Tag: Anne Barth

DemocracyCorps has an exciting survey (pdf) of 46 Congressional races of seats currently held by Republicans.

In Tier 1 races, which Democrat Anne Barth’s challenge of Bush Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito falls under, the Democratic candidates lead the Republican candidates 51-42.

On issues, from Iraq to the economy, the Democratic stance is favored over the Republican.

For example on the Iraq war, here’s the results for the Democratic position similar to Barth’s versus The Republican position identical to Capito’s.

Here’s Barth’s position:

“We are in our fifth year of the Iraq war with no strategy to win the peace and bring our brave soldiers home.  There have been over 4,000 American lives lost, more than a trillion dollars spent, with no end in sight.  While I support our troops, I oppose an open-ended commitment to the war in Iraq.

I will work toward a responsible plan to bring our brave men and women home with honor.  

We must focus on training the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own security soon, set benchmarks for the Iraqi military, and give more emphasis to diplomatic strategies.  

The war in Iraq has had a serious impact on our military, and our brave men and women are stretched thin by extended deployments. In Congress, I will work to strengthen America’s national security and refocus on the terrorist threats around the globe that are currently ignored.”

Here’s Capito’s last public statement

“In recent months we’ve seen hopeful signs of progress on security and localized political reconciliation in Iraq.  We want Iraqis to take control and we must continue to apply pressure to Iraq’s national leaders, but now is not the time to pull the rug out from under our troops who are performing admirably and achieving results.”

I point those out to show the similarity between the way the question was asked in the survey.

[800 Respondents]

Q.61 (SPLIT D) Now I’m going to read you what the candidates for Congress are saying on Iraq. Regardless of who you would vote for, please tell me whether the Democratic statement or the Republican statement comes closer to your own view, even if neither is exactly right.

The Democratic candidate says the war in Iraq has cost us trillions of dollars while our economy has weakened, and has made America less secure. We must strengthen America’s security by starting to reduce our troops in Iraq in a responsible way, force the Iraqi government to use its oil money to pay for reconstruction and work with other nations to bring stability. We need to invest the money we are currently spending in Iraq to restore our military, deal with Afghanistan and strengthen America’s own economy and security. But the Republican candidate for Congress wants to keep our troops in Iraq for at least another 5 years.

OR

The Republican candidate says there has been military and political progress in Iraq, and that to withdraw now would cost more in lives and create more instability in the Middle East. If we follow John McCain’s lead to see our commitment through until the end of his first term, by 2013 America will have welcomed most of our troops home and the Iraq war will have been won. Though some violence will still occur, Iraq will be a functioning democracy with al Qaeda defeated and the U.S. maintaining just a small military presence that does not play a direct combat role. But the Democratic candidate for Congress wants to pull our troops out precipitously and give al Qaeda a big victory.

Total

Democratic statement strongly – 44

Democratic statement somewhat – 15

Republican statement somewhat – 13

Republican statement strongly – 26

(Don’t know/refused) – 3

With the numbers rounded that gives 59 percent supporting the Democratic statement and 39 percent supporting the Republic view. Note too how favorably the question was even worded to tilt support for the GOP position.

And keep in mind this was a poll done in Republican held districts.

Hat tip to RandySF for first tipping me to the Democracy Corps poll.

With apologies in advance to David Letterman,

From the home office in Paw Paw, West Virginia, here’s the Top 10 reasons on why you should support Anne Barth.

No. 10 – Anne’s been “Getting the Job Done” for West Virginia for the past 21 years working for Senator Byrd unlike Shelley Moore Capito, who after 8 years in Congress can’t list a single accomplishment.

No. 9 – Nick Rahall and Alan Mollohan endorsed Anne because they want someone who is hard working and effective to serve with them because whenever they call Shelley she’s busy serving as president of the George W. Bush Fan Club.

No. 8 – Anne is for “pay-as-you-go” balanced budgets while Shelley helped George W. Bush run up record federal deficits, blowing through money faster than Powerball winners on a road trip to casinos and strip clubs.

No. 7 – Anne wants our veterans to be able to go to high quality VA hospitals for their healthcare needs. Shelley wants them to go deploy on yet another tour of duty in Iraq.

No. 6 – Anne wants tax breaks for working families of West Virginia so they can take care of their children and send them to college. Shelley looks out for a special class of minorities, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans who are millionaires. Hey, someone’s got to look after their interests so they can buy all the caviar, yachts and multiple vacation homes they want.

No. 5 – Anne believes in improving West Virginia’s highways and bridges so they don’t fall down like in Minnesota. Shelley’s for spending money for new roads and bridges too – in Iraq.

No. 4 – Anne graduated from West Virginia University and her daughters are now Mountaineers too. Shelley attended Duke University just like her daughter now. Duke, possibly the most evil school in the NCAA during basketball season, appropriately is represented by a Satanic symbol*.

No. 3 – West Virginia currently ranks 46** out of 50 in the Cutest Congressional Caucus Category. Anne’s election would singlehandledly put West Virginia in 1st Place.

No. 2 – Anne is for healthcare access for all. Shelley’s healthcare policy is healthcare for the rich, aspirins for everyone else.

No. 1 – Iraq.

Cross posted from West Virginia Blue

From an email:

Wow, what a great start for our campaign for Congress!

As you know, a top-notch Congressional campaign is an all-consuming undertaking for any candidate who is in it to win it. I promise you I have been working as hard as I have ever worked in my life to earn the support I’ve been getting from people like you. Together, we will give West Virginians in the 2nd Congressional District a stronger advocate in Washington. I’ve made visits to nearly all the counties in the broad 2nd District – many of them more than once – and I can tell you that there is a palpable excitement and energy for change. I’ve been meeting and talking with people in fire halls, community centers, senior centers, churches and private homes.

Over and over West Virginians tell me they have become disillusioned by years of Bush-Cheney policies that simply don’t reflect the needs of rural America in general, and working West Virginians in particular. It is your views, your ideas, your concerns – and your support – that continue to energize me and drive my campaign forward.

I wanted to take a moment to update you on the progress of our campaign to restore West Virginia values to the 2nd Congressional seat in Congress. The all-important FEC first quarter reporting period ended on March 31. Our filing will show that the campaign has collected just over $330,000 in contributions from people like you.

The first quarter reporting number is a critical barometer of a campaign’s vitality. We are setting very high expectations for our campaign, and so far we are meeting and exceeding them. We had six fundraising events around the state in the first quarter, including one that was hosted jointly by Senator Byrd, Senator Rockefeller, Congressman Rahall and Congressman Mollohan. I am so proud to have their support, which has provided such a boost to the campaign and to peoples’ confidence that Democrats are working hard to regain the seat. People from across the entire state have been mailing contributions to our campaign headquarters and donating with their credit cards on our website.

In addition to the support of the entire West Virginia Democratic delegation, the Anne Barth for Congress campaign has also received endorsements from a variety of organizations, including the West Virginia AFL-CIO, United Mine Workers, United Auto Workers, Communications Workers of America, the Southwestern District Labor Council, United Steelworkers, Teamsters, the West Virginia Education Association, the West Virginia Sheriff’s Association and the American Federation of Government Employees.

These organizations are a vital part of our communities, and I am honored to have them as friends and supporters. We expect more endorsements from organizations to be made public soon – and we’ll keep you posted.

Through all of this busy campaigning I have received a lot of good press, in small town weeklies, larger daily newspapers, and regional television stations. I have also appeared on radio stations across the district to get my message out, and continue to enjoy building relationships with members of our state media that the voters rely on in their communities to keep themselves informed and up-to-date on the issues.I was especially gratified to receive the endorsement this week of the state’s largest daily newspaper, the Charleston Gazette.

I have also participated in several Meet the Candidate events around the district, as well as forums and debates, with my primary opponents at West Virginia Wesleyan in Buckhannon and the Young Democrats Convention in Charleston. I enjoy these exchanges and look forward to debates with them at the Jefferson County League of Women Voters event on April 17 and the Berkeley County Democratic Association event on April 21.

Though I have many years of experience in the political realm, being a candidate is a new experience for me. I continue to learn more as I travel and meet with constituents. While serving in Sen. Byrd’s office for 21 years, I never lived in Washington, I always continued to live and work in the 2nd Congressional District, and that is one reason I am running – I understand the needs and concerns of the people of my home district. And I have learned from my experiences on Sen. Byrd’s staff how to get results for the people of West Virginia in Washington.

With your continued support and involvement, we can win in May – and again in November. Please stay in touch with our campaign, visit our website for updates at AnneBarthforCongress.com, volunteer when you can and make a contribution if you are able.

Change is coming for the people of West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, and together we are driving that momentum for change.

Thank you for your support and encouragement – and please keep in touch.

Barth is off to a tremendous start, especially considering she got into the quarter late. That’s got to be making Bush Republican Shelley Moore Capito nervous.

Jake Stump has the story in the Daily Mail:

Her campaign finances outpace those of her primary opponents. One of them, former South Charleston mayor Richie Robb, raised $2,475 from January to April, and has $10,835 cash on-hand, according to his latest filing with the Federal Election Commission.

A financial report for a third candidate, Thornton Cooper, was not available.

Political observers expected Barth, who entered the race after state Sen. John Unger dropped out right before the filing deadline, to have a tough time raising money because of her late start.

Incumbent Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., had $643,865 cash on-hand as of Jan. 1.

snip

“We have very high expectations for ourselves as a campaign, and we are meeting those marks,” said Ned Rose, chairman of the Barth campaign. “Our fellow West Virginians are also expressing their high expectations for Anne by contributing so generously. I can assure them all one thing — nobody will outwork Anne Barth. She is a tireless campaigner and a dynamic individual.”

The interesting thing will be whether campaign donors who’ve backed Capito in the past will continue to give, or if they’ll see she’s a lost cause. My guess is she’ll receive some contributions, but keep in mind she angered many of her fellow Republicans in 2006 by not contributing to other races. In fact, she was still holding fundraisers the weekend before the last election, a sure sign she was worried about Mike Callaghan. She ended up buying herself a landslide because Callaghan, among other flaws with his campaign, had run out of money and was unable to answer a last minute barrage of misleading attack ads from Capito. In addition to having a very focused campaign style, Barth is going to have enough money to go toe-to-toe against Capito at the end.

Posted Wednesday night at West Virginia Blue.

I went to the peace vigil in Shepherdstown tonight. Five years of the occupation already. Some have been at it since before the Iraq invasion and occupation.

The event was moved to O’Hurley’s General Store due to the rain.

I saw many familiar faces from other peace events and political campaigns and I saw new faces as well. There were about 80 people in all in the large room where music and dances are sometimes held.  

It was a good mix of young students from Shepherd College and gray-haired veterans of the Vietnam War and of Vietnam War protests.

It had been cooler during the day, but had warmed after the rain stopped and a fire in the stone fireplace had died down to smoking embers. On a wet day, the wood-smoke made the room seem cozier.

A good friend who I had traveled to Fairmont with to canvass in the last days of the 2004 Kerry-Edwards race was at the entrance collecting money for Central Asia Institute. We hugged and I made a donation and got a couple of sugar cookies and a cup of tea.

There were a pair of guitarists singing. Then I saw Anne Barth, our WV-02 candidate for Congress, standing in the back of the room. She greeted me warmly. She really is a very nice woman. I was surprised to see her there not because she’s not a strong advocate for peace, but because I hadn’t seen any announcement of her attendance. She was there not to politic but to show solidarity with the others who want to support the troops and bring them home from Iraq.

She hadn’t planned on speaking, but one of the singers asked between songs if she would say a few words. Barth kept it brief. She introduced herself and said she remembered the day when Senator Byrd spoke out against the war and how the fax machines buzzed with people agreeing with him and others opposed to him. (Read his speech here.) She said she still gets chills thinking of his speech when he was one of the few voices with the courage in Congress to speak out in opposition before the war.

“Senator Byrd was right,” Barth said and people applauded. “I want to end this war and bring our troops home.”

Barth said she wanted to go to Washington and join him in his efforts to bring the troops home.

“The troops have served honorably. It is time they were brought home,” she said.

When she finished to loud applause, two more singers, a young, college age woman and a grayhaired man did a lovely duet of John Lennon’s Imagine.

It was a good event, solemn yet friendly with people united in purpose.

Afterwards another canvassing partner, JBdem4usa, took me out and bought me a beer, Mountaineer Stout, just like he said he would.

Someone shot this video with a cellphone on Feb. 1 when WV-02 Democratic candidate Anne Barth made her Eastern Panhandle announcement in Martinsburg and just posted it on YouTube. This is great to see and I hope the campaign uses YouTube a lot because Barth is a great candidate.

Here’s Clem’s post from this same Feb. 1 event.

I spoke to a union guy last week at the gym, who saw her at this event and at her speech before the West Virginia AFL-CIO. He thought Barth was wonderful here, just after she filed, and he raved about how polished she has become in such a short time.

Those who saw rightwing Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito’s speech at the Rotary Club recently reported she could barely string sentences together and seemed to know little of current events in the state or of issues pending in Congress. It will be great fun watching these two clash in a debate.

More on Anne Barth here.  

Democratic candidate Anne Barth is running in West Virginia 02. She’s Senator Robert C. Byrd’s longtime aide and an excellent candidate to take on vulnerable rightwing Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito.

Sunday’s event, held at a popular Chinese restaurant in downtown Martinsburg, was just one of several events Barth held throughout the Eastern Panhandle.

Democratic candidate Anne Barth is running in West Virginia 02. She’s Senator Robert C. Byrd’s longtime aide and an excellent candidate to take on vulnerable rightwing Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito.

Tonight’s event, held at a popular Chinese restaurant in downtown Martinsburg, was just one of several events Barth held throughout the Eastern Panhandle.

The Berkeley County Democratic Association has a new, very attractive banner.

I’ve canvassed and phonebanked with several of these folks. Anne Barth is talking to Berkeley County Clerk Virginia Sine, a member of the county Democratic Executive Committee.

I arrived a bit early and Ryan Frankberry told me we’d be meeting in the back. For a Sunday night, I thought we’d get 15 people and it’d be a good turnout.

I was wrong.

Very wrong.

We didn’t fill the back of the room. We filled up the room. I couldn’t find a good angle to get everyone standing on one side and seated on the other. Berkeley County is Capito’s strong base. This is where she’ll either win or lose. The enthusiasm to see her ousted is very high. She came in with Bush, we think she should leave when he goes.

I attended the meet and greet in Shepherdstown Friday evening for West Virginia’s new Democratic candidate for WV-02 Anne Barth. About 200 people packed the event, a great turnout for an event on such short notice and on a day when the weather involved a freezing rain.

The room was packed, but I saw many familiar faces from Democratic and progressive groups from across the Eastern Panhandle. Some of my favorite people from the Kerry-Edwards campaign in ’04 are among her staunchest supporters and think highly of her.

I got a great first impression from her. She’s just six days into this race and she’s got a solid stump speech. What I really liked about her speech is how she weaved her personal background in smoothly to show how it shaped her career in public service. But what I liked most about her stump speech is she goes straight at Capito – politely, almost quietly, yet landing the lines that drew sharp distinctions between herself and her Republican opponent. Capito is a backbencher who has supported Bush’s agenda against the interests of West Virginians and Capito has worked against the rest of the West Virginia delegation in Congress. Barth did a great job of pointing that out in her speech and those lines drew the most enthusiastic response.

I spent most of my time speaking to Berkeley County Democrats about county issues. We’ve also got some great candidates running in Jefferson County and (note to self) I’ve got to write up a post about them.

I did not get a chance to go over a checklist of issues with Barth. While her campaign has hit the ground running, it is just six days into it. As eager as I am to find out where she stands on a wide variety of issues, some patience is required. As soon as her web site is up, either I or someone here will link to it.

But from what I saw, there’s a lot to like in Barth as a candidate. She was poised, she was personable and there’s a solid network of supporters for her in the Eastern Panhandle. This is where the battle for WV-02 is going to be decided because this is, unfortunately, Capito’s base. To defeat Capito, and Clem and I have said this all along, a successful candidate can’t just rely on voter turnout in the more Democratic counties and ignore the Eastern Panhandle. That’s not worked in the previous campaigns. A successful candidate has got to peel away voters from Capito here by going after her here.

Barth assured the party loyalists that she’ll be in the Eastern Panhandle a lot. She has good friends to stay with in the Eastern Panhandle who can build the kind of friend-to-friend GOTV that is much more effective than traditional stranger-to-stranger canvassing and phonebanking.

This region is Capito’s strongest point and Clem and I are just stealing a play from Karl Rove’s playbook when we say the best way to beat her is to attack her where she’s strongest. Barth came across as a candidate who’ll take the fight to Capito while keeping a charming, winning smile on her face the entire time. That’s going to make Barth a formidable ball carrier* now that the football has been handed off to her.

…

* Since I’m breaking out the football metaphors anyway, I’ll repeat a story I’ve told before because I think it fits.

Make no mistake, it’s an uphill fight against an opponent that has campaign coffers filled from the corporations and rightwing conservatives she’s supported in Congress. In terms of size, Capito is a much bigger opponent.

Long ago in a land far away, I played on football team for a small high school where our biggest lineman weighed just over 200 pounds and our opponents came from much larger schools with much, much bigger players.

And every Friday night, our head coach gathered us together before our games and said:

“Boys, it’s not the size of the dogs in the fight that matters, it’s the size of the fight in the dogs.”

My senior year we went 9-1 and won the league championship. Our only loss was to Oak Hill, which won because of extremely questionable officiating on their home field (not that I hold a grudge two decades later — the bastards.)

The other teams may have been taller and outweighed us, but nobody, not even Oak Hill, ever out hit us.

I got the sense tonight that Capito might out spend Barth, might pull out every dirty Republican trick in the book to try to stop her, but there’s no way she’s going to out play Barth, who after 21 years on Senator Robert C. Byrd’s staff knows the ins and outs of West Virginia politics. There’s a lot of desire to win in Barth and desire and heart can take you a long way.