For the last two elections I've voted early. And each time it's been a different experience.
I'm in central IN, in the 6th district. It's one of the poorer districts of IN; half of it post-industrial, half of it rural. In the Senate, we're represented by Richard Lugar, who is one of the few Republicans I actually think is worth respecting. The House is a different matter. There the Sixth District is represented by Mike Pence, who famously said that it was no more dangerous in Bagdad than walking through an IN farmer's market, among his many other remarks that have indicated he needs to come home and get reintroduced to the concerns of being a private citizen. He's clearly forgotten them in his rush to vote the Republican party line. Fortunately, our governor's seat is also up this year, and we have a chance to send Bush crony Mitch Daniels back to whatever rock he crawled out from under, and replace him with Jill Long Thompson.
Below is a re-print of a diary my wife posted on Daily Kos last night. It is an interesting read. Also, we are in a contest as she mentions at the end. PFAW and Howie Klein are sponsoring it and we are trying to get as many one dollar donations as possible, so as tedious as it will be, instead of giving twenty dollars, give one dollar twenty times. The one with the most donors gets DCCC money and we can use that for targeted cable ads. Help if you can and spread the word about the contest. Thanks BW
Below is an op/ed that we are releasing to the traditional media later this evening. This will be cross posted on other blogs but is here first. Also feel free to cross post on your own blogs if you desire.
Thanks
"One has to question if the cancellation implies that not only is Mike Pence not the future of this district, or this state, he is no longer considered the future of his party. The fact that the convention is now ignoring The State of Indiana also might imply that The Republicans are conceding Indiana to the Democratic Party, or at the least Republicans are taking Indiana for granted and that is not a wise thing to do."
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
BlueAmerica is hosting a contest to support progressive Democratic candidates. These nine candidates have not yet gotten the support of the Democratic infrastructure (read: cash), but the winner will receive a $5,000 check from BlueAmerica.
There are some great candidates in the contest - including Annette Taddeo down in Florida, Rabbi Dennis Shulman in New Jersey, and Indiana's own Barry Welsh.
Here's how it works: any donation given to a candidate at the BlueAmerica Contest Page - whether $1, $20, or $2300 - counts as a vote for that candidate. The candidate who receives the most votes by September 6 will win the prize.
Let's help maximize Barry's chances against Mike Pence. Join me in lending a little support. Remember, the amount doesn't matter - even a dollar is a vote.
Cross posted from Daily Kos For those that don't know, I am Barry Welsh and I am the Democratic Party Candidate for Congress in Indiana's 6th District. My opponent is Mike Pence.
The Campaign for Change held a forum in my district today to announce the Obama Economic package and in the forum compared it to the McCain Economic plan.
If you read no further, read this; The McCain plan is NOT more of the same. It is not A 3rd Bush Term. It is much much worse.
For those that do not know, I am Barry Welsh and I am the Democratic Congressional Candidate in Indiana's 6th District and a longtime member of the Netroots.
Last night I had a unique opportunity. I sat at a table with five patriots.
I listened as they talked on their individual expertise with passion. I could not help but think back over the history of this nation, and how many times conversations like the one I was listening to became a spur to progress. From the revolution that brought the birth of this nation, to the industrial revolution, to the technological revolution, all were fueled by the passion of progressive visionaries
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
Things have been hectic since we had our voter explosion in the primary. For those that don't know, here in this district of Indiana, my opponent had a decrease in his primary base of over 5500 voters in a Presidential year, and we had an increase of over 70,000 new voters across the district. We doubled my opponent's vote total when all was said and done. We have him in a position he has never been in before. It is an exciting and hopeful time here in East Central Indiana. Oh and also he keeps putting his foot in his mouth, so that doesn't hurt.
To my Republican friends, I offer this piece of unsolicited advice: If you're going to commit a crime, at least make sure you're in the administration of the sitting president. They get out of this stuff all the time.
The secretary of the Delaware County Republican Party Central Committee has been charged with battery resulting in bodily injury.
The misdemeanor charge against William D. Statom stems from an April 9 attack on Nick Werner, a reporter for The Star Press, in a hallway of the Delaware County Building after a meeting of the county election board.
Statom, 56, 3701 S. Robinwood Drive, also holds a party-appointed job in the county's voter registration office.
After the Werner incident, GOP County Chairman Kaye Whitehead suspended Statom for three days without pay and ordered him to undergo "anger management training."
Don't forget that our very own Barry Welsh was also fighting the good fight that day. Literally.
Two stories out of Muncie today give us a slightly better view on what transpired in the meeting before Republican officials started taking swings at reporters and Barry Welsh. It sounds like the event was definitely contentious, but the Delaware County GOP has agreed to fully staff the office, and Democratic officials are pledging that every newly registered voter will be given their opportunity to cast their ballot.
You know a meeting was good, though, when the write-up about it the next day concludes with this:
The meeting ended with Statom physically attacking this reporter in the hallway.
A full blow-by-blow report on the more violent aspects of the day ran in this morning's Star Press as well, and you can check it out if you are itching for some more details. There's even a picture of Barry post-scuffle.
He's a fighter!
The most notable thing out of that piece? The aforementioned GOP madman will be returning to work as early as today:
Attorney Donald McClellan, representing Statom, came over to the jail by 4 p.m. to bond the Republican registration official out.
"I don't imagine he has anything to say," McClellan said.
Statom is the appointment of Republican Party Chairman Kaye Whitehead as the Republican member of the county board of voter registration.
"I certainly do not condone his behavior, but on the other hand, every employee has rights," said Whitehead, who expected Statom to get back to work and do his job.
A Republican voter registration deputy faces battery charges after he tackled a newspaper reporter and hit the Democratic 6th District congressional candidate after a contentious Delaware County Election Board meeting this afternoon.
The meeting had just ended when Will Statom, GOP registration deputy and secretary of the local Republican Party, attacked Star Press reporter Nick Werner while Werner was interviewing Ball State University student Johanna Perez about hundreds of last-minute voter registrations for Democrat Barack Obama's campaign.
"He did not seem very happy that we were stating our opinions," Perez said afterwards about Statom.
Werner said Statom seemed critical of his reporting, sarcastically saying to make sure he screwed up the story again.
Statom had just walked past Werner when Statom turned around and pushed Werner against the wall, grabbed him and they fell to the ground, according to witnesses.
Barry A. Welsh, Democratic 6th district congressional candidate, who attended the meeting, stepped in, and Statom turned around and hit Welsh in the eye.
"When Nick went to the floor, I tried to break it up," Welsh said.
John Good wrote extensively about the problems in Muncie this morning. Essentially, the Republican Party is refusing to adequately staff the voter registration office, meaning that hundreds of newly registered voters are facing the prospect of not being able to vote despite registering on time.
No word on how the meeting went, but I'll update this as soon as I know more.
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
Received this email from Democracy for America this morning. Barry Welsh is one of the nominees and I thought that readers here might be interested and be willing to help give Barry a boost in his campaign to unseat Mike Pence in Indiana's 6th Congressional District.
If Barry were to win, this is how he might benefit:
The winner earns the financial support of our 675,000 nationwide membership, hundreds of volunteer hours by local members on the ground, and the media buzz generated by our national spotlight. Perhaps the biggest prize of all, the DFA Training Academy will train DFA members and campaign staff in the winner's district making sure every one learns the skills to win.
My name is Betsy Decillis and I am the Finance Director for the Barry Welsh for Congress Campaign. I've got some exciting news!
First off, today is Barry's birthday. He turns 49 years young and I wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to send him their well wishes.
Secondly, you can still get Sherri's recipe for Double Chocolate Drop Cookies! Just donate $12.10 in honor of Barry's Birthday here and she will e-mail you the recipe. Thanks to everyone that has donated so far!
(Tip of the Hat to Chad Michaels for pointing me to this)
Barry Welsh, sixth district challenger to bushwacked Mike Pence, addresses his campaign in a diary over at Daily Kos today. Highlights include:
In the 2007 Municipal elections across the 6th District of Indiana, The Democratic Party won the mayoral races in Muncie, Anderson, and Ft. Wayne, the three largest cities in the district, and retained seats in Richmond and Columbus. In Rush County, one of the most Republican dominated counties in the state, the elected Mayor and majority of city council is Democratic.
Even in my former hometown of little Laurel Indiana, where I was one of the only Democrats on the ballot four years ago, has now replaced all of the Republicans with Democrats. This district is trending in our direction.
(...)
Mike Pence has voted against Head Start, one of only 38 to do so, He voted against S-CHIP, he has brought legislation to end funding for Planned Parenthood, and he is the guy that said "Iraq is like an Indiana Market in the Summertime." Mr. Pence came in with George W. Bush, he has been in lockstep with The President throughout their time in our nation’s capital, and Mr. Pence needs to go out with this administration. The decisions Mike Pence makes, and the votes he casts, impacts not only those of us in this district, but those votes impact people all across the nation. No matter where you are in geographical location, this election and all federal elections, impact you.
I can't begin to echo his words enough. Mike Pence has rubberstamped Bush administration policies for far too long now, and as a progressive online community its time to do something about it.
How can I help? That's easy-- three simple steps.
Hop on over to ActBlue and throw a little green colored support Barry's way.
Spread the word and tell everyone you know-- "Barry is for real."
Visit the campaign website and sign up to become the next member of Barry's Volunteer Army.
Together we can fight to take back the IN-6. Folks it's that easy.
CONNERSVILLE, IN - Indiana 6th District Congressional candidate Barry Welsh (D-Connersville) released the following statement today regarding the vote yesterday in which current Representative Mike Pence voted to sustain President Bush's veto of the low income children's health program.
"Congressman Pence stood in lock step with President Bush and the veto denying Health Care to Children in the S-CHIP bill. Congressman Pence had to flip-flop in his voting as he had voted for the bill before voting against it. Congressman Pence thought Health Care for Kids was important and voted for it, until President Bush told him to vote against it. Pleasing President Bush is more important to Congressman Pence than Health Care for Kids, and that is not representative of Hoosier Family Values and is the wrong priority for any Congressman to use in decision-making."
For more information contact Communications Director Joh Padgett at (317) 352-5066 or via email at press@barrywelsh.org. Also visit our website and blog at the addresses listed below.
While they are staying tight-lipped about their fundraising totals for the third quarter, and the FEC website is still showing nothing (???), the Barry Welsh for Congress campaign today announced that they have taken a few steps forward in their bid to unseat Rep. Mike Pence.
Barry Welsh, Democratic candidate for Indiana sixth District Congress, has stepped up his grassroots campaign. This past month, The Barry Welsh campaign has moved and re-opened headquarters in Connersville, Indiana and hired an Indianapolis- based media relations firm, Levelsix Marketing & Public Relations and finance director, Betsy Decillis.
Levelsix Marketing & Public relations is a forward thinking firm. Founder and CEO, Andrea Simon, is thrilled about working on the campaign and believes that Barry Welsh is just the man to create a more powerful workforce and economy subsequently elevating the people in District 6. Betsy Decillis, is from Columbus, Ohio and previously worked on the Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's campaign last year.
Decillis is a graduate of Ashland College where she founded and was the president of the Young Democrats. "I'm very happy to join the great team Barry has assembled. I look forward to the challenges ahead and will work hard to ensure this campaign is well financed for the 2008 General Election."
Join Barry Welsh live on BlogTalkRadio for his weekly radio address every Tuesday at 12 noon EDT. This week Barry will be discussing events in the Middle East. Join us LIVE at noon and call in to (646) 716-8764 to discuss your views with Barry directly! If you cant join us at noon, come on by and listen to the archived podcast anytime!
The guys from Political Nexus and Heading Left and hosts of the talk show Candidates Corner, Clammy C and There Is No Spoon are having Barry and I over to their place tonight to raise money for Barry's campaign and we sure hope you will join us. The show starts at 7pm on Candidate's Corner on BlogTalkRadio and will also be live blogged on DailyKos this evening as well.
We'll be auctioning off these items as well such as:
An Iowa 2004 Deanie Baby toy from the Howard Dean 2004 campaign - minimum bid $10
A copy of Charlie Savage's new book Takeover donated by Jane Hamsher - minimum bid $15
If you would like to bid on these items email your bids to finifinito@gmail.com and check over at Barry's Blog for updates on current bid prices all evening. the auction will conclude at 9pm EDT this evening and winning bid owners will be notified by email at the conclusion of the auction.
And be sure to heck out our brand new CafePress Store! We have a number of great items available for purchase including:
All logos and trademarks in this site
are property of their respective owner.
The comments are property of their posters, and
all other site content may be used for any purpose
without explicit permission
unless otherwise specified.
