Regardless of what happened in Massachusetts on Tuesday, one thing was obvious--we need to focus more on electing better Democrats. I can't think of a better test case than in New York's 15th district, which has been held for 40 years by Charlie Rangel. I've had a good deal of respect for Rangel for many years. However, after Nurse Angie alerted us to a blog post by one of Rangel's fundraisers in which he said Obama's plans to rein in Wall Street were an "attack" on New York City, I now believe it's time to thank Rangel for his service and send him into retirement. I think we may have found the "better Democrat" to replace him--Vince Morgan.
Morgan's bio screams "success story." He dropped out of high school at 16, but earned his GED and eventually did graduate work at Columbia. He works as a CRA officer for New York and north Jersey--helping out the very people who felt the pinch from the credit collapse. Since 2007, he has been the leader of Harlem Now, a community activist group. If there's anyone more qualified to take this district, I've yet to hear about it.
I look at Morgan, and I can't help but think of how Donna Edwards took down Al Wynn in 2008. Think about it. Entrenched Democratic incumbent who got a bit too cozy to corporate interests and got blown away by a challenger with solid roots in the community. And this despite running in a ridiculously expensive market.
This is where we come in. It's going to take a lot of money for Morgan to get the word out--he's running in New York City, for Pete's sake! But we were largely responsible for propelling Edwards into office, so we've proven we can shove mountains into the water. Let's do it again and lend Vince Morgan a hand. Here's his ActBlue page. I plan to chip in when I get paid tomorrow--but let's start a money bomb for Morgan now. If nothing else, it'll get Rangel's attention.