Atrios digs
this up from the Google cache:
Cuellar was one of several Texas Democrats to support Bush over Al Gore in 2000.
Cuellar later was appointed secretary of state by Gov. Rick Perry before being elected to Congress as a Democrat.
And this from the Club for Growth endorsement, delivered by Pat Toomey of all people:
"By voting for CAFTA, to repeal the Death Tax, to prevent huge tax increases, and for supporting school choice, Congressman Cuellar has become one of the House's most pro-economic growth Democrats," said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. "The House of Representatives would be better off with more Democrats - and even some more Republicans - who demonstrate Rep. Cuellar's commitment to their constituents' prosperity through economic freedom. It is particularly noteworthy that Rep. Cuellar cast these votes for a stronger economy despite intense pressure not to by some in his party."
This may be billed as a Democratic primary, but in this solidly Democratic Latino-majority district, Republicans needed a Republican in sheep's clothing like Cuellar to have a chance of winning.
Remember, Republicans didn't bother fielding a candidate in this race. Let's take away their stealth vote in this Democratic district.
If you can volunteer for Ciro's campaign, that's the best anyone could do. But if you can't, this helps too. (That's the netroots-wide ActBlue page for Ciro. Atrios, has his own ActBlue page here.)
Update: Damn, between the netroots and Atrios ActBlue pages, we've raised over $6K in just two hours or so. And here's the dirty little secret -- few people actually participate. Those $6K came from just 121 contributors (including me). Hackett and his $400K raised during his House special election came from just 4,500 or so contributors.
If even 1 percent of the netroots gave to these sorts of efforts, the numbers would be staggering. And while most don't have the money/are students/underemployed or jobless, etc -- 1 percent isn't an unrealistic number to shoot for. Especially when we're talking a target contribution average of $25-50.
But it has been an impossible target for all but the biggest races (Dean in the primary and Kerry in the general). This isn't a complaint. It is what it is. But it just goes to show that we really do have the power -- it doesn't take that many to have an effect.