UPDATE: Well, what do you know... I just got home from work, and it looks like (according to the ActBlue numbers) Kossacks came through and not only met the goal, but are now working on blowing right past the goal. You guys have sent a clear message to the party tonight. I'm so incredibly proud of you. Be sure to look below for messages from Christine... and don't stop now! Put an exclamation point on it!
Remember this guy?
Henry Hyde (R-IL)
Yeah, that guy. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee who presided over the BS BJ impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton. The guy who, at the same time, fended off news of his own extra-marital affair. Yeah, you know, that guy.
He's leaving and his seat is ours if we have the guts to take it.
Do you have the guts? Do you?
Then recommend this diary, because the road to this race begins tonight.
In 2004,
Christine Cegelis won 44% of the vote against the incumbent Hyde in what is normally a heavily and reliably Republican district. That's almost unheard of.
Her name recognition is high. She has broad, highly-motivated, committed, grassroots support in the area (she was a DFA candidate). She's smart and capable. The local GOP is in freefall. Cegelis is poised to bring this seat home.
But, as of yesterday, she was $5,000 short of her ambitious June 30 filing deadline fundraising goal. This is it folks. This is the quarter that she proves to the local Democratic establishment that she's the candidate to throw their weight behind.
That's right. Just $5,000 stands between a well-liked, high-name-recognition, already proven, grassroots-oriented candidate getting the establishment support she needs and, well... frankly, I don't want to think about the other option. And neither should you.
$5,000 is nothing. We can knock that out in one evening here.
Do you have the guts to make this man's retirement party a miserable one?