Cindy, don't listen to Barbara Boxer

Barbara Boxer stood up for her California colleague Diane Feinstein and said Cindy shouldn't run to unseat Feinstein: "I don't think having her in the Senate election helps her at all. I think it might have the opposite effect."

Boxer didn't elaborate exactly why it wouldn't "help" Cindy Sheehan, but my guess is that a Sheehan run would scare the living shit out of the California Democratic congressional delegation, even among its best and most honorable members, Boxer included. The thing is that Cindy wouldn't wreak as much political turmoil if she ran as a Democrat -- the party officials could work to stomp on her campaign in the relative quiet of the primary process, and even if Sheehan puts up a good enough fight to overcome that, she'll be plagued with the bearing the sagging label of "California Democrat" in the general election. She would be better served running an Independent -- or in a comic world, a "Declined to Disclose," the fastest growing voter identification demographic across parts of California.

Boxer's good and all, but when she says things like "Sen. Feinstein and I are very involved in trying to figure out a way to get the troops back," she shows that she's not totally serious about Iraq.

Sheehan didn't say exactly what I hoped she'd say in response to Boxer: "What I hope to do with it would be to energize other anti-war candidates. If I entered it, it would bring attention to the fact that there are many, many races where pro-peace, anti-war candidates are running." No doubt, her running would energize others, but Cindy should run to win, and focus on her own race. Her success as a candidate will be the primary "energy" that gets other people to run.