Your favorite up-and-comers in our party?

[Taverner]

Me? Gavin. He's going to be the next Governor and possibly President someday.

[ThomWV]

1. Robert Byrd

[Taverner]

2. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[SoFlaJet]

3. who is this guy

Taverner?

[Taverner]

8. Mayor Gavin Newsom of SF

Sure, he had a scandal, but like I said in another thread, a sex scandal in SF is nothing

He might as well have been removing mattress tags.

[FARAFIELD]

4. You are joking right?

He is lame, in fact he is DOA as a up and comer (well he's got the "comer" part down obviously) I like brad ellsworth (especially if lugar goes out next time). Chet Culver and Bill Ritter and in there.

[Taverner]

6. Sure...count him out

Do you think a sex scandal can kill a politician in San Francsico????

[MadBadger]

7. No, but it can count him out in a Presidential run.

[Taverner]

11. Perhaps - perhaps not

Today, yeah. He'd be dead meat.

2024 maybe not....

[MadBadger]

14. I think you are getting a wee bit ahead of yourself.

[FARAFIELD]

10. Its not the sex scandal

He is just not an effective politician is all. In fact Ill say that if Villa-Rigosso and he ran in a primary. The mayor of LA would whip his ass. Id be willing to bet it all on that.

[Taverner]

12. He's an up-and-comer too

I see him getting Governor before Newsom.

[FARAFIELD]

16. fair enough

they will sort of cancel out each others scandal

[Taverner]

20. Thing is I think California has some good talent

[MadBadger]

5. Patrick Murphy

[Penndems]

24. Thanks - Representative Murphy was my choice, too

[flvegan]

9. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr

I've been waiting a while for him to even consider a run, which I've read he's doing.

You want a future president, there he is.

[Taverner]

15. Do you think his voice will hinder his chances?

I realize it's because of his spasmodic dysphonia - but it could hurt.

[flvegan]

19. I think he could have two heads and still be aces.

He's also got a criminal history (drugs, IIRC). Name recognition alone could probably get him a seat. His abilities and his causes will just make whoever runs against him look stupid.

I don't care for his abortion stance. Last I heard, he's pro-life. I'm hoping he pulls a Kucinich and wakes up to that.

[lapfog_1]

13. He has his own sex scandals to worry about.

And it's not that he was cheating on his wife, it's WHO he was cheating with (shades of Ghouliani) that's the issue. But yeah, before that he was a rising star in the Democratic party.

[Taverner]

17. But I just don't see the sex scandals early in his career hurting him as much

[lapfog_1]

21. Cheating with the wife of a good friend and

member of your staff. Dating a 19 year old and, possibly, giving her alcohol at a public event? (he was 39 at the time)

And, as mayors go in SF, he really hasn't been all that effective.

[Taverner]

22. I dunno, he was saddled with a hard task

He had to deal with deep cuts, as did Brown. They didn't start slash and burn like our current Gov is...

I think they both are doing (did) a great job with what they have (had)

[Mojambo]

18. Sherrod Brown. n/t

[2rth2pwr]

23. David Paterson.

[Blue_In_AK]

25. My favorite, without a doubt,

is Diane Benson, one of Alaska's three Democratic candidates for House of Representatives. I supported her in 2006 when she gained 40% of the vote here, despite being outspent about 10 to 1, and I'm supporting her again, even though she has stiffer primary opposition this time. She is a phenomenal candidate, the mother of a paraplegic Iraq vet, and a fighter who won't give up. I can never leave her presence without feeling totally inspired.

An excerpt from her website http://www.bensonforcongress.com/

Five years ago I never would have guessed that I would run for Congress. Sometimes in life there are moments that change you and cause you to stand up in ways that you may never have thought possible. My moment was when my son took flight down a mountainside at Snow Mass Colorado with a photo of his descent floating around cyber space. By itself, it wouldn’t seem so extraordinary, except that he was a double amputee still recovering from wounds he suffered five and half months before in Iraq.

No parent ever wants to receive the call. Your son has been injured. … He is VSI (Very Seriously Injured). It’s his leg… a bomb… He may lose both his legs. …We only send family to Germany if the soldier may not make it. …You need to go to Germany.

My stance against the war, strong from the war’s start five years ago, had hardened, even while my son was serving his four-year commitment. I was vocal about the war’s seriously flawed execution, and how we entered into it. I was quite angry about stop-loss and the extensions of our troops, and mostly about the realities of what our troops and their families were facing. I wore military socks and held pictures of my son while denouncing the powers that be for not properly outfitting our troops. I stood before government hospitals and service groups and advocates for peace and anyone who would listen advocating for PTSD treatment and education, and support for extended family members like parents. As a parent of an only child who was serving as Infantry in a war zone, I was often in a panic. I kept my sanity by talking. It didn’t always work.

One day, I was feeding my sled dogs (I have nine of them), when I hyperventilated and fell to my knees. Another day I got stuck behind a funeral procession for a soldier killed in combat when I was trying to drive to town, and I fell apart. Like so many spouses and parents across the country, I’d suck it up and go on.

Then one night, while attending the opera I was gripped with fear. Hours later I was wakened with the call.

After Germany, I spent three and half months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center before finally having to get back to work and home. My son spent a total of ten months in DC, fortunately, with his wonderful wife by his side. The entire experience was beyond sobering for me. I felt a new strength in me, and a profound compassion for others.

I asked Don Young to visit our wounded at WRAMC, and he said he would and that he would visit my son. He didn’t. I was appalled to discover how little he had done for Veterans in 33 years in Congress.

In April 2006 when the Internet was swiftly bringing the photo of my son soaring on a mono-ski to viewers across the nation, I was watching Don Young on television. His demeanor angered me. Why was he merely rubber-stamping the Bush agenda? Where was his backbone? Why did he not stand up for our troops? Who made him accountable to Alaska? Was anyone going to run against this man or was he once again going to have a free pass to Congress?

What are our politicians afraid of? Do I have to do it myself?? I wondered out-loud. A few days later I filed to run.


<more on her site>