...the DFL candidate for Senate in Minnesota, on Thursday. He's helping make sure that the only thing purple about Minnesota is the Vikings.

Two worthy candidates, for sure.

I'd like to recommend this diary just to annoy Sitkah, but the recommend button isn't displaying.  Probably retaliation from Liebermanista hackerz with mad skilz.  I'll try again later.

Wetterling and Lampson. Not bad choices.
I had some reservations about Wetterling, but once the Dark Side had opted for Michele Bachman as their candidate, I found it hard to remember what had given me any pause about Wetterling.

Lampson is the anchor in Texas. There can be no momentum in Texas this year or in 2008 unless Lampson wins that seat back.  

They're talking about finding a write-in candidate now, for the GOP side of the ballot. Yet another  fall-back plan. The Texas GOP's campaign to keep TX-22 is starting to remind me of the performance of the French army in the Franco-Prussian War, which ended with Napoleon III handing his sword to some unspeakable Hohenzollern at Sedan, and surrendering an infuriated army of 120,000 after a series of humbling retreats and failures.

More about the candidates:

Patty Wetterling (MN-06)
http://www.pattywetterling.com/

From OAC: Following her son Jacob's abduction at age 11 in 1989, Patty Wetterling became one of the leading child safety advocates in the nation. Her work has helped states pass tough laws to track sex offenders and has contributed to the enactment of the national Amber Alert system. Her tireless efforts on behalf of children resonate with this suburban district much more closely than the extreme right-wing record of her opponent. Wetterling is on the verge of picking off this seat and taking us one step closer to a Democratic majority.
From DCCC: Patty Wetterling has been fighting for safer American families since the abduction of her son Jacob sixteen years ago. Since then, Patty has become one of the nation's most respected and effective child advocates.
As a private citizen, she worked across party lines, passing more legislation than many members of Congress. Patty was instrumental in the passage of the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children Sex Offender Registration Act on both the state and federal level. Additionally, Patty helped initiate and pass Community Notification (Megan's Law) and the launch of the Amber Alert system in Minnesota.
Patty has used her expertise in the issues of child exploitation and abduction to educate and raise awareness among law enforcement officials, parents, and community leaders. Patty has given presentations to FBI Agents at the FBI Academy in Quantico and police officers around the country on preventing and responding to child abduction and abuse cases.
In her career as a child advocate, Patty has received numerous awards from local, state, and nonprofit organizations including: the Minneapolis Star Tribune's "100 Most Influential Minnesotans of the Century" award; the President's Award from the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association; the Governor's Award in Minnesota for Unique Individuals for providing Community Leadership; and the "First Alert Award" by Larry King of CNN.
Patty is a secondary school math teacher by training. She and her husband Jerry live in St. Joseph, Minnesota, where they built his local chiropractic practice. They have four children: Amy, Jacob, Trevor and Carmen. Their first grandchild, Lili, was born in September 2004.

Former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson (TX-22)
http://www.lampson.com/

From OAC: Down in Texas, Nick Lampson signed up to take on Tom DeLay last year and has continued to mount an aggressive challenge ever since. Republicans in the 22nd district are in disarray now that DeLay's name has to remain on the ballot, and Lampson is well-positioned to return to Congress, where he previously served four terms.
From DCCC: The DCCC's original 2005 Red to Blue candidate, Nick Lampson signed up to take on Tom DeLay last year and won that battle before Election Day. Running against the House Majority Leader, Lampson outraised DeLay and surpassed his cash on hand this year. Lampson continually put the pressure on DeLay forcing him to withdraw from the race. Republicans in the 22nd district are in disarray as questions remain over whether or not DeLay can legally remove his name from the ballot. Their best replacement candidates bowed out of the race, and Republicans are going to bench warmers with little name id and negative issues of their own to take on the well-funded Lampson campaign. With almost $2,000,000 cash on hand, Lampson has the resources and the momentum to win this open seat in November.
Former Rep. Nick Lampson was first elected to Congress in 1996 after beating incumbent Congressman Steve Stockman. A fierce proponent of manned space exploration and civilian service, Lampson served on the House Transportation Committee, where he pushed for increased air traffic and shipping safety. During his 8 years in Congress, Lampson made his mark as an advocate of children's safety. He founded the first-ever Congressional Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, worked to create the Amber Alert program, and led national and international efforts to raise awareness of child-safety issues. He and his wife, Susan, have two grown daughters and three grandchildren. Even though he filed and started fundraising at the beginning of May, Nick Lampson raised an impressive $502K and had $485K on hand at the end of the 2nd quarter. Nick Lampson lost his seat last cycle due to Texas redistricting that was planned by Republicans to help take seats away from Democrats

I love it that Edwards will be campaigning with Lampson in Delay's backyard!

This guy has really been workin' it all over the country.  What a champ!

Patty is a great choice for John Edwards.  I will be looking forward to the work he does with the fundraising machines up there in Minneapolis.  Rove was up there a few weeks ago trying to fundraise and  it will be great to see Edwards just work those folks up there.  

Clearly Sitkah hasn't been paying attention to Edwards' activity these past few months. He is working hard not only fund-raising for democratic candidates but doing great work promoting his plan to eliminate poverty. A few weeks ago, Newsweek reported that he was number one in a poll of Democratic Iowa Caucus goers. I don't think people have written him off yet. Anti-Hillary sentiment seems to be growing.  

Wetterling Is in a open seat race against a real right-winger.  Michele Bachmann the republican, publicly praises Ann Coulter, wants to nuke Iran and is homophobe to the core. Read about here here http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com/  I call her a Fred Phelps, Dobson republican.

Go to Patty's website and watch her little web video at the left of her homepage. She is a great candidate! Pitch in any way you can... she has a very slight lead in fundraising and W. Bush himself is coming to Minnesota later this month for Bachmann.

I don't say this just because she is in my district.

http://pattywetterling.com/

...and forcing you to read an Edwards thread? This is a site for political analysis, and a comment that Edwards is a better alternative than Hillary clearly fits that description. You're adding nothing useful to the discussion.

And I have no problem reading posts by supporters of other candidates, somehow I don't feel compelled to tell them to STFU.

Read a different diary. Start your own. It's obnoxious to see the same couple of people act holier-than-thou everytime people discuss a candidate they don't happen to support.

That's why it is time for a new social compact. When President Bush talks about an "ownership society," he means the more you own, the more you get. For most Americans, his approach is the more you work, the more you pay and the less you make.

Where I come from, what matters the most isn't how much you have, it's how much you give. Work gives pride, dignity, and hope to our lives and our communities. And so the President is wrong: America is not, and never wished to be, a Wealth Society.

To be true to our values, our country must build a Working Society -- an America where everyone who works hard finally has the rewards to show for it. In the Working Society, nobody who works full-time should have to raise children in poverty, or in fear that one health emergency or pink slip will drive them over the cliff.

In the Working Society, everyone who works full-time will at last have something to show for it -- a home of their own, an account where their savings and paycheck can grow.

In the Working Society, everyone willing to work will have the chance to get ahead. Anyone who wants to go to college and work will be able to go the first year for free.

In the Working Society, people who work have the right to live in communities where the streets are safe, the schools are good, and jobs can be reached.

In the Working Society, everyone will also be asked to hold up their end of the bargain -- to work, to hold off having kids until they're ready, and to do their part for their kids when the time comes.

-- John Edwards
19 September 2005
"Restoring the American Dream: Combating Poverty and Building One America" Speech
       

I understand the comments are annoying. But I think a major reason the comments and diaries have been working out like that is because Edwards is not on top of many peoples' lists in the blogger community. Everybody is still talking about Feingold and Gore.

1. Gore ain't running.
2. Feingold's got a few too many negatives to win.

So the constantly talking up of Edwards is partly trying to get people to take notice of him and get some buzz generated for him in the netroots. A lot of us are big leftys in the traditional sense (i.e. concerned most about creating a better life for all people by reducing poverty and furthering the labor movement). And we're pretty ecstatic that someone (that is politically viable) is actually doing the things that we want a politician to do. So Yeah, we're f-ing excited about him! Weren't you excited about Dean in '04? I feel that Edwards has about 10 times the raw natural political talent that Dean had.

So you're criticism is taken that our comments get a little redundant. But we're trying to get his name out there. And you may e sick of it because you keep reading these diaries, but for those people that haven't clicked on these yet, maybe they'll learn something new about what Edwards has been doing and take a look at him.

...demanding we go to yahoochat, because our comments are ruining your MyDD experience. I was just trying to help you out by suggesting you read something else. You don't seem to appreciate it.

Anyway, we were discussing how Edwards has helped other candidates raise money, rather than just giving them money, and why he will be able to raise plenty of money for his own campaign after November. If you take issue with that, by all means make an argument that furthers the discussion.

I had wanted to say that Nick Lamson
already has more money and support
than he will need to win a race against
a write-in sticker (R) candidate.

Here's hoping that when John Edwards goes
to Texas he can help out in some other
districts where the races are tightening,
like Henley vs. Culberson, and down
the road aways, in newly redrawn TX-23,
a Democrat-soon-to-emerge against Bonilla.

But to get here, I've had to wade through
a TRULY boring pissing contest. It's a real
discredit to the participants and to the
candidates they claim to support, but do
support so much that they can restrain
their own egos on those candidates' behalf.
Please grow up and shut up if you want
anyone ever to visit this site again.

I'll log off this thread now and go elsewhere.
Ugh.