Remembering HH parade day four years ago, when all I wanted to do was walk the damn parade route, but was not allowed.

The following was published on parade day, 2018. It is enduring an eternal, much like Jeff Gahan's sheer narcissism.

---

When I saw this earlier in the week, it reminded me of the 2015 mayoral campaign. The whole thing got fairly absurd in the end, and in retrospect, I'm happy to have been able to shine a light on a policy that took no account whatever of an independent candidate. I hope it has changed. Will Anna Murray walk with her supporters, or be forced to symbolically abet car-centrism?

I don't know. I do know the street grid is a social justice issue, although few area "progressives" seem capable of acknowledging it.

I'll vote accordingly. Let's rewind.

---

October 2, 2015

Me? I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow.

Me?

I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow, because that’s what walkability is all about.

It's about walking.

As of Friday morning, walking the parade route is an option being denied me. I hope this changes.

Before I explain this in greater detail, know that I’m sticking with my 2015 resolution not to re-ignite the annual controversy over Harvest Homecoming, New Albany’s annual autumnal civic festival, best known for its “booth days,” when downtown is given over to a temporary street festival format.

I can compromise on my own two feet, thank you.

I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow.

The usual arguments about Harvest Homecoming, pro and con, have been hashed and rehashed. Revolutions of rising expectations are never easy. In the absence of principled municipal governance, nothing’s going to substantively change any time soon, and yet I’m satisfied that a younger generation of Harvest Homecoming’s management truly grasps the need for evolution and accommodation.

Reform is a process, and while painfully slow, there is movement on some fronts. Let’s accept progress in this process, and celebrate this fact.

As for me, I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow.

I’m especially grateful to Art Niemeier, who joined the group effort planning tomorrow’s Biers on Parade at the Farmer Market, and has been invaluable. I don’t want to say or do anything that might compromise my gratitude to Art. We’re in possession of an idea (parade day festivities) with significant future promise, one uniting multiple entities. It's a good thing, indeed.

And me?

I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow, because walking is the basic form of human movement.

It comes down to this: As written, Harvest Homecoming’s parade rules do not explicitly acknowledge the possibility that an independent political candidate might participate.

There is a clause restricting the use of convertibles to current office holders, and another confining non-office-holding candidates to their political party’s respective floats.

I hold no office, and I have no party.

Given that I’m probably the foremost local proponent of walkability, I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow.

First I was asked by the committee if it could provide a vehicle, and I said thanks, but no thanks.

The walkability guy in a truck? It doesn’t make sense.

In the beginning, all I wanted to do is walk the parade route tomorrow with a group of supporters. Just walk down the street, nothing more, while making the point that it isn’t unusual to walk.

Because it isn’t.

Except when you’re told it cannot be allowed.

At some point during the past months, it was mentioned that perhaps bicycles could be included, though while it would be nice to have bikes represented, actually riding one in a slow-moving parade doesn't compute, although if the idea helped move the negotiation, I thought it acceptable to at least consider pushing a bike.

Although what I’d like to do is just walk the parade route.

As of yesterday, the committee is holding to its interpretation of rules that aren’t explicit in the first place, and has offered this ruling: I can’t walk, because candidates for office must use a wheeled vehicle, and if I choose to ride a bicycle, which is suitably wheeled, there can be only five bikes total.

Have I mentioned that nowhere in the committee’s rules is this wheeled clause mentioned?

Me?

I just want to walk the parade route.

I’ll walk alone, if that helps.

As the candidate of walkability, all I want to do is walk the Harvest Homecoming parade route.

Granted, irony never plays well here, but note that at a time when walkability is one of downtown’s best hopes for continued regeneration, the Harvest Homecoming theme in 2015 is Hot Rod Harvest.

Please, can I just walk the parade route and illustrate that life in this city can be about people, and not just their cars?

All I want to do is walk the parade route tomorrow, just me alone.

Surely this isn't an imposition.

Thanks for your consideration.

Anna Murray's amazing post-election statement.

Trying to decide what to do next? Municipal election cycles are underway for 2019. Not all of Anna Murray's issues and principles pertain to mayors and city council persons, but a good number of them do, and these are the grassroots where change must begin if it is to occur.

I find her statement fascinating on multiple levels. Maybe mayor of Jeffersonville?

---

I suppose it's about time for me to make a statement about the election. I've actually been fairly busy taking down signs, getting back to some cases, and so forth, but also needed a little time to process my emotions.

Honestly, it's a bit of a relief that I didn't win because going up to Indianapolis all the time was going to be a huge hassle and take a lot more time away from my family. Now I will have many fewer worries and obligations than I would have if I won. On top of all that, I knew that I wouldn't realistically be able to accomplish much in Indianapolis, especially since we only won one other seat in the Senate. I may have had a slight impact, but there is still an overwhelming Republican super majority, so all of the additional effort for me to be in Indianapolis would ultimately not create much real change. So there is definitely a silver lining to losing. Freedom.

I am very happy with the race that I ran. I am so thankful to everyone who helped me along the way. It has been a great experience meeting so many new friends, and I have definitely learned a lot about myself, about politics, and about people.

On the flip side, I am bitter about Ron's win because I do not believe he ran a better race. He spent a lot of money spreading outrageous lies about alleged plans which I not only did not have, but could not possibly have had, since Medicare is handled federally and I was running for a state position. So I do not respect his approach of lying and fear mongering to try and defeat me. And honestly, I don't think he won this race through his efforts. Republicans, generally, won this race. He won because of the party that he is affiliated with. Ron did not conduct himself as a gentleman, at one point knocking my materials off of a table onto the floor. But his "nice guy" image remained solid in everyone's minds. In reality, he's just a part of the good ol' boy network which has dominated politics forever and needs to be changed. I learned other things about him during this campaign which I will not share. But I'm not going to pretend like there are no hard feelings. I am an honest person and a human being, and that's just how I feel.

I am frustrated because I do not believe Ron will make the effort to bring the change that this state and this district needs, and I highly doubt he will have plans to run for a 4th term as he nears 80, so I do not believe there will be anything to make him feel accountable to his constituents. He will pander to his friends and leave those with food insecurity and who are homeless to fend for themselves.

I do hope that the strength of this progressive campaign sends a message to all Republicans throughout this state. That you cannot continue making it a crime to use medicine that helps you. That more poor-paying jobs are not going to fix poverty, nor are good-paying jobs that are inaccessible to people with limitations of many types. Poverty leads to poor education, child abuse and neglect, homelessness, untreated mental and physical illnesses. Stop maintaining a poverty class and allow everyone to live in dignity with a decent standard of living. That substance use disorder is a medical condition that needs to be treated medically. We don't throw people with medical conditions in jail. If they commit a crime like theft or DUI, sure. Make sure our insurance companies have to cover treatment, and if you need to bill somebody, send it to big pharma. They made a killing- figuratively and literally- on opioids and were a major contributor to our problem. If you need even more money for education or treatment, just fully legalize cannabis. We'll make millions in tax revenue and stop spending so much on jailing people for something that is safer than alcohol. Then we could fix our roads, too.

Beyond Ron, I am frustrated with our country as a whole. As we sit here being divided and fear mongering about poor people or people of color or people who aren't born here, or people with a different religion, we are letting the true risks- of climate change, pollinator endangerment, exposure to hazardous chemicals, and plain old hate; and the true villians- those wealthy beneficiaries of the status quo who continue to perpetuate these problems for profit, which those in power are ignoring or even covering up, and we don't have time to keep twiddling our thumbs and complaining about fake news. We are on the precipice of a planetary disaster. Our economy is on the verge of a rapid and dramatic change as a result of automation. Our healthcare system causes people to go bankrupt and become homeless or go without treatment and die while the insurance companies pay their CEOs tens of millions of dollars a year and spend hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying legislators to keep it that way. And yet so many people think that the reason they are struggling financially is because poor people are lazy. God forbid we tax those billionaires a little more to help our Veterans, seniors, disabled or hungry children. Stop taxing the wealthy and cut the benefits of those slackers instead! The wealthy need more boats and bigger houses so that we can have jobs cleaning them for less than a living wage! Don't regulate those big companies just to protect your drinking water or keep your children from getting asthma- it will tank corporate profits!

I am not giving up because these problems are not going away. These problems affect us all. It is time for us to find our common humanity and stop separating ourselves into different groups which we can then dehumanize, denigrate and ignore. It is time for us to listen to science- you know, that thing that lets you fly through the air and go up an elevator into a skyscraper. Remember science? It's quite reliable and we trust our lives with it all the time. Well it's telling us that it's time for change or the consequences may be quite dramatic for our and every other species. If you only respond to fear, then start paying attention to what the world's climate scientists are telling you. Start looking at the harm that OUR policies are causing our own people. Start looking inside of yourself. Are you making this world better for everyone, or are you full of hate and fear and allowing that to blind you to your humanity? Or are you just so well off that you don't feel inclined to pay attention? Very common, and an understandable position to take, but the epitome of privilege.

People are actively suppressing their ability to feel compassion- making fun of it by calling us snowflakes. Responding to expressions of genuine concern with hateful name-calling. Well what some perceive as our greatest weakness is actually our greatest strength. It's that thing that makes us human and differentiates us from machines. The ability to care and love and spread joy and to be able to acknowledge the suffering of others is what makes life worth living. We are more than consumers and there is more to life than just hoarding your wealth and buying new things. We are people and it's time for us to start living with respect for each other and respect for the planet.

I am still trying to decide what I want to do next. I don't know if I have the patience for any more of this politics business, nor if we have the time. I have to say my current mood is somewhat more on the revolutionary side of things. That's all for now..

Grooms versus Murray for State Senate.

For my scant money, this race is one of two genuinely compelling ones during the current election cycle (the other is Liz Watson and the filthy rich Tennessean for Congress).

In Depompei's preview, Grooms isn't shy about the notion of car-centrism as an inevitable pillar of regional economic development. Conversely, while referencing her opponent's traditionalism in the final paragraph, Murray has nothing to say about alternative, multi-modal transportation options.

As such, both candidates are conceding the daily absenteeism of One Southern Indiana as it pertains to taking for granted a future of single-occupant cars fighting for space on ever-widening roads, and encouraging the ensuing mayhem.

By not talking about cars, we continue to miss the boat. 

Opposites vie for Indiana Senate District 46, by Elizabeth Depompei (Chronicle of Tom May)

 ... To Grooms, the biggest difference between himself and Murray comes down to one word: experience.

"Experience and understanding and knowing the community. No comparison," he said.

He points to his involvement in issues like the opioid crisis (he authored the state's first pill mill bill) and education (increasing tuition support across schools in his district). It also helps, he said, to be a part of the supermajority held by his fellow Republicans in the Senate, "... which allows me to serve the constituents of my district much better, because I can get a bill heard in committee. I can be on the forefront of discussion," he said.

Murray said her experience as a lawyer has prepared her to work across the aisle.

"I'm used to negotiations and I know how negotiations work," she said.

She embraces her inexperience in political office, saying she offers a new perspective.

"He [Grooms] is still embracing policies that have been around for quite some time and in my opinion policies that have gotten us to the place we're at in terms of our statistics and our quality of life and our health and our general wellbeing of our population," she said. "We are failing."

Remembering parade day three years ago, when all I wanted to do was walk the parade route, but was not allowed.

When I saw this earlier in the week, it reminded me of the 2015 mayoral campaign. The whole thing got fairly absurd in the end, and in retrospect, I'm happy to have been able to shine a light on a policy that took no account whatever of an independent candidate. I hope it has changed. Will Anna Murray walk with her supporters, or be forced to symbolically abet car-centrism?

I don't know. I do know the street grid is a social justice issue, although few area "progressives" seem capable of acknowledging it.

I'll vote accordingly. Let's rewind.

---

October 2, 2015

Me? I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow.

Me?

I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow, because that’s what walkability is all about.

It's about walking.

As of Friday morning, walking the parade route is an option being denied me. I hope this changes.

Before I explain this in greater detail, know that I’m sticking with my 2015 resolution not to re-ignite the annual controversy over Harvest Homecoming, New Albany’s annual autumnal civic festival, best known for its “booth days,” when downtown is given over to a temporary street festival format.

I can compromise on my own two feet, thank you.

I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow.

The usual arguments about Harvest Homecoming, pro and con, have been hashed and rehashed. Revolutions of rising expectations are never easy. In the absence of principled municipal governance, nothing’s going to substantively change any time soon, and yet I’m satisfied that a younger generation of Harvest Homecoming’s management truly grasps the need for evolution and accommodation.

Reform is a process, and while painfully slow, there is movement on some fronts. Let’s accept progress in this process, and celebrate this fact.

As for me, I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow.

I’m especially grateful to Art Niemeier, who joined the group effort planning tomorrow’s Biers on Parade at the Farmer Market, and has been invaluable. I don’t want to say or do anything that might compromise my gratitude to Art. We’re in possession of an idea (parade day festivities) with significant future promise, one uniting multiple entities. It's a good thing, indeed.

And me?

I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow, because walking is the basic form of human movement.

It comes down to this: As written, Harvest Homecoming’s parade rules do not explicitly acknowledge the possibility that an independent political candidate might participate.

There is a clause restricting the use of convertibles to current office holders, and another confining non-office-holding candidates to their political party’s respective floats.

I hold no office, and I have no party.

Given that I’m probably the foremost local proponent of walkability, I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow.

First I was asked by the committee if it could provide a vehicle, and I said thanks, but no thanks.

The walkability guy in a truck? It doesn’t make sense.

In the beginning, all I wanted to do is walk the parade route tomorrow with a group of supporters. Just walk down the street, nothing more, while making the point that it isn’t unusual to walk.

Because it isn’t.

Except when you’re told it cannot be allowed.

At some point during the past months, it was mentioned that perhaps bicycles could be included, though while it would be nice to have bikes represented, actually riding one in a slow-moving parade doesn't compute, although if the idea helped move the negotiation, I thought it acceptable to at least consider pushing a bike.

Although what I’d like to do is just walk the parade route.

As of yesterday, the committee is holding to its interpretation of rules that aren’t explicit in the first place, and has offered this ruling: I can’t walk, because candidates for office must use a wheeled vehicle, and if I choose to ride a bicycle, which is suitably wheeled, there can be only five bikes total.

Have I mentioned that nowhere in the committee’s rules is this wheeled clause mentioned?

Me?

I just want to walk the parade route.

I’ll walk alone, if that helps.

As the candidate of walkability, all I want to do is walk the Harvest Homecoming parade route.

Granted, irony never plays well here, but note that at a time when walkability is one of downtown’s best hopes for continued regeneration, the Harvest Homecoming theme in 2015 is Hot Rod Harvest.

Please, can I just walk the parade route and illustrate that life in this city can be about people, and not just their cars?

All I want to do is walk the parade route tomorrow, just me alone.

Surely this isn't an imposition.

Thanks for your consideration.

Grooms, Murray join Clere in addressing public housing concerns during NAHA candidate forum.

We Are New Albany was well represented at last evening's candidate forum at the New Albany Housing Authority's gym. The advocacy organization's Aaron Fairbanks has given permission for us to reprint his report.

---

This is why our political voice matters:

"I oppose any plan that vacates anyone from public housing that they are now living in. We will at the state level make that not happen. You will not be evacuated unless we have another plan that puts you in a position where you want to be."
-- 46th District State Senator Ron Grooms (R)

(This comes after Candi and myself blasted Grooms at a town hall in New Albany).

"I'd like to start tonight by addressing an issue that is critically important, which is affordable housing... I don't want to see any families put on the street making it even harder for them to get back on their feet. So it's important that we make sure we have an adequate supply of affordable housing that meets at least minimal standards."
-- 46th District State Senate candidate Anna Murray (D)

Anna had been in contact to notify me of her preliminary comments before she releases a pending statement on the local housing issue. She's also agreed to follow up by getting some questions answered regarding the city's plan:

• to ensure that demolition doesn't forcibly displace NAHA residents from New Albany or leave them at risk of homelessness.
• to ensure that demolition does not reduce NAHA's ability to meet future housing needs for those on waiting lists and housing assistance applicants.
• to ensure that the City and NAHA work to meet the dire need for rental housing and affordable housing options, while knowingly facing an affordable housing shortage.

"We are at the New Albany Housing Authority, so I'm going to briefly mention housing issues. First of all, I'm grateful to be endorsed by We Are New Albany. I'm honored to have their endorsement ... It's been a privilege ... learning more about the situation here at the [New Albany] Housing Authority, which unfortunately hangs as a dark cloud over many of the folks in this room. And I will continue to oppose any plan for the [New Albany] Housing Authority that could displace current residents without stable, long-term alternatives."
-- 72nd District State Representative candidate Ed Clere (R)

Thank you, Ed Clere, for standing with this group since day one. The use of your platform to stand by NAHA residents and We Are New Albany has absolutely helped to give public housing residents a voice when no one would listen and no one would speak on such an important discussion as affordable housing.

Unfortunately, our work is not done yet. I will not rest until the "dark cloud" is gone, and no one is in fear of being forced from their homes and their community. It's most unfortunate that candidates that I have met and have respected avoided talking about housing at the New Albany Housing Authority (You have got to be kidding me?).

I'm appalled by the silence of people who should be representing you and me.

I can tell you now that many of them are calling our "bluff." They have calculated that the NAHA residents affected by this plan won't vote, and they have decided that even so much as entertaining a conversation with us is unnecessary because of this lack of participation. So many other candidates attended the forum tonight (with requests for public statements I might add), yet they avoided our concerns that we have been making public for several months.

We absolutely need help to leverage these conversations, and there's no better way to do that than to get involved and vote!

Deaf Gahan's hostile takeover of public housing: Lots of tricks, zero treats -- and no representation for residents.

Much to her credit, yesterday afternoon the Democratic state senate candidate Anna Murray became the first visible party member (apart from Jeff Gahan himself) to publicly state a viewpoint on the ongoing public housing putsch.

It was a thoughtful answer to a simple question, made all the more striking by the party's silence. Here's an excerpt.

It does seem like the residents' fears could be assuaged if they knew what was going to happen next after razing, and when that might occur. Perhaps the whole issue could have been thought through a little more from beginning to end before making a decision without knowing what the next steps would be.

As to the procedural aspects, whether the Physical Needs Assessment should have been done, whether HUD policies were or were not violated, whether the firing of Bob Lane was appropriate or strong-arming, I am really not in a position to know the answers to these questions. I was not involved in any of this, and am not an expert in the inner workings of the housing authority.

Two things.

First, in a purported democracy -- or whatever other word we're currently using to describe decision-making in a time of oligarchic trickle-over consolidation -- concepts like transparency and fair play actually do matter.

Gahan's tactics for implementing this remaking of public housing have been secretive, undemocratic and at odds with what local Democrats claim they believe; for them to remain silent is to condone pure malice.

Murray correctly acknowledges that the mechanics of the takeover might be pursued differently, but they haven't been, and aren't likely to be so long as Gahan looks in the mirror each morning and sees Glorious Leader smiling back at him.

Methods matter, and Democrats obeying the directive by refusing to discuss the ugliness are entirely complicit in it. The sharper among them are aware of the cognitive dissonance. Apart from this relative minority, we're forced to conclude that the remainder have always accepted the mythology of public housing as source of all New Albany's problems. Not only is this hokum, but it's also not very Democratic of the Democrats.

Second, while none of us understand the inner workings of HUD, the larger issue with Gahan's public housing power grab and the future of public housing residents is that they quite plainly have been disenfranchised.

To understand this, consider where New Albany's public housing residents live. The biggest concentration are in District 1; their council unrepresentative is Dan Coffey, a nominal independent.

Smaller pockets are in Districts 2, 3 and 4 -- Caesar, Phipps and McLaughlin, respectively; all supposed Democrats and none of whom have had the first public word to say about the destiny of these constituents. Of the three at-large councilman, all Republicans, only Al Knable has ventured a position (broadly in favor of decentralization, with several caveats).

Riverview Terrace is here in my 3rd council district, and originally it was targeted for demolition. When I asked CM Phipps about his stance in a private message, he replied: "Council has no say in such decisions, it's the Mayor's decision." But council also had no say in the aftermath of the 2016 massacre in Orlando, Florida, and this didn't stop Phipps from authoring a resolution of support for the victims.

(Phipps) offered a non-binding resolution expressing solidarity with the city of Orlando in the wake of the horrible massacre there. The resolution noted support of universal LGBT rights and repudiated violence. It was impeccable, and all eight council representatives in attendance concurred.

Gesture politics from afar apparently are easier than grassroots engagement down the street.

Then there's Coffey, who in the past has openly asserted that public housing residents don't enjoy the same rights as citizens as the rest of us.

While you're chewing on this, note that despite Coffey's repudiation of the Democratic Party, and his open embrace of Trumpism, he continues to be coddled by Team Gahan and party chairman Dickey -- or maybe I have this backwards, and Coffey is coddled by Team Gahan and Dickey precisely because he believes public housing residents aren't citizens.

The point remains.

Elected council representative from districts in which public housing units are located, three Democrat and one Independent, are abdicating their responsibilities. Ironically, the only one of these four to remain hypocrisy-free is Coffey.

Because the other three are Democrats, and because of what Democrats maintain are their core beliefs about social justice and concern for the working class (90% of public housing residents are employed), it adds up to why Anna Murray, Dan Canon and Liz Watson should inform themselves and provide a semblance of leadership in the vacuum created by Gahan's megalomania and the local party's cowardice.

The cognitive dissonance is there, whether or not the local Democratic Party is willing to come to grips with it. Is it going to be a party platform or Gahan's cult of personality -- and why should public housing residents surrender their rights as Americans and be used as pawns while kingpins like Dickey connive?

Anna Murray announces for State Senate as Adam Dickey reminds us to remain suspicious of anything with his fingerprints on it.

The Random Inanity Generator strikes again.

There is no byline on this News and Tribune dispatch, just a staff photo credit.

Written by human or bot? Or Adam Dickey? Can someone from the newspaper clarify, please?

However, I'm delighted that shill-in-chief Dickey chose the occasion of this announcement to state the case against DemoDisneyDixiecratic Party favorite Jeff Gahan in 2019.

I've helped him with the rewrite. Trust me; his writing needs help.

"Ron Jeff is the incumbent and it will be a challenge," he said. "But all you have to do is look at the (governing) record of Ron Grooms Jeff Gahan. I don't think many folks feel like they are better off today than they were when Ron Grooms Jeff Gahan took office two terms ago. Do they want the same thing or do they want to move forward?"

Have you ever noticed how Adam is unable to speak publicly with any degree of genuineness?

Invariably he sounds like a programmed political robot -- like a random platitude generator.

Anyway, now the Murray announcement.

Her policy positions are hopeful, and I'd like to be able to believe the best, though she's surrounded by the usual underachieving local Democratic suspects, and she emphasizes a yoga event at Gahan's megabuck Silver Street Park TIF Taj Mahal, which symbolizes everything that's amiss with the usual underachieving local Democratic suspects.

Sigh. The circle remains unbroken, to our continuing detriment.

Jeffersonville attorney announces run for Indiana Senate

Republican Sen. Ron Grooms the incumbent

JEFFERSONVILLE — After the 2016 election, Anna Murray decided to stop talking, and to do something about her political frustration. And Thursday afternoon, she made it official.

Murray, a Jeffersonville-based attorney who operates Anna K. Murray & Associates P.C., announced her plans to run for the Democratic nomination for Indiana Senate District 46, the seat currently held by Republican Ron Grooms. The district includes New Albany, Jeffersonville, Clarksville, Georgetown and Greenville.

So Grooms is running again. Will Jeff Gahan "primary" Anna Murray?

I don't think Gahan will run for the District 46 seat, lest he suffer an electoral humiliation better reserved for 2019, and his botched bid to become Mayor for Life.

As for Jeffersonville resident and attorney Anna Murray's candidacy, I missed the announcement, but even Wikipedia says she's running.

State Senate

(Ron) Grooms was elected in 2010, very narrowly defeating popular Floyd County Commissioner Chuck Freiburger to take the seat held by retiring Democrat Connie Sipes. In 2014, Grooms successfully ran for reelection, besting Freiberger again. Grooms will be up for reelection again in 2018. Though he has not announced, he would be facing Democratic challenger Jeffersonville attorney Anna Murray should he choose to run.

Well, now he's formally announced, so here is Murray's Fb site:

Anna Murray for Indiana State Senate

Curiously for someone who has been posting since January, she has little to say in terms of an introduction and platform, though judging from her posts, she's pleasingly left-oriented.

Murray's candidacy is hopeful, even if Adam Dickey will attach himself to her like a starving leech and drain the lifeblood of principles from her campaign.

Anna should resist being transformed into a female Ted Heavrin.

Chuck Freiberger went drab Clintonista centrist against Grooms twice, and lost both times. Murray might do no better in our conservative paradise, but at least she'd be riding Dan Canon's potential coattails rather than mimicking the customary NEA-approved candidate -- not that I have a beef with the NEA, it's just that surely there are local Democratic candidates who aren't teachers?

Right, I know; now they're lawyers. Okay. We have to begin somewhere.

Conversely, with a Democrat finally running who actually appears to be democratic, NOW will be the time Gahan decides to "primary" her. If so, the primary debate will be vastly entertaining.

That is, if the agoraphobic Gahan bothers showing up.