Hi this is Mike a longtime lurker, and sometimes poster, who wanted to share the story of a man I think you would personally love to check out once you hear about him.
If it's true that anyone, regardless of income or social status, can run for national political office in this country then this man should be elected and I encourage you to take the time to read about him, and possibly support a school teacher's bid for congress.
His name is Roy Carter, who's running an amazing campaign for U.S. Congress in NC-05, and in full disclosure I'm his Political Director.
He was my high school teacher, when I was struggling and considered dropping out he convinced me to stick it out and graduate from high school. And now I'm four months away graduating college with a degree in journalism, and a minor in political science. And last summer I was able to intern for Dean's Democracy for America organization, all due to Roy Carter believing in me.
When you hear the words Baptist, Deacon, Southern good ole' boy, high school football coach/teacher, and farmer in one of the reddest districts in NC you would hardly picture that person being a Progressive.
At best you might consider the guy a Blue Dog Democrat, at best, like Heath Shuler in the neighboring district.
The thing about Carter is, his "progressivism" is not something based on ideology, but rather common sense.
It wasn't a staunch opposistion to imperialism or to nation building that made him opposed to the invading Iraq back in 2002.
It was the simple fact that Iraq had not attacked us and therefore we should not attack them. And that's what he told his High School students in the classroom in 02 and 03, I should now because I was one of them.
Carter is a man who has coached football and taught science for forty years, also tending to the family farm, and he built his own house four times, never living much of a public life.
But after he saw former student after former student being shipped off to Iraq, and then being Stop-lossed, he decided it was his duty to help bring them home safely to their families.
So he boldly announced his candidacy for U.S. Congress in a district that has been Republican since 1994 and produced current NC Senator Richard Burr.
It's also a heavily gerry mandered district and the odds usually are against any Democrat winning there. But after none of the big name democrats, Mayors, Town Council members, and lawyers were too scared to run, Roy bravely threw his hat into the ring to defeat right-wing extremist Rep. Virginia Foxx.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk6mTyxekZ4&eurl=http://www.roycarterforcongress.com/ In the past the Democrats struggled mightily in challenging Foxx by nominating perceived "intellectuals," men who had written several books and who came off as elitist.
That simply wouldn't work in a district where NASCAR started, that's the birthplace of Lowe's Hardware, and hosts the east coast's largest bluegrass festival.
It's a backwoods district, country as you can imagine. But this time the Democrats got it right by backing the guy who has a southern drawl, and the personality of Andy Griffith (Andy's hometown and the basis for the show are also in the district).
You'd think given the nature of the district that only way of winning would be to run as a Blue Dog and serve as one too in order to stay in Congress but that's not the case.
Roy is running as a full blown progressive, issuing landmark statements in opposition to Mountain-top Removal (the source of most of the district's power), corporate greed, and the Iraq War. And most importantly the corruption of his opponent:
http://www.roycarterforcongress.com/5.27.html He wants to trash NAFTA, end No Child Left Behind, end the tax breaks for the large oil corporations, and will demand universal health care for all Americans.
And he'll be great on the House floor, fighting for progressive ideals with the intimidating factor of a hard nosed football coach.
And Roy has been getting involved during the campaign as an activist as well.
Carter appeared at an anti-war rally at the local university, Appalachian State, and drew many of the crowd of 500 to tears with an inspiring speech.
Weeks later Roy joined 50-60 students in a sit-in in the Chancellor's office of the University over the University's use of sweatshop labor to produce it's apparel.
It really is a unique story, he's become a hero of the Left, and the netroots, being named Democracy for America's Grassroots All-Star and winning their endorsement, as well as that of LCV, NEA, etc...
In the Grassroots All-Star race 90 Democratic Congressional challengers were entered into an online voting pool, that was open to anyone with an email address, and an relatively unknown man like Carter who's never run for anything before finished in first because people fell in love with his story.
When Carter retired as a coach and teacher, after forty years, he was making $40,000 a year.
His opponent is worth around 9 million.
Let's prove to America that a poor man can still win a Congressional election.
What's truly amazing about the whole thing is that Roy, by running as a progressive, in rural NC, is poised to win and is in a statistical dead heat in the polls.
And that's because he's taught at four different schools in the district, so he's practically a hero in four separate communities here.
The folks here know him and respect him as a person -and the conservatives are drawn to him because of his southern charm and persona.
His former students and players swear by him and many have volunteered to canvass, phone bank and work the polls for him.
Wish you could see his 250+ pound former offensive linemen going door to door for their coach.
I truly believe he's going to pull this out, and will shock the world getting elected as a progressive in a heavily republican district.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccu3pjS14gU&eurl=http://www.roycarterforcongress.com/index.html So please check him out at www.roycarterforcongress.com
And consider donating $7.00 (a touchdown) for my teacher, my role model, and the man who convinced me to stay in school and finish my education.
Let's prove that a man who was sitting on a rocking chair on his porch thinking about how bad things have gotten, thinking of his students, and his former ones in Iraq, and boldly decided to run because nobody else would, can win this thing.
Let's put a teacher and Farmer in Congress, one who will not back down, because he never has.
Sincerely,
Mike Cooper Jr.
Political Director
Roy Carter for Congress
Here's some quick bio info on him:
In 1965, Carter married Patricia Burleson of Barnardsville, NC. and upon graduation from East Tennessee State University, embarked on a coaching and teaching career that spanned forty years.
Using leadership and innovation Carter has worked on several student and community programs to combat drop-out rates, drug and alcohol abuse, and illiteracy. In 1997, one such program was instrumental in Andrews High School naming Carter as its Teacher of the Year.
Carter has been a member of the North Carolina Coaches Association for over thirty years, being chosen as Conference Coach of the Year in 1993 and Coach for the annual East / West All-Star game in 1998. Additionally, he has been actively involved in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, and was elected to the North Carolina High School Association Re-Alignment Committee in 1999, receiving the Merit Award and receiving the Award of Achievement in 1995.
http://www.roycarterforcongress.com/7.29.htmlhttp://www.roycarterforcongress.com/7.23.html
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