Democratic Senate Contenders Introduced at Dem Convention

The obsessive media focus on the Presidential election makes it easy to forget that thousands of elective offices will be decided on the same day. All 435 members of the House of Representatives are up for reelection; one-third of the Senate is on the bubble; governorships, state senators and representatives, attorneys general, secretaries of state, county commissioners, city councils, and district attorneys all will appear on ballots in November. At any level, a Presidential candidate with solid "coattails" can help other members of his party up and down the ballot, and Obama is such a candidate, bolstered by the groundwork Howard Dean has been laying pursuant to his prescient "Fifty State Strategy." The most important of these "downballot" races, however, are in the U.S. Senate, where several weak Republican incumbents offer Democrats a chance to gain several seats and bring them closer to some leaders' goal of a filibuster-proof sixty-vote Democratic majority.

Several of those key Senate races were put under the spotlight today at the Democratic Convention in Denver, first at a press conference called by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic Senate Campaign Committee chair Chuck Schumer at the Colorado Convention Center, and again during the official, televised proceedings at the Pepsi Center. In both places, the party introduced reporters and voters to the new faces Democratic leaders have proactively recruited to challenge incumbent Republican senators: Mark Udall of Colorado, his cousin Tom Udall of New Mexico, Mark Warner of Virginia, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Tom Allen of Maine, and Jeff Merkley of Oregon.

Allen, Merkley, Shaheen, and Tom Udall were given televised speaking slots at the Convention this evening. But all three were introduced, and shared good insights into their goals and policies, at the press conference earlier in the day.

In his introduction, Reid emphasized the importance of strengthening the Democratic majority in the Senate, even taking an uncharacteristic swipe at self-described "Independent Democrat" Joe Lieberman, a key swing vote whom Reid has allowed, of necessity, to caucus with the Democrats on domestic issues despite Lieberman's increasingly hawkish stance on Middle East issues and his endorsement of Republican John McCain. Now that Lieberman has committed to delivering a key speech at next week's Republican Convention, however, and is even mentioned as a possible running mate for McCain, it seems Reid may finally and belatedly have realized it's time to burn that bridge. At this morning's press conference, he seemed to describe Lieberman's participation in the Democratic caucus in the past tense, referring to "John McCain and his pal Joe Lieberman" and suggesting that Lieberman's defection makes it critical for Democrats to pick up an additional seat.

Schumer then introduced the individual Senate candidates, describing Americans' desire for change, "not just at the Presidential level, but way down," and calling the group of Senate hopefuls "the second most important gathering for the future of the country." He also laid out the state of the various Senate races, saying this election was ripe for a "sea change" - a generational change - in the Senate. In polls, the "generic Democrat" question, which indirectly tests which party the voter is likely to support, shows Democrats winning in America's most conservative state, Mississippi, for the first time in decades. Schumer also said Democrats have good chances of picking up Senate seats in 11 states, with polls showing them ahead in five states, even in three, and close in three. In addition, Democrats are only nine points down in Oklahoma and seven points down in Georgia.

Each Senate challenger then gave a brief talk. Former New Hampshire governor Shaheen, who is running against John Sununu, talked about the impact of home heating oil prices on her constituents, raising the specter of people "freezing to death in their homes" next winter.

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Congressman Tom Allen of Maine addressed the same issue, saying that his constituents are "beside themselves over the cost of heating oil" in a way that far exceeds the angst over gasoline costs this summer. Allen, a charismatic speaker and former Rhodes Scholar, described his opponent, Susan Collins, as "only moderate when her vote isn't needed," and, interestingly and colorfully, described this election as a chance to return to a Senate that most people barely remember:

"Frankly, change in Washington isn't an option, it's a necessity this year, and people in Maine feel it.... What I'm feeling here at this Convention, the energy, the excitement ... is exactly what I feel back home in Maine .... We can build the kind of Senate that will take us back to 1965 and 1966 when we did so much, including the creation of Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, and all that great secondary education; the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Wilderness Act. We have a chance at one of those magic moments in American history, and we have to seize this moment.

Congressman Mark Udall, who is running in Colorado, wore jeans and cowboy boots to the press conference and left early for a nearby campaign appearance. He described the Intermountain West as a bastion of principled bipartisanship, saying that both Democrats and Republicans there "understand that Mother Nature always bats last" and holding up the relationship between conservative Barry Goldwater and his father, Mo Udall, as a model of "disagreeing without being disagreeable." He also tied energy independence and alternative energy development to national security, and called the war in Iraq what it is:

"As a member of the Armed Forces Committee, this is so crucial to our national security. Never again do I want to be in a situation of voting to send troops overseas to protect the oil supply lines because we haven't exhausted all the other possibilities."

Mark Udall's cousin, Congressman Tom Udall of New Mexico, similarly emphasized the need to explore all possible energy sources: "we need a policy that does it all." He humorously pointed out that Colorado and New Mexico have overlapping media markets, so their joint motto is "vote for the Udall nearest you."

Voting for the Udall nearest you isn't what Oregonian Jeff Merkley wants, however. His race is against Republican Gordon Smith, a distant relative of Mark and Tom Udall whose policies couldn't be more different than theirs. Merkley, Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, was instrumental in turning it blue, and described his goal as wanting to do the same on a national level, helping give Democrats a true "working majority" in the U.S. Senate.

Finally, Mark Warner, a successful businessman and governor from Virginia, emphasized the need to invest in infrastructure, especially broadband - but with a blue collar twist. The former cell phone executive explained that while technology can help drive economic growth, "we can't leave small town America behind," and called for a commitment to bringing technological resources to all Americans as Eisenhower did when he instigated the interstate highway system. Another inspirational speaker, Warner called for "transformative" rather than "incremental" change.

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For more Huffington Post coverage from the Democratic National Convention, visit our Politics @ the DNC page, our Democratic Convention Big News Page, and our HuffPost bloggers' Twitter feed, live from Denver.

Comments

[wm1066]

I wish Al Franken had been there, but we have a Sate Fair going on right now and the politicians are out in force at the Fair, they really do reach alot of people at the State Fair, so I can understand him missing the convention.

[foxflood]

The Republicans won't do this because any of them wanting re-election or election won't appear with the candidate. There's going to be like 100 people at their convention.

[maab76]

With the tenuous record of the most recent congress, we must all remember that a President can lead and recommend policy and legislation, without a congress of like-minded-personnel, nothing can be accomplished. We must build a solid majority in both houses of congress to support the plans for change which are so desperately needed if they are to be implemented. Everyone of us reading and blogging here really have an obligation to register new voters who will support this point of view so that the congress will not be hamstrung and hobbled by an insufficient majority to enact needed legislation.