Alan Grayson-- The Progressive Movement's Essential Man

Early this month Alan Grayson announced a fun fundraiser on his Facebook page-- and an opportunity to pick a prize Blue America will offer to one random lucky Grayson donor on this page. Well, Alan's supporters have spoken and the winning prize is... the beautiful blue and white Squier Stratocaster guitar signed by all three members of Green Day, Billie, Mike and Tre. (I keep getting emails from people wanting to know what will happen to the Eric Clpaton/B.B. King platinum record award. Don't worry; we'll be giving that way later in the cycle to raise campaign funds for another progressive fighter like Alan.)

Our efforts to help get Grayson back into Congress are, of course, about a lot more than giving someone the opportunity to win an autographed Green Day guitar. In some ways this is the single most important House race in the whole country. Electing Alan Grayson is about building independent progressive power, power that is not dependent on the corrupt Inside the Beltway or the Wall Street establishments that are destroying American democracy and the American middle class.

Grayson is doing everything right. He's helping make sure the Republicans pick their weakest and most unelectable candidate in Orlando and nationally, he's giving more help to progressive incumbents and challengers than anyone else in Congress. He's a genuine hero who has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for people who needed it and deserved it in tough primaries, from Dennis Kucinich, John Lewis, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Raul Grijalva, Keith Ellison to Norman Solomon, Lee Rogers, Darcy Burner, and Ilya Sheyman. Some won, some lost but an endorsement from Grayson has become a gold standard for the national progressive community.

The worst elements of the corrupt Democratic Establishment-- careerist hacks like Steny Hoyer, Joe Crowley, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Steve Israel-- are putting themselves in line for leadership positions in a post-Pelosi Democratic caucus. We already have one lobbyist and Wall Street owned political party. If we're going to save what's left of the Democratic Party and bring it back to a useful life, we're going to need Alan Grayson's leadership. So... don't contribute to win the Green Day guitar, contribute to save our beloved country (and maybe you will win the Green Day guitar anyway). Contribute here.