Kweisi Mfume. The rap against him is that he doesn't have as much money as Cardin for the fall election. Let's change it.

I also would like to nominate John Pavich from IL-11 who is running against incumbent Jerry Weller.

Pavich is a great candidate: young - 30 years old, enthusiastic, charismatic and has never run for office before. He has done important work as a Lawyer for the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia at The Hague in the Netherlands. He was part of a defense team that negotiated the first plea agreement for a national leader in the history of the tribunal. This plea is widely recognized as the first step in a new era of reconciliations in the Balkans.

John also worked for several years as a CIA agent. It was his response to 911, he was personally affected by a college classmates' death at the World Trade Center that day.

After working under the the Bush Administration though, he found he was not being as helpful to the his country in his capacity as a CIA agent. He left and decided to run for office back in his childhood home area of IL-11. You can read his full bio here. John's stand on issues, particularly the Iraq War, Fair Trade rather than Free Trade, properly funding education, and universal health care for everyone, easily fall under the Progressive democrat category. He stands for real change rather than just politics as usual. He has also done an impressive amount of fundraising all on his own, over $350,000. He spends his time and money wisely.

He is married to a wonderful, intelligent and also charismatic young woman, Kelly, his college sweetheart. They now have a young son Andrew who is almost 2 years old. (He has both his parents' good looks, intelligence and charisma already!)

Jerry Weller, the republicans incumbent, is right in line with the Bush, Rove, Frist, DeLay, Abramoff, Cunningham wing of the republican party. Weller has links to all three scandals just named. Weller votes with the conservative christian extremist wing of the republican party 95% of the time. And in his personal life Weller just made a huge mistake right after the 2004 election by marrying into an organized crime family in Guatemala.

Weller married a Guatemalan government official and second in line to be heir of the corrupt FRG party founded by her father, ex-dictator and genocidal murderer General Rios Montt, currently wanted on an International Warrant for genocide, torture and terrorism.

Zury Rios-Montt de Weller, as she now calls herself is an avid and enthusiastic supporter of her father, even calling him "her inspiration" in the Guatemalan press. You can find links to all things Weller/Rios Montt (and Pavich!) on my blog, LiberIL View. Not only did he marry this woman, he married her IN her father's home with him, the murderer, presiding at the ceremony. Meanwhile back here in the IL-11th CD Weller is big on using words like "liberty" and "freedom" in his speeches. He dosen't admit to any irony there.

Weller also does not admit to the conflict of interest his marriage created. He has a seat on the House International Relations Committee - Western Hemisphere. He oversees all things "Guatemala" for our government. He and his wife met while both were working on the legislation (and god knows what other kind of deals to line their pocketbooks) for CAFTA.

Weller had promised constituents here in the 11th CD he would not cast any votes on any legislation that involved CAFTA. He broke that promise and as a result his was one of two votes that passed CAFTA. (Weller expects his constituents to all be lawyers and have to study every word he says, his exact quote that he now uses as his get out of lying free card was, "I promise not vote on any legislation that invovles Guatemala alone.") He was also a whip on that vote, breaking arms for DeLay and making back room deals. Like others have said, Weller is a poster boy for what is wrong with our current government. He needs to be shown the door.

The 11th CD's population in it's upper Northeast corner has been, up until the recent increase in interest rates, growing like wild fire. The voters coming are more democratic leaning. And the current republicans are just as unhappy with their congressman as they are every place else in America, maybe more so here.

Weller isn't around much. He has only ONE office for a very large wide spread district. It's a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from his Joliet, IL. office to the southern most area, (Bloomington, IL.) of the district. And his office is hidden inside a Gold's Gym within another Lawyer's office. No exaggeration there. I was stunned the first time I went there.

Pavich can beat Weller no sweat, if he just gets the money to get his name and message out there. Weller and his wife (and soon to be child, probably being born in Guatemala) is his own walking bad publicity for himself.

John Pavich is the man who can show Weller out of the House door come this November. And he's a man almost all but the most fundamentalists republicans can easily vote for and feel good about casting that vote FOR John Pavich.

1. She's challenging Mean Jean Schmidt.
   
2. She's tied in the only poll to date, 44%-44%. The race is on Charlie Cook's chart of competitive races.
   
3. As of July 1, she has more Cash on Hand than Jean Schmidt. Vic has $25,000 and Schmidt has $17,000. Netroots dollars go way way way further here than in any other competitive distric.
   
4. Vic Wulsin is progressive woman, a public health doctor who has dedicated her career to helping her community.
   

I think putting Mfume on the list is premature; lets see who wins the primary first in MD.

I would like to nominate Jim Webb. As the little "monkey" episode showed yesterday, Allen is exactly the kinda guy who needs to be shown the door. Webb is facing serious cash problems in this race.

Webb, starting before the primary has shown the Netroots love so lets return the favor and help get rid of George Felix Allen.

Do you wonder why you never hear about a district where Kerry got 46%, even though less competitive races get more attention?  There are a couple reasons:

- the Democrats had a horrible perennial candidate win the nomination the last three times, and he never got more than 35% of the vote.

• Wisconsin has a late primary, which means people stand back and wait for the nominee to be chosen, by which time it's too late.
  
• the race has a competitive primary which includes the aforementioned perennial candidate running a seventh time, Steven Herr, and three others who are basically in over their heads.

To make this a competitive race in November, we need a good challenger to win the primary.  The perennial candidate has a long track record of losing in the general election, but he has name recognition.  Steven Herr has been working tirelessly with the Democratic Party organization, other groups, county fairs, festivals, and raising as much money as he can.  When the district is written off and people wait for the primary to see who wins, there is little hope for November.  2006 is the year to challenge the seat, and Steven Herr will put up a credible challenge.

Steve is a small business owner in Kenosha and a strong progressive.  He is a member of the DailyKos community.  This is a case where a little help from the netroots can put one more district in play.

I've met Dr. Gill a few times, and he is a great guy.  His campaign could use some more money to showcase what a corrupt sleazeball Tim Johnson is.  He's already raised a good amount more than when he ran in 2004.  Also, he makes an effort to help out and engage with the local progressive groups.  He even took the time to write an article for my DFA group's new progressive newsletter, The Liberal Media.  He is very passionate about changing our (lack of) health care system, and has been against the Iraq war since before it started.

I won't lie, this is a red district, but with a little fundraising help, Dr. Gill could make this into a real race.

Al Weed is a military vet, a farmer, a member of the lay-clergy at his church. Because of these things he can be incredibly authentic while speaking to rural and traditionally conservative voters. He's running on a progressive message of contrast and change.

The Virginia blogosphere is relatively mature because, like New Jersey, we had the first round of state-wide races, after the blogosphere's big explosion, that weren't lost among the noise of the '04 election. Charlottesville is a Democratic stronghold in the north of the district which votes 80% D, reads blogs, and provides us a ton of volunteers -- a ton.

The incumbent, Virgil Goode, is neck-deep in MZM, and the district is in really bad shape -- losing jobs, losing farms, losing schools, losing kids either to far-off colleges and big cities, or to the war in Iraq. The district is ready for change, and only 46% say Goode deserves re-election.

Because of Virgil's corruption, because the district is discontent, and because this district is so rural and so poor, your money will go a lot farther here than most other races. It would take 800K to give Al a 50-50 shot at winning this seat, rather than the 1.2M for some races, and 2.4M for others.

Oh, and we have video of Virgil Goode saying nice things about Mitchell Wade, and then Wade says, "I paid him to say that. hehehe" Don't you want to make sure we can run that ad?

I respectfully request your support.  Having a nominee with deep knowledge of the Internet should be key to the Netroots.

Your financial support goes a long way here in Utah.  I will continue to use it effectively in this race and for long term change.  I will not use it to hire someone to write my blog and diaries for me.

Pete Ashdown

(Crossposted on DailyKos)

John is an incredible guy and a great candidate.  He has been a leader in progressive politics in Louisville/Jefferson County for a number of years, and is well known in the area.  He is facing Rep. Anne Northup who has a huge amount of money to run her campaign.  Yarmuth has not been targeted by the DCCC as a candidate they will invest in heavily, so he is facing a huge cash disadvantage.  The race is winnable: Northup is a GOP Rep. in a very BLUE district.  Bluegrassreport.org is a local blog that is very popular and strongly supports Yarmuth (as well as all progressive candidates in KY) and has already advocated for Yarmuth (and I think will only step up those efforts as the election draws closer).  

John will make an excellent public servant and Congressman.  I have volunteered for his campaign and know that will be a true progressive advocate in Congress.  Northup is a viscious politician, and she has already begun using the recent death of her 30-year old son as a political tool this year.  The race is winnable: I think Louisvillians are just convinced that Northup is "unbeatable" and that she "has been their forever" so we should not lose that advatage.  Yarmuth needs all the help he can get to show voters that he is the right person to represent KY-03.

Jack is a great candidate with progressive views. He is instantly recognizable as President Carter's son, a real asset considering the current occupant of the White House. Jack has been campaigning hard in the rural areas that the GOP oftern dominates.

The most recent poll had him down 7 pts, 46-39, to Ensign.  This is a race in a purple state we can win with a little cash and a strong turnout. Nevada media is very cheap.

My choice for a new netroots candidate is Jim Craig, Democratic candidate for New Hampshire's First Congressional District.  Right now, he's in a primary fight, but his Republican opponent in the general is a slacker.  It's a heavily Republican district, but the Republican (Bradley) has a poor attendance record (71 days). And, Bush is not popular in NH, now.  I say - go for it!!

Running against Tom Davis (R-Abramoff) in a very Democratic area (Northern Virginia). Major issues are Iraq, Honesty in Government, and Transportation. Davis is a long time do-nothing incumbent on the Government Reform Cmte, which is pretty ironic.

NJ-5 is a suburban district running across the northern border of New Jersey and hooking south.  Most of the voters live in northern Bergen County, a classic "moderate" Republican area.  The district was long held by Marge Roukema, a moderate Republican who fit the district like a glove.

After two serious primary battles with a Club for Growth protege, Roukema retired and her opponent, Scott Garrett, took the seat.  Garrett took 60% of the vote in 2002 despite being outspent by Anne Sumers $1.6 million to $1.2 million.  Two years later he outspent Dorothy Wolfe $1.2 million to $475 K and saw his margin drop to 58-41%.  This year he has raised $476 K to 323 K for his opponent, Paul Aronsohn.

NJ has a very strong netroots presence.  Garrett's Progressive Punch score of 4 makes him the most conservative Republican in the tri-state area easily.  Even in the exurban area of the district in Sussex and Warren counties, the GOP has only been taking 60% of the vote.  Oh, yes, Garrett's staff has been known to be hostile on the phone.

This race has flirted along the fringes of the pundit lists.  This is a great year for Democrats, Garrett is a terrible candidate, and Aronsohn has shown some enthusiasm.  In a wave year, we win this seat in an upset.

Michigan 9th...

Very active in the netroots...and has a shot.

Both have movement support, both are excellent Crashing the Gates style candidates who can take out their opponents with the right sources.

Both giant killers.

We have an embarassment of riches on our side of things this cycle, but if we don't include both of these guys, I feel the netroots page will always sort of ring half true.

-C.

I have to throw in a vote for Jack Carter too.

This is more a question than a suggestion...

What do people think of Busby's chances in November?  I was really hoping she'd win in the special election, but I've not heard much discussion of her chances since then.  It was pretty close before and the Repubs were required to spend tons of money to hold the seat.

With a little netroots support, can she win in November?

Tim Walz is a Fighting Dem who served 24 years in the National Guard, including going overseas to Europe in support of the recent war in Afghanistan. He is also a high school teacher in the 1st Congressional District's second biggest city (Mankato). Walz is an excellent speaker who actually stole the show in a fundraiser headlined by Al Franken that I was at last month. He is just as good talking to people one-on-one in meet-and-greet situations. Hotline ranks this race as the 46th most competitive this cycle, citing Walz's disadvantage in cash as the only thing holding him back from top-tier status.

Walz is taking the fight to GOP Representative Gil Gutknecht, who was elected in the landslide of 1994 to replace a retiring Democrat. Back then Gutknecht promised to only serve 12 years, but he's now decided to go after term number 7 after being denied a shot at the GOP Senate nod this year by a Republican Party unified around Mark Kennedy. Gutknecht has been dicey on the Iraq issue, saying he would prefer not to talk about a topic most people don't understand and recently changing his position multiple times. Walz has been using his authority and expertise as a Vet to demand a debate against Gutknecht on Iraq. Gutknecht is running scared, telling some lobbyists that he may not be around next year to help them out. It is worth noting that Bush won this district with just 51% of the vote (a 12,000 vote margin) in 2004.

Besides being a great speaker, Walz has a personable quality that is hard to describe. I guess the best thing I could say is that it is hard to walk away from a conversation with him without truly believing that he is a great man.

Nearly everyone who meets him is instantly impressed. The only problem is that, while he has been outraising Gutknecht since the middle of last year, his CoH is still dwarfed by the Incumbent's warchest amassed over years without a credible challenger. However, the good news is that MN-01 is a cheap media market. The largest city in the District is Rochester, Gutknecht's home, which only has about 90,000 people. Rochester is home to the famous Mayo Clinic, whose executives just recently met with Walz after issuing a press release a couple weeks back slamming a GOP plan to give a loan to a hazardous railroad company that is worth 10X the company's present value. Gutknecht has not commented on the plan, while Walz has a position paper out on his website. No one in the local blogoshpere can recall a time when the Mayo execs met with the congressional challenger. In addition, Gutknecht's campaign messed up their signature petition and is currently headed to the MN Supreme Court just to get on the GOP Primary ballot.

Speaking of the local blogoshpere, Tim Walz is the darling of it. There is a great progressive blog that was front-paged by Kos a while back devoted exclusively to the race:
A Bluestem Prarie

Other prominent local Minnesota blogs devoting a lot of attention to this race:
MN Publius
Minnesota Campaign Report
Minvolved

Tim Walz's campaign website is at timwalz.org

This is a perfect race for us to get involved with: we have a great candidate who we can all truly get behind, a district where our money could go a long way in keeping our candidate competitve on the airwaves, a very competitive district in a region in which we presently have no netroots candidates, and a GOP incumbent with both local and national troubles. This is a district where we could truly have an impact.

Nancy is challenging Joe Knollenberg.

Nancy is as progressive as they come, and a former Air America host. She had a morning show in the district, so her name is familiar.

Nancy attended Yearly Kos and came back fired up, excited about the netroots. She just won the nomination in the primary, and is getting plenty of positive free media. She is holding her own fundraising, but defeating a 14 year incumbent will take help. Her blog, nskinnerforcongress.blogspot.com is active and she often diaries on DailyKos herself.

The race hasn't gotten the national attention it deserves. Knollenberg faced a tough primary challenger, very few races had multiple Democrats on the primary ballot, but Nancy still had a strong primary showing. Given the anti-incumbent sentiment in Michigan right now, this could easily be one of the 15 seats we take the house back with!

I nominate Larry Kissell from NC-8 he is in a hard fight with Big Money Robin Hayes and needs our help. Larry with his innovative campaigning with his goat CATFA and his $1.22 a gallon gasoline sale has demonstrated that he knows how to reach and is for the little guy

Tim Walz is running a grass roots campaign in southern Minnesota against Incumbent republican Gil Gutknecht. Tim has experience as a teacher, a Command Sergeant Major in the Minnesota National guard, and took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom in supply lines in Italy. In 2004 he brought students to a Bush rally "only because he teaches social studies" after traveling to the event they were asked not to attend because one of the students had a John Kerry sticker on his wallet. This enraged Tim and got him fired up to get things changed.

Read about that event here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Walz

Gil Gutknecht recently changed his position on Iraq, he now say we need troop withdrawal because "he didn't understand what was happening on the ground". As you know, him not understanding has cost many American and Iraqi lives.

Gutknecht blindly followed Bush now he claims to regret it to in a cheap attempt to cover his butt politically. After loosing 2,600 lives. Tim Walz offers clear plans, brings military experience, and much community experience. He is slowly catching up with fundraising, and this second tier district is on the verge looking like a pick up... with a little help from his friends that it.

http://timwalz.org/

Ellen Simon (website, actblue) is running against Rep. Rick Renzi in Arizona's 1st CD. (I posted this on the DailyKos thread as well.)

Reasons for my nomination:

1. Arizona's CD-1, where I live, has gotten no love from anyone for years. The past two election cycles the Democratic challengers got little support from the DNC or the state party and -- even through the district is, under Arizona's nonpartisan districting laws, split evenly between Dems, Reps and Independents.
2. Rick Renzi (wikipedia, dkospedia)  has been named one of the 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. While serving as the ersatz representative for rural Arizona, Renzi has continued to live in Virginia, where his primary residence has been since before he was elected to Congress. He is a rubber stamp for Bush, voting with him upwards of 90% of the time (sorry, couldn't find citation -- will look harder, but I know I've read this multiple times).
3. Congressional Quarterly, impressed with Ellen's fundraising for the July filing deadline, changed their rating for this district from Safe Republican to Leans Republican -- skipping over "Republican Favored" entirely. (See a PDF of the article.)
4. Ellen is substantially more organized than the other two Democrats running in the primary, Mike Caccioppoli and Vic McKerlie.
5. Ellen seems to have an instinct for including the netroots, but she clearly isn't there yet. This kind of endorsement would show her how important it is to make the netroots an integral part of her campaign. Bloggers were more active in previous contests and I think with a strong candidate like Ellen, they will be again.
6. Arizona has a popular Democratic governor coasting to re-election. While the senate race isn't looking so solid right now, there is an increasing trend toward purple in this state.
7. While I very much want Ellen Simon to win this election -- and I think with sufficient support from the netroots and large donors, it's definitely possible -- even if she doesn't win, a good showing will have a big impact by encouraging the Democratic party and Democratic activists to put it top on their list in 2008.

I grew up in this district, and I pine for better representation. I know she has had some troubles, but compared to what could be used against Renzi, I think she still comes out ahead.

I'm from the Tampa Bay area of Florida - which is the largest swing area in the state (Orlando may surpass us in a few years, but, for now - you can't win Florida without Tampa Bay) with half the swing precincts in the state covered by the Tampa media market.

So - I'd like to propose some candidates for office down here who may not be as sexy as congressional candidates, but are the folks we need in office and on the ground in '08 and beyond!

1) Deb Cope - former chair of the Tampa Group of the Sierra and community activist is running against  Republican incumbent Faye Culp. votecope.com/

2) Rep. Charlie Justice, a progressive Democrat, is running for an open state senate seat. This will be the most heavily fought over seat in the general in the Florida legislature, with two Republican state reps vying for their party's nomination.

Charlie is the real deal. A populist progressive who is genuinely liked by the voters in this 50-50 district, but he's going up against the Republican machine in two counties (Pinellas and Hillsborough) where the local party apparatus is somewhere between disarray and exploding.
www.charliejustice.com

* Tim Walz fits perfectly with every single one of these criteria. Walz, a fightin' dem and an award-winning public school teacher is challenging 6-term Republican congressman Gil Gutknecht.

* Walz, as of the last filing deadline, had around $250,000 cash on hand. He has done the hardwork of raising money the traditional way: phone-calling and raising money from small donors at events throughout the district. Walz has outraised Gutknecht during the calendar year of 2006. That is right, Walz - a public school teacher - has outraised Gutknecht for 2006. Walz is behind in cash on hand, but the gap is narrowing. With the help of the netroots, Walz will have the resources to take down Gutknecht.

* MN-01 is a 50-50 district. Bush only won the distrct by 4% and 17 of the 22 counties in the district are represented by DFL Legislators. The district is rated an "R+1" by the Cook Political Report. Minnesota is also trending blue once again with Amy Klobuchar running in the double digits ahead in the US Senate Race and Mike Hatch running neck-and-neck with Governor Tim Pawlenty.

* The national establishment has decided to go for the open seat in MN-06, a very Republican district, instead of making Walz one of their targeted races. This is where the netroots come in. MN-01 is currently ranked as the #46 race in the country by the National Journal. This is a more competitive race then some of the other netroots candidates.

* A Blue Stem Prairie is a blog that is covering soley the race in MN-01. Walz has is also "the darling of the Minnesota netroots" recieving the full support of such respected bloggers like:

MN Campaign Report

MN Publius

Minvolved

This is just a taste of the great Minnesota bloggers who have stepped up to the plate to back Tim.

* Walz is a progressive populist, fighthing for progressive causes such as universal health care, strong public schools, open and honest government, and a safe withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Walz has embraced the help of grassroots and progressive support by meeting with Democratic activists across the district and having interviews a number of Minnesota bloggers.

Tim Walz is an awesome candidate and MN-01 is the perfect district for the Netroots to have a say in. We can not let this opportunity go by us. Together, we can bring independent and authentic leadership back to Southern Minnesota.

(Posted this late on the DKos thread, thought I'd repost here.)

This district was ignored for a long time because it seemed too impossible-- a Republican incumbent, Kerry only got 45%, and there were four underfunded Democrats in a primary race.

Then came the August 8th primary. Far-right former state rep. Tim Walberg defeated Congressman Joe Schwarz in a Club for Growth-sponsored upset that shocked many people. On blogs like DailyKos, there were immediate cries to do something to help the newly-nominated Democrat Sharon Renier. Nationally, most people have forgotten all about that, but locally, we've started working.

Let there be no misunderstanding, Tim Walberg is VERY conservative. He opposes things like the 16th Amendment and income taxes, or the separation of church and state. More than that, in the pre-primary debate, he basically said he'd follow President Bush's lead blindly when it came to Iraq and the military. While Joe Schwarz was far from progressive, at least he had a mind of his own.

The Democrat, Sharon Renier, was the 2004 nominee. She's a little quirky, but right for the district, with a good blend of progressive and conservative positions. With no money, she managed 36 percent against Schwarz, in a district that went 45 percent for Kerry. This time, her fundraising is a little better, and she promises to campaign with a new energy and enthusiasm, especially against Walberg.

As for netroots support and the internet, Sharon Renier has yet to take advantage of that potential. Michigan has a quickly-growing netroots network, centering around Michigan Liberal, and there's a new blog devoted to the district and Tim Walberg-- Walberg Watch. I started it a few days after the primary, and am currently in the process of recruiting a number of other 7th District bloggers to join.

When Walberg won the primary, the district went from a longshot where only people like me were interested to an open seat attracting national attention. This is, after all, Michigan. Tim Walberg is too conservative for Alabama, and it really was a surprise to many that he won the GOP primary. Let's keep this guy out of Congress.

Since I was retarded and forgot that Webb was already on the list, I would add my recommendation to Andy Hurst (VA-11). Davis' district has seen significant demographic shift over the past few years, and he is a big supporter of the GOP's pay to play scams; seems ripe for a takeover.  

With Darcy Burner pretty well cemented as netroots fave, the local blogosphere's eye seems to wandering across the mountains to WA-05, where we have a great opportunity to take out first-term right-winger Cathy McMorris before she gets too cemented. Peter Goldmark fits right in with the Schweitzer/Tester mold of all-cattle-plus-hat candidate that we need to win in the mountain west... rancher with mustache and boots (oh, plus a PhD in molecular biology) who knows how to communicate with the district's rural agricultural base and who knows how to put a populist spin on progressivism.

Pete Ashdown is running for Utah's US Senate seat this year, and he needs the help of the Netroots ActBlue page.  

Ashdown can win in Utah because he is a native Utahn that understands the state.  He is a successful businessman -- XMission, the first Utah based ISP -- who has a record that voters can rely on to see what kind of politician he will be; he'll put his constituents first just as he has done with his clients.  Further, he has garnered some international attention on the BBC World Service because of his novel use of wikis in politics well before Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales launched his Campaigns Wikia.

Please help Pete Ashdown!

I nominate Maxine Moul, running in Nebraska's 1st district against rubberstamper nonpareil Jeff Fortenberry.

Maxine has recently broken fundraising records for Nebraska Democratic Campaigns.

More importantly, Congressional Quarterly Magazine just advanced Maxine's campaign in it's rankings, from "Republican safe" to "Republican favored".

That may not sound like much, but in a red state like Nebraska, it's huge. The Republicans first sent Hastert down here to raise Fortenberry totals, and when that didn't work, they sent Cheney!

Why would the Republicans send the V.P. to Nebraska, supposedly a "safe" red state?

Because, Maxine is considered a real threat.

Mostly what Maxine requires is extra name recognition, and additional funds for GOTV efforts.

Acknowledgement:
I have done phone banking for Maxine, and will do more as November approaches.

As David Kowalski said earlier, Paul Aronsohn is a great candidate running against extremist Radical Republican Scott Garrett, easily the most right-wing Republican in the Northeast. You can learn more about the race at my blog, Retire Garrett at retiregarrett.blogspot.com.

Paul's a great candidate and this is a winnable district. It is midly Republican with a GOP performance of 55%, but moderate in its roots. The Republicans in this area are just anti-tax, but are moderate to liberal on social issues and are thoroughly disgusted by Evangelical Religious Right Christianist Scott Garrett.

Support Paul Aronsohn.

are jim webb and jack carter ever gonna earn their places? they need that money, and have met all those criteria, especially in virginia with its stellar netroots scene.

Andy Hurst out of VA-11, www.hurstforcongress.com

Let me go point by point on why I think Andy should be on the netroots page and why he fits ALL of the criteria to be on the page.

1.Andy is running against GOP incumbent and class of '94 Rep Tom Davis.

2. Tom Davis has become a poster boy for corruption, while serving as the Chair of the Government Reform Committee.

3. Andy's district voted for both Kerry in '04 and Kaine in '05.

4. There is a strong Virginia blogosphere already in place, ie. raisingkaine.com, notlarrysabato.typepad.com, and many more

5. The campaign has shown both grassroots and netroots outreach, gaining the endorsement of the Progressive Democrats of Virginia in the Primary, and recently putting up a speach that Andy gave on YouTube and placing it on it's homepage.

6. Larger picture here of both Virginia and Culture of Corruption. Tom Davis has lied about receiving oil money and was caught Tom Davis Lies about OIL MONEY and Gets BUSTED!!!and recently the Washington Post wrote a front page article detailing Tom Davis's influence peddling scandal Also, there is the fact that this is in Virginia, helping Andy could create synergy for Jim Webb, and let us not forget that Bush only won Virginia by 8 points, without any Democratic campaign at all, and Kaine was able to win the Governorship, the Commonwealth really wants to be blue.

7. As far as the partisinship test, Andy Passes with an A+, two days after the Davis scandal broke, Andy held a press conference calling on Tom Davis to resign as Chair of the Government Reform Committee, he proudly prints "Democrat for Congress" on all his signs, bumper stickers, lit, etc...and best of all, he talks like a regular person, because he is. He's a first time candidate who won the primary against the 2004 nominee (sleepwalker) and has already raised FOUR TIMES (75k, vs 300k) the amount that the 2004 nom. raised through Nov.

Additionally, this race has not been targeted by the national party yet, but it deserves to be, and I ask the Netroots to pick up the slack. Not only has Tom Davis become vulnurable, but even the WaPo wrote an article titled "Now, a Word About the Invigorated 11th District Democrats"
when the Davis loving WaPo sends props to our little army of volunteers and supporters down here, you know your making some noise.

-Pitin
(for the record, don't get paid to work for Andy but have been volunteering 3-4 days a week now, and sit in on strategy sessions and the such).
for more info e-mail the campaign at info[at]hurstforcongress[dot]com

I would like to nominate Kirsten Gillibrand.  She is running against John Sweeney in NY's 20th district.  You may remember John Sweeney for his infamous role banging on doors to stop the recount in Florida in the 2000 election.  It's time we got rid of him! This district has been Republican for a long time but I think the time is right and Gillibrand is running a strong campaign.  She recently received  endorsements from several unions in the state - including the teacher's union.

While I guess it's unlikely that you'd start advertising for the NY-19 general election fund on ActBlue, I think the district has a good chance of being as competitive as the other NY republican districts this year.  Rubber-stamp congresswoman Sue Kelly definitely is acting as though she were scared as one can tell from ads misleadingly calling her an "Independent Voice" while lacking any mention of the fact that she is a Republican.  School Principal Ben Shuldiner especially could use Netroots help as he already has a visible campaign with large grassroots support (definitely more so than the other Democratic hopefuls) but unfortunately has a smaller war-chest.

JENNIFER LAWLESS IN RHODE ISLAND!  

There is no incumbent in Washington who is more like Lieberman than James Langevin.  The netroots would be appalled to learn that this guy calls himself a Democrat.  Jen is a true progressive voice and will never shy away from the party's values!

www.lawlessforcongress.com

In the smallest state in the nation with a one media market, this seat is very winnable for progressives and a race that I highly nominate for support.

Oh yeah - a good-government solid citizen against Al  "Let's Make a Deal" Wynn.

JENNIFER LAWLESS IS RUNNING FOR CONGRESS IN DISTRICT 2 IN RHODE ISLAND.  You may recall a July post by Matt Stoller highlighting this race.  NARAL endorsed Jen days later.

Another Primary in Rhode Island? Add to Hotlist

by Matt Stoller, Fri Jul 21, 2006 at 12:30:09 AM EST

I just noticed that progressive challenger Jennifer Lawless is challenging anti-choice Democratic incumbent Congressman Jim Langevin in Rhode Island's Congressional 2nd district.  Normally this kind of race would be quixotic, and I know little about Rhode Island politics.  The polls don't look good, but her fundraising totals are exceptional for a 'hopeless' race.  She can compete with the amount of money she has, and Rhode Island is a liberal state dominated by a political machine (sound familiar?).

Anyway, would those savvy in Rhode Island politics chime in on this?  I'm not advocating for this one way or another, I'd just like to learn more.

Update: This race looks interesting. Langevin is Schiavo politician, which includes all the standard right-wing cultural touchstones. Patriot Act, flag burning, etc. On a MyDDish note, Langevin voted for the COPE Act, and Lawless is for net neutrality.

John Hall is a great progressive running against Republican Sue Kelly.

He deserves support.

I'd pick Gary Trauner out in Wyoming.  Barbara Cubin has never been particularly loved out there, and Trauner has her within four points.  It's a cheap state, too -- you can look at the FEC filings here.

I also like the fact that lone representatives are well-positioned to become Senators once seats open up.  

The support for Al Wynn, the incumbent, isn't very deep.  In fact, canvassing with Donna, we've found that once Wynn's record of selling out to the telcos, big pharma, oil companies and buddying up to the Bushies is explained, his support evaporates immediately.

Donna is running a good campaign, raising money and going all throughout this huge district.  She's a solid progressive who won't sell us out.  She will be an active and involved member of Congress of whom we can all be proud.

Dave is a popular county legislator who has won reelection handily in a Republican district, despite the strong opposition of moneyed interests. He has embraced the netroots, posting on Kos, MYDD and TPMCafe, and participated in a live chat on firedoglake this past weekend. The local blog of note is www.kingwatch.blogspot.com, and I wouldn't mind blogging the race myself.

Dave is challenging Peter King, Chair of the Homeland Security Committee and as of late right-wing extremist. King is quoted as saying "I thank God every night George Bush is our President, and you should too". He has become a rubber stamp to Bush to secure the chairmanship, alienating himself from his moderate constituents.

Lately King has gotten much negative press about his temper/angry letters with constituents, and his failure to secure adequate anti-terror funding for NYC. This is a suburban district that is increasingly trending blue. With a strong push from the netroots, and Spitzer/Clinton at the top of the ballot, it's a perfect storm in our favor.

www.daveforamerica.com

We've started working on his race more and more at the Burnt Orange Report. I've put up a MyDD diary entry here. Shane Sklar is a challenger who can win. He's running against Repulbican/Libertarian Ron Paul. I know Ron Paul seems kinda neat for those who aren't out of Texas b/c of his votes on Iraq, etc., but hear me out:

1) TX-14 is a Gulf Coast District, and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Paul voted to stop any federal dollars from helping the homes in his community.

2) TX-14 is 60% different than it was in 2004. The new district does not like Paul's out-of-touch stance on issues, and have shown as much in recent polls. Without any bio about Sklar, Paul only has 33% re-elect numbers, whereas 48% want someone new. When read Sklar's profile, 64% agree with Sklar!

3) Sklar knows how to win. He worked as Field Director for the Chet Edwards campaign, the rural Texas Democrat and the only one that survived Delay's redistricting scheme. He's got a terrific GOTV plan, has identified voters to target, has one of the top message teams in Texas, and has already done considerably well raising money. But the extra money that could come from Netroots could push him from "possible" to "winnable."

4) Sklar's campaign has taken an active role in blogging on our blog, Burnt Orange Report, and when we told him he was one of our "Texroots" endorsed candidates, he immediately scheduled a trip to Austin for a small-dollar fundraiser. He's willing to work with Netroots, and would continue to work more.

5) Ron Paul is just a weak candidate that Republicans don't want to defend. He alienates his party, so he doesn't get traditional money, and a lot of the old money he used to get came from his Libertarian base, which is now gone in his new district.

6) Ron Paul believes that blacks are responsible for most of the crime in this country, wants to abolish social security and Medicare (31% of the district is over 65), voted against the Voting Rights Act, voted against the Violence Against Women Act, voted against the Stem Cell bill, and voted against campaign finance reform. What's more, he is buddies with Tom Tancredo, the Republican nut in Colorado who votes with him on every issue and Karl Rove himself told to never step foot in the White House.

Shane Sklar can win. He needs the national attention that netroots can give him, and I can guarantee he will be an active supporter in the Netroots community.

Dan Maffei, NY-25

Bryan Lentz for PA State House 161:

http://www.votelentz.com/

Iraq War Veteran
Former Prosecutor
Georgetown University and Temple Law School Graduate
Hunter and Fisherman
A Tough and Able Advocate for Southeast Pennsylvania

I nominate Debra Bowen, running for Secretary of State in California.  I don't know if you're allowing state candidates in the netroots candidate category, but Bowen is arguably one of the most important challengers we have running this cycle.  As Secretary of State she would preside over elections in the largest state in the Union.  And no politician working today, not even John Conyers, is more engaged on voting issues than Debra Bowen.

The lastest poll had her up 38-35 against appointed incumbent Bruce McPherson, with a lot of undecideds.  I've met Debra and she's an excellent candidate.  The Secretaries of State in the various states have an inordinate amount of power.  Remember Katherine Harris?  Ken Blackwell?  We need to support Democratic Secretary of State candidates who will not insert their partisan viewpoints into the electoral process.

I'd humbly nominate my boss, Patrick Schmitt, who's running for state senate in Rhode Island.  We're one of the few candidates at this level (to my knowledge) that have worked to gain support within the netroots, and we're also using other newer online tools like Facebook and MySpace.  

Patrick is very much a progressive, and an impressive one at that--he is the former Executive Director of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur and co-founded ServePAC, the first PAC working to support candidates who back national service initiatives.  Our campaign has been very grassroots, with Patrick continually going door-to-door and to community events, but it's still an uphill battle, as we are facing the Republican Senate Leader, Dennis Algiere, who's gone unopposed for 14 years.  

Because of the tiny media market we're in in Westerly and Charlestown, Rhode Island, a small amount of money goes a long way for us.

I would like to nominate Coleen Rowley as a net roots candidate. She is a is a challenger against John Kline in MN #2.

Though obviously not endowed with a massive amount of cash she is still working on the traditional fund raising mechanisms in this state.

Also, John Kline has proven himself to be weak and Coleen has the potential to win. And though probably not as large as more populous regions, there is a strong local netroots scene.

Furthermore, Coleen has shown herself willing to use the netroots and the progressive movement as proven by her very well written and designed blog at her campaign site which is run by David Baily.

Deval Patrick is THE progressive candidate for MA Gov.  He has just this week been endorsed by largest progressive blog in Massachusetts, Blue Mass. Group.  The editors have done a great job of spelling out why they support Deval, and why everyone else should too.  

Highlights:

• He has assembled a grassroots field campaign that is second to none.  

• He is not beholden to the Massachusetts Democratic establishment.  

• Deval is truly one of the most motivational and inspiring politicians to come along in a long time. His appeal has been compared to RFK and MLK. Deval has an easygoing charm that comes with the quiet dignity of a man who is very comfortable in his own skin.
  

Deval is in a primary fight where he is facing off against:

Attorney General Tom Reilly - former front runner.  The CW in MA was that it was Tom's turn and the Governorship was his to lose.  His political mis-steps and questionable judgement have him currently in third place.

2002 Lt. Governor candidate Chris Gabrieli - a latecomer to the Governor race.  He's reliably liberal on many issues, but his field strategy consists of relentless TV buys and a barrage of direct mailers.  He's currently spending $600,000 per week and has spent a total of $5.4 million (of his own money, folks) over the last four months. He has been quoted as saying, "I'm lucky enough to have money to waste on elections."  

Deval Patrick has managed to stay in the lead, even though he has not run a single ad on TV.  He's relying on his message of appealing directly to voters through his grassroots support -- and it's working for now.  The final weeks of this race will be fought on TV and that is very expensive.  Putting Deval Patrick on the roster of Netroots supported candidates is an investment in our progressive future.  

She fits all the criteria and is a true American hero running against one of the worst incumbents in Congress.

An antiwar, but tough-as-nail-on-terrorism candidate in Minnesota's second congressional district.

He has a real shot at taking out John Kline, but could use the help we can all provide.

Check out Jennifer Lawless' new website that the campaign launched today.  This is exactly why the netroots would embrace this campaign.  Langevin Equals Lieberman!

www.LangevinEqualsLieberman.com