My final candidate post?

For part of 2006, all of 2007 and early 2008 my daily blogging life revolved around getting John Edwards elected President. During that time I did what I could to make it happen, not nearly as much as volunteers like NCDem Amy and Tom P. and not a drop in the bucket compared to the paid staff - Tracy Russo, Aaron Myers and the rest of the crew I got to know while volunteering at the office. When Senator Edwards dropped out of the race it felt like a kick in the groin. It was unexpected, it was painful. To me, John Edwards was really going to be the person that changed the system. I believe in him like people believed in JFK and RFK and as I told my wife "you only get one of these races every lifetime" and for me it wasn't or isn't about Obama it was about John Edwards.
But, he's out. So, after fluttering around for awhile I discovered the second-best candidate running in North Carolina, Dan Besse. Then, finally, I started blogging about the Neal/Hagan race. But, the thrill is gone. I'm all burnt out of candidate fights. I'm burnt out on fighting over he said/she said. I'm going back to issue blogging. At least, for now. So, this is it. This is my final blog on candidates.

President
Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. This is the one race I won't take a stance on and I think my explanation will go a long way towards describing why the nation is split amongst them. My wife supports Hillary Clinton, since John Edwards dropped out of the race. She likes the idea of a smart, hard-working woman putting in her time to gain the experience necessary to run the United States. She believes in the experience argument as well, the idea that Bill and Hillary can look back over the 8 years they spent in Washington and think about what they would have done differently. Sort of like looking back now at those years as an undergraduate and thinking "I probably should have done XYZ." Especially important to my wife is that Clinton won't go into Washington believing you can deal with the lobbyists and the Republicans and waste four or eight years trying.

My kids on the other hand, and pretty much every kid at their school, support Barack Obama. That is what Barack Obama brings to the table. Excitement, young people, new voters. If Barack Obama lives up to his rhetoric he could change the Democratic Party for a generation. He could draw young voters and minority voters to the Democratic Party the way that Ronald Reagan drew gun nuts, evangelicals, and bigots. I don't think that Barack Obama will actually produce the change in Washington he promises, I don't think he has it in him, but if he could.......

Governor
Beverly Perdue. To me, this was once a battle between the lesser of two lessers. Not so anymore. I blame Jay Reiff for the tone of the Moore campaign even though the final responsibility must lie with Moore himself. I think that with this race Jay Rieff begins to define himself as our generation's Bob Shrum, even though his opponents have seemed to benefits from his advice “We adhere to the rule that if your opponent is digging a hole, you don't take away his shovel.” Not that Beverly Perdue does not have positives in her favor. Her health care plan had flaws, but all in all was superior to Richard Moore's health care plan. Beyond that, there aren't a lot of real differences in their positions, so I'm left to decide based on personality. As James has said and Betsy has echoed, the way a person runs their campaign is a window into how they will run the state. Richard Moore loses my support because of his campaign.

Lt. Governor
Dan Besse. Many of you may not remember this post, where I said that I had narrowed my choices for Lt. Governor down to Smathers and Dellinger. I would never support Dalton and I hadn't seen anything on Dan Besse's webpage to make me support him. Then, Frank Eaton stepped in and I got a chance to "meet" Dan Besse through his videos. Also, his website was soon expanded to give more details on his values and beliefs. While we have many good candidates in this race, I firmly believe that Dan Besse is the best choice. If you support Obama, then you MUST support Dan Besse. Dan and Barack have so much in common. They both graduated from law school and went to work doing low-pay service for those who are most in need. Obama with community organizing in Southside Chicago and Dan Besse working for Pamlico Sound Legal Services. Dan also showed tremendous foresight when he began working on environmental issues and global warming back in the 1970s. Remember that Jimmy Carter warned us about what we were doing to the environment, Dan Besse took up that fight when most everyone considered those doing it nothing more than tree-hugging, hippies. But, Dan never gave up and continued to be the best candidate for environmental issues, at any level. Dan has the experience and the fortitude necessary to elevate the Lt. Governorship to new heights.

US Senate
Jim Neal. Jim Neal has been right on the issues. Jim believes that we need to get out of Iraq and that we should put the President's feet to the fire to do it. He also believes that we should not grant immunity to the telecom companies that broke the law by invading our privacy and eavesdropping on our calls. Moreover, by granting them immunity we have no opportunity to find out what was actually done, there will be no investigation, we will not find out what rights the Bush administration brushed aside. Jim has suggested we release oil from the strategic reserves as a bargaining tool and some have mentioned that this isn't a very Progressive plan. If it were the only facet to his energy proposal, I would agree. But, Jim looks for us to move quickly ahead towards an alternative energy economy as well. But, there is another reason to support Jim Neal, and that reason is Kay Hagan. I cannot think of another Democrat I have supported less than Kay Hagan and for the first and hopefully last time in my life I will say: "I will not vote for Kay Hagan in November". I feel it would be worse to support a candidate like Kay Hagan than to replace Elizabeth Dole, because it sends a message to all North Carolina Democrats that we support Kay's actions. Kay slashed Medicaid for poor, blind, elderly citizens so that corporations and millionaires could get tax cuts. Kay wants to hold hearings to end the Iraq war. Kay doesn't stand up for equality. Kay hid from Jim Neal and refused to participate in a real, televised debate - she won't get to hide from Elizabeth Dole. Kay decided not to run and only came into the race because of the DSCC didn't want to support a gay candidate. As I said, I've never done this before and hope to never again, but I will not vote for Kay Hagan under any circumstances. A vote for Kay is a nod to putting profits over people in North Carolina, an aye to the idea that you have to be the right color/sex/persuasion in order to run for office in North Carolina. I won't do it, I won't tip my hat to these ideals and I won't vote for a candidate who embodies them, not for anything.

Commissioner of Labor
Robin Anderson. Beyond the fact that Will has gone to work for her and that I trust he would not work for a candidate that doesn't represent my basic principles, I support Robin Anderson for what she has done and what I think she will do. What she has done is represent workers and working families in North Carolina as a labor attorney. She is also "Chair of the State Personnel Commission. Appointed by Senator Marc Basnight in 1999, she became the first female Chair in 2003 when named by Governor Mike Easley." She has experience that shows she will be a positive force for change in North Carolina's workforce. What she will do is unseat Cherie Berry. I support Robin Anderson, and, I like her.

Commissioner of Insurance
Wayne Goodwin. As any of you who attended the bloggers bash know, Wayne Goodwin is passionate about politics. : ) If someone can be passionate about the office of Commissioner of Insurance and stand up for the rights of citizens against the corporate personhood of big industry, then more power to them. Wayne has experience in this field, currently serving as Assistant Insurance Commissioner. These Commissioner jobs, it seems to me, absolutely require real life expertise in the field BEFORE the candidate becomes the Commissioner.

State Senate
Moses Carey. I'm not fooling myself here, Moses doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of winning this election, but I voted for him. Sen. Ellie Kinnaird is often touted as the most progressive Senator we have, in fact I understand that Marc Basnight has recently done some promotion for her, talking about how she has pushed the liberal agenda in the NC Senate. County Commissioner Barry Jacobs Katz (Edit: Holy cow did I mess that up!!! Barry Jacobs is an Orange County Commissioner that I have had the pleasure of working with, he did not write the letter that was published as an ad, which explains why I could not Google it. Barry Katz is former Chair of Orange County Democratic Party) has come out with an ad against her saying that after all these years in office she has no power. At least one response to this attack has been to point out that when Ellie joined the Senate she stood up and voted against the Democratic budgets because they were immoral, and she paid for it. But, they say, now that she has been voting for the budgets just look at all the Committee Chairs she has been given! To me, this is exactly the wrong argument, with all due respect, I wish Ellie Kinnaird had no committee positions and continued to vote for Progressive budgets. When she voted for the Hagan budget that I discussed above, she lost my support. Then, when she planned to retire but her anointed successors chose not to run, she unretired, showing that Raleigh power has gone to her head and that is it time for her to step down. I look forward to her proving me wrong, to her going out in a blaze of glory fighting the good fight for progressive causes and being interviewed by every media outlet in the state about our immoral health care system, how children without insurance die more often than those with insurance, and so on. Prove me wrong Senator Kinnaird.

So, that's it. It's 36 hours until the polls are closed and this fiasco is over! I'm spending part of today and tonight putting out signs at polling places for Dan Besse and Robin Anderson. Then, tomorrow I'll be making sure that my precinct has greeters, voter guides, and sample ballots. When it's over, it's time to get back to focusing on issues that matter.