2020 General Election
2020 Defense first.
In 2017, I believed in defense first. Defend endangered US Senators. My fourth Political Note was on February 19, 2017. For Heidi Heitkamp. My ninth was on March 15, 2017. For Claire McCaskill. My eleventh was on March 23rd 2017. For Joe Donnelly. Waiting longer didn’t help. My fifty-ninth was on September 3rd. For Bill Nelson.
There are limits to my power. They all lost. When Donald Trump pats himself on the back, he claims credit for defeating those four US Senators. Sad.
In 2017, I believed in Special Elections. My thirty-second Political Note was on June 4th, 2017. For Doug Jones.
Doug Jones won a special election. There are limits to my power. I am not patting myself on the back.
This was more important that the House special elections that Democrats lost in surprisingly close races. A white hero of the Civil Rights movement, Doug Jones’ Alabama supporters demonstrated what African Americans can do. Despite voter suppression, with the help of a terrible opponent, African Americans can achieve state-wide victories in the South.
Andrew Gillum came close. Stacey Abrams came close. Some say that close only counts in horseshoes. Not true. Close brings victory next time.
Alabama is not just the South. After Mississippi, it is the toughest place in the South for African-Americans to win. Alabama is so tough, I thought Doug Jones would take his victory national. Run for President. Not going to happen, now. He would be one of forty or so Democrats who, so far, have acted as if they might run.
Doug Jones https://dougjones.com/ is focused on winning again in Alabama. He has been a more than credible Senator. As the President shuts down the government, along with anti-Trump Republicans like Bob Corker and Jeff Flake, he has been central to the effort to search for ways for the government to go back to work.
Doug Jones, prosecutor of the Ku Klux Klan, has been a Southern Democrat. An anti-racist Southern Democrat. Other anti-racists in the semi-South like Claire McCaskill or Bill Nelson could not be sustained in our divided political landscape.
Can Doug Jones survive? Don’t know. Let’s help him try. He is more than worth the effort.
Remember who he is.
You might think the Civil Rights Movement was over by 1992. Not in Alabama. Five months after taking office as US Attorney, Doug Jon. s received national attention when a bomb exploded at a Birmingham women’s health clinic, killing a police officer and maiming a nurse. As US Attorney, he coordinated the task force (the FBI, local police, and other law enforcement) that led to Eric Rudolf’s capture and guilty plea to several bombings. The Birmingham bombing, the Atlanta Olympic bombing, and others.
Specially authorized to act in state court, US Attorney Doug Jones was the successful prosecutor of the remaining perpetrator who could be brought to trial for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Four young black girls had been killed. Jones brought the Ku Klux Klansman back to Alabama from Texas, tried him, and convicted him for killing those four girls.
Doug Jones https://dougjones.com/is a hero of the Civil Rights Movement for his work as a prosecutor. Among distinguished American prosecutors, he can recall then Deputy Attorney General, Robert Mueller, taking a particular interest in the Birmingham Church case.
After his stint as a US Attorney, Doug Jones stayed in Birmingham. His practice included white collar criminal litigation and civil litigation. He served as the appointed master for the environmental clean up of PCB’s in the Anniston, Alabama area.
Doug Jones was a founding member of Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration. His goals are consistent with the prison reform that will stand as one of the few positive achievement of the Trump era. His goalsare exactly the opposite of former Alabama Senator and former Attorney General Sessions. Sessions wanted to jail almost everyone. Joneshas sought to end excessive incarceration,
Doug Jone was president-elect of the National Association of Former US Attorneys when he was diverted to the US Senate. He waswell known in Alabama and, to a degree, nationally for his time as Bill Clinton’s appointee as US Attorney in Alabama.
We should all be taking a particular interest in Doug Jones reelection. Start 2020 with a powerful defense.
Plan on spending some money for this election. If it were not for the voter suppression, this is what democracy would look like. We had a record turnout in 2018 – now estimated at 116 million. In 2014 it was 83 million. The presidential turnout in 2016 was about 130 million. Predictions anticipate 160 million or more for 2020. Communicating with all those voters – for state offices, congressional officers, for president – is going to take money. Invest in our future.
Consider giving Doug Jones a monthly donation. He begins his campaign with more than 2 million dollars available to spend. He’ll need more. A lot more.If he is going to succeed.
