Special Note from William Rivers Pitt

Thomas Paine wrote about days that try our souls. He'd probably be repeating himself if he'd been in the Illinois 6th this week. Schakowsky, Durbin, Obama, Kerry, Pelosi and indeed the entire DCCC decided that this was the week to throw their weight behind party-anointed candidate Tammy Duckworth, this was the week to throw Christine Cegalis under the bus, this was the week to shut these pesky progressives up and elect a candidate whose sole qualification for office is her ability to follow orders. Right about now, you all are probably thinking about hanging it up, about the futility of fighting the national party, about where and how you could better put in time and effort that didn't leave you feeling like you've been kicked in the head. Nobody can blame you; hell, it takes an extraordinarily devoted person to roll the rock up the hill full in the knowledge that it will probably roll back down over you. Here's the thing, though: this is good news. If Christine Cegalis was no threat to the DCCC's desire to manage things from soup to nuts, they wouldn't bother lining up all these heavies against her. If Christine Cegalis didn't bring so much to the table - her talent, her experience, her desire to affect real change, her progressive values - the DCCC and all these heavies wouldn't be looking this way. They are looking this way. You have all their attention. You are doing amazing work, historic work, and the fact that they have thrown all this mess against the wall (hoping it will stick) is proof positive that you are having an effect. These are the times that try our souls, yes, but these are also the times that change the rotation of the planet. In your hands rests the power to make political gravity reverse itself, the power to turn down to up, the power to send all the old machine politics flying into space. You are part of a national fight, one that is taking place from one side of the country to the other. We are all sweating bullets, we are all bulldogging through the trying of our souls. You are part of history, and you are making a difference. Civil War historian Bruce Catton famously described General Ulysses Grant as someone who constantly wore the expression of a man who had made up his mind to run his head through a stone wall. Make that your game face. The stone wall before you is weaker than it looks. Stout hearts, William Rivers Pitt Editorial Director Progressive Democrats of America