DCDL

If you live in Maryland and want to participate in choosing your party’s candidate for the November election, you have until 9pm Tuesday, August 22, to register to vote in the September 12 primary. The Democratic ballot includes lots of important contests (with several challenges to long-serving Democratic incumbents):

• Will Ben Cardin or Kweisi Mfume be the Democrat to face Republican Michael Steele in the contest to replace Paul Sarbanes in the Senate?
• Can Peter Franchot or Janet Owens defeat longtime embarrassment William Donald Schaefer in the race for comptroller, or will their splitting of the anti-Schaefer vote allow him to squeak through and live to ogle again?
• Will Donna Edwards, challenging Rep. Al Wynn, become Maryland’s Ned Lamont (though on the House level) as she hopes?
• Can constitutional lawyer Jamie Raskin, the only state senate candidate in the country who has nationwide popularity resulting from e-mail forwarding, unseat incumbent Ida Ruben?
• There are other important decisions at the state and local levels. Hey, I don’t live in Maryland, so I’m sure I’m missing a lot. Feel free to mention races you’re following in the comments.

You can register by downloading the form from the Maryland State Board of Elections and mailing it in. If you’re not sure whether you’re registered, use this online form to check your status.

Update (August 26): I’ve posted a list of statewide candidates for the Democratic primary.

Tonight at DC Drinking Liberally, we got to see a preview of the first episode of The Hill. First off, it was like any documentary - the production values were a little roughened, the camera cuts a little sharp, etc. But it did what it meant to do - get a sense of the people across. I was fortunate enough to be in the room with at least three of the staffers, looking back and forth between the screen and them. Yes, the people on the show are people on Congressman Wexler’s staff, and he is there as well.

But I’ll be honest - the show is all about the staffers, and even if it wasn’t, they would have stolen the show right from Wexler.

You hear political opinions you might or might not completely agree with, but you see human beings in the process - and you get to see political opinions expressed on television that you just don’t outside of say, the Daily Show. You see people whose goals are sane.

The scenes leading up to and during the 2004 election… are worth seeing the first episode alone, even if it tears your heart out. It did mine, but those moments are FAR from everything wonderful about that half-hour.

I couldn’t stay for the discussion afterwards. I very, very much wish I didn’t have to bolt out at the end of the show, and I wish I had enough time to give you a real idea of just how uplifting this was - not because it was a slick production, but because it shows some of the very real feelings and frustration with living under a GOP government, and still evokes the tremendous fight still left in us.

The Lieberman-Lamont primary has certainly had an effect on Rahm Emanuel, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. On Friday, days before the primary, he was already pretty harsh on Lieberman:

What’s playing out here is that being a rubber stamp for George Bush is politically dangerous to life-threatening.

Then right after Lamont’s win, he got harsher:

This shows what blind loyalty to George Bush and being his love child means. […] This is not about the war. It’s blind loyalty to Bush.

If this keeps up, I may have to reconsider my moratorium on donating to the DCCC.

And Emanuel is one of the DLC folks. If he’s really feeling this way about standing up to Bush now, maybe he can put in a word for cutting off the DLC’s support of Marshall Wittmann, who has no business being a spokesperson for any Democratic organization. Wittmann is an independent who doesn’t even claim to be a Democrat, and he goes much farther than Lieberman ever has in bashing Democrats as weak on security for not falling into line behind Bush.

The Lieberman-Lamont race has driven Wittmann into hiding, or at least taking a vacation from his Bull Moose blog. It would be great if he could come back from vacation to find his walking papers from the DLC.

Update: I forgot to mention that Wittmann adopted the fashionable new insult “nutroots” last month, thus enhancing the already high standards of his prose.

Chris Bowers at MyDD:

[N]o matter what happens later today, Wednesday will be the worst day of press for the progressive netroots in years. If Lamont loses, we will be branded as ineffectual, irrelevant, extremist, and destructive. If Ned Lamont wins, we will be branded as powerful, relevant, extremist, and destructive. Both descriptions are inaccurate and unfair because this goes so far beyond the blogosphere, but if I have to choose I would much rather have the second one be the story. If we are going to get trashed and be forced to take credit for the fantastic work of others, I would at least like to get trashed as powerful and relevant.

Things are going to get ugly (or uglier).

When Lamont’s challenge to Lieberman started, I thought at least that by giving Lieberman a scare we could get him to stop being such a Bush enabler. How wrong I was! Via Americablog I see that even now, on the verge of losing the primary, Lieberman is out there trashing Democrats, spreading the Republicans’ message that anyone opposed to the Iraq war is weak on defense and can’t be trusted:

[Lieberman] said a victory for Lamont will send a message to the country: “In the Democratic Party, there’s no room for strong-on-security Dems.” He said that would be disastrous for the Democrats. “You can’t win in this country,” he said, “unless you assure people” that you aren’t going to compromise on national security. He said he has backed the war on terror because he never forgets about the “radical Islamic terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and want to do it again.”

It’s going to be a nail-biting evening.

With the Abramoff scandal nipping at your heels, it was probably a good idea to throw in the towel on your reelection campaign without waiting until you’re actually indicted (after all, Tom DeLay waited and now he’s being forced to stay on the ballot). But I’m not sure you used the best choice of words in praising your chosen successor, Ohio state senator Joy Padgett:

“She is a person of passion and conviction,” Ney said. “I can think of no better person to represent this district.”

It’s true that the “person of conviction” joke has already been exhausted during this period of rampant Republican corruption, but that’s exactly why using the phrase triggers thoughts of incarceration in people’s minds. I’m sure Padgett appreciates it.

If you’re a DC resident who hasn’t yet registered to vote, and you want to have a say in choosing our next mayor, city council members, and other officials, you need to register by Monday, August 14. Because the city’s population is overwhelmingly Democratic, the Democratic primary is essentially the real election, since whoever wins it almost always wins in November. For that reason, you may want to consider registering as a Democrat even if you’re not eager to be affiliated with the party.

The DC Board of Elections and Ethics site has information about the upcoming election and how to register. If you’ve already registered, you can check your registration status online, to make sure your address is correct and see what ward you live in. If you need to register for the first time or change your address or party, you can start the process online and complete it by mail.

Update (August 26): I’ve posted a list of candidates for the Democratic primary.

DC for Democracy held its endorsement meeting Wednesday, following on the candidate forum it held last month. After an opportunity for candidates and their representatives to mingle with DC4D members, a very democratic and open voting process led to endorsements for these DC candidates in the September 12 Democratic primary:

• City Council, At Large: Phil Mendelson
• City Council, Ward 1: Jim Graham
• City Council, Ward 6: Tommy Wells
• Delegate to US House of Representatives: Eleanor Holmes Norton
• Shadow Senator: Philip Pannell
• Shadow Representative: Mike Panetta

Three other candidates received a majority of the votes, indicating substantial support, but did not reach the two-thirds required for an endorsement:

• Mayor: Adrian Fenty
• City Council Chairman: Kathy Patterson
• City Council, Ward 3: Sam Brooks

If you’re interested in getting involved in “the District’s largest unaligned progressive group of activists, community leaders, and everyday voters working for positive change in our local government and recognition in America’s legislature”, visit the DC for Democracy site and sign up!

Update (August 21): DC for Democracy is having a fundraiser to support its election activities.

The DC Chapter of Drinking Liberally is pleased to announce a special pre-launch showing of the new Sundance Channel series “The Hill” Thursday, August 10, 6:30-9 at Timberlake’s, 1726 Connecticut Ave NW (Dupont Circle Metro). Things get rolling at 6:30 with free appetizers and $1 off on drinks. At 7:30 we’ll screen the premiere episode, “Fighting the Good Fight”, followed by Q&A with the documentary subjects Eric Johnson, Jonathan Katz, Lale Mamaux and Halie Soifer.

Set in the office of Congressman Robert Wexler (Democrat, Florida), “The Hill,” is a Sundance Channel documentary series offering a rare glimpse into the charged world of congressional politics. Set to premiere on Wednesday, August 23, 2006 at 9:00pm e/p., “The Hill” is produced by Roland Park Pictures, Inc. and directed by Ivy Meeropol, a filmmaker (Heir to An Execution) and a former Capitol Hill speechwriter and legislative aide. The six-part series peers into the personal and professional lives of Wexler’s young, smart and driven staff.

“I am not a crook.”

Gave resignation speech on August 8, 1974.

“I am not George Bush.”

Will give concession speech on August 8, 2006?

Go, Ned!

Inspired by a comment from Bemused. The story at that link is interesting too.