The Nation Magazine, May 8, 2006 Issue

When Los Angeles teacher Marcy Winograd saw her Democratic representative in Congress making excuses for George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program on NBC's Meet the Press in February, she decided that someone had to challenge Jane Harman's acquiescence in Bush's reckless agenda. So Winograd, a veteran activist who had been instrumental in getting the California Democratic Party to take a firm stand against the war in Iraq, leapt into the June 6 primary. She quickly found that others shared her frustration with Harman; Winograd's been endorsed by Progressive Democrats of America, Southern California Americans for Democratic Action, the Western Region of the United Auto Workers union and a half-dozen presidents of local Democratic clubs. Recently her supporters blocked an early Harman endorsement by the state party after Winograd told a caucus: "When elected, I will have the courage to cut funding for the war in Iraq, to say no when the imperial George Bush wants to wiretap your home without a warrant and to immediately sign on to legislation for universal single-payer national healthcare."

The members of Ithaca Progressive Democrats of America enthusiastically endorse Jonathan Tasini for U.S. Senate. Tasini, former President of the National Writers Union, is running on a platform supporting universal health care ("Medicare for All"); immediate withdrawal of US forces from Iraq; a Fair Trade policy that ensures environmental protections and workers' rights; and a massive national effort to invest in alternative energy.

In June, Tasini supporters will be petitioning to ensure him a place on the ballot in the September Democratic primary vote for U.S. Senate. Not a single member of Ithaca PDA voted for incumbent Sen. Hillary Clinton. Her record of enabling the war policies of the Bush/Cheney administration has been deeply disappointing to those of us who had hoped she might be a progressive Senator.

Tasini Waits for No Man

To the Editor:

Ben Smith does a great disservice to New Yorkers by completely ignoring the primary challenge to Hillary Clinton from Jonathan Tasini in his article, “In ’06 Election, Clinton Needs to Beat Chuck’s ’04” [April 3]. There’s a lot of time between now and September, and Mrs. Clinton is not very popular with the Democratic base.

I worked on Bill Clinton’s campaign and although I still enjoy listening to him (it provides great relief from the incoherent drivel we hear from the current inhabitant of the White House), I would not vote for his wife for anything. I heard a speech last week delivered by Mr. Tasini at Riverside Church. It was an absolute thrill to hear real ideals and actual ideas coming from a Democrat.

TASINI CALLS FOR CLOSURE OF INDIAN POINT POWER PLANT

PEEKSKILL, NEW YORK – Jonathan Tasini, candidate for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate, today called upon the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to immediately and permanently close and decommission the Indian Point nuclear power plant.

“It’s time for the NRC to act and withdraw Entergy Nuclear Northeast’s license to operate the Indian Point plant,” Tasini said. “High levels of radioactive strontium-90, nearly three times the amount permitted in drinking water, have been found in groundwater near the Hudson River beneath the Indian Point nuclear power plants, a situation not found in any of the other 103 operating nuclear plants in the United States. That is unacceptable and endangers the health of many New Yorkers.”