Tag: Bill Cahir

A very special morning edition of the Daily Digest!

• IA-Sen: The Des Moines Register’s Marc Hansen teases that “a well-known mystery candidate” with “name recognition and money” is “about 75 percent ready to join the race” against deather douchebag GOPer Chuck Grassley. The Politico’s Charles Mahtesian speculates that the mystery candidate could be none other than Dem Rep. Bruce Braley. Color me skeptical.

• IL-10: NRCC recruitment wiz kid Kevin McCarthy parachuted himself into the Chicagoland area on Saturday in order to survey the recruitment progress in race to defend GOP Rep. Mark Kirk’s open seat. He met with a small batch of prospects, including stock market analyst Dick Green, attorney Bill Cadigan (a former staffer for ex-Rep. Jon Porter, who held the 10th District for two decades prior to Kirk), and businessman Bob Dold. Interestingly, that list didn’t include any of the district’s deep bench of Republican state legislators. I’m not sure if we should read that as a tea leaf that state Rep. Beth Coulson may not be serious about running, but it appears that the GOP is preparing for the prospect of defending this seat with a political newcomer.

• IN-03: Talk about taking one for the team. Former Fort Wayne city councilman Tom Hayhurst, an M.D. who gave GOP Rep. Mark Souder the closest shave of his political life in 2006, has filed papers for a rematch in 2010. Hayhurst lost to Souder by a 54-46 margin that year — a pretty impressive showing given the district’s horrid R+14 bent. But after Souder pasted well-funded attorney Mike Montagano in 2008 by 15 points, it’s hard to see how the good doctor has a shot in hell here. Godspeed, sir.

• FL-08: Here’s some good news for frosh Dem Rep. Alan Grayson. Larry Cretul, the Republican Speaker of the Florida House, has decided against challenging the former beardo next year. The GOP still has a number of options here, including state Rep. Stephen Precourt and Orlando Mayor Rich Crotty.

Precourt, for his part, told the St. Petersburg Times that he may be interested in a bid, but sounds supportive of state Sen. Dan Webster, should he choose to run. More from Precourt:

“I am a big fan of Senator Dan Webster, but am keeping my powder dry for now. It seems best to stand back and let Congressman Grayson self destruct for the time being, as he is doing quite a good job of it.”

Precourt may have been referring to Grayson’s legislative priorities, but he could have just as easily been alluding to the congressman’s, uh, relaxed style of speech. During a Netroots Nation panel in Pittsburgh on Friday, Grayson decided to yuk it up by saying his 2008 opponent, GOP Rep. Ric Keller, “did all his hiring at Hooters”. He went on to relate an anecdote about how one of his “more resourceful” supporters posed as a volunteer at his opponent’s campaign headquarters for several days, and reported back that “they spent all their time flying paper clips at each other and watching porn on their computers.”

• MN-Gov: It’s no surprise, but Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, a Democrat, formally threw her hat into the extremely crowded gubernatorial race on Thursday.

• MO-04: It looks like longtime Dem Rep. Ike Skelton, who’s been manning the fort for us in this R+14 district since Baby Jesus was riding dinosaurs to school, is going to have an honest-to-God race on his hands in 2010. GOP state Sen. Bill Stouffer, whose district overlaps some of the 4th’s northern counties, filed his statement of candidacy with the FEC last week. Stouffer will face a primary from fundie-flavored ex-state Rep. Vicky Hartzler.

• NC-Sen: With NC SoS Elaine Marshall officially still on the fence, the DSCC isn’t sitting idly by to wait for her decision. Former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker, who lost the 2000 Democratic gubernatorial primary to Mike Easley, says that he’s had conversations with the DSCC and ex-Gov. Jim Hunt about challenging GOP Sen. Richard Burr, and will consider his options. I’d say that Democrats had better lock up either Marshall or Wicker before they realize how ugly 2010 is going to be for Team Blue.

• NV-Sen: Wanna run against Harry Reid (and win)? It really doesn’t appear to be that daunting of a task if you believe the spurt of Republican polls in the past few days. Hot on the heels of a poll showing NV GOP Chair Susan Lowden smacking Reid by an six-point margin, two-time political loser Danny Tarkanian is out with a poll from Chariot, LLC (never heard of ’em) showing him beating Reid by a 50-42 spread.

But before we leave it at that, I just want to briefly touch on this howler from Reno Gazette-Journal reporter Anjeanette Damon:

It was an automated poll, meaning a recorded voice asked respondents to express their preference by pushing a number on their phone. These polls, while inexpensive to run, are not regarded as the most accurate method of obtaining survey results.

Maybe this poll is bunk, but I’m getting pretty tired of journalists who can’t bother to, at the bare minimum, take five minutes to review Nate’s pollster ratings. Or as Tom Jensen recently lamented:

I think there should be a required J School course for all aspiring political journalists on how to truly understand polling, the different methodologies, and the different organizations. I’d put pretty high up on the list that they should learn to look up and analyze the track records of various organizations instead of judging them on hearsay and other subjective criteria.

If only.

• NY-Gov: The Q&Q Polling Factory is out with the n-thousandth poll showing Democratic Gov. David Paterson in comically bad shape. Pitted in a primary against AG Andrew Cuomo, Paterson now loses by a 61-15 margin, down from a 57-20 loss in June. In a general election against Rudy Giuliani, Paterson loses 53-33, while Cuomo leads by 48-39. The numbers scream for themselves.

• PA-05: SSP extends our condolences to the family and friends of Bill Cahir, who was killed while on duty in Afghanistan late last week. Cahir, as you may remember, ran a very respectable campaign for the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania’s 5th District last year, losing a three-way race to Mark McCracken.

• TX-Gov: In a bit of a let-down for Texas activists, Austin-area state Sen. Kirk Watson, seen as a rising star in the TX Democratic Party, announced on Friday that he’ll be seeking re-election to the state senate rather than entering the gubernatorial primary, which is already populated by the likes of Tom Schieffer and Kinky Friedman.

Unity is the Key in 2008:  As I’ve been meeting with people since the primary election, I can tell that Democratic voters in the 5th district are unifying behind our campaign and identifying with our message.  Before the primary election, I felt certain if the Democratic candidates made our campaigns about the important issues and trusted the voters to make their choice on election day, it would be easy for Democrats to unite behind the winner for the general election campaign.

During the time I was out campaigning and seeking support, I spoke with many people who were up front and informed me of their support for either Rick Vilello or Bill Cahir.  Early on, I made the decision to spend an equal amount of time with everyone, regardless if they were supporting me, one of my opponents or were still undecided.  I even took the time to speak with voters who identified themselves as Republican, Independent or were registered with other parties.

While there were many important strategic decisions I had to make with the direction of the campaign, I feel this was possibly the key that will keep our momentum going throughout the summer.   We were able to quickly move on from the primary campaign, unify the Democratic base and be ready for the real challenge – electing a Democrat in the 5th Congressional District on November 4th.  I also feel the foundation has been laid to attract those crossover votes we need to win this race.

On the national level, we need to have the same unity behind our nominee for President.  Everyone needs to realize the problems facing our country must be solved and we have to elect a leader at the top who can handle the challenge.  Our democracy is at a critical point and important decisions must be made starting in January of 2009.  

We’ve seen the last 2 presidential elections produce very controversial outcomes that have weakened our faith in the process and caused other countries to doubt our democratic form of government.  In 2000, we watched as ballots in Florida were counted, recounted and eventually uncounted and the only result history will remember is 5-4 from the Supreme Court.  Then, in 2004, our party’s nominee was “Swift Boated” and we watched as the final outcome from Ohio was only slightly less controversial than the Florida 2000 result.  

In 2008, we must not allow the other side to manipulate the process to their advantage.  We have to be unified on all levels so we can elect people who will solve the problems facing our country.  Waiting another 4 years is not an option.

The Week in Review:  This week saw trips on Monday to DuBois for the DuBois City Democratic Committee Meeting and on Tuesday to Coudersport for the Potter County Democratic Committee Meeting.  Additionally, I’ve had several meetings this week with people who will be taking key roles with the campaign as we move forward.  Things are going to start getting busy over the last 2 weeks in May with events in State College and Clearfield this week and Tioga County the following week.  Then, there will be several important events around Memorial Day and we get real busy in June, July and August with county fairs, parades and a regular diet of corn dogs and funnel cakes.

Mark B. McCracken

Your Candidate For Congress

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This diary is cross-posted at McCracken’s campaign blog, PA’s Blue Fifth

Mark McCracken for Congress

ActBlue page

“I want to thank all the Democratic voters who came out and voted in the 5th district yesterday. I congratulate Bill Cahir and Rick Vilello for the positive campaigns they ran. As candidates, we ran campaigns that showed respect to each other and to the voters in the 5th district.

I also want to congratulate the winner of the Republican primary Glenn Thompson. Mr. Thompson stayed on course with his message throughout his campaign and I look forward to our competition in the November general election.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who helped with our campaign. There are so many people throughout the 17 counties of the 5th district who were involved in the campaign. What started in January with 12 candidates is now down to 2. There is much work to be done over the next several months. After meeting with people in the 5th district for the last 4 months I am convinced that our campaign’s message is strong and we will prevail in November.”

Mark B. McCracken

Still – Your Candidate for Congress

Cross-posted from dKos

We are up to 4 declared Democratic candidates in the hunt for the soon-to-be open 5th district seat. 2 of these candidates have declared in the last week, and I will rehash some of what I’ve written on the other 2 candidates as well, so that it is all in one place.

The latest person to enter the race (and the only female of all 12 candidates for the seat) is Lycoming College education professor, Darcy Gustafson. The CDT has coverage of the race and Gustafson’s announcement:

Patton Township Democrat and Lycoming College education professor Darcy Gustafson said Saturday she is circulating nomination petitions for the 5th congressional district seat and “testing the waters” before committing to the race.

“I would like to be the best candidate I can be,” she said from Pittsburgh, where she has enrolled in a course for political candidates. “If I’m not the winner in the primary, I want to be the best help I can be to whoever wins.”

At the end of last week, Kossack FISG brought us the press release announcing Mark McCracken’s entry into the race. McCracken is currently serving his second term as Clearfield County Commisioner. He was re-elected in 2007 with the most votes of the 4 candidates running. The other 2 spots went to Republicans. He serves on numerous county and regional boards and such, which you can see in his press release. Before being elected County Commissioner, he served 10 years on the Clearfield Area School Board. Clearfield County is a large, mostly rural county of roughly 83,000 people, and includes the city of Dubois. More about him from his press release:

Before entering politics, Mr. McCracken worked in the computer and information technology field from 1983 to 1988 with North American Refractories Engineering Department in Curwensville, PA and served as Director of Information Technology for Clearfield County Government from 1988 to 2004.

In announcing his candidacy McCracken said “I believe I have the experience necessary to serve this vast rural district in north central Pennsylvania. As county commissioner, everyday I deal directly with important issues facing all counties in the district including economic development and job creation, balancing budgets, controlling health care costs and dealing with constituent issues. I also work on a regular basis with officials from all levels of government including the state and federal.”

. . snip . .

Mr. McCracken also serves as chairman of the Northern Counties Heath Insurance Purchasing Cooperative Board. This board was organized in 2005 through the efforts of Commissioner McCracken working with commissioners in Clinton and McKean counties to form a multi-county health insurance purchasing co-op and create a self insured pool account. Participation in the co-op is up to 9 county governments and member counties are bringing health insurance costs under control which is saving tax dollars.

Here is what I’ve written on the other 2 candidates previously:

3-term Lock Haven Mayor Richard Vilello, a building inspector,  ran unopposed in the 2007 and 2003 elections for mayor. He was appointed in 2007 by Rendell as one of 3 co-chairs of The Governors Advisory Council on Rural Affairs, and also served on that body at least in some capacity going back to 2004. In addition, Vilello serves as the Central District Officer for the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities. I haven’t found anything about his stances on the issues specifically. In his announcement, he played up infrastructure issues:

“I think it’s time to send someone with local experience and quit wasting money,” he said. “Every day in the paper you read about millions and billions of dollars for this and that project, for fixing infrastructure all around the world, and we’re not fixing our own infrastructure.

“The local schools get stuck with No Child Left Behind, and the people who pass laws have never been in a school except when they sat behind a desk.

“The health care system is a mess and rural health care always gets the short end of the stick,” he added.

Journalist and 2-tour Iraq vet, Bill Cahir, has made some worrisome statements about “energy independence” and Iraq.

Like Peterson, Cahir said he also is an advocate of alternative energy sources.

“We need to invest more resources in domestic oil exploration. I also am a big supporter of nuclear power as a means of generating electricity,” he said.

Anyone who knows anything about Peterson knows that to say he was an “advocate of alternative energy sources” is a sick joke. Drilling and digging anywhere and everywhere – that’s what Peterson supported. I’m hoping Cahir was only trying to speak well of the retiring Peterson in this instance – and that he simply didn’t mention real alternative energies that he also supports.

On to Iraq:

“The Democrats in Congress don’t have the votes to override the president on this issue. But we have to look at the fact that we now have a number of things going our way in Iraq,” he said. “The surge (in U.S. military personnel) is going to run its course by July. The next president and the next congress will inherit Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

“As a two-tour veteran, I think I have ideas on where to go next with that mission. As a Marine reservist, I’m not going to criticize the commander-in-chief — I support the mission.

“We need to capitalize on the security gains we’ve made (in Iraq), rather than any kind of a rapid withdrawal. We need to honor the alliances we’ve developed with the Sunni sheiks who are supporting us, and take a look at what the sensible policies are right now,” Cahir said.

But there are some definite positives to Cahir as well:

Besides his military experience, Cahir enters the race with the most knowledge and experience on Capitol Hill of any of the candidates who have announced or who are considering the seat.

Before his career in journalism, which included writing for the Lebanon Daily News, Hanover Evening Sun, York Dispatch and newspapers in New Jersey and New York, Cahir worked as a staff assistant to Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee from 1990 to 1993, and as a staff assistant on health care issues for former U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford, D-Pa., from August 1993 until he left office in January 1995.

He was part of Sen. Edward Kennedy’s, D-Mass., labor and economic policy team that helped pass the Family and Medical Leave Act and other laws.

And finally, to make a long diary even longer, Cahir, McCracken and Vilello have been making the rounds at county Democratic meetings. The CDT covers the Centre County meeting that happened Saturday:

A two-tour Iraq War veteran, Cahir (pronounced care) said the United States can’t quit Iraq overnight and leave the security of U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia, Israel and Lebanon in jeopardy. He said a bipartisan plan should be forged to get out without abandoning U.S. allies. “We can’t just kick over the apple cart and walk away from them,” he said. “I don’t think we should stay — we do have to map a way out.”

. . snip . .

He agreed with Cahir on Iraq. “You can’t just cut and run,” McCracken said. “You can’t let that whole region fall apart over there.”

Lock Haven Mayor Vilello said that since he became mayor of the old industrial city in 2000 he has helped to steer it through a $6 million downtown beautification project and to establish a summer concert series with a good and growing reputation.

Lock Haven University is the fastest growing of the 14 state universities, he said, the airport that Piper abandoned is home to 55 small businesses and the company First Quality Tissue has invested $550 million to put the city’s old papermill industrial site back into the economy.

He said rural health care is a major concern. “We have to invest in rural health care because we can’t drive 60 miles to State College when there’s a big emergency,” he said.