I was minding my own business. I've been trying to develop actual hobbies that have nothing to do with politics, and was playing a game on Facebook, when this image popped-up on the side bar, under the heading "A Bible Belt Liberal."
Pitt has run for office before, but it concerned me that it doesn't appear that he has filed to run with the state, and I didn't want to get excited ahead of time. Which turned out to be a good thing.
Still...this is what he wrote over at the Arkansas Times:
Yes it's true, I am running.
I got tired of waiting for a true blue Democrat to step up and run. If one with financial means ran, I would certainly reevaluate my options, but I am not holding my breath.
My opinion is if you run as a Democrat in Arkansas than you should vote with the Democrats in Washington, D.C. That means supporting a Public Option for Health Care Reform. That means supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. That means supporting an end to Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It means being a Democrat. And I don't accept the fact this is the Deep South.
The same state that produced Orval Faubus, Jim Johnson, and other conservative Democrats produced J. William Fulbright, Dale Bumpers, and Bill Clinton. The same deep South that produces blue dogs produces true blue Democrats. Regionality is no longer an issue.
Finally, there will be those who say hateful stuff. Heck, just Google my name and you see the "wiki" page they created. My response is to eloquently echo what Tyler Perry said....it's not what people call you, it's what you answer to.
I couldn't find the wiki page. So, I tried to find out if Drew Pritt and his candidacy were legit. There was an email address, so I wrote to see about getting an interview with this progressive Democrat. Came back as undeliverable.
I was able to find some information on Drew Pritt. I've put it after the jump. Trust me, it's extreme.
Drew Pritt is an Internet celebrity due to his frequent attempts to run for office, which result in vast amounts of hilarity. He has tried to run for office at least as often as Lyndon LaRouche but has been far less successful, garnering just single-digit poll numbers in the two occasions he has actually made it onto the ballot (for a city council position in Warren, AR and a county supervisor position in Bradley County, AR.) This doesn't deter him from announcing for virtually every office he can in multiple states.
Later on the page, the cited his Kos page. There's nothing recent, but it exists.
There was truly a dearth of other information.
However, there was a street address to which one could send a campaign contribution. Someone named [redacted] was named as treasurer. I found two phone numbers for [redacted]. The first one didn't work, and the second one tied to "[redacted]." Yup, [redacted]. I left a message for [redacted] but have not as of yet heard back.
My initial conclusion is that while I'd LOVE a progressive to run against Blanche Lincoln next year, Todd Pritt is not that candidate. The truly sad thing is that characters like Pritt hurt progressives everywhere, since he's not a serious person who will launch a serious campaign. From what I've been able to glean about his exploits, he's vapid, and that never helps.
UPDATE: the crossed-out paragraph relates to an email sent to DCW on 1 June 2010 from [redacted], asking that his name be removed. The web site citing him as treasurer has been taken down in the interim. At the time of posting, the information was correct as per the website for Drew Pritt for Senate, but is no longer accurate.
[redacted] wrote:
Please remove my name as I was never a part of that, or any, campaign. I do not have any political affiliations, except for being registered to vote and selecting the primary that I choose to vote in.
