Black Church Leadership in the Urban Context from the United Theological Seminary. He also studied at Harvard University, The Divinity School.
A former commissioner on Discrimination and Hate Crimes in Illinois, Rev. Bullock has delivered sermons and lectures in various American cities and in Europe, Israel, West Indies, Brazil and Mexico. He has served as an honorary advisor to the South African government at the United Nations.
Here is some excerpts from an interview he did in 2001 about how the GOP can attract African American voters.
BULLOCK: I think the Democratic Party, in short, has promised African-Americans a four-course meal. But once we got to the table, all we received were appetizers. We're still waiting for the meal.
That kind of scenario does not work any longer for African- Americans who want to progress. I'm a Republican. I'm proud to be a Republican. And I believe that our president and vice president and Chairman Gilmore should continue to reach out to African Americans at the grassroots level. Reach out with a plan, with an agenda, particularly in urban American where we still have poverty, underemployment, disease and economic and social decadence.
So I think the Republican agenda, pro-business, pro-family, pro- faith, lower taxes and grassroots initiatives for economic and community development, for faith-based initiatives, is the way to go for the 21st century.
Does he stand by that? Clearly he does not, since he is now a Democrat himself. But what Republican beliefs does he still find appealing? It will not be a problem for me to support someone who was once a Republican and indeed does not agree with me on every issue. I have supported Jim Webb, Bob Casey and Patrick Murphy even though I did not agree with them on every thing.
Rev. Bullock may yet earn my support. I just want to know more about him.
I will be attending the Iraq Summer Campaign's Take a Stand Day event at Rodney Square in downtown Wilmington, on August 28, from 5 to 7 pm to learn more about him, and to hear him speak. If you are a Delawarean, try to attend as well.
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