Perpetual candidate Stan Lippmann, whose running for U.S. Congress this time around, is getting weirder and more interesting with every passing year. Stan says he's fed up with left-wing identity politics--which he labels "fascist"--and his intellectual evolution has landed him in the libertarian party. Lippmann's theories (public schools and the defense budget should both be abolished, COINTELPRO agents poisoned him) are much more interesting in a libertarian cloak than in his usual progressive guise. Stan actually has an opponent for the libertarian slot on this fall's general election ballot, Brien Bartels. A longtime libertarian, Bartels is mighty bitter about Lippmann's recent conversion to libertarianism. We might be upset too if Bartels were more than a stock anti-drug-war libertarian without much else to offer. If you care very deeply about which libertarian goes on to the general election in November (and if you do, there's something wrong with you), we recommend a vote for Stan Lippmann.

But if you're hung up on voting for someone sane... we recommend that you vote for reliable-if-dull, liberal-if-ineffectual, would-some-damn-Dem-please-challenge-this-guy-in-a-primary-already, Congressman-for-Life Jim McDermott.

 

 

Jim McDermott
Downers Grove High School (Downers Grove, Illinois), 1954· Idolized baseball stars Andy Pafko and Jackie Robinson

· Most embarassing moment: Geometry teacher gave him a D

 

Stan Lippmann
Grassy Knoll High School (Dallas, Texas), 1963· Lost virginity during alien abduction

· Fought flouridization of water fountains

· Ran against "fascist" Tommy Jones for student council

 

OUTSIDE SEATTLE: There are a slew of incumbent Democrats west of the Cascades running for reelection. Rick Larsen up north, Brian Baird out of Olympia, and Adam Smith in the South Seattle 'burbs are running unopposed in their primary races; Norm Dicks in Tacoma has a D primary opponent of no consequence. All four of these D incumbents have out-raised their Republican challengers, and they all look like winners come November. Unfortunately, incumbent Jennifer Dunn from Bellevue--an R who voted against campaign finance reform, for presidential fast-track authority, against HMO accountability, and for the 1999 financial deregulation act that destroyed your 401 (k)--is also far outpacing her anticipated Democratic challenger for the general election, Heidi Behrens-Benedict, who is running unopposed for the D nomination. If Behrens-Benedict does well in the primary, she will be able to raise some money for the general election, putting her in a better position to challenge $1.5 million (so far) Dunn. If you live in Dunn's district, vote Behrens-Benedict.