Here is the latest information on the races included in the Booman Tribune ActBlue Page. If you are going to give money to candidates this election cycle, now is the time to do it while there is still time for them to turn that money into some road signs or radio commericals. All of our picks were selected because the races are competetive, the incumbents are ethically challenged, and/or the challengers are women. Even if you don’t have money to donate you may enjoy following these races.
Michigan, District 8
Incumbent: Mike Rogers
Challenger: Jim Marcinkowski
Jim Marcinkowski (MI-08) gets some good publicity from an online poll. You can vote (freep) for him here.
California, District 4
Incumbent: John Doolittle
Challenger: Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown (CA-04) provides some straight talk to his opponent.
Lt. Col. Charlie Brown said, “At some point, this has to be beyond politics. If John Doolittle knows he is a subject of a federal investigation, he must tell voters now, not after the election. If his colleagues know he is the subject of an investigation, they should urge him to tell the truth. No matter the political stakes, John Doolittle knows the moral decision is to tell the truth. He is not only facing defeat in a political campaign, he is facing the possibility of jail.”
California, District 11
Incumbent: Richard Pombo
Challenger: Jerry McNerney
There’s an interesting article on agricultural politics in the San Joaquin Valley. Richard Pombo has the advantage of being a farm-owner and vice-chairman of the Agriculture committee. Jerry McNerney is learning fast, however, and has some intriguing ideas for helping his district’s farmers through more environmentally friendly crop decisions.
Pennsylvania, District 8
Incumbent: Mike Fitzpatrick
Challenger: Patrick Murphy
Patrick Murphy gets good marks from the Philadelphia Jewish Voice voter’s guide.
Minnesota, District 6
Challenger: Michele Bachmann
Challenger: Patty Wetterling
Patty Wetterling’s son was abducted 17 years ago today, and she became one the nation’s major advocates of children.
The Foley scandal allowed Wetterling to become the Democrats’ national voice on an issue on which she has passion and expertise. That role almost certainly contributed to Wetterling overtaking Bachmann in two recent polls.
“If you were a consultant and you were designing a campaign, I don’t think you could have scripted it better,” said Larry Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political scientist. “Wetterling had her issue emerge as the national issue five weeks before the election. It was an act of nature, an act of God.”
Washington, District 8
Incumbent: Dave Reichert
Challenger: Darcy Burner
Darcy Burner needs our help:
Polls suggest the race is even….Reichert also has a heftier campaign account – about $1.3 million on hand compared with Burner’s $780,000 – and priceless name recognition, built over 30 years in law enforcement and two terms as sheriff.
New Jersey, District 7
Incumbent: Mike Ferguson
Challenger: Linda Stender
Linda Stender is the only woman running for Congress in male-dominated (and corrupt) New Jersey.
A 2004 study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research ranked New Jersey 50th in the country in women’s political participation, a statistic based on voter registration, voter turnout, women in elected office and women’s institutional resources.
That rank is largely due to the “women in elected office” category, where the state doesn’t have any female representatives in Congress. Democrat Linda Stender is the only woman running for Congress in this election, and an Anzalone-Liszt Research poll released Oct. 12 has her trailing incumbent Mike Ferguson, 47 percent to 40 percent, in the race for the 7th Congressional District.
Carroll said she wouldn’t be surprised if most New Jerseyans aren’t even aware that the state has no female representation in Congress.
“My guess is three-quarters of people don’t know there are no women,” Carroll said. “The majority of people don’t know who their representative is.”
But political representation was only one aspect of New Jersey’s rank. The state also ranked 41st in voter turnout, with 45.3 percent of eligible women voting.
“There are a significant number of women who don’t vote, who should vote,” said Stacy
Feldman, 36, of East Brunswick, who organized the recent “Stirring the Pot” event. “And if women did vote it would change the direction of the country.”
Ohio, District 18
Challenger: Joy Padgett
Challenger: Zach Space
Zach Space needs our help.
Two years ago, after being reelected to a sixth term with almost 67 percent of the vote, Ney seemed unbeatable.
Zach Space would have faced Ney on the ballot in November. He is a Tuscarawas County Democrat running for the U.S. House in the 18th District, which includes all or part of 16 counties in southeastern Ohio.
Space said he knew Ney had problems — but he never thought the congressman would be indicted, convicted, sentenced and forced to resign from office.
Corruption is on the minds of voters, but Space said families in the 18th District are concerned about jobs, health care, schools, and college tuition. They are looking to government for answers, he said.
“Corruption is a sign that things are broken,” Space said. “it is a symptom of a much larger and more insidious problem that people are beginning to realize.”
Space said the tipping point for the nation was Hurricane Katrina, when the federal government failed to adequately respond to the needs of thousands.
“That happened between 2004 and now. People lost faith in their government to answer some of the questions, to solve some of the problems,” he said.
Space is now in a tough battle with state Sen. Joy Padgett, R-Coshocton, who replaced Ney on the ballot. The race is one of the most watched in the country, considered a litmus test for which party controls the U.S. House.
New York, District 26
Incumbent: Tom Reynolds
Challenger: Jack Davis
I’m not sure this is the best way to get elected, but it sure is refreshing.
Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds sees more than $25 million in federal money being put to work at Buffalo’s glimmering new Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences.
But Reynolds’ Democratic opponent, Jack Davis of Clarence, says he isn’t sure Uncle Sam should throw any more money at the project touted as the centerpiece of the area’s new economy.
“I would investigate it, but I would look for private funds first,” Davis said. “Government could screw up vegetable soup.”
Bioinformatics by no means is the only federally funded project that Davis views with a suspicious eye.
Davis said he would fight hard for storm relief aid and essential money for roads and health care. But other federal “earmarks” funds for special projects that members of Congress obtain outside established budget procedures are not high on his priority list.
“I don’t visualize the congressman’s job as financing a lot of local favored projects,” Davis said. “I see him as trying to serve the people as ways that are described in the Constitution and making sure we have a healthy economy.”
Pennsylvania, District 10
Incumbent: Don Sherwood
Challenger: Chris Carney
Don Sherwood continues to ask desperate in his race against Chris Carney. I’m also not sure this is a good way to get elected.
Sherwood said that while he disagrees with the President Bush in some areas, “on national security I rarely disagree with him.”
“He is a man with a lot of backbone and a great deal of vision,” Sherwood said. “He stood up to Islamic terrorism.”
Illinois, District 11
Incumbent: Jerry Waller
Challenger: John Pavich
John Pavich needs our help:
With two weeks left in the campaign, Pavich was sitting on about $12,000, while Weller had roughly $1 million on hand, according to federal election filings.
Pavich’s brother Matt is running his campaign. He had hoped to get more help from Democrats.
“I did hope early on that we would get some more support from the national party, but that’s where we are today,” Pavich said. “I believe it will be close on Election Day.”
Missouri- Senate
Incumbent: Jim Talent
Challenger: Claire McCaskill
Claire McCaskill needs our help:
Sen. Jim Talent has always relied on his affable personality. Even opponents like him.
But as Republicans nationwide fall behind in poll after poll, and his battle to fight off Democrat Claire McCaskill remains deadlocked with the election looming, it’s no more Mr. Nice Guy.
In ads and in the final debates last week with his Democratic challenger, Talent is trying to make McCaskill herself the issue.
Talent has sharply attacked the business dealings of McCaskill’s husband, pointed to criticism of how she handled a drug probe as Jackson County prosecutor, implied she was hiding income, and suggested that as Missouri auditor she stifled investigations for personal reasons.
In one of his campaign ads that ends with the required, “I’m Jim Talent, candidate for U.S. Senate, and I approve this message,” a surrogate says of McCaskill, “I think Claire McCaskill is a liar. … Claire McCaskill will do whatever it takes to get elected. She’ll lie and she’ll cheat.”
I hope you can find one of these candidate to support.