The Nation:The Progressive Honor Roll of 2012

By John Nichols
http://www.thenation.com/article/171867/progressive-honor-roll-2012

The Nation’s annual Most Valuable Progressives Honor Roll has been going strong for the better part of a decade, and its alumni are moving up. Elizabeth Warren is now a senator-elect. Keith Ellison and Raúl Grijalva co-chair the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Two of our most valuable state legislators were elected to Congress on November 6: Wisconsin’s Mark Pocan and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema. Ed Schultz has a prime-time show on MSNBC. The Dream Act dreamers spoke from the podium of the Democratic National Convention, and President Obama and Vice President Biden hailed their courage. But after a long election season and a hopeful outcome, there is still work to be done. Here are some of the Americans doing it.
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Most Valuable Progressive: Bernie Sanders

The first senator whose re-election was announced on November 6 wasn’t a Democrat or a Republican; it was independent progressive Bernie Sanders from Vermont. And cheers went up in union halls and campaign offices across the country. Why? Because though he remains intensely focused on the concerns of Vermonters and the fights in the Senate, Sanders has broken the boundaries of conventional politics. By refusing to bend to the compromises and spin of Washington, he has made himself the conscience of the fiscal cliff fight. That’s to be expected. In every austerity debate, Sanders has been resolute, championing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; defending the Postal Service against privatization threats; and opposing media consolidation schemes—whether they’re proposed by reactionary Republicans or disappointing Democrats.

Most Valuable Senator: Jeff Merkley


Most Valuable Representative: Tammy Baldwin



Most Valuable Media Moment: MSNBC Election Night

The transformation of MSNBC from a network seeking its direction to one that defines the discussion was completed on Election Night 2012. While Fox News struggled to accept Mitt Romney’s defeat, with Karl Rove melting down and Bill O’Reilly spinning bizarre new variations on Romney’s ”47 percent” slur, MSNBC’s coverage, as anchored by Rachel Maddow, was smart, professional and expansive when it came to providing insight into how and why progressives won. The network used correspondents (disclosure: including this writer) to get on-the-ground reports from union halls and campaign coordinating centers around the country. MSNBC pushed the discussion beyond the predictable inside-the-Beltway story lines, allowing Ed Schultz and Chris Hayes to go deep on discussions of the role of unions and workers in beating the big money that Rove thought would win the day.

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http://www.thenation.com/article/171867/progressive-honor-roll-2012