Meet the man who will send Robin Hayes packing!

[jmowreader]

Anyone who is maintaining a list of "Repuke congressmen who need to spend more time in their districts come January" needs to add Robin Hayes (NC-8th Congressional District) to that list.

Meet Larry Kissell...the man who will replace him.



This isn't some kind of a photo op--it's Larry Kissell at work.

In NC 8 we're running someone who's facing the full brunt of Bush's policies...and who's got a complete list of the screwing Robin Hayes has put on his district. Hayes is the guy who flip-flopped on voting for CAFTA--which will probably destroy whatever textile industry we have left in this district.

Kissell fully intends to make Robin Hayes run on his record.

What will be entertaining is watching Shrub Bush rush to this gerrymandered district (NC 8 is nearly 200 miles long) over and over to try to bail Hayes out.

[leftchick]

1. What does your district in NC use for voting?

mine uses Diebold snatch-ur-votes!

[jmowreader]

4. In Fayettenam they've got brand-new ES&S optiscan

The system can be set to print receipts, so at least that's a start.

I went over to the polls (my polling place is two blocks from my house) right about when they closed and asked: they run one master printout of all the votes that were counted on that scanner and throw it in the box with the ballots. They were going to hand-count a certain number of precincts today, comparing them against the printout, just to make sure the system was doing what it was supposed to.

As of now the thing seems to be on the up-and-up; Kissell was running against Mark Ortiz. Now, this guy could have been fun....according to http://www.markortizforcongress.org/modules.php?name=AvantGo&file=print&sid=8

Military service: Draft evader (running to represent the district that contains Fort Bragg)
Union history: Union activity got him fired from four jobs--one for union organizing, one for refusing to cross a picket line and two for whistleblowing on health and safety violations (this in a seriously anti-union area)
Hobbies: 8000 mile per year cyclist
Religion: "Shameless and unapologetic atheist in the Bible Belt."
Current occupation: Self-employed race car chassis consultant
Political philosophy: "Deconcentrationist: I stand for eternal vigilance in defense of liberty against concentration of power, concentration of wealth, and concentration camps."
Family: One greyhound. Single and childless by choice

However, I gotta feeling a pro-union, childless, draft-dodging atheist was just a bit too much for the Democratic electorate in this district. It was for me...look, I like Mr. Ortiz' spirit, I really do, but the whole point of this primary was to find someone who can beat Robin Hayes. Fun won't do it.

[wildeyed]

2. Go Kissell!

I looked up the part of the 8th that is in Mecklenburg a few days ago. It hooks down through east Charlotte, a very reliably democratic part of town. I already have at least three voter turnout events planned for that part of town. It would be sweeeet to send Hayes packing.

[cami715]

3. Let's hope Hayes will be defeated,

but Kissell will have to really have a great deal of financial backing because Hayes is backed by all the Cannon money. That is all he has (the money), but it has bought him the position so far.

Hayes has no clue about the needs of the people in his district. In the city of Kannapolis where his grandfather founded Cannon Mills, 4500 textile workers lost their jobs and Hayes had the unmitigated gall to vote for CAFTA after he repeatedly vowed he would not. I was the librarian at a school two blocks from the mill and I saw what the loss of jobs did to families and especially the children. It was tragic. Nearly 70% of the children at our school were on free lunch.

Hayes is nothing more than a puppet for the Bush administration. He must be defeated!

[jmowreader]

5. There are three things going for Kissell...

that can defeat Hayes, Cannon money or no Cannon money.

First is that pesky CAFTA flip-flop of Hayes'. This district contains Kannapolis. Kannapolis contains Dale Earnhardt's house and a very large textile plant called Pillowtex that has a padlock hanging from the gate. Earnhardt's dead and so, I feel confident, is Hayes' congressional career. People down here have long memories. They will not forget the fact that Robin Hayes repeatedly promised not to export their jobs to Central America then went and did it anyway.

Second is Kissell's current job. He's a teacher, and the voters respect teachers.

Third, and perhaps most important, is Kissell's last job--27 years in a textile plant. He's one of them.

Kissell discussed the disparity in finances in the paper today. Said Mr. Kissell, Robin Hayes has to defend his record. This is going to make things very difficult for Hayes since he can't run a typical Modern Republican negative campaign. If he tries to smear a schoolteacher, two things will happen: he'll look bad because Schoolteachers Are Nice People, and Hayes is eminently smearable on the CAFTA issue.

Guys, does anyone happen to own an iron foundry I can borrow for a few days? All I wanna do is make Larry Kissell about three dozen waffle irons that make waffles in the shape of an 8 that have "CAFTA" imprinted on them. We'll use them as a fundraiser.

[SaveAmerica]

7. How important do you think this tidbit about Hayes is:

Just read this a few days ago in the Charlotte Observer:
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/14470145.htm

And then a Tar Heel face: Davie County native Jonathan Felts. He used to be the spokesman for Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C., of Concord.

And now? He's at the White House. "I'm associate director of political affairs," he said.

Translation: His new boss is Bush political guru Karl Rove.


I don't know how important this will be to everyone else in the 8th (surely not as important as actually lying about CAFTA) but I didn't know this and I wonder how much it had to do with his last minute 'change of heart'. I always imagined that Delay was the arm twister but I didn't know his connections are even closer to the crime family than that.

[jmowreader]

8. It's interesting but not that important

The reason it's not important is that it's fairly self-evident that all these people are tied together.

The linkage is Americans for Tax Reform. Norquist's group. Every so often I'll decide to screw around doing a network of the connections in the GOP. Usually I get too depressed to go on after three or four hours, hit save and kill half a bottle of rum. (Which, of course, has made my rum bill go up drastically.) Everything ties back to Grover Norquist. Either directly to Norquist, to ATR, or to one of Norquist's front organizations. But always, eventually, to Grover Norquist.

Put this in your "linkages" folder...

[SaveAmerica]

6. Who are you? I think I'm in like with you...