Returning vets form a political surge

By Alexa James
Times Herald-Record
March 20, 2008

FISHKILL — Five years in Iraq is a long time.

Long enough to spend $600 billion and lose nearly 4,000 uniformed lives.

Also long enough for rank-and-file to deploy, come home, discharge and run for office. Come November, an unprecedented number of Iraq war veterans will battle on ballots. From coast to coast, they're running guerrilla-style campaigns against career politicians.

Can they win?

"I'll be the youngest member of Congress," said 28-year-old Lee Zeldin, an Army reservist courting New York's 1st District, on the east end of Long Island. The JAG-attorney-turned-private-practice-lawyer is one of a dozen candidates who have joined a Republican coalition called Iraq Vets for Congress.

Since its inception in January, the group has enlisted candidates from key states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and California. In Maine's 1st District, deployed Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Summers is campaigning from Iraq.

And in New York's 19th District, which includes parts of Orange, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess and Westchester counties, the group's founder, Marine veteran Kieran Michael Lalor, is chasing Democratic incumbent John Hall of Dover Plains.

"Some say it's unconventional," said Lalor, 32, picking up after his two young daughters in a humble campaign headquarters off Route 52 in Fishkill. "I say it's very American. Never before have there been a group of veterans running for office while their conflict is still going on and its outcome undecided."

Roughly a quarter of the House of Representatives has military service on its resume. That's down from nearly 50 percent in 1991, before the Soviet Union collapsed. According to a recent study out of Duke University, veterans are currently under-represented in Congress compared to the population as a whole — a first in U.S. history.

That trend is changing, bolstered in recent months by the strength of the Republican's probable presidential nominee, John McCain, a decorated Naval aviator who spent more than five years as a prisoner in North Vietnam.

Lalor's grass-roots veterans group has been garnering more attention, too, with spots on Fox News, Newsweek and major metropolitan papers. Members were invited to the National Republican Campaign Committee's dinner last week in Washington, D.C.

More spotlight equals more campaign contributions. "Being the top dog on Google means everything," said Lalor. The IVA Web site has attracted campaign checks from nearly every state.
Whether that's enough to unseat Rep. Hall, who's worked feverishly on veterans affairs during his first term on Capitol Hill, remains to be seen.

"The Iraq war is still going to be difficult for Republicans in this election," said Lalor. "We started it, we're keeping it going, and people want to know when we're going to win it."

Voters also want strategies to strengthen the dollar, save their mortgages and improve health care. The campaigning veterans will have to hold their ground on those fronts, too.