nc-08

Cross-posted from a post at Proverbially Penned.

Freshman congressman Larry Kissell has drawn his first official challenger in the form of Tim D'Annunzio, who, it appears, is also acting as a tea-party candidate within the GOP. D'Annunzio did a fantastic job, as CQ Politics reports, of garnering free media attention by holding fundraisers appealing to the crazier individuals among us. D'Annunzio decided a $25 a plate dinner of North Carolina barbeque and sweet tea just wasn't enough to get people excited about his campaign. So he decided to let his supporters come out, enjoy a good meal, and shoot an Uzi or an MP-5 submachine gun.

No, I'm not kidding; he seriously did this:

But wait! There's more. Not only is D'Annunzio running for Congress, he's also acting as if he is the savior of the GOP. More after the break...

In today's (Dec 6) Stanly News and Press I read with disgust Larry Kissell latest betrayal of the progressive Democrats who worked hard to get him elected. Seems that Larry is disappointed that Congress didn't repeal the Estate Tax. Estate Tax? I just can't figure out why Kissell is supporting the repeal of the Estate Tax. Healthcare and TARP funds are a high profile issues, so I can understand his attempts to appease conservatives by voting against these issues. But outside of politically active conservatives and progressives and the very few people who the tax would impact, no voter in District 8 really cares about the estate tax. Nobody is going into the polls next election thinking, "Gee Congressman Kissell worked hard t o repeal the estate tax, I think I am going to vote for him". If Larry thinks that he is going to get the vote of the anti-tax conservative, he is fooling himself because they will never vote for a Democrat.

In 2007, I was fortunate enough to become a 'reporter' by way of becoming a radio talk show host in Colorado. I began interviewing candidates in Colorado and had several candidates on my show who went on to successful victories. And, being an ex-Pat from North Carolina, I took time from my vacation and family visits in NC to seek out NC candidates like Larry Kissell.
During my interview with him, I was very impressed with his statements on supporting the working class families in NC-08 that had lost their factory jobs and were working 2 and 3 jobs just to make ends meet. So I am frankly stunned that he would be on the fence on the current health care bill, when these same families are the ones more likely not to have good health insurance.
the letter I wrote him follows:

Congressman Kissell,

cross-posted at dKos

While I was driving up to Chapel Hill yesterday for the Carolina-Florida State game (which we lost, unfortunately), I was shocked to see a sign along I-85 near Concord advertising a Republican candidate in NC-08 named Tim D'Annunzio. I saw another one near Kannapolis when I was driving home this morning. Now how the heck is this happening? I wondered. Then I found an article in last week's Charlotte Observer saying that this guy is outraising our guy, Larry Kissell.

Tim D'Annunzio of Raeford, a conservative who ran his own TV ads against Barack Obama last year, has more than $260,000 in his campaign account, according to reports filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission. Kissell has $245,000.

Considering that candidates in NC-08 have to run ads in Charlotte and the Triangle (Fayetteville, the second-biggest metro in the district, is part of the Triangle market), those numbers should make any Dem--especially in North Carolina--nervous.

Larry Kissell has his first official challenger, 27 year old Blair Sweeney of Charlotte. Papers were filed last week with the IRS and the FEC for the Blair Sweeney Congressional Committee by Thomas Blair Sweeney running as a Republican in the 8th District. Sweeney is a registered Republican with an address in the 9th District since 2004.

Sweeney, was active in student government at UNC Chapel Hill where he was majoring in Political Science 2001-04. He graduated from South Caldwell High School in Hudson NC in 2000. He was involved in Orange County politics, was a Democratic volunteer and was a campaign director for Delmas Parker's Congressional campaign in the 5th District. Parker is currently 2nd Vice-Chair of the NC Democratic Party.

Yesterday, I was honored to host Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Education Secretary Arne Duncan in Hamlet, NC for a continuation of President Obama’s Rural Listening Tour. Over 600 of our concerned citizens took time from their day to participate, ask questions and tell members of the Administration as well as myself, what Washington can and should be doing for our rural communities.

Some of the press in attendance seemed almost shocked at the civility and respect shown by attendees.

Civility and respect rule at bipartisan town hall meeting

Breaking a pattern of raucous encounters across the country, more than 600 people Monday attended a town hall meeting marked by civility, substance and even bipartisanship.

Apparently, any Republican with a pulse is a potential candidate for the 8th District no matter how unlikely the candidacy. CQ is pushing the rumor that Pat McCrory is a potential candidate for a run against Larry Kissell. I guess they had to have something to talk about.

Pat McCrory has no trouble promoting Pat McCrory, so traveling to Raleigh (not in the 8th) to bash available, affordable health care is right up his alley. However, he isn't stupid enough to run and lose in the 8th and think that after two very visible losses he will have much of a shot at running and winning again.

Folks, I just left the House floor and couldn’t wait to report the good news that the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights (HR 627) just passed in the House.

A special ‘thank you’ is particularly in order for Congresswoman Maloney of New York, who championed the legislation, and our own Representatives Brad Miller and Mel Watt who supported the measure through the Financial Services Committee.

The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights will provide crucial protections against a number of unfair credit card practices, such as the arbitrary interest rate increases that have become all too common in these times of economic uncertainty.

This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of National Grandparents Day, first proclaimed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. The origins of the honor to our parent’s parents originated with the lobbying efforts of Mrs. Marian McQuade (now age 91), a housewife from West Virginia, whose primary motivation was to champion the cause of lonely elderly often abandoned in nursing homes.

It’s one of our greatest fears as we age – that we can no longer remain independent, maintain our own homes, and physical limitations will ultimately force us into a living situation we’d never chose for ourselves. Even the absolute best of assisted living situations may be less than desirable when compared to one’s desire for independence. That’s why I believe the best way to honor that greatest generation now struggling to navigate the world, is to do absolutely all we can to support seniors wishing to stay in their homes whenever possible.

The 8th Congressional District of North Carolina stretches across ten counties and some of the most beautiful country in America.

Following along the South Carolina border from downtown Charlotte to the City of Fayetteville up to the geographic center of North Carolina in my home of Montgomery County, our district is a celebration of diversity, embracing a mixture of industry and agriculture, small towns and urban neighborhoods, military installations and college campuses, and interstate highways and rural lanes.

Unfortunately, it is also home to hard times and devastating unemployment, like Scotland County which has for more than a year had the highest unemployment in all of North Carolina and is currently over 11 percent, with more than one in ten still looking for work. Whether you've ever been here or not, you should still be concerned and make our journey your own because my opponent's bad votes have hurt you too, no matter where you may live.

This Labor Day weekend, as I kick off the home stretch of my three year journey to take our Country back I am biking the 140 miles across my district from Fayetteville to Charlotte. I hope you'll join me - at least in spirit.

Our children are headed back to class today in many North Carolina schools as well as around the nation. Truth be told, I wish I could be there for my students today, but the reality is I’m running for Congress for each and every one of them as much as I am my own girls. The future of our children is too important a responsibility to postpone, and sadly I believe far too many of our leaders have neglected their duty.

There is no greater urgency or cause. We can lose a generation if we don’t act now. All of us – parents, teachers, schools, Churches, commissioners and Congress – have an obligation to our children and a role to play.

“It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.” -Robert F. Kennedy

Running for Congress as a full time school teacher with a family is not easy. In fact, I count on your support and inspiration more than you know. Because this election for North Carolina's 8th District is so important, and you are so important to me, I thought I'd share one decision I made earlier this week I hope will help bring us to victory in November.

It was two years ago this week, eight years after Robin Hayes first took office, that Hayes told Fox News he'd made no mistakes in Congress.

Host Beth Troutman: "Is there anything from over the past few years that you would have done differently? That you are maybe the least proud of? If anything?"

Rep. Robin Hayes: "Hard, as I can't think of anything honestly, right off hand."

As we reminded him last cycle, the working families of North Carolina's 8th District may have some suggestions.

Today is the 73rd anniversary of this solemn promise made to our seniors on August 14, 1935:

Presidential Statement of FDR signing THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT

Today a hope of many years' standing is in large part fulfilled. The civilization of the past hundred years, with its startling industrial changes, has tended more and more to make life insecure. Young people have come to wonder what would be their lot when they came to old age. The man with a job has wondered how long the job would last.

This social security measure gives at least some protection to thirty millions of our citizens who will reap direct benefits through unemployment compensation, through old-age pensions and through increased services for the protection of children and the prevention of ill health.

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced the seemingly impossible goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960's.

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

Just eight years later, Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon ultimately fulfilling President Kennedy's challenge. America and the world continue to reap the benefits of President Kennedy's inspiration and dedication to this day.

Just imagine America today had we enjoyed such leadership on energy independence the past eight years, rather than the failed energy policies of Bush, Cheney and my opponent Robin Hayes, the oil industry's #1 Representative in Congress.