http://www.dsausa.org
 DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA
 August 9, 2006
 
News From DSA
A Report from DSA's National Office

Contents

  1. WHO IS THE SPOILER NOW?
  2. UPDATE ON NEW YORK ELECTIONS
  3. LONG DISTANCE RUNNERS

News From DSA

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WHO IS THE SPOILER NOW? 

Responding to Ned Lamont's primary victory, Joe Lieberman filed petitions today to run as an independent candidate for the Senate in the November general election. When Lieberman first floated the idea of running as a maverick should he lose the primary, he argued that the results of a low turn out, August Democratic Party primary election would be unrepresentative of the Democratic Party voters' will. Yesterday's election saw instead a record turnout, far in excess of the norm. Turnout is reported by the Connecticut secretary of state to be 47.81 percent,  and the election galvanized thousands of new registrants and motivated 11,000-plus independents to re-register as Democrats. Some Republicans are now arguing for not-so-secret support of Lieberman instead of their own stumbling candidate.
 
Polls released today show more than 60 percent of Americans opposing the Iraq policy that Bush and Lieberman defend. Lieberman's false confidence that he represents Connecticut's voters should suffer another blow this November, provided progressives work as hard between now and November as they did for the primary election.
 
DSA (through its political action committee, DSAPAC) supported Lamont. We continue to urge our members and friends to do all they can on his behalf between now and November.
 
UPDATE ON NEW YORK ELECTIONS 
 
Jonathan Tasini, the DSAPAC-supported candidate in the September 12th Democratic primary election for the US Senate against Hillary Clinton, submitted more than 40,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot. Earlier this week the state's Board of Elections confirmed his place on the ballot. Congratulations to the many DSAers who signed or carried petitions. The campaign has already exceeded expectations by qualifying for the ballot. It is important now to actively work to build the campaign and work to make sure progressive voters know they have an alternative. That includes insisting Tasini be invited at all TV and radio interviews featuring candidate Hillary Clinton between now and the primary. Already one television station (NY1, whose parent Time-Warner is known to  be a  major bundler of Clinton financial contributions) has refused to feature Tasini with Clinton, claiming he hasn't raised sufficient funds. NYI political editor Robert Hardt, a one-time NY Post Albany reporter, is being bombarded with phone calls, e-mails and letters urging him to reverse course.
 
Chris Owens, also supported by DSAPAC and running for the House of Representatives from the 11th District in New York, easily qualified for the ballot.
 
LONG DISTANCE RUNNERS
 
The last few weeks saw the loss of a trio of DSA members. The three represented the life-long commitment to radical politics, effective organizing and the socialist vision that is part of being in the DSA family. We mourn the losses of  Dorothy Ray Healey, a vice-chair of DSA; John Cort, a founder of DSA's Religion and Socialism Commission and Maryann Mahaffey, former president of the Detroit City Council.  Each would say that the best way to remember them was to carry on their work. 
Paid for by Democratic Socialists of America PAC, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 505, NY, NY 10038; not approved by any candidate or candidate's committee.