On Thursday, my candidate,
Barry Welsh, was able to meet with Howard Dean. Dean said, "Barry Welsh, I've heard of you. Tell me, what did you do to make Pence drop out of the House leadership race?"
Now I'm not saying that is the entire reason for RSC-head Pence's stepping aside, but its certainly a possibility. We asked this very question back a few weeks ago.
But what I am sure of is that I'M PSYCHED.
Dr. Dean also knew of our extensive blogging (of which kos is the cornerstone), and the 50 State Strategy website we've been maintaining, (with the invaluable help of many kossaks like benawu, rbh, howgroovy, and others). He also said that whatever we were doing, KEEP DOING IT.
This morning, I then turn on the TV to Howard Dean on Faux News Sunday, followed by Mike Pence, with his smooth-talking snake-oil salesman pitch that the true GOP are the 'fiscal conservatives' and that he looks for budget cuts, AND THE FIRST PLACE HE SAYS TO CUT IS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION.
He and his "extend tax cuts forever" group are nothing but Reverse Robin Hoods, stealing from the poor to give to the rich. He also wants to kill public education because they challenge his fairy-land world view with facts like global warming, evolution has miles of scientific proof supporting it, stem-cell research can save many lives, and others too numerous to mention.
Pence, btw, is the author of a bill that has cleared committee, but mostly under the radar, that would raise campaign contribution limits on private individuals from $101,400 to 6 MILLION DOLLARS!
Just keep that one in mind when you hear him talk about "reform to clean-up Washington. "Clean-up" is right, and we know who is looking to do it!
Now enough of this digression and back on important business:
I'm telling you all, the "50 State Strategy", (the plan, not the website) can and will work. There are still 64 Dem-vacant House races, with 7 more nearly confirmed making 57.
MOST URGENT IS KENTUCKY 04. There are only 2 days left before the filing deadline. Who do you know in Northern KY, across the river from Cincinnati. Nick Clooney, relative of George, ran last time. Surely there is an inspired individual in this especially GOP-scandal ridden state to run.
Getting candidates to run is the lynchpin to the strategy. There must be a real threat of the congressman losing their job. Only then does activism, letter-writing, parade-walking, blogging, etc. bring results.
Then, each candidate needs a team of devoted individuals, and at first, this can be as few as one, two or three people. It has to start somewhere. People who get educated about the incumbent, and then publicize it. All you need to do is tell the truth, and get it out to as many people as possible.. There are sites like vote-Smart.org that show voting records. There is OpenSecrets with campaign finance info. There is the thomas.gov site that allows one to track a bill. Then there's google.
Type in your congressman's name, and some other term, (like "Abramoff" for example) and see what you get. When you find something, save the page, for it might get taken down. Note that google also caches pages, WHICH IS A GREAT WAY to find some stuff they've tried to hide. Its even better, in some ways, because you then know that they did in fact try to hide it.
Also, just dont try one search, try a few with different re-wordings. Astute use of the quotes can also be a great way to find specific info that otherwise might be obscured.
The next thing you must do is clone yourself. When you put out the truth, and stick to your beliefs, you will inspire others to join. this is where Kerry and some others have missed the point. Waffling answers that seem to just follow some opinion poll DO NOT INSPIRE. They will not get a campaign of a new individual off of the starting line. Stick to the truth, do what you know in your heart to be right, and good things will happen to you. Then, when people emerge to help, give them a job--something to do. If you don't know what to do, brainstorm with them to figure something out.
Need advice? Ask for it. Blog it. We've posted open questions and the responses were excellent. Some people mightcomment with something like "How could you not know that?", but that's no big deal and don't worry about it. Go ahead and get the info, go ahead and ask. Get yourself educated to fight. Be the leader, be the authority on the subject. Since I've been researching my congressman, I'm amazed how little I knw before, and how little the public knows. Not to be jaded, but the public doesn't know somewhere between 99 and 99.99 percent, so there's no lack of this work that needs to be done.
I can't be any clearer: We must act now to save our country, and any semblence of the life that we have known. Our government spies on us, people are draining the treasury to enrich themselves, illegal war and torture abound, the "legal" arguements to create basically an "empire" are being laid, and many currently middle-class children are going to live their adulthoods as an uneducated class of serfs, at the mercy of their government, and corporate fiefdoms.