Alan Grayson has been a big Blue America fave ever since we first met up with him in January, 2008. He was our first endorsement that year and one of our most celebrated victories, having beaten an entrenched, useless incumbent in a traditionally Republican district in central Florida. Since being elected, Alan has been a progressive leader, primarily in financial regulations through his committee position on House Financial Services. But he also was one of 32 Democrats in the House who stood up to demands from the Obama Administration that a supplemental war budget be approved last June.

It was a ballsy move, especially for Democrats in Republican-leaning districts, like Alan, Eric Massa and Carol Shea-Porter. I doubt Alan ever wavered from his commitment to the voters in his district to not approve any more supplemental budgets. But you can ask him yourself when he joins us for a live blogging session here at C&L, 3pm PT (6pm back East). Alan will be helping us launch a new Blue America Initiative to help draw attention to the situation in Afghanistan and figure out what progressives can do to effect change.

Alan is prepared to work even harder this year to head off an escalation of war in the 8th year of occupation of the country. "We are using a 19th century strategy to fight a 14th century opponent, " he told me yesterday. "Does anyone seriously believe that the best way to defend our borders is to send a quarter of a million Americans 10,000 miles beyond them?" He also told me he thinks we can change Obama's mind and turn this thing around. "He's too smart," said the congressman, "to let someone else's war ruin his presidency."

And with Republican Tim Johnson of Illinois promising to introduce legislation to withdraw American troops, an idea that some other Republicans, like Walter Jones (R-NC) and Ron Paul (R-TX) seem to be embracing, Alan is ready to work across the aisle -- as he has been doing with his crusade to force an audit on the Federal Reserve -- and help focus more Democrats and more Republicans on what he calls "the senselessness of war without end."

If you haven't visited it yet, today is launch-day for Blue America's new ActBlue page, No Means No!. We're asking anyone who can afford to, to contribute-- even if it's just a few dollars-- to the Democrats who have already shown their willingness to draw a line in the sand and not break their pledge. Today, everyone who donates-- regardless of how much-- will have their name put in a hat and 6 random winners will get the new book by New York Senate candidate Jonathan Tasini, The Audacity of Greed. Jonathan donated the books for this event and he autographed each one.

Meanwhile, please take a look at the first segment in the BraveNewFilms movie, Rethink Afghanistan, something that every member of Congress needs to see-- at least as much as the briefings from the Pentagon and spy agencies.

Jim Tedisco finally conceded and it's official. The GOP's ship has sunk completely.

GOP congressional candidate Jim Tedisco has conceded the congressional race in the 20th district. Tedisco moments ago called Democrat Scott Murphy to concede and Murphy has declared victory.

Murphy will be issuing a press release shortly, and will organize a press event with volunteers tomorrow in Glens Falls. The location has not yet been determined.

Here's the DCCC's remarks:

“In trying to win the NY-20 special election, the RNC, NRCC, and their Republican allies went all in on the losing gamble that voters would prefer their ‘just say no’ approach to President Obama’s bold plans to get the economy back on track.

“Scott Murphy’s victory in this district where Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 70,000 represents a rejection of the obstructionist agenda and scare tactics that have become the hallmark of House Republicans.

This race should never have been close, but to think Murphy beat Tedisco in a mostly Republican district is stunning. He was up by over 20 points before they turned into the Limbaugh National Committee and Michael Steele and the GOP started blocking everything President Obama tried to do. Don't forget, there were ads there targeted at Limbaugh and they did not disappoint. As for Steele, has the Death Watch begun? I wrote this a little while ago.

The latest word on the street is that if he fails to deliver NY-20, a Republican district, he will be ousted, but Tedisco has a solid lead in the polls.

According to multiple former high-level RNC staffers familiar with the dynamics involved, Steele is unlikely to survive in the post if favored Republican Jim Tedisco loses his open-seat race to Democrat Scott Murphy. The special election, scheduled for March 31, is to fill a vacancy left when Kirsten Gillibrand took Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. If Tedisco loses, the ex-staffers said, “Steele is done.” Completely, definitively?

In all likelihood, NY-20 will turn Republican no matter who had won the RNC job, but that won't give Steele a reprieve for very long.

If Tedisco had won, Republicans and the media would be screaming that Obama's leadership caused the win for him and that the Democratic Party is in BIG trouble. The media would have done segment after segment asking the question, Is President Obama's agenda in trouble? And then he would have had to defend himself over and over again. Let's see how it plays out in the media.
And now for the some comedy musings of Rep. Pete Sessions:

Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said that although Tedisco came up short that his message of fiscal discipline provided GOPers a blueprint on which to run next year.

"Since Election Day, we continue to hear the growing chorus of frustrated and concerned citizens who demand more from their government than profligate spending and mountains of debt that will be paid for in higher taxes by our children and grandchildren," said Sessions. "Although Jim was unsuccessful in his hope to change Washington, he has shed light on our Party's efforts to win back the majority in the House."

Chris Cillizza gives a mild response to the outcome, but does say:

As we have said before, the closeness of the result makes it tough to draw too many national conclusions from this race. One thing is for sure: this is an opportunity lost for Republicans.

With the Teabaggers leading the way, Tedisco never had a chance.

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