The Winds Continue to Shift

And there's a big one blowing in Pennsylvania. Popular moderate Republican Rep. Jim Greenwood has suddenly announced his decision to retire from the Hill, leaving the seat wide open for Ginny Schrader. The story's been unfolding at dKos along with an astounding $14k pickup in contributions tonight for Schrader, who had a scant $7000 in her campaign until today.

This seat is a Democratic-leaning one, and is too good to miss. Schrader is a liberal-to-moderate, pro-choice Democrat. In addition, she supports civil unions and is against Bush's positions on Iraq and the Patriot Act. She is an attorney who ran for State Rep. in 2002 and lost by a respectable margin.

This is completely out of left field, folks, and it gives us another opportunity for a pickup. Ginny Schrader is the luckiest candidate in the nation today, but can her luck hold?

That was posted before the $14k. This looks amazing. And never forget - above and beyond the presidential race, returning the good guys to the House and Senate is of paramount importance. If the Bush thugs somehow cheat and steal their way back to the White House, we'll have the checks and balances in place to hold impeachment over their sorry heads.

Al Giordano, the BigLeftOutside blogger, made an entry at his dKos diary which bears your attention - his personal relationship with Greenwood, and how this fair-minded guy came to this decision. It's the kind of thing that elevates blogging into an art form.

Why Jim Greenwood Dropped Out
by Al Giordano

Jim Greenwood and I go back a long time... Twenty-one years plus change. I was 23, he must have been in his early 30s... but I digress... first I'll cut to the quick.

At 7:00 a.m. this morning Jim called his chief of staff to say "I've made a decision." He explained that he was dropping out.

Why?

He believes Kerry is going to win.

And it's payday. He got offered a $400,000-a-year job with some company or other. I didn't get the details on that because I was more interested in the political ramifications... and when you call people who haven't heard from you forever and know they should NOT be on the phone with you, you have to pick your shots.

The Bush people are livid. They feel they will hang on to the 8th District seat (locals will understand when I say: it's Conti or Fitzpatrick, and Boss Fawkes finally gets to pick a Congressman, that's what the Repubs are saying), but they are really mad at Greenwood because he was supposed to be the "moderate Republican" point person in Southeast PA...

He goes on with a great story of Greenwood taking umbrage to a comment by Giordano - and how they settled the dispute. It's a terrific reminiscence.

Turkee for Ginny! Click here.