| Jim Esch held his campaign kickoff at the IBEW Hall in Omaha, Nebraska tonight. Former Congressman John Cavanaugh and Public Service Commissioner Anne Boyle kicked off the event, and introduced Jim Esch to an enthusiastic crowd of supporters.
Esch laid out his vision for this race, which he says will be about change and leadership in Washington. The former was a key theme of Esch's last campaign for Congress, while the latter has been sorely lacking from Rep. Lee Terry.
Some of the highlights:
Esch said he has asked Lee Terry to reject PAC money, and if Terry did, Esch would do the same. Otherwise, Esch said, he's not going to run with one hand tied behind his back.
He recognized that this race is going to be tougher, that it will not be an "under the radar" race this time, and that Terry won't ignore him this time. (I can attest to this, as I have seen a Lee Terry fundraising letter that calls out Jim Esch and Richard Carter by name, in addition to roughly a dozen uses of the word "liberal.")
He laid out quite clearly how Lee Terry has failed this district, using one of my favorite comparisons from the 2006 campaign: Hal Daub. Now, readers of the New Nebraska Network - and the crowd at this kickoff event, including Daub's former mayoral opponent Brenda Council, - don't agree with Daub's politics. But, Esch pointed out, Daub as a Congressman did write and pass a significant number of bills. Lee Terry? Wrote a bill to rename a post office.
I came away impressed, both with the turnout for the event, and the candidate. It appears that Esch is picking up where he left off in 2006, but he's promising a new, improved version of the campaign.
We'll see how Esch and Carter match up on April 15, when the FEC filings are due and the two candidates hold their first debate. |
