I just got off the phone State Senator Regina Thomas, and I can't tell you how excited I am!

Thomas is running against BushDemocrat John Barrow in Georgia's 12th District in a primary on July 15, just 4 weeks away. Barrow voted with George Bush on every issue we track, including Iraq, Iran, habeas corpus, and wiretapping. His district is 45% black, yet he votes like a southern rightwing Republican.

Yesterday, Barrow voted to give Bush $163B more to occupy Iraq. Today, he voted to give Bush unlimited power to wiretap American citizens. But Georgia Democrats do not have to tolerate his rightwing votes. On July 15, they can replace Barrow with Regina Thomas.

I called Thomas for a statement about today's warrantless wiretapping vote, and I was thrilled to discover she is just as angry as we are. Here's what she said:

I was really appalled at the actions of Congress and especially my Congressman from the 12th District in Georgia, John Barrow, for voting in favor of the Bush-Republican surveillance bill that would make it very easy, without a warrant, to wiretap *any* American citizen.

In my opinion, this bill is smoke and mirrors with hidden agendas to allow the government or any other entity to use terrorism as a reason to put surveillance on anyone's telephone, to tape their conversations without any proof, without any investigation, just for them to say FISA gives me the right for you as a telecom company to spy on people.

This also violates the 4th Amendment right to privacy. And what is this country coming to?

Exactly - what is this country coming to?

Naturally, I was delighted to tell Thomas that she was the first candidate we endorsed for our "Bush Democrats" ActBlue page (http://www.actblue.com/page/bushdemocrats), and in our very first morning we raised over $800. Needless to say, she was most grateful for our support!

In an effort to control my enthusiasm, I asked Thomas about the depressing news that Barack Obama endorsed Barrow and recorded a radio ad, which caused outrage this week on many blogs. Thomas would have none of it. "That's the best thing that happened to me!" she countered. "People are angry about this! Here's a man who has not served his district, and Obama is messing in our local businesss. I'm getting emails from Illinois, Pennsylvania, even Taiwan! A man in his 80's with a small retirement was sending a check to Obama each month, and now he's sending it to me. The response is incredible," she said.

I asked if there were any polls. "We haven't had the money for a poll, but Barrow took a poll and he didn't like the results, because he got Obama to make the ad. He refuses to show up for debates, and is sending surrogates who look like me. But people aren't fooled, they see right through it. Why is he afraid to debate me?" she asked.

I asked if it was true that roughly 70% of the primary voters would be African-American. "That's true," she said. "And voters are very enthusiastic, honking when they drive by, yelling 'we're voting for you! We've got your back! But it's not just African-Americans, it's white voters too," she said.

I'm a white voter, and just from our brief call I can understand why Democrats of all backgrounds would be so excited about Thomas' campaign. If you share my enthusiasm and want to replace a BushDemocrat with an Aggressive Progressive, please contribute to Regina Thomas here:
http://www.actblue.com/page/bushdemocrats

Thank you!