The next netroots candidate, slipping in right before tomorrow's fundraising deadline, is Larry Kissell, a social studies teacher in North Carolina.  Kissell is something special, the kind of candidate that inspires idealism in even cynical political operatives.

As a dedicated progressive running in North Carolina's eighth district, he's captured the hearts of the local blogs and local progressive activists.  Just go to BlueNC, or read the last netroots nomination thread, and you'll get a sense of how beloved Kissell is.  Before he was a social studies teacher, he worked for 27 years in the textile industry, and what comes through with Kissell is how sincere he is in his progressive beliefs.  

Indeed, one of the problems with DC Democrats and their approach to the South is that they tend to take a corporate Southern angle instead of a populist angle, believing that the middle lies with pro-corporate moderates.  This was how the DCCC looked at this district, eyeing pro-life veteran Tim Dunn as the possible nominee before he dropped out.  There is though another tradition in the South, and it's a progressive populist one that cuts across racial lines.  The Republican Party could have gone that route in the 1960s, but Nixon set them on the 'Southern strategy'.  Kissell comes out of the progressive populist Southern tradition as a first time candidate, and the time and conditions are ripe to put him in Congress.

This is a special year in North Carolina.  There are no partisan statewide offices on the ballot, which means that turnout is going to be very very low.  More than usual, this is a base election, and while anti-Bush sentiment is extremely high, having a candidate that people actually believe in makes a real difference.  (I know, imagine that, a candidate people can believe in).  As Howie Klein puts it:

A 27-year veteran of the textile industry, a social studies teacher and a deacon of the First Baptist Church, Kissell's website leaves nothing to guess work on how he feels-- and what he wants to do about-- all the major issues facing North Carolina citizens. When Kissell talks about "values," it isn't empty rhetoric crafted to hoodwink strangers into voting for him. Kissell's Main Street values (not Wall Street values) are what informs and drives his desire to help his neighbors and his nation to do better.

Read the comments in this thread on BlueNC, and you'll get the sense of a candidate who's really special.  This is meaningful both because it means that we'll get a good Congressman, but also because it's important to energize the base in a year when turnout will be very low, in the mid-30s.  In the state primary this year, for instance, turnout was low, but a lot more Democrats showed up than Republicans, and the Republicans had more intraparty battles on the ballot to settle.  That's a good thing, and Kissell's candidacy can fuel the turnout we need.

NC-08 cuts from Cumberland County, along the border of South Carolina, into a very heavily Democratic Richmond and Scotland Counties, into Republican Union County, and then into eastern Charlotte which is trending Democratic, and then ends at Cabarrus County.  It's a mix of Democratic African-American counties, plus trending Democratic urban areas with some rural Republican areas attached.  It's been heavily hit by corporate trade agreements, with lots of textile factories being closed and heavy job losses.  The key issues are gas prices, health care, education, etc, the same ones resonating nationally.

The district itself has a Democratic Performance Index of 50.5, and North Carolina Democrats have been looking for a good candidate to challenge incumbent Robin Hayes for years.  The latest polling numbers confirm both the nature of the district and the Republican incumbent's weakness.

As for that incumbent, well, Republican Robin Hayes has a huge vulnerability (aside from the first name 'Robin'.  Ok, that was just mean).  The vulnerability is his vote on CAFTA.  It's not that he voted for CAFTA, it's that he promised he wouldn't, saying something along the lines of 'CAFTA rhymes with NAFTA' and that it wasn't good for the district.  Then he went and right before the Republican leadership closed the vote switched his vote to support the measure, after which campaign contributions poured in.  Hayes is now perceived of within the district as untrustworthy and weak-willed, which is a death-knell for rural areas where los of Republicans reside.  He's also a standard GOP shill, with deep links to big oil and Jack Abramoff.  He's a bad guy, lots of cash, comes from a rich family who owned textile mills and then outsourced them.  (As an aside, after looking at lots of races, I'm noticing that these Republicans are just rich weirdos, like they've been cloned at a hack circus).

Anyway, the big question on Kissell is viability.  Can he do it?  He's a first time candidate, and he doesn't have much money.  He has real endorsements, from the North Carolina AFL-CIO and the North Carolina Teachers, and I've spoken to several insider yet still idealistic Democrats who just love the guy.  The real reason he's viable though is because this election is not about persuasion, it's about who shows up.  This is a GOTV race, especially in North Carolina, where there's literally no reason for non-intense voters to go to the polls this year.  That means TV is just less effective, and the internet more effective because they can reach energized partisans.

Ok, long story short, Larry Kissell - great guy, lots of local netroots support, principled, progressive, teacher, and former textile worker.  Winnable district in the South.  And money here goes a LONG way.

If you can, volunteer.
If you can, throw some cash his way.

You'll be proud of this one.