Election Endorsements: 2012

The possibility of a tropical storm knocking out my electricity in even a best-case scenario later this month has caused me to move up my annual list of select endorsements of candidates for office to today.  (I had planned to issue this over the weekend.)  So here are my choices:

For President and Vice President of the United States: This blog endorses - big surprise - Barack Obama and Joseph Biden for President and Vice President, respectively.  President Obama  brought the economy back from the brink, but Mitt Romney would lead us back into it.  Romney's economic policy would reward the wealthy and impoverish the middle class and the job base on which they depend; Obama would continue to pursue tax fairness and support businesses that keep jobs in the U.S. Romney would seek a repeal of the Affordable Care Act; Obama would likely strengthen it.  Romney would pursue a reckless foreign policy that could jeopardize our allies, especially Israel; Obama would continue to pursue a cautious course.  President Obama has said that we have a choice . . . and we sure do.

For U.S. Senate, New Jersey: This blog happily supports incumbent Democratic Senator Robert Menendez for re-election.  Menendez supports environmental protection initiatives  preserving Medicare, and a woman's right to an abortion if she so chooses.  So does Republican opponent Joe Kyrillos.  So why switch - especially when Menendez has a proven record on these issues?

For U.S. House of Representatives, New Jersey, Eleventh District: This blog endorses Democrat John Arvanites. Incumbent Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen has been a moderate voice on women's issues, the environment, and infrastructure, but he has increasingly become a lone voice in the GOP on such issues.  Even in a House with a Republican majority, Arvanites would be a more effective voice for these issues.

For U.S Senate, Indiana: This blog endorses Democrat Joseph Donnelly.  Donnelly is a moderate Democrat who supports gun rights and opposes abortion, but he has also supported the health care law and the Dodd-Frank Act, and he's been consistent on working with others who disagree with him on anything.  Republican Richard Mourdock is a bedrock right-winger whose idea of bipartisanship is making Democrats agree with him on everything. Also, he just said that a baby conceived by rape is a gift from God.  Most Hoosiers would likely disagree with that.

For U.S. Senate, Missouri: This blog endorses Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill for re-election.  McCaskill is a brave woman who voted for the 2010 health care bill despite widespread opposition to it in her home state, and it's beginning to show benefits, such as forcing pre-existing conditions to be covered. Her Republican opponent, Todd Akin, whose health care experience is his opinion that the female human body can shut down reproductive system if involuntarily impregnated, is just a jerk.  Big time.  

For U.S. House of Representatives, Illinois, Eighth District: This blog enthusiastically endorses Tammy Duckworth, the disabled Iraq War veteran whose views on military policy would clearly keep service personnel foremost in her concerns.  I'd like to call incumbent Republican Representative Joe Walsh a jerk, but that would be too much of a compliment.

For U.S. Senate, Massachusetts: This blog wholeheartedly endorses Democrat Elizabeth Warren for the Senate.  Warren is a seasoned fighter for the middle class and strong supporter of financial reform; Republican incumbent Scott Brown is a mildly conservative stooge attempting to look moderate, a blow-dried fraud.

For U.S. Senate, Connecticut: This blog enthusiastically endorses Chris Murphy for the Senate.  Murphy supports increased spending on infrastructure and initiatives to promote manufacturing to create more jobs.  Republican incumbent Linda McMahon, who cites her business expertise as experience in knowing how to create jobs, hasn't created employment for anyone other than oversized actors peddling violence to children. She supports "reforming" Social Security and Medicare along the templates Paul Ryan has offered, and despite her promise to work with President Obama if he's re-elected, she can't name one policy she agrees with him on.  Also, the very idea of a woman like this in the U.S. Senate is absolutely repellent.

Those are my specific endorsements.  My general endorsement is to vote Democratic all the way down the ticket.  Even Republicans who support bipartisanship and moderation haven't shown a willingness to pursue it.