What's up with Missy Bean?

[Norquist Nemesis]

Haven't really heard anything on that front. Anyone in her district?

[Bjornsdotter]

1. I'm in her district

She ran unopposed in the primary, however she will have quite a fight on her hands in Nov. Many of us who voted for her last time are not happy with her performance in DC. As it stands now, I think she'll have a hard time winning.

Cheers

[dogman]

2. The unhappys would vote McSweeny?

Or just surrender?

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

3. I don't think Bjornsdotter meant he would vote for McSweeney.

This is a somewhat similar situation in my district the 3rd IL CD. The incumbent, Dan Lipinski won the primary on Tuesday in a three man race, however he is a total DINO.

Come November, I'll just leave that particular race blank....Lipinski will win this in a walk, unless the Pukes decide "at the last minute" to put a real candidate up against Danny Boy. Which I doubt they will, Lipinski votes with them all the time, so why bother....

[dogman]

4. There's a difference.

You point out that Little Lip can win without your vote and I understand that POV. I would not surrender to the GOP outright however. Bean has a real contest and needs GOP votes to win. We can only hope that GOPers who love America more than Party will think before voting. I fully understand the ill will toward Bean and will not contribute this time around but a vote isn't asking a lot.

[Bjornsdotter]

6. You are correct

I would never vote for McSweeny!

Cheers! :toast:

[Bjornsdotter]

5. Hard to say

There is a 3rd party candidate running, Bill Scheurer, but he is not really an option. While he is against the war in Iraq, he also appears to be anti-choice. He posted here before, but when I asked him if he was pro-choice, he wouldn't answer the question. So I am assuming he is anti-choice.

IMO, the unhappys will just leave it blank. We are screwed no matter what...Bean is a pseudo Dem, McSweeny is scary and Scheurer is a non-entity.

Cheers

[dogman]

7. Even a pseudo Dem contributes to a Dem Speaker.

But it's your vote.

[Gary Kleppe]

8. Scheurer on abortion

See http://winwithbill.com/issues-other.htm#abortion

[davsand]

9. He's NOT a Dem.

Promoting him or voting for him is no option, IMO. It also happens to be against stated DU rules.

While Bean is an insult to real progressives, she IS the Dem nominee, and as such, is part of our full ticket. The time to argue this kind of stuff is in a primary. Once the primary is over the ticket is set and that is who you work for if you support the party and its agenda.

You don't have to go balls to the wall for a candidate you dislike or disagree with, but for sure I'd never just "skip" the race on the ballot. Doing that (especially in that heavily GOP area) guarantees that the GOP candidate will win.

You may dislike our candidate a whole lot, but I'll guarantee you will probably get further lobbying her on issue than you would the GOP guy.



Laura


Gary, this was not directed at you, personally, OK?

I just realized I'd hit respond to your post rather than just entering the thread. That was not my intent.

[Gary Kleppe]

10. I understand.

But Bjornsdotter was hardly promoting Scheurer, only asking a question about him (and I was only answering it).

And who any of us vote for is a matter for our own personal consciences. Even if everybody here who lives in the Eighth ends up hooding his or her nose and voting for Bean, there are a lot of people in the district who won't, and that's beyond any of our power to change. Bean's made her bed, and now she has to lie in it.

[davsand]

12. I'd be MOST unhappy if I was in Bean's district.

Lord KNOWS she is offensive to anybody that supports Labor or any progressive agenda. I seriously can't understand WHY the local Dems didn't go after her.

To be honest, I fully expected that Labor was gonna put up ANY candidate that didn't run screaming. We have a running joke that Labor could have put up a bucket and mop with a union label on it and it would have been the winner in that primary...

I think Scheurer screwed himself royally by NOT running against Bean in that Dem primary. While he's not the "ideal" Dem to a lot of people, he really doesn't sound THAT bad compared to Bean's record or her GOP opponent's positions. Additionally, I think his fund raising would have been a lot easier had he been running as a Dem--and that is a huge thing in a race at that level.

Any way you slice it, it is just a sad, sad thing.

I have worked some primaries over the years. Some have been pretty heated (hell, one of them was against a Madigan backed candidate, and you KNOW what "scorched earth" tactics they love to use!) but I've always managed to walk into the Dem HQ a few days after the Primary. THAT, to me, is what being a party supporter means.

It hurts, it is damned humiliating sometimes, but a Primary is a "family fight" that should never extend out into the General or into any other race--no matter how tempting it might feel. We all carry attitudes and feelings, and yeah--what you do in the voting booth is a matter for your soul and nobody else.

As an active Dem, I do hate to see otherwise smart people get pulled off task with the idea of skipping a race on the ballot or refusing to support _________ because they did one thing you dislike or hold one position that you disagree with.

We Dems are really good at moral purity--sometimes to the point that we eat our own. That kind of thinking is part of the reason that Illinois Dems took so long to elect a Dem Governor in this state--and LOOK at the mess we inherited!

Peace!


Laura

[Xeric]

13. I am in her district

And I am extremely unhappy. I would have welcomed a primary fight.
I've been swearing up and down for a year now that I will NEVER vote for this woman.
While this is a fairly conservative district and I didn't expect her to be as liberal as I am, the Schiavo vote, the CAFTA vote, the bankruptcy bill, the flag burning amendment vote and a few others just really pissed me off. Does she think that by doing this the Repukes won't be able to paint her as a liberal? They sure did in the primary. And they will in the general election. Truth means nothing to them.
I think her strategy, such as it is, is myopic.
This leaves me in a very difficult situation. As it gets closer to the election I have to consider the options.
It could possibly turn out that this district would be a make or break in taking back the house in November. I don't want that on my concience. Yet voting for her means voting for the lesser of two evils, which I find distasteful.
I'm probably going to have a few sleepless nights on this one.

[davsand]

14. Aw, man, I understand your pain.

I've faced that kind of creepy feeling before, too (and to some lesser extent am facing now on a local situation.) You do have my sympathy.

In our case locally, we have a Dem Party Chair that I do not agree with on several issues. I feel like some of the party is drifting a long way away from Dem ideals while simultaneously holding themselves up as paragons of virtue. It makes me ill. There are times when I wonder what, exactly, I have worked so hard to support.

It is kinda like unwrapping a Christmas present and getting a bag of used kitty litter or a box of used kleenex--ya know?

My solution, thus far, is to stand up and say what I think within the party. I have no idea if it will do any good, but I at least have to try and make it work.

If that doesn't work, I may have to look at the idea of working to get a new local Party Chair in place that will be closer to what I think are the fundamentals of the Dem party. Others might not agree with me on it--and that too, is part of the whole party process. I refuse to walk away from the Dem party based on the actions of a few.

Xeric, with you being up there in Bean's District, I have to ask--what was going on in that local Dem party that nobody challenged her in the Primary? Was there simply nobody willing to take her on? Were there folks who wanted to step up and they got talked out of it by somebody? I have wondered about it, and I suspect others have too...

I honestly can't tell you what to do when it comes to that race. As I said before, it really comes down to what YOU are comfortable with when you walk into that voting booth. Frankly, I think Bean is probably in a situation where her own actions have eroded her base support to the point that she is screwed on re-election.

Will your one vote make any difference in that? I dunno. I doubt it. But, it would be a real pisser if she lost by just one vote and you skipped voting in the race.

What if the GOP held control of not just your district but the House and YOUR one vote could have changed that? Would that single factor change your mind about skipping that race on the ballot?

If it took your vote and one more, would you work to get that other ONE vote just to maybe make a change for the entire nation--even IF you really dislike Bean and all she's done?

As I said before, I do not envy you the choice.

I am playing with your mind here--and I do acknowledge that--but I am also trying to make a point. It is really far fetched, and a total game of "what if" but it is something that we ALL have to consider (no matter our party!) before we walk into a voting booth or make a decision about candidates.

Your one vote DOES matter even if you don't feel like it would.

Literally, I have seen races decided by really small numbers of votes. I saw a State Rep race won by 34 votes. We elected a Dem mayor in Urbana the first time by 54 votes. Currently, we have a County Board Dem Primary that hangs in the balance with a 6 vote margin and possible absentee ballots still floating out there...

I know a guy who was talking about maybe missing this recent Primary because he was thinking about going on a last minute vacation. He was a supporter of the candidate that is currently leading by six votes. I dunno if he voted or not--I haven't talked to him since before the election--but I can only wonder how he's gonna feel if he DIDN'T vote and she ends up loosing by one vote.

Did your local party put you in this position? Do you need to step up locally and kick some ass? Maye your solution is to work within your party to clean up any problems there. Sometimes it comes down to that, and sometimes we are driven to it. Bean getting a free pass on this Primary might be enough reason for a change. It sure has put you in a hell of a dilemma.


Laura

[DaveinMD]

15. Bean is exactly what she said she'd be

She's a moderate Democrat. She never claimed to be a progressive. She unseated a 30 year incumbent in a district that was won by Bush. Her victory brings us closer to have a Democratic Speaker of the House. Its that simple.

[tofubo]

16. but, even a moderate would not vote w/the republican majority...

as much as she has, she's a dino and we would be no better served if a christofascist delay disciple would be there in her stead

last six months or so of votes:

Dominican Republic-CAFTA Implementation Act, voted w/the republican majority
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense (another $91 billion), voted w/the republican majority
USA PATRIOT Act Additional Reauthorizing Amendments Act), voted w/the republican majority
National Uniformity for Food Act, voted w/the republican majority
USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act , voted w/the republican majority
Troop Withdrawal Resolution, voted w/the republican majority
Energy and Water Development Appropriations, FY 2006, voted w/the republican majority
Homeland Security Appropriations Act, FY2006, voted w/the republican majority
Hurricane Katrina Investigation , voted against the majority
USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act, voted w/the republican majority
Defense Appropriations Act, FY2006, voted w/the republican majority
Intelligence Authorization Act, FY2006, voted w/the republican majority
Constitutional Amendment to Prohibit Flag Desecration, voted w/the republican majority

there's being a moderate, and there's being a republican flunkie, Congress.org-MegaVote reports, you decide

[DaveinMD]

19. you would not be better off

you pulled out 10 votes out 100. And most importantly she votes for the Dems to set the agenda. She votes to make John Conyers a committee chair and put Pelosi in charge of the House instead of Delay and Hastert. And that is a huge difference.

[tofubo]

22. 10 out of 100, huh ??

i was at a 8th dist meeting, the chair was talking about how she votes with progressives 78% of the time
but those 10 above are BIG FUCKING DEALS, they weigh PRETTY FUCKING HEAVY on our rights

i am NOT talking about voting for mcsweeney, read my letter to the editor that the nw herald didn't publish:

sunday northwest herald opinion piece for the upcoming primary:

Re: 8th District: McSweeney (Sunday, March 12, 2006) ( http://www.nwherald.com/MainSection/opinion/285607205809200.php )

“McSweeney … is a staunch conservative who would represent the Republican Party”: would that mean another rubber stamp for civil liberty evisceration, fiscal insanity, k-street corruption, and willful ignorance coupled to a criminal lack of oversight and accountability

“fiscal conservative … make the Bush tax cuts permanent … which he says will …reduce the deficit”: what part of the GAO report of unsustainable deficits don’t you understand, we will not be able to “grow” out of them, some taxes will need to be raised (or sunsets eliminated), there is no other way

“support sweeping, across-the-board cuts in federal spending and the elimination of programs”: opinion agreed (would probably differ on which programs, though)

“He opposes abortion”: abstinence education AND sex education and contraceptives and aid to new mothers and adoption services will reduce abortion; or will it mean only for those “real-life … rape victim, brutally raped, savaged … was a virgin … was religious… saving her virginity until she was married … was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.”, just those, huh

“does not support federal tax funding for embryonic stem-cell research.”: fine, keep the funding level as it is now, just open up more than the few dozen lines available

“does not support increasing the federal minimum wage”: ok, how about the maximum wage that an employer can’t pay it’s employees is $9.99/hr, would he support that

“supports drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge”: so there can me more hundreds of thousands of barrel spills like the one a couple days ago

“vouchers for children to attend private or parochial schools.”: we’re giving billions as it is now to faith based concerns, yes, why not give them more of our tax money then

“supports President Bush on the war in Iraq … believes that the war was justified”: so, project for a new american century members spread throughout the government, the falsified documents, the unvetted intelligence, the escalation of flimsy evidence, the suppression of contrary opinion, the lack of a second UN resolution, the absence of unified Arab support, the superbly executed invasion followed by a criminally inept occupation, wholesale round-up of innocent peoples, the murder of hundreds, the torture of thousands, and the deaths of tens of thousands is just peachy with him, no thanks

“The primary race has been one of the most expensive in the country.”: no one should pay or be paid to run in an election, votes aren’t bought or sold, they’re given, by voters, in a way that should be easily verifiable and auditable that doesn’t include proprietary source code running on uncertified machines with hazy chain-of-control data migration from the local polling place to where they are ultimately counted

Alas, Ms. Bean IL08-D(ino), is no better.

given her track record, i would worry that she would not vote a dem for speaker or majority leader

[DaveinMD]

23. so

you are basically saying that the person who votes with the Dems 65-75 percent of the time is no better than the guy who will vote with the Dems maybe 10 percent of the time. Of course Bean will vote for the Dem leadership as she has done in the past.

[tritsofme]

17. The Party didn't go after in the primaries because she is an incumbent.

She has proven she can win this conservative district.

And by and large we don't wish to commit electoral suicide.

She didn't almost win in 2004 and claim victory, she won and now she sits in Congress.

When I vote for her, I vote for Speaker Pelosi.

[davsand]

18. Certainly, the local party will have a better feel for the district.

We ALL have to carry that in mind, no matter the office or the candidate (disliked or loved!)

I was not trying to attack local decisions (at least not on a conscious level...) but rather, trying to understand why a candidate that is so reviled faced no opposition. I do apologize if I offended anyone.

Something that is easy to forget here in our warm cocoon at DU, is the hard reality that we DUers are not typical of the Dem party as a whole. We tend to be a lot further left and a lot more outspoken about it. I visit Dems in a neighboring County sometimes and it hammers home to me just how much of an island of liberalism Champaign County is when compared to other places.

DU is a similar situation.

You guys stayed focused on the bigger prize.

Regards.


Laura

[DaveinMD]

20. this is a very Republican district

Melissa Bean is the type of dem that can win there. The local folks get this.

[Xeric]

21. time will tell

She faced no opposition because she was the incumbent and because there are not many strong dems here. I'm not sure if anybody was talked out of running. Obviously the guy who is running third party and who ran as a dem last time must have felt some pressure not to run as a dem but not enough not to run at all.
While this has been a conservative district, the demographics are changing as it becomes more urbanized. I think this and the 6th are both slowly moving to a more center voting electorate. Arch-conservative Crane regularly won this district with less than 60% so there is a strong democratic base here. The middle ground that Bean won was not from appealing to conservative voters, who vote as a block, but by getting independents who thought it was time for a change. I doubt they thought that that change should be more conservatism. Had Bean stuck to dem principles she would not have alienated her base and still could have appealed to the middle ground. The conservatives will never vote for her.
Again, I am extremely disappointed in her voting record and the ONLY reason I would vote for her again is the larger issue of control of the house. As one of her "base" she hasn't listened to me at all and I feel no loyalty to her personally. I think her strategy and that of the Illinois party stinks. They just refuse to play hardball. They could even have done a redistricting of Illinois like the repukes did in Texas and cemented this district since they control the house, senate, and gov. but they took the high road on that. Sadly, in American politics the high road is usually the road to nowhere.
If polls show a blowout against her, which I think is a distinct possiblity, I'll vote for the third party candidate to show the state party that I don't approve of their tactics. If there is even a hint of a close election, I will vote for her and, should she win, I'll again remind her just who put her there and what we expect from her. I expect pro-choice, pro-labor, pro-gay rights, pro middle class policies. I do not expect republican lite. As I said, she will be painted as a liberal no matter how many times she votes with the repukes, so why compromise? It just isn't a working strategy. I tend not to trust somebody that does not have the courage of their convictions and she appears to have none. The letters I get are filled with vague platitudes and doubletalk.
The chance of my vote having great effect are extremely small locally or nationally but it is still something I consider. I'm not a naderite, but I'm also not a yes man.

[CraneWatcher]

26. Bean is doing what she said she would do

I haven't visited this blog since Melissa Bean was running almost two years ago and I was so hoping to defeat Crane. I came back for the first time today after I read DailyKos <http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/27/65514/5853>, was totally scared by the REAL McSweeney, and then found this thread.

Here is what I see living up here: Bean was and is pro-choice and strongly backed by Emily's List. Bean always claimed to support small business, yet my friends in two different unions tell me their locals and others are 100% behind her - and it is just one or two nationals trying to make a point by backing the "independent" Scheurer-Nader (who btw is anti-choice and has admitted to just being a spoiler, hoping to defeat Bean this way to run in 2008 since he couldn't come close in head-on competition). Nobody in the party had to discourage Scheurer from running in the primary. He was soundly rejected two years ago and he knows it.

Probably the biggest thing in Bean's favor (according to what I see and also according to our local papers) is that she has been visible - getting things done, introducing legislation people up here seem to want, bring transportation dollars into the area that 35 years of Crane never did, holding town hall meetings and forums all over the three counties. People up here like what she is doing for this district.

Not to vote will support the republican majority in this district. A vote for Scheurer is a vote for McSweeny Lite, and in reality just a vote for McSweeney. Do we support someone who agrees with us 80% of the time, or let those who disagree with us 100% of the time slink in? Seems clear to me.

I hate to call anyone a nutcase, but everyone should read the Kos article and watch the video themselves to hear McSweeney in his own words <http://www.dccc.org/video/mcsweenyexposed.wmv>. Scary.

[newyawker99]

27. Hi CraneWatcher!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[DanCa]

11. No but I have a funny pan story.

When I went to DC this year I had a chance to meet with a Bean Represenative. On the candidate info they listed : Melissa Bean (R) I laughed out loud when I read that.

[Norquist Nemesis]

24. From her OWN rep?

I know she's a DINO, but that's beyond the pale from her own staff! :wow:

[DanCa]

25. It was the pan staff that did the screw up.

I just couldn't stop from laughing when I saw Melissa Bean (R) on the form.