This is very, very good news from Democrat Ann McLane Kuster (best known as Annie) – as long as you aren’t named Charlie Bass:
To fight for good jobs, to protect the fragile economic recovery, and to invest in strengthening our country’s future, this week I am taking the first steps to begin a campaign for U.S. Congress in 2012.
I’ll make a more formal announcement next year, but I’m not willing to sit on the sidelines until then – I’m going to roll up my sleeves and start working today.
Kuster suffered one of the most heart-breaking defeats last year, losing to Bass by just 1.6%. (In fact, this was the second-closest open seat loss in the nation for Dems, after WV-01.) The strength of the GOP tide in the rest of the state last year shows just how weak a candidate Bass really is – and how strong a campaign Kuster ran. So I’m really excited that she’ll be getting back in the game (and hopefully, she won’t have to face another primary from the likes of DLCer Katrina Swett). I’m also pleased to see that Kuster has every intention of sticking to a strong progressive message. From the same announcement:
I am a frugal Yankee and I believe we need to cut wasteful government spending – like the billions in subsidies for oil companies, the corporate tax breaks for moving jobs overseas, and the billions more spent on redundant weapons systems that our military leaders have identified as wasteful and unneeded. But instead of these cuts, the US House of Representatives is cutting what we need most: education, public safety, and the clean energy research that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It makes no sense.
More like this, please.