Some Worthy Candidates

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

In addition to Rodney Glassman, the Democratic hopeful to take John McCain's Senate seat, there are some other very good Democrats trying to get improve the quality of elected officials across the country. One of my favorites is Robin Carnahan, the current Secretary of State in Missouri. Ms. Carnahan is from a prominent Missouri political family. Her brother, Russ Carnahan, is a Congressman, and her mother, Jean, is the former First Lady of Missouri who served a couple of years in the Senate. Most notably, her father, Mel Carnahan, was a two-term Missouri governor who won a Senate race against the incumbent, John Ashcroft, three weeks after he (Carnahan) died in a plane crash!

Robin Carnahan is running for the U.S. Senate against my former Congressman from southwest Missouri, Ol' Roy Blunt - the former Republican Whip in the House of Representatives. Carnahan is a dynamo who stands a very good chance of whipping Ol' Roy and driving him from the temple once and for all.

Bill Halter, the current Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas announced this week that he will challenge incumbent Senator Blanche Lincoln in the Arkansas Democratic primary. Mr. Halter is a progressive and was encouraged to run by several left-of-center national organizations - groups that have collected over five million dollars this week for his campaign.

Senator Lincoln, a loyal lackey of the Walton (Walmart) family, has been fighting to increase the estate tax floor to seven million dollars per couple and drop the estate tax rate from forty percent to thirty percent. Basically that would benefit the Waltons, Tysons, and possibly the Hunts, but few other people in Arkansas. Senator Lincoln has also carried water for her corporate friends with regard to trying to derail serious health care reform.

Blanche Lincoln
by Pa Rock

I'm thinkin'
Blanche Lincoln
Is toast,
Or perhaps pot roast.
But whether she's marmaladed
Or marinated,
She should heed the call
And reserve a U-Haul!

And finally...Governor Moonbeam is back! That's right, Jerry Brown - the ex-Governor of California, ex-Mayor of Oakland, ex-Presidential candidate, ex-boyfriend of Linda Ronstadt, and current Attorney General of California - is again running for Governor of California.

Mr. Brown, the son of another Governor of California - Pat Brown - the one who made Nixon cry - was known for his outrageous comments and actions the first time that he occupied the California statehouse. Brown followed Ronald Reagan into that office. One of the things that the Reagan's did while they ran California - Ronnie and Nancy - was to get a new Governor's Mansion built. Brown scandalized the Reagans and the big money Republicans by refusing to live in the mansion. He took news cameras through the vacant building and railed about how it looked like a Safeway. Brown rented a one-room apartment and slept on the floor during his governorhsip. He also refused to use a state limo and chauffeur, opting instead to drive himself around the state in a used sedan.

The Republican party of California is trying to decide which of two multi-millionaires they will put up against Brown. This may be a very good year for someone as frugal and theatrical as Jerry Brown to recapture the governorship of the nation's most populous state. (I'm doubting that Meg Whitman has ever slept on a floor - or could, for that matter!)

So despite all of the warnings of doom and gloom for Democrats in the 2010 elections, my best guess is that there are some really strong Democrats just itching to prove those pundits wrong!