The 7th leans Republican, particularly after the 2000 redistricting removed Plainfield and added towns in highly-Republican Somerset and Hunterdon counties. However, it is not a significantly conservative district. In 2000, George Bush was unable to reach 50 percent of the vote, while the combined Gore and Nader tickets reached 51 percent.  In 2004, Kerry did better than Gore.

The Republicans in the 7th are generally social moderates of the Rockefeller Republican vein. They are largely pro-choice, pro-Social Security and pro-environment. These are not voters who would normally support a radically conservative candidate such as Mike Ferguson, but they do largely because he is largely unknown.

In fact, in an independent 2004 poll 42 percent of people in the district didn't know Ferguson well enough to rate him.

We have a three part strategy to winning NJ7 for the Democrats.  1) Opp research and publicity on Ferguson to get his negative ID up; 2) build local Democratic organizations in Republican areas to build more grassroots strength via contributions so locals can do federally approved political action such as organizing, voter registration and education; and 3) contribute and fundraise for our candidate when s/he arrives.

PART 1: Dump Mike Ferguson blog

When we started the blog we tried to find Ferguson's positions on issues using Google, MSN and Yahoo! and there was little out there but his own campaign and congressional sites.  We built a blog (on Moveable Type) to consistently post new information on Ferguson so that the real story would wind up in the search engines.  Since April when we added Site Meter we've had about 12,000 unique visitors.

Currently on "Mike Ferguson" -- our #1 keyword -- we are on Google page 3 (#23), on MSN Page 1 (#3), and Yahoo! page 1 (#4).  Since Mike Ferguson is a pretty common name, we're pretty happy with this for a six month old blog. As we continue to blog we will come up high for issues, as well (Pharmaceutical "mike ferguson") so that people see opposing views.

Dump Mike has been linked to on Talk Left, Talking Points Memo and Eschaton as well as quite a few other blogs.

Blue 7th PAC also has a 1300 entry e-mail list of which about 400 are people who are at least semi-active.  Others are culled from my own county-wide campaigns the past two years and Democratic organizations I belong to.  

We use the list to send out alerts and to get people to contact Mike Ferguson and the newspapers.  We have generated a significant number of letters to the editor (some are on the blog here) since calling for them in June.  Also, our members regularly send Ferguson questions and when we get his answers we often post them on the web.

We caught Ferguson lying about his environmental record, taking campaign contributions from companies engaged in what Ferguson calls "unethical" research (embryonic stem cells), and caught Ferguson wheeling dollars to Tom DeLay's Texas congressional candidates while ignoring New Jersey candidates.

As we generate funds (three small ticket and one big ticket fundraisers scheduled in next two months) we will do mailings, road signs (campaign and billboard), canvassing and leaflet/guerilla marketing to publicize these and other scoops.

PART 2: Building Grassroots Democrats

Somerset and Hunterdon Counties are more than half the district, and are heavily Republican areas.  State and federal Democratic dollars almost never find their way here.  Over the years this has disheartened and democralized the substantial if minority progressive and Democratic communities to the point where they no longer really organize.

There are signs of rebirth, as in Somerset County where we have taken over Montgomery Township for the first time in history and kept it for three cycles (six years).  Congressman Rush Holt did extremely well in Hunterdon and Somerset before they were moved out of his district in 2000.  In Hunterdon the Democracy for America organization has two MeetUps that are both on board with Blue 7th PAC's mission and goals.  We are also making contact with individual progressives who we find through newspaper ads for picnics, through out MeetUp and via word of mouth.

Blue 7th PAC will contribute $s to local Democratic and progressive organizations to engage in federal election political action such as voter registration, party building and the like.  We will also, when necessary, provide boots on the ground.  We have already been promoting local Demcoratic events and sending people to Corzine Connection and local Somerset County Democratic Org events, and will expand that effort.

The goal is to create local expertise and numbers that can help a Congressional campaign with phone banking, canvassing, media watching, leafleting and other basic activities that are simply not being done in these areas in recent elections.

STEP 3: Contributing to Candidates

Blue 7th PAC is setting up as a multi-candidate PAC so we can give more to our NJ7 candidate, and will get there by contributing to Dems running in adjascent districts.  This will allow us to give more to our candidate and generate goodwill from Representatives already in office.

Barring a primary battle in 2006 (there are two good candidates who have won multiple elections in the district, one who has filed and one who is thinking about it) we plan to give the legal limit of $10K to our candidate.  If there is a battle we will stay out of it until things settle out.

We plan to work hard to raise funds both locally and nationally to finance our work. As noted above, we have four fundraisers scheduled through the middle of September when we will suspend fundraising events until after the general.  We expect to raise about $15K from these events, and to build membership.  Events are important to get folks involved and raise a little money, and we will also engage in direct mail, phone banking and taking on-line contributions.

ACT BLUE has agreed to carry our online fundraising once the FEC gets back to me with our number, and for now we are using Click and Pledge.  

CONCLUSION: We've had it

We do not want to be represented by a Republican in Congress anymore.  It is bad for our families, our neighborhoods, our towns, our counties, our state, our country and our world.  

The only way we are going to change this is by doing it ourselves, and so we started Blue 7th PAC.  We have worked hard in the prep stage over the past few months, and are about to take it to the next level in the general this year.

Additionally, this is not just about the 2006 elections.  If we are successful and win next year 2008 will be a battle royale with the national Republicans.  Blue 7th PAC is here for 2006, 2008, 2010, and on so that we can turn New Jersey's 7th congressional district blue!

Thanks for reading this incredibly long post!