It’s been a ride I never expected to take but I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I may do it again in 2010, this time armed with a much better appreciation of what it takes to get a message to the voters.

The disappointment was with me late Tuesday night as we watched the results from the first polling places come in off the loading docks of the Orange County Board of Elections and display on the web.

I had visited maybe 15 polling places during the day to thank the poll workers and ask how things were going. At every polling place the workers said it was slow. One woman told me that it was the lowest turnout she’d seen in 15 years of working at the polls.

The relief at first from the constant worry over money and begging people for more led to excitement over the opportunities the run for Congress has created. It’s been up and down since.

Last night I spoke briefly at the local DFA meeting and I felt a twinge of sadness at not winning. I wanted to represent them and help get their message out to American. I now realize there are other ways I can do that.

We can talk about "unity" -- but the meaning of that word varies depending on the reader. I want to drive home the meaning for you, to tap into the energy and synergy that comes from people striving for a common goal. In the netroots, I'm sure a lot of people will assume that I mean unity of the Presidential candidates.

That is part of it. Click on the picture to sign our pledge for unity.

(Misha, me & Dave in front of Democratic Party Of Orange County banner. We will be adding LA and San Bernardino Counties)

But we want to go further than that. We want to take this beyond gimmicks. We want to take this beyond cliche'. As my friend Dallasdoc says "Think movement".

This campaign has never been about me. It's been about all of us coming together to change the face of American politics to make the changes we know need to be made.

I took time out from my Sunday call time to go to the Obama Delegate Selection Caucus for the 42^nd Congressional District and support those running. I'm glad I did for more than a few reasons.

What I first took as an personal obligation to help build the Democratic brand in Orange County and win a few votes turned into a lot of fun and an energy boost that'll serve me well.

Before we take the jump I want to revisit my post from yesterday. It scrolled off the page pretty fast but I'm grateful that it was rescued. That helped. When you finish this please take a look at it and help out a long time fellow blogger who came from the community to run for Congress. I can't do this without you; my campaign is not about me. It's about all of us coming together to make the changes we know need to be made.

My ask: click this link and be a part of the movement joining the netroots with the grassroots. Check out my endorsement page. I'm proud of them all. And yes, that is the Ambassador Joe Wilson.

Honestly, I can't do this without you.

From the beginning, this campaign has been about the netroots taking the next step to becoming the mainstream. You've been fantastic, but we need more if we are to win the primary. If we implement the plan below we will win and set the stage to win in November. We need to make a lot of noise and talk to a lot of people. Not enough people know about us and even fewer understand why we are doing this.

Without the money, there is no campaign - so I'm not going to beat around the bush.  We need money; we need it now. We need your help.  If you believe in candidates emerging from the netroots, like I know you do, then please contribute.

Click on this button to go to ActBlue.


Jump below for a story and some details on how your money will be spent.

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to post a quick campaign update for everybody. I'm working hard everyday from 7:00am to 11:00pm and its paying dividends. I have recently been endorsed by Ambassador Joe Wilson and he will be campaigning for me here in the coming weeks. We will be moving into our new office as of April 1st. We are getting great exposure online and volunteers are signing up in droves to help me get out and talk to voters for the June 3rd Primary.  I have to admit, this is a really exciting time.

As some of you may already know, today is the end of the financial filing quarter and we have raised thousands and thousands of dollars from hundreds of individuals.  I have been very encouraged by the number of individual contributors doing what they can to help bring about the change we all want and need.

Okay, I'm sorry but I had to bring you here and tying this to the primary in some way was the best way we could think of. Tomorrow I'll be in San Jose at the California Democratic Party State Convention President Clinton is speaking on Sunday and I'm speaking at the endorsement caucus on Sat so there is a link. The Obama connection will be revealed below.

We're heading up tomorrow. I can imagine that some people will be thinking "Oh yeah, it's time to have some fun". It will be fun for us but fun because we are going to be working the convention delegates for the 42^nd Congressional District to get the endorsement from the Ca State Democratic Party.

(Dday here.  I have just begun working as Ron Shepston's netroots coordinator.  Ron has written this post to discuss his support for the Responsible Plan.  He's in a contested primary and needs your help to continue the leadership he's shown in supporting this plan all the way to Congress.  Please consider making a donation to his campaign today.)

I was working in Brisbane, Australia on 9/11. I’d long past gotten over jet lag but something woke me in the middle of the night. When I turned on the TV to CNN International and saw the graphic “America Under Attack” my first thought was that it was simply more media over-the-top hype. As I watched, I saw that was not the case and my anger grew at whoever it was who attacked us. I’d never felt so much anger in my life and I doubt that ever will again. I called friends and family to “be” with them, but I knew that I couldn’t, not only because of the distance, but because all air travel was suspended.

Last week, I called on Rep. Gary Miller to reimburse the taxpayers $1.28 million for an earmark that he placed in the 2005 Highway bill.  You can read the release here.

We got some great folks to pick it up and write about it in the netroots.

The liberal O.C. posted thisstory.

Down with tyranny had this to say.

The good folks at Calitics put it on the front page.

Thanks for posting and we are working to get more folks to pick it up.  If you can, please contribute now to keep the momentum going.

I haven't been around much in the past few months. In fact, I've been busy getting ready for our bust-out campaign. Call time and endorsement pushes are very time consuming especially when you have to still work to put food on the table. With this post I am back.

Today, I called on Rep. Gary Miller (pg2) to reimburse the taxpayers $1.28 million for an earmark that he placed in the 2005 Highway bill.

I am sick and tired of letting career politicians who care more about their personal business than the peoples’ business run our country.  

I and my campaign have just finished one hell of an autumn.  It's time to check in with my friends here and catch you up on developments. We have some really good things coming up.

I'm also asking for your contributions. I know this is a difficult time with the holidays and the Presidential primaries coming but I'm counting on you to help propel my campaign into 2008.

Personally, this has been an emotional time for me.  In early October, my mom passed away



and that hit me harder than I thought it would. I still have my moments with this but I can now talk about it without breaking down.

Ten days ago, we posted a diary entitled "CA-42: Our sincere best hopes for Rep. Miller's family" that noted the abduction of the grandchildren of our opponent, Rep. Gary Miller, and prayed for the quick and safe resolution of that situation.  (An update may be found below the fold.)

Today, we're sorry that we must post a diary that is even worse.  Rep. Miller's 33-year-old daughter Elizabeth died unexpectedly last Saturday morning in Atlanta.  The cause of death is as yet unknown.  Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Calvary Chapel Golden Springs in Diamond Bar.

Nothing can prepare one for a tragedy like this, but the statement released by Rep. Miller's office was particularly eloquent: "Elizabeth was full of life – a vibrant and beautiful young woman who embraced everyone she knew.  She was the love of my life and will always be missed.  She is in a better place and at peace in God's arms."

We send our condolences to her family and will of course respect their privacy in this time of grief.  We ask our friends here to do the same.

That diary title is intended without irony; we hope that commenters will proceed in that spirit.

We've gotten contacted today by people who have asked us if we know about this story, making the rounds via AP and evidently on CNN, discussing the disappearance yesterday of three of Rep. Gary Miller's grandchildren.  Yes, we have, and after some thought we feel that a short comment is appropriate.  We'll defer political announcements and discussion for a future day.

UPDATE 10/26 noon PDT:  See my latest diary on this topic here.

This is Greg ("Danby"), on the campaign account.  I'm really posting this diary for one reason: lots of people have been asking if Ron, as a Silverado Canyon resident, is all right.  Until this afternoon, I hadn't know, but now I do.  He is OK, though his house is without power and other services, and he is evidently involved in the community efforts to secure the canyon from fire.  I give some background in this diary on my own account.  I'm posting a diary from this account as well because I assume that people who want to know what's going on will check either this account or mine, and I want the story to be at the top of whichever account they check; I apologize for pushing down the rec list.

This is "Major Danby" -- I'm tempted to quote Holy Grail and say "some know me as ... Tim," but it's actually "Greg" -- Campaign Manager for Ron Shepston (aka "CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream"), longtime Koster and candidate for Congress in CA-42 against the ethically challenged Rep. Gary Miller, sending out greetings to our friends in Chicagoland.

As I posted in a diary a couple of days back (but am reposting here in hopes of reaching a different slice of the site), several of us from the campaign -- Ron and his wife Belinda, me, and hekebolos -- are going to be in Chicago this next week for some official meetings and some fundraising.  We would also just enjoy meeting our friends from the netroots.  Details below.

This is Greg (aka "Major Danby"), Campaign Manager for Ron "CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream" Shepston out here in CA-42, with one piece of good news and one very sad one.  The good news is that Ron, hekebolos, and I will be headed to Chicago for some meetings a week from today, and we'd like to meet people from this site and the netroots generally.  More on that after the jump.

First, I need to cover the sad news.  This diary was supposed to have gone up last Friday, but it was delayed due to the death of Ron's mother in Illinois that morning, or I should say delayed by my own not quite knowing how to approach writing it after learning of her death.  Ron has been deeply broken up by his mom's passing and, until calling him just now to get his permission to use the quote below, I've been giving him his privacy since then while he spends time with his family in the Midwest.  (This Chicago trip was, as a subsidiary benefit, to have been a chance for him and his wife to take a trip and see her again.)  His mother's memorial service was today.  Ron did mention one thing, though, in a message to some of us close to his campaign last week, that I think bears retelling.

This is a head's up from Major Danby, posting through our campaign account.  Ron Shepston -- who you know as CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream, and who is running for Congress against ethically-challenged Republican incumbent Gary Miller in California's 42nd District -- will be chatting with the amazing Howie Klein and taking questions from all comers in a few minutes as part of Howie's weekly series on FireDogLake.  I'll update with the link to the chat as soon as it's available.  Here's the link!

You will need an account at FDL to participate in the chat -- but, of course, everyone should have an account there, so be if you don't, this is a great time to create one!

The chat is scheduled to go on for two hours -- 11-1 Pacific Time, 2-4 Eastern, etc., so if you're seeing this anytime before 1 PDT, please come on by!  I'll post some excerpts from the chat below as time permits.