Earlier this month an engineer from Portland, Oregon named Shantu Shah announced his candidacy for the U.S. Congress from Oregon’s 1st District. Although some quick web-searching hints that he may come from a Green Party background, Shah is running as a Democrat. The best part is that he started his own blog to coincide with his announcement. If he can keep it up and provide substantial day-to-day detail of the process, it may provide us with a window into what it takes for an Indian American to run for Congress. Even if he fails in his bid, his blog could be used as a good resource for future candidates (not so subtle hint to Mr. Shah). Here are some excerpts from his announcement speech that he copied to his first post:

A VISION FOR CHANGE - The TRIUMPH OF WILL
Shantu Shah, Candidate for U.S. Congress
as Representative for Oregon District One

Brothers and Sisters of America:

My inspiration comes from three personalities: Gandhi, Patel, and Gandhi, two women and a man, who have shaped the international politics with their vision for change and the triumph of their will, have been the focus of three biographies by three different authors. If you have guessed their names as Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel, and Indira Gandhi your guess was incorrect. I am talking about: 1) The Untold Story of Kastur, wife of Mahatma Gandhi, authored by their grandson Arun Gandhi (and his wife Sunanda), who would be addressing at my invitation to an Interfaith Festival of Faith this September 17 in Convention Center, Portland, Oregon; 2) Triumph of Will, Sonia Gandhi, Italy-born wife of Rajiv Gandhi, Past Prime Minister of India, written by Yussuf Ansari and; 3) A Vision for Change A.D. Patel and the politics of Fiji by Brij V. Lal…

During the democratic elections in Canada and Palestine in Janauary 2006 the incumbents were thrown out of the office by the will of the voters. Hope with the help of average Americans we will be able to throw out the rascals who have been corrupted by the corporate culture, influenced by the cash contributions of millions of dollars, leaving behind the average citizen holding down the empty bag on the back burners.

Heath care, meager social security benefits, medical insurances, education for have-nots, and the small businesses e.g. AAHOA hotels and motels, are all at risk at the enrichment of the well to do and the haves. Haves have been helpful in the economy as much as the have-nots who labor for the economical success of the country. Our factories and offices would not be busy without the haves and have-nots. [Link]

Shah REALLY has his work cut out for him. He will be running against a powerful four-time incumbent, Asian American Democrat David Wu.

I actually couldn’t find a single Portland newspaper that covered Shah’s entry into the race. Either my web-searching skills are poor, or maybe he isn’t getting enough respect given his opponent. However, News-India Times does have more on Shah:

Shah has been a resident of Raleigh Hills, a locality in Portland, for the last 25 years. District 1 includes Northwest Oregon Counties of Clatsop, Columbia, Multnomah (downtown Portland), Washington, and Yamhill, south of Columbia River between Interstate 5 to the east and Northern Oregon Coast to the West.

Since he declared his intentions, Shah said, his views had matured. “I feel that individual rights are the most important. As well as the issue of health care. In India you can get inexpensive medicines and not here. These pharmaceutical companies are giving money to representatives, and the hospital system is so expensive in this country,” he maintained.

“What I am running against - the monies from the corporate structures. That’s what I am worried about. I would like to get the corruption out of the election system and would like to propose that millions of dollars are given by corporations to continuously running incumbents leaving no way for an individual to come into the system,” Shah complained.

Finally, Shah’s blogger profile provides a few more interesting tid-bits.