Hey all,
Welcome to Diary Number Three in this series supporting Congressman Sestak's bid for the open (now that he's defeated Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary) Pennsylvania Senate seat. No one seemed to be consistently tracking this very important race on dKos, so I've taken it upon myself.
For reference, the first two diaries are here:
Diary 1 - let's do better than the teabaggers in DE. Seriously, people, fight for it!
Diary 2 - Lies, Damn Lies, and Pat Toomey's ads
Also for reference, the contest is between a Navy Admiral and true liberal and a complete loon who thinks that businesses should pay no taxes. And the loon is ahead in the polls. We NEED to GOTV.
Obama's coming to town today to help. But he can't do it alone.
Obama's coming to Philadelphia today (after the town hall on jobs) to stump for Congressman Sestak --- which is great and I'm happy to see that after supporting Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter in the primary, we're seeing a lot of unity around Sestak, the clearly superior candidate in this race.
I'm sure I'll have more on the Obama event after it happens (you know, for tomorrow's diary) but I also wanted to point out that while Obama, of course, is the king of inspiration and is sure to motivate people to care about this race, there is plenty that the rest of us can do too.
This weekend, the news about this race was dominated by coverage of Democratic voters' indifference and sprinkled with quotes like this one:
Newman says she's planning to stay home on Election Day.
As she pays for a package of corn muffins at a grocery store, Newman, a retired state employee who's black, sums up her feelings about voting in November's congressional elections with a dismissive flick of her wrist. --- AP
Or this, especially damning:
Meanwhile, Vonia Bowie said Democrats came after her in a big way in 2008. She was among the groundswell of black voters who helped secure Barack Obama’s victory.
This week, while enjoying barbecue chicken at the fair, Bowie said she has never heard of Rep. Joe Sestak, the Democrat and retired Navy admiral vying for a U.S. Senate seat.
[snip]
Raymond Decker, a retired truck driver for the U.S. Postal Service, was enjoying the shade of the Ferris wheel when he shrugged his shoulders, wondering if his 2008 vote for Obama had made a difference. The Dillsburg resident said he probably won’t vote in November.
“Hell, I don’t even know who’s running,” he said.
[snip]
Like Karim, Bowie and her mother, Kimbra Kinnard, vote only in presidential elections. They say they have no interest in the midterm season.
“If the Democrats are really interested in my vote, they have to get out and make us aware of the issues,” Bowie said.
--- Patriot-News
I have three things to say about that: GOTV, GOTV, GOTV.
If you saw my last diary, you know that three new ads aired last week from Toomey's campaign or on his behalf. Sestak's got a new ad, too:
Make sure Sestak can keep fighting back. Polling last week showed him down by 8 points; a more recent poll said he trailed by 4 points or so. I am convinced that a concentrated effort from interested Kossacks can push him into true fighting range. As of earlier this summer, Sestak had raised only about half of what Toomey has to spend.
And if you’re a Pennsylvanian, for goodness sakes, make it a point to talk to your neighbors about this race.
Here are some things about Sestak you need to know, in one sentence: He’s been a true progressive on issues from the stimulus, to health care, and is a true champion of the environment.
Here are some things about Toomey you really should know too:
• He has a 0% rating from NARAL (meaning he’s anti-choice) and
• Also has a 0% from the League of Conservation Voters indicating he’s anti-environment (from Toomey: "There's no question that the Earth's surface temperature has increased," he said in a statement. "There is much debate in the scientific community as to the precise sources of global warming." --- so you can guess where his policies would lead. The man supported Bush-Cheney energy policies 100% though.
• Anti-senior, anti-labor… at what point does he just become anti-American?
And yes, Toomey really did say that corporations should pay no taxes whatsoever.
For fun, you can check out the new website the Sestak crew put together about Toomey.
It's not good to generalize or oversimplify too much, but this race really is good vs. evil. If you care about Pennsylvania, this country, or the human race, really --- help. Here's how:
Donate (I set up a new ActBlue page, it seems to me this series ought to be able to get at least 50 contributors - Toomey's raised twice what Sestak has - and please forward the link to your like-minded friends.)
Canvass or Call --- as outlined above, getting out the vote is critical. You can also go to their contact us page --- they just opened four new offices!
Thank you. (I'm trying out posting during the lunch hour as opposed to post-10PM Eastern time --- let's see if we can beat the old record of 11 comments!)
And, I want to give a shout-out to other Sestak supporters posting lately:
Hilltopper, mille147, and gizmo59 - special thanks!