-----hi folks - yeah, it's been a while and I know it is full on "top of the ticket time", but here is a pretty cool story about a teacher, a progressive with no prior interest in politics before standing up to Governor Blowhard's BS two years or so ago. Marie Corfield is running for Assembly in NJ, Christie is taking a personal interest in this, and she has been getting great press from Diane Ravitch, as well as the grassroots groups.
Oh, and she's running against a Tea Party candidate who was appointed to the seat after the death of the sitting Assemblyman.
Yesterday, we got some more good news, which is below and reposted from Blue Jersey-----
Number One: The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has just announced that Marie Corfield landed the top spot in the country on the national Democrats' Essential Races List among candidates powered by strong grassroots groundswell. Corfield, the Democrat in the District 16 Assembly special election, got more nominations than any other candidate in the country. Nominations were driven by Marie's supporters in LD-16, and all over New Jersey. But her numbers really took off when supporters began telling her story to Democrats all over the country.
Tea Party opponent: Corfield's Republican opponent has never been elected to the seat. Donna Simon was appointed to the seat after the death of GOP Assemblyman Pete Biondi. Simon is a Tea Party candidate, aligned and endorsed by them.
On Monday, Stephen Colbert did a quirky report on Colleen Lachowicz, who spends enough time playing World of Warcraft that she's got a well-known avatar in that fantasy game. The GOP says that make her unfit for office. Also pulling votes in DLCC's competition was the race against GOP Speaker Bolger in Michigan, who's getting slammed for attempting election fraud. And a Democrat running against one of the top Free State Project people in the New Hampshire House.
Here's what DLCC Executive Director Michael Sargeant just told Blue Jersey:
"For this year's Essential Races project, we were once again overwhelmed by the thousands upon thousands of grassroots nominations that poured in for races across the country. All of them are significant and deserving of attention on Election Night, but only the top ten races could be added to this year's Essential Races list as grassroots picks. And the race receiving the most nominations of any in the country was the special election in New Jersey Assembly District 16, featuring Democratic nominee Marie Corfield, a teacher who's seeking to defeat an incumbent Republican appointee. It's clear that both parties have made this race a priority, and the flood of nominations this race received was a clear reflection of tremendous grassroots interest in the outcome of this election."
Needless to say, we are excited that she, and the race has gotten this type of attention and shows that a so-called "rising star" who is no more than an elected bully can (hopefully) get his as well.
Follow Marie: Website. Facebook. Twitter. ActBlue.