Steve King is one of the most loathsome members of Congress, but that is not news to most people.  A compendium of his greatest hits can be found here.  My personal favorite is his observation that Al Qaeda will be dancing in the streets if Obama wins. If not Wanker of the Year, he is certainly a contestant.

But this diary is about the man who is running to retire him:  Rob Hubler, minister, veteran, and passionate progressive.  

Domestic violence is an issue close to my heart, and Hubler is not only on the right side of it, but began his campaign with visits to shelters and talking about the need to fund them.

In his speech on Saturday, he did a great riff on the theme of "where I come from."

Granny Doc is always reminding us to support the DNC, and a contribution with your credit card is a great way to do it.  But there are other ways to contribute.  (Remember "Had Enough"?) I am asking for help to defeat one of the wingnuttiest people in the Congress, Steve King of Iowa.  

Steve King is the bigot who said that Al Qaeda would be dancing in the streets if Obama wins.  Desmoinesdem has a handy catalog of his sins here, and there are a lot of them.  Last week he asked Scott McClellan why he couldn't have taken his accusations to the grave with him.  (If Scotty's old friends had known what a sensation his book would be, he might have.)

If King loses, I personally will be dancing in the streets with anyone who cares to join me.  

Congressman Steve King (R-IA) asked Scott McClellan today whether he could not have "taken some of this with you to the grave and done this country a favor?"  If I were McClellan's insurance carrier, I would assess that he is a better risk now that this testimony is on the record under oath. You, too, can do your country a favor, and help Steve King achieve the retirement of his dreams--building a border fence as a volunteer citizen to keep the brown people out.  

Clinton's comments to the Argus today, about the assassination of RFK, took me back to the Obama rally in Des Moines Tuesday night.  Standing on an outdoor stairway above the stage, I had to get out of the way of the SWAT team as they ran up the stairs.  They were in fatigues, or all-black, with their pants tucked into their boots and hair in moussed spikes, carrying long guns.  They joined the police officers and Secret Service agents who were already spread out above the site of the speech, and in droves around the stage. I both hated to see them, and was glad they were there.

The thought that the hatred that abounds in any campaign could result in murder is disturbing.  But for Obama, it feels as though the risk is greater--because of race, the false Muslim rumors associating him with terrorism, and the fuel that the Clinton campaign keeps adding to this smoldering threat.  To them, I say:  Not this time.  

What can an ordinary person do in response?  

NPR's Political Junkie, Ken Rudin, has Selden Spencer's campaign button on display in this week's column.  Calling Spencer a "long shot," Rudin says: "Latham has never shown any signs of vulnerability in the past, but an internal Spencer poll had him trailing by 11 points -- with Latham under 50 percent."

Latham is more vulnerable than Rudin's brief analysis suggests.