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5 Reasons I Like Nancy Skinner

5 Reasons I Like Nancy Skinner

There are good candidates and there are good congressmen, but there aren’t too many people who are both. To kick off my new “5” series, I am profiling one kick ass candidate who will also make a great representative: Nancy Skinner.

Nancy is the Democratic candidate who faces incumbent Joe Knollenberg, and she has one hell of a chance to win. While she isn’t a Shiawassee based candidate, I was so impressed with her that I want to make sure our residents know who she is. Democratic candidates at all levels could learn a few things from Nancy.

1. Nancy caught my attention with this quote from her Buzzflash interview:

I think progressives are the new patriots. To be patriotic means you will do what’s right for this entire country.

But there’s one quote from her 2004 campaign that I like much better:

No, I’m not running from these people who constantly demonize liberals in their magazines, best-selling right-wing books, and cable TV shows. If they want to challenge the political force that brought us the five-day work week, social security, Medicare, the cleanup of our air and water, civil rights, and twice in the last century fueled the greatest periods of economic growth with the most fiscal discipline, I say “bring ‘em on”.

And this exemplifies the first reason I really like Nancy. She’s a great communicator. She is not afraid of her progressive ideology, and she knows how to package issues and values in a package that resonates with people. This is exactly what our candidates need to be competitive, and what our Democratic representatives need to build support for our legislative agenda. Not only is Nancy a great candidate, she’ll be a great congresswoman.

2. She understands the media and works the blogosphere. Nancy is a veteran political talk show host with a history of tv and radio exposure. Having thrived in the local and national media, she started this campaign with a huge Internet following, and she’s savvy enough to put it to work. By cultivating the netroots and pulling in small donations from all over the country, she is able to spend less time fundraising and more time with the voters. Nancy blogs her campaign and actively contributes to other blogs by writing posts and distributing press releases. This tells me that she understands the power of the new media, and will not hesitate to leverage it when necessary. This is another quality that our candidates and our representatives need.

3. She values competition. Nancy understands that competition has its place, but it cannot be applied indiscriminately. For example, she advocates competition between public schools, but she opposes pulling funding from public schools to create private school competition. In her US Choice for Healthcare, she advocates allowing the government to compete with private insurers, but she doesn’t call for a government monopoly on insurance. Competition creates excellence, and Nancy knows that.

4. She understands economic development and urban renewal within the framework of sustainability. In Detroit, Nancy worked on the Fox Theater renovation and other downtown renewal projects. In Chicago, she worked on the Governors Recycling Roundtable and the Chicago Climate Exchange. Her understanding of the global economy and her passion for environmental protection make her an excellent champion for sustainability. Her background in finance will serve her well as she creates economically viable solutions to our environmental problems.

5. She’s a U of M grad. There was a day when that would be enough for me to like someone, but Ann Coulter ruined all of that.

You can show your support for Nancy at http://www.skinnerforcongress.com/