Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Tuesday Independent Expenditure Round-Up
Posted by James L.Highlights from Tuesday night's independent expenditures:
• KS-02: The DCCC is expanding yesterday's play in this district by $313,000 for both positive and negative TV ads boosting the campaign of Democratic challenger Nancy Boyda. That brings the total spent in this district by the DCCC to over $650k. The NRCC's response today? A minor $27k media buy. Watch what they'll do tomorrow, though.
• NY-25: Boom! The DCCC has just placed a $334k media buy in this district, with both positive ads for Dan Maffei and negative ads against incumbent Jim Walsh.
• IN-03: As promised yesterday, the NRCC has dropped another $75k in TV ads into this deep-red district to fend off Ft. Wayne city councilman and self-funder Tom Hayhurst from upsetting Republican Mark Souder. In total, the NRCC has spent just shy of $200k defending this seat. Definitely one of the most eyebrow-raising expenditures of the cycle.
• NC-08: Moveon.org has entered the fray on behalf of grassroots-powered Democrat Larry Kissell with a $128k media buy against Republican incumbent Robin Hayes. If there's one thing that Larry has lacked so far, it's the money to go toe-to-toe in an air war with self-funding gazillionaire Hayes. Definitely a well-placed hit by Moveon.
• OH-02: Emily's List is doing the heavy lifting here, with $52k worth of direct mail and radio ads both for Victoria Wulsin and against Jean Schmidt. This is on top of $31k spent yesterday on direct mail.
• Union activity: the AFSCME is up with new ads against Don Sherwood in PA-10 ($50k), NRCC chair Tom Reynolds in NY-26 ($40k), and Michelle Bachmann (R) in MN-06 ($50k). The SEIU has put $45k into CO-04 for radio ads in support of Angie Paccione, $76k into MN-01 for direct mail in support of Tim Walz, $68k for radio spots in support of Patty Wetterling, and $67k into NV-02 for radio spots in support of Jill Derby.
• And, of course, as David mentioned below, the DCCC has dropped a massive $1.12 million bomb on Charlie Bass in NH-02. Daaaayum, that's gonna hurt, Charlie.
Posted at 11:49 PM in 2006 Elections, 2006 Elections - House | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
The Ridiculous Kerry Flap
Posted by James L.So John Kerry stuck his foot in his mouth yesterday, botching a joke intended as an insult against the President. And now the GOP, desperate with the clock ticking down and trailing a few dozen points on the scoreboard, is despicably frothing at the mouth, accusing Kerry of slandering America's troops. They know better--they know that Kerry botched a joke, so they're doing all they can to keep the attention on him, rather than Bush's botching of an entire war.
If the GOP wants to play that game, fine. Remember this nugget, from an August 2004 Bush speech?
Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.
Everyone had a big laugh over Bush's verbal gaffe two years ago. Did you see John Kerry and the Democratic Party issuing press releases calling on Bush to cease his treasonous war against the citizens of the United States of America? No, because to do so would be completely ridiculous. Just as ridiculous as the sanctimonious, dishonest drivel that Tony Snow and George Bush are trying to feed into the media narrative tonight.
No one took Bush's verbal stumble seriously in August 2004. And by the same measure, no one should hold Kerry's stumble to a higher standard.
Posted at 06:18 PM in 2006 Elections, Media | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Friday, October 27, 2006
Final Netroots Push: The $100,000 Challenge
Posted by DavidNYCLATE UPDATE: Well, as I'm sure you've seen, we've blown way past $100,000 raised today. In fact, we've hauled in $275,000! We're also incredibly close to $1.5 million raised on the page, total. Who will help put us over the top?
Today, Friday, is the last best day to donate to your favorite candidates. Here's why: Over the weekend, campaigns will make their final choices about where to spend money - ad buys, mailers, get-out-the-vote efforts, etc. After that point, almost all major spending decisions will be complete. That makes it hard to effectively spend money received during the last week of the campaign. Final-week contributions are appreciated, sure, but cash received by today is a lot more valuable.
That's why Swing State, Daily Kos and MyDD are doing one final fundraising push for the netroots page. The goal is as simple as can be: We want to raise $100,000 for the entire page today. And this time, we're gonna ask everyone to dig as deep as possible. At earlier points in the cycle, campaigns can use small-dollar donations to help build their lists so that they can seek more donations in the future. Right now, though, what Democrats across the country need is just cold cash. After today, you should volunteer your time. But today is the day to part with your hard-earned bucks.
All week long, we've been flogging incumbent Democrats, begging them to give as part the Use It Or Lose It campaign. But we have to put our money where our mouths are, too. And that's exactly what I'm going to do.
I just gave $500 to the Paul Hodes campaign. My student loans ran out in May, and while I've recently started work, I haven't been paid yet. I've been living off a combination of credit cards and wedding gifts for months now. But I can't afford not to give - who among us can? You don't need me to tell you that what's at stake right now is just so unbelievably important.
But there are more concrete, immediate reasons: The NRCC just announced that it would drop $366,000 worth of negative ads into this race. To put that into perspective, this is roughly a third of what Paul Hodes has raised throughout the campaign, all getting dumped into the district overnight. My $500 is a proverbial drop in the bucket compared to that, but if enough of us declare "Fuck it! We've had enough! We're going to give whatever we can!" then we'll be able to fight back. I know it.
And it's not just Hodes under assault. For all the GOP's alleged money woes, they've always outraised us and always will. Democrats all across the country are now on the receiving end of the Republican Party's malignant Wurlitzer, and it won't let up until the polls close. Every member of our party needs our help. Whether you give to the netroots candidates or someone else today, just please give.
Are you with me? Can we raise $100,000 today? Yeah? Well, then, let's do this thing!!!
UPDATE (James L.): Whoa, it looks like $100,000 in one day is not much of a challenge for the netroots community. You guys have raised over $210,000 so far, and the day's not nearly done yet. Markos is right: let's blow the roof off of Actblue. Let's bring our total haul to $1.5 million. It's only a matter of raising $100k more tonight. I know our community can do this. Let's send our netroots candidates off into their final week in style--with enough resources to compete.
And if you've already donated, please take the next logical step: help get out the vote! Do More Than Vote is a great resource full of links to many different ways you can help from all corners of the country. You can also host or attend a pre-Halloween phone party coordinated by Moveon.org, or sign up for Moveon's Call for Change program targeting Democratic-leaning voters. Remember: this is going to be a base turnout election. There's no need to waste time trying to convince reluctant fence-sitters to switch to the Democratic column--all we have to do is light a fire under the asses of Democrats and Democratic-leaners who haven't given the election much thought this year. Moveon.org is making it easy to help, from anywhere in the country. Like David says, let's do this thing.
Posted at 04:45 PM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising, Netroots | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
The Great Swing State Project Predictions Contest is Now Closed!
Posted by DavidNYC(That's it, folks! The contest officially closed at 3am Pacific today. You're welcome to still contribute predictions, but you'll be playing for pride, not prizes!)
(Bumped! If you have any last-minute revisions to your entries, you've got a few more hours to post them!)
Go here and offer your predictions in the Great Swing State Project Pedictions Contest! Polls close at 3am Eastern, midnight Pacific Tuesday night. And we promise prizes to the winners! I think we'll be doling out some SSP t-shirts and beer steins. So get predictin'!
(Note: You can't post comments on this thread. You have to go to the earlier post. And only post your predictions on that thread - no e-mails, please.)
Posted at 10:00 PM in 2006 Elections | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Monday, October 23, 2006
Action Alert: Use It or Lose It
Posted by DavidNYCJust go here and do what Chris Bowers says: Call these ultra-safe Democrats and (politely) ask them to give 30% of their cash-on-hand to competitive races or party committees. Thanks to a campaign finance loophole, these guys are are the best-situated to drive large sums where they are needed most in the final two weeks of the election season.
I think the best talking point you can use is that any Dems who really give a lot now will be remembered glowingly by the grassroots in the future. Call `em now.
Posted at 10:35 PM in 2006 Elections, Democrats, Fundraising | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
The Great Swing State Project Prediction Contest
Posted by James L.(Bumped!)
In honor of Swing State Project's third birthday, David and I have come up with a fun party game that we can all get involved in: an electoral prediction contest! We've handpicked twelve hot House and Senate races from all over the country (and one Gubernatorial race as the tiebreaker) for you to mull over and submit your predictions. The rules are simple: Only one entry per person will be accepted (so if you post multiple revisions, we're only going to look at your last post), submitted as a comment on this thread (NO e-mails). Submissions will be accepted until midnight Pacific on Tuesday, October 24. There will be prizes involved (nothing fancy, though, except maybe a nice looking SSP t-shirt...).
Scores will be based on the lowest aggregate margin of error. For example, if you predicted the MT-Sen race as Burns 55, Tester 45 (R+10) and the result on November 7 was Tester 55, Burns 45 (D+10), your margin of error would be 20 points, as 20 represents the gap between D+10 and R+10. If, on the other hand, you predicted Tester 60, Burns 40 (D+20), your margin of error would be 10 points. Clear as mud? To reiterate, the key here is to see how close the gap between Democratic and Republican candidates in your predictions is to the gap between Democratic and Republican candidates on election day. Several of these races have fringe indie candidacies, but there's no need to make predictions for third party candidates (except for Lieberman), as we're measuring the gap between the Democrats and Republicans, not how close your numbers are to the actual percentages.
Well, that was a mouthful. Let's get on with it! Here are the 12+1 races that David and I have selected. Put the valuable knowledge that you have gained from your daily readership of Swing State Project to the test! (Haha.)
MT-Sen: Tester (D) v. Burns (R)
CT-Sen: Lamont (D) v. Lieberman (CfL)
TN-Sen (OPEN): Ford (D) v. Corker (R)
PA-06: Murphy (D) v. Gerlach (R)
FL-22: Klein (D) v. Shaw (R)
NM-01: Madrid (D) v. Wilson (R)
NH-02: Hodes (D) v. Bass (R)
ID-01 (OPEN): Grant (D) v. Sali (R)
MN-01: Walz (D) v. Gutknecht (R)
OH-12: Shamansky (D) v. Tiberi (R)
CA-04: Brown (D) v. Doolittle (R)
NE-03 (OPEN): Kleeb (D) v. Smith (R)And the tiebreaker:
TX-Gov: Perry (R) v. Bell (D) v. Kinky (I) v. Strayhorn (I)
TX-Gov is a special case, so we're not going to measure the R/D gap, but rather how close your predictions are to the actual election day vote distribution.
Submit your predictions soon! You have until 12pm Pacific on the night of Tuesday, October 24 to submit your predictions. If you are interested in claiming a prize, please include your e-mail address with your submission. If you don't want to do that, check again once the contest is over (i.e., after November 7th), when we will post a list of winners. I'm really looking forward to seeing all of your predictions.
Posted at 10:30 PM in 2006 Elections | Comments (80) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
Posted by DavidNYCEd Fitzgerald, that's who. In 2004, Ed (over at his blog Unfutz) did heroic work tracking all the presidential election prognosticators - and there were quite a few. His meta-predictions were invaluable, so I'm glad to see he's back in the game with congressional races this year. Take a look at this gorgeous chart:
For a fuller explanation - as well as some interesting graphs of historical projection data - check out Ed's first post in this series.
In the same vein, Superribbie has a new roundup of professional House race analysts' ratings here.
Posted at 02:59 PM in 2006 Elections | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Son of 3Q Fundraising Reports Open Thread
Posted by DavidNYCCome on, feel the noise:
| District | Candidate | Party | 3Q Raised | CoH |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA-50 | Brian Bilbray | R | 350 | 195 |
| GA-08 | Mac Collins | R | 295 | 502 |
| GA-12 | Max Burns | R | 632 | 604 |
| IA-02 | Jim Leach | R | 71 | 177 |
| IL-11 | John Pavich | D | 58 | 13 |
| IN-09 | Mike Sodrel | R | 431 | 1,100 |
| KY-03 | Anne Northup | R | 564 | 1,500 |
| NM-01 | Heather Wilson | R | 1,000 | 1,400 |
| NV-03 | Jon Porter | R | 412 | 189 |
| NY-26 | Tom Reynolds | R | 658 | 1,900 |
| OH-06 | Charlie Wilson | D | 368 | 462 |
| OH-12 | Bob Shamansky | D | 105 | 602 |
| PA-04 | Melissa Hart | R | 475 | 1,100 |
| PA-08 | Mike Fitzpatrick | R | 385 | 446 |
| TX-14 | Ron Paul | R | 332 | 365 |
| VT-AL | Martha Rainville | R | 289 | 239 |
| VT-AL | Peter Welch | D | 436 | 522 |
| WI-08 | Steve Kagen | D | 150 | 146 |
All numbers are in thousands. If the "3Q Raised" number is in boldface, it means I combined a pre-primary report with the actual 3Q report to give a full picture of the quarter. Also, these numbers do not include loans made by the candidate. A couple of guys have lent their campaigns a lot of money - especially Steve Kagen and Bob Shamansky.
If you have any more numbers, please post them in comments (with links if you've got `em). Earlier numbers are available here and here.
Posted at 12:56 PM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
3Q Fundraising Reports Open Thread
Posted by James L.Picking up where we left off, this weekend is the deadline for campaigns to file their finance reports for the third quarter of 2006, ending on September 30.
I've rounded up a few noteworthy tallies, but feel free to post any other numbers you see floating around.
Eric Massa (D, NY-29): $296k raised from 8/24 through 9/30, $162k raised from 7/01 through 8/23; $334k cash-on-hand ($900k total raised)Mike Weaver (D, KY-02): $222k raised, $270k CoH ($390k total raised)
Larry Grant (D, ID-01): $184k raised, $73k CoH ($345k total raised)
Tessa Hafen (D, NV-03): $307k raised from 7/27 through 9/30, $46k raised from 7/01 through 7/26; $456k CoH ($1.11m total raised)
Angie Paccione (D, CO-04): $567k raised; $309k CoH ($1.33m total raised)
Mary Jo Kilroy (D, OH-15): $1.008m raised; $793k CoH ($2.055 total raised)
Deborah Pryce (R, OH-15): $1.4m raised; $2m CoHOH-Sen: Sherrod Brown (D): $2.9m raised ($1.2m CoH); Mike DeWine (R): $2.7m raised ($4.5m CoH)
Very good fundraising by Massa, who has pulled in over $450k in the third quarter. Similarly, good fundraising numbers by the likes of Angie Paccione and Tessa Hafen lead to a solid impression of the Democrats' 2nd tier challengers this year. At the same time, though, Mike Weaver has the support of the DCCC's Red to Blue program, but you wouldn't know it by his fundraising.
Posted at 01:51 AM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Many Voter Registration Deadlines Looming
Posted by DavidNYCMatt Stoller notes that voter registration deadlines in many states are very, very soon. If you haven't yet registered to vote, please do so! And if you aren't sure of your registration status (you've moved in recent years, etc.), please call your local board of elections to check. If you are already registered, then your mission should be to register at least one other person in time for election day. With web-based tools, it's easier than ever:
Pro-Net Neutrality Voter Registration Tool
The first link takes you to a site which will tally up how many people register with the goal of supporting net neutrality. If for whatever reason that doesn't interest you (or your friends or relatives you're trying to sign up), follow the second link.
Posted at 11:03 PM in 2006 Elections, Activism | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
3Q Fundraising Reports Start to Trickle In
Posted by James L.Up until 9/29, money was the often the best indicator of a candidate's chances of success. That's still the case today, but the macro factors introduced by the scandal surrounding the House Republican Leadership cover-up of Mark Foley's appetite for young congressional pages may mitigate the Republicans' sizable cash-on-hand lead in many hot House races this year--quite possibly Senate races as well. Look at it this way: it doesn't help them anywhere. There are no heroes in the House Republican caucus on this issue.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not predicting that Democrats will win 100 seats in some kind of tsunami. But Republicans will get less mileage out of their warchests this year with Mark Foley and Dennis Hastert gobbling up headlines, while Democratic messages on values and security will carry more weight.
That said, third quarter fundraising reports are starting to trickle in. If you know of any fundraising figures for any campaign, please share the numbers in the comments. I'll update this thread accordingly. Here's what I've seen so far:
Jim Webb (D): $3.5m raised ($2.7m cash-on-hand; $4.6m total)
That's a pretty good increase, but he'll need even more to swamp out Allen in an expensive state like Virginia.
Joe Sestak (D): $1.14m raised ($1.53 CoH; $2.27m total)
Curt Weldon (R-Inc.): $0.91m raised ($1.12 CoH)
Simply stunning.
UPDATE (David): Some numbers from a couple of Republicans:
John Kline (R, MN-02): $173K raised, $775K CoH
Shelley Capito (R, WV-02): $800K raised, $1.04M CoH
Kline's opponent is FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley, who had just $100K on hand as of August 23rd. A recent SUSA poll here was not a cause for optimism, showing Kline with a 55-35 lead.
Meanwhile, Mike Callaghan is running against Capito. I really like Mike, but this has been a tough uphill battle all the way. WV-02 is not a wealthy district, and raising money here without national help is hard. Capito, meanwhile, has gotten a whopping 44% of her donations from PACs - Callaghan's taken just 2% of his total from that source.
One possible ray of light here is that Capito is on the board which oversees congressional pages, whose GOP overseer (Rep. John Shimkus) utterly failed to do his job. Callaghan has called on Capito to resign from the page board, but Capito has predictably pled ignorance. it remains to be seen what the fallout is from this entire sordid episode.
Posted at 10:00 PM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Ratings Changes from Cook
Posted by DavidNYCSome changes from Charlie Cook & Co.:
As the election draws closer, it is clear that the season is over for some challengers, including some who have run solid efforts. This would be the case for Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley (D) in the AL-Gov race, and for Republicans Pete Ricketts in NE-Sen and Richard Tarrant in VT-Sen.
I'm a bit disappointed about AL-Gov. A couple of very early polls showed that Baxley was surprisingly competitive. But incumbent Bob Riley developed something of a Giuliani-style halo after Katrina. (Because she is a Democrat, fellow Gulf Coast governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana was an easy target for the Bush administration and consequently the media, so her fortunes went south while Riley's shot skyward.) At best, though, this was always a chance to sneak in and steal a seat, so I can't say I'm really broken-hearted.
Meanwhile, while I was never worried about VT-Sen at all, several commenters here said they were concerned about NE-Sen due to Ricketts' huge personal wealth. (He's the son of the founder of Ameritrade.) But, according to Jennifer Duffy, Ricketts hasn't gained any traction despite being what she calls a "strong first-time candidate." And while there hasn't been a single public poll of this race since May, she also notes that we'd have seen an internal GOP poll if they had any good news to report.
I'll be glad if we can totally take this race off our radars. I know that there are several Nebraskans who read the site (or at least have in the past). I'd love to hear some more thoughts from locals.
Posted at 09:38 PM in 2006 Elections | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Gov. Schweitzer's Actblue Page
Posted by James L.Here's something that caught my eye on Actblue.com: Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana has his own fundraising page featuring all of the netroots candidates. I'm not sure how long this page has been up, but in any case, that's a pretty slick move!
Posted at 04:10 PM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Creepy Old Men Defending Creepy Old Men
Posted by James L.
One of the worst aspects of the media swarm on the House Republican cover-up of Rep. Mark Foley's predatory relationship with young congressional pages for the GOP this fall has got to be the face of Dennis Hastert.
Parents are grasping to rationalize how the House Republican leadership, who knew of Foley's creepy come-ons to underage pages for at least a year before ABC news busted the story wide open, could let Foley off with only a "warning" rather than a serious investigation. When they turn on their TVs, when the open their daily newspapers, Hastert's face is all over the coverage of this scandal. There's got to be something unsettling for parents to see old men like Hastert spin and lie as they stubbornly refuse to accept responsibility for their failure to protect children working in Congress. And with Hastert refusing to step down as Speaker, he will remain in the media's crosshairs as more sickening details surrounding Foley's conduct are revealed and the House Republican Leadership's failures to protect children are questioned even harder. The GOP has no one at the top with a motherly image to do damage control: Hastert, Boehner, Reynolds, Shimkus... all negligent old men defending their irresponsible attitude towards child sex predators on Capitol Hill. And yes, when Dennis Hastert slams the abused former pages for speaking up on Foley, saying that they're threatening the Republicans' capacity to keep America safe from terrorism, you're goddamned right that I'm calling him a creep, too.
Posted at 06:09 PM in 2006 Elections, 2006 Elections - House, Illinois | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
The Republican Playbook on Foley: "Let's Find One Lie and Stick to It"
Posted by James L.Hotline On Call had a couple of very good pieces on the Democratic and Republican political playbooks in the wake of the House Republican Sexual Predator Scandal (and yes, when House Republican leaders are involved in turning a blind eye to keeping a child sex predator in charge of the Congressional Caucus on Missing & Exploited Children, you're damn right I'm calling this an institutional Republican scandal). One thing that really stuck out from the Hotline's Republican playbook is this action item:
Fourth, they'll try to tamp down on internal disagreements about the timeline. This will be hard.
Translation: We better find one lie and stick to it. But isn't it telling, when caught off guard by the initial media scrums last Friday, that Alexander fingered Reynolds, then Boehner fingered Hastert (and then promptly recanted), followed by Reynolds throwing the blame, again, to Hastert? It's classic game theory: if you don't give the criminals a chance to get their "story" straight with each other, they'll throw around all kinds of bombshells when backed into a corner, isolated. Whichever lies the House Republican Leadership concocts to minimize the damage to their careers as politicians, they'll have to deal with the fact that their original media statements were very, very incongruent. They worked all weekend to iron out the edges, but that boulder is already rolling off the cliff. Good luck surviving November, fellas.
Posted at 12:26 AM in 2006 Elections, Scandals | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Friday, September 29, 2006
Netroots End-of-Quarter Fundraising Push Day 5
Posted by DavidNYCThe end of the quarter is not officially until tomorrow, Saturday. But as of this writing, we are so close to our goal I can taste it: 9,868 donors on the netroots page. I'm heartened to see that our fundraising pace has picked up each day. I'm betting we can blast through our goal (10,000 total donors) by the end of the day, and that Trauner, Grant and Walz will all clear a thousand contributions as well.
Today, though, we'd like to specially focus on a guy right at the middle of the list: Larry Kissell, running for Congress in North Carolina's 8th Congressional District. This race might well be unique this year: It's the only seat I know of which the DCCC decided to contest, then dropped (after another candidate quit the race), then picked up again. Indeed, around ten days ago, Kissell was added to the DCCC's "Emerging Races" list. What transpired to make this happen?
From my far-off vantage point, I see two major things as being as responsible. First, Kissell had a huge and energetic grassroots (and netroots) base that always believed in him, even when this race looked as uphill as can be. Indeed, this continual show of strength was the principal reason Kissell was added to the netroots page. And when the DCCC ran a contest to see who could sign up the greatest number of volunteers in just a brief period of time, the Kissell team raked in an astounding 900 new names. That earned the campaign a major fundraising e-mail from the D-Trip, which you may have even received today.
The other thing I've seen is a very creative and aggressive underdog attitude. Kissell & Co. didn't wait around for big money to fund a paid media campaign. Rather, they sought other ways to break through to voters. This was best exemplified by my favorite single political stunt of the year: Cheap gas. For two hours one day this summer, the Kissell campaign sponsored an event where gas was just $1.22 at a local filling station - the price when the incumbent, Robin Hayes, took office. It was a brilliant move that garnered tons of free media and community goodwill. It even inspired copycat moves by other Democrats. (You know what they say about imitation & flattery.)
And in terms of what we've been trying to accomplish with the netroots page, Larry Kissell is almost a picture-perfect example. All along we've looked to add races which were not getting tons of attention, which you might describe as "second tier." Our fervent hope was that by giving these campaigns a boost, we might help propel them on to the big players' short lists. We're certainly not claiming credit for putting Kissell on the DCCC's radar, but we'd like to think the blogosphere's support played a role in doing so.
So if you want to help out the quintessential grassroots campaign, please give to Larry Kissell. Right now he's at about 1,350 total donations. Surely we can get him to at least 1,400 by the end of the push, if not more. Of course, it goes without saying that all the netroots candidates are extremely worthy, and, if you can, the time to give is now.
As always, please tell us whom you've been giving to in the comments below. Thanks!
P.S. I'd also like to make a quick mention of another effort that's also using ActBlue. The Secretary of State Project is supporting Democratic candidates for Secretary of State in key swing states around the nation. Though these state-level campaigns tend to get over-looked, they shouldn't be: As you may know, SoSes are responsible for overseeing elections. After the debacles we experienced with Katherine Harris and Ken Blackwell, it's extremely important than we support good, honest candidates for these positions. The SoS project has helpfully assembled a list of candidates who need our help. Go check it out.
Posted at 02:02 PM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising, Netroots | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Thursday, September 28, 2006
NY-26: NRCC Chairman tied with Jack Davis (D)
Posted by RBHSurveyUSA released a new poll showing the following results.
Jack Davis (D): 43
Tom Reynolds (R-Inc): 45
Christine Murphy (G): 8
Undecided: 4
MoE: ±4.5%
But, there's a few catches that make this look even better.
1) The Green Party candidate got booted off the ballot during the polling period. She got 8% of Democrats and 20% of Independents. And those votes are more likely to go to Davis than to Reynolds.
2) Reynolds leads with Republicans by a 62/31 margin. In races where your side is outnumbered, it's pretty helpful to get some people from the other side cross over and vote for your guy, especially if you can get 1/3rd of them to cross over.
3) SurveyUSA had a huge Republican sample. In a district where 41% of voters are registered Republicans, their sample was 51% Republican.Needless to say, when it comes to this poll, I would imagine that at worst, it's a tie, and at best, we're on our way to an upset.
So, some of you might be asking "Who the hell is Jack Davis?"
Jack Davis is a business owner who is staunchly opposed to free trade treaties. He ran against Reynolds in 2004, mostly self-financing his campaign, and recieving 44% of the vote.
Davis' website outlines 12 short policy statements which are the basic foundation for his campaign. As well, there's Speeches.
Back in 2004, Davis spent over $1M of his own money. In 2006, he has mentioned spending as much as $2M of his own money. Of course, Reynolds just says that he's trying to buy the seat. Which I would imagine doesn't quite work as well when it comes to someone who is 73 years old. He's spending what it'll take to win, because people like Tom Reynolds upped the ante in campaign spending. Jack Davis probably isn't going to make any fundraising lists, but he is putting this race on the map.
And I can't see any problem in making the Republican House campaign committee chairman concentrate on winning his seat. After all, he'll be spending money in his district, instead of sending it off to help other incumbents.
Posted at 07:22 PM in 2006 Elections, 2006 Elections - House, New York, Polls | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Netroots End-of-Quarter Fundraising Push Day 4
Posted by DavidNYCYee haw! We're almost at 9,500 total donors on the netroots page. Just 500 more donors to go to hit our goal of 10,000 donors. We're also getting very close to 1,000 contributions for Trauner (815), Grant (815) and Walz (760). Jim Webb, by the way, went over 3,000 donations and Joe Sestak is within shooting distance of 2,000. We have two-and-a-half days left: Surely out there in the blogosphere there are more than enough people who can help put us over the top by Saturday night.
And you know things are really heating up in the political world - there have been multiple newsworthy items on the netroots candidates every day this week. Below, James has a roundup of three polls (MN-01, NH-02 and WA-08), all of which are good news. The latest Quinnipiac poll still has Ned Lamont trailing, but the trendlines are favorable, which I think is what really matters. A SUSA poll on VA-Sen also shows a tight race - and a big shift toward Webb after Felix Allen's racist past was corroborated by more people.
As always, if you have anything to share - new stories on any of the candidates, who you've been donating to, etc. - please share in the comments.
Posted at 02:46 PM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising, Netroots | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Netroots End-of-Quarter Fundraising Push Day 3
Posted by DavidNYCIt goes without saying that I am incredibly pleased to see that Dan Seals has pushed past the 1,000 contributions mark on the netroots page. Now we just have to get Trauner, Grant and Walz to 1K. We need only around 900 total contributions to hit that goal. That's just 300 people giving to each of these three candidates. Meanwhile, Ned Lamont just went over 4,000 and Jim Webb is closing in on 3,000.
In terms of our overall goal, we're now fewer than 800 donors away from 10,000 total. With only four days left in the quarter (three-and-a-half, really), that means we still need over 200 new donors a day. Given the combined readership of MyDD, Swing State and DailyKos, we should be able to do that without breaking a sweat.
And some great stuff on the netroots candidates today, including CO-05 (Jay Fawcett) and ID-01 (Larry Grant).
As always, please tell us about any contributions you make in the comments. Thanks!
Posted at 02:35 PM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising, Netroots | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Netroots End-of-Quarter Fundraising Push Day 2
Posted by DavidNYCSo, by now you probably already know the goal: 10,000 total contributors by the end of the quarter (ie, Saturday night) on the netroots page. Yesterday we had about 120 new donors, which is good, but is below what we need in order to hit the 10K mark. Fortunately, we've picked up the pace today, with about 100 new donors so far, so I'm confident we'll get there.
In the meantime, we have an intermediate goal: We want to see every candidate on the list get to 1,000 individual contributions. John Courage just passed that mark today, and Dan Seals is less than 50 away. So that leaves Larry Grant, Gary Trauner and Tim Walz, who combined need around 1,200 contributions to make it to the 1K plateau. (Remember, contributions are different from donors. If you donate to five candidates at once, that counts as one donor and five donations.)
To whet your appetite, Markos has some good posts today on several of the netroots candidates: Tim Walz's new bio ad, Jim Webb's new Iraq ad, and the formation of a "Republicans for Trauner" group out in WY. If you have anything more to share on these or any of the other netroots candidates, please let us know.
And as always, please tell us who you've been giving to in the comments.
P.S. ActBlue is expecting a major traffic spike this week. If you run into any problems, please e-mail info@actblue.com with your last name, ZIP code, and card type (Visa/MC/Amex/Discover) so that they can diagnose your issue.
Posted at 01:55 PM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising, Netroots | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Ballot Measure Roundup
Posted by DavidNYCAccording to the Initiative & Referendum Institute (PDF), there are 194 propositions on ballots in 32 states this year, up from 162 in 2004. Though the topic hasn't received nearly as much attention this year, anti-gay marriage measures are up for a vote in eight states in November (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia,
and Wisconsin - Alabama approved a gay marriage ban in June). On the flipside, there's a Colorado referendum on a measure which would create "domestic partnerships" for same-sex couples, which I&R says would accord the same rights as marriage.
The other major issue this year is eminent domain. The right sure picked an attractive test case with Kelo, and probably won more in losing that case, given the purported outrage it sparked. While I know many liberals were sympathetic to the plaintiffs in Kelo, the evisceration of eminent domain is really just one step in the radical rightist plan to undermine all government powers. I don't really mean to get into a debate on eminent domain here - just to point out that thirteen states are now trying to restrict the use of eminent domain.
Anyhow, check out the I&R report if you're interested in more details - it's both clear and comprehensive, listing every single measure in every state.
Posted at 01:49 AM in 2006 Elections | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Monday, September 25, 2006
Netroots End-of-Quarter Fundraising Push
Posted by DavidNYCI know it was just last month that we had a big fundraising drive, and I hate to have to start begging for contributions so soon after. But this Saturday, September 30th, is the final day of the fundraising quarter for all federal campaigns. And, most importantly, it's the last benchmark reporting period for this entire election cycle. Yes, of course campaigns will still raise money after 9/30. But this is their last chance to issue a public report and show good numbers for the quarter. It goes without saying that it's our job to help every Democratic campaign as best we can.
And in August, we did a ferociously good job of it over at the MyDD/DailyKos/SSP Netroots page. We raked in over 7,700 contributions totalling more than $167,000 in just a week. In fact, we wound up exceeding our own expectations so dramatically that we outstripped our goals multiple times. That push was one time where I didn't mind moving the goalposts!
This time, though, the goal is really, really simple. Go over to the Netroots page and scroll down a bit. Look for the blue line that reads "Total." Right now, under the "Donors" column, it reads 8,713. That's the total number of individuals who have given via this page, since its inception. The total number of contributions is much higher (24,630 to active candidates as of this writing), because many people give to multiple candidates. (The average is a little over three per donor.)
So what we want to do is hit an even 10,000 donors by midnight on Saturday. I know we can make this goal. Whether you give $10 or $1000, to one candidate or to ten, you'll get counted. And every dollar really does matter. That's not empty talk. The money donated via ActBlue is the "cheapest" cash a campaign can find. Apart from credit card processing fees (which are minimal), there are no expenses associated with raising this money - no postage to pay, no caterers to hire, no time spent on the phone by the candidate.
As always, there are tons of great Democrats out there who need our help. If you want to support the Netroots list, that's fantastic. And if you prefer to give your hard-earned cash to other Dems, terrific. If you are able to give, what matters most is that you do give, and give now. When the big boys - the party committees (like the DCCC), labor unions, 527s, interest groups - decide where to make a final push in October, they are going to look at the end-of-quarter fundraising reports. If you want your favorite candidates to rocket to the top of those short lists, it's crucial that they show good fundraising numbers.
The ten thousand donor mark is in reach. Let's make it happen!
P.S. Please tell us which campaigns you've given to in the comments below.
Posted at 02:59 PM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising, Netroots | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Ickes Launches New 527
Posted by James L.I had ridiculously inflated hopes in the fall of 2004, despite all the empirical data telling me otherwise, that Kerry was going to pull ahead because of the overwhelming stack of cash that Democratic-allied 527s like America Coming Together and the Media Fund were spending on GOTV and anti-Republican advertising. It's tough to objectively measure how great of an impact groups like ACT or Moveon.org's Voter Fund had on the election, and given that the tidal wave of cash spent by these 527s failed to deliver much in the way of tangible victories, one could understand why these same big money donors have decided to abstain from funding such initiatives for the 2006 elections... that is, until now.
In a New York Times article published today, Harold Ickes, a close ally of the Clintons and a key organizer behind past 527s like ACT and the Media Fund, is currently gathering donations for a new 527 focused on helping Democrats in key congressional races this fall, called the September Fund. From the NYT:
Sensing both political danger and opportunity, a top Democratic operative and a group of major party donors have banded together to deliver a barrage of late advertising and on-the-ground action to secure Democratic victories in November.The operative, Harold M. Ickes, a top aide to former President Bill Clinton and informal adviser to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and a group of allies are soliciting money for a new organization called the September Fund.
They hope to raise and spend as much as $25 million to influence not only crucial Congressional races but also other campaigns and ballot initiatives at the federal and state level.
Here are a few of the names on Ickes' Rolodex:
Mr. Ickes has already contacted George Soros, the billionaire financier who gave Democratic committees more than $25 million in 2004. Among others on the fund’s list of potential donors are Steve Bing, a Hollywood producer; Linda Pritzker, a member of the family that owns Hyatt hotels; Herb and Marion Sandler, owners of a California savings and loan; and Ted Waitt, founder of the computer company Gateway. All gave multimillion-dollar gifts to the funds Mr. Ickes directed in 2004.
Now, there are probably a lot of legitimate criticisms to be made of the 527 effort on behalf of Kerry. I've certainly heard my share of horror stories about Moveon.org's GOTV and canvassing operations, for instance. But the wind wasn't blowing at our backs in 2004, and 2006 has entirely different dynamics at play, which might make the efforts of 527s more worthwhile. At the very least, it sure doesn't hurt. My only beef is: what the heck took Ickes so long? I know he's a pro, but can we expect a 4th quarter 527 operation like the September Fund to be as effective as one that was in place longer than two and a half months before the election? The Times attempts to explain:
America Coming Together and the Media Fund evaporated after the 2004 election, with many of their donors dispirited and apparently unwilling to participate in this year’s election. But Mr. Ickes, an aide said, became alarmed in late August about what he saw as a growing Republican financial advantage and feared a late salvo of negative advertising that could overwhelm Democrats in close races.In a memorandum to potential donors, Mr. Ickes and the other organizers of the fund warned that while Democrats appeared united in their political goals, Republicans had $80 million more than Democrats to spend on fall races.
I don't mean to look a gift horse in the mouth--and I do sincerely appreciate the efforts of Ickes to level the playing field this fall--but I'm wondering if we've lost some precious time here, especially on the GOTV side of the operation. Still, if Ickes can get big donors on his side (which he says he's already done to some extent) this is one other key factor to keep our eyes on as we enter the fall season.
(Hat tip to the American Prospect's Midterm Madness)
Posted at 05:06 PM in 2006 Elections | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
9/12 Primary Results Open Thread
Posted by James L.(Bumped.)
Regrettably, I have a night class tonight, so I won't be able to liveblog the large number of exciting primary races that are up for grabs tonight, including: RI-Sen, MD-Sen, MD-04, AZ-08, NY-11, NY-19, and others. For a pre-primary round-up of all the races to watch, check my earlier post here.
So here's what I want to see happen while I'm out: I want you to give me your predictions on all the tight races (RI-Sen, MD-04, AZ-08 for both Republicans and Democrats, NY-11, WI-08, et cetera). Be sure to include your percentage margins as well. Let's see how savvy you really are...
As the evening wears on, feel free to post links to results pages and any updates as they happen in the comments section of this thread. And I'm sure that sites like Hotline On Call and MyDD will be liveblogging into the wee hours of the morning.
Posted at 07:11 PM in 2006 Elections | Comments (39) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Saturday, September 09, 2006
9/12 Primary Races Round-Up
Posted by James L.So it's primary day this Tuesday, with elections being held in AZ, DC, DE, MD, MN, NH, NY, RI, VT, and WI. Here's a round-up of everything you should be keeping your eye on.
• AZ-08 (Open, Kolbe): Boy, do I ever feel good about the Democratic chances in this district. Jim Kolbe, the district's Republican incumbent, is retiring. Kolbe, one of those elusive gay Republicans, cultivated a moderate reputation (whatever that means in the Republican Party these days), but received a slight scare in 2004 when conservative firebrand Randy Graf ran on a hard-right platform and scored 43% of the vote in the Republican primary of that year. That's a pretty impressive showing, given the traditional resource gap between a no-name challenger and an entrenched incumbent (admittedly, Graf's a state legislator, so he did start off with base of support). Now, Graf, an anti-immigration advocate, is leading the charge to clinch the Republican nomination for this open seat, and the most recent polling puts him ahead of primary opponent Steve Huffman (33-25, with 14% dispersed among three other minor candidates, and 29% undecided). However, Graf's in-your-face conservatism isn't exactly the best fit for a district that only tilts ever so slightly to the Republicans (Cook rates it as R+1.4), and the NRCC is in panic mode, spending $100k in a last-ditch effort to drag Huffman across the finish line. Clearly, we should be rooting for Graf in the primary if the NRCC is willing to spend coin to stop him. That said, even if Huffman is the winner, Hotline On Call notes that Huffman has plenty of weaknesses of his own:
But there are signs that Huffman is running a lackluster campaign. Despite a big fundraising advantage and Kolbe's endorsement, he remains down in polls. His treasurer was snooping around his challenger's ex-wife's home, prompting the Tucson Weekly to revoke their endorsement of him. And unlike ex-state Sen. Gabrielle Giffords (D) and Graf, he kept his seat in the legislature during the campaign - allowing the DCCC to hammer him for missing recent votes on border security.
Yikes. Things are looking pretty stressful for the Republicans if Huffman is the best they can come up with in this district. I can already see the negative ads in my head regarding his treasurer's bizarre antics.
The Democratic primary, on the other hand, is pitting two candidates who would either be strong or reasonably strong performers in the general election: ex-State Sen. Gabrielle Giffords and local TV anchor Patty Weiss. Giffords, though, leads Weiss 46-29 in the latest polling, and looks like the likely winner on Tuesday. Giffords is also the only Democrat in the current field who leads Huffman in a hypothetical general election match-up, by 42-39. Additionally, recent generic polling suggests that the district is leaning towards pulling the lever for the Democratic candidate this cycle, by a 50-46 margin. Between the nasty Republican primary pitting the NRCC against the local conservative base, a strong Democratic candidate, and an electorate that's beginning to tilt Democratic in the most recent polls, I'm expecting good things from AZ-08 in November.
• MD-Sen (Open, Sarbanes): A whopper. A late August poll put Rep. Ben Cardin ahead of former NCAAP head Kweisi Mfume by a 43-30 margin in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes, although other polls have shown a tighter contest over the past several months. However, the demographics of Maryland's Democratic electorate would seem to hold more favorables for Mfume than Cardin, at least on the surface. Still, Cardin has outraised Mfume by a wide margin, and has been putting up a far greater amount of resources on air time in this stretch run than Mfume can afford to spend. I'd be surprised if Mfume pulled off this upset.
• MD-04 (Incumbent, Wynn): 2006 has seen a series of surprising primary elections where incumbents have been knocked off their perch--Lieberman, Joe Schwarz in Michigan, and Cynthia McKinney in Georgia. Can Donna Edwards make it four by knocking off entrenched Democratic incumbent Al Wynn? Edwards has made a strong case against Wynn, who has supported the Bush administration on several crucial votes, including the Bankruptcy Bill and the Iraq War. Lemme just chime in and say this: no Democrat has any business voting for the ass-backwards Bankruptcy Bill, but this especially applies to any Democrat who represents a district that delivered 70% of its vote to John Kerry in 2004, like Wynn's. The Club For Growth, even if their choice in candidates is often extremely questionable, has the right philosophy: use primary races in districts with deep partisan favorability to their cause, and push ideological purity there. An Al Wynn-style voting record may be a lot easier to stomach for, say, a Democrat representing a white-majority district in the South, but Maryland's fourth can do a lot better than Al Wynn. Edwards has been picking up momentum in recent weeks, with the impressive achievement of securing the Washington Post's endorsement. If she can't do it this time, Edwards will be well-placed to make an earlier, more well-funded challenge to Wynn in 2008.
• MN-05 (Open, Sabo): I gotta say, I know next to nothing about this hotly-contested open D seat race in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. The field is huge, but the big spenders and movers have been Keith Ellison, Mike Erlandson, and Ember Reichgott Junge. I would invite our resident MN commentators to give us the lowdown in the comments.
• NH-01 (Incumbent, Bradley): This race isn't quite as sexy as NH-02, but there's still a glimmer of hope here. Cook rates this district as a highly competitive R+0.1, and Bush only edged Kerry by 2% here in 2004. One of the Democratic challengers, NH House Minority Leader Jim Craig, is credible, and holds at least some name recognition in the district. But first he'll have to get through a primary with Carol Shea-Porter, who has her share of supporters as well.
• NY-11 (Open, Owens): The most recent polling I've seen in this open seat shows a dead heat between the four would-be Democratic successors to retiring incumbent Major Owens in this central Brooklyn district (and my home away from home): NYC Councilmembers Yvette Clark, David Yassky, State Sen. Carl Andrews, and Owens' son, Chris Owens. Yassky's had the best fundraising, but also the most controversy, with the other candidates criticizing Yassky for running in an African-American majority district. Looks like this one will go down to the wire.
• NY-19 (Incumbent, Kelly): The Democratic field to take on incumbent Republican congresswoman Sue Kelly has been annoyingly huge, but it's been whittled down to four: ex-Republican attorney Judy Aydelott, school principal Ben Schuldiner, political hack Darren Rigger, and Orleans guitarist John Hall. Aydelott had the very early mo' in this district, but Hall's fundraising has really picked up steam, and the endorsements (including one from the NY Democratic Party) followed suit. Cook rates this district R+1.5, but the locals are hoping for some serious coattails from the Spitzer-Clinton bulldozer at the top of the ticket this year, as well as changing demographics as a result of NYC residents moving into the district for more affordable housing.
• RI-Sen (Incumbent, Chafee): The big one! Depending on whether you choose to believe Rhode Island College or the National Republican Senatorial Committee, this primary race is either firmly in conservative challenger Steve Laffey's hands, or will be held safely by incumbent Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee--both organizations put out wildly conflicting polls. The NRSC has made it clear that they're reading to cede the Rhode Island Senate seat to the Democrats if Laffey wins on Tuesday, so... well, you know who to root for.
• RI-02 (Incumbent, Langevin): I don't have much to say about this one, but Jennifer Lawless has been running a primary challenge against Rep. Jim Langevin from the left. Langevin, in my estimation, is a pretty decent Rep, aside from his pro-life/anti-choice record. Lawless has gone so far as to say that Langevin Equals Lieberman, but given Langevin's opposition to the Iraq War, I don't think that passes the sniff test. So whatever.
• WI-08 (Open, Green): No question about it: this is a Republican district. Bush scored nearly 55% of the vote against Kerry's 44% in 2004, yet Democrats are smelling an opportunity this year. Indeed, the most recent RT Strategies/Constituent Dynamics poll has the generic Democrat edging the generic Republican by 48-44 in this open seat race. The DCCC has gone up on the air to soften up likely Republican nominee John Gard's numbers, while the NRCC has done the same against physician Steve Kagen, the big spender in the Democratic primary race (he's put up over $1m of his own funds into this race, the last time I checked). Kagen's primary opponents, former Brown County Executive and De Pere mayor Nancy Nusbaum and business consultant Jamie Wall, have also raised impressive amounts for a crowded field, but Kagen's deep pockets has put the local Republicans on edge. If the NRCC is committing resources to defend this seat, the 2006 field is favorable indeed for Democrats.
Posted at 09:02 PM in 2006 Elections, Arizona, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin | Comments (18) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Open Thread: What's Your Favorite Ad This Year?
Posted by James L.I may as well fess up: I'm an ad junkie. Few things excite me more in this post-Labor Day period than watching campaigns unveil their new ads. To be sure, there's a lot of crap out there, but as the Connecticut Senate primary showed, the 30 second TV spot still has the power to turn a seemingly futile race on its head.
Today saw the release of two powerful ads. First was this gripping Ned Lamont ad--his first new ad on the air since his primary win:
The other was this remarkable web ad for Kirsten Gillibrand's campaign in NY-20 against thuggish Republican incumbent John Sweeney. Sweeney's campaign has produced some truly vile campaign ads targeting Gillibrand and her family, lobbing just about every epithet at her from "war profiteer" to "America hater" (the latter is not his exact phrasing, but that's the gist of it). Gillibrand's team have responded with this web ad featuring Academy Award nominee David Straithairn (a NY-20 resident and a concerned citizen himself), who here is reprising his role as Edward R. Murrow from Goodnight & Goodluck, this time targeting Sweeney instead of McCarthy. (MyDD has more here.) Another gripping and surprising ad that should garner Gillibrand some positive buzz.
Some of my other favorite ads this year have been for Jon Tester (Creating a Buzz), Dan Maffei (Not Listening), and, while he may not be my favorite candidate of the cycle, pretty much everything put out by Harold Ford, Jr. has been very sharp.
How about you? Have you seen any good ads that have slipped past the national blog radar? What's your favorite ad this year? Please post a link to your favorite ad in the comments. YouTube links are preferred for the fast loading times and ease of use for everybody. If your favorite ad is not on YouTube, and you have the means to do so, please be proactive and upload it to YouTube for the campaign's benefit. If any campaign has not thrown up their TV or web-only video on YouTube, they're clearly behind the curve in terms of message distribution in the internet age.
Update: I'm liking Sherrod Brown's new ad on trade, too.
Posted at 04:54 PM in 2006 Elections, Media | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Florida Primaries Open Thread
Posted by DavidNYCSeveral contested primaries are afoot tonight in Florida, on both sides of the aisle. We've got Gov for both parties, plus a number of House contests. Even poor Kathy Harris might actually win an election this year, if she managed to beat the no-names running against her tonight.
Full results are available here. Got any races in the Sunshine State that you're following?
Posted at 09:43 PM in 2006 Elections, Florida | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Netroots August Fundraising Push Round-up Charts
Posted by James L.
No hyperbole here: I was quite astounded by the total amount raised by the readers of DailyKos, MyDD, and Swing State Project over the past week. I want to thank you for your patience as SSP was pretty much dominated by this drive over the past 8 days. Thanks for sticking in there, and thanks for donating to the netroots candidates. From 12:00am EDT on Monday, August 21 to 12:00am EDT on Tuesday, August 29, we raised a jaw-dropping $167,137 for 17 strong Democratic challengers nationwide (plus about $4k for BlogPAC) from 7734 contributions. Your generosity yesterday simply amazed me, with nearly $70k coming in on Tuesday alone. Believe me, you've given a good boost to these candidates, especially those in low-dollar districts like ID-01's Larry Grant and Wyoming's Gary Trauner. Excellent stuff.
As promised, below are the fundraising round-up charts for yesterday and the week for each candidate. Even more impressive is the fact that an additional $8,000 trickled in since 12am EDT last night--a figure not reflected in the following totals. Very cool.
| Candidate | District | Starting Donations | 8/29 Donations | New Donations in Last 24hrs. | New Donations From 8/21 to 8/29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ned Lamont | CT-Sen | 3064 | 3,553 | 189 | 489 |
| Jon Tester | MT-Sen | 2056 | 2,646 | 230 | 590 |
| Jim Webb | VA-Sen | 1270 | 2,060 | 310 | 790 |
| Eric Massa | NY-29 | 905 | 1,283 | 136 | 378 |
| Joe Sestak | PA-07 | 876 | 1,350 | 197 | 474 |
| Patrick Murphy | PA-08 | 687 | 1,094 | 167 | 407 |
| Jerry McNerney | CA-11 | 681 | 1,177 | 216 | 496 |
| Darcy Burner | WA-08 | 679 | 1,194 | 226 | 515 |
| Linda Stender | NJ-07 | 508 | 902 | 165 | 394 |
| Paul Hodes | NH-02 | 465 | 899 | 174 | 434 |
| Larry Kissell | NC-08 | 427 | 891 | 199 | 464 |
| John Courage | TX-21 | 415 | 823 | 173 | 408 |
| Dan Seals | IL-10 | 375 | 756 | 162 | 381 |
| Jay Fawcett | CO-05 | 375 | 850 | 227 | 475 |
| Tim Walz | MN-01 | 0 | 354 | 200 | 354 |
| Larry Grant | ID-01 | 0 | 344 | 264 | 344 |
| Gary Trauner | WY-AL | 0 | 341 | 341 | 341 |
| Total | 12,783 | 20,517 | 3,576 | 7,734 |
Continue reading below the fold for hard dollar figures. Thanks again for an amazing week!
| Candidate | District | Raised at Start | 8/29 Raised | Raised in Last 24hrs. | Raised From 8/21 to 8/29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ned Lamont | CT-Sen | $110,042.51 | $121,067.07 | $3,751.97 | $11,024.56 |
| Jon Tester | MT-Sen | $59,730.84 | $74,307.98 | $5,386.94 | $14,577.14 |
| Jim Webb | VA-Sen | $40,452.38 | $63,042.61 | $6,952.53 | $22,590.23 |
| Eric Massa | NY-29 | $21,042.29 | $28,830.34 | $2,471.94 | $7,788.05 |
| Joe Sestak | PA-07 | $26,574.49 | $38,535.92 | $3,412.43 | $11,961.43 |
| Patrick Murphy | PA-08 | $13,895.16 | $22,072.64 | $3,218.95 | $8,177.48 |
| Jerry McNerney | CA-11 | $17,873.76 | $29,671.25 | $4,613.51 | $11,797.49 |
| Darcy Burner | WA-08 | $13,209.06 | $24,165.95 | $3,585.78 | $10,956.89 |
| Linda Stender | NJ-07 | $8,877.30 | $15,964.54 | $2,831.38 | $7,087.24 |
| Paul Hodes | NH-02 | $8,817.34 | $17,335.22 | $3,025.76 | $8,517.88 |
| Larry Kissell | NC-08 | $6,855.92 | $14,716.64 | $2,795.87 | $7,860.72 |
| John Courage | TX-21 | $6,868.53 | $13,968.26 | $2,625.78 | $7,099.73 |
| Dan Seals | IL-10 | $6,314.74 | $13,863.27 | $3,124.95 | $7,548.53 |
| Jay Fawcett | CO-05 | $5,856.33 | $14,136.34 | $3,379.95 | $8,280.01 |
| Tim Walz | MN-01 | $0.00 | $8,033.32 | $3,610.38 | $8,033.32 |
| Larry Grant | ID-01 | $0.00 | $6,764.77 | $4,396.12 | $6,764.77 |
| Gary Trauner | WY-AL | $0.00 | $7,072.16 | $7,072.16 | $7,072.16 |
| Total | $346,410.65 | $513,548.28 | $66,256.40 | $167,137.63 |
Posted at 01:49 PM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising, Netroots | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Final Netroots Push Post!
Posted by DavidNYCI don't have much more to say at this point except: WOW. We started today with 4,158 total donations. I was honestly kinda worried that we'd fall short of 5,000, our stated goal. After all, we've been doing this fundraising drive for a week, it's almost Labor Day, etc. etc.
Well, we completely obliterated it. As of this writing, we have a whopping 5,753 total contributions. Chris Bowers wants us to shoot for 6,000 by the end of the day - and you know what? He's not crazy. Not at all. It's totally doable.
Can we get Grant & Trauner to 200? Seals to 700? Kissell to 800? If we can get to 6,000 overall, we can definitely clear all those benchmarks. And I promise, promise, promise that this will be the last time we up our goal. When we hit 6,000, we can definitely declare victory, pat ourselves on the back, and enjoy what we've done here
And then, tomorrow, though this push will be over, we get right back to work supporting all of our great Democratic candidates across the nation!
Posted at 06:40 PM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising, Netroots | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Netroots Push Final Day Afternoon Update
Posted by DavidNYCAt midnight last night, we had amassed 4,158 donations since the start of our push. As of this writing, we've chalked up another 356 gifts and are now at 4,514 donations total. We are definitely shooting the moon today - our goal, as you know, is to hit 5,000 donations by midnight.
Here are a few milestones we should pass today in reaching that goal: Larry Grant just cruised by 100 donations, so that means Gary Trauner should pass that mark soon, too. Meanwhile, Patrick Murphy, Jerry McNerny and Darcy Burner are within shouting distance of 1,000 contributions apiece. And certainly everyone above and below should keep moving upward.
As you saw from James' post below, we've already cruised past $100,000 total raised since Monday the 21st. So this 5,000 donation goal is our last. I know we can make it. Let's do this thing!
P.S. As always, please tell us who you've contributed to in the comments. And a special request: If you're volunteering for any campaigns, tell us about that, too!
Posted at 03:24 PM in 2006 Elections, Fundraising, Netroots | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Technorati
Final Bleepin' Netroots August Fundraising Push Update!
Posted by James L.
This is it! I swear! The stretch run! By midnight tonight, we will f