According to Kos, contributions through Friday will be in time to help candidates finance media and GOTV.
My criteria:
- challengers in close races for GOP held seats, where an extra push can affect the outcome of the given race, such as Alice Kryzan in NY-26;
- progressive candidates who deserve our scarce resources (ActBlue has links to the candidates own websites, if you want to check their issue positions.)
- legislative bodies where the balance of power is at stake, in this case the NY State Senate, and a possible filibuster proof majority in the US Senate
- races in presidential battleground states, such as NC, MO, OH, IN, PA, CO
- very bad Repug incumbents, like GA-Sen, NJ-05, MN-06
- increasing the representation of women and people of color (due to residential segregation, I didn't see any POC in close races this cycle)
- Candidates short of $, like Jim Martin GA-Sen.
My list after the jump:
ActBlue.com allows one stop shopping and fast turnaround for Democratic candidates on all levels, all over the country.
http://www.actblue.com/...
Within the ActBlue, once you get to a candidate, you can look under "Who's supporting..." to contribute by way of a specific list; many of my picks are on the Orange To Blue list.
For US Senate, I targeted my late contributions to the closest races:
Jeff Merkley in OR (endorsed by Peace Action PAC and Bernie Sanders);
Al Franken in MN, in a tricky 3-way race
Jim Martin in GA, against the vicious Saxby Chambliss who attacked the patriotism of triple amputee war hero Max Cleland
Kay Hagan in NC, a woman in a very close Presidential state, less solid on the issues (a budget balancer, not a Keynesian) than the other 3 but much better than her opponent, Elizabeth Dole.
For NY State Senate, Philip Anderson of TheAlbanyProject has a convenient page:
http://www.actblue.com/...
The Dem challengers with the best winning chances seem to be:
SD-03 Brian Foley
SD-15 Joseph Addabbo
SD-51 Don Barber
SD-56 Rick Dollinger
SD-43 Mike Russo is uphill for Joe Bruno's open seat, but he is a good progressive and deserves support.
For US House, I gave earlier to NY's progressive challengers Eric Massa and Dan Maffei, who have comfortable leads and don't need more $ now.
So my recommendations for House are:
NY-26, Alice Kryzan in the only close House race in NY, she is solid on the issues, campaigning for green collar jobs, ending the Iraq war, pro-labor, pro-choice;
MO-09, Judy Baker - Missouri is a very tight Presidential state, polls are very close;
WA-08, Darcy Burner, the author of the Responsible Plan to end the Iraq war, lost 51-49% last time; and
NJ-05, Dennis Shulman, a rabbi who supports the Peace Now movement in Israel, if elected would have a disproportionate impact undercutting AIPAC's claim to speak for American Jews, running against the most right-wing Congressmember in the Northeast, Scott
Garrett.
Close House races in big battleground states:
OH-02, Victoria Wulsin against Mean Jean Schmidt, rerun of 51-49 race in 2006
OH-15, Steve Driehaus
PA-03, Kathy Dahlkemmper
PA-15, Sam Bennett
Many thanks to Chris Bowers of OpenLeft.com, for heroic work analyzing the races for triage. This diary is cross posted on OpenLeft.
Public financing of campaigns has been one of my top priorties for years, but we have to play on the actual field as it exists now. Electing enough progressive Democrats is necessary to leveling the playing field for the future.