Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Monday, August 29, 2005

League of Conservation Voters endorses Maria Cantwell

The League of Conservation Voters today announced in a press release sent to the Northwest Progressive Institute that it was issuing an early endorsement of Maria Cantwell and planned a large grassroots effort in support of her reelection campaign:
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the political voice of the national environmental movement, today announced its endorsement of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) for reelection to the U.S. Senate, citing her leadership in fighting for Washington families and standing up to corporate polluters and special interests. LCV also announced its plans to run an independent, grassroots campaign on behalf of Senator Cantwell. LCV's endorsement of Sen. Cantwell is the organization's first for the 2006 election among Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

"LCV is proud to make its first endorsement of the 2006 election cycle for Senator Maria Cantwell," said LCV President Deb Callahan. "Senator Cantwell is one of our nation's strongest environmental leaders in Congress, fighting every day for the health, quality of life and pocketbooks of Washington families, willing to stand up to big corporate interests, and working tirelessly to protect our wild places for future generations. In the coming weeks and months, we look forward to mounting an aggressive campaign to help reelect Senator Cantwell to the U.S. Senate."

Ms. Callahan also commented that LCV's particularly early endorsement of Sen. Cantwell is because of her exemplary environmental record and leadership on behalf of Washington families. Senator Cantwell earned a 100% rating on LCV's 2004 National Environmental Scorecard - one of only two senators who received a perfect score last year.
It's telling that Maria Cantwell is the League's first endorsement for the 2006 election year. Maria has been a strong champion and a fighter on key environmental and energy issues. She's led the fight to stop drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge twice, pushed for energy independence, and advocated for renewable energy. Along with Charles Schumer, she was the main force behind the defeat of Bush's 2003 energy bill.

The Leasgue will mobilize hundreds of volunteers for a statewide grassroots campaign that will include doorbelling, letter writing, and sending out literature.

Maria Cantwell is not the perfect candidate for U.S. Senator, but nobody's perfect. Her stance on the Iraq war isn't a particularly bright spot, but she's been outstanding in many other areas, and deserves the support of Evergeen State Democrats.

Those who are hoping to mount a primary challenge against her are clearly ignoring her fine leadership on important issues. NPI believes the number one priority is to strengthen and enlarge the Democratic caucus.

Mounting primary challenges against our own incumbents is a terrible idea. We can't afford to lose any more seats in the U.S. Senate.

Adhering to your beliefs is certainly admirable, but all the ideology in the world will make no difference if we continue to lose elections. Attacking our own incumbents is political suicide.

NPI strongly supports Maria Cantwell's reelection in 2006.

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