Next thing you know, they'll be saying more and better Democrats in their press releases. Because continuing the fight for better Democrats is exactly what the SEIU is proposing for the months after November:
As part of the union's proposed "Justice for All" plan, SEIU members will continue the 2008 political campaign past the election and through the first 100 days of a new administration in order to win affordable healthcare and rebuild the middle class by restoring workers' freedom to join unions. What's more, the union is willing to spend $10 million to oppose elected leaders who turn their backs on these and other key issues for working people.
"This is our chance, our time to change America, and we are no longer willing to put up with the doubletalk and political hedging we've too often heard in the past," said SEIU President Andy Stern. "SEIU members expect that elected leaders will live up to their promises, and if they don't, we will work to elect someone else."
The union cites its support of Donna Edwards over Al Wynn in MD-04 as a model for future actions. Not a bad model, and one the netroots will be following, too.
That should keep Blue Dogs and spineless types on their toes.
I thought folks might be interested in these two short videos by Mike Gravel and Donna Edwards. The videos were shot at the Take Back America conference in D.C. by my new site, On Day One. (As I've noted before, On Day One is not affiliated with any candidate or campaign. We are sponsored by the Better World Campaign, and our sole purpose is to get people talking about ideas the next president could adopt, figuratively, on day one.)
It's worth watching just to see Cokie Roberts melt into a puddle. But public opinion polls that show more and more Americans understand that invading Iraq was simply stupid are forcing the MSM to actually address the idea of pulling our troops out.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that Governor Martin O'Malley is seeking a rule change that would allow Maryland to hold a special election without a special primary. O'Malley noted that the state would save about a million dollars if both parties allow the winners of the February primaries to stand. The heavily Democratic district did their part to nominate a great candidate, Donna Edwards. Now it's our turn to support Governor O'Malley and help punch Edward's ticket for Denver.
In a few weeks, Donna Edwards will enter Congress. The leadership will have a say in much of what she will do there. Let's make sure it's something good.
Important development in Maryland. WaPo is reporting that:
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) will ask the state legislature to pass emergency legislation that would allow the state to hold a special general election to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D) without first holding a primary.
Tonight is the deadline for candidate contributions this quarter. Yeah, you can still give tomorrow, but money you give today will become part of the case the Blue Majority candidates make to the public, to the DCCC or DSCC, to big donors who may not judge by the same criteria we do.
But if those criteria are important to you -- if you want not just more but better Democrats, Democrats serious about getting the US out of Iraq and protecting our civil liberties -- this is where you should be going.
As we've pointed out a number of times in the past week, two Blue Majority candidates have already won this cycle. Bill Foster cast the deciding vote on an ethics bill his first day in office. And it didn't take Al Wynn long after losing his primary to Donna Edwards to decide to cash in -- so we don't even have to wait until January for him to be out of the House. How's that for having an impact?
There's another chance to have an impact before November. Blue Majority candidate Leslie Byrne is in a June primary against a "pro-business Democrat" whose friendliness to the wealthy is helping him build a fundraising advantage. She's at 676 contributions on our page right now. That makes it a long shot to get to 1,000 by the end of the day, but with June coming up quickly and the possibility of getting another "better Democrat" through to a general election, can we maybe do it?
Byrne isn't the only candidate to give to, of course -- Joe Garcia, Gary Trauner, and Rick Noriega are all still under 1,000, and this isn't all you'll hear about them today -- but she's on a deadline. If you care what kind of Democrats we field, or you just don't want to wait until November to see results, chip in for Byrne.
Yeah, I like the Wilson Pickett song, but I certainly don't want to see it applied to our actions now, especially today or tomorrow.
Tomorrow is March 31, the end not only of the month, but also of the quarter for FEC reporting. And if you have been thinking about making a contribution to a House or Senate candidate, the hour is getting short, hence my title.
In the heat of the battle for the presidential nominee, efforts to draw attention to our worthy Congressional candidates often go somewhat unnoticed, as perhaps happened with my diary yesterday on Tom Perriello, a very good candidate in the 5th CD of Virginia. There have been front-page stories about some of our candidates. I'd like to use this diary to mention a few more.
Rep. Albert Wynn (D-Md.) is expected to announce Thursday afternoon that he will leave the House in June to join a Washington, D.C., law firm, according to Democratic sources.
Wynn was defeated in February in his bid for a ninth term when he lost the Democratic primary to challenger Donna Edwards.
And good riddance. Question now is whether there will be a special election to fill the remainder of his term. I wouldn't mind getting Edwards into the seat sooner rather than next January.
Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila is among several people named in a sealed indictment, officials said Thursday, as U.S. authorities made the first arrests in a long-running probe into his party's finances.
An Associated Press reporter saw at least five officials from the Popular Democratic Party as they were led in handcuffs into the U.S. federal building in San Juan.
As we approach the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War, there is a movement building to end the war. The Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq is a growing coalition of congressional candidates and military leaders who are pushing a swift and responsible withdrawal plan. The coalition includes candidates like Darcy Burner WA-8 and Donna Edwards MD-4, Major General Paul Eaton who was the former Security Transition Commanding General in Iraq and Dr. Lawrence Korb who is the former Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration. The coalition to end the war just got gained another endorser, Oregon Senate candidate and current House Speaker Jeff Merkley.
It's been five long and grim years since this nation went to war based on lies. Five years, billion of dollars, untold Iraqi lives, nearly 4,000 American lives.
Most likely, the war will go on for years, say many commanders and military analysts. In fact, it's possible to consider this just the midpoint. The U.S. combat role in Iraq could have another half decade ahead - or maybe more, depending on the resilience of the insurgency and the U.S. political will to maintain the fight.
Let's consider this political will: six months ago, Darcy Burner began an effort to find a way out of Iraq. Since then, she has consulted with leading military experts, policy analysts, national security experts, and a group of top-tier Congressional candidates and elected officials from around the country to draft a plan to bring the War in Iraq to a responsible end.
That work culminate today when Burner and her colleagues launch their plan at the Take Back America conference in DC. Here's a sneak peak.
Along with Burner, Blue Majority candidatesDonna Edwards and Eric Massa, and the others are trying something new: creating a caucus of challengers working across the country on the same plan, with the same goal--ending the Iraq war in 2009. They're not only making a strong pledge to the voters in their districts that they'll do everything in their power to end this war; they're demonstrating now that they will be leaders in Congress.
From the group's press release:
Originating outside the Beltway and based on consultations with retired generals and other national security experts on a path forward to end the war, the challengers’ document lays out a series of actions for Congress to take to end United States military involvement in Iraq, strengthen America and improve our standing around the world, restore accountability and checks and balances to our government and work toward energy independence.
"I wholeheartedly endorse this plan as a responsible and forward looking plan for ending the war in Iraq. As Burner and her colleagues correctly note, bringing our troops home is the first, but not the only step that must be taken to ensure a debacle like Iraq never happens again," said Dr. Lawrence Korb, former assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. "This plan addresses the root causes that allowed the Bush Administration to lead this country into this mess, and sets us in the right direction. I applaud their efforts on this ambitious and sound strategy. This is progressive strength on national security in action."
You can watch Burner and her colleagues launch the plan starting at 5:30 EDT today online via this live stream. It will also be available at Burner's Web site. The full plan will be posted at her site as well, after its launch today.
This afternoon at 5:30 EST, a group of eleven Democratic hopefuls to become freshman members of the House of Representatives will announce "A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq. The group includes Darcy Burner (WA-8), Larry Byrnes (FL-14), Donna Edwards (MD-4), George Fearing (WA-4), Steve Harrison (NY-13), Eric Massa (NY-), Tom Perriello (VA-), Chellie Pingree (ME-1), Jared Polis (CO-2) and Rep-elect Bill Foster (IL-).
The plan calls for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and details how such a withdrawal should be achieved - the group was advised by General Paul Eaton and General John Johns amongst others.
Please check back at that time to listen in. Below the fold I list the candidates websites:
Tomorrow, at the Take Back America conference, Darcy Burner and a number of Democratic Congressional challengers will present their plan for getting us out of Iraq. That plan was developed with the assistance of a number of military experts and high-ranking military officials.
One of them is Gen. John Johns:
Burner and her colleagues, including other Blue Majority candidates (and winners!) Donna Edwards and Eric Massa, are trying something new: creating a caucus of challengers working across the country on the same plan, with the same goal--ending the Iraq war in 2009. They're not only making a strong pledge to the voters in their districts that they'll do everything in their power to end this war; they're demonstrating now that they will be leaders in Congress.
Just imagine what the Freshman class of the 111th Congress is going to look like, is going to achieve, with these candidates as members.
Update: The video is mysteriously not available at the moment, and they are working on getting it fixed.
Last August, as the culminating event of the Burn Bush fund drive, Darcy Burner organized an online townhall meeting to talk about Iraq. Hundreds of concerned citizens from around the nation tuned in to the live stream that afternoon, to hear Burner announce her intention to work with military experts to develop a coherent plan for both pulling out of Iraq, and reconstructing that shattered nation in the absence of our armed forces.
On Monday, March 17, Burner will present the fruits of her labor to the Take Back America conference in Washington D.C., along with an impressive group of military experts and fellow challengers, including Eric Massa and Donna Edwards.
One of the experts who has been working with Darcy on the plan is Gen. Paul Eaton.
These challengers are not going to let Iraq fade as an issue in 2008. It is the single issue that makes health care reform, economic recovery, education reform, international reconciliation--all the other issues on Americans' minds--all but impossible to achieve. Until we are no longer wasting billions of dollars and hundreds of American lives every year in Iraq, we can't solve anything else.
Darcy Burner knows it, as do her fellow challengers and the military experts who've joined her effort.
Democratic turnout numbers in the current election cycle are positively astounding. But what will be the lasting impact of that turnout beyond potentially electing a Democratic president? That is the question of my weekly syndicated newspaper column out today - and the answer is very, very encouraging for progressives.
Unfortunately, Donna Edwards isn't in Congress yet. Hopefully her encouragement, and the knowledge that reinforcements are on the way, will help the Democrats in the House hold onto their recently rediscovered spine on FISA.
DINO incumbent Leonard Boswell sees the writing on the wall. After seeing what happened to Al Wynn over in Maryland, he has reached the conclusion that it pays to be an actual Democrat instead of a pretend one. So he has belatedly signed on to Dennis Kucinich's articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney.
Boswell is being challenged by Ed Fallon, who - like Edwards - seems to inspire more courage in the incumbent than he himself actually exhibits. Fallon's website says nothing about impeachment. Edwards said she was for it when asked, but never brought it up, and kept it off her website.
