Our Reasons To Believe
June 10th, 2008 Posted in Campaign Blog | No Comments »Dear Friends and Neighbors,
On Tuesday, June 10th, voters go to the polls to choose a Democratic candidate for Congress. With the end of the primary here, I am writing to make sure you go out and vote, and to tell you why I believe I will win this election with your help.
In recent days, we have seen a number of my opponents throwing charges back and forth. We have run a positive campaign, and I believe I’ve been able to point out differences between our campaign and others without getting personal. As a result, I’ve been endorsed by the Brunswick Times-Record and the Portland Phoenix , as well as many activist and community leaders.
I also hope you can give a little of your time — even an hour or two helps — on Election Day tomorrow to our GOTV effort. Call the office at 773-1323 right now to sign up.
Finally, I want to share a story that illustrates our chances for victory.
Why we will win
In 2006, Democrats in New Hampshire turned conventional wisdom upside down when they awarded their primary nomination for congress to Carol Shea-Porter. Shea-Porter, who defeated an insider candidate with Washington, DC support in the primary, was a social worker, educator, and peace activist.
In November 2006, Shea-Porter went on to defeat incumbent Republican congressman Jeb Bradley, to become the first Democrat to represent New Hampshire’s First Congressional District in over two decades. She is now one of just eight social workers in the 435-member House of Representatives.
When asked about her successful campaign, Shea-Porter told the Associated Press:
"This is a campaign that arises from the community. It’s not coming from the outside, it’s not coming from another state, it wasn’t in any way embedded with people coming from higher levels of the state Democratic Party. It comes straight out of the grass roots."
Shea-Porter and I share more than our backgrounds as social workers, educators, and peace activists. We also share a common inspiration for our candidacies: the quest to end poverty.
When Shea-Porter began her run, she said it was inspired by a trip she had taken to New Orleans to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. When I began this campaign last summer, I did so at Portland’s Oxford Street homeless shelter, where 130 men had spent the night before. On that day, and many times since, I have quoted the late Senator Paul Wellstone, who said "I don’t think politics has anything to do with left, right, or center. It has to do with trying to do right by people."
The need for politics that is focused on doing right by people is even greater than it was when I announced. Throughout this campaign, I have kept my focus on how to improve people’s lives through greater educational opportunity, health care for all, and a green economy for the future. And I have said that for any of that to happen, we must end the War in Iraq and bring our troops home now.
Please make one final contribution of $25, $50, $100, or $250 today to help make sure our Get Out the Vote effort succeeds. And call our office at 773-1323 to help Get Out the Vote.
Thank you for your help and support throughout this campaign. Now let’s get out there and win!
Sincerely,
Michael Brennan
P.S. When you go to the polls, you will likely see people collecting signatures for a number of different initiative and referendum efforts. I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that I have signed and support the People’s Veto of the REAL ID law. I oppose two other signature gathering efforts: the effort aimed at taking away rights from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Mainers, and the People’s Veto to take away the new funding for Dirigo Health. If you have questions about any of these issues, feel free to call our office at 773-1323
