Begala: “Sowers Is Everything You'd Want In An Up-And-Coming Young Leader”

CNN Commentator and Democratic strategist Paul Begala has some very nice words for 8th Congressional District candidate Tommy Sowers today in The Huffington Post:

I must say I tried to talk him out of it [running for Congress]. The district, I said, is too Republican, and the election cycle too challenging. Tommy would have none of it. This is his home, he said, and this is his duty.

While the district is undeniably Republican-leaning, Sowers is at home there in a way the incumbent, Jo Ann Emerson, is perhaps not. Emerson's husband, Bill, represented the area until his death in 1996, and Jo Ann Emerson succeeded him. She has won by overwhelming margins ever since. But her background is more K Street than Cape Girardeau. A former Washington lobbyist, Emerson has over the years been a darling of Washington PACs. In fact, 56.9% of the money she has raised in her career has been from PACs. She risks being seen as of Washington special interests, by Washington special interests and for Washington special interests.

Sowers' mission will be to ride what could be an anti-incumbent wave all the way to Congress. And he won't do it on a wing and a prayer. Fueled by his fellow veterans, Sowers raised $204,000 in just the first three weeks of his campaign. That's more than Emerson's last five Democratic challengers combined. Emerson will not be able to coast to victory on the 25-to-1 fundraising advantage she has held in the past.