By Dave Jackman
Democrat Keith Ellison is the two-term incumbent for Minnesota's fifth congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. First elected to the U.S. House in 2006 with 56 percent of votes, Ellison earned national headlines for being the first Muslim elected to Congress. Ellison was easily re-elected in 2008 with 71 percent, and again the House seat is seen as a virtual lock for the 2010 race against Republican challenger Joel Demos.
Demos has ackknowledged that he has uphill campaign to wage for the House seat that Democrats have maintained since 1963. In one campaign ad he pulls a monster truck along a road and asks for peoples' help in his task of securing an election victory.
Before running for U.S. House, Ellison was elected to two terms in the Minnesota House, representing north Minneapolis in district 58B. Prior to and during his time at the Minnesota House, Ellison practiced law in the private sector along with Legal Rights Center.
Ellison's time in the U.S. House has largely been in a supporting role, as junior representatives usually are. He has co-sponsored more than 1,000 bills and has only a handful of his own written bills make it out of committee.
Much of Ellison's tenure in the House has been tied to his converted faith, Islam. As the first Muslim elected to Congress, Ellison is viewed by some as example of the U.S.'s acceptance of multiculturalism, or a dent in its homogeny. Ellison caused a stir when he decided to be sworn in using a copy of the Quran. At the time, some argued that only a Bible should be used for swearing in members of Congress. Repubican Virgil Goode of Virginia had said at the time that "unless immigration is tightened, 'many more Muslims' will be elected and follow Ellison's lead."
Since that time, Ellison and his faith have been utilized in a more symbolic manner, as he has been involved with numnerous international diplomatic trips and had his speeches published by the U.S. government for dispersement to foreign audiences.
More recently, Ellison has been in verbal spat with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty over the debate of the proposed construction of a mosque near the land at Ground Zero in New York City. Pawlenty had said in an interview that he is "strongly opposed to the idea of putting a mosque anywhere near Ground Zero-I think it's inappropriate." Ellison criticized the governor, saying that Pawlenty's presidential ambitions were blinding him, and that Pawlenty had a "profound lack of understanding" about religious tolerance.
Token symbol of multiculturalism or not, Ellison has at least gained the respect of many within the Muslim community. In a Washington Post profile the director of a Detroit-based national network of Arab American community organizations summed up his feelings on Ellison. "The way he has conducted himself...really resonates with the majority of Muslim Americans and Arab Americans...That's exactly the way Muslim Americans want to be judged, not as being Muslims but by their contributions to their communities as Americans."
"Mulling 2012, Pawlenty Takes Restrained Plunge." August 6, 2010. Retrived from http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/08/06/mulling_2012_pawlenty_takes_restrained_plunge_106637.html
Keith Ellison (politician). Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota%27s_5th_congressional_district
"A Publics Figure." Washington Post, July 16, 2009. Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/15/AR2009071503902_2.html
No comments:
Post a Comment