marshall adame

This is a cross-post from Bloviations and is the first in a series of posts examining 2008 Primary Elections in Onslow County.

Primary 2008 over and all that’s left is to clear the battlefields of the dead and wounded. For North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, that means sweeping away Democrat Marshall Adame and Republican Joe McLaughlin.

Craig Weber defeated Marshall Adame by nearly 30,000 votes (or 39% of votes cast).

Running for Federal or Statewide office is a consuming experience for the candidate. I have been running full time, full speed and dragging anyone willing to help, for over a year in my quest for North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District seat in Congress. I have learned so much about lots of things, but mostly about people. I could go on and on about the different types of people; caring, concerned, aggressive, timid, politically consumed, apolitical and indifferent. So many backgrounds and life experiences, but all, to some degree, products of our environment.

I have loved meeting all of the people along the campaign trail and I look forward to the many I have yet to meet. I love to hear the life stories of struggle, overcoming, heartbreaks and blessings. Without trying, they have taught me lot. There is something though that I have noted; a sort of string woven into the being, culture and fabric of North Carolinians and all Americans for that matter. People want their leaders to say what they mean and mean what they say. People in America need and want Hope.

I got a call from my son today. Billy is the son who was wounded in battle in Iraq just outside of Baghdad in 2006. He has shrapnel in his neck and shoulder, still. He has had surgery on his leg and it is well again. He is suffering from, and has been diagnosed with, Traumatic Brain injury (TBI). Consequently he now has a type of Tourette Syndrome and suffers from "tics", sort of involuntary jerks or sudden movements. I am happy I still have my son.

Anyway Billy called to tell me that he has been informed, by the Army Medical Board, that he is being retired with a 50% disability. My son understood the risks of being a career Army soldier. He had seen me serving in the Marines almost his whole live as a young man. It seemed a natural transition for him when he decided to make the Military his home. He also had the understanding that the Army too understood and accepted their responsibilities to him. That part hasn’t worked out that well. Our President must not have factored in the cost of wounded soldiers when he let us borrow the money from China to wage war in Iraq.

When it comes to covering northeast North Carolina, the Virginia Pilot usually does a better job than any of our own state's papers. That was true of reporting on the Navy's misguided OLF, and it's true of coverage of Blackwater.

It started as a simple question during an online chat (at BlueNC) with Marshall Adame, a Democrat and retired Marine running for Congress in North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District. "We take great pride in being a military-friendly state," wrote a supporter. "Should that pride extend to being a mercenary-friendly state, too?"

Adame, a diplomat who spent three years in Iraq, responded that the U.S. military should have no place for private armies. "They are guns for hire," he wrote, "no more, no less."

I want to thank the BlueNC family of bloggers for their support and encouragement.

The Reception/Fundraiser in Raleigh was a great time and I got to see a lot of my friends. It was a mixed blessing of successes, some greater than others, but I am glad we did it and look forward to the now several others being planned on my behalf within the NC-03.

NC Insurance Commissioner Jim Long, Jim Neal, Mayor Don Davis, Beth Wood, Ronnie Ansley, Ed Ridpath, Kristin Ruth, and Roy Lucas all said some pretty nice things which I very much appreicate and thank them for.

Special thanks to......

On February 29th, you'll have the chance to meet Marshall Adame and Jim Neal all in one swell foop! Marshall will be holding a fundraiser at the Democratic headquarters in Raleigh, and Jim will be attending in advance of his Leap Day House Parties.

Cross-posted from Bloviations.

Raleigh's News and Observer reported today that Marshall Adame and Craig Weber have filed for the May 6th Democratic Primary.

Cross-posted at Bloviations.

Joe McLaughlin isn't the only candidate in NC-03 making the news today. Marshall Adame was spotlighted by the New Bern Sun Journal for more positive reasons, though.

Says the Sun Journal:

Mother Jones this week features a story following-up coverage here and at the Dome earlier this month. When Blackwater's EVP for Stupidity tried to intimidate Marshall Adame, it looks like he bit off more than he can chew. Of course, the EVP has its own private bulldog working to stomp out dissent and drive up profits, so it's shaping up to be an epic battle.

Adame's comments about the company have enraged Blackwater employees, including executive vice president Bill Mathews. In an internal corporate email, Mathews encouraged his colleagues to barrage Adame with mail ("he was too cowardly to put a phone number on the web," Mathews noted in the message). "[H]e wants this company and all of us to cease to exist," Mathews wrote in the email, which was obtained by the Raleigh News & Observer and posted to the newspaper's web site. "Do you like your jobs? Are you sick and tired of the slanderous bullshit going on in DC? If so, would you all mind joining me in reminding Mr. Adame that he is running for office in our backyard…. Let's run this goof out of Dodge...!"