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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCould an Unknown Civil Libertarian Unseat Susan Collins?
http://www.thenation.com/article/179382/could-unknown-civil-libertarian-unseat-susan-collinsShenna Bellows (AP Photo/Clarke Canfield)
The woman who could be the future of progressive politics in America is sitting at the back table of an Indian restaurant in Portland, Maine. Its early evening, shes got a list of names, and shes wearing out her cellphone. US Senate candidate Shenna Bellows doesnt do downtime. While she waits for a meeting, the upstart Democrat makes the calls she says will upset an entrenched Republican incumbent. These arent the kinds of calls most candidates make: to big donors in distant cities with agendas even more distant from the concerns of the people she hopes to represent. Bellows is calling the people: nurses and teachers, lobster-boat captains and farmers, students and union activists. And shes asking them to counter not just big money but a broken politics that values party labels and personalities more than ideals and movements.
Bellows knows she cant match the millions her opponent, three-term Senator Susan Collins, has bankedor the millions that wealthy donors are ready to spend in Maine and other states to make Mitch McConnell the Senates next majority leader. The Democrat is satisfied if the Mainers she calls give $5. Thats because Bellows isnt really dialing for dollars. Shes dialing for activists. We had over 200 volunteers gathering signatures in Maine to put me on the ballot. They were talking to friends and family members about who I am and what our campaign represents, she explains. We then invited the signature-gatherers to speak on my behalf at Democratic caucuses. So we had 100 volunteers speak at 150 different caucuses across the state. This is the movement that we are building: a movement for social justice, environmental justice and economic justice. And its working.
Bellows began her run against Collinswho despite her moderate label has drifted with her party to the right on economic and social issuesas an off-the-radar challenger. The 39-year-old former head of the Maine ACLU had no money, little name recognition, and a set of principles and positions that sometimes put her at odds with top Democrats. Bellows runs left on healthcare (shes for single-payer) and climate change (dont get her started on the Keystone pipeline), yet she makes common cause with libertarians on marijuana legalization and privacy rights. She speaks comfortably of building coalitions with independent-minded Tea Party activists against cronyism and corruption. Bellows believes in pushing political boundaries, and in Mainewith its history of electing independent governors and senatorsit seems to be working. The challenger turned heads when, with those $5 donations from working-class Mainers, she outraised Collins in the last quarter of 2013. Even skeptics have begun to note the ease with which this first-time candidatethe daughter of a carpenter and a nurse, whose home had no electricity during much of her childhoodmakes connections with disenfranchised and disengaged voters. Bellows has gained endorsements from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (which calls her the Elizabeth Warren of civil liberties), Democracy for America, MoveOn and, belatedly, at the end of March, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
pipoman
(16,038 posts)All the cries for this entrenched DNC candidate or that is a cry for more of the same. Hate the Teabaggers? Ok. What are the teabaggers? Disenfranchised voters. What is the occupy movement? Disenfranchised voters. Maybe we would do well to explore our similarities. The nightmare of those who own both parties is the power of the people. ..it is way in their best interest to maintain status quo and build rifts between groups of disenfranchised voters.
Bravo and Godspeed Shenna. .
think
(11,641 posts)progressoid
(49,999 posts)Is she a Libertarian or a Democrat?
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I admit it confused me a bit. If I was a betting man with money (which I'm not) I'd say Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky or Michelle Nunn in Georgia have a better chance at winning.
IronLionZion
(45,528 posts)There are all types of Democrats in our big tent. And Mainers do have an independent streak and tend to march to their own tune.
ret5hd
(20,518 posts)I don't believe she is being called a "Libertarian", but rather has "civil libertarian" ideas/ideals.
MineralMan
(146,329 posts)I wish her success in her campaign. I'm not in Maine, so I can't vote for her, though. If you're in Maine, you can join in her effort.
brooklynite
(94,727 posts)I'm not being defeatist, I'm being realistic. I crunch a lot of numbers because I get approached by all of these candidates for support, and I can't afford to give to everyone, so I triage based on ability to use a contribution effectively, and the relative likelihood of victory vs other races I'm asked to support.
"Dialing for activists" sounds good, but you still need cash to hire staff and do advertising, and I'm not seeing an adequate flow of cash either from fatcats or activists. Bellows raised $433,000 in the 1st Qtr, which is half the amount that Collins raised.
Bottom line is that, while Maine is certainly blue on a Presidential level, I haven't seen any indication that it's progressive blue in its choice of candidates. If you can help Bellows out with manpower, great, but for financial contributions, there are other, more deserving races to support.
ret5hd
(20,518 posts)mountain grammy
(26,648 posts)but I'll take $20 from my super pac fund and send it to Shenna Bellows.