Look at the recent Daily Bits on the website. Then there were four, and then two. Letter to the Guardian – Trump, Modi, and Fascism.
Political Note #273 Daniel Whitfield Arkansas US Senate
2020 General Election
These Notes usually support a candidate in a race close enough that a substantial infusion of money could make a difference. Preserve a Democratic seat or flip a Republican one. For David Whitfield, an infusion of money would make this independent candidate a nuisance to the incumbent, Tom Cotton. We need to annoy Tom Cotton. He has no Democratic opponent. We need him to have an opponent that will make him stay home and defend his seat, not traipse around the country supporting Republican candidates.
Daniel Whitman https://danwhitcongress.us/ is extremely unlikely to win this election. Why support an Independent when the goal is to support Democrats? When we need more elected Democrats at every level? We needed more Democrats before Donald Trump was elected President, Republicans had abandoned ordinary Americans out of love for corporations and the super rich. Since Trump became President, the distance between the parties is greater, the need for Democratic success is even greater.
Democrats are not fielding a candidate for the US Senate in Arkansas. When I first learned that Arkansas had no Democratic candidate, I shrugged my shoulders and thought – there was no chance in Arkansas anyhow. Recently, the Arkansas incumbent up for election behaved like a candidate with no opponent. Republican Senator Tom Cotton is a smart young man (Harvard College, Harvard Law School, US Army in Afghanistan ) . Talking about the coronavirus, he was too smart for his own good.
Tom Cotton echoed fringe theories. He claimed the coronavirus is a Chinese biological weapon. His reasoning? The Chinese have a research laboratory not far from the market where the coronavirus appears to have originated. That’s his reasoning. Cotton contributes the following statement to our efforts to control a dangerous disease. China has been “lying from the beginning, and they’re still lying today.”
Cotton almost had a Democratic opponent. Josh Mahoney was running. He stumbled a couple of times, then fell down flat. The Republicans tripped him while he was falling over his own feet. There was no getting up.
Mahoney first had difficulty with his federally required financial disclosure form. Questioned by the press, his fourth and final effort to get it right no longer claimed that he was a small business owner and acknowledged that he had no income during the previous two years. His wife, however, was a vice president for Walmart.
In a previous, unsuccessful Congressional campaign, Mahoney’s wife was the treasurer. This time, he hired Amy Gray, formerly the treasurer for Michael Avenotti’s PAC. Not a step to encourage confidence.
The Republicans saved the best for last. “Last” was after the filing deadline. Republicans told Mahoney what they had. They haven’t told the public. Neither has Mahoney. We know a little bit. We know the Republicans had a video of Mahoney joking about being a “kept man.” The video plus whatever else the Republicans showed Mahoney led him to withdraw from the Senate race. Family problems, he said.
Arkansas law prohibits a party from replacing a candidate who withdraws from a race. Except. Moving out of state works. Serious illness works. So does death. That’s it. The Democrats could not replace Mahoney.
Instead, look at the Independent. Look cautiously. Daniel Whitfield is not someone likely to win the election. He could be a nuisance. He could make Tom Cotton uncomfortable, make Cotton pay attention to Arkansas rather than running around the country supporting Republican candidates.
Here is cautious look at Daniel Whitfield. His story reads like a kind of parable. Begin with his wife’s name. Her name is Fem. Consider the places he lived. He was born in Clearlake. He lived in Nice and in Discovery Bay. Now he lives in Bella Vista. Could you make these names up? You could, but these are real places and his wife is real.
I do my research online. There isn’t much there about Daniel Whitfield, He has a website and a Facebook page. I found a story about him in an online alternative newspaper – The Sparx Tribune. On his Facebook page, he acknowledges he voted for Bernie Sanders in Arkansas’ open Democratic primary. Tells someone who, as a result, won’t vote for him, that the complainer was probably planning to vote for Cotton, anyhow. He’s got a schedule of events. He speaks to Democratic organizations. He looks like he could be our guy.
Daniel Whitfield describes himself as an ordinary American. He was born in a Clearlake, California on the southern end of the lake, That is two and a half hours north of San Francisco, two hours northwest of Sacramento. His parents moved to the northern end of the lake to a town called Nice where he grew up, where his Dad left the family.
Daniel Whitfield played football there. Nice guys had some success playing football. But a near-fatal diving injury put an end to Daniel Whitfield’s football career. He took up video games instead. Seriously. He tinkered with characters and received compensation for the revisions. He created a new character and sold it. Earning money with video games.
His mom was earning money. She worked three jobs after her husband left. One job was for a car dealer. She learned her way around the business, moved to Discovery Bay closer to San Francisco and Sacramento, got a job with another car dealer, and earned enough to buy her own house.
Daniel Whitfield, encouraged by the purchaser of his new game character, took off for the Louisiana oil fields. He lasted for two years as a technician, but left after twelve hour days become much too much. He moved to Reno where his father was, worked in security in a Resort, moved up in the ranks, and met Fem.
Daniel Whitfield moved to the Bay Area to be near his Mom and got a job as a cable guy. He loved the work, loved talking to the customers. He became a consultant for people with different cable firms. He got picked up by Cox who transferred him to Arkansas.
He liked Arkansas and the lower cost of living. Daniel Whitfield could afford to buy a house with his pay, but could not see a future working at that lower level of pay. He went to community college. To earn his keep, he delivered Domino Pizza.
In this modern day Pilgrim’s Progress, Daniel Whitfield learned something about the American safety net. He and Fem used SNAP to buy food when their income was low enough to qualify. They relied on WIC when Fem was pregnant and their income was low. Unemployment insurance helped them pay the bills.
Daniel Whitfield is young enough so that he can say, without a sense of irony, to his prospective constituents, that “We are just a regular working-class family that has been through it all, just like you. These are the reasons why I want to represent you, because I know what you’re going through, I know your struggles, and I feel your pain.”
We could use someone from Arkansas who tells us he feels our pain.
He describes himself as a progressive independent. The Sparx Tribune says his platform is based on single-payer health care, a $15 minimum wage, and other progressive priorities. Asked about Julian Assange – hero or villain, Daniel Whitefield answers “hero.” He describes politicians as bribe-takers from corporations and billionaires. He advocates a jobs guarantee. His website describes an interest in openness and responsiveness and direct democracy that carries more than a hint of the instant internet democracy ideals of the Italian Five Star Movement.
Give Daniel Whitfield https://danwhitcongress.us/ some financial support. You might not want to sell the farm so you can underwrite the campaign. Tom Cotton reports $4.5 million cash on hand. Daniel Whitfield reports none. His website shows January expenditures of a little more than $200. Make Daniel Whitefield a nuisance for Tom Cotton. His nuisance value is worth $25 or $50. I’ll contribute. I hope you do, too.
Help some Democratic candidates for the Senate, too.
The most vulnerable incumbent Democrat
Alabama Reelect Doug Jones
Another vulnerable incumbent Democrat
Michigan Reelect Gary Peters
Democrats running against the most vulnerable Republican incumbents
Arizona Elect Astronaut Mark Kelly
North Carolina Elect Environmentalist businessman Cal Cunningham
Colorado*
Democrats running against other vulnerable Republicans
Alaska Physician and Commercial Fisherman Al Gross
Georgia Pastor Raphael Warnock
Iowa Businesswoman Theresa Greenfield
Kansas Physician and ex Republcan State Sen Barbara Bollier
Kentucky Former fighter pilot Amy McGrath
Maine Maine House Majority Leader Sara Gideon
Mississippi Former Congressman and Ag Secretary Mike Espy
South Carolina Former Party Chair Jaime Harrison
* Is former governor and presidential candidate John Hickenlooper far enough ahead of the rest of the Democratic primary field tp definitely be the nominee?
