Rush Holt

-by Jersey Jack

Bonnie knows what team she's playing for-- New Jersey's working familiesWhen Blue America decided to endorse Bonnie Watson Coleman one thing that weighed heavily on our decision was how-- when the climate was tough-- Bonnie stuck with Barbara Buono while the Linda Greenstein was running ads touting her fealty to Christie. It drove many of us at Blue America up the wall at the time and it made our endorsement of Bonnie pretty much inevitable.

Tuesday is election day in New Jersey-- not the general election, which is in November, but the special election primary for the open Senate seat. Wall Street has been successful in creating the conventional wisdom that their puppet, Cory Booker, can't be stopped. But a late summer special election primary is really about turning out voters more than anything else. Cory Booker may be a TV celebrity but he has a putrid record of failure and a sleazy relationship with Big Business special interests.

Yesterday we noted the endorsement of Rush Holt, who is white, by African-American civil rights leader Edith Savage-Jennings.

A week from today, we'll wake up knowing who won the Democratic nomination-- tantamount to election-- for the open New Jersey U.S. Senate seat. Will it be another progressive dedicated to representing working families? Or will it be a shameless careerist who takes his every move from his Wall Street benefactors. Last week, Blue America and Progressive Democrats of America made the case for Rush Holt against Cory Booker.

This week Blue America and Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) sent a joint letter to all our members asking them to support Rush Holt for the open New Jersey Senate seat. The August 13 primary has 4 Democrats vying for the nomination-- Rush Holt and Frank Pallone, both progressive congressmen, General Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, a kind of boss-affiliated garden variety Democrat, and the Wall Street candidate, Newark Mayor Cory Booker. The special election itself will be held October 16. Digby penned the letter:

By now you're probably well aware that GOP presidential rivals Chris Christie and Rand Paul are already slugging it out-- over national security and governing philosophy. It looks to be pretty ugly, as anything Christie gets involved in always turns out to be. But their disputes aren't just a matter of two ambitious Republicans trying to knock each other out of presidential contention.

By now you're probably well aware that GOP presidential rivals Chris Christie and Rand Paul are already slugging it out-- over national security and governing philosophy. It looks to be pretty ugly, as anything Christie gets involved in always turns out to be. But their disputes aren't just a matter of two ambitious Republicans trying to knock each other out of presidential contention.

Obamacare was a flawed, compromised "solution" from day one, based on a mediocre conservative set of ideas that were meant to prevent the passage of a single payer system (Medicare for All) by progressives. At best, people see the benefits, overlook the flaws and are coming to accept it, despite partisan GOP hysteria.

This week I literally marveled at how deftly Alan Grayson was able to use congressional procedures beyond the ken of garden variety congressmembers to get five amendments to the defense-spending bill passed without controversy particularly one prohibiting torture. “This amendment," explained Grayson to any Members who might not be paying attention, "makes the intent of Congress clear; it makes the law clear: We. Don’t. Torture.