In the video above, the relationship between swarms of Oklahoma earthquakes and fracking, seems obvious. Koch brothers-protected fracking is starting to devastate a wide swathe of the middle of the country-- and Republicans are willfully oblivious to the dangers their ideological policy agenda is causing in red states like Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Kansas.
Al McAffrey and Tom GuildWhen our old pal, Andrew Rice, resigned his Oklahoma City state Senate seat, state Rep. Al McAffrey won it. It's one of the most progressive pockets in a deep red state and McAffrey's accession was both good and bad. Symbolically, it was awesome to have an openly gay man in the Oklahoma Senate. Many Republicans saw, for the first time, that gays have neither cloven hooves for horns.
The sprawling Oklahoma district south of Oklahoma City, covering half of the Red River Valley, OK-04, has been represented in Congress by Tom Cole since 2002. His lowest reelection victory was a 68% win. In 2012, the district, which has a PVI of R+19, gave Romney a 67-33% win over Obama, although, the only 4 counties in the whole state voting Democratic in the last gubernatorial race were all in the 4th-- Commanche, Cotton, Jefferson and Stephens.
OK, let's get back to where we left off at the 6AM post this morning-- the warning FDR gave us about GOP intentions. Except this time let's home in on healthcare. In fact let's home in on one very red state, Oklahoma and one congressional election in that state, the one that pits right wing extremist James Lankford against progressive Democrat Tom Guild in the Oklahoma City area. This is the most difficult race Blue America has taken on for the 2014 cycle.
I ran into a neighbor, one of the world's most talented drummers, the other day and he asked me if the DCCC is as bad as I say it is on my blog. "Even worse," I assured him, telling him about quintessential Steve Israel recruit Jennifer Garrison. He asked me to suggest some candidates he could contribute to who were the opposite of Garrison. I suggested the 2 Blue America candidates in the L.A. area, Eloise Reyes and Lee Rogers since he could meet either one of them if he wanted to.
Oklahoma state Rep. Doug Cox (R-OK) is the chairman of the Public Health and Social Services Committee. First elected in 2005, he's also a physician who graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in 1978. If you think every Republican in Oklahoma is as radical and extreme as GOP sociopath James Lankford, you haven't met Doug Cox yet. Last February, Rep. Cox-- who, unlike lunatic freak Dr.
Keith Ellison (D-MN) is widely viewed as an up-and-coming progressive leader able to articulate progressive ideas and values to ordinary voters. He may not be invited to many events sponsored by lobbyists on K Street or Wall Street, but Democrats all over the country have been inviting him to speak to local grassroots activists.
Boehner and Cantor-- who allowed the GOP's racist wing shut down the government because of their pathological fury over an African-American in the White House-- have been whining that Obama wants to "kill the Republican Party." Unfortunately, he isn't… and even if he wanted to, suicide seems a far more likely cause of the once-credible party's demise.
Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) can make a case that there isn't another congressman as extreme right-wing as he is. Last year he won an open Democratic seat after reactionary Blue Dog Dan Boren retired. A 36 year old plumber and radio talk show host, Mullin is probably best known as an arch-hypocrite who railed incessantly against Obama's stimulus program while his company secretly look $370,000 for the program.
Tuesday, Blue America endorsed Tom Guild, the very grassroots progressive Democrat in Oklahoma City running an uphill battle against radical right extremist James Lankford.
