Sam Bennett for Congress

Who’s Sam Bennett?

Where’s PA-15?  

Why am I supporting her?

Why should you?

all this and more, below the fold

(cross posted to dailyKos and swing state project)

PA-15 is the southeastern corner of PA.  The most famous town in the district is Allentown; there’s also Bethlehem.  This is former steel producing country,   a bit off the main tracks of America.  Nowadays, it’s got a lot of small shops and businesses.  It’s not poverty stricken (median income is $45,330, and about 8.2% below poverty level), it’s got a small but not absurdly small Black population (2.8%) and a reasonable Hispanic population (7.9%).

It’s a swing district:  Kerry got 700 votes more than Bush; Gore got about 2,500 more than Bush.  Its current representative is Charlie Dent, first elected in 2004.  As Republicans go, he’s not the worst.  But that’s sort of like being a tall midget.  In 2006, Dent won 54% to 46%, despite the fact that Dent raised $1.2 million and his opponent (Charles Dertinger) raised $88 thousand (yeah, a ratio of over 14-1).  Dent replaced that rarest of breeds – a Republican who kept a term-limit promise.

Who’s Sam Bennett.  Well, Sam is for Siobhan.  Her

website is here .  I like it.  I especially like:

The Bush Administration seems to have things exactly backwards. Where government should be robust – protecting and caring for its citizens – they have made it weak. Where government should tread lightly, they have made it overbearing.

and

I want to bring our troops home, to the hero’s welcome and lifelong support they have earned.

and

“Supporting our troops” is not leaving them in Iraq to referee a religious civil war, with no plan, no mission and no end in sight. People here and across America support our troops with all our hearts, and we want them home.

and

Our dependence on foreign oil is a serious national security issue, a serious economic issue, and a serious environmental issue. It is also an enormous opportunity to fundamentally change and grow our economy.

Want more? She wrote a diary and she stuck around a while too.

aren’t those the things we’ve been saying? Doesn’t a candidate who says them deserve our support?

I’m not the only one who likes her.  She’s gotten donations from a lot of unions and 77  individuals and a lot of people on her Act Blue page

She sounds good, and this is a race we can win.  Give her some money.

And!!!!

Today is her 50th birthday!