Dear RK Readers:Along with the overwhelming majority of Virginia Democratic bloggers, many here at Raising Kaine have come out strongly in favor of former Navy Secretary James Webb in the Democratic primary for the US Senate nomination. Meanwhile, Webb's opponent Harris Miller - while widely praised by all as a stalwart of the Democratic party - has of yet failed to develop a strong online blogging presence.
Meanwhile, many have commented that our coverage on this issue is in some way biased or unfair. Among other things, people point to the fact that the "Draft James Webb" movement started right here on Raising Kaine, back in December 2005. To this "criticism," we can only say that we at Raising Kaine have always prided ourselves on our independence. In the 2005 election cycle, for instance, we never failed to challenge candidate Kaine when we opposed his views or actions. Since Kaine was sworn in as Governor, we have made our views known on the Estate Tax, the smoking ban, and other issues where at least some of us disagree with the Governor. In other words, we're nobody's lackeys or "hacks," and we never will be. What are we? Loyal Democrats, strong Progressives, and indpendent citizen activists/bloggers. As such, we do not take marching orders from anyone.
Along these lines, we do NOT intend to stop voicing our strong opinions. Similarly, we absolutely do NOT intend to stifle any others' opposing views, within reason (e.g. , outright "trolling" behavior, undue nastiness). In sum, Raising Kaine is committed to presenting viewpoints from all sides of the Democratic/Progressive/Liberal spectrum.
To that end, we are currently seeking any Harris Miller supporter who would be willing to regularly voice his or her opinions on this blog. What we're looking for is an excellent writer, committed to blogging regularly (twice a week?) during the primary campaign, supportive of Harris Miller, but not a paid staffer of any candidate's campaign (currently, none of us are).
If you recall, Raising Kaine did something like this during the Democratic primary for Lt. Governor, in which various members of our group supported different candidates. So, we simply let each person make the argument FOR their candidate, without attacking the other candidates. Seemed to work well then, no reason to think it wouldn't work now.
If you're interested, please e-mail us at poldir@raisingkaine.com
Thanks.
Lowell, Josh, Brian et al.
P.S. Hat tip to Mary Dotson for coming up with this idea in the first place.
P.P.S. No, this is NOT a gimmick. We're dead serious and really want an articulate Miller supporter to step forward and join us here at Raising Kaine.