Blue Dog On The Run
by digby
I wrote about the little problem the Blue Dog John Barrow has gotten himself into down in Georgia last week. Today, his primary challenger Regina Thomas, is being formally endorsed by Blue America and will be over at Crooks and Liars today at 11PDT.
Howie writes:
History will remember this week as the one in which a tremendous stride was made down the road towards universal healthcare. But reactionary Georgia Blue Dog, John Barrow, was on the wrong side of history. A stranger to his own district and out of touch with its people, he voted twice in committee and 4 times on the floor of the House against healthcare reform. He voted against the bill last Sunday, causing an explosion of anger among Democrats back home. And then he arrogantly voted against the Senate reconciliation on Thursday evening, one of only 32 conservative Democrats to cross the aisle and voted with the GOP. But voting with the GOP is his default position on most everything. Does that make sense?
Barrow was driven out of his own Athens-based district when it was gerrymandered to make a home for another Republican. He fled to Savannah, which has a strong Democratic base– a base he has studiously ignored while courting the wealthy (Republican) power structure. Although GA-12 leans Democratic– Gore won there with 52%, Bush and Kerry were in a virtual dead heat and Obama won with 54%– Barrow consistently votes as though it were a deep red district and he’s been one of the worst-voting Blue Dogs– but, only when it matters; he supports Democrats when it comes to naming post offices or honoring sports teams.
Today Blue America is honored to formally endorse former state Senator Regina Thomas, a strong advocate for working families with a long record in her district and in the state capitol. Regina will join us at Crooks and Liars at 2pm (EST/11am on the West Coast). She offers her neighbors in eastern Georgia a far different outlook than John Barrow. Regina’s perspective on governance is pure FDR– the government is there to protect us from forces outside of our own control, whether that be foreign enemies or domestic predators. If Barrow’s #1 concern is holding down taxes for the powerful and immensely rich transnational corporations that have financed his political career, Regina’s concern is that the rich and powerful pay their fair share so that the society that has enriched them continues to prosper and thrive for everyone.
That’s what I’m talking about.
Blue America is unveiling its first ad of the 2010 campaign today. (It was produced by our talented pals at Donkey on the Edge.) Regina is seeing it for the first time along with all of you:
Turning it into a TV spot will be our PAC’s first political independent expenditure of 2010. When you contribute to Regina on our ActBlue page, please also consider making an extra donation to the PAC so we can get the spot all over TV in Savannah, Augusta and all points in between.
We will be making more of these for other endorsed candidates.
Update: Howie has a poll up over at DKos to vote for the Blue Dog you’d most like to see defeated. Vote!
Update II: While you’re donating today, be sure to put a few bucks in the pot for Alan Grayson for his big moneybomb today.
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