Inside vs. Outside

In another effort to push candidates from DC rather than the grassroots, lately John Kerry and others have been touting the candidacy of Tammy Duckworth in an Illinois Congressional race. She's in a primary against Christine Cegelis, who got an impressive 44% two years ago against Henry Hyde (who's retiring this cycle, maybe because of Cegelis' push and her immediate announcement that she would run again).

Duckworth is an Iraq war vet who left limbs on the battlefield. She's a great candidate. But she moved into the district once Hyde announced he would retire, I'm assuming at the behest of Rahm Emanuel and the DCCC. Cegelis, who was here all along, is also a great progressive candidate. We'd be fortuante to get either of them in Congress. I don't know what to make of so many prominent Democrats (Kerry, Boxer, Obama, and others) getting this involved in a primary race, raising loads of money online, etc.

What's interesting about this one is that it's almost the opposite of the Paul Hackett-Sherrod Brown affair.  Hackett was the Fighting Dem, with a more conservative stance on the issues.  Cegelis is the progressive stalwart.  Yet they're on the same side on this one.

This puts the lie to notions that the party is being "hijacked by the far left" or "being hijacked by the DINO DLC crowd."  The truth is that we're talking about INSIDE vs. OUTSIDE.  This is about a Beltway consultant class who, along with the DCCC and DSCC, presumes to make choices for the party rather than leave it to their constituents (and by the way, how GOOD have they been at those choices? What's their track record lately?).  Unlike Hackett, Cegelis isn't being pushed out of the race, but there's certainly a concerted effort to push Tammy Duckworth forward.  All four of the candidates in question are ones I'd be proud to vote for.  The problem is that the Beltway establishment doesn't want to give me the choice.

"If you aren't inside, you are outside, OK?" -Michael Douglas, Wall Street