This is a great two for one special. I've got my own Two for One Special. For every dollar donated to candidates at Two For Tuesdays I will donate two dollars (up to the first $100 donated).

For every rec I get, I will donate $.25 cents to our candidates. Up to 250 recs.

We are trying to give money to Candidates today and we haven't had any takers. The Progressive Electorate is the proud sponsor of Two For Tuesdays.

We made a pledge last night that we would match dollar for dollar (up to $150) any donations made. Well lets make it a little more enticing. We will match 2 for every dollar up to $150. So we are putting $300 on the table, plus for every rec we get for this diary we will donate 50 cents (up to 250 recs). So we are putting an easy $125 on the table as well as an additional $300 for candidates like

Rick Noriega - TX- Sen, Ronnie Musgrove MS-Sen, Jeff Merkley - Oregon-Sen, Jim Martin - GA Sen;

Congressional Candidates = Josh Segall (AL), Glenn Melancon (TX), Martin Heinrich (NM), Dan Seals (IL), Heather Ryan (KY) and Darcy Burner  (WA)

A majority of the Tribal Council of the Navajo Nation has endorsed Howard Shanker in his quest for the Democratic nomination in the first congressional district.

The tribe, with a reservation the size of West Virginia, is overwhelmingly Democratic and holds a substantial share of the votes in the swing district, currently held by Republican Rick Renzi, who is under indictment for corruption.

The elders of the quarter-million member Nation made the endorsement after horseback riders from the four corners of the reservation converged at Window Rock in ceremonies to mark the opening of the summer session of the council.

During the 2004 election, some buddies and I dreamed up "The $25 Army", a grassroots movement to generate donations to progressive candidates as well as renew dialogue about our party's platform.  All in all, we raised a mere $250 for John Kerry and Ron Sims, but we meant well.

It has been both wonderful and stunning to witness the almost spontaneous explosion of a national grassroots fundraising movement not unlike our original idea, but so much grander in scale.  I would bet the vast majority of Kossacks have already donated to a candidate in this election cycle, and probably to several candidates, and probably repeatedly.

Obama's campaign has been a shining example of this effort, raking in almost $350 million to date, with an average donation of $74.  Despite the criticism he's received, this is the true nature of a publicly funded campaign: small donations by millions of Americans as opposed to $4600 checks written by corporate CEO's.  Now, what if we took this effort of ours one step further?

As I write this, Lawrence Lessig is giving his talk at Netroots Nation.  As usual, it is extraordinary.  If you didn't get a chance to see it in person or online live (as I am from San Francisco), it will be archived (and I'll update this with a link).

But even before he started speaking, I got the email I'll post in full after the jump from Japhet Els (who is also at Netroots Nation).

 Change Congress has an Act Blue page and Lessig wants at least 500 of us to give contributions ending in .09 (the current approval rating of congress) to at least one of these candidates

http://www.actblue.com/...

Update: Right after I posted this, Lessig used a photo I took in his presentation.

Young voters are the talk of the electorate this year, yet our participation is often misunderstood.  Rising youth turnout is not solely the result of Senator Obama's good looks and message of hope and change.  It is the result of years of work by over a dozen youth organizations (beyond Rock the Vote and other celebrity vehicles) working in the field to engage young voters, establish best practices, and teach the media the true story about the youth vote.

It is for the most part thankless, but important, work that is underfunded and often overlooked.

Howard Shanker, Democratic candidate in AZ-01, would be a perfect addition to "Orange to Blue." Please see his answers below to the Orange to Blue Survey questions.

This will be a Democratic district in the next Congress. Duncan Hunter protege Sydney Hay is too far right for the district which includes the university city of Flagstaff and large populations of Native Americans. (Open seat, incumbent Rick Renzi goes on trial in October for looting the trust funds of his own insurance agency among other frauds.)

So, the only question is whether we get Howard, a good progressive Democrat, or the DCCC's anointed DINO.

Visit Howard's  Act Blue page.

Yes, I've just succumbed to the latest nag to help raise the number of donors to 1000.  Because even though the keyboard I'm sitting behind is a heck of a ways from New York, I have a vested interest.

Like you, I want more and better Democrats. But I also want to do my bit to help counter the crap I found oozing from these sneaky bastards when I Googled his name for more info:

Who is Dan Maffei and What Does His Campaign Stand For?

Dan Maffei has been running around Central New York as a perennial political candidate for the last 2 1/2 years.  This blog is dedicated to tracking his moves and revealing the facts behind his "I want to play politician" shenanigans.

Fighting the slime is motivation enough. But follow me over the flip and I'll tell you the real reason this New York race is personal for this Oregonian.

New Mexico FBIHOP and the Democracy for New Mexico blog are re-launching the True Blue New Mexico campaign today -- this time with the Democratic candidates for all the federal races.

You can donate at the True Blue New Mexico ActBlue fundraising page, where you'll find the full slate of Democratic candidates New Mexicans can vote for come November.

This year, voters around New Mexico and across the country have voted for change in record numbers, and not just for presidential candidate Barack Obama but for more local races as well. Progressive candidates already shocked incumbents in state Senate and House primaries earlier this month.

This is one of the neatest things I've seen so far this election season.

Politicos and news junkies have probably been following Jean Schmidt's crazy career for a while. This year she is rematched against Vic Wulsin and she's already started slinging mud. In a move that is outrageous even for her, she is accusing Dr. Wulsin of intentionally injecting people with malaria against their will.

It's already looking like a nasty, nasty race, so I had to smile when I came across this Act Blue page. A 17 year old in the OH-02 set up the page asking people to contribute $5to support Vic and register their disappointment with Jean Schmidt.

I think it's a positive and patriotic thing to do.

The people of Florida's District 7 deserve better representation that John Mica. With your help we can elect Faye Armitage for a better future for all of us.

First, let me get this out of the way, please donate to the campaign to help oust Mica. This election is a grassroots candidate- Faye Armitage- against the corporate elite's friend- John Mica.

http://www.fayeforcongress.com

http://www.actblue.com/...

Cross-Posted at Election Inspection and Swing State Project

IMPORTANT UPDATE: For those who haven't checked back at EI, this poll will be done at 8:00 PM ET today

POLL IS CLOSED, CONGRATULATIONS TO BILL O'NEILL, THE WINNER OF THE COMBINED POLL

At the moment, there are 13 candidates on the Blue Majority Page on ActBlue. 10 House candidates; 2 Senate Candidates and Barack Obama. Last year there were 17 candidates. 3 Senate Candidates and 14 House Challangers. 2 of the senate candidates were elected ( Jim Webb & Jon Tester ) 5 House Challangers were elected ( Tim Walz, Joe Sestak, Patrick Murphy, Paul Hodes & Jerry McNerney ) 5 of the candidates on last year's list are on this year's list. 3 of the remaining 5 on last year's list aren't running agin this year. The remaining 2 are (Linda Stender NJ-07 & Larry Kissell ) Shouldn't they be on the list again this year? or how about some new blood?

Greetings form the great state of Mississippi and Cotton Mouth blog.  We are hard at it down here, doing everything we can to see Travis Childers get to Washington.  The special election is Tuesday. As of tomorrow morning we will hit the 72 hour countdown until we turn MS-01 blue.  Mississippi has four congressional districts.  Two are represented by Republicans, Chip Pickering (MS-03) and the now vacated seat of Roger Wicker (MS-01).  Two districts are blue with Gene Taylor and Bennie Thompson.  From just a home-state perspective, regardless of the national implications of this race, I want to proudly say Mississippi has 3 Dems and 1 Repug in congress.

We have already won two big special elections this season.  We won IL-14 and LA-06, two runby red districts.  The panic mode has set in big for the GOP.  They have sent Mike Huckabee and now Dick Cheney down to help the GOP candidate Greg Davis campaign.  The NRCC knows how serious this is.  They have already spent close to 20% of their cash on hand in defending MS-01.

As many of you know (and some of you are tired of hearing about), we have a good chance to take the MS-01 seat in the May 13th special election with Travis Childers.

Now, I know there's been some to-do over Childers' distancing himself from Obama when confronted by right-wing slime, and I've got to admit, I'm pretty disappointed in the way Childers handled himself. We either stand together or fall on our own. Hopefully he'll handle the issue better from here on out.

And I also know there are others who remain suspicious of Blue Dogs all around. But the fact remains that Childers is a life-long democrat, an economic populist against the war whose message is resonating with working folks in North Mississippi.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: winning this seat would be a national coup for the party, but the GOP is hitting hard and outspending Childers 2 to 1. Every bit of help...well, helps. Today, and today only, every little bit you can see to offer ($5, $10, $25 or more) will be matched.

I just came back from Darcy Burner's fundraiser here in the LA/Hollywood area.  Although I am an irregular contributor here at dKos, I read this (and many other) blogs on a regular basis and consider myself to be a part of this community, albeit mostly a passive one.  So, as a passive member of the community, I would like to share my experience with you.

First and foremost, Darcy is an amazing netroots candidate.  She has a specific plan to end the Iraq war and really deserves your support.  Please donate here.

Okay, now on to my personal experience at the fundraiser.

What a night!  I met many web-celebs -- John Amato, Matt Stoller, Digby herself -- just to name a few.  But what was most amazing was that I felt, something I haven't felt in years:  empowerment, excitement, and the thrill of being a part of something bigger than myself.

More below...

Lots and lots of us make use of ActBlue for our donations to political campaigns. Lots of us are more inclined to do so because it really is easier than writing a check!

Well...they need manpower, and computer equipment...and of course that means money.

This morning I got an email from Act Blue...asking for $5 a month. If a bunch of us donate that $5 a month, consider how much more they can do for the progressive candidates!

Below I have posted the email...!

It seems there is more to the DWS story than her reluctance to campaign against her friends. It looks more like she doesn't want to campaign against her financial interests.

As always its follow the money.