HOW ARE OUR BLUE AMERICA CANDIDATES DOING IN THE MONEY RAISING DEPARTMENT?

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Short answer: very well. Let's take a look at the races.

First there are a couple of Blue America incumbents we have to worry about. There are few Democrats who I would rate as bad as a Republican. Lieberman was one but he was tossed out of the Democratic Party by Connecticut Democrats-- even if Schumer and Reid have clung to him in the Senate in an appallingly masochistic and dysfunctional kabuki dance. That leaves Harold Ford, the ex-Congressman and failed Senate candidate from Tennessee, currently chairman of the reactionary, corporate-financed DLC (Lieberman's old job). Ford was the only Democrat running for office last year we urged DWT readers to not vote for; he's that bad. And now he's trying to get another corrupt, corporate hack into his old seat. His old seat, much to his dismay and chagrin, was won by one of Tennessee's most liberal-- as well as earnest and honest-- state legislators, Steve Cohen. Since getting to Congress, Steve's voting record has been absolutely stellar and he's already showing signs of being a credible leader on progressive issues. The Ford Machine in Memphis is venal and powerful and is already trying to replace Steve with one of Ford's shill, Nikki Tinker. Although Ford has been busy raising money to try to save Al Wynn's neck in Maryland (more of that below), he did manage to point his corporate allies to Tinker and she raised $100,000, $8,000 more than Steve. Steve is a proven commodity for progressives and a great investment. Please give what you can afford to someone who is fighting to get us out of Iraq, for universal health care, and against victimization of minorities; he's on the opposite side of every important issue from Ford and his contingent of just-as-bad-as-a-Republican Democrats.

I'm less worried about John Hall but he has a big-spending multimillionaire to contend with in the general election. John's quarter was awesome by any standard-- $420,000 for the quarter ($666,000 cash on hand). The problem is the Republican challenger Andrew Saul brought in $422,000. Saul, a conservative, will have to first beat a radical right neo-fascist named Kieran Lalor in the GOP primary. The war-supporting neo-fascist raised even less money than McCain and Saul will be able to use his funds against John. We'll keep an eye on this one, of course.

Like John Hall, Carol Shea-Porter is counting on her voting record and congressional achievements to guarantee her another term. The fake moderate Republican she beat last time, Jeb Bradley, is back for another ass-whoopin'. She brought in $154,000 (and has asked the DCCC to stay out of her grassroots campaign) for a total cash on hand of $256,000. Bradley raised $131,000 and has $201,000 on hand. I would say that the prognosis in blue-trending New Hampshire for Carol is excellent. Our other Blue America New Hampshire incumbent, Paul Hodes collected $286,000, has $393,000 on hand, and the Republicans have failed to find a credible opponent so far.

Jerry McNerney is a big Rove target but the district media, which is traditionally conservative and Republican, has liked the job he's been doing in Congress and has not been attacking him the way they did for the last several years. I'd say they're neutral now. Jerry's grassroots fundraising has been superb and he brought in $471,000 in this quarter, has $663,000 on hand and is facing a well-known local wingnut, Pombo-protege Dean Andal who raised $288,000.

Our 2 other Blue America House incumbents look extremely safe, each having raised HUGE money, garnered tremendous popularity in their suburban Pennsylvania districts and scared away all the prospective candidates the Republicans have encouraged to run against them. Joe Sestak has over a million dollars cash on hand (and raised $496,000 in this quarter) and Patrick Murphy raised $751,000 for a total of $965,000 cash on hand. The other Democrats we helped elect to the House in 2006, Mike Arcuri (NY) and Bruce Braley (IA) are also doing great in the money department and have no credible challengers. We've withdrawn our endorsement from Chris Carney (PA-10) who has voted with the Republicans on most contentious key issues and has also proven himself to be of low character and unworthy of support.

Now for the challengers. Most importantly is the primary race in Maryland's 4th CD, where progressive heroine Donna Edwards is taking on corrupt corporate Ford shill Al Wynn. Donna is a people's candidate and she will never out-raise lobbyist backed Wynn, but she doesn't need to. She cans till beat him as long as she raises enough money to get her message out. And she did. This quarter she exceeded her goals and brought in $131,000. Wynn's bribes came to $328,000.

John Doolittle's faltering campaign in northern California has run into a big stumbling block. He's having trouble raising money because of the well-publicized impending criminal indictments against him. He managed to suck up $100,000, helping to drawn down his enormous campaign debt. Many contributors are aware that the money the contribute to his campaign will all go to pay the lawyers defending him for corruption charges. Meanwhile Blue America's Charlie Brown raised $193,000 and has $269,000 on hand (as opposed to Doolittle's $74,000).

In a few weeks we'll be meeting another California challenger, Russ Warner, who is taking on socially conservative, morally bankrupt, fiscally irresponsible David Dreier in suburban L.A. Russ raised $136,000 this quarter. Dreier, aside from being a notorious closet queen who pays his lover out of tax dollars, is also a darling of every lobbyist in DC. He has $2 million dollars on hand.

In mostly rural CO-04, long time Blue America fave, Angie Paccione, has to beat back a challenge from the reactionary Salazar Machine before she can focus on Musgrave. Salazar's candidate, Betsy Markey was unable to raise much money but she lent the campaign $25,000 of her own. Angie raised $91,000 from her enthusiastic grassroots base.

Another longtime Blue America favorite, Larry Kissell (NC), who will be visiting with us again the last Saturday of September, is off to a great start in dislodging rubber stamp Republican Robin Hayes, who managed to win his seat last year but just 350 votes. Larry raised $141,000 and Hayes' corporate pals have sent him $309,000 in bribes for his always dependable support.

Last year Blue America did really well in New York State, helping elect 3 new Democrats, John Hall, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Mike Arcuri. Next year we're planning on helping Hall and Arcuri hold their seats and electing 3 more Democrats: our old pal Eric Massa, plus Dan Maffei and Jon Powers. Jon will be our Blue America guest this Saturday. He's an exceptional candidate and I can't wait for everyone to meet him. He's running against Tom Reynolds in the 26th CD of western New York between Buffalo and Rochester. Jon raised $112,000, exceeding his goal, and Reynolds brought in $257,000. Dan Maffei almost beat Jim Walsh in 2006 and he should accomplish that this time. He raised $212,000 this quarter; Walsh raised $299,000. And our old pal Eric Massa brought in $158,000 but before he can focus fully on the reprehensible rubber stamp Republican Randy Kuhl, he needs to beat corporate Democrat David Nachbar who only raised $15,000 but is very wealthy and will use his own money to try to undercut Eric. Kuhl, a major pawn of Big Business, had lobbyists bringing in $68,000 for him this quarter. Without their assistance he wouldn't be able to run at all.

And speaking about Blue America candidates we love, Victoria Wulsin had another great quarter. She raised more money than any other Democrat challenging a Republican in Ohio, $213,000. Mean Jean Schmidt only managed to come up with $96,000 and she'll have her hands full with another far right kook-- like herself-- Phil Heimlich, who raised $166,000 for the Republican primary. Vic is also be challenged by an opportunist Democrat, Steve Black, who raised $151,000 this quarter. OH-02 will have two hot primaries-- and then Vic will wipe the floor with either Mean Jean or Heimlich.

And our candidate from last week, Darcy Burner (WA-08) brought in $200,000, edging out rubber stamp Republican Reichert who managed to raise $190,000. Darcy has $185,000 on hand and Reichert has $162,000.

Our pal Emptywheel (Marcy) is keeping us informed as the hot race in her area develops to see which Democrat, Jim Berryman or David Nacht gets to take on right wing fanatic maniac Tim Walberg in Michigan's 7th CD. Walberg who has one of the dozen worst and most reactionary voting records in the entire Republican caucus, managed to bring in $119,000 this quarter, while Nacht beat him with $160,000 and Berryman scooped up $50,000. We'll also be watching the race in OH-16, where Ralph Regula may resign or may be forced into retirement by an even further right wing nutcase, Kirk Schuring. Schuring has already raised $136,000. Regular had a miserable quarter with only $82,000 and the consensus Democrat, John Boccieri, brought in $155,000.

I'm pretty excited to see progressive Democrat Mark Pera challenging reactionary Democratic machine hack Dan Lipinski in Chicago (IL-03). Mark raised $54,000 in this quarter while Lipinski took in $198,000.

In a couple weeks we'll be meeting a new candidate Jane introduced me too, Jim Himes who has declared for the 4th CD in Connecticut, the only House seat in New England still in enemy hands. Chris Shays is a mainstream conservative and has shown far more resilience than the other Republicans in the area. But Himes is a strong and attractive candidate and he should give him a good run for his money. And Himes is doing pretty well in the money department, having raised a startling $353,000 this quarter, more than Shays' healthy $280,000. Two more new districts Blue America hasn't been involved with yet, but that we're watching closely: New Mexico's first CD and Indiana's third. Indiana-03 is represented by an extreme right-wing loon, Mark Souder, and he has a new-comer as a challenger, Michael Montagano. Montagano raised $106,000 and Souder raised $84,000. In New Mexico, Heather Wilson almost lost her seat last year-- and that was before it was discovered that she interfered with a case before U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, who she got fired when he wouldn't bend to her will. This year the progressive head of the Albuquerque city council, Martin Heinrich should end her rubber stamp career in Congress once and for all. He raised a respectable $180,000 and she scooped up $393,000 from lobbyists who are panicking that they may lose a dependable vote for their corruption.

And with any of the potential Republican presidential nominees guaranteed to depress GOP turn out and pull down the rest of ticket, the Republican incumbents and challengers are probably just wasting their time and money. Good; they won't be making mischief with either. If you'd like to lend a hand, our Blue America page is open for business. And we love those $5 and $10 contributions.