10 Reasons to Vote for Ed Fallon

This week I have been volunteering for the Fallon campaign going canvassing for about 5 hours each day and making phone calls for another 2 hours. That hasn't left much time for blogging, laundry, or mowing. This morning I am off to get some things done and thought I post this entry from MyDD by craverguy on why you should vote for Ed Fallon.

#1: Ed Fallon understands the life of ordinary Iowans. Before he became a state legislator, his was one of many, many families in Iowa that couldn't afford health insurance. He is a farmer in his spare time and his district, which he knows like the back of his hand, is in the inner-city of Des Moines, the poorest area in the state.

#2: Ed Fallon is committed to campaign finance reform. His first priority as Governor will be to pass a Clean Elections law to take the money out of state politics. But Ed Fallon is no hypocrite. He practices what he preaches. He limits his fundraising to $2400 per person and refuses donations from PACs and lobbyists. While the average donation to one of his opponents is the cost of a monthly payment on a Mercedes, Ed's average donation is the cost of dinner for four at Chili's.

#3: Ed Fallon is in touch with the grassroots. They say you can't get elected in Iowa by limiting your fundraising that severely. But Ed does it all the time. In 1992, as a political novice, he defeated a 10-year incumbent for the nomination for State Representative. In 2002, after redistricting took away 70% of his district, he was renominated against two tough opponents with 68% of the vote. How does he do it? By knocking on doors and getting out to meet the voters personally at every opportunity.

#4: Ed Fallon cares about farmers. While Blouin confines his campaign to the big cities and Culver just coasts on his lead, Ed Fallon is out there on a tour of every rural county in the state. An amateur farmer himself, Ed opposes allowing factory farms to flourish in our state and supports sustainable, cooperative farming and making sure that Iowa can feed itself solely with local food systems. The head of 1,000 Friends of Iowa, a group devoted to curbing urban sprawl, he has the most complete and aggressive plan to keep urban growth from spiraling out of control.

#5: Ed Fallon supports universal health care. Ed is the only candidate for Governor of Iowa who knows what it's like to be unable to afford health insurance. That's why Ed is the only candidate for Governor to support a system of universal, high-quality, single-payer health insurance for every Iowan.

#6: Ed Fallon is for small business and against corporate welfare. While Mike Blouin's Iowa Values Fund diverted $700 million of the state's budget toward bribing big corporations to stay in the state, Ed Fallon was coming up with a plan to encourage small businesses, which won't pack up and leave for Mexico. He supports doing away with the Values Fund and using that money to pay for better education and affordable health care and he wants more funding for Iowa's highly-successful Main Street Program and more money for Small Business Development Centers and the Loan and Credit Guarantee Fund.

#7: Ed Fallon is a believer in equal rights for all. While Chet Culver opposes civil unions and Mike Blouin hedges his position, Ed Fallon is for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. And Ed Fallon is the only candidate for Governor who is both pro-choice and anti-death penalty. Chet Culver would enact a new death penalty law and Mike Blouin is against a woman's right to choose.

#8: Ed Fallon is the best candidate on the environment. He's sat on the House Environmental Protection Committee for 13 years and his record was enough to earn him the endorsement of the Iowa Sierra Club. He has comprehensive plans to improve the abysmal water quality in Iowa, stop urban sprawl in its tracks, and make Iowa energy independent via alternative fuels by 2015.

#9: Ed Fallon is the only Democratic candidate for Governor attracting moderate Republican votes. Republicans and Independents alike are planning to cross over and vote for Ed Fallon because he supports small business, property tax cuts, and an end to further gun control, and because they respect his integrity and freedom from corporate influence.

#10: Ed Fallon is the only candidate who can make a difference. He's the only one running for Governor who depends on the people, not the powerful, to make his campaign go, so he's the only candidate whose priorities as Governor won't be determined by Big Business and lobbyists. He is a staunchly independent Democrat and his own man.