State Sen. Rodney Tom (D-Medina) has withdrawn from the race for U.S. Rep for Washington's 8th District.  Seven weeks ago, Tom announced that he would run for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn), drawing ire from bloggers solidly behind Darcy Burner, the 2006 nominee.  Tom is a former Republican state representative, but he switched parties in 2006 to challenge a Republican state senator and defeated him decisively in the rapidly bluing Eastside of King County.

Tom has endorsed Burner, saying, "Our fundraising was going great, but Darcy Burner's campaign has been phenomenal. Darcy has over 3,200 contributors, an incredible statement to her broad base of support."  Indeed.

With an eye to the general election, Tom noted that his "purpose from the start was to replace the current congressman with someone who actually represents the values of the 8th District. Dave Reichert is completely out of step with the values shared in this district. Darcy Burner's campaign has proven they have the leadership, strength and momentum to win next November."

As already seen on places like Atrios and Dailykos, there is a major blogosphere fundraiser taking place now for Darcy Burner. The Republican incumbent in Darcy Burner's district, Dave Reichert, is hosting a fundraiser with George W. Bush. As such, the blogosphere is countering by raising funds for Darcy Burner, who epitomizes the phrase, "more and better Democrats." Darcy Burner has also been added to the Blue Majority page.

Darcy Burner is the anti-Bush Dog. Here she is on FISA:



And here is her Bush indebted opponent, Dave Reichert:



So, chip in some cash to Darcy. Already, more than 450 people have done so, to the tune of more than $18,000. Let's put more and better Democrats in Congress!

I continue visiting the House floor to listen to the Iraq debate.  I've been reading a lot about history and, increasingly, about the institution of Congress; about men and women who served in the House and Senate during great moments in history. What a sense of motivation it gives me.  I've been the reading the Doris Kearns Goodwin story of Lincoln and his war cabinet - a delicious work of history that I'm rationing, so I only read a few dozen pages a night to make it last.  

Wednesday night I stopped by the House floor, and as luck would have it Dave Reichert, a Republican out of the Seattle area, invoked Kearns and her work on Lincoln as justification for the war and a rationalization for voting against the resolution.

The top-tier candidates according to the DCCC are as follows:

   Darcy Burner (WA-08)
    Phyllis Busansky (FL-09)
    Joe Courtney (CT-02)
    John Cranley (OH-01)
    Jill Derby (NV-02)
    Tammy Duckworth (IL-06)
    Brad Ellsworth (IN-08)
    Diane Farrell (CT-04)
    Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-20)
    Tessa Hafen (NV-03)
    Baron Hill (IN-09)
    Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15)
    Ron Klein (FL-22)
    Nick Lampson (TX-22)
    Ken Lucas (KY-04)
    Patricia Madrid (NM-01)
    Harry Mitchell (AZ-05)
    Chris Murphy (CT-05)
    Lois Murphy (PA-06)
    Heath Shuler (NC-11)
    Peter Welch (VT-AL)

I don't know all of these folks.  I'm a huge fan of Darcy Burner,  Chris Murphy, Patricia Madrid, and Lois Murphy are apparently pretty great, and Mary Jo Kilroy is also supposed to kick ass.  That's not to say anything bad about the others, and I welcome stories and comments about their awesomeness as well.

Still, the current partisan alliance between the DNC/netroots and the consultants/DCCC/big money folks is masking real intraparty debates about strategy and ideology that are happening under the radar.  You can see hints of this in Connecticut, where the party is mostly sandbagging Lamont, and you can see it in the small spats between Emanuel and Dean.  It's not clear how or whether this will become a conflagration, or whether it will simmer down to nothing in the next few years.

It's always hard to tell in politics whether someone's with you until they are under pressure.  The candidates I'm watching are progressive under pressure, and include Eric Massa, Jerry McNerney, Larry Kissell, Darcy Burner, Tim Walz, Paul Hodes, Coleen Rowley, Charlie Brown, Chris Carney, Jay Fawcett, Bill Winter, Joe Sestak, Patrick Murphy, and John Hall.  These are the people who will have the progressive and stubborn streak to push for aggressive change.  Why?  Because that's what they are doing, today, in their campaigns.

Where else are you seeing this?  What candidates are exciting you?

Majority Action today launched its first Internet ad criticizing Congressman James Walsh (NY-25) for his false claims on a radio call-in show in New York (WXXI 1370 AM "The Connection").  On talk radio show just a few days ago, Representative Walsh claimed that he never voted against the minimum wage, though he is on record doing so eight times.  He also refused to take responsibility for voting himself a pay raise while denying other New Yorkers a helping hand.  

Majority Action refused to let him get away with it...

Caller: "What about $5.25?  Why aren't you pushing for a better ..."
Walsh: "What is $5.25?"
Caller: "That's the national minimum wage."
Walsh: "I've never voted against the minimum wage.  That's not true."  

Actually, Walsh voted against raising the minimum wage EIGHT TIMES.

Caller: "You also voted to give yourself a raise during that same time period."
Walsh: "No.  Our pay raise is automatic."

As a matter of fact, Walsh voted to increase his pay SIX TIMES.

Typical Republican priorities: raise their own pay, refuse to bring the rest of America along with them.

Majority Action, which has already been the first group to incorporate text messaging into its television ads, began a series of Internet video releases today.