Judy Baker applies for DFA endorsement

Over the last ten years, the Missouri 9th Congressional district has been represented by one of the strongest supporters of the Bush administration policies of economics and war. This election year, Kenny Hulshof will not be running for Congress and instead decided to enter Missouri 's gubernatorial race. This leaves the 9th open for anyone who has at least attended a social studies class in junior high. Now over the years, the Democrats put up candidates against Hulshof, but it usually ended up that our candidate getting close to the Democrat base vote in each of those elections. This was due, for the most part, to the lack of fund raising and support these candidates received.

However this election cycle was different. With Hulshof still in the race, Judy Baker decided to challenge him. In a matter of a few weeks, she raised over $100,000 before the New Year. She was a serious challenger and was going to take the fight to him. We all knew what happened next. Kenny decided to run for governor and 3 primary challengers joined Baker in vying the Democratic party's nomination.

So why should DFA endorse Judy for Congress, there are 7 main reasons

1. Judy has amassed at least 250,000 dollars in this race.
2. She is a unabashed progressive and served in the state legislature
   
3. She is running for an open seat.
4. She has received the endorsement of Emily's list, a rather large and influential PAC.
5. Being married to a pastor, she will have appeal to those independent rural swing voters.
6. She is one of ActBlue's top ten fundraisers
7. This one is the most important, she entered the race when the fight was on. Her challengers entered the race when it was easier.
   

To me, the 50 state strategy of leaving no republican unchallenged is the credo of Howard Dean and DFA as well. There is no other candidate that illustrates this more clearly than Judy Baker

Emily's List spurned by McCaskill?

In an AP article that was in the Columbia Tribune it stated that Senator Claire McCaskill as well as Senator Klobuchar from Minnesota had spurned Emily's List, an organization that supports pro-choice woman candidates. I have a problem with this type of reporting. There was no official statement from Emily's list that I could find criticizing these 2 woman for their support of Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton has been Emily List candidate for quite a while now and no one could foresee the way the primary has been shaking out. It looks like the AP wants this to be an issue where no issue had exist. This is nothing more than trying to create news so one can report it. It looks like every single action from a candidate lately is being reported on and editorialized.

The above mentioned senators are a triumph for Emily's list and they should be proud that these pro-choice woman sit in positions of great power. I hope they will not fall into the trap that the news starved media has set out for them