One of the favorite refrains I have noticed online and offline is that it is only bloggers that are upset at the Delaware Democratic Party’s boneheaded move in paying for an ad for Carney. They say this is a made up issue and we are complaining about nothing.
“If we gain the majority in the House, we will be that much more effective in making change in the lives of Delawareans,” said state Sen. David P. Sokola, D-Newark. “Our priority should be to elect Democrats.”
New Castle County Councilwoman Stephanie McClellan said Carney could restore a “good record of helping Democrats get elected” if he returned the advertising money. State Rep. Melanie George Marshall, D-Bear, said people donate to the party to support ideals, not to take a side in primary elections.
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Carney has lost the endorsement of Sen. Karen E. Peterson, D-Stanton, though. Peterson wrote Carney a letter this week to explain why she was switching her support to Markell.
“I had done some soul searching and came to a difficult decision …,” she said. “He had assured me that he would distance himself from the Minner administration in public ways and my support was contingent on that. I don’t see that happening.”
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Dave Carter of Townsend said the party’s ad made him decide to volunteer more hours to Markell’s campaign.
“I have stayed out of partisan politics for 20 or 30 years, but with Obama and Markell I see new ideas, new energy and it got me excited,” he said. “Now the party is slamming the umbrella down and shutting me out. At first I was really mad, but now I am energized.”
Adgate is not a made up issue. It is not a issue just understood or kept alive by the blogosphere. It is issue because it angers half the party, from pro-Markell and non-Markell bloggers alike. From your average and previously unengaged citizen to your Democratic State Senator.
The Del Dems’ actions in Adgate are wrong, not because we say it is, but because it is. It unnecessarily divides the party, when we did not have to be divided.