Blue America Contest: Help Us Pick The Candidate
By Howie Klein Friday Aug 29, 2008 1:30pm
Today's the first day of a week-long Blue America contest, I'd like to invite you to participate in. Some of our candidates have been endorsed by the DCCC's Red to Blue program, which makes it easier for them to access institutional Democratic money-- big donors, labor unions, single-issue groups, incumbents, etc. And some haven't. Blue America wants to spotlight nine of our House endorsees this week who may eventually wind up in the program but who need campaign cash to compete effectively now. These are the nine:
Sam Bennett (PA-15)- Lehigh Valley
Debbie Cook (CA-46)- Orange County
Larry Joe Doherty (TX-10)- northern Austin to Brenham and Katy
Alan Grayson (FL-08)- Orlando
Jared Polis (CO-02)- Boulder and Westminster out to Eagle County
Dennis Shulman (NJ-05)- northern New Jersey from Bergen and Passaic around to Warren County
Annette Taddeo (FL-18)- Miami-Dade from Miami Beach and Coral Gables down to Key West
Russ Warner (CA-26)- northeast L.A. suburbans from Rancho Cucamonga to Arcadia
Barry Welsh- (IN-06) east central Indiana centered on Muncie
We're counting votes at a just launched new ActBlue contest page. Whether you donate a dollar or $20 or $2,000 to the candidate, of your choice, it counts as one vote-- although you can certainly vote for as many candidates as you'd like. The candidate who gets the most votes gets a $5,000 Blue America check. The winner will be announced on Saturday, September 6th.
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(Sorry, OT)
The US invades & occupies Iraq, and the Chinese get the oil.
Nice.
Iraq signs $3B oil deal with China
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq has signed its first major oil deal with a foreign company since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, a spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry said Saturday.
It was the first time in more than 35 years that Iraq has allowed foreign oil companies to do business inside its borders.
The contract with the China National Petroleum Corporation could be worth up to $3 billion. It would allow the CNPC to develop an oil field in southern Iraq's Wasit province for about 20 years, said Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad.
Iraq's Cabinet must still approve the contract, but Jihad said that would happen soon, and work could start within a few months.
Hands down Barry Welsh.
Why Welsh?
In the 2006 House elections, Welsh lost to incumbent Republican Mike Pence. He received 40 percent of the vote in the general election, a 12 percent increase from the previous candidate’s campaign against Pence.
In the May 6, 2008 primary election the Democrat base was energized and the independent voters came out for Welsh as was displayed by the 50,000+ vote advantage over the incumbent: Welsh 93,924 Pence 43,795.
Welsh served as a high school teacher at a High School and taught government, economics, psychology, sociology, world history, United States history, and geography.
He was a member of the Indiana State Teachers Association.
Welsh also worked in Knightstown as business and finance manager for Staton Chrysler Plymouth Dodge Jeep Eagle which gave him an inside opportunity to learn about business and management.
Welsh was a member of The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers while working at United Telephone in Fortville.
Go Debbie... Just voted for ya!
Gustav a category 4. Traffic jams coming out of New Orleans, national guard on the streets.
Nero peddles while Gustav churns http://news.yahoo.com/story//ap/20080830/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_gustav
Nero pledges federal government support. Good thing he didn't completely dismantle it.
Qualifications don't matter. Just pick the one who looks hottest dressed as a secretary.
McCain chose the candidate that looked the most like Paris Hilton.
Why is Jared Polis on that list? Asking people to contribute money to Jared Polis is absolutely asinine.
He contributed over $5 million of his own money to win his primary. The CO 2nd is a safe Democratic seat. In short, he doesn't need any of our money or Act Blue's support.
We're not a bottomless pit of money and it would behoove Act Blue leadership to think a little more strategically about how best to use our resources.
Why are you asking people with limited resources to support a completely self-funding candidate running in a safe Democratic seat?
I want to respond to Steve Balboni's comment, mostly because everything he says in it is something I have considered myself. First of all, we're not encouraging anyone to donate to any individual candidate, just to donate the one dollar minimum to "vote" for any of the 9 candidates. And there are eight others. The criteria for the list is to be a progressive Blue America endorsee who's not already on the Red to Blue list. There are 9 Democrats who meet that definition and we didn't want to single anyone out by leaving him or her off. But more to the point, your question really goes to why Blue America endorsed Jared to begin with, I think.
You talk about how safe a seat it is. If Jared wins he will be the first non-closeted, non-incumbent gay male to ever win a congressional seat-- not just in Colorado, but anywhere in our country. I don't know how "safe" that normally Democratic seat is given that the GOP will run a vicious homophobic whispering campaign against him. I personally donated because I want to express my support for what he's doing and for his progressive policy agenda. I don't know a single candidate anywhere in the country who is entirely self-funding, including candidates and incumbents who are far, far wealthier than Jared.
If you're looking for someone who has virtually no money and really needs some help, let me suggest Barry Welsh. But, in any case, thanks for the thoughtful question.
DownWithTyranny - you don't know what you're talking about. You simply don't.
Polis has raised $6.4 million thus far, of that he's personally contributed $5.3 million! His net worth is well over $100 million dollars. With the finite resources of Blue America why throw money at a candidate who is willing and able to almost entirely self-fund? If you want to personally contribute to Polis that's fine but as an organization Blue America could do a better job of strategically directing contributions.
His opponent, Scott Starin, has raised $16,000 TOTAL.
$6.4 million against $16,000.
You still want to argue that the seat isn't safe because of some mythical "whisper" campaign? It ain't happening. Jared Polis is going to cruise to victory.
While Jared's win will certainly be historic his sexual preferences will be an absolute non-factor. Running a homophobic campaign in Boulder is a non-starter.
Mark Udall won this seat with over 68% of the vote in 2006, his GOP challenger received 28% of the vote.
I should add that I am a resident of Colorado's 1st congressional district and a professional political consultant working in the state of Colorado. I have first hand experience and knowledge of the state of the races in Colorado.
If you're going to be a leader and direct people to contribute financially to a candidate one should be serious and responsible about those duties. The selection of Polis is neither and arguing that this race is anything but a slam-dunk is laughable.
Sam Bennett is hot
Steve Balboni @ 11:
I certainly hope he cruises to victory. I would bet on it. By the way, according to Open Secrets Jared has raised $4,826,331 and spent $3,959,467 on his very difficult primary. He has $866,865 on hand (as of June 30).
I can understand why you're not planning on donating to Jared in our contest; not a problem. Did you donate to someone else? Tell us who, if you'd like-- and why.
I got my numbers from the FEC. Feel free to double check them.
No I didn't. I'll donate on my own as based on my own observations. IMO Blue America doesn't actually have a good feel for races and candidates and I think they are not nearly as effective or efficient as they should be with our money.
Steve Balboni @ 15:
You did describe yourself as a "professional political consultant" above but I just got an e-mail from one of your pals in Denver who told me you're a notorious lobbyist who makes a habit of spreading ill-will towards Jared because he worked with Common Cause to pass an ethics bill that banned lobbyists from giving gifts to elected officials.
By the way, as for the "our money" comment, I noticed you have never given a dime to Blue America in the 3 years we've existed. And, by the way, Blue America helped elect 12 candidates to the Senate and House in 2006. I'm curious to know who you do donate to. The FEC doesn't have any records of you donating to any Democrats, that's for sure.
DownWithTyranny @ 16:
Howie, is that a jugular vein in your teeth?
Andy K Jong Il @ 17:
Nah... I'm too busy with Sarah but Nicole asked me to respond. The guy didn't identify himself as someone obsessed with hatred for Jared and now I've heard from a couple of people in Denver that he lost his mind because the reform legislation that Jared supported made it tougher for a certain type of lobbyist to do what those types of lobbyists do.
OK guys, give to Shulman or else I have to live with that asshat Garrett for another two years. Help a brother out.
As someone who lives in NJ, I'd council against Shulman. While he is better by far than our current Rep. Garret (R-Neocrazy), he's also pretty weak on the antiwar side of things. I'll probably vote for him, but I'd rather see your money go to a stronger antiwar candidate.
Did I mention Barry Welsh is a Minister that believes in evolution?
Nothing would upset the creationists in Congress more than having to deal with someone that knows the Bible better than they do and who disagrees with them.
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