G's up Ashdown!

Pete Ashdown Runs a Unique Campaign Against Senate Fixture Orrin Hatch

By Tracy Medley, 8-22-06

Pete Ashdown is running a different kind of political campaign. He keeps a blog, has a Myspace account and freely admits that he doesn’t know everything.

Ashdown, who is running as the Democratic candidate for Senate and hopes to unseat Orrin Hatch this November, is actually making some headway with his grassroots efforts and shoestring budget, raising just over $100,000 for his campaign so far. Signs for the Pete Ashdown campaign have been cropping up in more Salt Lake City lawns than one might imagine, though, it has recently been reported on Ashdown’s homepage that several signs in the Foothill neighborhood have been removed and in most cases stolen from private property. The campaign will be replacing all of the missing signs.

To call his bid for senate a David and Goliath scenario is a gross understatement, but Ashdown seems undaunted, even with a spate of stolen lawn signs and the Hatch campaign’s war chest at $2.5 million and rising. In spite of this congested strongbox, Sen. Hatch will be hosting a $500 per plate campaign fundraiser with President Bush during his visit to speak at the American Legion convention. A move that is even causing consternation among some of Hatch’s Republican compadres with far less bloated campaign funds.

In direct response to the Hatch campaign’s dinner with President Bush, Ashdown himself has promised to buy dinner for 150 people, calling the event, “Feed the Hungry, Not Politicians.” He says on his campaign blog, “I am personally buying dinner for up to 150 people at the Alta Club on August 29th at 6:00 PM. This dinner will be financed out of my pocket and will not draw from campaign donations. What I ask of the attendees to this dinner is to make a sizable donation to a charity of your choice that deals with hunger in America. I will have a list of suggested charities at the dinner and my staff will collect and tabulate and send the donations.”

Ashdown never wastes an opportunity to highlight his differences with Sen. Hatch and to that end recently made five campaign promises to the people of Utah as covered by Bob Bernick Jr. in the Deseret News.

• Strive for broad public collaboration on issues.
• Run an open and honest Senate office, in part by publicly posting all of his meetings.
• Promote "fair elections" by serving only three terms and push for public financing of races; eliminate Congress' seniority system by, in part, giving committee assignments and chairmanships by lottery.
• Refuse any pay raise until the federal deficit is eliminated.
• Fight against any and all kinds of Nevada nuclear testing.

While it certainly seems like the Pete Ashdown campaign is swimming upstream, it’s nice to know that some little fish aren’t afraid to get into the water.

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