Paul Johnson's campaign in IA-4 is heating up. He's running against Tom Latham (who votes with W 96% of the time). PJ started a bit late, but:
-The district slants Democratic nicely (Dems won 25 out of 28 counties in the guv race, and 28 out of 28 in the senate race in 2002, and Gore was within 0.8% of W in 2000).
-Even though they started a bit late, they raised $100,000 in a very short time.
-Dems here are EXTREMELY active. It all started with the primaries (which had record turnout), and it hasn't stopped.
Today, PJ had a fundraiser in Ames. It was full. Loads of money. People volunteering like crazy. I was approached to help with the Latino outreach (which I'll gladly help with, even though Latino voters in IA are about 1% - Latino population is quite higher than that, but many of us are not citizens)
Spoke with Gordon Fischer, the Iowa Dems head honcho (and a REALLY nice guy). The party is really behind Johnson. They see the district as ripe for a pick-up. He thought that there's a chance (if PJ's keeps raking money in at a good pace) that the DCCC might jump in and help.
Also spoke with John Friedrich, the campaign manager. He worked with the Kucinich campaign (who had a decent run in Iowa), and he's running a very nice outfit.
I might be slanted a bit (given it's my district), but I think we've got the elements to produce a nice surprise here.
Oh, yeah, feel free to donate.
And check the blog, too. Actually, the PJ blog guy is Kirk Johnson, who was one of the convention bloggers. His other blog, American Amnesia is very nice (check the interviews).