Asks Hoyer, Wynn, Ruppersburger and Cummings to give to Duck

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/25 /91442/425

Only partly on topic Chris, I've been thinking.  A lot of great things have grown up this year for this election, from fielding 435 challenges, to the House/Senate/Gov Forecasts, this movement, the google-bombing, etc. etc.

I wonder whether you guys will be not just continuing it (I'm sure you will be), but rolling straight into it after the election? For example, will we be seeing analysis of vulnerable Senate seats sometime before January of '08?  Seems to me, the sooner we establish a baseline, the more effective the organization will be.

And, you know...if you guys need an Admin Assistant...:P

I'm not sure if asking for a specific statement explicitly endorsing the Use It Or Lose It campaign is a good idea. First of all, it's unnecessary; I think everyone who needs to know will know what's going on. This isn't something that needs to get in the mainstream media blood-stream, necessarily.

Plus, by asking for a specific endorsement, you're involving other areas of each office: the communications team, the political office, etc, etc. This will spark debates and discussions in each office about whether mentioning the UIOLI campaign is a good idea, whether it's worth the cost, etc, etc. If nothing else, this will delay action, and we have absolutely no time for delay. This money needs to be pledged right now to have an effect. You are unnecessarily complicating matters by putting this additional layer on what each office should do ...

Another name that needs to be on the list is Tom Udall, from here in NM.  He's a good guy, and is running against a no-name opponent.  Udall has a pretty large warchest, considering 95% of New Mexicans couldn't name his opponent if he danced in front of them with a "Hi My Name is..." sign on his chest.

It's seriously that bad.  But Udall should be added to the list.

I don't know if I'm getting the brush off, or if the campaign is hugely and quickly successful, but I called all the NYers (I'm in NY-20), telling them that I was from NY-20, give to other district campaigns and wanted their candidate to contribute to DCCC.  I was told, often very quickly --eg. Maloney in NY-14 -- that she had given 250K to DCCC and 50k to individual campaigns since 9/30.  I got similar responses from others.  I would expect this campaign to work quickly if it works at all.  Is there an update on who's given what?

Many of these folks are allies of various "non-Hilly/Billy" presidential candidates. It is fairly obvious they were hoarding cash to give to said candidates.

So how is this crusade not the "Insure Hilly-Billy is guaranteed a financial lock in 2008!" crusade?

Seems to me an intellectually honest effort of this sort would also be punding Hilly-Billy to cough up more of her hoard as well.

Good for Reps Napolitano and Solis.  They make me proud to be from California.  

However, it seems to me that there are other California representatives who are sitting on large warchests who should also be on the list: Mike Thompson, Barbara Lee, Tom Lantos, Zoe Lofgren, Dennis Cardoza, Lois Capps, Brad Sherman, Henry Waxman, Loretta Sanchez, and Susan Davis.  None of them have credible opponents.  Is their a reason that they are not on the list?

Hey, I want to put in a good word for Cong. Jay Inslee (WA. state).  I spoke with his campaign manager over the weekend and learned that Jay has donated about $500,000 to: (1) various state legislative candidates in Washington state, (2)  federal congressional candidates, (3) Maria Cantwell's campaign, (4) about $150,000 to the DCCC,  and also (5) over $30,000 to  a Washington state Clean Energy initiative.

However, the process of documenting all of these contributions -- to a whole lot of people! -- requires doing a lot of public disclosure searching, and I've simply not had time this week.  So let me put in a good word here for an easier-to-document method to figure out HOW MUCH members of Congress are giving, and to whom.  The campaign manager had a list of notes, but no Excel file that she could send my way to document the contributions that Jay has been giving.

In addition, Inslee has been campaigning in Pennsylvania and Iowa in recent weeks, helping other congressional candidates campaign.   Jay's also been helping Peter Goldmark in Eastern Wa., and had either maxed on his contributions to Goldmark, or would do so later this week.  Jay has also contributed to Rick Larsen's congressional campaign in Wa state.

The process of doing the public disclosure searches and putting together the documentation on contributions requires more time than I've been able to carve out since I spoke with Inslee's campaign manager.  I have the sense that these Congressmen aren't used to anyone asking for a quick spreadsheet of their contributions.  (Hmmmm... methinks there's a good web app idea for anyone who wants to develop it ;-)

I've no doubt that Karl Rove is keeping track of Inslee's activities on his Dark Ledger.  Those of us who care about decent government should keeping track as well, and sending at least an email of thanks.

First MoveOn got in on the action, now TrueMajorityAction is helping out by sending Use It or Lose It info to their members. I just got an email with a link to this page:

http://www.truemajorityaction.org/takeba ck/useitorloseit.php?state=MA&ga_id= ga_14260311

It's a good live link that brings your local reps to the top, so it's very easy to use.

It's great that more and more progressive groups are coordinating like this; this kind of cohesive message is exactly what we need!

His campaign office reports he has given (to date, not just since the 9/30 reporting)

225,000 to the DCCC
170,000 to the Red To Blue effort, and has raised
185,000 for the DCCC through various events.

they are counting that as a total of $580,000

Paul Kanjorski's office (PA-11) were pretty rude about the whole thing

First the staffer complained she got "25 calls" today about it, I was polite, and just said I wanted my rep to get good press

she said he didn't need it because he wasn't running for a leadership position, hence he doesn't need to give anymore

Then about the "expanded field" she said "we're writing new checks but we aren't going to say publically how much"

i tried polite, i pushed back politely, in the end, it was clear: Kanjorski's office doesn't give a fuck, I recommend anyone in PA call Kanjorksi's office and complain about negative feedback you've gotten from members of his own district

Ben Chandler's (KY) campaign refused to give 30% of his $600K+.  They told me they had already given enough.

link here:
 http://www.bluegrassroots/2006/10/is_ben _chandler.html

I really wonder what these Reps who are holding out would have to say if the DCCC/DSCC/DNC started not spending the money they had to save for future elections.  I'm kinda afraid to find out what they'd think though.

I talked to Cong. Jim Moran tonight in Arlington VA. He said he has paid his DCCC dues of $150,000 and has given $100,000 to Virginia dems. I encouraged him to give more since he is totally safe.