The Tammy Duckworth race

Far-flung correspondents in locations as far away as Belgium or Summit Hill send in their news.  Two of our readers, Dick and Judy White, live in Illinois, and both were involved in the Tammy Duckworth campaign.  I asked them if they would like to do a guest blog about their experiences.  Here is Part I:

Dick & Judy’s Excellent Campaign Adventure

For the first time in our voting lives, we decided to get involved in politics, specifically the Democratic primary in our District (Illinois District 8).  We began our adventure in January of this year.  

We have been supporters of Tammy Duckworth for some time, but we did not get directly involved with her previous attempt at office in 2006 against Peter Roskam.  It was a largely Republican district, but Tammy received 48.7% of the vote.  Roskam’s campaign was less than honorable (being kind here).    We are now in a different district and no longer have the non-representation of Roskam.  But it gets worse….

The Republican incumbent and candidate in our new District is Joe Walsh – a Tea Party “Screamer” and Obama-hater.   This fact is what really pushed our involvement.  Here are a couple of his latest gems.  From the Washington Post: “He [Walsh] vows that he will do nothing to help his constituents and instead focus entirely on his ‘mission to sorta scream from the mountaintop.’” And from Politico: "What else has she done? Female, wounded veteran...ehhh."  It should also be noted that Tammy has actually lived in the district since at least 2005 and Joe lives well outside of the district.

Here is Tammy’s background.   She was a helicopter pilot in Iraq (one of the first women to fly combat missions).  In 2004, her helicopter was shot down, and she lost both legs and part of the use of her right arm.  She became a strong advocate for veterans while she was still recovering at Walter Reed Hospital and was eventually named Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs.  In 2009 she was appointed Assistant Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs by President Obama.  She was successful in both roles, finding jobs for returning vets and improving the quality of their care.  She has a strong drive to do the same for all Americans.  That’s it in a nutshell – if you’d like to know more, check out <www.tammyduckworth.com>.

Tomorrow:  What we did in the campaign.