Chris Owens

Margaret's diary about Paul Robeson, jr. reminded me of my friend, Chris Owens, who recently ran unsuccessfully for Congress in my district. Chris has taken the infrastructure he built in his very grassroots bid for Congress and is trying to perpetuate it, trying to prevent the usual progressive grassroots practice of disbanding after each effort to have to reinvent themselves each time a good candidate comes along. I have written about Chris before as one example of what I call a "community canidate," one who has a record of helping the community before running for office.

Chris now has his own blog, which I recommend people pay some attention to because Chris is intelligent, articulate and very progressive. He leans a bit to the left of me, but is a very smart man.

Many have already started backing horses in the 2008 Democratic primary. I tend to stay neutral and open minded until fairly late in the game. I admit that I am eyeing John Edwards for various reasons, mostly strategic. In some ways I am getting a gut feeling (and my political gut feelings have been reasonably acurate in the past) that and Edwards/Richardson ticket would be our best shot at winning. Once I formulate my gut feeling a bit more, I may even blog on that. But my personal preferences remain undecided.