Brown, Mfume, Tasini: Taking the Senate

[WilliamPitt]

Taking the Senate
By William Rivers Pitt
Progressive Democrats of America

Thursday 17 August 2006

There are three Senate races taking place today that may come to swing the Senate back to Democratic control, and Progressive Democrats of America is right in the middle of all of them. Sherrod Brown is running against Republican Mike DeWine in Ohio, Jonathan Tasini is putting forth a primary challenge against Democrat Hillary Clinton in New York; and Kweisi Mfume is challenging Democrat Ben Cardin for Maryland's open Senate seat. Each of these candidates carries with them a compelling story.

Sherrod Brown, a strong progressive, has focused his campaign around trade issues. Columnist David Sirota, describing Brown's campaign, wrote last month, "Sherrod Brown is a guy who has made his career standing up to the corrupt forces in both parties, even when it means a political risk for him personally. He's a guy running in the biggest Senate race in the country in the most politically important state in America, and running openly as an unabashed progressive populist who is willing to go up against Big Money interests even on an issue like trade, where these interests are unified. He's not hiding from the word 'progressive' by pretending to be Republican lite. In fact, he's doing the exact opposite. As he told the Washington Post, he's going to ' show a progressive Democrat can win in a state like Ohio.'"

Kweisi Mfume, like Sherrod Brown, would make an excellent addition to the Democratic caucus in the Senate. PDA's Deputy Director, Kevin Spidel, has been working on the Mfume campaign for several weeks. Writing for his blog, Spidel said of Mfume, "This African American from the ghetto, who was a child when his single parent mother died, went to Congress, served as the Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, turned the NAACP around as their National Executive Director and now is in a dead heat in the polls against his opponent for the Sept. 12th primary for an open US Senate seat. Folks... it is serious. This man belongs in the Senate."

Perhaps the most compelling race taking place today is between Jonathan Tasini and Hillary Clinton in New York. Clinton, as many know, has supported the Iraq occupation since the beginning, only recently hedging her bets on the matter by lambasting Defense Secretary Rumsfeld for improper management of the war. Tasini, a life-long progressive, is running to hold Clinton accountable for her stance on Iraq, but his vision for a better America extends far beyond the war.

More: http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/taking-senate.php

[Kevin Spidel]

1. kick

thanks!

[Change has come]

2. Kicking from page 4

Cause I like the title.

:kick:

[David Zephyr]

3. Kick

"Tasini, a life-long progressive, is running to hold Clinton accountable for her stance on Iraq, but his vision for a better America extends far beyond the war."

Thanks!

[DemReadingDU]

4. K&R for Brown!

Ohio needs Democrats!

[eridani]

5. Support these guys! n/t

[bvar22]

6. Tasini running on more than the War.

*"significant problems in this country will be underfunded for decades to come because of the trillions of dollars wasted on this illegal, immoral war"...

*"universal health care, Medicare for All, that we could implement tomorrow if we just had the will"...

*"end the abusive corporate power that has shipped thousands of our jobs overseas, eroded workers’ pay here at home, and stolen the pensions of thousands of Americans who worked hard all their lives only to see corporate executives escape failed companies with golden parachutes while the employees lost everything."

Hitting all the right notes.

http://www.tasinifornewyork.org/Donate

http://www.tasinifornewyork.org /

The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

:dem: