Swing State Project

The Swing State Project is moving its rating of the race for Pennsylvania’s 11th District from “Lean Democratic” to “Tossup“.

A number of factors contribute to our decision here, not the least of which were three consecutive polls showing Democratic incumbent Paul Kanjorski trailing Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta. The DCCC released a poll of their own showing Kanjorski leading, but only with 48% of the vote — under the 50% bubble of vulnerability for an incumbent.

Barletta challenged Kanjorski in 2002 — not a great year for Democrats — and lost by a 56-42 margin. While it’s easy to dismiss Barletta out of hand because of that loss, it’s clear that in the interim years, Barletta has built a stronger profile, while Kanjorski has mired himself in controversy and gaffes. First there was the $10 million in earmarks that Kanjorski delivered to a failed anthracite technology company that was run by his relatives, then some inartful comments about the Iraq War that the GOP seized upon, and most recently, a disastrously bumbling interview with CBS on the subject of a controversial $5.6 million earmark to build a parking garage for a vacant office building (the “Kanjorski Center”) in his hometown of Nanticoke.

For his part, Barletta built a profile as a populist, anti-immigration crusader as mayor of Hazleton — an issue with some currency in this culturally conservative, working-class district. He has continued a populist theme on the campaign trail, hammering Kanjorski for spending campaign cash on limousine services “while hardworking district residents suffer.”

Money is the least of Kanjorski’s problems. He held a $2.2 million to $322K cash-on-hand advantage over Barletta, and has been saturating the airwaves since the early summer with ads. The DCCC and the National Association of Realtors continue to spend heavily in his defense, as well — but we can take this as an indication of something seriously wrong for an incumbent with such a wide financial advantage.

The word that’s been most often used to describe Kanjorski’s campaign skills is “rusty”. Well, we’re not really seeing the rust shaking off. This is one of the few districts where a Republican is beating the change drum and seeing some measure of success.

Here at Whitfield Trucking, business was getting slow. We couldn’t understand why so many Kentuckians who were suffering with high gas prices would object so much to us driving an empty tractor-trailer around the First Congressional District of Kentucky. Do they not own hundreds of thousands of dollars in Exxon and Chevron stock like we do? Why would they object to us getting rich off their pain?

Well, to figure out how to turn our business fortunes around, our CEO Exxon Ed Whitfield decided to meet with the wisest business mind he knew:

He told us we should not be driving an empty tractor-trailer around. He said that we simply must start delivering for the citizens of this district.

Luckily for us, he pointed out that Whitfield Trucking HAS delivered much more than our empty tractor-trailer would suggest. We hadn’t realized it, but our little company has delivered plenty. We have delivered a myriad of failed policies, lovingly rubber-stamped for President Bush that has

made us rich while our district has fallen further behind and our economy has crashed into the ditch. Just look at what all we have delivered in our once empty tractor-trailer. First we delivered for President Bush, and the Credit Card Companies:

Voted YES on Bankruptcy Overhaul requiring partial debt repayment.

Vote to pass a bill that would make it easier for courts to change debtors from Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which allows most debts to be dismissed, to Chapter 13, which requires a repayment plan.

Reference: Bill sponsored by Gekas, R-PA; Bill HR 333 ; vote number 2001-25 on Mar 1, 2001

http://www.ontheissues.org/Hou…

Then, we delivered the Bush Administration Energy Policy written by Dick Cheney, and the Energy Companies, which has led to record prices for our fellow Americans:

Voted YES on passage of the Bush Administration national energy policy.

Vote to pass a bill that would put into practice a comprehensive national policy for energy conservation, research and development. The bill would authorize o $25.7 billion tax break over a 10-year period. The tax breaks would include $11.9 billion to promote oil and gas production, $2.5 billion for “clean coal” programs, $2.2 billion in incentives for alternative motor vehicles, and $1.8 billion for the electric power industry and other businesses. A natural gas pipeline from Alaska would be authorized an $18 billion loan guarantee. It would add to the requirement that gasoline sold in the United States contain a specified volume of ethanol. Makers of the gasoline additive MTBE would be protected from liability. They would be required though to cease production of the additive by 2015. Reliability standards would be imposed for electricity transmissions networks, through this bill. The bill would also ease the restrictions on utility ownership and mergers.

Reference: Energy Policy Act of 2004; Bill HR 4503 ; vote number 2004-241 on Jun 15, 2004

http://www.ontheissues.org/Hou…

Then, we delivered for the People’s Republic of Communist China:

Voted NO on deterring foreign arms transfers to China.

To authorize measures to deter arms transfers by foreign countries to the People’s Republic of China, A YES vote would grant the President the ability to place sanctions on any individual or country that violates the arms embargo, including:

Denial of participation in cooperative research and development

Prohibition of ownership and control of any business registered as a manufacturer or exporter of defense articles or services

Removal of all licenses relative to dual-use goods or technology

Prohibition of participation of any foreign military sales

Reference: East Asia Security Act; Bill HR 3100 ; vote number 2005-374 on Jul 14, 2005

http://www.ontheissues.org/Hou…

Then, we delivered for the beloved lobbyists that fund our campaigns:

Voted NO on requiring lobbyist disclosure of bundled donations.

Amends the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require a registered lobbyist who bundles contributions totaling over $5,000 to one covered recipient in one quarter to:

file a quarterly report with Congress; and

notify the recipient.

“Covered recipient” includes federal candidates, political party committees, or leadership PACs [but not regular PACs].  

Reference: Honest Leadership and Open Government Act; Bill H R 2316 ; vote number 2007-423 on May 24, 2007

http://www.ontheissues.org/Hou…

Then, we delivered for President Bush, our hero in helping him to shred the worthless piece of paper known as the Constitution:

Voted NO on requiring FISA warrants for wiretaps in US, but not abroad.

Reference: RESTORE Act; Bill H.R.3773 ; vote number 08-HR3773 on Mar 14, 2008

Voted NO on Veto override: Congressional oversight of CIA interrogations.

Bill Veto override on H.R. 2082 ; vote number 08-HR2082 on Mar 11, 2008

Voted YES on allowing electronic surveillance without a warrant.

Reference: Update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978; Bill H.R.5825 ; vote number 2006-502 on Sep 28, 2006

Voted YES on continuing intelligence gathering without civil oversight.

Reference: Intelligence Authorization Act; Bill HR 5020 resolution H RES 774 ; vote number 2006-108 on Apr 26, 2006

http://www.ontheissues.org/Hou…

As you can see, our tractor-trailer is far from empty. It is filled with all the wonderful offerings of a failed President, rubber-stamped by a failed Congressman. We are hoping to keep this work going, so Congressman Whitfield’s failed staff can continue making over twice the median income of working families in this district working for him. It is the least we can do for the voters of this district, quite literally. Please support Exxon Ed Whitfield and keep the dream of Whitfield Trucking alive, so we can continue to get rich.

Please support Heather Ryan in Kentucky’s First, and close the doors on Whitfield Trucking for good!!:

Anyone donating $30 or more recieves a free Ryan for Congress T-Shirt!!

Research 2000 for The Great Orange Satan (9/15-17, likely voters, 7/14-16 in parens):

Mark Begich (D): 50 (47)

Ted Stevens (R-inc): 44 (45)

(MoE: ±4%)

I never underestimate the ability of Republicans to rally around their own — especially in Alaska — but things are still looking good for Begich. How about the House race?

Ethan Berkowitz (D): 53 (51)

Don Young (R-inc): 39 (40)

(MoE: ±4%)

Looking even better. Kos also tested Berkowitz against Sean Parnell, and found that Berko held a 48-43 lead — a sharp contrast with other recent polls that indicated that Parnell would have an edge in a general election match-up.

But still, I want to extend a warm thank you to Sean Parnell and the Club for Growth for gingerly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. A job well done, you nuts.

Bonus finding: In the Presidential race, McCain has a 55-38 lead over Obama.

Here is Part 2 of my analysis of this fall’s elections in California, which will cover the races for the U.S. House, State Senate, and State Assembly seats in Northern and Central California. Part 3 tomorrow will cover the races in Southern California.

Here is the link to Part 1, which covered the presidential race and the 12 ballot measures: http://www.swingstateproject.c…

Cross-posted at Calitics: http://calitics.com/showDiary….

Incumbents are in boldface. In the case of open seats, the party of the retiring incumbent is listed first without boldface.

U.S. HOUSE (Composition: 34 Democrats, 19 Republicans)

Safe:

CA-01 (North Coast): Thompson (D)

CA-02 (Northern Sacramento Valley): Herger (R)

CA-03 (Sacramento suburbs): Lungren (R)

CA-05 (Sacramento): Matsui (D)

CA-06 (Northern SF Bay): Woolsey (D)

CA-07 (Northeast SF Bay): George Miller (D)

CA-08 (San Francisco): Pelosi (D)

CA-09 (Berkeley, Oakland): Lee (D)

CA-10 (Inner East SF Bay): Tauscher (D)

CA-12 (Lower SF Peninsula): Speier (D)

CA-13 (Southern East Bay): Stark (D)

CA-14 (Silicon Valley): Eshoo (D)

CA-15 (Santa Clara, Cupertino): Honda (D)

CA-16 (San Jose): Lofgren (D)

CA-17 (Northern Central Coast): Farr (D)

CA-18 (Upper Central Valley): Cardoza (D) – unopposed

CA-19 (Yosemite, part of Fresno): Radanovich (R) – unopposed

CA-20 (Fresno, part of Bakersfield): Costa (D)

CA-21 (Tulare): Nunes (R)

Now for the races to watch:

CA-04 (Northeast, including Tahoe): Tom McClintock (R) vs. Charlie Brown (D), Paul Netto (L) – vacated by John Doolittle (R)

Registration: R+16.00%

Profile: As a lot of people already know by now, there is a high-profile battle going on here to replace the disgraced John Do-Little (R). Fighting Democrat Charlie Brown came within a few percentage points of knocking off Do-Little in 2006 and is back again, this time facing carpetbagger Tom McClintock, whose State Senate district is 400 miles away from the 4th. In such a strongly Republican district, especially in a Presidential year, one would normally give the Republican a leg up, but Charlie has been doing fantastically, maintaining a huge cash advantage over McClintock, and polls have shown him competitive.

9/18/2008 Outlook: Toss-Up

CA-11 (San Joaquin County and parts of East Bay): Jerry McNerney (D) vs. Dean Andal (R)

Registration: R+2.41%

Profile: This was a pickup for us in the House in 2006, and the GOP hoped to make it one of their highest priorities, pinning their hopes on Andal. Well, now it looks like those hopes have fizzled. Andal is now in hot water over negotiations for a new San Joaquin Delta College campus ( http://www.capitolweekly.net/a… ), and the claims are coming from evil liberals registered Republican and former Andal supporter Ted Simas, a SJDC board member. The NRCC has also pulled funding from the district, meaning that we can breathe a little easier here and devote funds to CA-04 and elsewhere.

9/18/2008 Outlook: Lean McNerney

STATE SENATE (District size: ~846,791) (Composition: 25 Democrats, 15 Republicans)

Safe:

SD-01 (Northeast, including Tahoe and Mother Lode): Dave Cox (R)

SD-03 (North Bay, part of San Francisco): Mark Leno (D) – vacated by Carole Migden (D)

SD-05 (Sacramento River Delta): Lois Wolk (D) – vacated by Michael Machado (D)

SD-07 (Most of Contra Costa County): Mark DeSaulnier (D) – vacated by Tom Torlakson (D)

SD-09 (Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond): Loni Hancock (D) – vacated by Don Perata (D)

SD-11 (Silicon Valley, most of Santa Cruz County): Joe Simitian (D)

SD-13 (Most of Santa Clara County including San Jose): Elaine Alquist (D)

SD-15 (Central Coast, part of Santa Clara County): Abel Maldonado (R)

STATE ASSEMBLY (District size: ~423,388) (Composition: 48 Democrats, 32 Republicans)

AD-01 (North Coast): Wesley Chesbro (D) – vacated by Patty Berg (D)

AD-02 (Sacramento Valley): Jim Nielsen (R) – vacated by Doug LaMalfa (R)

AD-03 (Northeast): Dan Logue (R) – vacated by Rick Keene (R)

AD-04 (Tahoe): Ted Gaines (R) – unopposed

AD-05 (Northern Sacramento suburbs): Roger Niello (R)

AD-06 (North Bay): Jared Huffman (D)

AD-07 (Napa Valley): Noreen Evans (D)

AD-08 (Sacramento River Delta): Mariko Yamada (D) – vacated by Lois Wolk (D)

AD-09 (Sacramento): Dave Jones (D)

AD-11 (Northern Contra Costa County): Tom Torlakson (D) – vacated by Mark DeSaulnier (D)

AD-12 (Western San Francisco): Fiona Ma (D)

AD-13 (Eastern San Francisco): Tom Ammiano (D) – vacated by Mark Leno (D)

AD-14 (Berkeley, Richmond): Nancy Skinner (D) – unopposed – vacated by Loni Hancock (D)

AD-16 (Oakland): Sandré Swanson (D)

AD-17 (Stockton, Merced): Cathleen Galgiani (D)

AD-18 (Eastern Oakland suburbs): Mary Hayashi (D)

AD-19 (Most of San Mateo County): Gerald Hill (D) – vacated by Gene Mullin (D)

AD-20 (Southern East Bay): Alberto Torrico (D)

AD-21 (Silicon Valley): Ira Ruskin (D)

AD-22 (Western San Jose): Paul Fong (D) – vacated by Sally Lieber (D)

AD-23 (Downtown San Jose): Joe Coto (D)

AD-24 (Southern San Jose): Jim Beall (D)

AD-25 (Mother Lode, Yosemite): Tom Berryhill (R)

AD-27 (Northern Central Coast): Bill Monning (D) – vacated by John Laird (D)

AD-28 (Inner Central Coast region): Anna Caballero – unopposed

AD-29 (Eastern Fresno): Michael Villines (R)

AD-31 (Western Fresno): Juan Arambula (D)

AD-32 (Bakersfield): Jean Fuller (R)

AD-33 (Part of southern Central Coast): Sam Blakeslee (R)

AD-34 (Big Empty): Connie Conway (R) – vacated by Bill Maze (R)

Now, for the races to watch:

AD-10 (Eastern Sacramento suburbs): Jack Sieglock (R) vs. Alyson Huber (D), Janice Bonser (L) – vacated by Alan Nakanishi (R)

Registration: R+1.97%

Profile: You know you’re in trouble when the interior voice of your own party is voicing great concern over a seat, in this case, the California Yacht Republican Party’s voice Jon Fleischman being concerned over the 10th Assembly district ( http://calitics.com/showDiary…. ). What was once a 6% Republican advantage in registration has shrunk to a 2% advantage, and Sieglock had a much tougher time in the primary than Huber. If we have a really good GOTV, we can count on wins here and elsewhere to put us at 2/3!

9/18/2008 Outlook: Toss-Up

AD-15 (Inner East Bay): Abram Wilson (R) vs. Joan Buchanan (D) – vacated by Guy Houston (R)

Registration: D+1.31%

Profile: Like the 10th, the Republican candidate in this one survived a really tough primary while the Democrat cruised through and is sitting pretty on a comfortable cash advantage. With a well-oiled turnout machine, we can win here, and if we do, we will shut out Republicans in every legislative seat in the Bay Area! A recent poll has Buchanan in the lead.

9/18/2008 Outlook: Lean Buchanan

AD-26 (Stockton, Modesto): Bill Berryhill (R) vs. John Eisenhut (D) – vacated by Greg Aghazarian (R)

Registration: D+1.99%

Profile: While this district has trended blue also, it will be a bit more competitive for us than the 10th and 15th. Eisenhut is a local almond farmer and fits the district well, while Berryhill is counting on name ID from his brother Tom in the neighboring 25th district and his father, who represented this area in the state legislature in the 1960s, to win.

9/18/2008 Outlook: Toss-Up

AD-30 (Southern San Joaquin Valley): Fran Florez (D) vs. Danny Gilmore (R) – vacated by Nicole Parra (D)

Registration: D+9.15%

Profile: Normally this district is not competitive, but the polarizing Yacht Dog Parra made the past 3 elections in this district closer than they should have been. Fortunately, she’s on her way out, and Shafter Mayor Fran Florez, Sen. Dean Florez’s mother, looks to be in a comfortable position to keep this seat in our column. The fact that voters in the Central Valley are fleeing the GOP ( http://www.istockanalyst.com/a… ) further adds to Florez’s advantage.

9/18/2008 Outlook: Likely Florez

Well, that’s it for the NorCal and CenCal races. Tomorrow, look for an analysis of the SoCal races, as well as a summary of the races we need to zero in on to win this fall.

This is gonna be short because I have to get to class (and I’m in Beijing, PRC, so class starts at 5pm PDT).

Cook made the follow changes; 6 are pro-Dem and 9 are pro-Rep.  Mostly, the changes seem to be clean-up work on races for which time is running out.

AL-03 Likely Rep->Solid Rep

CA-46 Likely Rep->Solid Rep

CA-50 Likely Rep->Solid Rep

FL-18 Likely Rep->Solid Rep

ID-01 Likely Rep->Lean Rep

IL-18 Likely Rep->Solid Rep

MD-01 Likely Rep->Lean Rep

NE-02 Likely Rep->Lean Rep

NV-02 Likely Rep->Lean Rep

NY-20 Lean Dem->Likely Dem

OR-05 Lean Dem->Likely Dem

PA-18 Likely Rep->Solid Rep

TN-04 Solid Dem->Likely Dem

VA-10 Likely Rep->Solid Rep

WV-02 Lean Rep->Likely Rep

My pick for the biggest surprise move is probably Tennessee’s 4th.  I mean, seriously?  I don’t know much about this race, but it seems kinda late for that race to just now be getting competitive if he thinks the challenger can pull and upset, especially in such a pro-Dem year.

Your thoughts?  Also, can someone please tell me what the hell Cook thinks is going on TN?

Update 9:50 PM PDT,

I did some research, and TN-04’s challenger Monty Lankford seems like quite the joke.  He’s lagging significantly in COH ($99872 to Davis’ $413849) and apparently lives in the 7th district.  Either Davis’ vote to reelect internals are absolutely awful and Cook has gotten a hold of them, or Cook thinks that Davis’ declarations that he’s likely to run for governor in 2010 could hurt him.  Either of those seem possible, but I’m still not sure how Lankford manages to hit 50%.

What are the odds that Rothenberg writes another  column slamming Cook for this quixotic choice?  

The Wall Street Journal has an article on Democratic candidates whose faith is potentially an asset in winning over voters in conservative-leaning districts. The article features Judy Baker (MO-09) and Larry Kissell (NC-08).

http://online.wsj.com/article/…

During the primaries Judy Baker was dubbed as “too liberal” to win in the MO-09 and yet I have always felt that her biography and her Baptist faith allow her to connect with voters in the district and taht as many voters vote their identity rather than issues, she is an ideal liberal Democratic candidate for a deep red Bush +18 district like ours.

If you donate to Judy Baker at my webpage below, I’ll match you up to $300.

http://www.actblue.com/page/wa…

General Wesley Clark also has an ActBlue webpage for her:

http://www.actblue.com/page/3f…

Larry Kissell’s donation page is here:

http://www.actblue.com/page/la…

We’ll believe it when we see it, but Haley Barbour’s mouthpiece is claiming that he’ll respect the law (for a change) and move Mississippi’s Senate election from the bottom of the ballot:

A spokesman for Gov. Haley Barbour says he will move the special election for Trent Lott’s old Senate seat off the bottom of the ballot. […]

His spokesman, Pete Smith, elaborated by saying “the governor is going to comply with the ruling and the Senate race will go near the top.”

We’ll see.

(Proudly cross-posted at C4O)

Last week, I began analyzing the state of the races out West. And ever since then, I’ve received feedback about me not including all the competitive races out her. And to all of you fretting, I say… Don’t worry!  

Because we have so many opportunities to not just pick up electoral votes for Obama, but also additional House and Senate seats, I just couldn’t pack them all into one diary. So today, without further adieu, I give you Part 2 of “On Winning the West”!  

OK, there’s no denying it. Colorado is one of the top swing states this year. Colorado is one of our best opportunities outside of New Mexico for a Western pick-up this year, but it’s also a state where the Republicans are going for broke as they’re doing everything they can to prevent us from turning the state blue. But because we have the facts, the issues, and the momentum on our side, we have a great opportunity to not just turn Colorado blue on the Presidential level, but also make the state’s Congressional Delegation bluer as well.

Mark Udall is currently a Member of Congress representing the Boulder area, and he’s the Democrat running for Senate here. Udall has a strong record of standing up for the values we believe in as well as working across the aisle to make change happen. He’s been a leader on energy and environmental issues, and he’s really the perfect fit for Coloradans on the issues they care about most. Despite a recent barrage of ugly attacks, Udall has the edge in this race. Still, our friends at the DSCC are taking the GOP threat seriously… And we should, too. As long as we have Udall’s back, we can win here.

Another great opportunity for us in Colorado lies with Betsy Markey in the state’s 4th Congressional District. This area has traditionally been more Republican-leaning, but that’s quickly changing. The incumbent anti-environment, anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-working-class Marilyn Musgrave is so extremist that she couldn’t even get 50% last time she ran for reelection. And already, Markey has taken the lead in the last indpendent poll done in the district. So far, it looks like the people here would rather see someone who’s ready to work for them like Betsy Markey rather than face another two years with Musgrave. And with the DCCC and EMILY’S List making a move here, we know this is a real race that we can win.

Now I know we can win Oregon for Obama. It’s a pretty reliably blue state, although the polls are often close here. With some hard work and a strong message, we can not only keep Oregon blue for Obama… But also send another Democrat to the Senate!

Jeff Merkley is the Democrat running for Senate here. He has a strong record as Oregon’s State House Speaker of bringing all sides to the table to pass legislation that has made a difference in people’s lives while still holding true to his progressive values. That’s why a multitude of progressive advocates, such as Oregon’s labor unions, the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters, Planned Parenthood PAC, and NARAL Pro-Choice America have all endorsed Merkley. Now the Republican incumbent Gordon Smith may claim to be “bipartisan”, but we know he’s just another Bush-Cheney-McCain enabler. The polls here may be close, but withour help and the DSCC’s help Merkley can win.

So will you join us in helping these good Democrats win? We can win the West… As long as we stand up and fight! So will you fight with us? If we want change, we need to suppport it and work for it. So come on, let’s bring some positive change to the West! 🙂

This is just unreal:

The Mississippi Supreme Court has given a split ruling in a dispute about the ballot placement for Trent Lott’s old Senate seat.

A majority of justices ruled Thursday that state law requires the special election between Republican Roger Wicker and Democrat Ronnie Musgrove to be near the top of the November 4th ballot.

But they stopped short of ordering Republican Gov. Haley Barbour to elevate the race off the bottom.

So let’s get this straight: The Mississippi Supreme Court (stacked with Barbour allies) says that the ballot is illegal, but stops short of ordering Haley Barbour to comply with the law?

I’m shaking my head in disbelief.

Update: The full decision, including the scathing dissent of Justice Diaz, is below the fold.

Here are a few quotes from the dissent:

Given the governor’s recent success at convincing seven members of this Court that a year is sometimes not a year, see Barbour v. State ex. reL Hood, 974 So. 2d 232 (Miss. 2008), one cannot fault him for daring to return to our chamber and insisting that the top is sometimes not the top.

But on the other, by holding that Judge Green exceeded her authority by ordering Governor Barbour and Secretary of State Hosemann to comply with state law, we send out from our chamber little more than a dressed-up request that this now settled law be complied with.

Later Update: Does anyone care to to tell me what the hell this means?

Barbour released a brief statement Thursday after the decision.

“The Supreme Court has spoken; so be it,” Barbour said.

It’s no secret that frosh GOP Rep. Bill “Brain Fade” Sali has been having a hard time raising money since his narrow win in 2006. Indeed, at the end of June, Sali only had $250K in the bank, and $136K in debts — including several bills left outstanding to disgruntled Idaho-based consultants.

With the economy in the shitter (thanks, Republicans!), Brain Fade is coming up with some unique strategies to replenish his coffers:

But out in Idaho, Rep. Bill Sali has decided to raise money by using a simple, grass-roots technique that church groups and youth sports teams have employed for decades – he’s hosting a yard sale!

Actually, the freshman Republican is urging all of his supporters to host yard sales, with the profits from all those old clothes, dishes and furniture going to his Congressional campaign. Yard sale hosts also receive campaign literature to hand out to their bargain-seeking clients, a way to generate interest in the campaign while raising money.

“Some people who are calling our campaign have never been involved in a campaign before,” spokesman Noah Wall tells HOH. “They’re looking for ways to help Bill, and a yard sale is a neat way for them to get involved.”

Good luck with that, Bill. Maybe I can buy a Jell-o mold in the shape of Idaho for a quarter at one of these.