Another Paul Hackett?

[SeattleGirl]

Hi all, and especially Washington State DUer's. On Saturday afternoon, my husband and I were taking a ferry ride from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. There was a man sitting two seats away from me, talking on his cell phone. I started hearing "lies", "mushroom clouds", "Iraq", "she voted for CAFTA", "she does not have the best interests of people at heart" and thngs like that. Well, my ears picked up, and after he was done talking, I told my husband I have GOT to talk to this guy, so I moved over next to him.

Turns out, he is running for United States Senate for Washington State, as a Democrat. He is running against Maria Cantwell, our junior senator (she voted for CAFTA). The other person he was talking about in his conversation is Condi Rice (lies, mushroom clouds and Iraq). His name is Mark Wilson, and I found him very interesting. I was only able to speak to him for about 5 minutes or so, as we were about to dock at Bainbridge, but the little I heard I really liked. In those five minutes (plus the few I overhead him on his cell phone), he set out his stand more clearly than some politicians can do in 5 hours.

He acknowledges it is hard to unseat an incumbent, particularly when you are both in the same party, but I'm happy he's going for it. He really did remind me of Paul Hackett, in that he is very straight forward, doesn't mince words (isn't afraid to call a lie a lie). A progressive Democrat, in other words.

He is a member of Veterans for Peace, Earth Charter, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, US Marine Corps League, Military Families Speak Out, Vietnam Veterans of America, and the ACLU.

I would encourage folks to check out his web site, www.votemark.org. His stand on various issues (war, environment, fuel, etc.) are laid out very succinctly on the page. I'm going to check into him further, and I also told him I would be telling the DU community about him. I think we really need more Paul Hackett's and Mark Wilson's to run, to get this party (and this country) out of the hell hole it has fallen into.

[FtWayneBlue]

1. I couldn't agree more. n/t

[Straight Shooter]

2. Thanks for the info, from your neighbor in Oregon.

Always good to hear about a progressive on the horizon.

[SeattleGirl]

3. Where in Oregon?

My family lives in the Willamette Valley area.

[SeattleGirl]

4. Shameless kick

:dem:

[AtomicKitten]

5. Love new blood in the party.

We need to clear out the dead wood in Congress, one seat at a time.
Thanks for sharing this.

[SeattleGirl]

6. We definitely need new blood!

I heard the other day that there are several other Iraqi vets who are going to or considering running for various state seats,but cannot recall who/where they are. Mark Wilson is a Vietnam Vet, not Iraqi, but I like what he has to say!

[Dynasty_At_Passes]

7. Did he serve in the war too?

This guy sounds awesome!

[SeattleGirl]

8. See my post just above

He's a Vietnam Vet. I don't know if he served in Iraq. As I said, I did not have very long to talk to him, but in looking at his web site, I don't think he did. But definitely Vietnam.

[kansasblue]

9. he is progressive.....

* bring an immediate end to our nation's ill conceived costly adventure in Iraq
* protect Social Security
* oppose: NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO. Repeal Taft-Hartley
* direct 50% of weapons spending to conversion from fossil fuels to renewable energy, which will build bridges to peace while creating jobs
* refocus our troops on national defense
* enforce air and water quality standards
* establish a National Peace Academy under cabinet-level Department of Peace
* support basic education, kindergarten through age 20
* end the tragic, costly, and misguided war on drugs
* make sure health care becomes the right of all Americans

[kansasblue]

10. The Greens would love to have him.

[SeattleGirl]

11. I'm selfish

I want to keep him for the D's. B-)