Tomorrow Virginia is holding a primary to select general election candidates for its 11 congressional districts. I have been receiving mailings from both Democratic candidates for the 11th CD, Leslie Byrne and Gerry Connolly, along with endorsements from high profile officials within Virginia Democratic Circles, including Jim Webb and Tim Kaine.

I have to tell you, tears came to my eyes after watching the movie 'Recount' on HBO yesterday.  Flipping through HBO again this evening, I saw that it was back on, and I had to really just vent a little bit.  To be honest the last 8 years have really been a big suck-fest of crappitude for the American people.  And yet, it seems like a bell-curve of idiocy.  I'll go into that a little more in a bit.  First I would just like to explain the 2000 election from my perspective.  I was 17 years old, too young to vote, but not young enough that I couldn't be politically active.  It was my senior year, and I had been getting more active in politics, although before that point, I felt myself to be a liberal Republican, along the lines of my grandmother, looking at Gore and Bush, it was an obvious choice who I should choose to vote for.  But there were other issues that drove me to the Democrats.Continue with me over the jump....

As we go into these last few weeks before the Democratic congressional primaries in Virginia on June 10, Leslie Byrne and I were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak about the issues concerning voters on Fairfax Public Access television. The link to the video is below, but let me know what issues are important to you in this election by commenting on my diary after viewing the discussion panel. It is time for Frank Wolf to go.

Please make a donation of $28 to my campaign today to celebrate Frank Wolf's last year in Congress.

http://video.google.com/...

If you have the opportunity, I encourage you to watch any of the upcoming events.
If you like what you see, please donate $28 and join our '28 is enough' club in celebration of Frank Wolf's final year in Congress.

The event schedule is below the fold:

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.

Race tracker wiki: VA-11

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.

Our newest Blue Majority candidate is Leslie Byrne, running in the open seat previously held by Tom Davis. Matt Stoller wrote this one up:

With such a ripe pickup opportunity, the primary is ferocious. The Washington Post frames the primary fight within the Democratic party as follows:

Leading the pack are two of the state Democrats' biggest personalities: Leslie L. Byrne, a former congresswoman, state delegate and state senator with deep roots in the party's progressive wing, and Gerald E. Connolly, a Latin-quoting, pro-business Democrat who, as chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, represents one in seven Virginians.

Byrne is the long-time progressive movement candidate facing off against developer ally Gerry Connolly. Byrne's progressive credentials are first-rate; a liberal member of Congress from 1992-1994, she was an opponent of the war in Iraq from day one, endorsed Howard Dean in 2004, is a favorite of the local netroots, and endorsed fellow war opponent Jim Webb early on. That endorsement was critical and provided Webb's campaign with an early boost of legitimacy in his primary against lobbyist Harris Miller, who supported the war in Iraq and thought Bush's tax cuts were "a great idea". Webb defeated racist Republican George Allen narrowly because he presented a clear choice on economic inequality and the war in Iraq, and has turned around and endorsed Byrne's campaign.

Leslie Byrne has also been endorsed by Raising Kaine, Not Larry Sabato, Anonymous Is a Woman, 750 Volts, and Bryan Scrafford. To contextualize these endorsements, understand that the Virginia blogs are probably one of the most sophisticated group of progressive bloggers in the country; they helped put Tim Kaine and Jim Webb into office, and the state in play for 2008.

This is a nasty fight, with Connolly up by 22 in his polling and Byrne up by 10 in her polling. Connolly is generally seen as heavily tied to developers (see all the coming soon on his campaign's endorsement list), while Byrne's endorsement list is pretty impressive and shows her commitment to progressive values:

UAW Virginia, CWA, IUPAT, Ironworkers, Plumbers, Operating Engineers, Heating and Asbestos Workers, Washington DC Building Trades Council, AFSCME Virginia, Boilermakers, Operating Engineers, EMILY's List, UAW International, National Women's Political Caucus, and EMILY's List.

If she win the primary and the general, Byrne will be a great member of Congress. I emailed back and forth with her over our standard set of questions focusing on key moments of progressive leverage in Congress; the war funding vote in 2007, the FISA vote in 2007, and retroactive immunity for the telecommunications industry. Here are her responses.

1) How would you have voted on the war funding bill that the Democrats passed in May?

I would have voted against the war funding bill. I have been on record since January,2003 as being against the war and the occupation of Iraq when a dozen former members of Congress and I sent a letter to President Bush not to embark on this foolhardy war.

2) What is your position on the Protect America Act that went through Congress in August, the bill that extended the President's eavesdropping power3?

I would have voted against it. Warrantless wiretapping, cutting courts out of the process and giving the power to the administration, under any fair reading of the Constitution should be illegal.

3) What is your position on retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies?

I'm against immunity. The telecommunications companies who complied (not all did) have some of the highest priced legal talent available. They should have asked for a court ruling before handing over their customers records. I was very pleased that the US House found their voice on this issue.

Byrne has also signed on to the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq, showing leadership now as a candidate for office and facing withering attacks because she spoke out substantively to change the conversation on national security

Even though many of us are political junkies, we don't get many chances to really impact politics in this country. Primaries, though, are the moments when our influence is felt most keenly, because it is at those times when Democratic activists and Democratic voters really shape the party's direction. It's hard to have a clearer choice than the one presented in this primary in Virginia, so if you want to put money to where it will really matter, give $50 to Leslie Byrne, and let's send another progressive Democrat to support the fight we started years ago.

We've done great work this cycle, with victories in IL-14 (Bill Foster) and MD-04 (Donna Edwards) that have given us two better Democrats in Congress, including one in Dennis Hastert's old seat. We have also helped Darcy Burner and Al Franken win their primaries without a single vote cast, helping build a strong grassroots base of support that drove their opponents out of their respective races.

We are fighting for more and better Democrats, and this race is a clear-cut effort in that direction. A Byrne victory in the primary would give us "better" Democrats, while a victory in November would give us "more" Democrats.  

On the web:

Give to Leslie Byrne through Blue Majority
Leslie Byrne for Congress

Race tracker wiki: VA-11

I grew up in Miami, a region dominated by Cuba politics, so I have some knowledge of how significant Joe Garcia's candidacy is in South Florida.  It is a direct challenge to the pay-to-play foreign policy apparatus of the United States, one where sugar interests and right-wing politics determines that we should have a pointless embargo against the Cuban people.  But today I want to announce that we have another significant nomination for the Blue Majority page: Leslie Byrne for Virginia's 11th district.

Republican Tom Davis is retiring this year, and the district is a good pickup opportunity.  Jim Webb won the district 55%-44% in 2006, Tim Kaine won the district 56%-42% in 2005, while John Kerry lost it by 50-49% in 2004.  It is turning sharply blue; Tom Davis's wife, Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, lost to Democrat Chap Petersen by 11 points in a race for state Senate.  

This is huge news, from The Crypt:

Republican Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia is expected to announce that he will not seek reelection next fall during a press conference Wednesday afternoon, according to a Republican with close ties to the Virginia congressman.

UPDATE: Davis, who has not made an official announcement, will make his announcement in a press release, not a formal press conference as was previously reported.

Davis' district voted for Bush over Kerry by just 50% to 49%, and it's primed for an extremely competitive race, and very possibly a Democratic pickup, with Davis retiring. Our leading candidate is Davis' predecessor, former Congresswoman Leslie Byrne, who narrowly lost a 2005 race for Lieutenant Governor. She is joined in the primary by Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry Connolly, and retired naval Commander Doug Denneny.

This instantly becomes not only a pickup opportunity, but a top-tier race by any analysis.

Race tracker wiki: VA-11

Now there are two great reasons to give to Leslie Byrne for Congress. First, you can support a strong, progressive Democrat in her bid to unseat Republican incumbent Tom "DeLay" Davis. Second, for a $100 donation, you can enter a raffle to win 4 VIP tickets to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The raffle will be held on New Years’ day 2008, and Leslie is hoping there will be 300 entries.

Last night, I attended the Democracy for Virginia meeting in Arlington.   I went to hear my good friend and close RK colleague, Josh Chernila, speak about his vision for a "Blue Virginia."   As an added bonus, I got to see a bunch of great Democrats - past, current, and future candidates here in Virginia.    I talked for a while to Leslie Byrne, who's looking and sounding great after her narrow loss to Bill Bolling for Lt. Governor, by the way!    Leslie, Josh and I discussed how Democrats can win consistently if they articulate a powerful message to the working class in parts of Virginia that used to be "blue" but are currently "red."  The fact is, Republicans are bad news for most Americans' economic self interest, and it is our job as Democrats to give them a positive, realistic alternative.

Had DRE systems performed as reliably as optical scan systems in Virgina this month, there
would be another 12,430 votes for Lieutenant Governor and another 9,400 votes for Attorney
General. It is entirely likely that the malfunction of paperless machines in Virginia in 2005 affected
the outcome of the race for Attorney General.

More below...