January 09, 2010 10:18 PM UTC

Where's the bloodshed?

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• by: DavidThi808

Most Democrats I talk to are thankful that the primary between Senator Bennet & Speaker Romanoff has been respectful and gentle. News alert – this is the worst possible primary for us. We need a brutal fight, with blood drawn on both sides.

Let’s say you’re a sports team. How do you get ready for the season? Do you just run drills and commend players each time they run one well? Or do you have scrimmages, lots of scrimmages? Including ones where your team is beat and learns to pick itself back up and get ready to fight the next one?

Senator Bennet has never run for office before. Speaker Romanoff has never run in a competitive race. Neither one is trained. This primary is a blessing (as a Bennet supporter I was thankful when Romanoff announced his challenge). But only if it becomes a good training for the winner going in to the general. If instead it does not become a real fight and Michael Bennet glides to an easy victory, then he will have to learn how to campaign in the general – and that is not the time for on the job training.  

And yes I know that the team behind Michael Bennet has a lot of experience. So what. Drop an inexperienced quarterback into a super-bowl winning team and you still have a “learning year.”

Speaker Romanoff, as the challenger it is your job to draw first blood. For the sake of the party, and for the sake of your own campaign, you need to start swinging. And those punches need to land – hard. Because in the general Norton/Buck will be attacking. And their attacks will connect. This primary is a chance for us to see which one of you can best handle the brutal fight we will see this fall.

Both of you (Bennet & Romanoff) will have many in the party talk about how they are worried your attack on the other helps the Republicans. Make the appropriate agreement with those people – but keep attacking. Because the attacks are not damaging either of you in the general, they are toughening you both up. Look at Obama & Clinton at the beginning of the primary, and then again at the end. Both improved an immense amount – because of their competition.

There are some very important questions that need to be answered. Like most Americans, I see us as being in a world of hurt and I am voting for the candidate that I think will be best for the country. Both of you need to force answers to these questions so we can determine which of you two will be better. And make no mistake, which ever candidate wins; these same questions will then define the general election. A primary does not invent items that would otherwise not be brought up – it just brings them up earlier.

Speaker Romanoff, here are some of the issues you should start in on:

1. What specifically is going to be done to reduce unemployment? Because for the past year the Senate has been focused exclusively in healthcare. (You might add that you are able to focus on more than one key issue at a time.)
2. Wall St. took our money to survive, and then turned around, continued with business as usual (both with obscene bonuses and endangering the economy with where they are putting our money). What is going to be done (not spoken but actually done) both to address the political issue of the banks taking our money but not sharing our sacrifice and the economic issue of there being no credit for small business.  
3. Our present course in AfPak. When we send our troops in to harm’s way the most patriotic thing is to question if this is the right course. What is the most effective way to fight Islamic terrorism?  
4. Stimulus spending vs. the deficit – what should we be doing? This is a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation – yet an answer must be found.  
5. Global warming and foreign oil.

Speaker Romanoff you will get a bit of bad press for “starting” the fight – but that will quickly pass. On the plus side, you will gain a significant advantage because you will immediately put Senator Bennet on the defensive. And we will all get to learn how Senator Bennet handles direct campaign attacks.

If not for the sake of the party, then because it’s the only way you can win – Speaker Romanoff you need to fight for this seat.