Last call! The bar will be closing shortly.
So, before the lights go up - while everybody's looking good - how's about you buy a few guys some drinks? Or rather, how's about you buy a few guys some ad time, or a last direct mailing?
Let me propose a little Wisconsin threeway...ummm...threesome...er...
What I mean is, let me suggest three guys in Wisconsin that could really use some financial help. Gov. Jim Doyle (WI-Gov), Steve Kagen (WI-8), and Bryan Kennedy(WI-5). All three are in need of money - for some of the same reasons and for different reasons as well.
Jim Doyle is in a pitched battle with Republican Bush clone, Mark Green. This is perhaps one of the closest races out there this cycle. Polls have been tight with slight movements back and forth for both men.
The battle has gotten very ugly and the voters are very split on this race. It's become a classic 'Well, I don't like him, but at least he's not a (Republican/Democrat)' kind of race.
Because of this, Doyle needs help with two things. He needs to counter the negative Green ads that have been swamping the airwaves and he needs to really pound the GOTV effort. This is still very much a decided-by-the-final-votes race.
As a personal aside, Green is an unabashed liar. After supporting the President's recent torture bill, he sent out a letter saying that the legislation would prevent the use of torture and would preserve the legal rights of detainees in Guantanamo Bay.
Donate to Doyle on his website.
Steve Kagen, meanwhile, is facing a Republican nutcase in the race for the seat left open by Green's run for Governor. Kagen has wide support, but needs plenty of help to counter the ads of Gard and to balance the extensive Republican GOTV network that will be working to take this race away.
This race, in recent weeks, has really heated up and has been receiving a lot of national attention from both sides. You can also read a bit in this diary written earlier today.
Doyle has recently gotten a positive bump from a Michael J. Fox ad.
It's also been an ugly race with plenty of mud being flung by the Gard camp. You can see a bunch of video responses from Kagen on his media center page.
It would be nice to not only win this race, but also to see Mark Green out of a job and have him know his old seat went to a Democrat.
Donate to Kagen through his website.
Bryan Kennedy, meanwhile, has been hitting the streets and knocking on doors. It sounds almost quaint in this day and age of high-tech, huge-media campaigns, but it's been working.
There aren't any recent polls for this race, but an earlier poll (well before the Foley scandal broke) had Kennedy at 41% to Sensenbrenner's 49%. More importantly, Sensenbrenner's approval rating has hit the toilet like many of his family's Kimberly Clarke products. Now's the time to give him the flush.
An even more promising thing to note about this district is that although it has been strongly red in the past, it has been shifting blue quite a bit of late. The earlier poll mentioned raised some eyebrows because it showed a huge shift in claimed party affiliation - away from Republican and toward Democrat.
Again, this seemed like a stretch before the recent collapse of support for the Republican party. Now it appears to be true across the country.
Anyway, of all the three Democratic candidates, Kennedy is the one in most need of money. This has been a bare bones campaign for Kennedy and he has had almost no support from the national party. Kennedy desperately needs to make some last-minute media buys.
You can donate to Kennedy on my ActBlue page or on his website.
Did I mention - desperately?
Sensenbrenner is a despised politician, but his name is recognizable. Kennedy's big need is to reinforce the fact that there's an option and people don't have to let Sensenbrenner back into office.
And to illustrate just how close this race might be - Sensenbrenner has spent more time in this district since the start of the summer than he has his entire time in office. He's been worried since the summer and that's likely why there haven't been any numbers coming from his camp.
So, there you have it.
We have the chance to make this a nice Wisconsin threeway. A Democratic win times three. Please help if you can.
Also, please let me know if you make any contributions. You don't have to tell me how much, but it's nice to know that a diary can make a bit of a difference and I could use the positive feelings as we head into the cold weekend and last-minute GOTV efforts.
Cheers.