Candidate filing is now almost complete and whilst we won't do as well as 2006 we still have candidates in at least 420 districts.

Below the fold for details and once again go and take a look at the 2008 Race Tracker Wiki.  
**I have included Cook PVI numbers where possible after blogger requests to do so!**

Two weeks ago, I posted a diary on DailyKos, MyDD, Open Left, and the Swing State Project announcing the creation of the ActBlue page Protecting Our Asses.  The goals of this page are as follows:

Happy Independence Day everyone!! Today our nation celebrates it's Declaration of Independence from the British Empire. After much sacrifice from that generation, our nation would go on to become the first that was built upon the liberal ideals of the Enlightenment. Our nation would become a bastion of freedom, and the "city on the hill" for the world to aspire to.

Cross-posted at Blue Jersey

Chris Smith voted to double the cost of prescription drug co-pays for military families. In 2006, the Bush administration doubled the cost of prescription co-pays for military families under Tri-Care health coverage. Democrats introduced legislation restoring the original co-pays of $3 for generic drugs and $9 for brand name drugs, but Chris Smith and other Republicans voted to block the legislation. [HR 5122, vote #139, 5/11/06; Leadership document, "Democrats Are Fighting for Military Families," 5/11/06]

According to research, many military families face difficult financial challenges. Over 20% of military families report having received WIC aid or food stamps from the government. While a few dollars saved might not mean much to Chris Smith, who has voted to raise his own salary by $32,600 since 1999, every dollar helps our military families afford basic necessities.[Washington Post/Kaiser Foundation Military Families Survey March 2004 CRS: Salaries of Members of Congress Updated January 8, 2008; 1999 Vote #300; 2000 Vote #419; 2001 House Vote #267; 2002 House Vote #322; 2003 House Vote #463; 2004 House Vote #451; 2005 House Vote #327; 2006 vote #261; 2007 Vote #580]

I've already written in one comment that I'm very disenchanted right now.  Somehow, we're still in Iraq, don't have universal healthcare, don't have stem cell funding.  We're seeing pushes for offshore drilling.  And this week, our party assumed the position when it comes to FISA.

What was even more infuriating is to see candidates that many candidates heavily supported the grassroots and the Netroots (both in the more limited sense that includes the page DailyKos, Swing State Project, etc collaborate on. and the broader sense to include all of the liberal websites such as Democracy for America and MoveON).  It's both heartbreaking and infuriating to see people like Patrick Murphy, Kirsten Gillibrand, Nancy Boyda, Jim Webb, and Jerry McNerney, people we thought would be the vanguard of the coming progressive era, vote they way they do, with the likes of Murphy and Gillibrand joining the Blue Dogs!

Joe Garcia reiterated his opposition to the FISA bill yesterday:

The laws that were created under FISA were sufficient to meet our country?s national security needs. What the Bush administration has done, again, is present Americans with a false choice between national security and civil liberties, while this bill increases neither. I oppose any broad retroactive immunity provided to companies who may have broken the law. The legal purpose of immunity is to use the protection granted by such immunity as an inducement to divulge information about what occurred.  Immunity in this case would do the opposite: it would shut down any investigation into what actually occurred.

Six of nine congressional Democrats in very blue districts in Florida supported the bill. If you would like to reward Joe Garcia for his courage, help him out on ActBlue with the end of the quarter just days away. The road to more and better Democrats means helping elect them in close elections like this one. Coming from a Cuban American family, Joe strongly supports civil liberties and would speak up to defend these principles in Congress.

One thing Progressives have constantly been up in arms about since we helped the Democrats win back Congress in 2006 is the FISA fight. Many of us think that this bill was completely unneccesary, and that it was a bad idea. It wasn't that we needed new, broad ranging powers for the Federal Government to keep us safe, we just needed a competent administration in place to use laws already in place to protect us. That is what failed us on that terrible day of 9-11-01.

If you would like to help Joe's campaign, consider donating to my Give in to Garcia ActBlue page. I've set a goal of reaching 50 contributions and we're almost 1/5th of the way there. If two people contribute today, we'll meet that milestone!

As the end of the quarter approaches this week, I would like to cover why Joe Garcia's race is important, especially to progressives who want a Congress with more and better Democrats. As several commenters have mentioned on The Top Ten Races post at Open Left, Joe's race against Bush rubberstamp Mario Diaz-Balart, could be a key symbol of the 2008 election.

One of the reasons the 25th district could be a symbol of change is an issue which has often been neglected on the national scene, the environment, a cause which Joe has often spoke up about. Joe previously served in the environmentally sensitive post of Chairperson of the Florida Public Service Commission. While serving there, he established preservation policies in our public utilities, only approved power plants fueled by natural gas (No coal plants), and required public water plants to adhere to higher standards set by the EPA.