Another Candidate Like Hackett
by NolaninOK
Among the many factors that made Hackett a great candidate in a special election, one cannot overlook the extent that being a Vet of the Iraq war helped irregular primary voters, moderate and swing voters turn out for him because of an emotional response to a very big issue: the war.
Here in Oklahoma we progressives have a very exciting race for State Senate where the brother of a 9/11 victim, who has been very active in progressive post-9/11 issues, is running for a relatively progressive, open seat.
Andrew Rice is on the board of the (twice) Nobel Peace Prize nominated group SEPT. 11th FAMILIES FOR PEACEFUL TOMORROWS, and has won the Oklahoma ACLU Civil Libertarian of the Year (2004) Award for fighting the ban on Same Sex Marriage and the U.S.A. Patriot Act.
Learn more about his fascinating BIO here:
http://www.andrewforoklahoma.com/about/index.php
This race will be hotly contested in the primary with the possibility of one or more Dem. primary opponents attempting to win my attacking Rice’s progressive credentials (for instance he arranged for one of the 10 National Premieres of FARENHEIT 9/11 to take place in Oklahoma City to the angst of the local GOP, and they had a waiting list of 300)…they’ll attack his progressive credentials and try to scare primary voters into thinking he’s too far left to win the general election in Nov. The Primary is in July 2006.
The District (46) has tremendous Democratic Performance numbers for Oklahoma…at 56%….our popular Democratic Governor won all of the SD 46 precincts in 2002 except for 1, and Kerry won the majority of precincts over Bush last year.
Rice has a great fundraising lead and some powerful names behind him early, but he needs to stay out ahead in fundrasing so he can run the most dynamic and professional campaign as possible.
He’ll be on Janeane Garafalo’s MAJORITY REPORT in the next month and has a good shot at being a DFA “Dean Dozen”.
Please consider helping Andrew out:
http://www.andrewforoklahoma.com
Thx for the heads up, keep us posted on Andrew’s campaign. I’m sure alot of people are reading this so don’t be discouraged by the lack of comments. Paz.
Tell us more on the race. Who are his opponents for the primary..who held the seat, have they endorsed anyone, how many core volunteers does he have, what part of the state is it…more info and be like a good reporter and don;t slant it too much :)…It’s always exciting to hear about more races around the country.
His Primary opponents are: a woman who does not have much suppport and then one of the general counsel in the Governor’s office is running. He seems more centrist, but too early to tell. He was part of the governor’s team that recently wrote legislation that “reformed” workman’s comp. and put the Dems. in the State Senate in a very bad position…don’t know yet whether the general counsel candidate will run on similar politics, but he’ll be seen as representing those politics (more DINO) because he’ll be seen as attached to the governor.
Bernest Cain has held the Seat for nearly 30 years, he is the most progressive member of the State Senate and has consistently been a strong advocate for worker’s rights, the mentally ill, affordable healthcare, reproductive rights, etc…he does not want to get involved in the primary, but he may if the field stays small and he really likes one candidate over the others.
Andrew has a tremendous group of core volunteers because of the local advocacy work he has done, and he’ll even have volunteers come in from out of state because of the good contacts he has made on national 9/11 issues– particularly protesting the war.
Senate District 46 is in the heart of Oklahoma City, the state’s largest city. It is made up of all the city’s historic neighborhoods, a chunk of the African American district, a good part of the GLBT district, and is made up of a big working class neighborhood…even a good percentage of the GOP voters are more moderate on social issues. It is not a cakewalk in the general election, but the Dem. candidate will have a considerable advantage…a few of the potential, formidable GOP candidates are opting out given that there are other very RED districts where they can do much better.