[Please welcome Donna Edwards back to FDL. As always with guests, please stay on topic and be polite, and please take any off topic discussions to the prior thread. Thanks and welcome Donna! -- CHS]
I have a dream. I don’t know how realistic it is, but it doesn’t seem completely crazy. My dream is that my country will elect a superb leader, one who is wise and sharp and compassionate and educated, who understands what America needs and works effectively towards those goals.
A few months ago I met Donna Edwards in Georgia. I had spoken to her many times on the phone but we had never met before. Of all the people I’ve talked to on behalf of Blue America, she’s the one who I am certain would best fulfill that dream. But Donna Edwards isn’t running for president. She’s a candidate in the Democratic Party for the congressional seat of Maryland’s 4th district, the one now held by Al Wynn. We’ve talked with Donna before and she came close to winning the nomination last year– many say she did win the nomination until some “missing” ballot boxes were found the next day.
One year ago– this very week– Blue America first started raising money for Donna’s campaign. Between June 13, 2006 and the September 12th primary 160 of us donated $6,600 towards Donna’s race. Next year, name recognition will not be the problem it was for her last year. This year the 38,126 voters she galvanized are ready for a second shot. Wynn’s 49.7% victory is unlikely to count for much in 2008.
Today Donna joins us for a live blog session. In anticipation, 60 of us have already contributed to her campaign at our Blue America ActBlue page. I hope after you get to know her a bit you’ll share my dream and feel moved to contribute as well.
Donna reached and surpassed the six-figure goal she set for herself for the quarter that ended last week. But that is far from what this campaign is about for her. “It’s about getting people energized and invested so they reach out to their friends and neighbors.”
Donna is the classic grassroots activist trying to hold an incumbent — who has long forgotten where he comes from and why he was first elected — accountable.
After the scare Wynn got last year he’s tried to mend some of his most egregious ways — at least on the surface. He’s gone from being a big war booster, for example, to claiming he’s against it now. No one is buying the new-time religion.
“Voters,” Donna told me last week, “should have some expectation that their representative isn’t going to be blowing in the wind and that it isn’t going to take pushing him up against the wall, electorally, to get him to do the right thing and represent the interests of the district.”
Al Wynn may be running around like a chicken without a head telling anyone who will listen that “I got the message.” But he hasn’t. He still supports a repeal of the estate tax and he still supports the bankruptcy bill. He says he’s all about global warming all of a sudden but he’s a major proponent of the nuclear energy lobby. Suddenly he says he supports universal health care but in the last session his proposal for health care was to augment a Republican agenda item called “associated health plans” which is nothing more than a boondoggle for insurance companies.You don’t have to look too far to find the real Al Wynn and to understand, despite the talking points, what he does stand for. A reformed crook? I don’t think so. A born-again progressive? Sure, just like Joe Lieberman. (Lieberman hasn’t endorsed him — at least not yet — but another Lieberman-type, DLC chairman Harold Ford, is Wynn’s biggest name backer.)
And Wynn certainly isn’t stepping up in any leadership capacities for the issues that are important to working men and women. That’s a stark contrast to what we have every reason to believe we’ll get from a Congresswoman Edwards.
“Wynn may talk a good game but he’s offered zero leadership and what I want voters to know about me is that they get someone who has a commitment to health care because I know what it is to go without it. When you don’t have health care it’s something you think about everyday.”
Right down the list of the issues that are important to the real lives of the real people who live in the 4th CD, Donna is offering the real deal. Her son Jared is a college sophomore now. She told me:
“I have a commitment to quality public education because I’ve raised my 18 year old and paid the kind of attention to his education that all parents want for their children…I have a commitment to promoting peace and diplomacy because it’s what I’ve been doing in my whole working career and is what the ARCA foundation is about.”
When I contacted Donna on the phone a few days ago, she had just done a drawing for campaign donors in her district. The 5 winners got the opportunity to go with Donna to a local screening of Michael Moore’s new film, SiCKO followed by a dinner discussion about the movie. A very different way of engaging voters than having the reactionary DLC chairman come in to the district to announce his support for a basket of confused and hollow items.Before I turn the discussion over to you and to Donna, I want to mention one last thing. We all know how Wynn has disgraced himself by championing the Fox News CBC debate and the interests of his big telecommunications donors who oppose a free Internet and net neutrality. Donna would be a very different kind of representative.
“The Internet,” she told me, “has been the great equalizer. It’s enabled people to expand their voices, get information that they wouldn’t have had access to otherwise, and be creative with their own views and expression. I don’t see allowing these big communications conglomerates to determine what we hear and see and have access to on the Internet.”
That’s important to me, which partially explains why Donna’s election, in just seven month, is my top electoral priority right now. I urge you to join me on the Blue America page to send a message loud and clear to Democratic Insiders like Wynn, Ford, Lieberman and the others who have forgotten what Democratic values are all about. Let’s work with Daily Kos, MyDD, Atrios, Swing State Project and local Maryland bloggers to give Donna the ammunition she needs to send a loud and a clear message to the faithless Democrats, like Al Wynn, who have muddied the reputation of our great party and made it collaborator with the Republicans on Bush’s toxic agenda.
(Photo above is Donna’s mother, Mary, on the left, and Donna Edwards, on the right.)
Here’s Donna at an NAACP-sponsored debate — not one of Al Wynn’s Fox News debates. Even though she’s attacking corporate shill Al Wynn, her opponent, doesn’t the corporate shill she’s sitting next to look more than a bit uncomfortable? That’s because the person sitting next to her is Steny Hoyer, and almost everything she says about Wynn is just as true for Hoyer.
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I’m a next door neighbor, but I’ll be urging my PG County colleagues to vote for you!
Donna!
Welcome Donna! So glad you could join us.
Hope we get a lot of Donnations for you thru Blue America today.
It’s terrific to have the support of so many people in the 4th District of Maryland and around the country!
Hi, Donna! It’s a real honor to welcome you to FDL to meet my friends. I’ve been telling them about you for so long now! I’m sure there will be plenty of questions but I wanted to follow up with one that we touched on in the interview earlier in the week. You seem very passionate about net neutrality. (Thanks; many of us are too.) But is that an important issue for people in your district? Shills for the telecom companies, like Al Wynn and Harold Ford, say computers are just for the elite anyway.
Hi Donna!
Hi Howie. As I sit here on my laptop with dialup access, I feel the pain of so many communities who’ve not enjoyed the full promise of the new technology. I believe that Internet access expands your world view. When I was young, I used the books to visit other places and people. If we want all our children to be prepared for 21st Century challenges, they need full access to the technology that will transport them.
Donna I believe a dear friend of mine Denise Hamler (marketing director of Co-op America) lives in your district. I know Denise and other people in this district have dealt Wal-Mart moving in a very constructive way, making demands of Wal-Mart that were possible.
Were you involved with this process?
Can you address those demands and the results?
Interesting background:
Kathleen, I wasn’t directly involved in that fight, but it seems that we are in a battle with WalMart throughout our district. The invasion of the big box stores is troubling. I’m concerned on a lot of fronts — one, the impact on indigenous businesses, small businesses in our communities — two, the invasive impact on the environment — and, three, WalMart tactics, strategies, and business operations depress wages and benefits and negatively affect the quality of worklife for low wage earners. I believe in positive, transportation oriented economic development, but I’m not among those who wants to sacrifice our communities to WalMart — this continues to be an ongoing challenge throughout the district.
Donna what percentage of the people who live in your district work in D.C.? What would you say the average wage is in your district? What percentage of people have health coverage?
Andy and Janet each just made very generous donations to Donna’s campaign at our Blue America page. Thanks– and thanks for being first!!! But I want to make sure everyone understands that big donations aren’t the only way to help grassroots candidates. In the district, Donna needs volunteers to help get her message out. And for people who want to help from outside MD-04, even $5 and $10 donations add up and make all the difference in the world. Today I’m offering to match every $5 donation that comes in while Donna is at FDL with us. That means by giving $5 you’re giving $10 and if just 20 people give $5 each, that’s $200.
Just stopping by to say you have fans up here in the 4th Congressional District in CT!
Those of us who supported Ned Lamont in his primary against Joe Lieberman understand how important your fight is. Good luck and keep fighting!
Kathleen, we enjoy tremendous diversity in the 4th District. One of the great challenges is to close the gaps between those who have employer based health care,such as the significant number of federal and other government workers in the district, and many others who are uninsured and underinsured. It’s a little misleading to look at average wages because using those numbers masks the disparities at the bottom. Average wages in the 4th District, for example, are among the highest in Maryland and among the highest among African American households in the country. On the other hand, far too many of our residents are without health care, educational equity, and other basic human needs.
Donna,
Can you tell some more about your background (not what offices you have held)? What has motivated you in life to do this kind of work now?
Thanks.
Donna Edwards @ 7
Hi Donna,
Sorry to jump right in on this topic, but what do you see as possible solutions? Around here (Washington state) we’ve had some local initiatives to build WiFi and other broadband networks. Some have worked, some haven’t, but it always seems like just when that’s about to happen, some telecomm giant appears, ready to implement the network of our dreams. Any thoughts on that process?
Welcome Donna. I am pleased to meet you. My concern regarding every candidate focuses on the persons (sometimes called experts) they would use to advise them. Can you give us some insight into the Think Tanks and/or persons you consider trustworthy and reliable enough to advise you on critical issues? Thank you.
I truly appreciate the small donations to our efforts. I believe these donations, along witht the hard work of volunteers, are going to make the difference in this campaign, so a big thanks to Andy and Janet. For many years I worked (and continue to work) for meaningful campaign finance reform — if we don’t own the elections, then someone else will!
Donna is Mt. Rainer Maryland in your district. I spent a great deal of time in that community while I sat in at the Libby trial. Impressive community!
I used the Mt. Rainer public library computers. The kids and adults who were at the library could only use the computers for one half hour and they were in high demand. The need for more high quality computers was very obvious.
Always wishing that Gates would just provide a constant supply of computers to underfunded public libraries.
Wal-Mart could make it a goal in that neck of the woods!
Go, Donna! I LOVE the video clips of you in the debate last year. You got the audience behind you. The party hacks like Steny hate the fact that so many Democrats want sweeping changes to our health care approach.
I looked up the 4th District map. You could get dizzy following the zigs and zags, but the bottom line is, geographically, your district is the closest the people of DC have to an area adjacent to their non-voting-district, which truly represents the demography of DC itself.
Good luck!!
Donna Edwards @ 14
“Beware of averages.
The average person has one breast and one testicle.”
- Dixie Lee Ray,
Former Governor
of Washington State
Many years ago, Kevin Philips pointed out the problem with using mean averages in discussing economics – the average wage can go up or down with only a few people being affected.
Howie @ 12:
I’m in for the matching contribution…
Prof @ 15:
Go visit her website. Just click on her handle…
Oops — dialup!
Prof — I’ve actually never held elective office. For several years, I was a systems engineer working at NASA for Lockheed, before the merger with Martin Marietta, on the Spacelab project. Then, I went to law school up in New Hampshire — and, I’ve been doing work in the nonprofit public interest community since then — I founded the National Network to End Domestic Violence, worked to pass the first Violence Against Women Act, worked on campaign finance reform for Public Citizen and Center for a New Democracy, and for the last eight years I’ve been the director of the Arca Foundation, giving grants to nonprofit groups around the country. I have an 18 year old son, Jared, who is a rising sophomore at Drew University. Check out our website at DonnaEdwardsForCongress.com
Kathleen says @ 19
To add to Kathleen’s wish and suggestion, these corporations could donate the hard goods AND include top trainers so the computers don’t just sit there. Once the user becomes proficient they volunteer to teach two others. Success is catching!
Just put in $50 for the Next Congresswoman from Maryland.
Most of the folks here want to impeach the scoundels currently running the White House. I realize they will be going out the door when you arrive but I for one would like investigations and rollbacks of the junk they have been doing. Will you support going after former administration turkeys?
Ms Edwards, thank you so much for joining us today. I contributed to your heart-breakingly close 2006 primary, and I’m already in for 2008. Thanks for making this effort again — we’re looking for some second-time charm for our great progressive Blue Americans in 2008!
Thanks for tying net neutrality to net accessibility. This is an incredibly important issue in preparing young Americans to compete intelligently in a global economy. Do you have a plan to put an internet-linked computer into every American home?
My other question concerns impeaching the Vice President – a quick, necessary solution to restore our Constitution. Do you support HR 333 and will you push your opponent to join the 14 co-sponsors?
Thank you again for running again!
PS Firepup patriots, this February primary election is just around the corner; please dig deep and get that Howie Klein-doubling magic for your dollars.
Good luck Donna!
Go Donna!
If we can’t dream, and strive to manifest our dreams, then what is life?
I wish to god we had some candidates like you running in Brooklyn, NY primaries (Blue America take note: Brooklyn is solidly Dem and Blue, but the cronyism of the local party machinery is something not to write home about…)
It think some of the solutions to expand Internet access rests with communities. We cannot create a privatized systems that targeted toward marketing opportunities. Imagine if we lost the vibrancy, creativity, and fluidity of the Internet — many of our children would lose out. I’m particularly concerned that we not lose the the Internet as a mechanism for civic participation.
Donna – just drive-by comment to wish you the best- you’re the real deal, so with a little nudge from our own Valley Girl I just made a modest contrib. to your effort.
(PS Howie – in my haste at the ActBlue page I somehow entered Haiti as my country…can someone fix that? thanks)
Hi Donna! It was so wonderful to meet you at TBA. You’re really inspirational and I know you’re going to do it this time. We’re really proud of you for staying in there and feel privileged to support your effort.
Donna Edwards @ 30
Mt. Rainer Library needs more high quality computers…Hope Wal-Mart is listening!
Biodun @ 22
Me too
Woodhall Hollow @ 29
Good news in Brooklyn (my birthplace): Freshman Democrat Yvette Clarke has the #1 best voting record in the entire Congress. She’s the most progressive Democratis congressmember anywhere in America.
FYI, I’ve challenged the incumbent of 5 debates between now and the February 12 primary. I think it’s important for voters to understand their choices and debates provide that opportunity. I’m interested in a substantive conversation with voters, no one that filtered through soundbites, ads and dueling press releases. Voters are smart, so I’m looking forward to Mr. Wynn taking me up on the debate challenge.
howieklein @ 35
Yvette Clarke is the real deal and won her seat in fair and square in a contentious primary — but sadly she is in the district next door. I am saddled with Edolphus Townes (ugh). I (and most of my neighbors) am very happy with my city councilwoman, Letisha James, and as there are city council term limits in NYC, I would like to suggest that Act Blue reach out to her – or at least explore her as a possible Congressional candidate.
I would not have any problem joining on the impeachment resolution. From my perspective, however, the fact that my opponent has now decided that the War in Iraq was wrong and is now supporting impeachment tells me that the resolution offers some cover who may not be genuine. I would not have had to worry about impeaching the Vice President after the fact because I would have been a strong and forceful advocate against the war, against unlawful surveillance, against expanding executive authority, against torture — from the beginning!
Donna Edwards @ 38
As someone with a nephew in Iraq I appreciate hearing that.
I just popped in $25.00 for Donna Edwards. Feel free to match that, Howie, or anybody…
I now feel doubly redeemed for having to buy something yesterday at Wal Mart, since Donna has been such an articulate critic of big box thinking.
Jane, it was great to meet you also. I’m inspired by so many of us around the country who are not content to wait for permission to act and to lead — that’s includes you and all of us who have something to say and important contributions to make.
I just made a contribution on BlueAmerica Act Blue site. I didn’t receive a response to my question @17 and I know it can be difficult. Hope you can get around to it. Much appreciated.
Donna Edwards @ 38
“From the beginning.” Key words! There were so many of us out there who knew that they were lying. Yet, no one dared to question the veracity of the rational for the war, because they were playing by unspoken DC rules. If I hear another Senator or Congresscritter say that they stand by their vote on the basis of the information that was available (when it is known that most of them never bothered to read the NIE) then I think I will explode! It is a congresspersons responsibility to dig for facts, not to vote based on what has been spoon-fed to them.
I really wish you the best and will not only keep your candidacy in my sights but will gratefully contribute from time to time.
Donna Edwards @ 24
Thanks, but I was hoping for some personal, motivational insight.
AZ Matt, thanks for commenting. As the daughter of a career servicemember, I’m ever mindful of the tremendous sacrifices that are made by our young men and women. It is why I think elected leaders must work overtime to get it right on questions of war and peace. The sacrifice is just too great. I’m really troubled when those electeds now choose to wiggle around their mistakes. That’s just not good enough. I know that when we allow the rhetoric of supporting our troops to get in the way of getting out of Iraq, it’s a failure of leadership. I want to be a leader.
Amen!!!!!!!!
Speaking of leadership, can you please talk about your views on Climate Change and the environment? An issue which I see as a great equalizer…
punaise @ 31:
Re: Haiti:
Touissant L’Ouverture would be proud…
(Sorry Howie: Couldn’t resist that one.)
Biodun @ 47
He would be proud of Donna Edwards, you mean! I see him as the sort of leader that we so desperately need, now.
Hi QuakerGirl — I’m a reader. I rely on information that I receive from alternative media sources, including international sources. My home page is set to AlterNet, and then I branch out from there each day. As the director of the Arca Foundation, I’ve had an opportunity to work with many tremendous organizations over the years. For economic policy information, I trust the Economic Policy Institute, Center for Economic and Policy Research, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. On issues of health care policy, I trust the Institute for America’s Future and Families USA — I also get a lot of guidance from the labor movement. On issues of foreign policy, apart from more specialized think tanks dealing with country-specific or regional concerns, I look to the Institute for Policy Studies, Center for American Progress, and occasional articles and papers from various sources — I like the thinking coming out of Foreign Policy in Focus — especially the latest publication calling for a new foreign policy. I could go on, but that gives you an idea of the the experts who inform my thinking.
Donna, are you meeting much resistence from residents of the district who say “But he’s changed now?” Or do people see through that? Do you have a feel for how his efforts to make people think he’s changed are going down?
Thank you Donna Edwards for running again and I am very confident you will win the primary this time around. Just made a modest ten dollar contribution and pledge to continue regular monthly donations up to the winter election. Thank you too Howie for your tireless work on behalf of Ms. Edwards and other outstanding candidates.
Jane and Christy – there simply aren’t adequate words to properly thank you two for the amazing community you have created!
Woodhall Hollow:
I meant… of punaise. But yes, of course. L’Ouverture would be proud of Donna Edwards too. And my critter Keith Ellison would be glad if (I mean when) Donna Edwards joined her in Congress!
Aloha Donna. I just watched the video of you speaking to the NAACP at CrooksandLiars.com. Wow! I don’t have any questions for you since that video answered all questions about your commitment and ideals for me. Now I’m off to put a few more dollars into BlueAmerica’s newest champion. Something that has become very therapeutic for me.
(Thanks Howie and the whole gang for working so hard to find candidates who actually inspire me to believe in a country of progressive ideals again)
Biodun @ 52
as would my rep., Barbara Lee
punaise @ 54
Ditto for my rep., Sam Farr. Won’t it be a grand day when all firepups can be as proud of their congresscritters as we fortunate constituents.
punaise @ 54
My unfortunate critter, Edolphus Townes (who has one of the worst showing up to be counted records in the Congress) would not even notice. Sadly for us in the 10th district of NY.
Woodhall Hollow, although I’ve taken a leave of absence with the start of this campaign, I’ve served on the board of the League of Conservation Voters — I love their new Heat is On campaign to elevate the issue of global warming in the presidential campaigns. I hope to catch some of the Live Earth Concert today. We still have a lot to do in all communities to raise awareness about the problem of global warming.
First, we must and can take immediate steps to reduce carbon emissions by increasing fuel efficiency standards — something my opponent has previously opposed. We can make investments today in clean energy — not using fossil fuels, and not using nuclear power — again something my opponent has supported. We can invest in wind, solar and biofuels — I mean major investments and not just model projects.
Lastly (for now), we need to lead the world — these are priorities — and it’s time to set some new priorities for future generations.
On a personal note, I do believe we are caretakers and we’re failing in that responsibility. I want my son and his children’s children to enjoy the Chesapeake Bay, our mountains, and glaciers, and forests, and oceans and wildlife — it’s not too late to shift our direction.
Lastly, I hope we don’t leave the War conversation as one that’s just about reducing our dependence on “foreign oil.”
TeddySanFran @ 27
Well now that that FTC has chosen not to doing thing about Net Neutrality and just let the market sort things out, I have to wonder about not only net access, but the proven track record of suppression of dissent that this government. How long will it be before they come after the net roots and the candidates who are for changing the system? http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/n…..neutrality
Ahhhh! Giving money to ActBlue Candidates is like chicken soup for the hopeless progressive idealists’ soul!
Donna Edwards @ 49
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My donation is a good investment in America’s future.
As luck would have it, I’m up to MD next week looking for a place to park it for my new new job. Olney would be a place I visited recently. Pretty area.
Oh, and please spend it wisely! I hope you will be one of the few who actually do what you say. Good luck.
Donna Edwards @ 57
Yeah, its not just about xenophobic oil, it is about energy resources and how we choose to develop them, nurture them, and expend them!
Your son and his children (and my children and grandchildren) have every right to enjoy the Chesapeake Bay and all the other essential and miraculous wonders of our country.
I have just donated $25. And as I said earlier, will continue to support your candidacy.
Go get ‘em, Donna!
Almost up to $2,100, with 82 donations. Very good guys! Keep it up!
What committees are you interested in serving on?
Welcome, Donna!
I hereby pledge to do everything in my power to help you win this time around. We had some good results last year doing campaign profiles in the form of TRex’s Virtual USO Tour. We’ll have to get you set up to be a stop on the 2008 Tour.
Our readers donated in droves to the campaigns we spotlighted. And it was really fun.
Good to see you here at the Lake!
Howie, some progressives are suggesting that now that Wynn “has changed,” we should fold up with a job well done. I don’t believe that at all. In fact, I think it’s important for us to finish the job we started. We can see that even with Democrats in the majority, real change will come when we have many more members of Congress who don’t wait to be backed up in a corner to do the right thing. It’s not just about one vote or another — it matters what kind of majority. I will be a leader who will not sit in silence when we’re headed in the wrong direction and who will work on issues that are criticial to our district and our country. And, while Mr. Wynn has changed on some obvious issues regarding the War in Iraq, he hasn’t taken back that support for a bankruptcy law that punishes consumers or an estate tax repeal that’s taking more than $50 billion out of the treasury — money that can be used for health care, pre-kindergarten – 12 education, and to help fight global warming!
Hey Donna… You just made it onto the this weeks’ “Top 5 Hottest Candidates” on ActBlue’s front page! :)
[link repaired by mod]
Donna Edwards @ 65
you can’t teach an old Blue Dog new tricks.
AZ Matt @ 63
I gotta say, that there is something irresistible about a hot-shit woman with brains and deep intelligence who has a hot-shit looking mother! I am totally psyched about this campaign and look forward to seeing Donna on a hot-shit committee on C-Span in Congress!
TRex @ 64
Woohoo! TRex and Ned The Fighting Koi are going back on tour! Life IS good!
Tom Allen is running against Susan Collins in Maine and the support that Collins has gotten from Lieberman has been a real boon to Allen’s campaign. When Lieberman did a fundraiser for Collins, grassroots and netroots groups almost doubled the amount raised and gave it to Allen. Does it resonate in the district at all how much of a corporate shill DLC Chairman Harold Ford (Wynn’s main backer) is? Any chance Lieberman will join Ford in backing Wynn?
Nate @ 68:
Linky no work…
Nate @ 68
Not sure how I screwed up the link so here it is again. ActBlue Home Page
Welcome Donna!
I had a chance to meet Donna at Take Back America and she is such an awesome woman … and candidate. I can’t wait to see her elected and I really hope everyone will get out those credit cards and pitch in!
Woodhall Hollow @ 69
TRex @ 65
Donna, take this very seriously. TRex, aside from being a brilliant, insightful and entertaining writer, can deliver. Like Pach, who I expect will turn up here sooner or later, TRex can help make sure people turn out on election day.
Ding, ding, ding!
Folks, a woman who not only has the ability to think for herself (as opposed to being backed into a corner) but can write! And I imagine speak very well!
And oh god, the waste of not only human lives, but the money engendered by this unjustifiable war….
Any chance Joe Lieberman will have a fundraiser for Al Wynn? That worked wonders for Susan Collins’ opponent Tom Allen in Maine.
Changing his tune to skate past a newly energized and alert electorate is something most voters will see for what it is when you point it out, Ms Edwards. I suggest you continue to ask his constituents if it’ll take regular primary challenges to keep Wynn in line. Why not elect a representative who knows the right vote to cast? Why have a representative who needs constant checking up on?
Best wishes to you and your campaign — please come back and visit again if there’s a chance, to let us know how you’re doing and how else we can help!
Oh, pshaw. You say that to all the dinosaurs.
Donna, My small contribution comes to you from the west coast. Thanks to Howie, Blue America and the Lake it’s my pleasure to make an early contribution to help you and your progressive candidacy. I want to end the war in Iraq, block the neocons war with Iran, and re-energize the United States soft power in the world. Donna, the more I read your responses here the more I feel your will be a strong candidate with values I want to come to the forefront in Congress. Donna, how do you think you can help the U.S. regain soft power in the world?
AZ Matt, I believe we are in a health care crisis — too many uninsured, too many underinsured and the rest of us just hoping we don’t get caught in a catastrophe. I remember what it was like to have a three year old and have no health care. I talk with a lot of small business owners in CD4 who would like to be able to provide their workers with health care but it’s just too prohibitive. I want to spend my time in the Congress really focusing on this issue.
But count on me to be a strong voice and a worker on ending the War in Iraq, energy policy, and issues affecting women, workers, and communities.
Thanks for talking about health care and not health insurance.
howieklein @ 77
Personally I think the fish does most of the work and TRex just hogs the glory. Like a reactionary republican, I have no facts to back up my assertions mind you… But my gut tells me Ned the Fighting Koi does most of the heavy lifting there in his glass bowl with his 360 degree view of the universe.
Esteban, first, I think we need a Congress that understands, values, and acts in its role as a co-equal branch of government. The power of the purse can be a powerful tool to guide U.S. foreign policy — investing in diplomacy, health care and wellness around the world, enacting trade policies that support workers in the United States and in the global economy (fair wages, working conditions, etc.), and providing leadership by example.
james @ 67
heh, heh… it was a hose reel.
I wanted this, but settled for this. Sears would order it for me, to be here in 2 weeks – for $70. Wal Mart had it in stock for $40. I bought it at WM, paying the difference between the $40 and $70 yesterday to FDL Co, on the advice of Blue America stalwart, egregious. Now today, since Donna Edwards is such an advocate for communities retaining their personal character, something Wal Mart perniciously destroys, I’ve sent her $25.00. So, I feel less guilty about shopping at a place I truly, truly despise.
TeddySanFran @ 78
Real change usually takes time. A guy who changes how he feels about such important issues right around the time he’s going to pay for his old views could just as easily change back when his old views are no longer inconvenient. You also have to wonder what he’s doing when there isn’t a lot of attention paid to his actions – how he’ll vote on things like Net Neutrality, health care, personal bankruptcy, etc. Those issues may affect our individual lives more than the Iraq War does, yet they often aren’t interesting to our news organizations.
TeddySanFran @ 82
Health care yes!! Have yhou made it to see SICKO yet Donna? I have to drive 120 miles to the nearest movie theater so haven’t had the chance myself.
AZ Matt @ 87
She was the guest of honor at a viewing:
Correction: Apparently, she will be a guest of honor.
AZ Matt @ 88
Not only did Donna see SiCKO, she did a drawing among local contributors to take 5 people to see the movie and have a dinner discussion of the film’s implications afterwards. Did that already happen, Donna?
TeddySanFran@82, I haven’t seen SICKO yet, but I plan to. Actually, last week as an incentive for small contributors, we’ve put all our small contributors names in a hat for end-of-the quarter donations and I will be seeing SICKO with 5 of our local contributors followed by a dinner discussion on health care policy. We’ll be announcing the winners on our website next week.
Anyways… Enough ‘flippant and light-hearted’ from me today. It’s a beautiful day and my first in a while and stopping by the lake to see friends, finding not only my friends but a new citizen-leader of progressive ideals who fights to champion causes, ideals and ideas we all hold dear… Well, that just made my day more than I deserve. Welcome to Blue America 08′ Ms. Edwards and Thank You from my heart for being so strong.
And thanks to all the other gang here today for letting me be light-hearted and loose of topic. I’ll leave the pointed questioning and interviewing-style exchanges to all much smarter than I. Talk to everyone soon and I’ll add more money to your campaign on pay day Ms Edwards.
Aloha
thanks for joining us on FDL today Donna. i’m pleased to join in the support of your campaign with a contribution today, and look forward to helping as i can in the coming months.
thanks to you, too, howie, for your continual spotlight on candidates who can help us implement progressive political solutions.
Not everyone is in the Maryland’s 4th, but everyone can do something. I’m counting on the support of small contributors, people who can make phone calls from their homes (wherever you are located), people who can knock on doors, people who can blog about the urgency of our mission — I’m as much an idealist as I am a realist. I know that for our ideals to shine we must do real work. So I’m counting on all of you to help make this happen.
Donna Edwards @ 90
I suspect a health care debate is not something the Republicans are going to want to have. They need to be hammered with this from now til the cows come home.
AZ Matt @ 95
Nor is it something a reactionary “Democrat” and corporate shill like Al Wynn going to want to have. His idea of “health care reform” is a Republican proposal to further enrich insurance companies and medical bureaucracies that get in between doctors and patients and drain most of the money away from actual health care. These people are no better than war profiteers.
AZ Matt @ 94
!!!!
FDL community, I really appreciate your support. This has been a tremendous opportunity to talk about issues and ideas that affect real lives. I’m so excited about the possibility for change and I’m going to work hard to make you proud. I’m signing off to attend a community festival this afternoon.
P.S. I’ll give your regards to my Mom — she is an amazing lady who, along with my Dad (he died soon after my son was born), taught me the value of questioning authority and being hopeful.
Donna, it was wonderful to have you here at FDL today and I sure hope you’ll come back and visit with us later in the campaign. You can count on us to watch your back all through this election season and whenever you have some news, let us know and we’ll help you break it. We’ve collected a bit over $2,500 for you so far– not counting the matching funds, which I’m extending for another hour– and I suspect by the time you have to really ramp up and get the message out to the voters, FDL, Crooks & Liars and Down With Tyranny readers will kick in at least 20 times that.
Next week our guest is another remarkable woman who, like Donna, was encouraged by a near win last year and is trying again. Get ready for Darcy Burner.
Thank you, Donna Edwards!
Ack! Did I make the match?
I just put in five bucks for Donna…
howieklein @ 98
Like Edwards, Burner’s going to WIN this time around! Thanks, Mr. Klein.
Jacqrat @ 101
Yes, the matching offer stays in place for another hour.
howieklein @ 102
Oh Goody! I love to make you match, and it’s even better when it is for a candidate that is as match-worthy as Donna Edwards!
Thank you Howie once again! You da Man!
howieklein @ 102
i’m late to the party. but that’s an offer i can’t refuse.
thank you donna and thank you howie!
howieklein @ 102
How do you track it Howie? I put in 10 bucks. Need me to forward something?
I blog locally in Maryland, and have been delighted at how local conservatives are pretending that what happened to Lamont in Connecticut is what will happen to Donna Edwards, because primary challenges by Democrats are unthinkable and can’t win, theoretically. Nice to see one’s opponents thinking stupidly.
MD-4 is extremely liberal and Democratic. It includes the outer perimeter of Maryland’s most liberal town, Takoma Park (the core of that town lying within Rep. Van Hollen’s MD-8.) It is largely African-American and Latino, and borders the District of Columbia for a substantial stretch, but with a swatch of white voters in Montgomery who are largely liberal and good-government advocates, i.e. Donna’s people whom Wynn cannot and did not reach easily. It’s not blue, it’s sapphire blue. By all rights, it should be represented by a member of the House Progressive Caucus. There are no Reagan Democrat towns, no religious right influences to speak of, no gun rights/NRA crowds here. Maryland has a few of those, but happily not in MD-4. So Edwards will not get “Joe-ed” because the “Joe” voters do not live in the 4th, period.
Wynn should find out what size shoe Donna Edwards wears because his doctor will have to extract a high heel shoe of that size from his rear end pretty shortly.