Democracy for America has selected Charlie Smith as a 'Dean Dozen' candidate. Charlie is running for South Carolina House Seat 119. If elected, he will be the first openly gay candidate ever to serve in the South Carolina State House:

I am delighted to have been included among the latest "Dean's Dozen" and have been amazed at the well wishes and contributions that have been sent from all over the country. I ran for South Carolina House in 2002 against a man who sponsored legislation to retain the ban on inter-racial marriage in 1997. He proposed making it illegal for anyone who had ever been on public assistance to buy or benefit from a lottery ticket and called a 1999 proposal for Hate Crime legislation "The Pedophile Protection Act". I received 41% of the vote against my opponent two years ago and I knew the moment that the election was over that I had to try again. That's what I'm doing this year...keeping a commitment to fight this kind of bigotry.

I met Howard Dean shortly after the 2002 election at a time when I was wondering if Democrats would ever be Democrats again or if they would just keep on being "Republican Lite". Governor Dean made it safe for Democrats to be proud of their progressive values again and has helped us to retake control of the political debate in this country. I'm up against the same guy in my race this year, but my backbone is a lot stronger than it was in 2002 thanks to Howard Dean. The days of Republican control of our country are numbered...and there are exactly 123 of them left. Thanks Governor Dean and Democracy for America!

Please join DFA in supporting Charlie Smith. Visit www.friendsofcharliesmith.com to make a donation and find out how you can help!