I'll post here gladly. My favorite candidate, whom I've talked about here quite a bit, is Alaska's Democratic candidate for U.S. House, Diane Benson. She is an articulate, thoughtful, honest, progressive Native Alaskan woman, who has been active in the peace movement here since the beginning of the war. Her soldier son was injured by a roadside bomb last year in Iraq (two weeks after he was supposed to have been sent home) and lost both of his legs. While visiting him during his recuperation at Walter Reed, she got to know Max Cleland, who encouraged her to run for Congress against super-porker Don Young. Diane speaks clearly and fearlessly against the war, and her message is the same no matter who she's talking to.
Her chief focus (besides ending the war) is on veterans' issues, renewable resources, fighting poverty and inequality, restoring ethics and civility to Congress, and representing ordinary Alaskans, not big corporate interests, which is where Don Young's focus lies. While she holds progressive ideas right down the line, she has an amazing ability to appeal to conservative voters and bring people together and has picked up quite a bit of Republican support here in Alaska.
The most recent poll shows Don Young with 43%, Diane with 34%, and a huge 15 percent undecided. We think we have a good chance of picking up a good chunk of the undecideds. Don Young has shown incredible contempt towards Alaskans, especially this campaign season, flatly refusing an invitation by Diane to appear in three townhall forums in Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks, and refused to even appear in the same venues as Diane, even canceling some appearances when he learned she would be there. He has called the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska's largest newspaper), which has been favorable to Diane, the "Daily Screw." He agreed to only one "debate" if it could be called that -- a very moderated forum on public TV -- at which the Libertarian candidate in his closing remarks urged everybody to vote for Diane if they wanted their votes to really count for something.
Here is a link to her website for anyone who's interested. She would be a great representative for Alaska and for all of us. If she makes it to DC, I guarantee she will be a leader.
http://www.bensonforcongress.com/