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We've had a great week in the insurgency of Bill Halter in Arkansas. Tons of money has been raised. How sweet it is!!!
But let's make sure we are covering other races where we can elect Better Democrats.
If the DNC and the DCCC is not going to take on a 50 State strategy then it's our responsibility. Just because we don't have Howard Dean doesn't mean that we can't make a difference..
Over at the Progressive Electorate we've listed a number of candidates on our Act Blue page who need our assistance. Take a look at some of these folks where we can make a significant difference. Races where 50 $10 contributions can buy a ton of signs, races where 100 $25 contributions can get some polling, races where 1000 $5 contributions can buy significant media time.
I think EMILY's List has done a terrific job of promoting liberal, Democratic candidates," said Democratic strategist Dick Morris. "But I do feel that they emphasize liberalism over feminism. They are really a pro-choice pressure group, not an organization designed to help women to get elected."
Today we got word that Emily's List endorsed Terri Sewell in AL-07 . This comes despite there being three other women in the June primary, all pro choice, including Shelia Smoot who certainly is more progressive. This has nothing to do with our support of Shelia Smoot, but instead the questions as to why a Democratic Group plays in a primary with several progressive candidates. This certainly reminds me of the errors made in endorsing Nikki Tinker over Steve Cohen in 2008.
In what has been surprisingly a very quiet race to replace Artur Davis, Jefferson County Commissioner Shelia Smoot announced she was the first female to qualify as Alabama primary qualified opened last weekend. According to the release she is also still leading the other contenders in the polls. Smoot would be the first African American female elected to Congress from the State of Alabama.
Birmingham, AL) -- Jefferson County Commissioner Shelia Smoot continues to break records in politics, now as the first woman to qualify to run for the U.S. House of Representatives for the 7th Congressional District.
And she continues to poll ahead of six other contenders who are also vying for the seat of U.S. Rep. Artur Davis (D)-Birmingham. Davis left his seat and is now running to become the first black governor for the State of Alabama.
Smoot was the first woman to officially enter the race for Congress when she filed paperwork with the Alabama Democratic Party at its executive committee meeting on Jan. 19. That means her name will appear on the party's ballot in its June 1 primaries.
She also filed paperwork Thursday with the Alabama Secretary of State citing her intent to run for the 7th Congressional District. The district extends from Birmingham into western Black Belt counties including Greene, Pickens, Sumter, Dallas and Wilcox.
Smoot is no stranger to making history. She was the first black woman and the youngest person ever elected to the Jefferson County Commission when she won the District 2 seat in Nov. 2002. She won re-election in 2006.
Polls have shown Smoot leading the field of six candidates in the race since she announced her intent to run for Davis' seat in 2009. A poll released just last month by the Feldman Group -- commissioned by State Rep. Earl Hilliard, Jr., one of her opponents -- showed Smoot as the front-runner in the race.
Much has been made over the last 12 hours on the vote made by Artur Davis (AL-07) (D+18) and his vote against the health care reform bill.
The bottom line : Davis is currently running for Governor of the State of Alabama and did not believe that he could justify a yes vote in his ambition for 2010.
However, Artur Davis was elected as a Congressman for the 7th Congressional District for his 4th term in 2008. He has a duty to represent his constituency which is one of the poorest, most unemployed and most uninsured in the entire country. He failed that constituency last night and likely miscalculated in his belief that he would not lose voters in his base. I can't say that I'm surprised based on his recent statements that he would vote against HCR. However, I like many others did hold out hope.
We do have a chance to replace him with a more Progressive Dem in 2010 - (discussion below the thread)
What a week it has been in the world of Alabama politics. I discussed in a thread over the weekend that I would be moving most of my Alabama diaries to Left in Alabama . I will still occasionally do an Alabama wrap-up as we have a slew of Alabama readers.
1. Earlier this year I announced that I am supporting Shelia Smoot in the AL-07 open seat being vacated by Artur Davis - seeking the Gov's Mansion. Smoot leads the pack in an AL-07 poll commissioned by Earl Hilliard . This is the first released poll in this race. An email from Smoot's campaign says
The poll was conducted Aug. 31-Sept 2 and shows Commissioner Smoot with 24% and Rep. Earl Hilliard Jr. with 19% as the clear frontrunners.
"The poll is not surprising to me. It is what the people have been telling me as I travel throughout the District," Shelia remarked. "I know the people of District 7 and I have been working with most of them for several years. They know Shelia Smoot is on their side. You cannot buy that kind of experience and trust."
The poll also showed Commissioner Smoot to have a decided advantage in name ID as well. Smoot had 68% and Hilliard 56%. Much of that that can also be attributed to her hard work and tv/radio work on behalf of the consumer.
Others receiving mention in the poll were former Selma Mayor James Perkins with 9% and Birmingham attorney Terri Sewell at 4%.
Bobby Bright - D 191k 489k
Martha Roby - R 91k 178.5 k
AL-03
Mike Rogers - R 170k 308.4k
Joshua Segall - D 130.8k 162.6k
AL 05
Mo Brooks R 64.9k 113.9k
Parker Griffith D 272.2k 618.6k
Les Phillip 67.8k 31.8k
AL-07
Earl Hilliard - D 32.6k 29.4k
James Perkins - D 10.9k less than 1k
Terri Sewell - D 104.8k 317k
Shelia Smoot - D 14.4k 39.7k
Analysis:
AL 02 and AL 05 - Blue Dogs Bobby Bright and Parker Griffith have strong advantages over their challengers.
AL 03 - Josh Segall had an extremely strong quarter and is in great position. He will enter the first of the year a lot stronger than when he started in 2008.
AL 07 - Not a lot of money raised at this point. Sewell has a strong COH advantage although rumors of a poll still has her in the single digits.
Artur Davis released a statement that says he will vote against the proposed health care reform bill as it now stands. While some are going to argue that Davis is using this as political leverage in his Gubernatorial campaign, I think that he makes several valid points including no mandates in the bill for campaign committees to cover employees.
I have wanted for seven years to vote for a bill that would improve the quality and availability of health care. But after analyzing this legislation for two weeks, I have come to the conclusion that the House bill is the wrong approach and unless it changes in a substantial way, it will not have my vote on the floor.
My concerns match questions I have heard from every sector of the state. The cost of the bill is too expensive a burden during a time of trillion dollar deficits, and the results, which could still leave over ten million individuals uninsured, are too uncertain. The decision to base mandates for businesses on the size of a company's payroll gives every small business in America an incentive to hire fewer workers-a wrongheaded approach when an economic rebound depends on those companies beginning to hire again. I have raised other concerns that the congressional leadership has not come close to addressing: the bill does not even require congressional campaign committees to insure their employees, an omission which many of my constituents would find hypocritical. Unlike some of my Republican colleagues, I recognize that our current system is flawed and demands significant changes. I would support a variety of reforms, including subsidies for middle and low income Americans to purchase insurance; tax credits that small businesses would use to cover the costs of offering insurance; and an end to the practice of denying or restricting coverage for individuals who suffer serious illnesses.
The Senate is starting to debate its own bill and the President and the congressional leadership will have over a month to absorb the legitimate criticisms of the legislation in the House. I hope that a month provides time for common sense and a far less partisan approach. The numerous Alabamians who have lost their health insurance or never had it have an enormous stake in the outcome
Too many counties in the 7th Congressional District have more than 20% of its residents without health insurance. I can understand some of these concerns although I'm also hopeful that Davis uses the August recess to talk to the residents in this District and assure them that he will work in their best interest.
The timing on this story in the Birmingham News this morning could not have been more appropriate. I spoke with a Davis staffer over the weekend about the Congressman's Congressional voting while campaigning for the State's top post. I was assured that Davis would not be missing any votes on major legislation such as Health Care reform.
The Morning paper talked to Davis directly and I thought his answer was very forthcoming
"Our attendance record has been pretty high to this point, but it will go lower," Davis said in an interview in his Capitol Hill office.
Davis said he will not miss votes of major significance, such as health care reform, or votes that are expected to be close. But he said he plans to spend more time in the state, especially in the weeks before the June primary, when Congress is still in session. He called it an unfortunate but inevitable aspect of running for higher office while still in Congress.
"As long as we're doing our job and delivering for voters in this district, I don't think it will matter in this campaign," Davis said. "I would defy anyone to point to any instance when this office, because of my campaign, has not performed or carried out its duties."
Voting often takes a back seat for political candidates to political campaigns when candidates are running for higher office. Look at the 2008 Presidential campaign when Obama, McCain and Clinton missed several votes each. Of course only McCain still hangs his hat in the Senate. Davis will have to walk a fine line between his duties as a Congressman and his daily routine in his Gubernatorial campaign. However, Artur Davis has great political acumen and able staffers who will make sure that he votes on key issues.
Despite a number of concerns from residents, environmentalists and public officials a public hearing was never scheduled on this matter. Every two days for approximately a year 85 rail cars, containing coal ash containing heavy metals and other hazardous compounds, will trek from Eastern Tennessee through Birmingham all the way to Perry County, Alabama. This is at a minimum a 350 mile distance.
While local officials contend that this will produce jobs and economic development in this poor community, others are not so sure of the long term impacts to the health and safety and even economic stability of this
decision. Local residents have begun to weigh in with their concerns about the long term effects.
Despite these vast objections the EPA issued this statement
Prior to approving the Arrowhead Landfill as the disposal site for the coal ash, EPA visited the landfill and met with local leaders and members of the surrounding community to review the disposal plan and answer questions.
So despite this plan be approved, it appears that this controversy is far from being over and rightfully so based on some legitimate questions about the process. Here's an interesting video clip of residents asking EPA administrator Lisa Jackson to protect them from the coal ash. Notice the diversity in the residents being interviewed.
According to facts on Elect Women Magazine Website
*Women make up only 17% of the members of Congress
* Only 10% of women have ever thought about running for office, compared with 20% of men. Lawless and Fox (2005)
Smoot aims to become the First African American female elected to Congress from Alabama.
Alabama currently has no female members of Congress.
The article makes mention of the Smoot campaign utilizing social media and grassroots efforts.
So far Smoot is very excitied about the direction of her campaign. She recently placed her 15-year-old daughter in charge of part of her campaign called Teens for Smoot and the response from the young people has been overwhelming. "The young people especially like that they can follow me on Facebook and Twitter," said Smoot. Smoot has also organized a group called Seasoned Citizens for Smoot, which is a group of senior citizens in the District that she had engaged in order to hear their concerns.
2. Shelia Smoot aiming to replace Artur Davis kicked of her campaign this weekend. Here are some great pictures from her bus tour which included stops in Selma, Tuscaloosa and Lipscomb.
3. There's a rift in the State Legislative Black Caucus over a resolution on what has been deemed selective prosecution based on race by Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson. Some members of the Mobile delegation say they were not notified. Tyson of course denied the allegations. Tyson has had a contentious relationship with black leaders in this state leading back to prosecution of School Board Member David Thomas and recently his cousin David Thomas. There are some interesting comments regarding this situation in this Left in Alabama comment thread .
Yesterday, Congressional candidate Shelia Smoot (AL-07) kicked off her campaign in Selma, Alabama with a rally at the vacant Good Samaritan Hospital . The Good Samaritan was used as an effective backdrop to point out the connection between a civil rights era landmark and the current lack of access to health care in poor and rural areas in AL-07. This hospital was Selma's only African American hospital during the segregation era in Alabama. The hospital closed its doors in 1983.
(Father Maurice Ouellet visiting a parishioner at Good Samaritan Hospital)
"So when we go to Congress, we go together. And I'll take the community's wishes with me to Washington, D.C."
Jefferson County Commissioner Shelia Smoot, with a lot of energy and excitement, officially rolled out her campaign to become the first woman elected to represent Alabama in Congress with a bus tour through the 7th Congressional District.
Shelia Smoot will be kicking off her campaign for Congress this weekend with a three stop tour in the Alabama 7th Congressional District.
Selma : 9:00 - Old Good Samaritan Hospital - a historical venue which was the African-American hospital for Selma and much of the Black Belt during much of the turmoil of the civil rights movement in the 1960's. Those attacked on Edmund Pettus bridge were treated at Good Samaritan.
Tuscaloosa : 12:00 - Capital Park
Lipscomb: 3:00 - Oak Park Villas - This is a senior housing community in the heart of Jefferson County (going west on I-20 toward Bessemer)
Artur Davis addressed (between my original estimate of 300 and The Birmingham News estimate of 500) supporters of his 2010 gubernatorial campaign today in Birmingham with a message of change and reform. American Idol winner Ruben Studdard warmed up the crowd for the Birmingham based Congressman. While there were a few detractors on the outside protesting Davis as being Bush-lite, the crowd appeared very supportive of Davis's thoughts.
One line that really seemed to resonate from Davis was
"Pro Business will no longer means that you have to be anti-union"
In remarks to the media after his speech Davis reaffirmed those sentiments also saying that
"pro-business does not mean anti-environment"
Davis also told the media that one major problem with Jefferson County woes is that we lack home rule based on our outdated Constitution. Such situations such as how to collect and spend revenue can now only be taken through legislative action.
While Davis self-admits that this campaign will be an uphill battle, he is very confident about his chances. The event was extremely well planned
from Davis entering the platform holding hands with his wife to his well-timed exit. Davis has a clear advantage in Jefferson County.
(more pics below the fold)
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