By Stephen J. Gewirtz
Reprinted here with written permission of the author.

I am supporting Barbara Mikulski because she has consistently supported the things that I support. She voted against authorizing the war in Iraq, she voted against confirming the bad appointments by Bush to the cabinet (Gail Norton and John Ashcroft) and against the worst of his judicial appointments (and is ready to support a Democratic filibuster if needed), she voted against the various Bush tax cuts, and she has fought like hell to get money for Maryland including the Hubble Space Telescope (she is on the appropriations subcommitte that funds NASA).
She will fight to save social security and medicare. She has fought successfully to keep hospitalized combat wounded servicepeople from being billed for room and board (the subject of one of her ads, and I am told that she really went ballistic when she heard about the bill that a constituent had received), and to keep combat pay for servicepeople in Iraq and Afghanistan (yes, Bush tried to cut that). In short, she has done an excellent job of providing the representation that I for one would like to have in the Senate.

Her Republican opponent, E. J. Pipkin, is a former Wall Street bond trader and a multimillionaire who is running ads attacking Mikulski for supporting higher taxes; I support her because she is guilty as charged. He apparently has attacked her for being unmarried, since that does not square with his notion of "family values." To me, Pipkin's attacks on that score are offensive.

Also running is Maria Allwine as the Green candidate. I have met her and I like her and would feel well represented if she were in the Senate, but Mikulski happens to be an excellent Senator with 18 years of seniority, and frankly even if I were not so happy with Mikulski, I would not want to take a chance on electing Pipkin. I should note that Maria Allwine has said that she will vote for John Kerry, perhaps because she does not want to take a chance on having Bush carry Maryland, and likewise I will not take a chance on Pipkin's carrying Maryland. Pipkin would be a disaster in the Senate.

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