We have a while until the 2010 elections, but that does not mean that we need to wait until next summer to start gearing up for House and Senate and Statewide races. We all know that everyone is facing the toughest economic situation in our lifetimes. However, many of us can find a little room to donate to good progressive candidates. Make a $10 contribution or a $25 quarterly contribution if that is what you can afford. If we do not put a little money now into some of these races it will be too late as those candidates that are rely on big money and self funding will dominate.
However, we all know that campaigns take money and we also know that the landscape has changed where small donations too matter. The second quarterly deadline of 2009 ends tomorrow night. This deadline will be used to determine which candidates are viable. Steve Singiser has a good front pager on why we need to donate now, I have some of my suggestions on whom to donate to below the thread.
Remember our strength over the last few cycles has been in the power of many small donations. While we have done well, the struggle and fight is certainly not over. We have several bad Republicans in Congress that we must get rid of and several open seats that are coming available.
In the thread please feel free to make a plug for your candidate. Here are a few that I'm supporting and have added to our Progressive Electorate page. If anyone makes a donation to our candidates, I will match a contribution to that candidate tomorrow.
- We have Josh Segall making another challenge to Mike Rogers (AL-03). This should be one of the most targeted races in the country as Josh got nearly 47% of the vote as a 29 year old first time challenger in 2008. This is a much more Democratic district than AL-02 and AL-05 where we have Blue Dog Dems.
- MN-06 Dem nominee - The winner of this primary will face Michele Bachmann (MN-06).
- Anthony Woods -(CA-10) - Anthony Woods is running in a special election to replace Ellen Tauscher just confirmed to undersecretary cabinet post. I hope someone can make the first donation on our page to Woods. We just added him this afternoon.
- Shelia Smoot(AL-07) Running for Alabama seat being vacated by Artur Davis who is running for Gov. This is a +18 PVI district and Davis has been criticized for some of his recent votes like against Cap and Trade and Hate Crimes Act. We have an opportunity to vote for someone more in line with the demographics of this district.
We plan to add a number of other candidate to our page. Of course we are taking any other suggestions. Please just use this as an opportunity to announce candidates that you are supporting and encourage others to donate. We should be able to scrap up something for this important quarterly deadline.