Kissell is DCCC featured candidate

Almost forgot, Rahm sent out an email yesterday about Larry Kissell. He’s the DCCC’s featured candidate on their site (for now). Got a lot of play from DavidNYC on dKos as well.
Here’s the text from the DCCC letter:

On September 9th the DCCC challenged all of our Democratic House candidates to recruit as many volunteers as possible to kick off their on-the-ground activities in their districts. Many campaigns participated, but only one won our contest – Larry Kissell who is running in North Carolina’s 8th congressional district.

I was not surprised to hear that Larry Kissell was our Action for a New Direction Day winning candidate. Larry’s campaign recruited almost 1,000 volunteers in one day — anybody who can say that is a true grassroots candidate. He has taken his message of change to the streets of North Carolina’s 8th congressional district and they have responded in overwhelming numbers.

Recently, the DCCC added him to our “Emerging Races” slate for candidates who have defied the odds in taking traditionally non-competitive districts and, through the strength of their campaigns, put themselves in a position to win in November. This seat is winnable — this congressional district is one of the highest Democratic performing districts in the south currently held by a Republican; we need to bring this seat home.

Support a True Grassroots Democrat: Contribute $25, $50 or more directly to Larry Kissell

Larry learned the concerns of working Americans growing up in the district he hopes to represent, and working as a textile employee for close to 30 years. When many of the plants left town in the last few years, he watched firsthand the devastation that our country’s blue collar manufacturing areas suffered. He’s earned the love and support of his community because he’s one of them and has been through it with them as a textile employee, and as a parent, and now as a school teacher.

Today is the last day of the last quarter before what might be the most important midterm election in recent history, and normally I’d be asking you to give the DCCC a crucial contribution before the deadline. But I am both proud and happy to ask you to give him all the support you can to match Larry Kissell’s grassroots energy with the resources he needs in this final stretch.

Support a True Grassroots Democrat: Contribute $25, $50 or more directly to Larry Kissell

There was no more important vote to the people of North Carolina than the vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA. Larry Kissell’s opponent Republican Congressman Robin Hayes told the voters in this heavy manufacturing district that he was “flat-out, completely, horizontally opposed to CAFTA” – then flipped under orders from Tom DeLay at the last second to become one of the deciding votes to pass it. The good people of North Carolina’s 8th congressional district have been served by a representative beholden to special interests and a rubber stamp for the Republican leadership for far too long.

We need to make certain that Larry Kissell has the resources to put his message of change and passion for this country on the airwaves for all the people to see.

Support a True Grassroots Democrat: Contribute $25, $50 or more directly to Larry Kissell

Right after the DCCC released the news that Larry had won our activist challenge by recruiting close to 1,000 people in one day, the Charlotte Observer ran a story on his campaign headlined “Underdog runs outside the pack.” I wanted to share a few excerpts of that article with you…
Kissell, 55, worked in management jobs at a Montgomery County hosiery mill for 27 years before leaving to teach high school in 2001. He makes $49,753 a year. To help pay for his campaign, he ran up $35,000 on a credit card.

“Obviously, we’d love to be on TV more,” Kissell says in a measured cadence. “In the meantime, we’re not bemoaning the fact we don’t have money. We’re getting the job done.”

‘Be the change’

Kissell grew up in Biscoe, where his father was the longtime postmaster. Like many mill towns, the community of 1,700 has seen a succession of plant closings. The nearby Renfro mill, where Kissell worked, closed in 2003. The buzz-cut Kissell is a lifelong teetotaler, an avid cyclist and a deacon in his integrated Baptist church. He teaches history and civics in a cinderblock classroom at East Montgomery High School. Though he’s on leave, the room continues to bear his stamp.

There’s a framed poster of two South African boys from a photo he shot on a vacation to that country last year. There are posters of Lance Armstrong and his fellow cyclists. Above the blackboard hangs a series of aphorisms such as Mahatma Gandhi’s “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
Larry is turning the conventional wisdom about politics on its head. Larry Kissell has put his heart, his soul, and his legs into this campaign and the people in his district have responded.

What Larry Kissell needs is the resources to get his message heard. Please help him do that today with a financial contribution.

Support a True Grassroots Democrat: Contribute $25, $50 or more directly to Larry Kissell

Sincerely,

Rahm Emanuel
Chairman, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

P.S. – As my friend, Democratic Rep. Brad Miller said, “Everybody wants to have ordinary folks in Congress…The problem for someone like Larry is that means he doesn’t have a Rolodex of people with a lot of money.” That’s why Larry needs your help today, just like we need Larry to be one of the 15 seats we pick up for a Democratic majority.