Until today Blue America has only endorsed two people for the 2010 cycle, both proven old friends of our PAC who have been endorsed in previous years and have since proven their worth over and over again as dependable fighting progressives: Alan Grayson and Marcy Winograd. Today Blue America is endorsing our first all-new candidate for the year-- and it's no coincidence that Washington state Senator Craig Pridemore is now on the Blue America page with Grayson and Winograd. The first time I spoke with him he told me that "the conventional wisdom up here is that a Democrat can't win if he/she stands for Democratic values. I am absolutely committed to changing that perception and to make WA-03 a reliable, progressive seat in the future." We hope to help him do that.
Today at 11am (PT) Craig will be a Blue America guest at Crookandliars and I hope you'll come by and ask him the kinds of questions you'd like answers to from future members of Congress. Right now there is tremendous frustration and anger out there because of the lack of progress after we elected Obama and Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. Blue America never endorsed Obama because he was always a centrist, never-- never-- a progressive. His voting record was, to be kind, mediocre and it didn't fit in with our central goal: BETTER DEMOCRATS. We thought he would be better than McCain, so, as individuals, we voted for him. None of us donated any money towards his campaign or asked anyone else to. The frustration and anger people feel now should be directed towards making the Democratic Party better and more progressive, not by turning to conservatives for another run of the Bush-Cheney policies that have made things so difficult for almost all Americans. Conservatism isn't the answer for anyone who isn't a multimillionaire with a very short horizon. Electing progressives like Marcy Winograd and Craig Pridemore to work with progressives like Alan Grayson and Donna Edwards is the way forward.
In 2006, Craig was named Legislator of the Year by Washington Conservation Voters. There were a number of reasons they chose the relatively new state legislator but it certainly had a lot to do with a bill he wrote and successfully passed, the nation's first electronic waste recycling bill which mandated the kind of product stewardship that makes a producer responsible for the full lifetime costs of whatever they make, including the eventual disposal or recycling. Although some electronic goods manufacturers-- some in other countries, where TVs are made-- fought passage, Craig managed to put together a strong bipartisan coalition to pass it. In fact, every Democrat in both houses of the state legislature voted for the bill with only two exceptions, conservatives Steve Kirby and Deb Wallace. Ironically, one of those conservatives, Deb Wallace, is one of Craig's opponents in the Democratic primary for the seat in southwest Washington that has been represented since 1998 by Brian Baird. This past week she was one of a handful of Democrats to cross the aisle and vote with all the Republicans in an attempt to prevent passing the kind of reform-- abolishing I-960-- to make it possible for Washington to go forward without firing thousands of teachers, firemen, policemen and other public sector workers. Wallace and the other conservative Democrats claim their districts have too many Republicans for them to vote for something that will lead to tax increases. Pridemore and Wallace-- she as a state Rep, he as a state Senator-- face the same voters. One is the kind of courageous progressive leader we need if we're going to get out of the mess we're in and one is just another craven Blue Dog-in-the-rough.
Again, if you can make it over to Crooksandliars at 11, you'll have a chance to chat with Craig himself. In any case, please take a look at the video he made (below) and please consider making a contribution to his campaign today. You can do it on the Blue America page. The $10 and $20 contributions is what makes it possible for grassroots candidates like Craig to win against corporately backed candidates.