
March 19, 2008
Friends,
This week, and today in particular, marks the fifth anniversary of the
United States invasion and occupation of Iraq—a war based on
manufactured intelligence, which has led to the death of thousands of
Americans; to the maiming in body, mind, and spirit of thousands more;
and to the deaths of, and injuries to many more tens of thousands of
Iraqi citizens—deaths and injuries which in number exceed any count
likely to be given by our own U.S. Government. (Estimates of the
total number of Iraqi war dead vary, but the figure may well be in
excess of 100,000.) We have destroyed the infrastructure of
This week, demonstrators against the war have been, are, and will
continue to hit the streets, in an exercise of their First Amendment
freedoms, in their efforts to bring the attention of the wider public
and of the elected officials to this sad anniversary, and this ongoing
senseless, tragic, and destructive war. I will be joining them.
This week also, Amy Goodman is broadcasting every morning on Democracy
Now (WPFW Radio, 89.3 FM) the Winter Soldier hearings, which were held
at the
I will continue to demonstrate with others in the street, but I am also
raising my voice in another way: I am running for Congress as a
write-in candidate.
On February 19, I went to
The
vote totals from the Democratic Primary for the 8th
Congressional District seat in
I want to thank the over 11,000 people who voted for me in this
Democratic Primary Election. And I congratulate Chris Van Hollen
for his victory in the Democratic Primary. But I want to also
caution Mr. Van Hollen that we are not done with this particular
campaign yet. The issues are too important for me to walk away
now, and stop talking about our differences on the issues—especially
with regard to the war in
As
a write-in candidate for the 8th Congressional District
seat, I hope that I will be invited to candidate forums and debates,
and to fill out candidate questionnaires, and to speak to
organizations, and I hope that the media will pay some attention to the
candidacy of a former challenger in the Democratic Primary who
obtained over 11,000 votes in a campaign involving no fundraising, and
no paid advertising, and which pushed the message that the voters in
the 8th Congressional District of Maryland want a
representative who will take an active role in taking the leadership in
Congress to end Congressional funding for the Iraq War, and bring the
troops home NOW!
I
am aware that write-in candidates rarely win elections, but that there
is always that possibility. As a write-in candidate, I am running
as the ultimate outsider—not as a Democrat; Chris Van Hollen won the
Democratic nomination, but as an individual person, with my own
independent voice. In the admittedly unlikely event that I might
win the 8th Congressional District seat in the General
Election, I would caucus with the Progressive Caucus in Congress.
To win any votes at all, I must do whatever I can to let people know
that if they wish to vote for me, they must write my name onto the
ballot. This will be no easy task, so I am looking to people
reading this to help me spread the word about this write-in
campaign. Help me let people know that they have a choice in this
election, but that if they want to vote for me, they will need to write
in my name!
Why
do this at all, one might ask? I am aware that as a write-in
candidate, I have a real opportunity to keep pushing the debate on the
issue of the
There
is also in this race a Green Party candidate—Gordon Clark—who has a
powerful message of opposing the war and working to stop global climate
change. Nearly eight months for a Green Party candidate to
develop a campaign and present his message. I don’t know how
strong a candidate Gordon will be; I consider him to be a friend, and
we agree on many of the issues. I am not prepared to endorse him
at this time, but we shall see.
Meanwhile,
I invite voters who are disappointed in Chris Van Hollen for his
failure to take a leadership position in cutting Congressional funding
for the Iraq war, to look at all of their options. Another
option, for those of you who are reluctant to abandon support for a
popular Democratic incumbent, but are unhappy with Van Hollen’s
positions, would be to contact Mr. Van Hollen, and let him know that
you are disappointed, and that you are considering other options in
this Election, if he does not reverse course and take leadership in
ending this war! A pledge from Van Hollen to vote for no more
funding for the war and to join the Out of
For
those of you looking at this website for the first time, here are some
of the issues that were central to my campaign, in this just-finished
Democratic Primary Election.
ON
ON
ON ISRAEL/PALESTINE—While Chris Van Hollen does have a better record on
this issue than some, I would like to see him come out more strongly in
support of the rights of Palestinians living under conditions of
occupation. In the long run, I believe that
ON CIVIL LIBERTIES—I am for protecting our precious civil
liberties. I oppose the
ON IMPEACHMENT—I support Dennis Kucinich’s resolution for
impeachment. Impeach Cheney first, and then Bush. What
message do we send to future generations and future Presidents if we do
not impeach these two, for what they have done to our nation? Van
Hollen is on the record as opposing efforts to impeach Bush and Cheney.
ON HEALTH CARE—In fairness to Chris Van Hollen, he does agree with me
that all Americans should have health care coverage. But we
disagree on the means. Van Hollen would reform the current
system, but keep the health insurance companies in the system. I
favor universal, single-payer health care, which eliminates the health
insurance companies from the system and provides individuals with high
quality health care, with a choice of health care providers, that is
publicly financed: Medicare for All. I support legislation
sponsored by John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich for universal,
single-payer health care. Van Hollen has refused to sign on to
this legislation.
THE
In a democracy, the voters have a choice. You have the option of
voting for the incumbent. But you do not have to vote for the
incumbent, if you do not feel that he is representing you. You do
have a choice. And I hope that you will consider writing in my
name for the 8th Congressional District seat this November!

Click here to read
previous
messages from
Deborah.
Dear Friends,
For those of you who are visiting for the first time, here's a little history. I started this web site during the primary election campaign in the year 2000, when I was a Democratic candidate in the primary for Maryland's Eighth Congressional District. (I had run previously for the same seat in 1998, but had no website at that time.) We ran a very low-budget campaign based on issues of importance to the voters, including, but not limited to: universal health care, Clean Money campaign reform, protection of the environment, and civil rights and civil liberties for all - - and I came in second in that race, in a field of five.Sincerely,

