Posted on 02/10/2006 12:22:23 AM PST by West Coast Conservative
The band of brothers that Democrats are banking on to win back the Congress this year may inspire voters with tales of wartime valor, but many in their own party doubt they are prepared for the battlefield of professional politics.
Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett, perhaps the best-known Democratic veteran running for office, energized liberals nationwide last year by criticizing President Bush during his House race but alienated conservatives in Ohios 2nd District by calling the president names.
Hackett stumbled in early September, Democrats add, when he failed to announce his bid to unseat Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) sooner instead of later, inviting a challenge from Rep. Sherrod Brown (D). Now the party faces a protracted primary.
Similarly, many of the 40 or so Democratic veterans running for the House who turned up on the National Mall yesterday to promote their candidacies often flout the unwritten rules of modern politicking: They mention their opponents by name, have a hard time delivering catchy stump speeches and, as one Democratic aide noted, lack a veteran politicians polish.
Sam Rodriguez, the political director of Californias Democratic Party, said the veterans have had a tough time raising the money they need to stay viable. In competitive districts, House races typically run as much as $2 million to $3 million per candidate.
A number of veterans, when becoming politically active, have a learning curve, Rodriguez said. You have to be disciplined in raising and knowing how to raise money.
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) said adjusting from a military to a political mentality could prove challenging to veterans. In some ways, youre taking orders from, in our case, 700,000 people, Ryan said. Figuring out what that order is sometimes is a difficult thing.
Other Democratic officials and activists from around the country voiced concerns that the veterans would be single-issue candidates railing against the Iraq war, or else might stumble on the campaign trail like Colleen Rowley, the former FBI agent running in Minn.-2.
Rowleys campaign website recently posted and then removed a picture of the incumbent, Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), in Nazi garb. Rowley attributed the gaffe even some of Klines fiercest rivals call him a decent man to an inexperienced aide.
Democratic campaign aides called Hackett and Rowley, like retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who ran a 2004 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, loose cannons who could not be counted on to say the right thing at the right time.
Many have charged forward, valiantly perhaps, into strongly held enemy ground.
While many, if not most, of the lawmakers in Washington spent years strategically jockeying for a House seat, many of the Democratic veterans are running in districts where any Democrat, seasoned politician or newcomer, would have a tough time winning: Colorados 5th, where Rep. Joel Hefley won 71 percent in 2004; Floridas 6th, where Rep. Cliff Stearns won 64 percent; Californias 2nd, where Rep. Wally Herger won 67 percent; and Indianas 4th, where Rep. Steve Buyer, the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, won 70 percent, among others.
Tim Walz, a former Army National Guardsman who is running against Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R) in Minnesotas 1st District, acknowledged that there are huge challenges facing the veterans that may not factor into other challengers campaigns.
Walz said that veterans sense of self-reliance, for instance, could hinder them. Its fine to be independent and to be a positive leader, he said, but there are people who know how to win these things, and you have to listen to them.
The former football coach said that, at best, he sees six of the veterans winning. A Democratic campaign aide in Washington, asked which veterans showed the most promise, listed two: Tammy Duckworth, in Ill.-6, and Patrick Murphy, in Pa.-8.
Michael Duga, a spokesman for the Band of Brothers, a group dedicated to electing Democratic veterans to Congress and the organization behind yesterdays event on the Mall, said that, at present, there are 56 running.
Despite the uphill battle, Walz said, there is a nobility in running for office. True, elections are zero-sum games, Walz conceded. But the simple act of stepping into the fray and shaping, or reshaping, the political discourse serves a greater good, he said.
Duga, like other Democrats, insisted that the veterans inexperience was a strategic advantage, saying that voters are tired of professional politicians, particularly given the scandals surrounding GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Jim Dornan, a Republican consultant who most recently worked on Rep. Katherine Harriss Senate campaign, said the Democrats rush to recruit veterans reflected the partys deep-seated problems with voters.
The Democrats have such a huge image problem that they are eager to recruit candidates like this without looking at the long-term problems these candidates can create, Dornan said. The Democrats, he added, are looked at with such disdain by the electorate right now, for their liberal views, their lack of agenda and their anger, quite frankly, that they are desperate to take any candidate who, at least on paper, dispels that image.
Former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.), who headlined the Band of Brothers event yesterday and lost three limbs while serving in Vietnam, views his fellow Democratic veterans as defenders of the American faith.
Noting that the Democrats assembled had more than 400 years of military experience together, Cleland, reading from a three-ring binder, told the veterans behind him: The time has come for people like yourselves to put our country right again.
I wonder if voters will see through a rent a vet strategy.
Other vets that served with these rats are lining up to tell the truth about these dim "warriors". A dim (even a JAG lawyer rat) can't hide what he or she is. People serving with kerry knew, and TRUTH will once again win the day!
LLS
The appeal of Paul Hackett is that he's running against DeRino.
I am not kidding.
Hey Dims, actually try GETTING an agenda instead of dreaming up more stupid PR schemes to fool the voters. This one is particularly stupid. People who honor Military Service are going to be turned off listening to the trash talk Hate America Propaganda coming out of these "Vets" mouths.
Duckworth is their best???? She doesn't live in the district where she is running.
Any Swift Boat '06 groups forming against these people?
Luckily for our nation, the Howard Dean wing types of Democrats rarely serve our country. It's probably safe to say that those who do are one of the smallest special interest groups you can find in a unit or base. I only met a few in my Air Force career and observed that they were some of the most miserable people ever. Talking to them, you could almost swear they were draftees. Most said they joined to get training or money for college but I personally thought they were there as a fifth column.
Yup :)
Thankfully we have Kerry and Murtha as examples that just because someone is a veteran doesn't mean necessarily that they won't backstab their country.
Yep it's the Rent a Vet Program... After serving under five different CICs it was obvious that pay and readiness take a hit when a Dem is running the show. I see these guys as having sold their souls.
"A Democratic campaign aide in Washington, asked which veterans showed the most promise, listed two: Tammy Duckworth, in Ill.-6, and Patrick Murphy, in Pa.-8."
Five of these Democrat"Kamikazes" are crashing into GOP incumbents who won unopposed in 2004.
Forty six will be serving themselves up to keep the minority party from being without a candidate in races against Republicans who won with 60% or more ( 4 are in a primary to suit up and fly into a Republican aircraft carrier). Many of these Republican targets won with numbers in the 70s and one with 86%.
Of the twelve Iraq vets running under the anti war partys banner just one, Bryan Lentz Pennsylvania 7 CD has had the courage to say we should pull out immediately. In fact of the total 56 "brothers" only 4, three men and one woman, including Lentz, have the stomach to stand up and demand an immediate pull out.
This means the other 52 are no different from the run of the mill socialist Democrat. Their websites call for welfare reform, protectionist job policies, repeal of the Patriot Act and of course more money for Education.
The winning margins for the incumbent Republicans the "pull out immediately" Kamikazes will be battling, ranges from 59% to 84%. How much courage does it take to yell Pull out now! in races like these? Why aren't the military veteran Democrats in the close races? Why arent the vets offered a chance to run against Republican incumbents who could conceivably be defeated?
The answers are obvious. The minority party is using these veterans. The Democrats dont really care about these people. They are useful now, but for most,if not every single one, the day after Election Day will be very cold indeed.
These men and women have been recruited by the minority party to project a false image of Democrat strength and concern when it comes to keep America safe. How believable is this sham if they can find just 4 people willing to actually spout their anti war "pull out and surrender now!" line?
This whole project is just another example of how the democrats look at what drives voters. The Democrats think the messenger is more important than the message and they always have.
For the record, neither Duckworth, nor Murphy has found the courage to actually call for an immediate pull out.
Wheres the power in this strategy?
Someday America's black voters will realize this.
The article could be summed up:
DEMOCRATS WORRY THEY CAN'T QUITE HOLD VETERAN/CANDIDATES AS TIGHTLY TO THE FOLD (BY THE HUEVOS) AS NEEDED
Funny thing about those warriors. No matter where they come from, they have a sense of independence not seen often in the party of appeasers. This is going to be fun.
Duckworth lives in Melissa Bean's (D) district.
Bean lives in Mark Kirk's (R) district.
The guy running against Kirk lives in Hyde's (R) district, where Duckworth is running.
Is that legal?
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