I haven't had the pleasure of meeting John personally like llbear has, but from his diairies and his comments, it's clear that he's as sharp as a tack and really connects with people.  He is humble and not afraid to take criticism.  More importantly, he LISTENS and ponders and doesn't go off half cocked.  Everyone should look at his candidacy and then jump on his band wagon.  If you can't physically help his campaign, then send him money when you can and give him your love.  Get others to send money and get them to get others to send money.  Make it like that old Breck Shampoo ad - tell a friend, who tells  a friend, who tells a friend...that's how netroots campaigns keep growing the legs needed to win.  Besides, we simply have to SHOW HASTERT THE DOOR!  

John Laesch has worked and earned the fullest endorsements of the grassroots, netroots and committed individuals who are the heart and soul of the 14th District.

John has the background, depths of national and international experiences, integrity we require in a Representative.

The Laesch campaign has proven time an again that it is built on the core principals of Democracy and genuine heartland values.

I encourage everyone working and striving to revive the American Dream for the 21st Century should give serious considerations to John Laesch, along with Netroots backing.

I've been an ardent and full supporter of Laesch since last August.

I'm a teacher, a conservative, sometimes vote Republican, live in GA and I following this campaign closely.  I wish I could vote for Larry Kissell so bad I can't stand it. I will go up there and volunteer this summer. Send a teacher to Congress!!!!

He started out with no chance of winning and has come out of nowhere to now be one of the National Journal's top 50 races.  He has brought on a top notch staff and consultants.  I live in Cabarrus County home of Robin Hayes and I don't have a doubt in my mind that he is going to win. My Dad was here for Father's Day and has been a Hayes supporter over the years...this year he is voting for Kissell as are his other Vietnam Vet friends because the DAV gave Hayes a ZERO rating and he likes that Kissell is a good Baptist.

Kissell is on fire and Hayes is doing a crash and burn.  I'm sure Hayes feels very confident,but he is going to lose when good rednecks like my Daddy are voting against him.  I hope he gets the netroots endorsement--he has really earned it!

Hi,

We're bringin out the yellow dogs in NC-8 to put Kissell in Congress and put Robin Hayes back out on the street. Larry Kissell said at our ralley last week "it's not about the money". I hate to disagree with him but it is. Robin Hayes has a huge war chest to use to fearmonger and distort his true position of voting for the rich fat cats. NC-8 is a winnable seat. Hell, Beth Troutman pulled over 35% against Hayes the last election, with little money and having Martin Sheen  and other "Hollywood Liberials" campaign for her.

Show some love netroots and send a real Democrate to the House.

Kissell's message resonates well in his district and throughout North Carolina. People are tired of the same old party politics, and he represents something new and unique.

It would be a missed opportunity not to endorse him as soon as possible!

I live in Concord NC.
I can't wait to vote for Larry in Nov.
I will be looking to put signs up along the road this week.

Go Larry Go

I thought it would be worth mentioning that YearlyKos was during the final week of school for Larry and it's next to impossible for teachers to get time off those last couple of weeks.  Larry has been interacting with the online community in North Carolina well before he formally filed.  He has started writing diaries on DKos as well and may be able to write more now that school is out.

When the poll numbers were released Larry gave BlueNC an exclusive for 24 hours.  

I'm done backing longshots, merely because it'll tweak the other side's nose.

The purpose is money. Right? Getting money to winnable elections that need it? Especially for candidates closer to the people than say Lawyer PACS and Fat Cats.

So when respected southern pollster John Anzalone says Kissell with little money is currently trailing Hayes by only 8 points (uninformed vote), and Kissell with money swings 15 points to beat Hayes by 7 points (informed vote), does that not tell the netroots where they can make the most difference?

NC-08 is a value race. Buy low. Win high.

I hate to do this but I've said it before and will say it again -- you are sadly mistaken here in supporting Carter as a viable challenge. Carter is "getting attention" where for his blog -- not in NV. The only mention of it online was on www.renodiscontents.com, which is a liberal-leaning blog that made fun of the idea. There is no "netroots support" for him locally, only on blogs based elsewhere. I say this not ot put down Carter; I hope he wins and I've donated to him. But he's not captured much support from local progressive activists.

But to say that I find it really condescending that whomever determines these things refuse to take a look at the candidate hwo does have strong support from actually existing Nevada progressive activists, state SEnator Dina Titus who is running a true insurgent campaign.

She's a state Senator who represents a middle class section of Las Vegas and who has been the Democratic leader for 16 years. She's worked the state relentlessly for years, campaigning for Democrats (she's brought us within one seat of a Democratic majority in teh state Senate which we stand a good chance of picking up this fall). She's known across the state as accessible, intelligent and committed to change.

She more or less introduced the concept of smart growth to southern Nevada (those who were here saw the need for it) and is s running on a platform that includes alternative energy, ethics reform, enhanced funding for education, controlling growth (which will have strong appeal in rural areas whose water is being depleted by Las Vegas), and economic diversification towards high-tech.

She's had strong support from local blogs (check out this one and and this one as well. No, she didn't come to YEarly Kos becaues early voting starts in less than 60 days and she was out meeting with voters.

She's also got a real chance to win, leading in all polls in the primary against a self-described "democrat" who is a corporate lawyer who is both socially and economically conservative and who has taken in massive amounts of bundled contributions from corporations and developers. So he's got enough money to run misleading ads trying to claim the mantle of education and environment and in effect has been openly thumbing his nose at Democratic party activists for years.

Then in the fall, she's got a real chance (latest Rasmussen had her ahead 44-40) against a Delay/Pombo clone/clown.

Given how close this election is going to be and how much it would mean for not only a Democrat but a progressive, western-style Democrat (think Brian Schweitzer) to win here -- and how much she has energized a previously miniscule progressive activist base -- this is really the race in NV that on-line donors should care about.

Nevada is indeed a place to invest in, but see my post above. I know everyone wants to win back the Senate but if you lived here, you'ld know that the Governors race, and Dina Titus is the progressive, insurgent Brian Schweitzer-style candidate with a real chance to turn NV blue that deserves netroots support.

I think its great what Sara Carter has done to generate interest for her dad, but I'm sorry to say that you can't consider a "local blogger" the way that this one is.

I don't mean to put anyone down but shouldn't those of us who live here and have been trying to turn this state blue for years,  get the support of those who want to support a viable 50-state strategy.

like i said, i'm totally behind both of them, but it's not the northeast strategy.  it is, however, a good strategy.

Oh, I forgot to mention...

On Monday, click here to see the results from the first round of DFA's Grassroots All-Star online vote:

http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/hou sevote/

DFA is auditing the vote over the weekend. If the preliminary results posted on Friday hold up, Jerry McNerney will finish first (out of 34 candidates) and move on to the second round.

Again, the driving force behind Jerry's netroots success: local blogs like Say No To Pombo, Calitics, Pombo Watch, and Progressive 11th.

I think Jerry McNerney is an excellent choice because he is going up against the baddest of the Bad in the House of Representatives, Richard Pombo. Pombo is hated by people inside and outside of the District. Jerry has a great deal of support from Environmental groups, Bay area DFA and Democratic Clubs, and of course the Blogsphere as already noted. Jerry has lost of Grassroots support but he needs all the cash he can get to go up against Pombo who has over a million dollars already. Helping Jerry will take out an enemy of the Environment, a Tom Delay puppet and take back control of Congress

If you like that, John Mac, check out Jerry McNerney's MyDD conversation with Jonathan Singer here.

Choice quote:

Singer: Final question. You talked a little bit about posting on Daily Kos and the netroots. If there's one message you'd like to send out to the readers of the progressive blogosphere, what would that be?

McNerney: I think the important thing in this context really is that the internet, the netroots, the blogging... has opened up democracy in a way that wasn't possible before, and I think it really empowers our democracy. So I really challenge people that would be interested to keep participating and to broaden this sphere of influence, because this is how we take America forward as a country of the people rather than a country of the corporations.

For example, this net neutrality issue. To me, it's absurd that that would even be an issue right now. We need to protect the neutrality of the network and let people get into it as individuals at an equal basis. I can tell you when I get to Congress next year, I'm going to be looking at the blogs, because you get a lot of unfiltered information from the blogs and it's very refreshing.

But I'm not surprised.

Disappointed, but not surprised. I agree with you... this race can be the trifecta:

1) Get rid of Pombo, one of the worst guys in Congress

2) Get Jerry McNerney into the halls of Chgress: we need folks with his understanding of renewable energy to face the challenges of the "Inconvenient Truth" that we have to address within the next decade.

3) Demonstrate the power of the netroots to the Democratic Party... and show good cause why they need our money, grassroots organizing, and locally-grounded political instincts more than they need the DC stratagems of Rahm Emanuel.

This is the win/win/win race for the netroots.

yeah, i don't really see that as a justification, more of a rationalization.  also, i think it's a bit flip, and my participation and support of you and your blog, and progressive blogging in general for the past four years, i think, deserves a more thoughtful response than that.

you say it's about money, i want to know how you three guys, after being so adamant about net neutrality, help the other side propagate their false information by having their ad on your site?  especially if it's just about money.

how can you guys expect any legitimacy to be ascribed to you by your readers the next time you take a position that the other side is inconsistent?

if you seriously needed money, i could have given you some.  but i don't think it's about money.

i think you guys didn't really think it through.  you now look like hypocrites, you really do, and it saddens me, because i know you guys are working hard to make things better for this country.  but this looks to me to be a serious mis-step.

at least talkleft and atrios and fdl and other blogs who are carrying the ad posted that they still believe otherwise (i don't think that solves the problem, but at least they are making an effort to deal with the apparent conflict of interest).  and steve gilliard and annatopia have pledged to take the money from that ad and donate it to savetheinternet.com.  and i just refused to carry it.

you say "it's not like it's influenced the blogging."  actually, i believe you.  but there is still the appearance of a conflict of interest.  it seriously undermines your credibility when debating the other side's inconsistencies on any other matter.

and, as i've said elsewhere, of all the issues to run an ad from the opposing side for profit, this is the stupidest move possible, taking money from the very people that want to limit your ability to reach your audience.

again, i challenge you to justify, not to me, but to every reader of mydd, your reasons for taking money from a sponsor with whom you espouse a position that is diametrically opposed to that which the ad dictates.

especially after you spoke so passionately and eloquently against this very position at ykos.  it just really leaves a bad taste in the readers' mouths.

hey matt, first it doesn't look like district sixer has been updated in ages.  i'll shoot them an email and see if they'll post an update.  it might be better to refer peeps to the myspace and the texas bloggers, who are all firmly behind david.  in fact, dave's got at least 40 texas-based blog sites backing him in his race against barton.  he certainly has netroots support in our state.

my case for dave has been posted frequently, but it does include democratic gains in the district for each of the past four cycles (even after the delay gerrymandering!).

we also have two HOT texas house races within dave's congressional district.  HD94 (my house district) just kicked out a 14 year GOP incumbent, and the challenger in HD93 (right next door to my district) is poised to steal the seat from another 10+ year GOP incumbent.  in other words, things are trending our way in the most heavily populated part of the district.

i would also point out that dave is a blogger, he's on the right side of our issues, and he takes this movement seriously.

in addition, down in the rural parts of the district we are making massive headway.  i know this is all anecdotal, but every time we go down there we have people coming up to us and saying things like, "you know, i've been voting for barton for x number of years, and i just don't think i can support him any more.  give me some literature/donor cards/website URL..."

also, dave is the first democratic challenger to be featured on the front page of the ellis county press.  the ECP is a conservative newspaper from barton's home county.  they give us great coverage, and they wouldn't even acknowledge barton's previous opponents.  this is helping increase our name ID in the county that's going to swing this race.

dave is endorsed by vetpac and IAVA, and within the next month or two he is going to be featured - along with three other IAVA candidates - in a national magazine that is well respected across the country (i can't let the cat out of the bag here, but you are welcome to email me for details).

sam seder loves him, too, so that's gotta count for something.  LOL

barton is already running scared, too.  he's changed his website in response to some issues we have raised.  for ex, barton didn't used to have a section on vets/veterans issues.  but dave raised a stink and now barton has a section for that on his website.  barton also did a mailbomb across the district three months ago, which included bumper stickers and some GOP propoganda.  

our gravy train protest against barton got some serious press, too.  the traditional media here seems to be on barton's ass as of late, and that's never really happened before.  usually bad barton press has come from the alt-weeklys.
http://www.annatopia.com/archives/001548 .html
http://www.annatopia.com/archives/001550 .html

i could go on and on about dave and michelle.  they are amazing, dedicated people who have a democratic volunteer and voting history in three states.  they are inspiring, honest, and forthright, and they deserve our support.