Cross posted at DEMBloggers.com

I had the honor to conduct a Q&A interview with candidate Steve Young who is running for the House of Representatives. I would again like to thank Steve for this opportunity and I want to wish him the best of luck. Now let's get right to the interview. (Questions are in bold followed by the answers.)

Let me ask you what made you decide to go into politics and run for the House of Representatives?  Also, why did you pick this as your first race?

I enjoy working as a jury attorney for the people, so I had not considered running for office until this special election. I am deeply concerned that unless something is done to curb the loss of our middle class jobs, my children and grandchildren will have no future. My father taught me, "Until you stop talking and start doing, nothing happens." There was no one standing up for the middle class and our future...so I felt I had to run.

More below the fold...

Cross posted at DEMbloggers.

In 1932 legendary Justice Oliver Wendell Homes announced his retirement from the court, leaving it to President Hoover to name a new justice.  In taking his job seriously he went to the Senate and asked for their advice in choosing this new justice.  The President presented the Senate with a list of names that included some of the best legal minds of his era.  At the bottom of the list was the name of a New York Supreme Court Chief Justice.  That name was Benjamin Nathan Cardozo.  The Senate asked that President Hoover move Cardozo's name up on the list, and at their request the President did so.  For those who may not know of Cardozo let me fill you in.

Benjamin Cardozo came from one of the older Jewish families of New York.  His father served on the New York Supreme Court until 1872 when he resigned.  Cardozo went into law and would later become the Chief Justice of the New York Supreme Court.

Cardozo in 1928 came out in support of Hoover's opponent in the Presidential race.  Cardozo supported Al Smith but, he did so due to his Jewish background.  Cardozo wrote in a letter to a cousin the following:

Even though Cardozo did not support Hoover for presidency it was still Hoover who nominated Cardozo to the Supreme Court.  Hoover drew fire from both sides for this nomination.  Scholars, Senators, and other justices advised the president to nominate Cardozo; while the other side stated there was already a Jewish voice on the court and another was not needed.  The President went against many in his party and went ahead and nominated Cardozo.  

Cardozo went on to receive unanimous support from the senate and served on the court for over 6 years.  Cardozo was a major reason the "New Deal" was upheld by the court when he went against many conservative justices who were trying to state that it was unconstitutional.  Cardozo favored government intervention in order to control the economy.

Cardozo has been spoken highly of throughout history, many even calling him the greatest legal mind of the early twentieth century.  Some have said things such as the following regarding Cardozo:

In my opinion, this is true meaning of advice and consent.  Hoover nominated an individual that did not agree with him politically.  He did so at the request of the senate and that nomination went on to receive a unanimous vote.  

My only hope is this President will follow in the footsteps of his predecessors.  But, we all know that will probably not happen.

While I am a regular reader over here at MyDD, I also am a regular contributor over at UnitedLeft.  While UnitedLeft has been very successful Mark Williams and myself have decided to start an online community much like MyDD and Daily Kos.  So I would like to invite everyone to come over to DEMBloggers.

Also we will not be competing with MyDD.  There is really no way to compete with what Daily Kos calls the BlogFather.  We are just starting a new community where everyone is welcome.

To start out DEMBloggers is an unaffiliated site.  Over at DB you will see some of the same things you see at MyDD but you will also see some differences.  Most notably are the videos.  DEMBloggers will be offering daily videos for our visitors enjoyment.

Also we will only have two main contributors to the front page.  But, to make up for this we will be promoting diaries to the front page on a daily basis.  Everyone should have a chance at this no matter who you are.

So come on over, grab an ID, and impress us.  The front page is waiting for some good material.