DCCC vs. The Voters

[FightinNewDem]

I am now officially fed up.

Many of you know that I am a candidate for US Congress in New Hampshire's 1st congressional district (Jeb Bradley's seat). I have been out in the communities, listening to people, talking about the issues, and trying to set out a message grounded in hope, opportunity, and a spirit of reform. I have been talking about the need to invest in education and job skills training, about the need to spur research and development that creates jobs, about the need for a health care system that covers every American family, about the need for a foreign policy that not only keeps us secure but which reflects the basic decency of the American people.

Sounds good, right?

Not according to our friends at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The DCCC has spent the last several months trying to coax a "more established" candidate into the race, namely Manchester Mayor Bob Baines.

Well, the DCCC plan went up in smoke when Baines, once a prohibitive favorite, lost his seat in yesterday's mnicipal election.

Now the DCCC and the local party hacks are frantic as they try to figure out what to do next.

Instead of working with the four-yes, four-genuine, dedicated Democrats already seeking the 1st District seat, they are bumbling around trying to find a new insider to annoint.

In other words, they are deathly afraid that the people of eastern New Hampshire will have some say in who represents them in Congress.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is unadulterated crap.

This isn't the age of Boss Tweed. Rank and file Democrats deserve the opportunity to hear from candidates, to ask them tough questions, to engage in a conversation about where we are going as a party. They don't deserve to have party-blessed insiders crammed down their throats.

I'll admit, I am venting, but this foolishness has to come to an end.

I am in this race to stay. If the DCCC wants to meddle, so be it, but I intend to win, and I intend to be true to my principles. Will it annoy the usual suspects? Probably. But I am going to try and show that the rest of us still have a voice that can, must and will be heard.