Sheeler for U.S. Senate ("Be Patriotic: Impeach Bush") TAKES OFF!

The third man
The Providence Journal
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Editorial

What about Carl Sheeler? The businessman and ex-Marine running for U.S. Senate has been dismissed by much of political Rhode Island for reasons that we understand but don't admire. The Democrat's chief negative, we are told, is his lack of money (what a country!). Another reason, we suspect, is establishment Democrats' lack of imagination: They just don't want to bother with a new face.

As it happens, Mr. Sheeler's campaign now has more cash than does the imploding campaign of Rhode Island Secretary of State Matthew Brown. Yet the race for the Democratic nomination has been portrayed as between just Mr. Brown and former Rhode Island Atty. Gen. Sheldon Whitehouse (until recent days, when Mr. Whitehouse, without the inconvenience of an election, has been declared the winner). . .

. . . in tiny Rhode Island, money should be less important than in, say, California: Within a month a candidate here can visit every city and town -- twice. If retail politics can survive anywhere, it should be in the Ocean State.

So who is Carl Sheeler? He is a liberal, for sure. He has posted a billboard on Route 95 that reads, "Be Patriotic: Impeach Bush." We're not sure Rhode Islanders are eager for such a drama, but the message has earned the candidate some attention.

Mr. Sheeler has several qualifications for the job of U.S. senator.

His experience as a Marine Corps officer gives him some credibility on national-security issues. He is highly critical of the administration's rationale for the Iraq war and its related diplomatic failures, and he rightly regards energy as a security issue. He rightly backs an all-out effort to wean America from its oil dependency -- a kind of Manhattan Project to develop alternative energy sources.

And Mr. Sheeler's experience as a businessman, with an advanced degree in finance, lets him speak confidently on economic matters. Here, too, he finds fault with the Bush administration, criticizing both deficit spending and tax policies that favor the well-to do.

Last week, Matthew Brown's cash account for the Democratic primary, in September, was down to $35,000; Mr. Sheeler's was about $210,000. Nevertheless, most pollsters -- unfairly and undemocratically -- exclude Mr. Sheeler's name when asking Rhode Islanders which Democratic candidate they'd prefer for Senate. Democrats are instructed to choose between Messrs. Brown and Whitehouse. And apparently some local Democratic committees don't even return Mr. Sheeler's calls. . .

More. . .