I won this election.
I became a precinct captain for the county Democratic party, knocked on every door in my precinct - most 2 or 3 times - and herded my neighbors to the polls.
I made hundreds of calls through MoveOn, and more for Debra Bowen and Prop 89.
I contributed over $2,000 and raised $16,000 on top of that.
I won this election.
Well, no. Not exactly. I did all of this, but others did far more. Follow me over the fold to read about them and learn how you can thank them.
There are a lot of heroes in this election - there is a lot of credit to share for our great victory. The bulk of it, I feel, is due to the candidates who stepped forward and put their names up for consideration, in districts red and blue, contesting incumbents and open seats. These brave souls stepped outside of their routine, faced (and faced down) legendary opposition, spent countless hours on the phone asking strangers for money, wore out shoes and ate rubber chicken and kielbasa 'til it was coming out of their pores. They withstood slander and media scrutiny and an unending stream of bad advice and criticism.
And some of them went into debt.
This is where we get to the "how you can thank them" part.
I've started a new page on ActBlue to help candidates retire their campaign debt, and I'm asking you to contribute. At the moment, just two candidates are on the list, Wendy Wilde and Jean Hay Bright. I know that Jean has gotten a certain amount of flak here for asking for help with campaign debt retirement - I think we should help her, and Wendy, and all the others. Here's why.
Even in defeat, the losing candidates drew Republican resources away from races that we won - the overall victory owes a lot to them.
These candidates should know that we've got their back (which, if your wondering, is the basis for this series' acronym: We've Got Your Back). Their lasting memory of the campaign shouldn't be the struggle to retire their campaign debt. They should have positive memories of the campaign - so when 2008 rolls around, they're ready to run again.
And finally, if we clearly demonstrate with these candidates that we really do have their backs, if we show that in this way, too, we're going to support our candidates - then others will be more willing to enter the fray. We want to provide an environment that fosters our kind of candidates; the safety net of helping them retire that debt contributes to that environment.
So please: visit the WGYB ActBlue page and contribute a little money. Please also recommend the diary, please spread the word. I'm kicking in $10 today to each candidate; if just 240 other people do that, Wendy's debt will be retired today. We can do that.
If you know of a candidate who should be included on this page, please send me the candidate's name and debt amount.
Many, many thanks to lawyerDan who first suggested this series; thanks also to NightProwlKitty and Christopher Walker for advice on how to go about this.