Rep. Jim Matheson is fighting for re-election on two fronts this year.  One (of course) from the Republican Party and the other from the far left.  City Weekly has a very well written article on the challenge from the left.

While he has challengers to the political left and right in his 2010 race for reelection, Matheson is favored to win, perhaps proving that he can slip by progressives in the political sphere as easily as he did protesters in Millcreek Canyon.

After all, his approval ratings are as high as ever, and each time he’s reelected, it’s by a wider margin. Matheson supporters argue that that proves he’s doing his job: Utah’s 2nd District is conservative, and therefore Matheson needs be moderate, both to win re-election and represent his constituents. His moderate politics have turned Republican-leaning independents into Democrat-leaning independents and widened the Democratic Party’s appeal in Utah.

Jim Matheson, honestly represents the Democratic Party that I grew up with and was initially alligned with...the Democratic Party of John fitzgeral Kennedy and Herbert Horatio Humphrey.  Sadly that Democratic Party has been replaced in many areas with the "Progressive" movement that we see today.

Those Progressives have been trying to push Rep. Matheson to the left for some time, as the article documents.  This year however, the Progressives have fielded a candidate to challenge Rep. Matheson in convention!

On Jan. 30, the panelists and members of the public interviewed the finalists at the Salt Lake City Main Library. Around 100 people attended. Each resident of the 2nd District was allowed to vote in an instant-runoff election. The voters chose University of Utah professor of pathology John Weis, who argued Congress needs more scientists and engineers. Weis dropped out days later, stating he hadn’t expected to win and hadn’t adequately anticipated the time commitments.

No re-vote was necessary, however, because instantrunoff elections gauge the electorate’s preferences for each candidate. With Weis out of the running, the winner became University of Utah gender-studies professor Claudia Wright (left). Salt Lake City-born Wright taught at Cottonwood High School for 31 years and now teaches in the humanities and education departments of the University of Phoenix in addition to the University of Utah. She’s a lifelong Democrat and a lesbian who is serious about winning.

And Professor Wright IS serious about winning....

Wright has the tactical instincts necessary to make Matheson anxious at convention—if anyone can. She heard from party insiders, for example, that San Juan County has never organized a mass meeting to elect delegates to the Democratic Party Convention. If she can round up just a handful of supporters in the county to host such a meeting, those votes could be a gimme. She knows it’s an uphill battle, though, and talks about matching tough strategy with passion.

And that is a great thing. All she needs is a handfull of delegates from each of these counties to win and send the same kind of shock waves through the Democrat Party that Jason Chaffetz sent through the Republican Party two years ago.

However, Professor Wright is running into resistance (surprise) from the entrenched elites in the Democrat Party.

Former Congressman Cook agrees that Utah Democrats might prefer Wright, but he says pragmatism will take over at convention. “The heart of the Democratic Party will probably be where [Wright] is, and yet the leadership and unions and people that provide the money and the establishment part of the Democratic Party will be holding tight to Matheson, I can assure you of that.”

That thinking is SO VERY WRONG in so many ways but thankfully Professor Wright is not taking this criticism to heart.

Wright bristles at suggestions that her campaign will be squashed six months before the general election vote, or that an independent candidacy may be more effective. “I’m not going to run a write-in campaign; I’m not going to be an independent. … Democrats are a rare breed enough in this state. We do not need to kill off each other.”

She argues that the best way to neutralize Matheson’s corporate sponsors and strengthen the Democratic Party is to work precinct-by-precinct to grab delegates. “[The Citizens’ Candidate campaign] is only unrealistic to the political pundit who’s only done it one way. ... In my voting district, usually when I go to the mass meeting there are seven to nine [party members], which makes five the majority. It only takes five of you to make a delegate in a lot of places in this city.”

YES, YES, YES!!!!!  Even though I disagree (in some instances VEHEMENTLY) with her policy positions, Professor Wright desveres to be called a "Logical Lady" because she refuses to step away from her roots as a Democrat and instead chooses to fight for her party from within!  She is showing that she is willing to do the work that is necessary (even required) to really win at convention.  If I didn't disagree with her on so many issues, I would seriously consider working for her campaign because I so fervently believe in what she is doing to win! 

While the entrenched party apparatchiks are downplaying Professor Wright's chances, never count out a logical lady who is willing to do whatever is needed to accomplish her goals!  It's a losing proposition.