Month: June 2007

Democrat Bob Lord has drawn national attention by challenging Republican incumbent John Shadegg in Arizona CD-3 and beating the second-term Congressman at fundraising in the first quarter by an amazing amount. Now that the Lord campaign has captured the attention and support of Democrats nationally, it’s critical that this momentum continue if Lord is to defeat an incumbent Republican.

A group of large donors have agreed to match, dollar-for-dollar, every dollar that the Lord campaign raises in the next week up to $10,000. If they can raise $10,000 from the public at large, the effect will be to raise $20,000 for the campaign.

Please visit Bob Lord’s website and contribute what you can.

A 2nd strong quarter of fundraising will demonstrate that this campaign is for real and that Democrats have a realistic chance at picking up another seat in the Arizona Congressional delegation.  Last election Democrats picked up two seats from Republicans with Harry Mitchell defeating Republican incumbent J.D. Hayworth and Gabby Giffords winning the seat vacated by Republican John Kolbe.  Let’s turn Arizona blue! 
 

Let’s get the word out on the internet, on talk radio, and by word of mouth, and we’ll be on our way to winning this race.  At very least, we’ll force the Republicans to spend money defending what, up until now, they had regarded as a safe seat.  Shadegg is low on money now because he gave away the money he raised last election to other Republicans because he did not face a strong well-funded challenger.  This time will be different!

The breakdown of CD-3 by voter registration is 45 percent Republican; 30 percent, Democratic; and 25 percent, independent, but it is winnable by a Democrat with strong crossover appeal like Bob Lord.

This congressional district is actually quite politically moderate; not only are one quarter of voters registered independents, but Democratic candidates like Governor Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Terry Goddard have carried this district in recent years.  With your help, Bob Lord can win in CD-3 too!

I am actually quite fond of this one minute, introductory commercial: Boasso covers the issues; he announces his party affiliation; the commercial is playful but substantive; Boasso outlines a biography of success, Louisiana style; and it is organized and coherent.  What do all of you think?  What are your impressions of Walter Boasso? 

Here is the link:

http://link.brightco…

Watch the video entitled “Big Challenges.”

Bethany Hafer, daughter of former Pennsylvania State Treasurer (and gubernatorial candidate) Barbara Hafer, has thrown her hat into the ring against U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy.  See here. 

From The Pittsburgh Channel…

MOUNT LEBANON, Pa. — Bethany Hafer — the daughter of former auditor general and state treasurer Barbara Hafer — says she plans to run for Congress next year.

Her target, U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, is in his third term in the 18th Congressional District.

Hafer, a Democrat, lives in Mount Lebanon. She used to teach science in the Moon Area School District, but the 35-year-old is now vice president of her mother’s Harrisburg consulting firm, Hafer & Associates.

[Cross-posted on DailyKos and MyDD.]

Greetings to the national Netroots.  I’m Steve Marchand and I’m running for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire to challenge John Sununu in 2008.

I’m writing today because I want to extend the dialogue I’ve begun with our New Hampshire Netroots to the national level.  As a longtime reader of national blogs like DailyKos, MyDD and Swing State Project, I value the open forum you’ve created, a forum that enables some of the most productive progressive dialogue in America today.

I’m running for U.S. Senate because we need a change in our nation’s direction. In my recent New Hampshire Democratic State Convention speech, I spoke about my experience and my vision for America.  You can watch the video of that speech on my website.

More below the fold

In my speech, I said what I strongly believe: we need to end the Iraq War right now.  We need to end it because it was fought under false pretenses and has been conducted with reckless leadership by the Bush Administration.

I applaud those members of Congress (including New Hampshire’s own Rep. Paul Hodes and Rep. Carol Shea-Porter) that stood up to the administration and refused to issue them a blank check for this war with a NO vote on the recent Iraq funding bill.  We need to see real withdrawal progress–right now–or we need to stop funding failed policies.

There are other battles, however, that we also must not lose sight of.  We need to guarantee affordable, quality healthcare coverage for every American, rich or poor.  As someone who has lived through the consequences of the national healthcare crisis, I understand what lack of coverage can mean.  Let me explain a bit more.

I grew up on the working-class West Side of Manchester, New Hampshire.  My father, a carpenter, and my mother, a millworker, came to this country from Quebec to build a better life for their children.  We didn’t have much, but more than anyone, they helped me understand the value and the power of hard work.

In the early 1990’s, however, New Hampshire’s economy was hit hard and our housing market crashed.  My father was left with a home that he couldn’t sell.  My family went without income for an entire year.  In this time of crisis, my parents did what millions of Americans have been forced to do: they dropped their expensive health insurance so that they could afford to feed their family.

And then, in her late thirties, my mother suffered a heart attack.

We were lucky; she recovered and is still well today.  But my Mom and Dad were forced to declare bankruptcy just to keep their home. These are the consequences of not having healthcare coverage when you need it most.

So when John Sununu says that we need to “stop complaining about healthcare,” well, I dare him to tell that to my parents and the millions of Americans without healthcare coverage living paycheck to paycheck.

We also need a Senator who knows that global warming is a problem and that we need real solutions to it–right now.  As Mayor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, I’ve fought to make sure that our city is taking important, meaningful steps to become more green.  We aren’t waiting for the federal government to take the lead.  We’ve built the only Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED)–certified public building in New Hampshire, our new public library.  We’ve converted our city fleet to biodiesel.  And we’ve begun energy audits of all public buildings so we can make real changes to our energy use. 

The best part is, these changes in Portsmouth are saving taxpayers money.  Indeed, I’ve gained a statewide reputation for earning the trust of taxpayers by delivering value for their tax dollars.  We’ve shown that you can be fiscally responsible and socially progressive at the same time.  Those are values that I will take with me to the U.S. Senate.

And finally, as the recent Supreme Court decision shows, we cannot take Roe v. Wade for granted.  As the only 100% pro-choice candidate in this race, Democrat or Republican, I will always defend a woman’s right to make her own choices about her own body.

I look forward to being actively engaged with you here and in our New Hampshire blogs.  I appreciate your consideration, welcome your feedback, and encourage you to learn more about my campaign at my website, www.stevemarchand.com.  Together, we can bring real change to the U.S. Senate.

(While I’m reticent to call Bruning the “early favorite”, this has the potential to be one of the quirkiest Senate races of the cycle. – promoted by James L.)

As expected, Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning (R) is ready to officially get in the race this week.

Omaha World-Herald:

It looks like Jon Bruning’s days of exploring a 2008 U.S. Senate bid are coming to an end.

Bruning, who has printed campaign posters touting “Bruning, United States Senate,” plans to hold a press conference Thursday at the State Capitol to talk about his political future.

All signs – including recent public comments from Bruning – indicate that the second-term attorney general will officially get into the race, setting the stage for a possible primary challenge against fellow Republican and incumbent Sen. Chuck Hagel.

Hagel, who has angered many rank-and-file party members with his Iraq war criticism, has not announced whether he will run for a third term. He plans to make his decision later this fall.

Bruning, however, has given strong indications that he will run since forming an exploratory committee earlier this spring.

He has hired several campaign workers and his campaign office in Lincoln has been busy, raising money and calling supporters.

Bruning has to be the early favorite to get the Republican nomination – perhaps even if Hagel decides to run. The longer Hagel waits, the more support he will drain. His March 12 press conference was a huge strategic blunder.

Meanwhile, the rumblings of a potential Bob Kerrey Senate bid are getting stronger. Outside of Iraq – where Kerrey managed to piss off quite a few Democrats in the last couple of weeks – Kerrey’s actually a very good Democrat for Nebraska. What’s more, in a race against Jon Bruning, I’m fairly certain that he would win quite handily.

June 23rd, Kerrey is headlining the Nebraska Democrats’ annual Morrison-Exon dinner.

I have to announce the good news of yet another recruiting coup for Congressional Democrats. After other successes very early in the cycle, particularly getting outgoing Kansas City mayor Kay Barnes to run against Sam Graves in what has traditionally been a swing district that Bush has won easily, and that was held by a Democrat long before Graves won it in an open seat in 2000. However, Talent lost this district to McCaskill by four percentage points, shwoing a strong Kansas City Democrat can win this. A small portion of Kansas City, and it’s suburbs make up almost 40% of the district, and the libral leaning St. Jospeh metropolitan area makes up another 10%. So, altogeter half the district leans Democratic, but the other half is highly rural, and mostly Republican.

Another early success was getting State Sen. John Boccieri to run against 82 year old 18 term incumbent Ralph Regula. His weak fundraising and age, make him vulneralbe to retiring, ahving a candidate like Jonh Boccieri, a former three term state rep, who was elected to the State Senate last year with 97,000 votes, the most of any candidate that year. As a major in the Army, who flew C-130 cargo planes for four tours of duty in Iraq. He’s Paul Hackett with legislatire experience.

But, the latest coup is that of getting 38 year old State. Sen. John Unger to run against Shely Moore capito in WV-02. He’s a fantastic candidate, young, a Rhodes Scholoar, and one of the youngest people ever elected to the West Virginia State Senate. He has a great deal of experience in the State Senate, having been elected in 1998, at age 29. He has since been reelected several times, and he represents what is considered a highly conservative, Republican leaning District in the state’s Eastern Panhandle, an area that votes more like parts of western Virginia, prominently Robet Goodlatte’s district.

Let’s handicap this race. Sen. Unger has been elected handily three times in this conservative district. His entre district is located in Capito’s district, giving him a strong base to start with. He represents all of rural Jefferson County, an extremely rural district of 42,000 people, whose county seat, (it’s largest city), Charles Town, has a population of just over 2000. Capito took a little less there than she did districtwide, taking 54% compared to 57% in the district. He represents part of right wing Berkeley County, which gave Capito 64% of the vote.

West Virginia has an interesting system. Each district has two State Senators elected to the same district. Sen. Unger’s district, district 16, his fellow State sneator is a Republican, Sen. John Yoder. That should be a testament of this district’s Republican lean, that in state where Democrats hold a supermajority in both houses of the legislature.

West Virginia, despite Bush’s successes, is a very Democratic state. Sen. Byrd has never won reelection with less than 64%. They tend to like moderate Republicans, and have elected two of them in the twentieth century, none so far. Cecil Underwood and Shelly Capito’s dad, the only Governor to serve four terms, (his career was completely tarnished when he got sent to jail on corruption charges). The only Republicans who have success in this state are so liberal they’re almost at the same level as the most conservative Democrats. Anyway, back to the point, Democrats had held all Congressional districts and both Senate seats for nearly eighteen years before Capito broke through in 2000, beating  self funding candidate Jim Humphrey’s narrowly.

She’s definitely liberal for a southern Republican. She’s the somewhat pro-choice, (that means less extreme whacko pro-life tghan most Southern Republicans), she’s pro-stem cell research, did vote to raise the minimum wage, and is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership. So, on the surface it would seem like she’s not the worst Republican in the house, and truthfully she’s not, there’s a lot worse congressperson you could have, like Virgil Goode. Sen. Unger could take some ground immediately with his populist appraoch and persona, that is backed up by ardent social conservatism, something very important in this state, one of the most socially conservative in the country. That’s one of the main reasons Gore and Kerry lost the state.

Of course he would need money. Capito always raises ungodly sums and wins by outspending her opponents twenty to one. She’s horrible on the stump the woman cannot speak in public cannot debate, and appears cold and stiff, therefore her her advisors actually tell her not to do retail politics. Instead she bombards the airwaves with falsely positive ads, and attack ads.

Her record is horrendous. She’s been a nonstop supporter of the Iraq War, and despite the support she gets from labor, she’s a business Republican. Her career score for the far right Chamber of Commerce, as I’ve tabulated it, 89%. Now, compare that to 65% for Tennessee Democrat John Tanner, arguably the most Economically Conservative Democrat in the House. Her score with the strongly Republican National Federation of Independant Business is even higher, (and this organization that endorsed such incubents as Curt Weldon and others).

The point I’m trying to make is that we need to take her out. As a somewhat pro-life Democrat, this isn’t an issue to me, but her NARAL rating is only 50%, not great. She’s very pro-business, but still gets the support of labor, which is infuriating at times.

But, the main reason to tkae her down would be to deal the West Virginia Republican party a major blow. Capito, along with Secretary of State Betty Ireland, (who only won 52-48 in 2004 becuase her opponent was 90 year old Ken Heckler, congressman from 1959-1977, and SoS from 1985-2001), is their major figure, their only rising star. She’s a threat to both our Senate seats or the Governorship if we can’t take her down this time. Not to mention she does the state a poor service. It’s four Democrats are far more powerful than her, in fact she, according to a Knowlegis non-partisan group’s Power Rankings, is ranked 421 out of house of 435, and she’s a four term incumbent. She should have the hangof this now. For someone whose a rising start in the State Republican Party, she certainly has no power whatsoever with Republicans in congress. In fact the only people she has more power than are mostly Repubican freshman, that and Tom Tancredo, Pete Sessions, and Ted Poe.

Sen. Unger sounds like my kind of Democrat, the kind I’ve been advocating, socially conservative, and economically populist. These are the people who do the best with rural voters, at least from my experience. Plus, the stronger are majority is, the stronger is our mandate. That’s why this race is an interesting new development, and should be one of our top targets next year. Let’s see if she survive when we’re bombarding the air waves with even more money than her. Bush only got 55% here, and it has been a historically Democratic district, let’s take it back and show we can still be winners in rural areas and in the South. Let’s prove to the nation and beltway pundits who lable WV as a conservative state because of Bush’s margins against two Democrats who didn’t go over well with rural voters, (Clinton won the district with huge double digit margins, both times), just how Democratic it really is.

Anyone else who has a better idea of this race, please state it in the comments, because I don’t know much, all I know is what CQPolitics wrote, what’s on Sen. Unger’s Senate Profile and and the West Virginia Legislature’s site.

From the Associated Press:

Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas, a three-term conservative Republican who stayed clear of the Washington limelight and political catfights, died Monday. He was 74.

The senator’s family issued a statement saying he died Monday evening at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He had been receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia.

Just before the 2006 election, Thomas was hospitalized with pneumonia and had to cancel his last campaign stops. He nonetheless won with 70 percent of the vote, monitoring the election from his hospital bed.

Our deepest condolences to Senator Thomas’ family.  As for his successor in the Senate, the AP cites Wyoming law:

Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, will appoint a successor from one of three finalists chosen by the state Republican party.

Race Tracker: WY-Sen

Man, what’s with Representatives wanting to flee the halls of Congress for cushy university gigs this cycle?  First we had Democrat Marty Meehan departing for UMass-Lowell, then we had Republican Kenny Hulshof seeking the job of University of Missouri President (which he didn’t get, to the misfortune of the DCCC), and now we have Republican Ray LaHood of Illinois:

Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) will make a decision in “10 days to two weeks” about whether he will put his name in the running to become president of his alma mater, Bradley University.

“It’s all about Bradley,” LaHood said yesterday, brushing off the suggestion that a departure from Congress would be the result of the seven-term member’s new minority status. […] 

LaHood added that he is “seriously thinking about” the job and has “talked to some people in the community about it.”  He noted that the university was not looking for a traditional president, but an individual who can raise the school’s profile and demonstrate an ability to fundraise.

This is not the first time that LaHood has considered leaving Congress. In 2005, he formed an exploratory committee and raised $600,000 to challenge Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich. But eight months later he abandoned the bid and decided to return to Congress, explaining that there was no “heir apparent” to replace him and that his constituents wanted him to stay where he was.

Illinois’ 18th district has a PVI of R+5.5 and voted for Bush by 54-44 and 58-42 margins in 2000 and 2004, respectively.  While it wouldn’t be the easiest nut to crack, an open seat coupled with a strong local Democratic name is always a game changer, even in a lean-Republican district like this one.  Let’s hope that Hulshof and LaHood are not the only Republicans in marginal districts considering a mid-life career change now that they’ve tasted life in the House Minority.

Race Tracker: IL-18

It’s certainly a long way from being a formidable amount, but I thought this note from Steve Novick, the only announced Democratic challenger against Oregon Republican Sen. Gordon Smith, was pretty cool:

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Steve Novick announced today that he has raised over $100,000 for his campaign, all from individuals. “Over 300 good, generous, progressive individuals, who are committed to electing a Senator who will fight runaway economic inequality, work hard for universal health care, fight global warming, and work to get the Federal budget back into shape,” Novick added.

Although recognizing that the ultimate cost of a Senate campaign will be in the millions, Novick said that the early success demonstrates that “in the words of the Talking Heads, this ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no foolin’ around.” (Emphasis added)

Race Tracker: OR-Sen

We are searching for new candidates (or current electeds) who best represent the interests of working families. The ones that think we can do better than these free trade agreements that merely amount to corporate welfare. The ones that think we can have health care for every citizen in this country. The ones that believe not only in a higher minimum wage but a living wage. The ones that think the power should be with the people and not the corporations.
There might be a local office (think city council, state rep, even your local parks board) in your area up for grabs this year, or even someone who has declared early intentions for 2008.
So who do you know?

America In Solidarity is a grassroots campaign to educate voters on working family issues and to help elect politicians who care about America’s working families. We are a non-profit, non-partisan group that has had enough of politics as usual. Over the past three years, we have given thousands of volunteer hours to help elect politicians who have signed our pledge to protect working families, produced several community events to educate the public on the issues, and signed up hundreds of new voters. Together, we can make a difference and take back our country from the excessive greed of our corporate foes and the politicians who pander to them.

Thanks to the internet, our database of volunteers is growing and includes every state in the nation. Now we need outstanding examples of politicians to reach out to.
Over 50 politicians have signed our pledge to support working families.

Why sign?

Money and endorsements.

These two vital things propel a campaign from a non-factor to a frontrunner.

Volunteers and a well-ran campaign turn a frontrunner into a victory speech on election night.

America In Solidarity does not give money. We do not endorse.

Yet, America In Solidarity acts like ?Early Money? that can help a campaign get off the ground.

  * As America In Solidarity?s database of volunteers grows, we can help candidates through rallying volunteers to your campaign. Our database allows us to separate to even zip codes and send emails of when and where you need help.
  * Our interactive map draws thousands of hits that tell people which candidates in their state have signed our pledge. With links, this can help draw more visitors to your site, and ultimately your campaign.
  * Our calendar and website articles were designed to place high on search-engine lists allowing an incredible amount of website hits.

America In Solidarity works throughout the year to be a voice for working families. Through e-activism, lobbying and holding community events, we have been very active in areas like health care, trade agreements and worker?s safety. When election times comes closer, we turn our attention to helping those who signed our pledge by rallying volunteers to phonebanks and campaign help. Since 2003, our volunteers have given thousands of hours and as we grow, so will our reach.

So while America In Solidarity won?t send you a check, the boost to your campaign may be worth more than a few hundred dollars.