The DCCC is out with four new ads in OH-01, NH-01, CT-04 and MI-09. All pretty good, I think the anti-Chabot one is the best. Good to see them picking up the pace. Also it looks like most of these where released a week ago but the DCCC has all the ads they are running up at their YouTube (which was invented by John McCain, by the way.)
Also in VA-10 Judy Feder has a new ad
Quite frankly, I’m not a big fan of it. She’s got a lot of money but isn’t doing what she needs to win this campaign and that’s too bad because she would be a great congresswomen.
Iraq War Vet and Second District Democratic Nominee Steve Sarvi is up with the first ad of the MN-02 race. It’s a solid ad, I’m not quite as impressed with it as I am with Ashwin Madia’s ads but it’s a good ad that defines Sarvi in the terms that Sarvi wants before Kline has a chance to define him. He also defines Kline before Kline can which is important since despite being the incumbent, Kline is not well known.
It’s essentially the same strategy that Tim Walz used in 2006. If you want to him run this ad you can donate here.
Team Madia is up with it’s second ad. And again, I’m very impressed.
Most Democrats run ads of them talking to people while MIDDLE CLASS TAX CUTS, ENERGY INDEPENDENCE, HEALTH CARE FOR ALL, END WAR IN IRAQ flash on the bottom of the screen. Sure those are all popular poll tested themes but those kind of ads are boring and unmemorable not to mention ineffective.
Madia’s ad’s are unconventional, interesting and convey his message in a much more memorable way. I’d really like to know who made these ads. For those who missed it, here is his last ad:
Today is Ashwin Madia Blog Day and so as a supporter from pretty much the day the primary field settled. I thought I’d post a little bit about why I’ve been part of Madiamania for so long. It shouldn’t be two hard beacuse two blogs today, Ashin’s in The Hill and Howie Klein’s on DownWithTyranny, have spelled out my main reason pretty well. I’ve supported Ashwin Madia since the start beacuse he has courage.
It’s time for a little more bravery in Washington.
Ashwin Madia has the courage to take on the war’s biggest cheerleader, Joe Lieberman
Today, the Republican Party announced that the loudest defender of status quo policies on Iraq, Senator Joe Lieberman, will be a prominent speaker at the Republican National Convention in my home state of Minnesota. Senator Lieberman and I do have one thing in common. We’ve both changed political parties. I left the Republican Party in 2002 after it replaced “balance our budget” with “borrow and spend” and after we started a war without a plan for success; a war we did not need.
With all respect to Senator Lieberman, talking tough about Iraq is not brave. Bravery is not demonstrated through words but instead through action.
Ashwin Madia has the courage to oppose the recent FISA bill.
I am troubled by the House passage of HR 6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. There is much we can do to prevent terrorism, but such measures do not require the sacrifice of fundamental constitutional freedoms which our country was founded upon. This legislation demonstrates the need for leaders in Congress who have experience in the military and in Iraq, and who value the rule of law as we fight the War on Terror.
Ashwin Madia has the courage to stand for full equality for all Americans.
Ever since the start of my campaign, I have been reaching out to members of the LGBT community in Minnesota. That’s because I strongly believe in full equal rights for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.
As a Marine Corps lawyer who served in Iraq, I was one of first attorneys to successfully defend a gay Marine from discrimination in the military. It wasn’t easy to stand in front of a jury made up of other U.S. Marines and argue against the military’s bigoted and shameful “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but I was more than willing to do so. I would I would be proud to serve alongside anyone brave enough to put on the uniform.
As someone with a brother who is gay, I would advocate passionately for passage of a federal hate crimes law that recognizes the disproportionate number of threats on a daily basis faced by members of the LGBT community. Existing law already extends legal protections for a number of vulnerable minority communities. Every day that we do not have this protection, LGBT individuals remain at risk.
I support same-sex marriage and full equality under the law. Civil unions fall short and seem to be a way for politicians to avoid recognizing all people as equal.
Lastly, it is unacceptable that our nation continues to allow a form of discrimination to exist in the workplace based on a characteristic that is just as inherent as sex, race, or disability. I support efforts to prohibit job discrimination.
I’m running for an open seat which had been held by a moderate Republican. But my opponent, State Representative Erik Paulsen, has been a vehement opponent of equal rights for LGBT Minnesotans for more than a decade. He led the fight in 2004, and again in 2006, to write discrimination into the Minnesota state constitution. He even voted to prevent equal benefits from being provided to domestic partners of state employees even though many of Minnesota’s largest employers already have policies that promote equality.
I have been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign and by Minnesota’s Stonewall DFL (Democrats). I hope you will consider supporting my campaign in the coming days and weeks. We need pragmatic problem solving not people who put their political ideology ahead of principles. It’s time for a few more patriots in Congress and a few less politicians.
::
Those are just three examples to give you a idea of what Ashwin is about. Ashwin is a fighter, if we send him to Washington he will not disappoint.
Here’s a great video of Ashwin
We won’t get a great progressive like that in Washington by wishing for it. We’ve got to work for it.
That’s right. Yesterday at a debate between Rep. Virgil Goode of Virgina’s 5th district and his Democratic challenger Tom Perriello Goode said this
“And they want me out of Congress, the liberal Democrats want me out. And they want me out because I’m a conservative voice, if we can silence that person that’s exactly what we want, we want more mushers up here in Congress that won’t speak out and stand out. They want a Obamajority in this country, Tom is on the Obamajority list for the US House of Representatives, they want to get him in there because they know he is going to be voting with them. They want to control the White House, 60 votes in the US Senate and a strong majority in the US House of Representatives.”
Goode is famous for using bogeymen to scare people, he attacked Rep. Keith Ellison for being a Muslim and repeated tall tales about China that even Dick Cheney said where false.
Now he’s found a new bogeymen. He’s attacking the Obamajority, an ActBlue page started by a 14 year old blogger–me.
That’s right, back in March I started an ActBlue page, “The New Obamajority”. After asking for suggestions I added Tom Perriello to the page. Apparently the 587 dollars we raised from 12 donors over the internet terrified Goode so much that he decided to attack a internet fundraising page in his closing remarks at a key debate in his race.
That internet fundraising page is even more terrifying to Goode because it was started by me, a 14 year old blogger with close to no political experience before two years ago. I’m trembling in my boots!
Personally I don’t think 587 bucks is anything to be scared about. If I were Goode I would be more worried about the fact that he’s getting outraised by Perriello. But I say we give him something to really be scared about.
I’m setting a goal of getting to 50 donors for Perriello on the Obamajority page to send Goode packing.
Goode doesn’t seem to like “mushers” which is odd because it is the name of people who race dogs similar to dogsled racing, I guess Goode has a problem with mushing, maybe if we retire him he’ll have enough free time to try out mushing and maybe he’ll learn to love it.
Also, Goode came close to breaking a secret I’ve been keeping. Tom will not be voting with “them” as Goode said, he will be personally calling me up before each vote and asking me how to vote. In fact, he got me a slick new phone for that purpose.
Let me assure you of this, Tom will march lock step with the powerful Teenage Blogger Caucus!
We’ve got a goal, we’ve got a teenage blogger attacking congressmen, we’ve got a terrific candidate to replace him.
Now time for action! It’s time to make a difference and let’s do it. Let’s use the super-powerful Obamajority internet fundraising page to elect Tom Perriello and say “Goodbye” to Virgil Goode. We can use the series of tubes to make a difference!
Democratic Nebraska Senate candidate Scott Kleeb outraised former Bush Administration official and governor of Nebraska Mike Johanns in Q2. Johanns raised nearly $683,000 while Kleeb raised nearly $700,000.
This is huge news for Kleeb. Johanns has a head start since he started campaigning in September and Scott only got in the race in February but since February Scott has raised more then Johanns. Still those almost five months gave Johanns close to 2 million dollars and it’s important to close the gap. Scott is a great candidate and if we want to get to 60 seats and get stuff done in 2009 then we’re going to need to win this race. Nebraska native Mike Lux has made that case well.
This is a key race that is winnable but Kleeb needs all the support we can give him. He’s very close to the $1,000,000 mark. Let’s put him over the top. We’ve got to stand with those who stand with us.
To get more of a feel for Scott check out this ad from his primary campaign.
And check out his slick newly redesigned website here.
As a nation, we must provide high-quality, affordable, and portable coverage for all Americans. Increasingly, this is not just a moral imperative but an economic necessity as the high cost of health care coverage is putting American business, large and small alike, at a weaker competitive advantage with their overseas competitors. Working with all parties, we must guarantee all Americans access to affordable health plans, regardless of income or illness. – Scott Kleeb
Note: This was originally a idea for OpenLeft’s American Blogger contest which it won and is currently on OpenLeft’s front page but I thought I’d share with y’all at Swing State Project beacuse I know you guys have great ideas too. What do you think of the idea?
The voters hit the polls and the people decided in the fifth American Blogger contest. And the winner was PIE! (Progressive Investment Effectiveness) You can read my original comment here. Essentially it is a idea to develop a system (PIE! Scores) to determine which candidates progressive small donors should donate to if they want their money to be most effectively used to create progressive change via the political system.
In this post I will go into a bit more detail about the project and then will outline ideas for criteria and ask for your brilliant ideas for different criteria! This project won’t work if it’s just one person working on it, we need as many people as possible to make this a people-powered PIE! project.
First off let me talk a bit more about the project. The idea is to come up with a set of criteria on which to determine how effective small dollars would be in bringing progressive change, then each candidate running a semi-competitive challenge gets assigned a PIE! Score. Hopefully progressive small donors will look at those PIE! Scores when they are making their donations and progressives will be more effective in making change via the electoral system.
The criteria I originally proposed were:
1. Seats Where We Can Make the Most Progress: Crisitunity of Swing State Project has developed a method of predicting in which races replacing the incumbent with the challenger would produce the largest right to left swing in voting. You can view the House edition here and the Senate edition here. Debbie Cook in CA-46 and Andrew Rice in OK-Sen would earn the most points in this category while Becky Greenwald in IA-04 and Jim Slattery in KS-Sen would fare the worst.
2. Likelihood of victory: Investing in races where Democrats are already heavily favored (Mark Warner in VA-Sen) or where Democrats don’t seem like they have a chance (Wyoming’s Senate races for example) is not a very good use of money. In this we would factor in a number of considerations to determine what the likelihood of victory in each race is. Races that are tossups or competitive (AK-Sen or NM-01 for example) would earn the highest points while races that seem safe (NY-13, NM-Sen) or very tough (CA-46, GA-Sen) earn less. We would have to come up with a exact system for this. Potentially we could average out the rankings of the Swing State Project, Cook Political Report, Chris Bowers and Nate Silver, something like that.
3. Money’s effectiveness: In Alaska when you advertise all the money is being spent on getting your message in front of potential voters eyes. In say IL-10 when you advertise on TV your spending lots of money reaching people who live in the Chicago area but not in your district. Therefore races with cheap media markets that predominantly reach potential voters (NE-Sen, WY-AL) get high points while races that have expensive media markets that don’t just reach your voters (VA-Sen, IL-10) get lower marks.
4. Progressive Leadership Bonus: We also want to elect progressive leaders. People who have endorsed the Responsible Plan (Darcy Burner), put out statements against FISA (Tom Perriello), worked for progressive movement organizations (Andrew Rice) or showed other tendencies that indicates they would be a progressive leader in Congress (Al Franken) would get extra bonuses. For example Tom Perriello was a original signer of the Responsible Plan, put out statements against FISA and worked for a movement organization (Avaaz.org) so he would score very well. Someone like Ronnie Musgrove (MS-Sen) who has showed signs of being a very unprogressive leader (like pushing to put the Ten Commandments in public places) would not get any bonus here.
So let’s say the first three criteria each earn you up to 30 points for being the best in that criteria and as low as 0 if you are one of the worst in the criteria and you get a 3 point bonus for each of the first three progressive leadership bonus’s and 1 for other signs of progressive leadership.
Andrew Rice would get a 30 from category 1 because he scored the highest among Senate challengers, OK-Sen isn’t considered a tossup (such as AK-Sen which would give it a 30 score) but it isn’t considered completely hopeless (a 0 such as WY-Sen) because of Inhofe’s low approval ratings, general insanity and Rice’s strong campaign so I would give Rice a 10 in this category, Oklahoma is a very effective media market so I’d give him a 30 there and he gets a 3 point bonus for founding the Progressive Alliance Foundation and an additional point for his aggressive netroots outreach and being on the record calling himself a progressive Democrat.
So Andrew Rice would get a PIE! Score of 74. We’d have to calculate for all the candidates but I’d guess that’s a fairly good score.
Get how it works now? Kind of? Well now I want YOUR ideas for criteria. Are the current ones good? have a idea for a new one? Also, Do you think the 30-30-30-10 split for weighting each criteria is a good system? Do you have any ideas for other areas to award Progressive Leadership Bonus’s?
Please speak up then! After we decide the criteria I will post once or twice a week with one of the criteria and the community can help refine each one. For example we will need to decide how to determine the likelihood of victory.
So please make suggestions, give feedback and let’s have some PIE!
That’s right. An analysis done by Crisitunity of the website Swing State Project entitled the “Out-of-Whackness Index” showed that John Kline is more out of touch with his district then even Michelle Bachmann (who ranked 5th). You can read the whole thing here.
In a district where the majority of legislators are Democrats. Where Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar won by double digits. In a district like that John Kline is one of the 50 most conservative Republicans and the most out of touch Republican in America.
Thankfully we have a better choice. Steve Sarvi, a Iraq War vet and former mayor of the city of Watertown. Simply put, Steve Sarvi is the right choice. You can learn more about his impressive background here.
But the reason I am writing this is that it is Steve Sarvi Blog Day. Bloggers around Minnesota are writing about why we need to dump Kline and elect Steve Sarvi. The easiest way you can help is by donating via ActBlue. Kline is out of touch and Sarvi fits the district. We can win and it would make a huge difference.
Kline voted:
–Against a bill to establish a National Landscape Conservation System
– Against a bill to establish an Office of Congressional Ethics
– Against theEnsuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act
– Against thePaul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act
– Against theRenewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act
If you want change it’s time to step up and donate to Steve Sarvi.
Last Monday I launched the Obamajority to give Barack Obama a strong progressive Congress that will enact his bold agenda. I started it out with three canidates, Rick Noriega, Darcy Burner and Patrick Murphy. I also asked for suggestions for who to endorse next.
The canidate that received the most support by far was Tom Perriello. I had already heard about his impressive run for Congress and so I am exited to announce that Tom is the latest canidate to be added to the Obamajority. So go and give him some change for change. In this essay I take a look at Tom and his campaign to bring much needed leadership to Virgina’s 5th Congressional District.
First let’s take a look at the current representative for the Virgina’s 5th Congressional District. His name is Virgil Goode, Jr. I’ve known about Goode for a little bit over a year because he is a national prominent bigot. On December 7th Goode sent this letter out to a constituent. Take a look at that bigotry.
You see that “Muslim Representative from Minnesota” is Keith Ellison the great representative elected to my neighboring district. That is a perfect example of the hate and fear that is too powerful today. Many times people have attempted to defeat Goode but again and again they have lost. But this time we have a chance to change that.
Why? Because we have a great canidate running. Tom Perriello. Tom was called to serve at a early age.
After receiving his law degree from Yale University, Tom accepted an assignment working to end atrocities in the West African countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone, which had suffered long civil wars fueled by blood diamonds. Tom’s work with child soldiers, amputees, and local pro-democracy groups in Sierra Leone played a significant role in the peace and reconciliation process that ended twelve years of violence in that country.
Tom then became Special Advisor and spokesperson for the International Prosecutor during the showdown that forced Liberian dictator Charles Taylor from power without firing a shot. After this success, Tom served as a national security analyst for the Century Foundation. He has worked inside Darfur and twice in Afghanistan.
Since 2004 he has been a leader in building a faith-based movement dedicated to working toward the common good instead of spewing hate.
Since 2004, Tom has helped to launch a political and social movement in this country that is credited with shifting the national debate about America’s moral priorities. He helped found FaithfulAmerica.org and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, which bring together faith communities to fight for children’s health care, supporting a higher minimum wage, environmental stewardship, and responsible solutions in Iraq. Inspired by the prophetic vision of Dr. King, Wilberforce, and Micah, Tom believes that America must reverse the erosion of our commitment to the common good and restore our understanding that our nation rises or falls together.
Tom also helped found Avaaz.org a great group that I am a part of. It tackles some of the toughest issues of our day by working with it’s millions of members from every country in the world.
Tom sat down for a great interview with Lowell of the great Virgina blog Raising Kaine. In it he explains why he is running, how he thinks he can win, his strengths and passions. Let’s look at some highlights from that interview.
First of all the big question. Why? Why run for Congress?
Like so many in my generation, I felt called from an early age to devote my life to community service, because it felt so much more real than trying to change things through government. For over a decade, I have felt inspired to work on economic fairness in our communities and on ending atrocities from inside Darfur and Sierra Leone.
But I could only work in a broken system for so long before I began to understand how important it was to fix the system itself. In Darfur and West Africa, I saw how much of a difference a single Congressperson could make if s/he were willing to speak out and hold the Administration and State Department accountable. And the last few elections have made it clear how important it is for Democrats to reclaim the values debate and restore America’s commitment to justice and the common good.
I believe we stand at a unique point in history. Our challenges are large enough that our only pragmatism is the idealism to think big and expand our sense of what’s possible. I am running because I believe that politics should be seen as community service by other means. It can, and should, be a place to make people’s lives better.
And how will he win in this traditionally Republican district?
We are going to win because we have a stronger movement on our side and better ideas for how to secure our country, our jobs, and our environment. Beating Rep. Goode will not be easy, but all the pieces are coming together:
1) Energy and Resources – We tripled Rep. Goode in fourth quarter fundraising, and raised more money inside Virginia in four months than he did all year. When we are outpacing an incumbent from the Appropriations Committee, you know that people are hungry for a new generation of leadership. Also the DCCC has put our race “in play,” and if we hit our fundraising target this quarter, we will move into the top tier of their targeted races.
2) Grassroots – Our campaign has already logged over 1300 volunteer hours, and we are working hard to build the largest and most sophisticated grassroots network this district has ever seen. We are investing heavily in field, already have offices in Franklin County and Charlottesville, and will have an office in Danville by the end of this quarter. In a district the size of New Jersey, this race will be won on the ground.
3) Blue-mentum – Like much of America, our district is a swing district that is now trending blue. The wildly popular Mark Warner is on the ticket, Gov. Kaine is tirelessly devoted to building the party, and Obama just got more primary votes in the Fifth than all the Republicans combined. Meanwhile, Rep. Goode has gone from being a populist maverick to marching lockstep with President Bush and out of step with our independent district.
As for being a “faith-based progressive,” I can tell you that voters respond to authenticity. My faith is a big part of who I am and why I’ve dedicated my life to justice, and most voters just want to know what I am all about. It also provides a common experience and language that resonates with voters in my district, especially in areas where Democrats have struggled in the past.
And finally his answer on one of the most pressing issues of our day. Climate change.
We need to commit to independence from fossil fuels within a generation, and that will require major investments, a substantial shift in incentives, and a culture change as consumers. A revenue-neutral tax shift is one way to do this, but so are cap-and-trade systems that have worked to address problems such as acid rain.
As for the target, I most often hear from experts that we must draw the line at no more than a 2-degree Celsius temperature increase. Our goal must be set not by what seems politically possible but what will actually produce the end result we need.
That brings me to a excellent series that Tom wrote for TPMCafe’s Table for One. You can read it all here (under latest posts) but I want to focus on what I think is the most important one. It is entitled “Conviction Politics… in Practice.” In it Tom breaks from the notion that only DLC-poll driven campaigns can win. Instead he shows that conviction politics both makes it more likely for him to be elected and will also make him more effective if he is elected. I strongly recomend you read it all but here is part of it.
While some strategists focus on positioning candidates on issue after issue, I believe most voters focus more on whether the candidate integrity and character on the whole, demonstrated by the conviction to take a stand. These lines from Toby Keith probably strike pretty close to how many people, including me, feel about this:
“I’m a man of my convictions. Call me wrong. Call me right.
But I bring my better angels, to every fight.
You may not like where I’m going. But you sure know where I stand.
Hate me if you want to, love me if you can.”
For the rest of the week, I will be talking about my struggle to apply these simple principles to the issues of the day (Iraq War, culture war) and my experience putting conviction politics into practice. The successes of conviction candidates in 2006 inspired me to run for Congress. I am still very early in the process, but am hopeful that this campaign will be part of building on those lessons for a better democracy.
The more I learn about Tom the more exited I am about this campaign. I hope you will take the time to read his great interview with Raising Kaine, teacherken’s excellent case for him and Tom’s postings on TPM. Hopefully then you will be as exited by Tom’s campaign as I am.
Electing Barack Obama isn’t enough to bring real change. We will also need to send a strong message to Congress that more of the same won’t cut it. Electing someone like Tom would do just that. Tom wouldn’t just be another vote. He would be someone who lead by example. He will use his power as 1 of 435 to do good in the world not get sweet deals from lobbyists. He will lead by conviction and indeed he already is leading. He helped develop the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq and appeared in this video promoting it:
If you want that kind of leadership. If you want to send a strong message that conviction politics is the right kind of politics then consider making a donation to Tom via the Obamajority page. Tom has set a goal of raising $500,000 in this quarter and he is very close to reaching that. If he does this will become a top-tier race nationally. He is running a grassroots campaign and we have a good shot at replacing one of the worst congressmen with one of the best. Right now is a critical time in the campaign though so donate and together we can bring about some real change. But only it you help make it.
We need to restore the founding American ethic that we are better off when we are in this together. Since the original thirteen colonies joined together as the United States, through Civil War and the Great Depression, we have risen or fallen according to this simple rule: America thrives when we are united in a common purpose for the common good.- Tom Perriello
P.S. We are always open to adding new canidates. Keep the suggestions coming to obamathon (AT) gmail (DOT) com. Thanks!
Only in the race for a few weeks and he already has a site with issues, videos, endorsements, events, polls and action items. Sounds like he’s on a roll.
Here is the message that greats visitors to his website.
A Message from Bob Tuke
Entering the US Senate race was not a decision that I took lightly. As I traveled our great state and talked with countless Democrats, Independents and Republicans, I heard an overwhelming frustration for how Washington just keeps getting it wrong. Failing health care. Surging gas prices. Endless and misguided war.
The Senate needs another Marine to tackle the tough issues, not another career politician. In the Marines we are trained to take the high ground and hold it, and that’s what I plan to do in this campaign: To Take the Hill. Together let’s take the Hill from career politicians, and give the power back to ordinary Tennessee families. I will listen to you, and I will fight for you.
And this campaign starts with you. So please explore the site, sign-up, and get involved.
Semper Fi,
And here is the video he kicked off his campaign with:
