To a Republican of the modern stripe, there is still "fat" in the budget. No, not the pork of a bridge to nowhere. Any social program is considered fat and therefore dispensable. A program to level the playing field, to provide for the future, to encourage real education, research and development, even compensate and assist wounded vterans... all is "fat." Only military expenditures and corporate welfare are the proper purview of federal government. Everyone else is on their own in the true American pioneer spirit. And, of course, Greed is Good (so long as it's not greed from the begging lower classes, but greed for corporate profits from the "investor class.")

The GOP loves to use the budget deficit as reason to not enact progressive, pro-American proposals -- even though it's their reckless tax cuts and foriegn policy that created the deficits in the first place.

Comment deleted because it's merely an ad hominem attack on the author.  The next instance of this will result in"Ziik"'s permanent banning.

My dad always likes to ask "Republicans are usually pretty smart folks, how can they even fall for Kilgore's stuff?  Do they really believe him?"
(Note: He uses something more colorful than stuff...but Im keepin it G rated)

I disagree with one of your points: "In Progressivism, getting results is more important than how you achieve them."

I don't think that's a key factor in progressivism at all. There are countless solutions to any problem some solutions are better than others. Getting results is important but the solution to achieve those results is equally as important.

I'll be handing out literature in the neighborhoods around my house, I'm going to work the metro stations handing out flyers, and I'm going to work the polls on Tuesday.

Don't forget to contact your local Dems to volunteer at the polls.

He's got my vote and my time this weekend.

I'm planning on spending the majority of my weekend making calls for Kaine.

Good post.

I am going to hand out literature this weekend.  GOTV - Get Out the Vote because you know the Republicans will get out theirs!

Reality check for Dan:

In 2006, Virginia Democrats will have the Governor's mansion.  Good for you.  I'm sure you're very happy about that.

In 2006, Virginia Republicans will have both U.S. Senate seats, 7 out of 11 Congressmen, the Lt. Governor, Attorney General, the House of Delegates and the Senate, a majority of city and county sheriffs, and control over an ever-increasing majority of local offices.

As fans (cheering for the team in the lead) love to say at basketball games... SCOREBOARD!

:-)

Was Jim Moran there?  I DEMAND to know if Jim Moran, that evil plutocrat, was there!!!

YEEAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Were any local elected politicians there? Was ACDC chief Jim Turpin there?

We don't need to really be too worried about Rick Boucher.  He's an institution here, because he gets things done.  He and Bush received just about the same number of votes in 2004, so we have plenty of crossovers coming in for him.

Dan:  This is a great article, and so true!  Now, are Democratic Party officials listening?!? - Lowell

Dan:  I like this article.  Great job!

If Creigh Deeds doesn't pull off the AG election, he would make an awfully strong candidate against Goodlatte in the 6th.

The question is:

Does Creigh want it?

Of these districts, Dems should now contest each and every CD that Kaine won, without a doubt. In the 2nd, David Ashe plans to take on Thelma Drake in a rematch (though he has a primary opponent) and in the 5th Al Weed and one other candidate are taking on Mr. Goode who is increasingly under fire with regard to the MZM investigation. Given that Leslie Byrne won her old CD (the 11th) by 10 points running for LG she might make a strong challenger vs Tom Davis. However, better yet would be Jerry Connelly or Steve Shannon.

The 10th is a tough haul, since the Democrats didn't even have much of a bench until they just picked up the two seats in the House of Delegates. Given his perch on appropriations, Wolf will probably be safe till he retires of his own accord. However, when that is an open seat, Dems should have a credible candidate primed to make a run. Depending on how he does in the House of Delegates, David Poisson could be just such a credible congressional candidate five years down the road.

Cantor deserves a strong challenger if only to educate the VA electorate about his close ties to scandals swirling about Abramoff and DeLay.
Don't think this challenger would win, but they'd be doing a heck of a service to the Commonwealth.

The divisions within the first and especially the fourth as signified by the Governor's race are close enough that these races should not go uncontested. I'd love to see Creigh run for us in the Sixth CD but I seriously doubt he'll challenge the entrenched Goodlatte.

So here's my recommendation

1st CD -- Any reasonable challenger
2nd CD  David Ashe
4th CD -- Democratic state legislator
5th CD -- Al Weed
6th CD -- noone unless Creigh wants to try
7th CD -- Any reasonable challenger willing to put Cantor's record under the microscope.
10th CD -- self financed reasonable challenger till Wolf retires
11th CD -- Leslie Byrne, Steve Shannon or Jerry Connelly

CD4 would be a hard pick-up despite Kaine's performance. First, the district is based in western Tidewater, which is a Forbes stronghold and his base. He's rather popular down there. Second, in Southside, Forbes has worked well with local officials of both parties, esp. prominent Democrats, to bring needed federal money to the Appomattox river dredging project and also to preserve and expand Ft. Lee during the BRAC process. There are 7,000 new jobs proejcted to be there over time. If BRAC had turned against the area, then Forbes would've been weakened in Southside. But, you won't get many Democratic leaders to seriously oppose him in the area now.

-- Conaway

If Creigh doesn't get to be Attorney General, then I say "Creigh for Congress" in 2006!!  This guy is the real deal, and would be a fantastic addition to Congress.  But first, let's hope he defeats "Taliban Bob" for AG.

I'm Shawn O'Donnell and I am running for Congress in VA-01.

The bad news is that no Democrat has actually run against the Republican incumbent, Jo Ann Davis, since 2000. 

The good news is that "Shawn O'Donnell for Congress" is up and running and I am looking forward to representing Virginia's 1st Congresssional District in the 110th Congress.

email: odonnell2006@yahoo.com
snail mail: P.O. Box 5447 Fredericksburg, VA 22403
phone: 540.207.3550. 

After the holidays be sure to check out our web site at http://www.odonnell06.com

Shawn:  THANK YOU for taking on Jo Ann Davis, an extreme right winger who is: anti-environment (ZERO ratings from various environmental and conservation groups), anti-choice (ZERO ratings galore), anti-family (ZERO rating from the National Parent-Teacher Association and a pitiful 9 percent from the Children's Defense Fund!), anti-peace (an "F" rating from Citizens for Global Solutions and a ZERO from the Friends Committee on National Legislation), anti-labor (a bunch of pitifully low ratings from a variety of labor unions), and even anti-disabled-Veteran (ZERO rating from the Disabled American Veterans).  If there's anything that Raising Kaine can do for you, let us know.  Thanks again!

With Kellam's jump into the 2nd District (my own), I think he should be our candidate for that CD.  As for Creigh, I REALLY liked his campaign, as he was a rally for us Moderate Dems.  If he loses the recount, I'm all for him running for Congress.  He could win.  Although I'd prefer he pull off the miracle and beat Taliban Bob.

As for Mr. O'Donnell, I wish you the very best of luck.  We can't let any seat go unchallenged.  We must fight, no matter how tough the competition.

I agree with this post, and have been deeply disappointed-to-furious at the failure to put up a Democratic candidate (for three cycles now!) against Bob Goodlatte (6th).  But as I've come to know more about the mechanics of Virginia politics and the 6th district and Goodlatte's place in the national R scheme of things, I've come to understand what a steep hill it is to climb. 

As chair of the Ag committee, the incumbent is sitting on a million and a half dollars contributed by PACs with business before his committee.  Anyone who runs will need to raise $2 million even to hope to make the race competitive.

We have to oppose every congressional Republican in Virginia, I agree.  Running is the only way to tie the Bush failures to their rear ends, to hold them accountable for driving this country into the ditch, to offer Virginians a way out.  But it's going to take a hell of a lot of money, raised without being able to offer donors much probability of success.  Just being real...

This was a pretty sweet post.

Then there's the unending use of sports analogies by politicans (and businessmen).. the outstanding example of course is our own Senator, George Allen, who can't complete a sentence without reference to football. Too bad the silly man doesn't apply the sports writers' standards you described so well.

Awesome post, best I have seen.  Very linkworthy.

As a former wind-industry entrepreneur, I have to say that wind energy is one of the best energy sources in the world.

The industry has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last few years.  Each $1M investment can provide electricity for thousands of people for decades. 

Wind energy had its best year this year and the future is bright.  With Republicans in power we will see wind power tolerated.  With Democrats in power we will see a wind power renaissance.

An oil-independent America will draw clean energy from the power of the wind.