Draft campaign calls for Rice to challenge Inhofe in 2008

A grassroots campaign has started to draft recently elected state senator Andrew Rice to run against ultra-conservative US Senator Inhofe.

A website, www.runandrewrun.com is up and it links to an online petition which urges the young progressive (Updated: make that "typical politician" -- see comment below on HB 1804) to jump into the race, saying he ...

[...]has the right blend of real-world experience and leadership Oklahoma needs to move forward in the 21st Century. His common sense approaches to the Earth's Climate Crisis and his advocacy for Oklahoma's working families stand in direct opposition to the narrow-minded politics of the embarrassing Jim Inhofe.

Sen. Andrew Rice is exactly what Oklahoma needs in the U.S. Senate. By joining the Draft Andrew Movement, you'll not only encourage Sen. Rice to run and beat Jim Inhofe, but also signal to the country that Oklahoma is ready to regain it's rightful place as a national leader in policy and morality.

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Rice needs to call for new 9/11 investigation

Submitted by Aaron (not verified) on Thu, 04/19/2007 - 6:25am.

If Sen. Rice took a serious stance on 9/11 truth issues, he'd have my support in a heartbeat.

Even if he didn't, though, he's a heckuva lot better than Smoky Jim.


Disturbing news about Rice vote on immigration

Submitted by indy-re on Sat, 04/21/2007 - 8:08pm.

JMBzine reports that Rice voted for the horribly discriminatory immigration bill -- HB 1804. Bob Waldrop of Catholic Worker blog says of the bill:

"the "Oklahoma Citizens and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2007" [...] criminalizes the Works of Mercy in the State of Oklahoma when the recipient is an "illegal alien". The bill passed with "veto-proof" majorities in both houses and had strong support from both Democrats and Republicans, thus once again proving the old adage that there isn't a dime's worth of difference between the two major parties."

JMB is seeking a explanation from Rice's office (as well as from Anastasia Pittman, who also voted with the majority), but I can't think of any that would justify the "progressive" label for Rice. What a disappointment...

Rice explains his vote

Submitted by okimc on Fri, 05/11/2007 - 5:07pm.

Rice responded to critics at the DemoOkie forum:

HB1804 was unstopable. We had to work very very hard to negotiate for the worst aspects of the bill to be amended. The version of the bill now is very different than what Terrill orginally introduced. Sen. Leftwich and Sen. Adelson took the lead on getting the other side to compromise (both of them also voted for the bill, for the same reasons I did) and should be commended for the difficult work they each did in getting 2 very important provisions protected. 1. in state tuition for the children of undocumented workers, and 2. medicaid coverage for prenatal care for undocumented women (this was done as an amendment on a bill that we voted on 2 bills after 1804, and if you were in the gallery you would have heard me explain that my yes vote on 1804 was a very difficult vote but that I wanted to compromise in the spirit of the Republicans apparent compromise on the pending amendment, which we passed 38-9. Which is pretty astounding considering the intial Republican opposition to the provision).

We asked the Republicans to make some serious compromises and I felt I had to compromise as well to reciprocate. I understand if people are upset with me, but it was the decision that I felt I needed to made to give some to them in order to get the 2 provisions I cared most about. There was no way to stop HB1804 and because of some very intense work at the negotiating table, most of it is now made up of statutes that are already in federal law.


The meme is spreading...

Submitted by okimc on Tue, 05/01/2007 - 4:57pm.

The meme is spreading...


Very nice write up on Rice's

Submitted by okimc on Sat, 05/05/2007 - 9:43am.

Very nice write up on Rice's background from Running With Scissors, a Daily Kos diarist from Oklahoma.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/25/121059/074

But why should Rice even be considered a contender in this race, given he's a relative newcomer to politics and only just elected to the Oklahoma Senate last November?

Well, if you're an Okie, like me, you're aware of the good ole boy spectre of much of our local politics.

But you're also aware that, in fact, we have a rather outstanding populist and liberal tradition, ranging the gamut from Woody Guthrie to Fred and LaDonna Harris to Mike Synar, and that this tradition has fallen by the wayside in recent years, thanks in part to Rhema Bible College and Exxon and the Dallas Northern Migration and the general degradation in the state of affairs here, as best exemplified by Inhofe (R - Exxon).

And Rice fits nicely into this once proud populist tradition, while bringing with him personal knowledge of the issues of today. And ... he's an Okie, meaning he knows the lay of the land, in terms of the omniscient Bubba.


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