I’ve been sitting on this embargo’d news for almost a week, dying to tell you. This morning it’s official: Democracy for America has endorsed Jennifer Brunner for U.S. Senate in Ohio, where she’s in a tough primary race against establishment, DSCC-supported candidate Lee Fisher.
This morning, I got the e-mail from DFA.
http://www.actblue.com/...
Here's what Jim Dean wrote:
Progressives have watched good legislation passed by the House die in the Senate -- the public option, the climate change bill, financial reform -- you name it, they killed it. Why? Because big banks, insurance companies and Wall Street fund too many Democratic Senators' campaigns.
On May 4, we'll have our first chance to strike back and elect a leader who will stand up for us in the Senate.
Jennifer Brunner is the progressive running for U.S. Senate in the Ohio Democratic primary. She's running a grassroots campaign powered by people and small donations, not Wall Street and corporate cash. That's why 57% of Ohio DFA members support Brunner, while only 14% support Lee Fisher, her Democratic opponent.
But it's also why Fisher has out raised Brunner two quarters in a row. Corporations aren't funding Jennifer Brunner's campaign, regular middle-class Americans are -- you, me, and thousands of others who want to elect a proven progressive leader, not another corporate Democrat.
You and I know that money alone doesn't win elections, otherwise Jennifer Brunner would have lost her battle to win Secretary of State against a Bush-Wacked Republican in 2006.
President Bush and his cronies spent everything they had and threw every lie in the book trying to tear Jennifer Brunner down -- and they failed. Brunner went on to not only win the election, but clean up the electronic voting nightmares from 2004 and reform Ohio's corrupt and dysfunctional Elections Division.
Now recent polling from the Public Policy Polling group shows Jennifer Brunner is the Democratic candidate most likely to beat the front running Republican for U.S. Senate. It's not surprising she's the most likely to win since she's never lost a statewide election before, and Fisher has lost statewide not once -- but twice.
But to beat the Republican in November, she has to beat a corporate Democrat on May 4.
Raising money isn't the only thing we're doing to put Jennifer over the top next month. In the next few weeks, we'll be reaching out to voters across Ohio -- writing letters to volunteers, driving local media to events and even putting DFA staff on the ground to help local DFA members get out the vote.
We're going all out to take back the United States Senate from corporate America, and that's why we're working for Jennifer Brunner. Beating back the special interests, taking back the Senate -- it all starts with you.
Deliver the resources to win.
Thank you for everything you do.
-Jim
Jim Dean, Chair
Democracy for America
There’s not much I can add to his letter. It doesn’t matter what polls show: the number of undecideds is so high, this race could go either way. Last night, I made calls. Of the people I talked to (you get a lot of voice mails!), I had three that said they were definitely for Jennifer and about a dozen were undecided or leaning toward her, so this endorsement will make a difference.
And Jennifer is the candidate who will not be intimidated and bought out of taking progressive positions. Some may think it’s unfair to call Fisher "the corporate Democrat," but a glance at his fundraising report will show it’s true. He is certainly the candidate of entrenched power; all you have to do is look at the sizable donations from the PAC of various sitting senators. Right now, she’s being attacked by the Republican Party on trumped-up charges that she is trying to somehow cheat voters by enforcing a long-time election law equally. Tragically, Lee Fisher has not only taken up the charge (and been patted on the back by the Ohio Republican Party for it!) but amplified it with fear-mongering — then turned around and accused Jennifer of going negative. I really hate this, and don’t want to see another six months of it going into November. So please help us. I’m phone-phobic and have made hundreds of calls. So please help us. Electing Jennifer would be a breath of fresh air.