Pennacchio Blogging

There are a bunch of good Chuck posts up today.

1. Natalie Davis has a very thorough interview with Chuck.  It's filled with excellent questions and answers but I want to highlight these two exchanges:

ND: Well, as Sen. Wellstone discovered while doing all of this, the system will only let you go so far. In your mind, when you visualize yourself beating Rick Santorum and representing Pennsylvania in the Senate, do you envision the possibility that there are going to be walls against what you are trying to do?

CP: Oh, of course. Naturally. Absolutely. There are many entrenched interests that I present an immediate threat to. But the threat I present is promoting democracy. The walls of resistance are fundamentally anti-democratic. Democracy is not easy; it requires sacrifices. And I'll go to a conservative for one of the most famous quotes about democracy: It was Winston Churchill who said that democracy is the worst political system in the world - except for all the rest. I think that's a profound statement. Democracy really requires a lot of work; it's not a spectator sport. It's a process that is as American as any process in the world, but it requires Americans to stand up and to demand more of ourselves and demand more of our government and more accountability on the part of private and corporate interests and to demand more rights so that all Americans are able to enjoy the full fruits of our liberty - every citizen.

...

ND: Then we're talking about waking up not only those in office, but also waking up the people. You're a grassroots candidate, and I know that when people hear what you have to say, your ideas, they respond. That's evident in the poll that OpEdNews did through Zogby that as soon as people knew what you stood for, what Casey stood for, what Santorum stood for, a majority of the people supported you. So, how do you get your message to the people - and then, how do you push them to actually take action, to be proactive in improving their government? How do we get the people to take more responsibility and become better informed when they do cast their ballots?

CP: Well, it requires challenging people. It requires challenging them to take up the mantel, to take on the responsibility that is ours as American citizens. We have to motivate them. The one thing that the Republicans have taught anybody who is paying attention is that the way they've been able to establish so much power is by engaging in perpetual political activity. [Their activities are] highly cynical, highly self-serving, highly greedy [and] highly secretive, but nonetheless, that's the level of political engagement that's required of Democratic Party members as well as non-members in order to win back, in order to take back, our government. In other words, what American citizens have got to realize is that it's not simply about an election in Pennsylvania on May 16 where I have to beat Bob Casey or an election on Nov. 7 where I beat Rick Santorum - it's about pushing a movement. It's about people power, about people writing letters and blogs. It's about people calling their neighbors and hosting house parties. It's about people digging for the truth. It's about people demanding of their government day in and day out and calling 202-224-3121 [the Congressional switchboard] to reach Capitol Hill and demand that your senators and House members do the work that they were elected to do, which is to represent the people's interests.

I spent the weekend at a DFA training in Philly.  I heard a few politicians tell me how important the grassroots are.  How Howard Dean was right to seize that opportunity to energize the roots.  How we have to get our progressive message out.  That last line never failed to make me gag since I knew that most of the people there were supporting the very un-progressive Bob Casey.   So wouldn't it be just great if all these state pols woke up on May 17th wondering what in the heck happened to their golden boy?   Won't it be the political story of the year when Chuck uses the grassroot and the netroots (not so much them I suppose) to win the primary out from under yet another pro-war, anti-choice, corporate Me-Too Dem, a Santorum-lite who has no chance of beating the original?   

That can happen if we get out in force starting March 1st and work the roots like mad.   If you don't live in PA, you can give ten bucks to Chuck's campaign so it can afford the ground game at the end.  And if you blog, and you want to support Chuck but just can't because he's unelectible, stop listening to the party that has done nothing in recent memory but lose in PA and go with your heart. 

I really liked Natalie's interview but I wish Chuck had answered that electibility question with some of his own bio.   Check this out:

For years, Chuck has taken on tough political challenges--often against long odds--and won time and again. As a statewide field organizer in 1984, Chuck helped Senator Harkin (D-IA) win his first election against a radical-right incumbent. As Deputy Campaign Manager for Tim Wirth's long-shot 1986 U.S. Senate victory in Colorado, Chuck directed all operations, including an historic grassroots field effort, to defeat another hard-right Republican. Following the Wirth victory, Senator Paul Simon (D-IL) hired Chuck to run his 1988 Iowa-Illinois field campaigns. Simon won the Illinois primary in a landslide.

Chuck’s experience goes well beyond the classroom and the campaign trail. From 1980-1981, as a Military Case Worker for Congressman Ron Dellums (D-CA), Chuck battled the Pentagon's bureaucracy and, repeatedly, won on behalf of our men and women in uniform--most of whom were aggrieved women and minorities. As a Personal Aide to Senator Alan Cranston (D-CA) in 1982, Chuck learned first-hand precisely how the United States Senate functions. Though only 22-years-old at the time, Chuck carried forth responsibilities that gave him more contact with a United States Senator than any other staff position on Capitol Hill.

Chuck has been here before and he knows how to win.  He knew how to win before Kos and Atrios were blogging even.  This isn't someone who woke up one morning and thought that it would be fun to run for the Senate.  Trust him.  If you support him, then support him.  He won't make you look bad.  Ask Chuck, you never look bad standing up for what you believe in.

Bloggy endorsements:

Charlie Crystle at Digging In:

The 2006 US Senate election in Pennsylvania is about choice. It’s about a women’s right to choose an abortion, about choosing peace over a foreign civil war, about choosing peace over violent gun crimes, and about choosing good local jobs over corporate welfare, about choosing to deal with the root causes of poverty and neglect over the politics of expedience.

And it’s about the freedom to choose a candidate: the Democratic Party must have an open primary so Democratic voters can choose their candidate, not party leaders whose actions undermine the very democracy they claim to represent. This Party has gotten so lazy and so far removed from real people that it has anointed the conservative Casey on the basis of his votes in a virtually uncontested, barely visible election in 2004. When confronted with Casey’s right-wing tendencies like support of right-wing judges and overturning hard-fought women’s rights, Democrats overwhelmingly favor Chuck Pennacchio.

Eternal Hope chimes in with an endorsement as well.

Thersites has a collection of Pennacchio posts here.

Comments

[Helga Fremlin]

Chuck sounds like my sort of man! Great guy - I hope he beats Santorum.
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL