Go West Young One
So, in the wake of the Lamont upset, the near-victory of Donna Edwards against supposedly unbeatable Al Wynn, the sudden hope given to long-shot Democratic challengers in Florida, New York, and elsewhere by the House Republicans’ bumbling of the Foley situation, and so many other races that have gone the direction the conventional wisdom told us they wouldn’t, let's look together past the obvious.
First up is Andrew Duck, the former military man who is going up against long-term curmudgeon, conservative Roscoe Bartlett in western Maryland’s 6th congressional district. Now, we know he's got an uphill battle in this final month, since Bartlett has won by wide margins (over 65% in each of the last two general elections) and Pres. Bush won the 6th CD by more than 60% in the 6th in both 2000 and 2004. But Duck says he hears from a lot of folks in western Maryland that they want change, that “…this year, incumbency is not much of an advantage. People are disappointed with Congress and they want a change.” Last week we interviewed Andrew Duck to get you the details – here’s the short version.
Duck talks about stuff like it being time for a change, cutting the deficit, intrusive government, and our foreign policy weaknesses, proclaiming “As an Iraq War veteran, I know that we have got to have people in Washington who are more focused on accomplishing the mission than making money for their friends.” He talks about ensuring health care coverage for every American by getting back to preventive care instead of all too often taking it to the emergency room. On education, Duck says that No Child Left Behind must be scrapped because it doesn’t work for our kids and creates undue burdens on teachers: “A one size fits all, standardized test is not an effective measure of education. We know that a child that studies music does better in math, one that studies art will do better in english, etc. And any program that says a school that is labeled as "failing" should have their funding cut is not interested in fixing the problem. We need solutions.”
As a former serviceman, Duck has particular credibility when he talks about the fiasco in Iraq: “I also served on the ground in Iraq, and I saw example after example of interference by politicians in Washington because they were more interested in making money than accomplishing the mission. I could not do my job, so I retired and am focused on fixing the problem.”
Duck also says: "And most importantly, we need to have policies that are focused on accomplishing the mission, not on making money for favored companies. Right now the politicians in Washington are more focused on the money than getting the job done, and it is costing the lives of our soldiers and marines."
Clearly Duck isn’t enamored with Bartlett, saying: “He claims to be a conservative, focused on balancing the budget, and working for a smaller government. But he has voted for the three biggest deficits in the history of the country and voted to increase the size of government 30% over the last 6 years. We now have the largest government in our history, and it is not able to accomplish the most basic missions, as seen in the response to Katrina last year. He does not listen to the people, and has not been addressing the needs of western Maryland. It is time for a change.”
For more on Andrew Duck and other issues, see OnBackground.
First up is Andrew Duck, the former military man who is going up against long-term curmudgeon, conservative Roscoe Bartlett in western Maryland’s 6th congressional district. Now, we know he's got an uphill battle in this final month, since Bartlett has won by wide margins (over 65% in each of the last two general elections) and Pres. Bush won the 6th CD by more than 60% in the 6th in both 2000 and 2004. But Duck says he hears from a lot of folks in western Maryland that they want change, that “…this year, incumbency is not much of an advantage. People are disappointed with Congress and they want a change.” Last week we interviewed Andrew Duck to get you the details – here’s the short version.
Duck talks about stuff like it being time for a change, cutting the deficit, intrusive government, and our foreign policy weaknesses, proclaiming “As an Iraq War veteran, I know that we have got to have people in Washington who are more focused on accomplishing the mission than making money for their friends.” He talks about ensuring health care coverage for every American by getting back to preventive care instead of all too often taking it to the emergency room. On education, Duck says that No Child Left Behind must be scrapped because it doesn’t work for our kids and creates undue burdens on teachers: “A one size fits all, standardized test is not an effective measure of education. We know that a child that studies music does better in math, one that studies art will do better in english, etc. And any program that says a school that is labeled as "failing" should have their funding cut is not interested in fixing the problem. We need solutions.”
As a former serviceman, Duck has particular credibility when he talks about the fiasco in Iraq: “I also served on the ground in Iraq, and I saw example after example of interference by politicians in Washington because they were more interested in making money than accomplishing the mission. I could not do my job, so I retired and am focused on fixing the problem.”
Duck also says: "And most importantly, we need to have policies that are focused on accomplishing the mission, not on making money for favored companies. Right now the politicians in Washington are more focused on the money than getting the job done, and it is costing the lives of our soldiers and marines."
Clearly Duck isn’t enamored with Bartlett, saying: “He claims to be a conservative, focused on balancing the budget, and working for a smaller government. But he has voted for the three biggest deficits in the history of the country and voted to increase the size of government 30% over the last 6 years. We now have the largest government in our history, and it is not able to accomplish the most basic missions, as seen in the response to Katrina last year. He does not listen to the people, and has not been addressing the needs of western Maryland. It is time for a change.”
For more on Andrew Duck and other issues, see OnBackground.
posted by OnBackground at 10:55 AM
1 Comments:
The Duck campaign is in trouble. Although it seems like the first time to take the 6th CD in over a decade, the campaign is dysfunctional. It lost most senior staff, including campaign manager, sometime last week. With four weeks to go, Duck should have had his machine up and running. Now he'll have to focus on getting together a good team instead of on campaigning.
And it turns out that The League's earlier suggestion about the coordinated campaign was wrong. It does not seem to be pulling out the stops for Duck. They are directing volunteers towards the gubernatorial and Senate races. And there's no word on it sending much cash our to Western Maryland.
Bartlett did not win by margins exceeding 65% in the last two general elections. He won 68% to 29% in 2004, which is a margin of 39%. He won with a margin of 32% in 2002 (66% to 34%).
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