"Dems Unhappy With Sen. Cantwell Have an Option in Tran"

Congressional Quarterly:

Self-described progressive Chad Lupkes, a Democratic organizer in one of the most liberal districts in Seattle, said he is not supporting Tran because he considers himself a realist. He said Tran should have announced her candidacy a year earlier than she did this past May in order to receive any real financial backing.

Lupkes said activists such as Tran, who take on high-level elected officials because they are “frustrated now,” are not particularly effective. He advocates the strategy laid out by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, a former Vermont governor and aspirant for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, of working to elect progressives to local office, with the conviction that they will “trickle up” the Democratic Party ladder.