Cindy Sheehan for Senate?

Sheehan should run as an Independent, bypassing the Democratic Party's primary which Senator Feinstein has a lock on. Because she is already registered in a qualified political party (Democrat) Cindy can only run in that primary in June and lose to Feinstein and the power of the incumbency, or Sheehan can take advantage of the only other option open to her and sit out the Primary and use the time to campaign and build her candidacy for the November General election as an Independent. Sheehan is probably the only anti-war activist with the recognition and support to qualify without a party label for the November election. As soon as she qualifies she will holed the balance of power in the Senate race. We might even see Senator Feinstein take early retirement rather than face Sheehan. Please encourage Cindy to take the longer, more difficult, and more challenging path and run as an Independent. Her candidacy would unite many, many Greens, independents, Peace and Freedom, and libertarian voters along with Democrats who long to reform their own party. As well, a Senate run by Sheehan in November as an independent will give so many voters a reason and choice to make needed changes!

- I strongly hope that she will not run in the democractic primary . Make no mistake , Cindy deserves all the acclaim she has received for rejecting her assigned role as a mother of a slain G.I.,who despite their grief and agony , dutifully intone '' My son died for our country and all the freedoms we hold dear '' etc. Her outspoken opposition to the imperialist adventure in Iraq and Afghanistan has caused a lot of angst in Washington , both among Republicans and Democrats alike . But what will happen if she runs against Feinstein as a Democrat ? One possible consquence is that tens of thousands currently registered as Green or Peace and Freedom may switch over to the D.P, seriously hurting both parties . . Then what happens when she loses to Feinstein ( And make no mistake , She WILL lose ) She might do very well , maybe getting 20-25 % of the vote . But the Democractic machine will not allow her to win .So what can she do then ? She could of course change her registration back to Green or perhaps join Peace and Freedom party . But it would be too late for her to then run as Senate candidate of either party,both parties will have already had their primaries . She can't run as a Independent , California election laws prohibit someone running in a primary , losing and then running as a independent . She could endorse one of the antiwar candidates , Todd Chretien or Marsha Feinland of Peace and Freedom party . There is also another very distasteful possibility . There's a old political truism , that the '' Democractic Party is the Graveyard of progressive movements ''. Untold thousands of decent, dedicated, activists since the 30's have''checked in , but never checked out ''. of that Party . I can't even begin to list the number of prominent ex-radicals in the Sf Bay area alone that are now elected officials , City and county dept. heads etc.and very loyal Democrats. What does this have to do with Cindy Sheehan ? If she does run she will be pressured from the beginning to announce that she will endorse whomever wins the primary . She will probably resist that pressure . But most ''Peace candidates'' over the years haven't . Eugene MCarthy ended up endorsing Humphey . Many people thought that Jesse Jackson would break from the Democrats after he didn't receive their nomination in 1984 . (Needless to say he never did ! ) There's also the real possiblity that Feinstein might make concessions to her ''left'' . The ruling class is this country is increasingly nervous about the war . It's not impossible that Feinstein may, a few months from now ,decide to support Murtha's call for ''redeployment '' just outside the borders of Iraq .( Which Media Benjamin , a close ally of Cindy;s , has applauded ) After all Pelosi , after intially distancing herself from Murtha , suddenly embraced him. As obscene as it sounds , it's not impossible for that multi-millionaire militarist to try to reinvent herself as a ''peace candidate '' ! No, i'm not predicting that Cindy Sheehan would, after her inevitable primary loss, endorse Feinstein .I simply wanted to point out the historic pitfalls . But i would respectfully urge Sister Sheehan to maintain her political independence from both parties of war and capital and not run in the Democratic primary .

Cindy Sheehan's only real chance at legitimacy is to run as a Democrat.

She will be dismissed with only limited media coverage if she runs as a candidate of a fringe third-party.

One need only look at how Minuteman Founder, James Gilchrist, fared when he ran as American Independent for Congress against the Republican's candidate.

Despite the fact that Gilchrist had notoriety and more than $500,000 he could not get enough votes because Republicans blindly stayed loyal to their candidate even though they liked Gilchrist's message.

Cindy Sheehan's base of votes is with Democrats - there are not enough Greens and Peace & Freedom members for her to be relevant.

And if she is not a Democrat candidate then she will fail to be even considered by many Democrat voters as a viable candidate.

If you want Cindy to make a splash, she has no other choice but to do so as a Democrat. If you want her to be humiliated and lose big, but do so as a fringe party candidate, then she should run as Peace & Freedom.

Personal tragedy and personality politics are not enough to defeat party politics even in SF. Cindy Sheehan needs to start opening the door to others in the anti-militarist movement to public visibility. One identifiable name does not a movemenmt make. There are many who are very active but remain out of sight. She needs to conciously share the spotlight that she has for the moment we should not put all hope on her. There are many ways the incumbents and their media friends can destroy her credibility and leave the movement with nothing. We don't need any more martyrs or used-to-be's. Our lack of imaginative and creative tactics will defeat us, and more of our neighbors will be coming home in transfer tubes. We need a serious tactical planning meeting here to thrash out tactics that will at least leave an effective force in place after the electoral process has subsided for another two years. As Saul Alinsky used to warn, " If you want drama, start a movement. If you want to prevail, you gotta' get organized." It's time.

Politics is beyond party-- it is about authenticity and depth. It is about having wise convictions to do what is right and necessary for the sake of the our country, its Constitution, and for the health and welfare of the entire human race.

I applaud Todd Chretien and I applaud Cindy Sheehan-- and everyone who makes their voice heard against criminality at the top-- and imagines a new and much better path.

While the International Socialist Organization, of which Todd Chretien is a leader, is the heir to a political current (the "Cliffites") that started its break with revolutionary politics when it failed to defend Korea against imperialist counter-revolution in 1950, it did until recently maintain a position of independence from and opposition to capitalist parties.

However, it made a sharp move to the right in 2000 when it immersed itself in the Presidential campaign of the reformist capitalist Ralph Nader. This was supposedly justified because Nader's campaign represented a break with the Democrats.

Now we have Todd, presumably representing the I.S.O., calling on someone who he presumably is close to politically to enter the Democratic Party primary!

I got called a "sectarian" by the I.S.O. for not supporting Nader in 2000, and I suppose I'll be called the same this time around!

Conventional wisdom seems to have it that as an independent, Cindy would be dismissed. But is that true? Let's consider some examples from both the right and left:

Remember Ross Perot who ran as an independent back in 1992? He showed that a lot of people were totally fed up with the two entrenched parties.

Or what about Bernie Sanders of Vermont? He runs as an INDEPENDENT. And by the way -- Bernie has won repeatedly!

Senator James Jeffords, also of Vermont, left the Republican Party and became an INDEPENDENT. Why did he do that? So that he could be dismissed as an independent? I don't see anybody dismissing Jeffords.

A number of independents have done rather well. Even
if they don't win an election, they may still gain respect and make a point. I'd like to see Cindy Sheehan run as an independent or as a 3rd party candidate.

At this point in time Cindy has to run as a member of whatever Party she is already in. The State of California requires you to be a member of a Party for a year before you can run to represent that party.

The way it looks to me is that if she runs as a Green she will win the primary, and if she runs as a Democrat she will lose the primary. She would get many more votes as a Democrat, but her time on the stage would be longer as a Green. The time to make her decision on that is more than a year ago, it's too late to change now for strategic reasons.

Whatever else happens, I hope she does run. It would be very good for our democracy.

Aaron Aarons comment shows clearly why he is considered a nutpie. Aarons was a long time hanger on in the Alameda County Peace and Freedom Party, an organization Aarons among others has dragged down to irrelevancy. Even KPFA listeners have had the good sense to keep Aarons off and out of any elected postions on their boards.

But you can't argue with the facts that he points out about Todd and the ISO. and to Todd... hope you can get the ISO to do a deep entery into the Green Party and stop the pretending to marxism.

The focus of their politics aside, they are some of the most unpleasant individuals I have ever encountered.

Several years ago i was driving along the Gulf Coast . I took a detour a ways inland to Lafayette, Louisiana , heart of Cajun Country . After a couple of days of hearing great Music and eating food that most Bay area Chefs can only dream of matching i happened to find myself on a local college campus . Southwestern Louisiana State i think. I spotted several tables of student groups . Most were either religious or social but two were political . A mean spirted cluster of Young Republicans and a International Socialist Organization table . In Lafayette, Louisiana . Cajun Socialists .How many other progressive organizations would you find organizing so deep in the hinderlands as that . Certainly not Code Pink,the cultish R.C.P., or the Democractic Socialists of America . So though i am not by any means uncritical of the I.S.O. i keep that visit to Louisiana in mind . I do think Todd and the I.S.O. should respond to their critics . I am a little concerned by the tone of Todd's statement on Cindy's possible run for the Senate . I would have liked it to been more along the lines of Robert Livingston and Stan Woods's comments . Cindy Sheehan doesn't belong in the damm Democractic Party ! Her real friends and supporters shouldn't hestitate to tell her so . I am a little concerned by Todd's campaign failure to be up front about Todd's Socialist Views . So far there's been no mention of that on his website . Why is that ? Please respond guys . Those of us that have questions aren't a bunch of Sparts , for God's sake ! ( They wouldn't support Todd's Senate run if he had a hammer and sickle Tatooed on his forehead ) So i look forward to reading your post , Todd .

I do admire Cindy Sheehan. I like the way she used her moral authority to focus the attention on a single story of needless sacrifice, a single victim of the Bush administration's profligate and inept invasion of Iraq. Her standing as the mother of a soldier killed in the line of duty made her -- for a while -- not susceptible to the usual attacks from the right. When the sleek presidential motorcade whizzed past her small encampment in Crawford, Texas, it was a useful symbol for the decadent isolation of the Bush White House.

And so I say with all love: Cindy, back away from the fame machine. You are who you are, and you were great in that role, but you can't be someone else without a lot of work. And when things move too fast, you become a sock puppet, and easy to make fun of, and that hurts -- you, me, the cause, whatever. You could still be doing good, but right now, you're not helping. I have no idea whether you are leading the charge or following bad advice, but please, rethink the whole thing.

It all started when that encampment grew and grew. It became a kind of Woodstock for people with agendas. Inevitably, those agendas diluted and muddied the message, and pretty soon it became Camp Progressive Humans Against Globalization, Unsafe Logging Practices and American Policy in Burma. And then celebrities showed up, and we all had hot dogs and listened to Bruce Springsteen.

So somewhere, I think, Cindy Sheehan bought into the Cindy Sheehan myth. It happens. As my friend Carol Cantor says, "I think it's standard-issue (in the) left-wing activist's world, with the focus splintering into a multitude of passionate ineffectualities. She's done her bit and had her moment of broader relevance, and now things have moved on."

What's Cindy Sheehan doing with Hugo Chavez? Yeah, she's a citizen, she can be where she likes, but whatever she does right now is real public. This just in: Hugo Chavez is not a nice guy. It's like the whole Fidel Castro thing: You may be bitterly opposed to American policies toward Cuba -- and I am -- but it's not because Castro is a saintly martyr. Chavez also played kissy-face with Saddam Hussein. So did Donald Rumsfeld, but that doesn't make it right.

Here's a little rule for citizens of the United States: Don't get involved in South American politics. You are out of your depth.

Now Cindy Sheehan is talking about running for senator against Dianne Feinstein. That is such a bad idea. She'd be doing it to bring attention to issues that matter, a lot like Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader ran for president in 2000, split the vote and gave us George Bush, and that's the issue I remember. Also: Never ride in a Corvair.

There's stuff that Cindy Sheehan could do right now. There are boatloads of veterans' issues, from stop-loss policies to inadequate body armor to stress-related mental illness -- they all need attention. It's not as if Cindy Sheehan's work here is done; it's just beginning. But there's also the danger of turning into, I dunno, Marabel Morgan. Who? Exactly.