Thanks to Chris Lugo/Green Party

I almost forgot to thank CHRIS LUGO, the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate, and the rest of the Green Party candidates for giving TN voters a PROGRESSIVE alternative to the conservative Democratic and Republican candidates. I am a Democratic Socialist, not a Green Party member, but I appreciate the work the Green Party candidates did, especially Chris Lugo, in championing the issues that a REAL progressive Democratic candidate should be fighting for in Tennessee. Chris only got about 2500 votes, but every one of those votes, including mine, was vote for progressive values and NOT a vote for conservative Democrat Harold Ford Jr., who sold out much of the Democratic party's base to appeal to the conservative theocratic base of the Republcian Party--and he still lost! And for those Democrats who will try to blame those of us who voted for Chris Lugo for Jr.'s defeat, do your math! Ford lost by over 50,000 votes, Chris got 2500! So you can stop blaming the Green Party for the failures of the Democratic Party!

Here's part of Chris Lugo's message to his supporters on his website which I would like for you to read:

"My main objective in running for office this year was to give peace a voice at the ballot box. About 2500 people felt so strongly about peace that this is what they voted for on November 7th and I think that is very exciting. I hadn't planned on stepping into such a big race nor such a tight race this year, and in many ways it was just a good year to run. The Senate seat was an open seat, the representative stepping down was the Senate majority leader, the major party candidates were both conservative and the race was tight so it was getting a lot of national media attention.
I made a lot of Democrats nervous this campaign season and Harold Ford Jr. spent a lot of energy on telling the Democrats not to vote Green. His campaign called me the "Tennessee Ralph Nader" and told Democrats not to give in to the temptations of the Green party again like they did in 2000. The pressure and bullying that the Democratic party took this year with Greens and progressives was huge and it worked, but it still didn't bring them victory in Tennessee. I think was an important lesson, which goes to show that even if you decide to sell out your vote, you still might lose.
Perhaps it is a calculated gamble that some progressives are willing to make, I would estimate that several percentage points of Democrats made that choice this year in Tennessee, and decided to vote for someone who has voted for war, voted for torture, voted against civil rights for the glbt community, voted for limiting first amendment rights and sat in a church with a cross behind him while he informed voters that he voted for the patriot act, against immigrants and proudly boasted of voting for five trillion dollars in defense expenditures in the last ten years."

Thanks Chris! Hopefully the "Democratic Party" and voters in Tennessee will wake up and demand that the TN Democratic Party offer voters a real alternative to the Republican Party.

I will continue to support PROGRESSIVE Democratic candidates and work to save the Democratic Party in TN, but I will not lift ONE FINGER to help conservative Democrats!