Snowballs in Pensacola

A few days ago someone named Nitpicker over at Daily Kos posted a big cheer for Northwest Florida congressional candidate Joe Roberts (D-Gulf Breeze).

Joe's a "fighter," he says. "A Marine who served in Vietnam and continued to serve in the National Guard until 2005 -- including an active duty stint in Operation Enduring Freedom... ." Having interviewed him and studied up on his issues, says Nitpicker, Joe Roberts embraces "a conservatism we can get behind."

Who's the "we" in that? Well, given the general sentiments of most Daily Kos subscribers, it's a good bet "we" doesn't mean Dick Cheney fans or Chevron stockholders.

It's certainly true that Roberts is no screaming liberal. As another Kos subscriber, by the name of sagra, pointed out the next day in comments to a follow-up article, here in Northwest Florida --

We have Eglin AFB, Pensacola NAS, and a lot of old military families who decided to retire where it's warm.

No real progressive has a snowball's chance in hell here. Electing a conservative who's not afraid to call Bush on his shit would be a dream come true.

What many seem to have forgotten is that it wasn't that long ago that another politician running for Congress was considered to have no better than a snowball's chance in hell. His name was Joe Scarborough. An inexperienced recent law school graduate, when Scarborough first decided to run he thought he would be up against a 16-year incumbent Democratic congressman, Earl Hutto, for a seat that a Republican had never won. Hutto unexpectedly retired, and Scarborough won in a landslide.

In short, lightning can strike. Even for snowballs.

One sure advantage Roberts has is his veteran status as a Marine, a Vietnam vet, and a long-time National Guard member. His opponent, Jeff Miller, never served in the military. He's just another "chickenhawk" who enthusiastically votes for wars so long as someone else fights them.

Nitpicker is urging individual on-line campaign donations to Roberts (with that cute 1 penny add-on to signal where it came from) through Act Blue or Joe Robert's own campaign web site.

But if you prefer the opposition, you can throw some money at these guys, who will surely be funnelling it to Roberts' opponent sooner or later.

Amplification Dept.
Why Now? has more about Joe Roberts.