2008 Democratic Challengers

There are some of the "aggressive progressive" Democratic challengers we're watching. More at AfterDowningStreet.org. Special props to those who attended Netroots Nation in July 2008.

Progressive Democratic PACs (Other Progressive and Democratic PACs)
- BA: BlueAmerica
- BD: BushDemocrats (Democrats.com)
- DFA: Democracy For America
- DWT: Down With Tyranny
- ESC: Eschaton/Atrios
- JSt: JStreet
- MyD: MyDD
- NOW: NOW
- Olbd: OpenLeft Better Democrats
- OtB: Orange to Blue (DailyKos.com - criteria)
- PDA: Progressive Democrats of America
- PEN: People's Email Network
- SNA: SNAPPac/Students for a New American Politics

Progressive Endorsements
- ADS: AfterDowningStreet
- DWT: DownWithTyranny

		Challenger	Incumb	Prim ary	Pac	Out of Iraq	Wiretap	Other
S	AK	Mark Begich	Stevens (R)		BA DWT	"gradual withdrawal"	No	5/14 poll: Begich 48, Stevens 43
S	ID	Larry LaRocco	open (R)			within 12-14 months	No
S	KY	Greg Fischer	McConnell (R)	5/20 lost	BA	Responsible Plan
S	KY	Bruce Lunsford					No
S	ME	Tom Allen	Collins (R)		BA DWT ESC SNA		No
S	MN	Al Franken	Coleman (R)		OtB SNA
S	NC	Jim Neal	Dole (R)	5/6 lost	BA	ASAP		vs. Primary opponent Kay Hagan: opposed Mukasey opposes telecom immunity supports S-CHIP opposes tax cuts for the rich
S	NE	Scott Kleeb	Johans (R)		ESC
S	NH	Jeanne Shaheen	Sununu (R)		NOW SNA
S	NM	Tom Udall			DWT ESC		No
S	OK	Andrew Rice	Inhofe (R)		BA DWT OtB	ASAP but orderly	No	pro-choice, pro-gun, civil unions, mandatory health insurance
S	OR	Jeff Merkley	Smith (R)	5/20 won!	BA DWT Olbd	now	No	universal health care, stop global warming, restore the Constitution, voter verifiable paper trail
S	OR	Steve Novick	Smith (R)	5/20 lost
S	TX	Rick Noriega	Cornyn (R)		BA DFA DWT OtB		No
H	AL03	Josh Segall	Rogers (R)					ePluribus Radio
H	AK00	Diane Benson	Young (R)	8/26	DWT NOW
H	AZ01	Howard Shanker	(open)	9/2	BA DWT		No	primary v. Ann Kirkpatrick, endorsed by DCCC
H	AZ03	Bob Lord	Shadegg (R)		DWT OtB
H	CA03	Bill Durston	Lungren (R)		PDA
H	CA04	Charlie Brown	(open)		BA DFA DWT OtB		No
H	CA08	Shirley Golub	Nancy Pelosi (D)	6/3 lost	PEN			Impeach
H	CA16	Cynthia Papermaster	Zoe Lofgren (D)	6/3 lost				Impeach
H	CA24	Mary Pallant	Gallegly (R)	6/3 lost	ADS MyD PDA
H	CA26	Russ Warner	Dreier (R)		BA DWT		No
H	CA42	Ron Shepston	Miller (R)	6/3 lost	BA
H	CA46	Debbie Cook	Rohrabacher (R)		BA DWT	Responsible Plan	No
H	CA48	Steve Young	Campbell (R)		PDA	phased withdrawal
H	CA50	Cheryl Ede	Bilbray (R)	6/3 lost	PDA
H	CA50	Nick Leibham	Bilbray (R)				No
H	CA52	Vickie Butcher	(open)	6/3 lost	PDA	phased withdrawal
H	CA53	Mike Copass	Susan Davis (D)	6/3 lost	PDA	Out-of-Iraq Pledge!		Defend the U.S. Constitution Separation of Corporation and State Repeal NAFTA
H	CO02	Joan Fitz-Gerald	(open)	8/12	PDA NOW
H	CO02	Jared Polis	(open)	8/12
H	CO04	Betsy Markey	Musgrave (R)		NOW		No
H	CT04	Jim Himes	Shays (R)		BA DWT ESC SNA		No
H	FL08	Corbett Kroehler	Keller (R)		PDA
H	FL08	Alan Grayson	Keller (R)		BA DWT		No
H	FL10	Samm Simpson	Young (R)		PDA
H	FL12	Doug Tudor	Putnam (R)		DFA DWT		No	just retired from the Navy as a chief petty officer and his wife is still on active duty (and deployable)
H	FL15	Bob Bowman	Weldon (R)
H	FL18	Annette Taddeo	Ros-Lehtinen (R)		BA DFA DWT	Responsible Plan		FL-18 is the most Democratic leaning (R +4) of the three Miami cuban districts and Annette's campaign is both well-organized and well-funded. Blog 7/23/08
H	FL24	Clint Curtis	Feeney (R)	8/26	PDA		No
H	FL25	Joe Garcia	Diaz-Balart (R)		BA DFA DWT OtB		No
H	GA08	Bob Nowak	Jim Marshall (D)				No
H	GA10	Bobby Saxon	Broun (R)					veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan
H	GA12	Regina Thomas	John Barrow (D)	7/15	BA Olbd	"adamantly opposed to the occupation"	No	Barrow voted with Bush on HR 976 SCHIP; S 1927 FISA; HR 2956 Redeploy troops in 120 days; HR 2206 Iraq funding without withdrawal deadlines; HR 1591 Iraq benchmarks and withdrawal deadlines; HR 6 Repeal tax cuts for oil companies. District is 45% African-American and African-Americans are 70% of the voters in Democratic primaries.
H	GA13	Donzella James	David Scott (D)	7/15	ADS	"would vote No on funding occupation"		"supports impeachment" 2006 primary lost 67%-31%
H	IA03	Ed Fallon	Leonard Boswell (D)	6/3 lost	DFA PDA			As in his seven previous campaigns in the Iowa Legislature, all of which he won, Fallon is running a grassroots campaign that focuses on contacting voters through door-to-door canvassing and phone banking, as well as creative use of YouTube. Recent productions include a mockumentary “Campaigns of the Rich and Powerful” and a rap video on fiscal responsibility and tax reform.
H	IL03	Mark Pera	Dan Lipinski (D)	2/5 lost	BA BD
H	IL08	Randi Scheuer	Melissa Bean (D)	2/5 lost	BD PDA
H	IL10	Dan Seals	Kirk (R)		OtB SNA NOW		No
H	IL11	Debbie Halvorson	(open)		JSt
H	IL14	John Laesch	open (R)	2/5 lost	BA PDA
H	IN06	Barry Welsh	Pence (R)		BA		No
H	IN09	Gretchen Clearwater	Baron Hill (D)	5/6 lost	BA	Out-of-Iraq Pledge!		Civil liberties, equal rights and justice for all; Single payer universal healthcare; jobs @ living wage
H	KY01	Heather Ryan	Whitfield (R)				No
H	LA06	Michael Jackson	Don Cazayoux (D)	9/6		asap	No	Cazayoux was elected in a special election in 2008 and immediately became one of the strongest Bush Democrats.
H	MD04	Donna Edwards	Al Wynn (D)	2/12 won!	BA BD JSt Olbd PDA
H	ME01	Mark Lawrence	open (D)	6/10 lost				pro-impeachment
H	ME01	Chellie Pingree	open (D)		NOW		No
H	MI07	Mark Schauer	Walberg (R)		BA DWT		No
H	MI09	Gary Peters	Knollenberger (R)		BA DWT NOW		No	"I believe in civil rights and equality for all people and to me gay marriage is a basic human rights issue, one I feel very strongly about. When I take a position based on core principles, I'm not going to waiver from it"
H	MN03	Ashwin Madia	open (R)		DWT		No
H	MO02	Byron DeLear	Akin (R)					pro-impeachment
H	NC08	Larry Kissell	Hayes (R)		BA DWT		No
H	NC09	Harry Taylor	Myrick (R)		PDA NOW			known for his courageous—and courteous—confrontation of President Bush in Charlotte in April 2006.
H	NJ01	Mahdi Ibn-Ziyad	Rob Andrews (D)	6/3 lost	PDA
H	NJ05	Camille Abate	Garrett (R)	6/3 lost		now		local Moveon leader, pro-impeachment
H	NJ05	Dennis Shulman	Garrett (R)	6/3 won!	BA DWT JSt	Responsible Plan	No	blind rabbi
H	NJ07	Linda Stender	open (R)		NOW		No
H	NM01	Martin Heinrich	(open)	6/3 won!	BA DWT		No
H	NM02	Bill McCamley	(open)	6/3 lost				primary v. multimillionaire oilman Harry Teague
H	NY08	Adam Sullivan	Jerrold Nadler (D)	~~9/9~~	BD			Impeach
H	NY10	Kevin Powell	Ed Towns (D)	9/9
H	NY13	Steve Harrison	Fossella (R)	9/9	DWT NOW PDA	now
H	NY21	Darius Shahinfar	open (D)	9/9			No
H	NY21	Tracey Brooks	open (D)	9/9	NOW
H	NY25	Dan Maffei	(open)		BA DWT OtB		No
H	NY26	Jon Powers	Jack Davis (D)		BA DWT OtB		No
H	NY29	Eric Massa	Kuhl (R)		DFA DWT PDA Olbd OtB		No
H	OH02	Victoria Wulsin	Schmidt (R)		BA DWT NOW SNA		No
H	OH03	Jane Mitakides	Turner (R)		NOW
H	OH15	Mary Jo Kilroy	(open)		JSt NOW SNA
H	OR01	Mark Welyczko	David Wu (D)	5/20 lost	PEN			Impeach
H	OR03	Joe Walsh	Blumenauer (D)	5/20 lost	PEN			Impeach
H	OR05	Nancy Moran	(open)	5/20 lost	PEN			Impeach
H	PA15	Sam Bennett	Dent (R)		BA DWT NOW Olbd		No
H	TN09	Steve Cohen			BA DWT JSt			primary by Harold Ford Jr. supporter
H	TX10	Larry Joe Doherty	McCaul (R)		BA DWT		No
H	VA04	Andrea Miller	Forbes (R)		DWT		No	progressive social activist pro-impeachment former MoveOn.org Regional Coordinator and Dennis Kucinich Regional Coordinator
H	VA05	Tom Perriello	Goode (R)		ADS BA DWT Olbd SNA		No
H	VA06	Sam Rasoul	Goodlatte (R)
H	VA10	Judy Feder	Wolf (R)		BA DWT NOW		No	Dean of Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute (1999-2007) nationally recognized expert in health care policy
H	VA11	Leslie Byrne	(open)	6/10 lost	BA NOW			She opposed the war in Iraq from the start, will fight to make health care more affordable and more accessible, and has always supported a woman's right to choose. primary v. developer/contractor Gerry Connolly
H	WA03	Cheryl Crist	Brian Baird (D)	8/19				Impeach
H	WA04	George Fearing	Hastings (R)
H	WA06	Paul Richmond	Norm Dicks (D)	8/19				Impeach
H	WA08	Darcy Burner	Reichert (R)		BA DFA DWT ESC Jst NOW Olbd OtB SNA		No
H	WI01	Marge Krupp	Ryan (R)		NOW
H	WY00	Gary Trauner	(open)		OtB		No

I urge all Democrats to take the unequivocal Out-of-Iraq Pledge:

I solemnly pledge to vote against any additional funds for the occupation of Iraq, except what is absolutely required to bring all our troops home. I recognize that I will be under tremendous pressure from Democratic leaders and the Corporate Media to fund various missions like "fighting terrorism" or "training Iraqi forces" or "protecting Iraqi democracy," but I will not waver. We have already spent far too much of our blood and treasure for a war and occupation based on never-ending lies, and I will not sacrifice one more American soldier's life or one more taxpayer's dollar for those lies.

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