Hillary Clinton was on Anti-Union Wal-Mart Board!

The story is here. Let's see now: Hillary Clinton has taken more money from big Pharma and HMOs than any other candidate; more money from war-profiteering defense companies than any other candidate, including any Republican candidate; she stood silent and raked in cash while Wal-Mart suppressed unions. Convicted donor Hsu was a major contributor. Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, has held fundraisers for her.

So, tell me, just how is Hillary Clinton going to standup to Right and bring us progressive change? There's an old saying, "You gotta dance with those who brought you."

Call all your friends in Super Tuesday states and urge them to vote for Barack Obama. Then send him some cash.

Edwards is Out

Fmr. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), the most improved candidate for president in 4 years, as Normon Solomon rightly called him, has left the race. He announced this decision, as he announced his decision to run and put the poor first, in the 9th Ward of New Orleans, still devastated from Hurrican Katrina--over 2 years ago. I thought Edwards should drop out after Nevada because he could no longer win and because I was afraid he would siphon off progressive votes from Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL). Edwards clearly drove the progressive agenda in many ways (especially since the media silenced Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who is now struggling to retain his seat in the House). Obama's platform and rhetoric have taken on many of Edwards' themes--and I think it has made Obama a stronger candidate against Clinton and a candidate more worthy of the office of the presidency. Obama clearly has both progressive and cautious tendencies (as do most of us) and a mix of advisors. I think Edwards gave him the courage to keep pushing in the progressive direction--and I hope he continues to do so now that Edwards has dropped out.

There are rumors of a movement in the Obama campaign to select Edwards for Atty Gen. should Obama win the presidency. I hope they are true. Edwards would be a great Atty Gen. and would bring his record as a trial lawyer and his strong pro-labor and pro-civil rights agenda to that office. You can bet your bottom dollar that he would not hesitate to call waterboarding torture and to prosecute anyone who tries it!

Whatever happens, I wish the best for John and for Elizabeth who is still struggling with breast cancer. Keep fighting for the poor, John--in whatever you do.

Kentucky Political Filings

Yesterday was the KY deadline for candidates for political office to file to run for an office this year. The surprise news was the unexpected decision of U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis (R-KY) of the 2nd District to not seek reelection. Democrats came close to unseating him in '06 and, now that this is an open seat, may claim it this year--especially if the presidential campaign is going in the Democrats' favor (the "coattail effect"). The juicy details of all the races are found at the Louisville Courier-Journal. Here are the races with a few comments:

U.S. House of Representatives by District (Kentucky has 6 U.S. Congressional Districts--currently 4 are held by Republicans and 2 by Democrats).

1. Rep. Ed Whitefield (R) of Hopkinsville is the incumbent. He is being challenged by Heather A. Ryan of Paducah (D). As reported by Bluegrass Roots, Ryan and her daughter, Heaven, were targets of Sen. Mitch McConnell's wrath when she dared to ask McConnell about the war in Iraq on camera. Well, some folk don't just curl up and go away. Ryan is now challenging hard right McConnell/Bush stooge, Whitefield. It will be a tough campaign: The first district is conservative and Whitefield is well-heeled and connected. But Ryan's challenge could become a cause celebre' for KY progressives. Go get him, woman! We got your back!
2. As mentioned, Rep. Ron Lewis (R) is not seeking reelection. Kentucky Republicans are furious, because Lewis tried to let only one person, his handpicked successor, Daniel London (R) of Shepherdsville know. But one other Republican, Brett Guthrie of Bowling Green, found out and got his papers filed in time. So, there will be a GOP primary on 20 May for the open Lewis seat. Whoever wins will face David E. Boswell (D) of Owensboro in November. The open seat and the GOP primary mean that this is an excellent chance for a pickup for Democrats.
3. John Yarmuth (D) is the incumbent--having done incredible things in his frosh term in Congress and winning awards and notice nationally. The 3rd District is the most liberal district in the Commonwealth and it was an aberration that rightwing nut-job Anne Northup (R) won and kept that seat for a decade. As I reported yesterday, she wants her old job back. But, before Queen Anne can challenge Yarmuth in November, she will have to face stiff competition from 3 other Republicans who don't think that seat is her birthright: Chris "I Killed the Library Tax" Thieneman, a Lousville developer and GOP activist against all things reasonable (like good libraries!), UPS pilot Bob Devore of Louisville and someone named Corley Everett of Louisville. The contest between Thieneman and Northup has already included smears and charges of threats by Northup and McConnell--so it looks nasty. That should make it easier for Yarmuth to keep his job. His race against Northup was hard and close, but Louisville has loved the job he has done.
4. Incumbent Geoff Davis (R) of Fort Mitchell is facing 2 primary challengers, G. E. Puckett (R) of Flemingsburg and Warren O. Stone (R) of Independence. I expect Davis to survive these challenges, but they could weaken him for his contest against Michael Kelly (D) of LaGrange.
5. Alas! Incumbent nut job Hal Rogers (R) of Somerset is running unopposed! Way to drop the ball, here, Kentucky Democratic Party! In a year in which Republicans are dropping like flies, we waste an opportunity to challenge one of the most fanatical Bushies?? Arggh!
6. Ben Chandler (D) of Versailles is a conservative "Blue Dog" Democrat. He's not the most progressive Dem we have, but, he is more progressive than either of the 2 GOP challengers he'll face: Jon Larson (R) of Lexington and TonyMcCurdy of Frankfort.

U.S. Senate:

Obstructionist-in-Chief/Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), the shame of the Commonwealth, is up for reelection. He has a huge campaign fund and has buried many a good opponent over the years. But, this year he's vulnerable: His approval rating is below 50% despite running ads that try to tout his record--and much of that disapproval has come from his role in blocking the Senate from ending Bush's war in Iraq. He also has repeatedly prevented the Senate from getting enough votes to override Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program expansion (great family values, Mitch!), blocked measures that would improve veterans' healthcare and would force Bush to keep soldiers home for longer periods between deployments to Iraq. Unfortunately, our best chance to Ditch Mitch was if very popular State Auditor Crit Luallen (D) had challenged him without a primary. She declined. Our next best opportunity remains the challenge by Louisville attorney and Iraq war vet (and opponent), Lt. Col. Andrew Horne (R), who may still pull this off. Unfortunately, the KDP, Gov. Beshear, and DNC have not gotten behind Horne. They've recruited Louisville businessman Greg Fischer (D) (who has previously contributed money to Anne Northup!!), and millionaire Bruce Lunsford (D), who has twice run for governor and been defeated--and who is a DINO who isn't that much more progressive than McConnell. Then there are the lesser candidates: Michael Cassaro (D), an M.D. from Prospect; James Rice of Campbellsville; David Wylie of Harrodsburg; Kenneth Stepp of Manchester; and perpetual candidate David L. Williams of Glasgow. So, Horne has to face a crowded field (none of whom would step up until he filed to challenge McConnell!) in the Democratic primary just to get to challenge McConnell--who MUST be laughing himself to death at the way this greatly reduces his risk of being Ditched! Fortunately, his approval is so low in Kentucky, now, that he faces a GOP challenger: Daniel Esseck of Whitely County. I don't know much about Esseck--but I hope he keeps McConnell on his toes until Horne can go after him for November. Make no mistake: Ditching Mitch is so important that I will support whomever the Democratic nominee is. But I remain convinced that Horne is our best shot at Ditching Mitch McConnell.

There are a number of races for the state legislature, but as Bluegrass Report notes, far too many Republican incumbents are running unopposed.

13 Louisville Metro Council seats are up for grabs.

So, the good news is that KY is nowhere near as "red" or Republican dominated as in '00 or '04. However, our struggle to turn "blue"--Democratic and progressive--is still uphill. We are deep purple. Hopefully, after November, we'll be a lighter purple--because we have serious problems to address. We have to rebuild the KDP--and the only way to do that is through grassroots campaigns.

Governor's Budget: Deep Cuts, Shared Pain

Well, our previous governor, Ernie Fletcher (R-KY) royally screwed the commonwealth with his budget-busting corruption. New Gov. Steve Beshear has tried to spread out the pain of an "austere budget" throughout the Commonwealth of KY, but there is no doubt this is going to hurt.

The full coverage in the Louisville Courier-Journal is here. The highlights (or lowlights):

• Kentucky public universities will have funding cut by 12% this year to $1.19 billion. Next year there will be a nearly 1% increase to $1.2 billion. This will deeply hurt the advances in public higher education that were made by Gov. Paul Patton (D-KY) before the Fletcher admin. and it is sure to mean more tuition increases--putting higher education further out of reach for many.
• Public schools (primary and secondary) will have a 0.8 % cut this year to $3.79 billion with 0.6% of that increased next year to $3.82 billion.
• Social services (food stamps, homeless shelters, assisted living, mental health, etc., etc.) will be cut by a whopping 8% this year to $652 million with only a 1% increase in the second year to $659 million--and KY already falls way behind in our assistance to the most vulnerable among us.
• Medicaid will, fortunately, see a 3% INCREASE this year to $1.23 billion (much less than expected, but at least no cuts) and a 7.7% increase the following year to $1.32 billion.
• State employees, whose salaries have been frozen for years, will get 2% raises in each year of the administration. (Now if only Metro Louisville will do the same and renew the city employees' contract. My wife hasn't seen a pay increase in 3 years, despite rising costs. Our wonderful mayor has had city employees working without contract for nearly 2 years.)
• Infrastructure projects apparently will be funded through bonds.

The cuts in the budget wouldn't have to be so deep if Gov. Beshear would simply rethink his "no new taxes" view (what is he, a Republican?) and increase taxes on tobacco (3rd lowest in the nation) and alcohol in order to raise needed revenue for essential services. He is literally gambling everything on his plan to push through an amendment to the state constitution to allow casino gambling throughout the Commonwealth. I doubt that will pass and, even if it does, our experiences with the state lottery show that the promise of using gambling to fund education is illusory. Besides such promotion of addictive behavior amounts to a regressive tax on those who can least afford it (the poor who buy lottery tickets weekly from money that should go to groceries, rent, etc. in desperate attempts to escape to wealth) and the resulting social problems associated with pushing gambling addictions are well known.

I know that Beshear campaigned on casinos, but, like many others, I voted for him in spite of this, not because of it. I voted for him because he was not the corrupt Ernie Fletcher. We need a grassroots campaign to push Beshear to raise tobacco and alcohol taxes for a less "austere" budget--especially for education and social services. Balancing budgets on the backs of the poor and our children is immoral and will further undue the progress made by the Patton admin. Gov. Beshear needs to be reminded that he was elected to undue the harm of the Fletcher admin.--not increase it. True, Fletcher, not Beshear, caused this mess. But this is not the right response.

DINO Lunsford Joins KY Dem Senate Primary

The incompetence of the Kentucky Democratic Party never ceases to amaze me. And the DSCC and Chuck Schumer (D-KY) are just as bad. They've decided to back millionaire Bruce Lunsford (D-KY), a real DINO (Democrat in Name Only) instead of Andrew Horne in the battle to Ditch Mitch McConnell! Idiots! This is the strategy that kept us with DINO Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) who is campaigning for John "I Love War" McCain in Florida, when we could have had progressive Ned Lamont in the Senate for us right now! The DSCC also, as Bluegrass Roots notes, backed established DINOs in place of Jon Tester and Jim Webb. The GOP would have retained Montana and Virginia in '06 (and, thus, control of the Senate) had not Montana and Virginia grassroots Dems worked overboard to give us Tester and Webb as frosh Senators.

Now, it's KY's turn. Ignore the KDP and DSCC folks. Even if Lunsford could beat McConnell, he wouldn't be much better. Let's work our collective butts off for Andrew Horne and both Ditch Mitch and get a real, progressive populist Democrat in the Senate for KY! Show Horne some monetary love, today! (As soon as we win the White House and a 60 vote majority in the Senate this November, there's some housecleaning to do. We need to replace Chuck Schumer (D-NY) with a DSCC head who doesn't fear grassroots campaigns and replace Reid (D-NV) with Chris Dodd (D-NY) as Majority Leader so we get someone with backbone as Leader.)

We need progressive populists, not party machine hacks. We need Andrew Horne for U.S. Senate!

More California Latino Leaders for Obama

California for Obama: Latino Leaders Endorse Obama
Uploaded by ObamaCA

There is no question that H.R. Clinton has a leg up on the Latino vote in CA--and the endorsement of the United Farmworkers, the union of migrant workers led by the great Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta sure doesn't hurt her. But this video and other factors lead me to think that Obama could win a significant portion of the Latino vote in CA. Enough to win the state outright? Maybe, maybe not--but I think he will get a significant number of the CA delegates. Thank God we Dems don't use "winner take all" primaries like the GOP, or non-establishment candidates would never have a chance.

P.S. See this excellent article by progressive activist/scholar Paul Rogat Loeb on the way that the Clintons keep trying to change the rules to win this campaign. The article is aptly titled, "It's Her Party and She'll Do What She Wants." Funny-when the GOP did that to her, she rightly called "foul." Now, she's as corrupt as the "vast rightwing conspiracy" she once railed against.

It's Official: Northup Wants Her House Seat Back!

Anne Northup (R-KY), that Bush & McConnell rightwing HACK that we in the 3rd District spent 10 years getting OUT of office in '06 will try to take her job back from our wonderful Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), who has been one of the best frosh Reps. ever and has kept all of his campaign promises! This could be tough. Yarmuth beat Northup by less than 6,000 votes and a district that switches national parties is most vulnerable to switching back at the very next election.



Fortunately, before Queen Anne (who also lost a primary challenge to our unloved former Gov., Ernie Fletcher(R), last year--only a few months after losing her seat to Yarmuth!) can take on Yarmuth again, she will have what looks to be a bruising primary on May20. She will have to face Chris "I Am the Library Tax Killer" Thieneman and UPS pilot Bob Devore, Jr. As today's C-J article makes clear, Thieneman and Northup have no love for each other--so, Yarmuth can wait until they shred each other and pick off the winner. 20 May is also the KY primary in the U.S. presidential elections, so, if the Democratic nominee is still in doubt, this could be a huge motivator for 3rd District Dems to get out the vote for Yarmuth.