Today I attended a lunch fund raiser for Glenn Nye, with keynote speaker Congressman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. Do I need to wax on about Glenn Nye some more? Or do you all know that I've pretty much made it my goal to do anything I can to help him unseat Thelma Drake in Virginia's 2nd Congressional District? Got it? OK.
This was, however, the first time I've seen the Florida Congresswoman in person. I've idolized her from afar up until now. Hell, she's a mother of 9 year old twins and a 5 year old and still manages to make politics look easy. How does she do that?
When Glenn Nye introduced Wasserman-Schultz, he talked about how much he identifies with her. Like Glenn, the congresswoman got involved in politics at a young age. She was 26 when elected to the house in Florida and 34 when elected to the Florida Senate. She was 38 when elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she serves on both the Appropriations and Judiciary Committees.
Debbie (Can I call you, Debbie, congresswoman?) also chairs the Red to Blue program, which targets Republican seats throughout the country where the DNC believes they can win. Surprise, surprise! They're going after Drake's seat this year and giving Glenn support along the way.
I look at her and I wonder what I've been doing with my life! I think Glenn said it best when he said, "I want to be Debbie Wasserman-Schultz!" I swear he didn't say it in a kooky, gender-bending way, but in a very endearing, "I'm not afraid to hero worship a woman" kind of way. Just one more reason to adore Glenn Nye - he said exactly what I was thinking.
Nye then read us an email he'd received from a voter. The voter shared the story of how she had fought to regain good credit after a divorce and, while raising two children, bought her first house. Then, as interest rates began to rise and it started to cost her $900 to fill her oil heating tank, she lost her home. After Congress acted to relieve home owners from some of the interest rate mortgage burdens, she wrote to Congresswoman Drake to ask what Congress planned to do to help those who had already lost their homes.
Drake, callously responded in a letter that she had not supported the legislation and did not believe that they should be helping people who had purchased homes they couldn't afford in the first place. Um....way to go, Thelma. Why not just come right out and call her a lazy, irresponsible freeloader?
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz then spoke briefly about Thelma Drake, noting that they had both been elected to Congress at the same time but that they couldn't be ideologically any further apart. She mentioned Thelma's vote against S-CHIP and, let's just say that Wasserman-Schultz isn't going to be joining any Thelma fan clubs any time soon.
Wasserman-Schultz has a long history as an advocate for families and children and spoke candidly today about the importance of raising the next generation of voters, as well as the next generation of politicians, with heart, empathy, and ideals. Glenn Nye and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz are both perfect examples of this new generation of politicians tasked with straightening this huge mess of a nation we've created.
The moment she uttered the words "Raising the next generation," I knew I'd have to give her my last MOMocrats button. When I gave it to her and explained what MOMocrats is and that one of our taglines is "Raising the Next Generation of Blue," she immediately put the button on and promised to check out our site.
Stephanie Himel-Nelson, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and Glenn Nye. (Note the Congresswoman's MOMocrats button!)
Please ignore what someone called the "Palin-like glare" on my glasses. (Shudder.) You can be assured that I'll be taking them off for all future photos. Until the end of time.
***If you'd like to donate to Glenn's campaign (hint, hint), please do. It's a close race right now and I've heard that McCandidate and his lipstick toting sidekick will be making an appearance with Thelma Drake in Virginia Beach on Monday.
Stephanie Himel-Nelson also likes to pretend that she blogs at Lawyer Mama, even though she hasn't posted there since before the DNC. But someday (after November 4th) she will visit her personal blog again! In the meantime, she writes for MOMocrats and serves as Deputy Director for Outreach for Blue Star Families for Obama and does everything she can to help elect progressive Democrats to office.
Probably the most disappointing aspect of the wave election two years ago was how many women came up just short. There are again many great women running (including Judy Feder here in Virginia; Taddeo; Vic Wulsin in Ohio, etc.), but so far the polling is scant. I am beginning to think we're looking at another 30 to 50 seat pickup in the House (seriously), so hopefully a good number of these great ladies get the help and support they need to make it over the line this time.
Sure, Taddeo's race is a tough one. But that doesn't mean Wasserman-Schultz should go on about how great Ros-Lehtinen is and impliedly support her. If you're going to run Red to Blue, you should be campaigning for all of the candidates. Their little cease-fire among South Floridians is cute, but it doesn't get the job done in a game that is about votes. And it would be a little more genuine if she wasn't campaigning against two other South Florida Republicans.
Nothing against anyone who likes her, I just don't. Sometimes you have to put country (and therefore party) over friendships.
true story.
I'm not a very big DWS fan, for some of the reasons you discuss. But at the end of the day, it's up to Taddeo and other south Florida Dems to work and earn a victory. It shouldn't have been this difficult for her to get institutional support, but she now appears to have it.
There is an embarrassment of riches this year in terms of Congressional targets. In Florida, Taddeo's race is arguably the 5th or 6th best target. It's just not that realistic in my mind to expect the establishment to take risks on pickup opp 5 or 6 at this point, but they'll support her if she wins. It's the way the game works.