Schumer Supports Webb in Virginia Senate Primary

Calls Webb “Best Hope” for Defeating Allen

Senator Chuck Schumer today announced his support for the candidacy of Jim Webb in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Virginia calling the veteran, author and former Naval Secretary the Democratic Party’s “best hope” for defeating George Allen in November.

“With Jim Webb as the Democratic nominee in Virginia we have an opportunity to give George Allen a real run for his money. He’s our best hope for defeating Allen in November,” said Schumer. “Jim’s a real fighter – He has the experience, energy and commitment to make this a winnable race. He’ll be devoted to serving the people of Virginia from day one.”

Webb has been endorsed by Minority Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Minority Leader Dick Durbin and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, among others.

It takes some courage, especially if the committee is not totally on board with one candidate or another, I know that is my situation. It may be true for many of the ten who endorsed.

Anyway, thanks for this news, and Thanks Again Corey!!!

Mark Brooks

Every powerful, national, and Virginia Democrat told him to stay positive, but he couldn't.

The DSCC NEVER endorses in primaries, but here you see Miller getting his just desserts.

Nationally and across the Commonwealth, the Democratic party wants Jim Webb.

This is a great afternoon.

ONWARD

This is great news!!!

The age of "free trade" which has turned into a massive deficit plus the trading of people and labor arbitrage is finally being re-thought by Democrats.

Thank God!  It sounded great at the time but the results are proof positive that the policies controlled by multinational corporations who are not beholden to the national interest are not good for America.

Miller is a free traitor.  Miller believes in labor arbitrage.

Those are just not Democratic principles and most importantly will certainly lose in a Senatorial race because most people, blue, red, purple and some sort of weird green color, want this insanity stopped.

Even so, this is quite dramatic--confirms that Miller did indeed break his word to Schumer...something Schumer was not going to take lying down.  Question is how much publicity will the MSM give this, and how much the Webb campaign can.

What else do you need; collectable DSCC commemorative Webb endorsement plates?

Look, here's the deal:  the entire national Democratic Party wants Jim Webb to be the nominee here in Virginia.  They badly want to beat George Allen, as we all do, and they know that only Jim Webb can do that.  No offense to Harris Miller, but he simply can't do it.  And everyone knows it.  Period, end of story.

Phone banking could actually be fun, always like to share good news!  "Have you heard about the DSCC's endorsement of Jim Webb?  Would that change your mind about voting........."

~~Sabato says as dramatic as it gets..

I said I was with Webb campaign, NOVA4Webb, and wanted a clarification.  He wanted to know if I was a reporter. I said what I said, NOVA4Webb and confused about what the Press Release from Jim's campaign said, was it the DSCC endorsing.

He was very brief and kind.

I'm sorry, you can disagree with Schumer all you want (and on a lot of issues, I do), but you do NOT call out the umbrella organization for getting Senators elected.

That's it. I optimistically thought Miller had a chance against Allen, but not after this. Good luck in November buddy... if you can pull next Tuesday off.

And I'll just interject here that I can't even vote in VA right now because I've been in CT long enough to have had to change my registration (though I'll likely be back before the general, so I do care).  I don't have a favorite in the race.

But is no one else bothered by a national party organization coming in and interfering in a state-level primary?  I am.  And I thought that most of my netroots friends would be bothered by it, even if they thought the DSCC had picked the right horse.

Even though I was a committed Dean supporter, I would have thought it was wrong if Terry McAuliffe had endorsed him in the Presidential primary.  (And I certainly would have thought it was wrong for him to endorse anyone else!)  The DCCC, DSCC, and DNC should NOT be interfering in the primary process within the party.  It's one thing to support an incumbent by default, but it's quite another to choose a candidate from up above before Democrats have had a chance to have a vote.  Aren't we supposed to believe in Democracy, not dictatorship?

Grassroots Democrats all over the country are incensed that the DCCC in particular is interfering in the Democratic process and not allowing Democrats to choose their own candidates.  Do we think it's okay that someone inside the Beltway has decided who's more electable in our state, without letting voters decide for ourselves?  Remember, John Kerry was annointed as most "electable" by Beltway insider Dems.

If Webb's really more appealing than Harris Miller, if he can really beat George Allen, he should have been able to convince enough Virginia Democrats of that by now without Chuck Shumer sticking his nose in the race.  Quite likely Webb has already done that, but the DSCC has no business interfering here.

I think what Shumer did sucks, regardless of who he chose. 

And isn't it Schumer who helped push Paul Hackett out of the Ohio contest this year - causing much anger amonst fighting dems?

This is clearly a dicey matter, but in the end it's probably one (or both) of the two points Lowell makes.  Either Miller has serious pissed off some high ranking people and he's getting spanked or it's simple politics - Webb is capable of winning and Miller is not.

I have to disagree with you on this point, though.  I don't have a second's problem with National Democrats adding their voice to Virginia Democrats at all levels in support of a winner.  Webb has been the outsider and he's won these insider accolades by presenting a stronger campaign, a more positive vision, and a better message overall. 

If Shumer, Reid, Cleland, Kerry, Daschel, Durbin, Dodd, Stabenow, Levin, Salazar, Johnson, Kerrey, and Murtha were the only ones supporting Webb, your argument might hold water, but I'm counting about 50 VA electeds, and a limitless number of devoted democratic activists who want Jim Webb fighting for them in the US Senate.

This isn't a coronation, this is groundswell of near-universal support for Webb at every level of the Democratic Party.

Shumer has just come to the same conclusion so many others have come to: Webb Defeats Allen.

Miller shot himself in the head with a 25 year lobbying career that targeted middle and lower class workers, particularly women workers.  Harris got away with breaking Cesar Chavez's union in California but when Mom loses her job in the suburbs, there's going to be some pay back. 

Dear Mr. Miller,

We thank you for time and effort in applying for job as Senator.  Your enthusiasm has earned our admiration. However, we have narrowed our choices to two candidates.  Rather than have two vocal proponents of the upper two percent, we have decided to allow another voice who is better qualified and has more appropriate real world experience.  We will keep your resume on file and should an opening come up: don't call us we'll call you.  Good luck in your career development.

Sincerely,
Virginia Voters

Normally I would agree with you.  However, Virginia seems to be an inverted situation than for example, the Morrison-Tester match-up in Montana, and the Hackett debacle in Ohio.

In the Webb-Miller race, it's actually the quintessential Washington insider in Miller, and the grassroots excitement for Webb.  This is inverted from most other states, and in my opinion, a very hopeful convergence that may very spell major momentum in Virginia.

The second side of this, is that we should probably strategize on a way to prevent this after the primary.  Perhaps we could even run advertisements in some small circulation local papers asking people to report any theft, etc, and let people know how to do this.

Unpaid volunteers give their time and energy to putting these signs up--I think everyone is clearly in agreement that this kind of activity is unacceptable from either side.  If we are able to catch a few people stealing these signs it would send a strong message.  We can make sure that they get a few marks on their record, fines, and possibly an overnight stay in one of the local jails. 

I implore people not to act in kind against Miller or Allen signs.  Though I understand the impulse for revenge, Allen and Miller volunteers are putting in their time too, and are not likely to be guilty of the theft.

In all likelihood, there are probably only a few theives, we must not blame/punish every Allen or Miller volunteer for the actions of a few. 

I just hope these endorsements Webb has been getting recently aren't too late to help him out by Tuesday.  Will there be any last minute phonecalls for Webb mentioning these endorsements?

Thanks.

It's so uncool that Miller's mud is coming from the Miller bank of half a million dollars.

I believe he has 3/4 of a million of his own money into the campaign according to the Post article today.  He took out another 1/4 million to add to his 1/2 million.

I believe the DSCC will pump 5-10 million into this race if Webb wins, no question. 

There are 5 big races the Dems wish to win, and this is one of them.  Easy enough for them to dump 10 million to the right candidate.

He got that money by selling out American workers.  Shame they can't recapture it but at least he's losing it.

Miller doesn't have much to run on so he says stuff like "Webb is not a Democrat", he supported Republicans, etc.  My response to Harris is that when Reagan ran for re-election he won 49 states and something like 60% of the vote.  Harris has so little to run on, that his campaign is not capable of thinking ahead to the general when he will need the support of those same voters he is ridiculing with his condemnation of Jim Webb's association with the Reagan Administration.

By the way, Jim Webb is not going to change my mind about Ronald Reagan.  Unlike Miller, however, I am looking forward.  We are in a different time.  Jim Webb recognizes that Republican policies are not working for this country.  Ok, so some of this don't think they ever worked.  Whatever.  Going into the future, Jim Webb is with us.  That is what counts.

*Mountains of red ink and a huge increase in the national debt
*"Laffer" curves, "trickle down" and "supply side" economics
*Ignominious military debacles, particularly in Lebanon (note:  Jim Webb won an Emmy Award for his reporting from Beirut for the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour)
*The worst scandal since Watergate - Iran/Contra, starring Virginia's own Oliver "Convicted Felon" North (note: there is NO LOVE LOST between Jim Webb and Ollie North, who was denounced by Webb for attacking Chuck Robb's service record)
*Some of the most blatantly enti-environmental appointments (remember James Watt?) and attempted efforts to weaken pollution controls in history.
*Blatant appeals to racism, including Reagan's infamous 1980 campaign kickoff in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three civil rights workers were murdered in one of the 1960s' nastiest cases of racist violence.

I could go on and on.  The Reagan Administration was awful.  However, tens of millions of DEMOCRATS voted for Reagan, in part because they believed his outwardly sunny "Morning in America" optimism and appeals to patriotism after the traumas of Vietnam and the Iranian  hostage crisis.  For whatever reason, Reagan captured the hearts and minds of the vast majority of Americans - not me, except at a few moments like Reagan's great speech following the Challenger disaster - including tens of millions of Democrats.  A term was even coined for those people: "Reagan Democrats." 

And today, I would argue that those people - working class, religious, patriotic - are still here, waiting to be led home to the DEMOCRATIC Party by inspirational leaders who hear THEIR voices.  Jim Webb, for instance. 

This Tuesday. we Virginians have an historic opportunity, to nominate the best of Reagan and the best of the Democratic Party in one man named Jim Webb.  Let's not miss this opportunity of a lifetime!

"I think that's a real stretch to call that anti-Semitic, and I'm not usually inclined to give candidates the benefit of the doubt," Sabato said.

Clearly, VaDem4Ever wants people to think that Jim Webb is anti-Semitic.  It is a flier put out by a staffer in Southwest.  It should not have been put out, but it is just a flier.

I was concerned about the flier.  I am glad that the campaign took corrective action.

I hate to tell VaDem4Ever but the IT people had no idea Miller was Jewish and they call him the anti-Christ of outsourcing
because of his actions...
Nobody had a clue or cared about his religious of ethnic background.

It's his Corporate alliances and disdain for working people and the middle class that is the focus, 100%.

The trolling and arguments and spinning and scaring people into not voting is the politics of fear. It's reprehensible that it seems like a coordinated attack late in the campaign.

People should vote their hopes.