Shaughnessy NaughtonAlthough southeast Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district has a small chunk of northern Montgomery County, it is basically the Bucks County district. Along with the neighboring 7th CD, it is the wealthiest party of Pennsylvania, those two districts being the only two in the state with medium household incomes over $70,000. PA-08 is a genuine swing district with a PVI of R+1.
I used to be the president of my university's Young Democrats. That didn't even last a full semester. I soon discovered that there was a sharp, sharp difference between a progressive and a Democrat. These days there aren't any Republicans who are progressive. There are barely any Republicans left who are even conservative. They've moved so far right-- from conservative to reactionary-- that they left plenty of room for the Republican wing of the Democratic party to feel comfortable donning conservative mantles.
After John Murtha died, his chief of staff/in-house thug, John Hugya, became a lobbyist and a shooting range owner. Today he is a 79 year old NRA fanatic, stinking of Beltway corruption, who wants his old boss' seat in Congress, PA-12.
-by LeftGeoffWhen Mark Critz battled Blue Dog Jason Altmire in a member to member primary in 2012, progressives who didn't just walk away in disgust, chose to back Critz over Altmire. It was a bitter pill to swallow. Critz, who a few people viewed as not as bad and unfit for office as Altmire, still left much to be desired. Altmire, was a pro-business/anti-family conservative Democrat; Critz was a pro-labor conservative Democrat.
You may have read this week how state Senator Daylin Leach-- who, as a registered officiant, is entitled to legally marry couples in the state of Pennsylvania-- did just that on Monday. He performed a marriage ceremony for a gay couple with a marriage license in Montgomery County, where he and they live. The extreme right, homophobic Governor of Pennsylvania flipped out and now there's a court battle and political war between the Commonwealth and Montgomery County over LGBT marriage equality.
The head of the California Democratic Party's Environmental Caucus, R.L. Miller, is starting up a national Climate Hawks Vote project. She was instrumental in getting a resolution calling for a moratorium on fracking through the sometimes tepid California Democratic Party and many of us know her as an intrepid environmental blogger at Daily Kos.
Tomorrow afternoon we'll randomly pick the winner of the Neil Young contest. So, it's still not too late to enter. Like we explained last week, it's easy to win the RIAA-certified double platinum award for Neil's classic Harvest Moon.
A few days ago we asked you to take a look at the Blue America Neil Young contest. Shorter version here. But Daylin Leach is a lot more than a cute contest. And although Neil Young's music was important to young Daylin when he was growing up, it isn't the only thing that helped form Daylin Leach.He was raised in Northeast Philadelphia by a single mother.
The first time I spoke with Pennsylvania state Senator Daylin Leach, I was astounded. I asked him if he knows Alan Grayson. At the time they hadn't met. I was asking because I'm always looking for candidates who are something like Alan. No one is more like Alan-- and in so many profound and wonderful ways-- than Daylin. Both are what we would have called in my Brooklyn neighborhood "stand up guys"-- courageous, smart and dedicated to taking on the tough jobs and seeing them through.
