When Ellen Tauscher announced she was headed for the State Department it seemed there would be no shortage of Democrats running to replace her in this safe district, including California's Lt. Gov, John Garamendi, who ducked out of the race for governor when he got no traction and decided not to contest Republican held CA-03. Recently though, CNN's Campbell Brown (bleck!) interviewed a candidate I hadn't heard anything about until now, and after watching the clip I walked away impressed.
Anthony Woods is impressive for many reasons. Raised by a single mother, he went on to serve his country in two tours in Iraq, receive an education at Harvard and a Master's degree from the Kennedy School of Government. He was a co-recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Public Service Award and organized missions to help rebuild hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. Hell, he spent a summer bicycling across the country to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. But all that wasn't good enough for his government. Woods wanted to serve his country on a third tour of Iraq, but was discharged simply because he is gay.
Woods comes off as a very polished speaker, and he clearly knows from his interview with Brown how to avoid putting his foot in his mouth. What's more, the guy is well rounded, having worked as an economic policy advisor, giving him credibility on what is probably always the number one issue in a campaign. Personally though, I'm excited about the possibility of sending a victim of DADT to Congress to give the LGBT community a voice and a face there for this unjust policy that Obama has, frankly, failed us on. What's more, Woods would be the first black-LGBT person elected to Congress and could potentially work to build bridges and initiate dialogue between two communities that don't always see eye to eye.
The iceing on the cake??? Woods is a self-described progressive Democrat. He's a clear underdog in this race with plenty of big names and established politicians, but Woods has a lot of personal qualities that hint at the possibility of an upset. Clearly, he's someone we need to watch.
