These are rational goals. However, environmental legislation in the House is not guaranteed simply by replacing Richard Pombo with a Democratic "Friend of coal", who will vote with Pombo on the substantive issues. Environmental legislation in the Senate is not guaranteed by replacing James Inhofe with Max Baucus, as there are more "Friends of coal" (and oil) in our party who will continue to vote with Inhofe on the substantive issues. Process is not policy. Further, restoring the House and Senate rules to the post-60's reforms of equity and fairness will not result in bi-partisan coalitions of environmental Republicans, freed of party shackles, and Democrats who are not "Friends of Coal", passing important environmental legislation. Joe Burton will no longer be able to fake "hearings" attacking the scientific basis for Global Warming, and Bill Frist will no longer be able to insert "midnight riders" for vaccine adulterant manufacturers, but bad bills will still be passed. The difference will be that they are read before they are passed, under Emanuel and Schumer, rather than after they are passed, under Delay, now Hastert, and Frist,

The DNC has targeted all 50 States, and provides paid staff and financial assistance to all State Parties. The strategic goal is two-fold: to win more races for State legislative districts and State executives, and to be competitive in all Congressional districts. When that goal is met, the minimum wage will be increased in more States, and the integrity of the ballot box will be protected in more States. There will be fewer "free lunches" for Republican incumbents, and more voters will have Federal legislative issues, not just the local and State issues, on the ballot. No ticket will be blank at the top, and every State with a Democratic legislature or Governor or both, will be a State in which every voter can vote, and every vote is counted.

These are rational goals. However, Democrats are not competitive in all 50 States. What passes for competitive Democrats in Gilmer County Georgia, or Hardin County, Kentucky, a "Sundown" county (no coloreds after dark) and a "Save the Ten Commandments" county, respectively, aren't going to support Civil Rights legislation that attempts to remedy historic and ongoing privilege based upon skin color or gender, or be capable of identifying district economic self-interest.

We are between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. FDR never got an anti-lynching law through a Democratic Congress. Whether the DCCC and DSCC vision, or the DNC vision, prevails, and both could, simultaneously, fail. We are all serving our Party, serving our Country, serving our tradition of republican democracy, as candidates or campaign staffers. A few of us are in the "50 most competitive races", most of us are not. Few, if any of us have been able to buy into the Coordinated Campaigns of the State Parties, and all of us are aware, that whether our race is competitive, there are competitive races down-ticket. Independent of the outcomes in the IA-1 and the IA-3, or the quixotically doomed IA-2, it only takes three wins, two in the House, and one in the Senate, to turn Iowa blue, and those races, and races just as important in many of the 50 States, are our "down-ticket" races.

We've organized ourselves, in so far as Democrats can organize, as "November Victory", as a mailing list for candidates and staff, to share experiences and work out our agreements and our disagreements. Some of us have run or worked several prior campaigns, and some of us are looking at a GOTV plan for the first time. We include candidates who've run in prior cycles and have beaten this cycle's DCCC parachutists in the primaries, and candidates who've been beaten by this cycle's DCCC parachutists in their primaries. We are all Congressional candidates and staff, from the grassroots.

Jerry McNerney, in his second run for the CA-11, who this week was endorsed by Pete McCloskey and Tom Benigno, the Republican challengers to Richard Pombo, and who defeated the DCCC's Steve Filson in the primary, is one of us. Christine Cegelis, who ran against Henry Hyde in the last cycle and who was defeated by the DCCC's Tammy Duckworth in her second run for the seat opened by Henry Hyde's retirement, is one of us.

We need to raise funds. Funds to cover Paul Hackett's expenses to keynote our meeting in St. Louis. Funds to cover some of the expenses of our candidates coming to St. Louis. Funds to cover the cost of getting experienced campaign staffers to organize and present workshops on September-to-November operational art. Funds to cover the communications cost to get earned media coverage in St. Louis to where it will do the most good, in a hundred local print outlets.

We need to raise $30,000 in three weeks, and we've come to you, the netroots, because we think that of all the people who do political work on line, you collectively are the closest thing there is to a Democratic Reform movement. We think that you, collectively, can't stand leaving more than a hundred Congressional districts, even those that are deep red, uncontested. We refuse to leave political discourse in more than a hundred Congressional districts at the level of "dissent is treason", that social policy consists of repudiating the legacy of FDR, that the environment is an infinite toilet, thirsting for more crap, and that people rode dinosaurs to work in the Bronze Age.

We also need to raise 300 volunteers in six weeks, and we've come to you, the netroots, because we think that your readers, your commenters, are the closest thing there is to the future Democratic Reform campaign staff pool. We want your help drafting the willing to serve in some capacity nearly 100 Congressional campaigns.

To our critics we have but one request -- name the districts we should leave "politics" to God, Guns, and whatever Gooberism Karl Rove thinks of between now and Hallowe'en.

For reference, the top 50 Competitive Campaigns (ranking by an aggregation of sources) are:

IA-1, CO-7, OH-18, PA-6, NM-1, IN-9, AZ-8, CT-2, IN-8, CT-4, KY-4, FL-22, NC-11, IL-8, OH-6, IL-6, IA-3, OH-15, PA-7, VA-2, GA-8, NY-24, WA-8, MN-6, GA-12, WI-8, NY-20, WV-1, PA-8, AZ-5, PA-10, LA-3, CT-5, TX-22, TX-17, OH-1, CA-11, SC-5, VT-At Large, FL-13, IN-2, NJ-7, NY-29, CA-50, CO-4, NV-2, NY-25, NH-2, NV-3, KY-3

To contribute financially to the NovemberVictory list's St. Louis meeting, including supporting Paul Hackett's expenses, please use the Democratic Challenger Candidate PAC link.

To volunteer to staff a NovemberVictory campaign, please contact Cynthia Pool.

Please post a link to the Democratic Challenger Candidate PAC on your site, or a link to this post (original version), or re-write it to suit your interest, style, and audience.