Louise Slaughter is arguably the best Democratic member of the House of Representatives. In my Congressional Loyalty Scorecards, she is still one of only a few members sitting on a 100% rating for the 109th Congress. In the 108th Congress, she was among the ten most loyal members of the Democratic caucus. Her outreach to the netroots has been fantastic, even speaking at EschcaCon, and surpasses that of any other member I can think of, except possibly John Conyers. Further, as the ranking member n the rules committee, her investigations into Republican payola scandals have been instrumental in bringing another aspect of Republican malfeasance to light, and put the Bush administration on the defensive for much of the winter and spring. On this front, she may not be Henry Waxman, but she is doing well. Additionally, she has been one of the few prominent elected Democrats to consistently push for withdrawal from Iraq, doing so months before even Russ Feingold. She has also consistently pushed for a Truman commission in Iraq, and for Karl Rove to be fired.

If we had twenty Louise Slaughter's in Congress, we would be much, much closer to closing the triangle that Peter Daou so insightful formulated. She is the absolute definition of what I would like a Democratic member of Congress to do. So why would anyone want to challenge her in a primary? From subscription only Roll Call:

At 35, Thompson is less than half the Congresswoman's age; Slaughter turned 76 last month.

Thompson also is preparing to run at a time when black politicians in Buffalo are ascendant; state Sen. Byron Brown (D) is the frontrunner to become the city's first black mayor in November's open-seat race.

"I think we're in for a very spirited contest," said Joe Illuzzi, publisher of Politicswny.com, a Web site and monthly magazine on politics in Western New York. "Louise will have her hands full. There's no question about it."

In a phone interview this week, Thompson would not confirm that he is running.

"We're thinking about it," he said. "We'll give it some careful consideration."

But sources said Thompson is putting together fundraisers for a Congressional run and is telling acquaintances that he plans to raise $500,000 for the primary. He is scheduled to attend the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's legislative conference in Washington, D.C., later this week, where he is expected to huddle with party leaders.

Eric Burns, a spokesman for Slaughter, said the Congresswoman is focusing on her official duties these days.

"We've certainly heard the rumor [about Thompson], but it's way too early to speculate about who's running and who isn't," he said. "The one thing we know is Rep. Slaughter is running for re-election and that she is going to be re-elected."

Slaughter, ranking member of the Rules Committee, was sitting on $390,000 in her campaign account as of June 30.

But while she has the advantages of 10 terms in Congress, Slaughter's base has always been Rochester, and she's still not terribly well known in the Buffalo portion of her district, which she picked up after redistricting in 2002. What's more, minorities make up 38 percent of the district and probably an even bigger share of the Democratic primary vote.

Whether Thompson is trying to gain a leg up on other potential successors to Slaughter is hard to say. Slaughter shows no signs of slowing down, and it is widely expected that she will seek to stay in office at least until the next round of redistricting, when the Buffalo area could lose one of its three House seats.

Why would Thompson be challenging Louise? The only answer I can think of is personal power. Louise is as good a Democratic member of Congress as one can be. Removing her from office would weaken the strength of the Democratic caucus in the House, as it would also weaken the strength of the blogosphere. It has no possibility of improving Democratic House votes, since she votes as well or better as every other member. For the sake of his own ambition, Thompson would seek to undermine this pillar of Democratic strength, even though at 35 he could easily wait until 2012 to mount a run.

Don't do it Antoine. As a party, we shouldn't have to expend any effort to defend one of the greatest sources of Democratic strength in the House. If you do challenge Louise, just keep in mind how rapidly the netroots are growing in power, and how strong we will be by 2012. We will have a long memory on this one, and we can make it a lot harder for you in the future if you try to unseat one of our great champions now. You are a young man--step aside for now. This is a slap in the face to all of us who are trying to get Democrats to actually stand up and fight Republicans. Tread on Louise at your own peril.

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