Let me tell you something about my Senator Tom Carper (Delaware)

[LynneSin]

By no means am I a fan of Tom Carper and I suspect not many DUers share a passion for him either. I think he was one of the folks that helped compromise away part of health care reform. He's big in the DLC and I'm sure the banking will be brought up - but hell that's part of my state.

I don't hate the guy, hell living in Delaware I'm not shocked to run into him 2-3 times a month - same with my other senator Ted Kaufman. I live in a small state - one of the perks of a small state is you tend to see your senators much more often. Even Joe Biden kept high visibility in Delaware. But honestly, I am not keen on Carper as my senator - he's 10000% better than when I was in PA with Rick Santorum, but Tom is no Joe Biden.

To be honest, if someone came to me here at DU and said "Hey Lynne, I know this great person who is going to run against Tom Carper in the primaries" well I might ask more questions. I may even check out the website,donate some dollars or even help campaign locally here in Delaware. I would love a more liberal senator. But honestly, with Joe Biden's old seat up for grabs and a serious republican contender with Mike Castle - Delaware Dems will probably be more focused keeping that seat and let Carper serve another term without a primary challenge. But I would love to see Tom replaced - I would definitely love a primary candidate.

HOWEVER.....

If Tom Carper is the general election candidate AND someone 2 days before the election posted in DU about how I should vote 3rd party or worst yet NOT VOTE - I would be pissed as extreme hell. VERY PISSED!! Extremely pissed as to the point that I would be hitting that alert button every 5 minutes until action would happen. I appreciate that DUers would love to have more liberal democrats in the senate but NO FRICKING WAY do I want a DUer suggesting it would be ok if I was stuck with a republican senator for 6 years - SIX YEARS. I mean sure, Republican Mike Castle is pretty moderate, but we have our share of fundie nut jobs that would love to have a chance to run for a senate seat without a big name like CARPER/CASTLE/BIDEN as the opposition. I had 8 years of Rick Santorum thank you very much - no FRICKING way do I want a Santorum clone as my senator.

SO, the moral of my story is this - MASSACHUSETTS HAD A PRIMARY FOR THIS SEAT ALREADY. Now is not the time for the rest of the country and even those in Massachusetts to play armchair QB. Democratic Underground has always been and I believe always will be, a place to support Democratic Candidates in the election. If you feel such anger that you cannot find it in your heart to support Coakley in this election for Massachusetts to replace Ted Kennedy then please have a bit of decency for the rest of us who came to DU because we 'in general' support Democratic candidates. Primaries are our time to get the right candidate in there (and this includes presidential elections too!).

Thank you for my rant!


PS - I always say this when I talk about voting democrat. In the past there have been independents that have been supported by the democratic party, such as Bernie Sanders. DSCC/DNC didn't even bother to run a dem against him because even they are smart enough to know that no one beats Bernie in Vermont!

[taterguy]

1. Delaware has a Senator?

Who knew?

:shrug: