The DU3 Inaugural Progressive Candidate List 2012

[liskddksil]

November is less than a year away from now, and many of these primary elections are within months. Financial and volunteer support will be crucial in taking back the House, and maintaining the senate with better Democrats.

(I've avoided listing candidates where there are competitive primaries, between two Progressives.)

Senate:

MA:

Elizabeth Warren - No explanation necessary, perhaps this quote should suffice. "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody."

http://elizabethwarren.com

WI:

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin is running to replace retiring Democratic Senator Herb Kohl, and would be the first ever openly gay senator.

http://www.tammybaldwin.com

House:

AR-3:

Army veteran Ken Aden, a founder of a non-profit, is taking on GOP Rep. Steve Womack. The speech from him represents a fighting Democrat: "Now, more than ever, we as citizens must educate ourselves when it comes to the corporate prostitutes who claim to represent us and our families. We will be able to identify them by their works and voting record. Whether you have a D or R before your name... if you back attempts to cut Medicare and Social Security, you are nothing but a criminal."

http://aden4arkansas.com

CA-2:

Policy-wonk and political activist Norman Solomon is running against incumbent Republican Wally Herger.

http://www.solomonforcongress.com

CA-3:

Ami Bera, a medical doctor, ran for this seat against Dan Lundgren in 2010, and came up short. With the increased turnout generated by the presidential election, this race could be winnable this time.

http://www.beraforcongress.com

CT-5:

State house speaker Chris Donovan is running to replace Democratic Senate candidate Chris Murphy.

http://www.donovanforcongress.com

CO-6:

Joe Miklosi is challenging right-wing incumbent, Mike Coffman. He is the son of a public-school teacher, non-profit manager, and also staff Director for Progressive Speaker of the House in CO, Andrew Romanoff. He has an excellent education platform, focused on small class-sizes, critical thinking, arts and civics, not standardized high-stakes tests.

http://www.joemiklosi.com/

FL- 8:

No explanation necessary - he's back baby!

http://congressmanwithguts.com

FL-24:

Self-proclaimed "New Deal" Democrat Nicholas Ruiz III is running against tea-party Republican incumbent Sandy Adams.

http://intertheory.org/nriiiforcongress2010.html

Il-10:

Ilya Sheyman is a 25 year old community organizer running against incumbent GOP fresh-man Bob Dold.

http://www.ilyasheyman.com

MD-4:
I have to put one incumbent on this list, the progressive fighter for the 99%, Rep. Donna Edwards, because she is being challenged by a corporatist "Democrat", Glenn Ivey, with plenty of establishment backing and money. In addition, due to re-districting the district's makeup has become slightly more conservative.

http://www.donnaedwardsforcongress.com

MI-8:

Lance Enderle ran as a write-in after another Democrat dropped out against long-time incumbent Mike Rogers. With re-districting possibly shaking up many of these districts, and the unpopularity of Gov. Rick Snyder and buyer-remorse setting in, this people-powered Democrats has a great chance this cycle.

http://lanceenderleforcongress.com

NH-1:

Carol Shea-Porter represented this district from 2006 to 2010, when she lost to Congressman Frank Guinta. However, the dynamics will be completely different with 2012 being a presidential election, and the significant over-reaching by the GOP house, (Guinta like all but four Republicans has voted to privatize Medicare.)

http://www.sheaporter.com

NH-2:

Ann Mclane Kuster came up just short against Congressman Charlie Bass in 2010 during a bad year all-around. Kuster ran a progressive campaign last-time and beat Katrina Swett in the primary election, who attacked Kuster for being too liberal for the district.

http://www.kusterforcongress.com

NJ-7:

Ed Potosnak is a public school science teacher and small-business owner who is running against Republican incumbent Leonard Lance.

http://edpotosnak.com

NM-1:

Eric Griego is the first candidate this cycle to be endorsed by the Progressive Campaign Change Committee, due to his support for investments in infrastructure to create jobs. He is running to replace current representative Martin Heinrich who is running for Senate.

http://griegoforcongress.org

PA-6:

Iraq war veteran Manan Trivedi will seek a rematch of his 2010 fight to oust Republican incumbent Jim Gerlach.

http://www.trivediforcongress.com

WA-1:
Darcy Burner, narrowly came up short in 2006/2008 against Rep. Reichert, and will be running in a more solidly Blue district, die to re-redistricting.

http://darcyburner.com

WI-1:

Kenosha County Supervisor Rob Zerban has the potential to give Congressman Paul Ryan a serious challenge. Ryan's medicare gutting budget proposal, and his votes to continue oil company subsidies, will not play to well there.

http://www.robzerban.com

WI-7:

Former State Senator Pat Kreitlow will be running against, Paul Ryan and Scott Walker's lap-dog, Sean Duffy, one of the 2010 freshman. This is a prime pickup opportunity, with the ongoing progressive uprising in Wisconsin.

http://www.kreitlowforcongress.com

[JNelson6563]

1. Awesome post!

[ProSense]

2. Very cool. Thanks! n/t

[barbtries]

3. in NC

i guess they gave up.

[liskddksil]

7. I'm sure more candidates will be added as I learn about them over the next few months. nt

[G_j]

14. Cecil Bothwell. nt

[Scuba]

4. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Rooting out DINO's is critical....

... as is supporting truly progressive candidates.


I commend you for putting this together.

[liskddksil]

8. Thanks...I'll be doing this every month or so as I hear about more candidates.

[Scuba]

9. Excellent. Thanks. n/t

[MarkCharles]

5. This is really what we should be focusing on! Very good!

Why we need to read about Palin or Bush or Cheney or even Gingrich or Romney anymore is a mystery to me. Those people are all crazy or stupid or both and we know that already.

We need to get to know the issues and the candidates that will give us a Dem House and Senate for 2 more years and get some real work done in fixing what needs fixing, what Obama was too timid to fix the first two years, and what we can do to make sure elections henceforth after 2012 are publicly financed, not run by big oil, big finances, and pharma, etc.

[eleny]

6. "FL- 8: No explanation necessary - he's back baby!"

Very cute.

K&R

[freefall]

10. Excellent work! Thanks. n/t

[Hart2008]

11. Please add Darcy Richardson, the Progressive candidate for President of the United States of America

I think it’s fair to say, and should be said, that President Obama needlessly squandered his first two years in office, saddling the nation with health care legislation that nobody really wanted instead of fighting for a single-payer Medicare-for-All program that would insure the basic health needs of every American.

While pushing for legislation seen by many on the Left as a boon to the private insurance industry, the President virtually ignored the country’s mounting jobs crisis — until he started running for re-election, that is.

Extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy added insult to injury and, in no small measure, helped to give rise to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Unlike the last Democratic administration, the gap between rich and poor has widened substantially during Obama’s presidency.

The recipient of a staggering $37.6 million in Wall Street money between 1998 and his election in 2008, the President has been about as effective in turning this recession-ravaged economy around as Herbert Hoover in 1932. That was, of course, the year when the beleaguered Republican President tried to rescue the ailing U.S. economy with the passage of the relatively modest Emergency Relief and Construction Act and the creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, neither of which came close to ending the Great Depression.

Instead of modeling his economic policy agenda after Herbert Hoover, President Obama and his advisers should have instead studied FDR and the New Deal.

The President’s $787 billion stimulus package in 2009 — much of which was used by Republican governors and GOP-controlled legislatures to balance state budgets — did little for the private sector and was simply too meager to pull the country out of the depths of the “Great Recession,” a devastating economic downturn that millions of Americans believe never ended.

http://www.battlegroundblog.com/2011/10/26/darcy-richardson-why-im-running-for-president/

[WonderGrunion]

12. I went to your link and can't support any candidate too stupid

to understand why Bernie Sanders can't primary President Obama. Bernie isn't a member of the Democratic party and cannot participate in the Democratic primary process.

Based on that bit of political ignorance alone, i can't believe a lot of his assumptions about President Obama.

[Hart2008]

13. So you don't think Bernie Sanders could have changed his party registration for the good of the USA?

Bernie does vote in the Democratic caucus in the Senate.

He certainly could change his party registration.

The fact is that he chose not to do so.

The issue isn't that Bernie can't primary Obama. The issue is that he won't.

So, someone had to step up to the plate for the progessives and New Deal type Dems.

Darcy Richardson answered that call.