for her anti-war speech. This is a most interesting article. Apparently Maria Cantwell, who still totally stands by her vote for the war...is having trouble getting volunteers. It is implied here that she did not show up for her fundraiser because of the anti-war protestors, but the reporter admits that is speculation.
Curt Doughty
DARCY BURNER Appealing to Seattle liberals.http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=37069These paragraphs just about say it all.
Certainly a first-time congressional challenger like Burner has different volunteer needs than a well-funded incumbent senator like Cantwell. But here's another piece of the volunteer equation that should give Cantwell pause: About 100 of Burner's volunteers are from the Seattle area. While Cantwell is being pressed to show that she has a strong volunteer corps, political newbie Burner, who benefits from not having a long record of statements on Iraq, is sucking volunteers across Lake Washington, into the district she wants to represent and right out of a region that should be a pro-Cantwell stronghold.
This phenomenon was highlighted last weekend at a strange Cantwell event held in North Seattle. Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold showed up to hype Cantwell's reelection bid, and Cantwell's usual antiwar hecklers also showed up outside the venue. But Cantwell herself didn't show, perhaps to avoid another confrontation with angry activists. Burner, however, was there. She drew loud cheers by giving the crowd the Iraq war criticism it was looking for—and made a subtle play for volunteers.
Now back to the beginning of the article, which shows an increasing tendency on the anti-war folks not to volunteer for those who still stand for the war as being the right thing. It is happening in our area, people won't donate or work for someone who won't stand up for them. They make it clear their vote will be there in the general election, but that is about all.
How did we get so far down this road where our Democrats just automatically go along?
Dwight Pelz, the chair of the Washington State Democrats, last month complained to Howard Dean that the party's wishy-washy stance on the Iraq war was "not helping" volunteer recruitment, and earlier this month Pelz singled out U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell's reelection effort as suffering from volunteer disillusionment because of the junior senator's vote for the Iraq invasion in 2002 (a vote she has since refused to disavow).
"There are a lot of activists who are not signing up to work on her campaign," Pelz told the Seattle Times on May 5. "That's very clear."
Great article by The Stranger. (Edited for link)