Yesterday I got a tip from someone that Bill McMurray was going to try to challenge Tom Carper. I reached out to him to see what he has planned.
So far, he’s got a website, a treasurer and $500. He hopes to raise the remainder of the filing fee (another $10K) in the next few days.
He told me that his campaign was going to run to the left of Carper, as a progressive and ignite the progressives in Delaware in a way similar to the way Christine O’Donnell ignited the right-wing of the Republicans. He told me that he is a member of PDD (Progressive Democrats for Delaware) and has done a good deal of work for the American Diabetes Association in the past year.
He believes that he will be able to win over the city Democrats in Wilmington and the union votes as well. No doubt that those two blocs and progressives would carry the day, but all three are tall orders. It is especially difficult without name recognition or much of a campaign team (not to mention cash).
I don’t know a single progressive that doesn’t yearn for a replacement for Tom Carper, but none of his would-be opponents have really laid a glove on him in 20 years. Maybe he does have a glass jaw, but you gotta pay your 10,000 bucks to the state party to even get in the ring. So far McMurray has a long way to go in a very short time.