More progressives in Congress – a BlogTalkRadio interview series

this past weekend, I posted a diary talking about the progressive movement and how we needed to have more progressives in Congress in order for either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama pass anything progressive, as well as to fight for progressive causes, and against any agenda that a (gasp) President McCain or Romney would be pushing.

In that diary, I said the following:

None of the three Democratic candidates can really accomplish much with a Congress that is as divided as this one. That may not be completely their fault, but it could also serve as a convenient excuse (as it has for both Reid and Pelosi). And without more progressives in Congress, our movement will not continue in any meaningful way.

---snip---

There is at least one, possibly two progressives running in my district on the Democratic side. Scott Garrett will never vote with Clinton, Obama or Edwards on anything that I want to see passed. But the Democratic candidates in my district will. As will many other progressive Democratic candidates - some of whom are members of the progressive blogosphere. From Charlie Brown to John Laesch to Darcy Burner to Barry Welsh to Ron Sheptson to Gilda Reed to Dennis Shulman in my district, and many others (I apologize if I forgot a few).

These are the people that we need - without them, NOTHING that Clinton or Obama or Edwards wants will happen. On the flip side, it is these people who can not only stop the agenda of McCain or Huckabee or Romney but can also plant the seeds for the progressive agenda - one that can last for a generation or even longer.

Now, as someone who has a baby on the way, I have limited funds to spread around, but being someone with a big mouth and a platform like BlogTalkRadio and its progressive website Heading Left, I do have the ability to at least give some of these candidates exposure and a voice that can be heard by many more people than just some in their own districts.

And with that, I am happy to announce that my partner in crime, er, co-host and good friend thereisnospoon and I are starting a series of interviews on our BlogTalkRadio show, ePluribus Radio (which can also be found at ePluribus Media) with progressive congressional candidates.

We will be posting some information on the various candidates as well as a link to their ActBlue page so you can listen in and if you are so inclined, contribute to their campaign.

The first interview will be with Gilda Reed, who is running in Louisiana’s 1st District. The interview will be this Saturday, February 2, at 1PM Eastern/10AM Pacific. The link to the show can be found here as well. Gilda’s ActBlue page is here as well.

Our next interview will be with John Laesch (IL-14), most likely on Monday February 4 in the mid afternoon Eastern (I will update the time when we finalize it). John has been on our show twice before, as has his brother (and also a Daily Kos community member Peter). John’s ActBlue page is here.

Other interviews that we have received commitments from and you can look forward to over the next few weeks are with Dennis Shulman (NJ-5) and my home district, Charlie Brown (CA-4), Ron Sheptson (CA-42) (also known as CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream), Jerry Northington (DE-AL) (also known as possum).

We will also be reaching out to others who work with campaigns and continue this series throughout the next few months. We also will be taking the various statements that we get from candidates on various issues and doing future shows that feature the progressive slate of candidates’ positions and statements on various issues.

Of course, if you know or work on a campaign (House or Senate) and would be interested in having your candidate doing an interview, please please please do not hesitate to let me know.

We have a lot of good Democrats and progressives running for Congress. Without them in Congress, the progressive movement will go nowhere. But with them in Congress, the progressive movement can, well, progress. These candidates don’t get as much press or exposure as they should. Hopefully, this can help get the word out a bit more as well as possibly get a few more much needed dollars for their campaigns as well.