With another fundraising quarter coming to a close on Friday night, it is time for us to reveal
the new additions to the Combined Netroots page at Act Blue. Today and tomorrow, Matt, David, Markos and I will all introduce one of the new candidates.
Tonight, it is my great pleasure to announce that Jerry McNerney, the Democratic nominee in the CA-11th,
has been added to the combined netroots page.
With the paranoid, tin foil hattery this past week about how Markos and Jerome somehow control the entire progressive blogosphere, Jerry McNerney is an excellent example of how often the people in the netroots set the trends, not their all powerful blogging masters. This is just one case where
the rabid flying lambs actually lead us, as we are swept up into a tide created by commenters and lurkers, by local activists both within the netroots scene and outside of it, and by the
people of the people-powered progressive movement.
Jerry McNerney is not just the next netroots candidate--he is also the next progressive movement candidate. Already,
he has won the Democracy for America Grassroots All-Star voting, and three weeks ago his people-powered campaign
comfortably defeated the DCCC backed candidate in a contested primary. He entered politics
as part of the 50-state strategy, and because his son joined the Air Force after September 11th.
Eschewing the politics of triangulation in favor of a progressive message, he is a wind energy expert who has a Ph.D. in math (I like that).
In November, Jerry McNerney will face
ethically challenged Richard Pombo. While this district had a slightly reddish tint to it in 2000 and 2004, the only poll on the race actually shows McNerney ahead (from the subscriber section of
polling report):
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (D) for Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund. May 1-3, 2006. N=402 likely voters districtwide. MoE � 4.9.
Pombo Job Rating: 40% Approve, 45% disapprove
Re-elect Pombo: 35% Yes, 52% No, 13% Depends / Unsure
Trial Heat: McNerney 46%, Pombo 42%
McNerney is in this with a fighting chance, and the people-powered progressive movement is the reason. In order for him to win, that same movement will have to do the heavy lifting, because
he is way down on cash, and the DCCC is not typically eager to jump into races where their candidate lost the primary. That could change, but we need to show that McNerney can really win.
As the second fundraising quarter comes to a close,
please help out Jerry McNerney. Also, if you have a blog that will be covering this race that I have not listed on the netroots page, please say so int eh comments.
