Does Jim Moran Have a Primary Opponent?

    Well, unfortunately, no--not yet. There was a bit of a rumor that the head of the Virginia AFL-CIO, Dan LeBlanc, might take him on. But, alas, no such luck. I asked Dan directly and he said, "I live outside the District in the Richmond area and plan on retiring next August, not many folks retire to Northern Virginia."

    So, the floor is still open for primary opponents for Moran (that's in the 8th District in Virgina). He is not to be taken lightly (the credit card industry will pony up dough for him) but, aside from his pro-CAFTA vote, the guy has more ethical baggage than...well, a bunch of those guys up on The Hill. Maybe the first step would be for John Sweeney or some other top leaders to get the American Federation of Government Employees to go neutral on Moran, rather than support him. A plea for union solidarity, perhaps? Solidarity for all those workers who jobs are getting squashed thanks to so-called "free trade."

Comments

[coet]

The right's move to take back Congress began decades ago when they started their farm club feeder system of political candidates at the school board level.

If our approach to realpolitik is fielding Congressional candidates against those who have done us wrong we will never get where we need to be.

Shifting gears from being the apparatus of a political party to being a political party is going to require time and a different mind set.

Do we have the time? Can we change the way we think about politics?

[pw]

I'm with AFGE-- we do not love this guy. He has been siding with contractors and against federal employees for several years now. The question is, as others have posted--do you have a better candidate who can keep the seat in Democratic, or "pro-federal employee" hands? Moran drew sharp primary opposition after making remarks directed at Jews, and was opposed by the Washington Post after a series of weird incidents. He still won.