Been busy lately, and yesterday was one of the reasons I was busy. As many of you know, I am working for the WV Can’t Wait campaign helping to elect a full slate of candidates to a variety of statewide positions, including Stephen Smith for governor. He’s a really good guy, and he is doing things the way they need to be done- building an apparatus from the ground up, because the Democratic party is broken and a wholly owned subsidiary of Manchin, Inc., and you see where that has gotten us.
There are a lot of things I could say about Smith, but a couple things stand out- first, his campaign staff is unionized, and he did it because A.) it is the right thing to do but B.) so that other campaigns would follow suit and be able to use the contract they negotiated as a template. Additionally, he has people volunteering in every county in the state, all campaign money is spent on in state contracts, and he doesn’t waste money on out of state analysts and has sworn to take no corporate money. There is a bunch more, but you can read about him here at the WV Can’t Wait website.
Yesterday he came to Brooke County, and I arranged for him to spend the afternoon at Chamber’s General Store, where he spent a couple hours chatting with unofficial mayor Harry Chambers, as well as our actual Mayor, town recorder, and a bunch of residents. They talked about issues and things concerning people around here, and it was time well spent:
Afterward, we had an open event at Barn With Inn from 6-8, and Stephen talked to a group of assembled people from the county:
Again, he is only taking money from individual donors, so if you would like to set up a small monthly donation, the link is here. I’m tired of WV being a joke to people from not here- we can be a good blue state, we just need some help.
A Ghost To Most
Did you get your package? USPS says it was delivered.
Another Scott
Donated yesterday.
Keep us updated, please.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
JoeyGibsonsFlagWrappedCross
You and Smith are fighting for what’s right and the West Virginia Democratic Party going to be ready if Trump 1. drives us into recession w/his go-it-alone, piss-on-our-allies approach to trade policy, 2. can’t hide his tax returns and the country gets to see that the Trump Organization is totally dependent on Russian investment or 3. people just get tired of Republican incompetence.
Mary G
Donated yesterday $5/mo. Get ’em, WV!
Elizabelle
Yea you. I wish candidate Smith the best.
Kay
It’s so good that you’re doing this. It’s hard to run in these states. The candidates give up their whole personal lives and a TON of time and so often they face really long odds. They need local supporters. Plus, state level politics is more fun than national. There’s still a lot of eccentric people involved at the state level- they’re not as polished and practiced.
It’s interesting that you guys are looking at it as beating the Manchin-establishment. Outsiders would probably think “just elect a D” but this is a more ambitious goal.
Mary G
Sasha Obama starts at the University of Michigan next week. Sniff.
khead
Ed Evans. WV-26. He’s one of the good guys. I would like to see him run for WV-3 someday if the district is not whacked after the next census.
Elizabelle
@Mary G: Sasha! Wow. Time flies.
Omnes Omnibus
It’s funny. When people offer their considered opinions on willow placement and blog design improvements, Cole gets all “Fuck you! I hate you all,” but now when he wants money for political candidates, he is perfectly polite. It’s a puzzlement.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: Would it make you feel at home if Cole included a “Fuck you! I hate you all”?
Mary G
I am a firm believer in the 50-state strategy and it’s not just West-By-God-Virginia that’s tilting. This thread has a series of clips from a town hall in Arkansas where the incumbent wasn’t received too well:
Aleta
Thanks John. It’s cool how working for one state can also help elsewhere in one way or another. And thanks for this powerful political blog you started.
Zelma
I suppose the Smith campaign might wonder about contributions from little old ladies in New Jersey, but when I lived in Pittsburgh, I always rooted for WVU (hated Pitt). And he sounds like the kind of candidate the Democrats need. Lord knows West Virginia needs decent political leaders.
Sister Golden Bear
Glad you’re fighting the good fight, John. Best of luck to your candidates!
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It’s probably too late at this point. The moment has passed.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Mary G:
Why didn’t he just blame video games while he was at it? It would’ve been just as out of touch. I don’t get people like Womack. Single parents have it rough and it’s real shitty to blame gun violence on them. Demonizing single parents is such an outdated concept to me. I assume he was using “single parents” as a dog whistle and it backfired on him, either because his audience saw through the racism and/or took his words at face value and still disagreed
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Omnes Omnibus:
Never give up, never surrender!
It’s never too late Omnes! I’m sure if you e-mailed Cole and asked you could get a hearty ” Fuck you!” ; )
Mary G
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: There are a series of excuses he trots out through the thread:
Mary G
Not as good as the soc1alist Corgis, but dogs on treadmills will never not be funny:
Yarrow
This is excellent, John. Thanks for highlighting it and so glad you’re all making it happen. I love WV. Such a beautiful state.
There was a commenter in a thread yesterday or maybe this morning who was wondering how to get the Alabama Democratic party back up and running outside of just being the Doug Jones volunteers. Hope that person sees this post. This is how you do it.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Mary G:
That whole thread was amazing. Just the collective groan as soon as he tried God bothering was awesome. It was literally everything but the guns for him. Loved it when some supporter in the first clip tried to go “If you hate America why don’t you leave” or something to that effect and everyone else just drowned him out in response.
Events like these are such a great contrast to TV where clowns like Womack spew their shit usually unchallenged
ruemara
That’s amazing, JC! If I can get some level of employment going, I’ll try to chip in. I have to figure out how I’m going to help the elections this year and next, too.
If I can get some of you to help out a bit, I did some recordings of the 1619 project’s essays because I can’t find an audiobook version and I just need willing
victimsgenerous testers to see if they can 1. access the files in this google drive & 2. play the media through the browser, so please head here to this folder and send me an email at ruemara @ gmail.com to say yea or nay. I’ll trade you 1 falcon getting a little sprinkler picture and 1 thinking kitty picture for your time.BeautifulPlumage
Totally OT but OMG this twitter & replies https://mobile.twitter.com/nicksonr_/status/1102326058597142528
Omnes Omnibus
@ruemara: Not emailing, but, after listening to the first one. It’s quite good. Two comments: 1. Please check the pronunciation of the Native Americans, esp Potawatomi – your pronunciation was not wrong, but it is not the most common one heard in the Upper Midwest. the English (Canada) one on this site is the one that is most common here. 2. You have a fantastic speaking voice. So I say yea.
Jay
Jay
Sab
@ruemara: I couldn’t access them through your link. I am using a Nook (samsung galaxy e) with Chrome.
tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat)
@ruemara: I was able to access the file. I’m on a Mac Pro and use Safari. I had to download Google player, but it worked fine.
You have a beautiful voice for this type of work. It’s very easy to listen to you. This is a powerful project. I hope you continue because you have gotten me hooked on hearing the rest.
wvblueguy
Your report on Steven Smith is spot on John. I met him when he first came to Mercer County and held two separate meetings in the county. He has since been back for a really nice “potluck dinner” in Princeton our County Seat. The first question he asked all that gathered at the meeting I went to was “what questions do you have?” He talked about why he was running and gave an excellent rundown on his background. Interesting at this point that none of the usual suspects in the Democratic Party have stepped up to run. This is likely because they feel there is no use running because folks now gravitate to an “R” rather than a “D” with no thought as to who the candidate really is. The “R” vs “D” mentality is why we ended up with the bigot Eric Porterfield in the House of Delegates here in Mercer County. The other major issue for potential candidates is that many think Joe Manchin is going to step into the lurch and run for Governor again. Understand that Manchin is still the main man in the remnants of the Democratic Party in West Virginia and was responsible for bringing Jim Justice on board as the Democratic candidate in the last election. Justice is the Billionaire “Coal Baron” who also runs the Greenbriar Resort (He is notorious for not paying his financial obligations). Justice proved how good a Democrat he is by switching to “R” during one of the many visits by Trump to our state.
If Steven Smith survives the Primary next May he will at least have excellent name recognition in all 52 counties in the state and he will be a viable competitor with whichever of the 3 Republicans currently running he opposes. He has done a great job raising money at the grassroots level and is very easy to talk to and is a vigorous campaigner. I highly recommend supporting Steven in his effort with a contribution to “Act Blue.” West Virginia is developing a strong and very active progressive base. I’d love to see Steven in action in a knockdown drag-out race next November. My advice to Manchin is to stay in the Senate we don’t want to take a chance on a registered Republican owning another seat in the Senate if Joe were to lose.