Pick a Progressive Patriot: Governors - 2006 Here are the ten candidates nominated by the grassroots and selected by Senator Feingold.    Phil Angelides (CA) Phil Angelides is running for Governor to make California a place of fairness and broad opportunity in the 21st century, where all of our people can succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy. Phil Angelides has been called the “anti-Arnold” because Phil stood up to Schwarzenegger from the beginning and articulated a different vision for our future – one of fairness, opportunity, and investment. When Governor Schwarzenegger was turning kids away from college, breaking his school funding promises, and attacking the pensions of public servants, Phil Angelides stood up and fought for students, schools, and working families. To meet the challenge of a global economy, Phil Angelides will seek to invest across the board – in educating our children, in training our workers, in building our infrastructure, in developing renewable sources of energy – so that we can win the high-wage jobs of the future and build new industries and opportunities for all. To visit Angelides’s website, please go to http://www.angelides.com/. John Baldacci (ME) Family. He learned the value of hard work by working alongside seven brothers and sisters at his family’s Italian restaurant, Momma Baldacci’s in Bangor, spending long hours waiting tables, washing dishes, and listening closely to his customers worries and dreams. Courage. He empowered Maine families by casting a strong safety net with real solutions. Despite the Bush administration, today more Mainers are in school than ever. Business is strong with new jobs and a robust economy. Families are healthier and happier thanks to the country’s most innovative healthcare program, Dirigo Health. Experience. Elected to the Bangor City Council at 23, John served in the state senate for twelve years. In 1994, John bucked the national Republican trend by becoming one of only fourteen freshman Democrats elected to the U.S. House. He won by serving spaghetti in little towns tucked away across the largest congressional district east of the Mississippi. John’s website is online at http://www.governorbaldacci.com/.     Lucy Baxley (AL) Lucy Baxley grew up on a farm in rural Alabama. Her faith and her simple rural upbringing shaped the values she maintains today. In 1994, Lucy chose to follow her passion for public service and ran a successful campaign for State Treasurer. She was re-elected for a second term by an overwhelming majority. In 2002, Lucy ran for the Lieutenant Governor becoming the first woman elected to that position. In June, Lucy won the Democratic nomination with 60% of the vote. She will now face Republican Governor Bob Riley in November. Lucy is traveling the state talking about restoring the public’s trust in government. Lucy has proposed strong ethics and fundraising reform to bring the light of day into the political process. Furthermore, Lucy has detailed plans for small business development and education reform which can all be seen at her website: www.lucybaxley.com. Join Lucy’s team and together we can make Alabama work for the people once again. Mike Beebe (AR) As a state senator and attorney general, Mike Beebe has worked for more than 20 years to represent the people of Arkansas because he believes in Arkansas. He believes that – working together – we can build a healthier, more prosperous future for ourselves, our children and the generations to come. As he said the day he announced for governor, “You can’t come up the way I did and not believe that anything is possible.” Beebe was raised by a single parent, a mother who worked to raise her son on a waitress’s tips. She taught him the importance of education, and Mike Beebe wants to make the world-class education he received in Arkansas public schools a reality for every child. As the Democratic nominee and the next Governor of Arkansas, Beebe is focused on creating jobs, providing affordable and accessible health care and ensuring that children get only the best from public schools. Visit Mike’s website, http://www.mikebeebe.com/.     Chet Culver (IA) Chet Culver is running for Governor of Iowa. A former public school teacher and coach, Culver is a proud Democrat and fifth-generation Iowan. He is running to lead Iowa in declaring its independence from foreign oil by investing in renewable energy, to restore educational excellence by paying teachers what they deserve, and to ensure that every Iowan has quality, affordable health care – especially the 52,000 Iowa kids who don’t have it today. He will fight to raise the minimum wage, to lift Iowa’s restrictive ban on stem cell research, and protect a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. Culver needs your help: Iowa is the only state in the nation where a Democratic incumbent governor is not seeking re-election – and the national Republican machine is lining up behind his opponent Congressman Jim Nussle, who has presided over record deficits and mean-spirited spending cuts as House Budget Chairman. To visit Chet online, please go to http://www.chetculver.com/. Charlie Fogarty (RI) Charlie Fogarty is Rhode Island’s best chance in 12 years to reclaim the Governor’s office. Two recent polls show Fogarty with a slim lead over the incumbent Republican. The state’s public matching funds program combined with an aggressive fundraising plan now guarantee Charlie will have the ability to match his self-financed opponent dollar for dollar. The Democratic Governors Association has target the race as one of the top 5 in the country and has pledged to commit resources to the race. In 1998, Charlie was elected Lieutenant Governor defeating the Republican incumbent even as the Republican Governor was re-elected by 11 points. He was elected to a second term in 2002 by a wide margin of victory. Fogarty has served as Lt. Governor following eight years as State Senator. Fogarty has redefined the role of Lieutenant Governor, turning it into an active, policy-driven position dedicated to finding real solutions to issues important to all Rhode Islanders. To visit Charlie online, please go to http://www.citizensforfogarty.com.     Jennifer Granholm (MI) A fiscal hawk, Jennifer M. Granholm inherited $4 billion in budget deficits and responded by trimming the state government while aggressively pursuing her top priorities of growing Michigan’s economy and maintaining the state’s high quality of life. Granholm crafted the most comprehensive jobs plan in the country, including programs to match workers with job openings and a $2 billion fund to diversify Michigan’s economy. While battling a Republican legislature, Granholm has raised the state’s minimum wage and instituted higher graduation standards in Michigan’s high schools. Currently she is fighting to make Michigan the first state in the nation to ensure access to college or vocational training for every child and to establish the MI First Health Care Plan that would extend health insurance to more than 500,000 Michigan citizens who lack coverage. After four years as the state’s first female Attorney General, Granholm was elected governor of Michigan in 2002. To visit Jennifer’s website, please go to http://www.granholmforgov.com. Ted Kulongoski (OR) Governor Ted Kulongoski was born in rural Missouri in November 1940 and spent most of his childhood in a Catholic boys’ home. After high school he joined the Marine Corps, serving in Thailand during the early days of the Vietnam conflict. When he returned home he worked as a truck driver and a bricklayer before going to college under the GI Bill and receiving both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Missouri. Ted Kulongoski made a lifelong commitment to serving the people of Oregon, working previously as a state legislator, the Oregon insurance commissioner, Oregon Attorney General, a state Supreme Court justice and, since 2003, as Oregon’s Governor. Throughout that time, he’s taken on the tough issues and stood up to special interests. During his first term, Governor Kulongoski led Oregon’s economic rebound from the highest unemployment rate to the fifth fastest growing economy in the nation. He helped create over 100,000 new jobs, reversed the decline in the state manufacturing sector and helped over 10,000 Oregon workers receive training in critical areas like health care and information technology. He even challenged the Bush administration to negotiate free trade agreements that do not undermine state and local laws. To visit Ted’s website, please go to http://www.tedforgov.com/.     Bill Ritter(CO) Bill, 49, was born in Colorado and raised on a farm east of Denver, the sixth of 12 children. Bill’s father left the family when Bill was 13. Bill started working full time in construction at age 14 to help support the family. As a member of the local laborer’s union, he worked as a pipe layer to pay his way through college and law school. He earned his law degree from the University of Colorado in 1981 and was hired as a Denver deputy district attorney. In 1987, Bill and his wife, Jeannie, left Denver to manage and expand a nutrition center in Zambia, Africa. Returning home in 1990, Bill worked as a federal prosecutor. In May 1992, Bill returned to the DA’s Office. He was appointed Denver’s district attorney in 1993 and served until 2005. Bill and Jeannie have been married for 22 years. They have three sons and a daughter. To visit Bill’s website, please go to http://www.ritterforgovernor.com/. Ted Strickland (OH) Ted Strickland is the U.S. Representative for Ohio’s Sixth Congressional District, and the Democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio. Ted was born in Lucasville in 1941, the eighth of nine children. He didn’t grow up in privilege—As a child, his home burned down, leaving him and his family to live in a chicken shack until his father could convert their barn into a new home. His family’s spirit of sacrifice and love led him to become the second in his family to graduate from high school and the first to graduate from college, as well as to become a Methodist minister, an administrator at a children’s home, licensed psychologist and a U.S. Representative. Ted has proposed a series of bold reforms under the umbrella “TurnAround Ohio” that aims to keep and grow the jobs Ohio has by investing in our state’s strengths and to bring the jobs of the future to Ohio by making sure we have the best-educated workforce possible. To visit Ted’s website, please go to http://www.tedstrickland.com/.