A Populist Trickle to Precede the Wave?

Yes, hope springs eternal.

I’d given up on electoral politics as the antidote for what ails us as a nation. As I’ve said before, it will take a rejuvenated Occupy or similar movement to make good things happen.

But ultimately we’ll want a wave of populist political candidates for that movement to get behind. One Elizabeth Warren is not enough. We need a hundred Elizabeth Warrens.

Can a wave start with a trickle? And could the trickle inspire a grassroots movement?

I sure hope so. I’ve noticed four candidates, two national and two local, who perhaps are the sort of candidates who inspired the title of Elizabeth Warren’s soon-to-be released book, “A Fighting Chance.”

On the national front, we have Shenna Bellows running for the U.S. Senate against Susan Collins in Maine and Rick Weiland running for the open U.S. Senate seat in South Dakota.

On the local front, we have David Schapira and Lauren Kuby, both running for Tempe City Council.

Here are a few snippets from John Nichols at The Nation on Shenna Bellows:

Bellows is determined to organize her way to the Senate. With the ACLU, she got Maine Democrats and Republicans working together to pass legislation requiring warrants for access to cellphone records. When Maine Republicans eliminated same-day voter registration, she co-chaired the 2011 Protect Maine Votes coalition, which put it on the ballot and secured a landslide vote to restore it. A year later, with Mainers United for Marriage, she helped organize the referendum campaign that overturned a 2009 ban on same-sex marriage. “No one thought we could win. Outside political observers said, ‘It’s too soon—you just lost in 2009,’” Bellows recalls. “We said, ‘We know we have the right message, we’re on the right side of history, and we have a highly organized field plan to win.’ And we did. This is a very similar campaign. It’s a David and Goliath race, but we know we have the right message. Most Mainers think we should raise the minimum wage. Most Mainers are concerned about climate change. Most Mainers think we should restore civil liberties.”

And how Bellows describes her campaign:

This is the movement that we are building: a movement for social justice, environmental justice and economic justice. And it’s working.

She had me at “economic justice,” not a phrase you’d find in the Democratic establishment lexicon.

Turn to Rick Weiland, a South Dakota prairie populist who reveres George McGovern and dares, in South Dakota, to heap praise on Elizabeth Warren:

“Big money has stolen our government and turned it against us,” Rick says, “and I’m trying to set the caring of my friend George McGovern, and the wisdom of a woman I admire very much, Senator Elizabeth Warren, to a modern tune, and sing it in a voice ordinary folks will hear.”

[Source: Down With Tyranny, Rick Weiland — Channelling George McGovern, Johnny Cash, and Elizabeth Warren]

Finally, Tempe, Arizona. Most of you know David Schapira. David served in the Arizona legislature and fought the good fight, against insurmountable odds. But it was his Congressional campaign I think that tells you what you need to know about him. I actually supported his opponent, Kyrsten Sinema, in the race, but I was nonetheless in awe of David’s primary campaign. For whatever reason, David  didn’t pile up the cash at the speed Sinema and Cherny, his primary opponents, did. It didn’t matter, because he had a different strategy — talking to voters. Imagine that?

What did David do? He spent the great bulk of his time dialing, not for dollars, but for votes. He at least left a message for every potential primary voter in the District, and spoke to the bulk of them. Apparently, they liked what they heard, because David neutralized Cherny’s boatload of cash and gave Sinema a run for her money.

Last, but absolutely, positively not least, Lauren Kuby. I contributed to Lauren’s campaign as soon as the website went live just to let her know I was in her camp. I’m guessing she has backed every good cause and every good progressive candidate in Arizona with whatever she had to spare. Back in 2008, when many of us, myself included, believed Obama was the change we’ve been longing for, I remember Lauren telling me she was taking a leave from work to go do volunteer work for the campaign. How few people, once they get past college, retain that sort of idealism? How different would things be if more of us did?

Lauren doesn’t have the name rec that her opponents do and she may get outraised financially. But if you’re looking for the ideal candidate to support, take a good look. She brings to the table a combination of intensity, intellect, idealism,  impeccable progressive values, and charisma you’ll rarely see in a candidate.

Imagine this: These four candidates win. Then, in 2016, Senator Shenna Bellows visits Arizona to support Lauren Kuby’s insurgent campaign to unseat John McCain.

As I said, hope springs eternal.