A note before bed, RE: Congressional Elections

[Catch22Dem]

Folks, do you have a less-than-desirable Democratic candidate running for national office in your area? I do. I think Brad Carson (running to replace Senator Don Nickles) is a good person, but I just don't agree with his politics all that much. The guy supports the FMA, ban on abortion, and just about every other repuke platform. Is he our ideal candidate. NO WAY!

However, I've heard a lot of grumblings in my state forum, and in others where people are in the same situation, and are choosing not to vote in THAT particular election. I ask that you please reconsider. Does this guy deserve my vote? Nah, not really. But, he would/could be another Democrat in the Senate and that's important to me. It's important to us all. If we win the Senate, we win all the committee chairs, and that's important to me. It's important to us all.

We should all do what we can to give the Dems the Senate and perhaps the House as well. Your candidate may not be ideal, he or she may not even deserve your vote, but we ALL deserve the committee chairs back, and we all need to understand there is a bigger picture.

So, please hold your nose and vote for the not-so-desirable Democratic candidate on your ballot, please. Every vote is important.

[Ediacara]

1. I had the opposite problem last time

I had an ideal candidate, a DUer in mindset, but he was disorganized, ran a dumb campaign, and was frankly unelectable in Montana.

This time around we've got a smart, well spoken, committed candidate who could win if she had the support of the national party and some cash.

Speaking of :-) See that Tracy for Congress icon on the right? Send some cash her way, if you've got some to spare :-)

[quaoar]

3. What icon?

I'd be happy to support such a candidate.

[quaoar]

2. I just wish

I had even a marginally acceptable candidate running here (Alabama) against Richard Shelby.

[Demoiselle]

4. Just go by the label this time, folks...

The Democratic label, I mean. The goal is to put the Dems in charge of Congress..The majority party sets the agenda, has the power to instigate or kill investigations, the whole nine yards. (But you knew that.)
The shame of it is that voting for Lincoln Chafee (my personal fave Republican) or Olympia Snow or Susan Collins (insert your favorite here) puts Bill Frist in charge. I fear we must be strictly partisan until we get past this awful time.

[cheshire]

5. Maybe I'm missing something here but isn't it important to have a Dem in

those seats that will vote a certain way not just one that says he's a Dem? Look at ZigzagZell the turn coat.

[DaveinMD]

6. Zell

caucuses with the Republicans and is the exception. Who controls the chamber means everything. The most important vote is for Speaker and leader. The party label is what matters.

[cheshire]

7. Don't mean to sound stupid but if that is the case does it matter how

or if anyone votes? All this crap about so and so not voting comes up all the time.

[DaveinMD]

8. the agenda

is set by the leadership. And most members vote with their party at least 70 percent of the time. Zell is a huge exception. Party matters the most.

[cheshire]

9. Thanks

[Demoiselle]

10. You are missing something, I'm afraid.

A majority of Democrats allows the Democrats to determine which bills come up for a vote in the first place because it puts them in charge of all the committees and the floor of the whole chamber. A renegade could choose independence (like Jeffords) and throw the power to the other party, but it's too rare an occurence to count in the equation, imo.

[cheshire]

14. Now that makes sense.

[acmavm]

11. I live in Nebraska. We have Ben Nelson. He's an ex-repub turned

democrat. But that doesn't bother old Ben. He votes along repub lines almost without fail. He's absolutely worthless. Hagel is more respected and a better rep than Nelson. Oh well.

[Punkingal]

12. I have to disagree.....

Here in Nevada's 3rd Congressional District we have a guy named Gallagher running for Congress who calls himself a Democrat, yet he went to a fundraiser here last fall and gave $2000 to Bush-Cheney. He is a former gaming CEO who once worked for Merv Griffin, one of Reagan's pallbearers. He also was a law partner of Kenneth Starr back in the late 70's, and a law partner of Theodore Olson for many years. NO WAY IN HELL AM I GONNA VOTE FOR THIS GUY...I won't vote for the Repuke, but I won't vote for him, either.

It is disgusting...there is a great progressive democrat candidate in the primary here, but the Democratic Party chose to support this Gallagher guy, I guess because he's rich. I can tell you, after watching this lunacy here, I now know why the Repukes are controlling the House and the Senate. I am so disappointed with the Democratic party...just because someone calls themselves a Democrat doesn't mean they are one.

[bowens43]

15. It's all about the numbers.

Controlling congress is as important if not more important than the presidency.

[69KV]

13. Great post!

This is a year when all of us need to be "yellow dog Democrats" and vote a straight Dem ticket down the line.

You're going to have some Dems who are more conservative on social issues in the red states, some really progressive Dems, some with huge name recognition, some unknowns. There is a good point here, even the ones who may have some socially conservative positions such as Brad Carson will be progressive on economic issues, which alone makes them an improvement over the Repuke opponents who are extreme right on everything. As much as I'd love a purely liberal Senate it's not going to happen overnight, and change happens in increments. I'll take the moderate over the extreme right any day.

Another good point is the party that controls the Senate and House is the party with a majority. There will always be one or two Rodney Alexanders and Zellout Millers. Let them go, and good riddance. 99% of the Dems elected will vote with the party 80% or more of the time and stick with the party. We'll get 99 real Democrats for every one Zellout.

I'm thinking of races where there is an unknown Democrat against a popular incumbent Repuke too, like the Stu Starky vs John McCain race in Arizona. It's a different situation than Oklahoma since Starky is a liberal across the board, but I'm afraid some Dems are going to split their ticket and vote McCain - don't do that! Straight Democratic ticket all the way!

There will also be a few races where there is an ex-Republican who switched parties recently. Give them the benefit of the doubt and welcome them. Democrats are the "big tent" party, especially today when more and more Republicans are getting disgusted at just how extreme right their party has gone. They'll become ex-Republicans and some of them will run for office as Democrats. Again, straight Democratic ticket all the way! I'm more than willing to cast a vote for somebody who did the right thing and came over to our side, even if it was recently. This is the post-9-11 world and we're seeing a reshuffling of the deck, as good honest people separate themselves from the extreme right loonies.

There is only one excuse for not voting a straight Dem ticket, and that is those races where there is no Democrat in the race (and shame on the party for not contesting *every* race this year!) My only rule of thumb there is, never vote for a Republican. Ever. Third party vote if it's a contested race, or write somebody in. Priority #1 in 2004 is to break the Repuke gridlock on this nation.

[DeadHead67]

16. The Senate candidate in my state is Obama !!! . . . .

It doesn't get much better! He will join Dick Durbin, and replace Fitzgerald the repuke.:kick:

[Catch22Dem]

17. I wish we could all be that lucky. (n/t)

[ClassWarrior]

18. Hey Catch22Dem... Next time why don't YOU run??

We need good, progressive folks in our Capitol.