Spreadsheet with FEC fundraising & outside spending data for 100+ competitive House races

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday October 19, 2018 · 4:00 PM PDT

2018/10/19 · 16:00

For data geeks and last minute donors, I’ve updated my Google sheet tool with the latest FEC data for both the Dem and GOP candidate in 100+ competitive races:

Cash on hand as of Sept 30
Total funds raised as of Sept 30
Spending for/against each candidate by outside sources (PACs, parties, etc.) as of Oct 15
Total funds raised plus outside spending

I’ve also created a “Bang for Buck” score which factors both the potential cash on hand and outside spending deficits of the Dem candidate compared to their opponent. This makes it easier to sort the sheet to find candidates who need money most. For easier viewing, I have hidden rows where the Dem has a greater than 75% chance of winning (per 538) and have narrowed many columns. Feel free to download your own copy of the sheet, hide and unhide columns and rows and tweak formulas as you please!

To use mycandidate.in/get-my-list click on “File” then “Make a Copy” if you have a Google Drive account. Or you can download an Excel or Numbers copy. View this video for more detailed instruction.

Check back for updated outside funding reports and odds of winning (Cook, Sabato, 538, Daily Kos) through November 6. Any suggestions to improve the tool are welcome!

Find candidates to support: Interactive tool ranks candidates/races by factors you care about most

seethruit

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday October 01, 2018 · 8:37 AM PDT

2018/10/01 · 08:37

Downloadable Google sheet with 100+ Dem pick-up races with info on multiple criteria

This is a Google sheet I created for myself and friends to help us choose the pick-up races each of us wanted to support. The tool contains information on over the 100+ races where the Dem candidate has anywhere from even odds to long shot chance of winning averaging Cook, Daily Kos, Sabato, 538. The tool lets you prioritize 5 primary critieria: odds of winning, whether the district is located in a high stakes state, how good the Dem candidate, how extreme the GOP candidate, and “Bang for Your Buck”.

The tool dives deeper than Flippable and Swing Left in several ways:

Ranks candidates/races based on your personal priorities
Offers info on wide range of criteria as FEC reports, polling results, campaign ads, etc.
Regularly updates as new info becomes available
Fully annotated, providing links to references and candidates' websites
Can be downloaded for personal use/modification

You can share the tool here: mycandidate.in/get-my-list . To use the sheet, click on “File” then “Make a Copy” if you have a Google Drive account. Or you can download an Excel or Numbers copy. View this video for more detailed instruction.

I hope you find this useful! Check back in for updated info on the odds of winning and campaign funding reports. Any suggestions to improve the tool are welcome!

If you want money out of politics, which candidates would you send $7.6M+?

seethruit

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday July 20, 2014 · 10:23 AM PDT

2014/07/20 · 10:23

Larry Lessig's MAYDAY.US PAC to get money out of politics is viewed by many progressives with skepticism. But this PAC has raised $7.6M* to spend on 2014 races and is soliciting suggestions. Why not improve the odds that the money will be spent on strong progressive candidates? In addition to a clear commitment to getting money out of politics, here are the other MAYDAY selection criteria:

•We want a plausible path to victory where MAYDAY can make the difference.
•We want to target bad actors and support good ones.
•We want to use our resources where they will be cost-effective.
•We want our work to have a “ripple-effect,” proving that MAYDAY is a powerful threat to incumbency.

Here's the suggestion form.

As a voter in media-expensive liberal Southern California, there's not a candidate in sight that meets these criteria. So I'm hoping that the dKos community can steer MAYDAY.US toward candidates who meet these criteria and will also be really strong progressive voices.

* MAYDAY may have actually raised over $12M assuming that the $5M raised by their July 4th deadline was matched by larger donors as promised. But since this larger amount is not yet posted on the MAYDAY website, I have used the smaller figure.

Clicking the GOP to defeat: 100+ links to Bad Behavior, Bad Policy, and Other Smelly Delights

seethruit

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday October 29, 2010 · 11:24 AM PDT

2010/10/29 · 11:24

Heads up - this is a spinoff of the Grassroots SEO to use our collective Click Power to drive damaging articles on GOP candidates toward the top of the Google searches where undecideds will see them. Chris Bowers has compiled a fantastic list on 98 GOPers in competitive districts based on articles forwarded to him from fellow Kossacks. I anchor texted these articles (marked by *) and added articles I found myself. So go ahead and click on any links below that catch your fancy (or disgust) - it'll move the article up the Google queue. And share any links you have so we can all push this pile of dung where folks can find it.

seethruit

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday September 30, 2010 · 3:48 PM PDT

2010/09/30 · 15:48

Shortly after Obama was sworn in, Rasmussen launched a series of Reports (see below) contrasting the views of the Political Class with those of Mainstream America on issue after issue. So who's in Rasmussen's Political Class? Politicians? Political operatives? DC bureaucrats? Leftist political junkies? Community Organizers? Nope, not them. Instead, Rasmussen's conjures up a "Political Class" based on the answers to 3 questions he embeds in his polls:

1. Generally speaking, when it comes to important national issues, whose judgment do you trust more - the American people or America’s political leaders?

2. Some people believe that the federal government has become a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interests. Has the federal government become a special interest group?

3. Do government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors?

No joke. Here's the how the Rasmussen Sorting Hat works:

Poll

28 votes Show Results

How did you do on Rasmussen's 3 question quiz? (see diary for scoring system)

28 votes Vote Now!

How did you do on Rasmussen's 3 question quiz? (see diary for scoring system)

-2 or -3 = POLITICAL CLASS

5 votes

-1 = Lean Political Class ( your opinions don't count)

7 votes

0 = Not Political Class or Mainstream ( your opinions don't count)

3 votes

+1 = Lean Mainstream (your opinions don't count)

4 votes

+2 or +3 = MAINSTREAM

9 votes

Associated Press Pushes Anti-Immigrant Story - Fox and Huffington Post Jump On

seethruit

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday August 08, 2010 · 4:24 PM PDT

2010/08/08 · 16:24

According to the Associated Press:

In Arizona, the shooting death of a rancher blew the lid off simmering anger over border security and helped solidify support for a tough new immigration law. A similar eruption threatens in Virginia following the death of a Catholic nun in a car accident involving a man in the country illegally and accused of drunken driving....

Apparently AP can't wait for an eruption - they got to be ahead of it.

seethruit

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday July 13, 2010 · 9:20 AM PDT

2010/07/13 · 09:20

From Sunday's LA Times' front page: Scientists Expected Obama Administration to be Friendlier. No kidding. Here's what's charged by unnamed government scientists:

* interference with efforts to assess damage to the Florida Everglades from development projects.

* pressure to minimize the effects of dams on struggling salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest.

* ignoring the effects of overgrazing on federal land throughout the West

* allowing some Alaskan oil and gas exploration to move forward despite previously presented evidence of environmental harm

* permitting BP to use enormous amounts of potentially toxic chemical dispersants in the Gulf before thorough review of the dangers

And who's saying this? Well, who knows. None of these government scientists have gone public with their compliants, presumably because of fear of retaliation. This is weasly and irresponsible. Is not one scientist willing to put their career on the line to protect the Everglades or the salmon or the western lands or the Alaskan wilderness or the Gulf?

seethruit

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday July 05, 2010 · 3:29 PM PDT

2010/07/05 · 15:29

Kaili Joy Gray AKA Angry Mouse's provocative diary started me thinking: I'm afraid of people with guns. Which means I'm also afraid to be a noisy, conspicuous advocate for gun control. I'd be scared to put an anti-NRA or pro gun control bumper sticker on my car or sign in my yard.

I don't feel this way about all public expression. In 2003, I waved anti-war signs on street corners and, despite cautions from friends, put a WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER sticker on my car (it's still there) and in my front window. I never had my car vandalized and I've only been screamed at once (by guy driving a Mercedes convertible who yelled: War is ALWAYS the answer!).

But no way am I going to risk the wrath of a gun toting NRA fanatic. While I might go to a gun control rally, I'd leave if I saw anyone packing a gun. So looks like I'm letting my First Amendment rights take a pretty solid hit from someone else's Second Amendment rights.

Poll

154 votes Show Results

Would you be afraid to put an anti-NRA, pro gun control bumper sticker on your car?

154 votes Vote Now!

Would you be afraid to put an anti-NRA, pro gun control bumper sticker on your car?

Nope, and I'm pro gun control laws

15 votes

Nope, and I'm a gun rights advocate

57 votes

Nope, but gun rights just isn't my issue

11 votes

Yup, and I'm pro gun control laws

49 votes

Yup, and I'm a gun rights advocate

12 votes

Yup, but gun rights just isn't my issue

10 votes

American Press - Calm, Cool and Disconnected?

seethruit

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday July 01, 2010 · 4:33 PM PDT

2010/07/01 · 16:33

Last week Jay Rosen countered the CW that the political press is either a bunch of liberal toadies (rightwing meme) or a pack of corporate lackies (leftwing meme) in an excellent post Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right: On the Actual Ideology of the American Press. Here are Rosen's terms for this ideology (bold) along with short descriptions (mine):

Poll

60 votes Show Results

If the GOP takes over Congress in November, the main reason will be:

60 votes Vote Now!

If the GOP takes over Congress in November, the main reason will be:

Voters anesthetized by the mainstream press

3 votes

Voters duped by the pseudo press

4 votes

Voters willfully delusional

7 votes

Voters not paying attention

3 votes

All of the above

30 votes

None of the above

13 votes

14 of Snopes' 25 Hottest Urban Legends Push Rightwing Agenda

seethruit

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday May 27, 2010 · 3:03 PM PDT

2010/05/27 · 15:03

Last month it was 10 out of 25. In May, the wingnuts upped their output to 14, with 4 of the "boozles" aimed at immigrants:

No. 3 Arizona Rest Area - 2007 photos of backpacks and clothes discarded by immigrants crossing the border. Rated as TRUE

No. 5 Welcome to Calexico - photo of American flag flown upside down under Mexico's flag during 2006 high school immigration reform rally. Rated as TRUE

No. 20 Mexican Standoff - Charlie Daniels' screed about how undocumented immigrants are criminals. Rated as CORRECTLY ATTRIBUTED

No. 24 Shoplifting Drops During Boycott - alleges crime dropped duing 2006 retail boycott sponsored by Hispanic immigration reform protesters. Rated as FALSE

Three of the 4 are recycled from 2006-07. Too bad Snopes' simple rating scheme doesn't account for misleading time frames, distortions, and hatefulness (No. 3 photo precedes Obama; No. 5 Mexican flag was flown ONCE in 2006).

Remaining top 14 wingnut "boozles" below:

seethruit

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday May 25, 2010 · 10:12 AM PDT

2010/05/25 · 10:12

Yesterday, I got another email from President Obama AKA barackobama.com AKA Organizing For America (OFA). You may have got this THEY BACKED DOWN email yourself:

T--

BLAH BLAH BLAH ... This movement proved again that the strongest special interests, who for so long have called the shots in Washington, can be beat... BLAH BLAH BLAH....

Can you donate $190 or more today to help Organizing for America continue to mobilize thousands -- to counter the special interests' attacks and get strong Wall Street reform to my desk? ... BLAH BLAH BLAH...

These reforms would put in place the strongest consumer financial protections in history. And, by helping safeguard our economy from recklessness on Wall Street, it would ensure that a crisis like the one that caused this recession never happens again ...BLAH BLAH BLAH...

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

The WSR bill is a whole lot better than nothing. But we all know its a shit load of deals, compromises, trade offs. This bill is not the occasion for self-congratulation.

And OFA calls to action have been just as lame. Call for "health reform" (whatever it is), call for "wall street reform" (whatever it is). Call for Arlen Spector.

Poll

96 votes Show Results

How well is OFA (Organizing for America) promoting progressive policy and candiates?

96 votes Vote Now!

How well is OFA (Organizing for America) promoting progressive policy and candiates?

OFA is doiing great

11 votes

OFA is doing OK

17 votes

OFA is not doing well because its run by poliical marketers

3 votes

OFA is not doing well becasue its run by party operatives

5 votes

OFA is not doing well because its run by BOTH marketers and operatives

43 votes

OFA just can't do well as part of the establishment

10 votes

What's OFA?

7 votes

Huffingtonpost Headlines Mislead

seethruit

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday May 20, 2010 · 6:56 PM PDT

2010/05/20 · 18:56

Live Video Feed of Oil Spill Crashes Under Pressure

Well, not really. Huffingtonpost's headline doesn't quite deliver when you find:

UPDATE: The live feed of the Gulf oil spill has been intermittent due to immense traffic. We'll be checking constantly for the best working feed and will update on this page with the latest.

This isn't the first time I've been suckered by a Huffingtonpost headline. How's this:

NTSB Board: Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger Still A Hero But Could Have Landed At Airport Instead Of Hudson River

Another provocative headline, then WAY down in the text you find:

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Spreadsheet with FEC fundraising & outside spending data for 100+ competitive House races

Find candidates to support: Interactive tool ranks candidates/races by factors you care about most

If you want money out of politics, which candidates would you send $7.6M+?

Clicking the GOP to defeat: 100+ links to Bad Behavior, Bad Policy, and Other Smelly Delights

How Rasmussen polls conjure up a 'Political Class' to conflict with 'Mainstream' America

Associated Press Pushes Anti-Immigrant Story - Fox and Huffington Post Jump On

Government Scientists vs. the Obama Administration : the Sound of Whistles Not Blowing

Confession: Gun rights advocates scare me

American Press - Calm, Cool and Disconnected?

14 of Snopes' 25 Hottest Urban Legends Push Rightwing Agenda

Does OFA expect us to check our brains at the door?

Huffingtonpost Headlines Mislead