You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (1094)

PLAYS: (2018)

CNN's Joe Johns apparently decided that their viewers didn't need to know just how much money has been raised for Rep. Joe Wilson's opponent for his House seat in 2010 during this segment from AC360. While it is true that Rob Miller raised $200,000 overnight, at the time this segment aired, Miller was already right about at the half million mark, and it's now pushing $700,000 and rising.

If he hits a million in a day or two maybe these guys will be forced to finally report it.

If you'd like to help that happen you can donate to Rob Miller here.

UDATE: It's now over $800,000 and counting and some numbers from Act Blue.

• First post-Wilson contribution came in at 9:31 on 09.09.09
• In the 27 hours following he raised ~675k from ~18k donors
• In 27 hours he eclipsed the 48-hour high water mark for a single candidate (incl. Prez/Sen) on ActBlue
• Nearest apples-to-apples thing is Tinklenberg post-Bachmann. Over that post-Hardball evening and the day after Tinklenberg raised 240k.
• For almost 3 hours yesterday he was raising $1k/minute
• Total 9-09 to 9-10 haul represents $7/second over that period.
• Avg contribution: $36
• Median contribution: $25

UPDATE II: Rob Miller just passed the $1 million mark and has posted a thank you diary at DailyKOS.

Transcript below the fold.

Continue reading »

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (98)

PLAYS: (157)

Carlos Watson talks to The Nation's Ari Melber about the growing influence of the online community on politics and the potential for reverse fundraising to make sure there are primary challengers when candidates don't support progressive causes.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee asked a few New York comedians, including bloggers Lee Camp and Baratunde Thurston, to deliver to CNBC headquarters a petition with 20,000 signatures asking them to clean up their act and actually try to hold Wall Street accountable, instead of acting as the delivery system for their own public relations efforts.

HuffPo's Sam Stein:

Since the launch of FixCNBC.com, the network has, in fact, made several programming changes. Former DNC Chair Howard Dean was brought on as a regular commentator, and Huffington Post editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington guest hosted CNBC's morning show Squawk Box last week.

"Too often, groups put up online 'petitions' that aren't tied to any larger campaign," Green said of the FixCNBC.com letter. "We wanted to make sure CNBC truly received the message that people want them to do journalism that holds Wall Street accountable. And now we'll focus the energy of over 20,000 people on electing bold progressives to Congress -- candidates who will hold Wall Street accountable."

FixCNBC.com is still accepting signatures...if you haven't signed it yet, please join our campaign. And if you're able in this troubled economy, ActBlue is taking donations to make sure that CNBC hears our voices.

Remember the progressive campaign slogan many bloggers used last year, "More and Better Democrats?" Somewhere along the line we stopped worrying too much about the "more"-- and allowed the DCCC to work on their own to elect Blue Dogs and reactionaries like Bobby Bright, Parker Griffith and Walt Minnick-- while we concentrated on the "better." Candidates we asked C&L readers to help out last year-- like Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Alan Grayson (D-FL), Donna Edwards (D-MD), Eric Massa (D-NY), Jared Polis (D-CO), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jim Himes (D-CT), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Hilda Solis (D-CA)-- have gone to DC and worked hard on a progressive agenda that recognizes the aspirations of working families rather than the special interests that dominate most of the Inside-the-Beltway politics -- on both sides of the aisle.

Today we're proud to have a guest at C&L who has embodied in his political career, the whole idea of "better Democrats," Florida state Senator Dan Gelber. Saturday we took a look at Dan and the race to win the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez. Today, please join us in the comments section to meet Dan and ask him the kinds of questions that you would like answered by someone running high office. And, please, if you like what you hear, consider donating to his campaign at our ActBlue page.

DOWNLOAD (42)

PLAY (71)

Tom Geoghegan was on Fox News with Greg Jarrett yesterday, talking about the lawsuit he's filed to force a special election to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat and force Roland Burris to stand aside:

If the General Assembly or the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee isn’t prepared to unseat Sen. Roland Burris, labor lawyer and 5th Congressional District candidate Tom Geoghegan is ready to take on the fight.

At a press conference at the Dirksen Federal Building this morning, Geoghegan -- along with co-counsels Scott Frankel, Rob Cohen, and former alderman Marty Oberman -- announced that he has filed a suit in federal court against the state of Illinois and Gov. Pat Quinn seeking a special election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.

The plaintiffs claim that neither former Gov. Rod Blagojevich nor Quinn issued a “writ of elections to fill senate vacancies” as required by the 17th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Currently, Illinois follows a legal proviso in the amendment that allows the governor to “make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislatures may direct.” Geogeghan and his colleagues are not suggesting that Burris’ appointment was illegal—rather, it represents a temporary placeholder until the state could marshal the resources to hold a statewide election. (Geogeghan first laid out this argument in a New York Times op-ed published a few days after Burris’ appointment in January.)

Speaking to a large assembling of reporters, Geoghegan outlined three purposes for the suit: to “end the embarrassing stalemate” that is the Blagojevich-Burris charade, to establish rules so the people can vote for their elected officials, and to assure that the government is conducted by the rule of law. “This is why I went to law school” he said. “And the Constitution exists to make sure the democratic rights of the people are secured.”

Jarrett worries that whatever publicity gains Geoghegan might be making with this suit may well be offset by more mundane considerations:

Jarrett: Let me get one more in here because we're running out of time. There's a group of African American aldermen, they're vowing to help black voters punish any politician who seeks to remove Burris. That would include you. Does that strike you as a racially motivated threat?

Geoghegan: Greg, I am a labor lawyer, and I also bring civil-rights cases. I'm a civil-rights lawyer. My view is that both white and black and all citizens of the state of Illinois want to stop political corruption. That's the issue here. It's not a matter of race, it's a matter of enforcing the people's right to vote.

You know, if we want the right to recall elected officials, we at least ought to have the right to elect our senators directly.

Jarrett: Well, Tom, these black aldermen are going to come after you. You know that, because you're trying to get rid of Roland Burris, albeit in a very, very legal way. And they're going to come after you.

This seems overheated to me, but then, I'm not from Chicago. In the meantime, it never hurts to go help out progressive heroes like Geoghegan.