Recruitment Victories

While the GOP can't find a decent candidate anywhere willing to represent the party of George W. Bush, Democrats are finding good progressive alternatives all over the map. In Florida:

Pledging to be a leader who produces results for Florida's families in Congress, Paul Rancatore, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserves and a Captain with American Airlines, announced today that he is running to represent Florida's Fifteenth Congressional District in the United States Congress.

"I am running for Congress because seniors, veterans and working families on the Space Coast deserve a Congressman who will provide efficient, effective, and accountable leadership," said Rancatore. "After more than 12 years of Dave Weldon's failure to create job opportunities, protect our nation, strengthen social security and create a real energy policy, the Space Coast is ready for a change. I offer a record of proven leadership and will fight for the concerns of all Floridians in Congress."

In Oklahoma:

According to the Tulsa World (Andrew) Rice met with Schumer in Dallas and told the DSCC Chair he was open to the run. Rice is just 34 years old and in his first term as a state senator. I decided to see if he is another reactionary Democrat like Oklahoma's Dan Boren. Wow! Is he ever not! Rice is a real populist with plenty of progressive ideas about how government should serve people. Rice seems strong on the important issues and his approach to government starts with being on the side of the people, not the Big Money interests. He was a founder of the Progressive Alliance Foundation, a public advocacy group seeking to advance progressive, fair-minded and constitutional values in Oklahoma. One way he keeps in tune with real people is as a Daily Kos blogger. Oklahoma progressives are clamoring for him to take on Inhofe and Blue Oklahoma is in the forefront urging people to sign the petition to get Andrew to take on one of the most reactionary politicians in America. The Draft Rice Petition is worth signing at the RunAndrewRun site.

In California:

The Bush Administration has launched an all-out attack on the middle class. By proposing to reduce the number of tax brackets from six to four, they are trying to cover up the fact that the middle class is eroding due to their failed economic policies.

It is becoming more and more difficult for hard working people to achieve the American dream of home ownership, particularly here in California where housing prices have skyrocketed. Despite this, they have proposed scrapping the property tax deduction and severely reducing the mortgage interest write off.

When Bill Clinton left office, we were on the road to eliminating the national debt for the first time since Andrew Jackson was president - more than 170 years ago. The Bush administration has transformed that record surplus into record deficits, focusing on short-term policies that benefit large corporations and harm the middle class.

Education is at the core of this country's basic promise - that all Americans should be able to make the most of their potential. We need more than a slogan to ensure that our schools are properly funded, so that every young person receives the skills they need to succeed in life.

In California, one in five - more than 6.4 million people - lack medical insurance. Quality health care is a basic right that should be afforded to all Americans. It's time we put the well being of every American first and stop bowing to the medical and pharmaceutical industries and their Washington lobbyists.

Russ Warner will be a leader in the fight to eliminate wasteful governmental spending and begin the work of reducing our growing national debt. He will draw on his life experience and core middle class values as he calls on Congress to increase funding for education, to provide quality health care to every American, to secure our future by promoting environmentally responsible use of our natural resources and to expand middle class tax relief.

And there are plenty of others, like Michael Wray in CA-50 and a mystery candidate in CA-42 (more on him later). And these are just NEW candidates. I'm not bringing up those who came so close in 2006 and will return to win in 2008, like Charlie Brown and Darcy Burner and Eric Massa and Larry Grant and so many others.

Democrats are in a positive environment, Republicans aren't. And the candidate recruitment you're seeing reflects that.