2016-- The Year Of Decision... Getting Off To A Winning Start

I spent yesterday back in the hospital, not because of the cancer exactly. My weakened immune system was unable to fight off a damned cold and it turned into... double pneumonia. That means I'm back on stuff dripping into my body for a couple weeks. So... I couldn't do much blogging. I thought it would be a good time to create a handy guide to how you can find the progressive candidates you're interested in when you feel like making a campaign contribution through Blue America.

Our main page is always the page for our House challengers. This year we're starting out with 13 candidates in California, Michigan, New York, Nevada, New Jersey, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland and New Hampshire. We're in the process of vetting nearly a dozen more. If you have any suggestions, please let us know. One that I know is coming very soon is a credible primary opponent for corrupt New Dem Debbie Wasserman Schultz; the countdown is on!

Then there's the Senate page-- just 4 candidates this cycle, at least so far: Donna Edwards (MD), Russ Feingold (WI), Alan Grayson (FL) and P.G. Sittenfeld (OH), 4 proven progressives running against pretty awful conservatives, some in primaries just around the corner and all next November. By the way, on all of our pages, you see the candidates' names and you have the option to contribute to one of them or two of them of all of them. You can say, I'll give $1,000 to Alan Grayson and $422.93 to P.G. Sittenfeld and the same amount to Donna Edwards but nothing at all to Russ Feingold. Or you can say, I have $20 and I'd like that split evenly between all the candidates. It can even be a fun exercise.

Ruben Kihuen, our House candidate in Nevada

There's also a convenient page that includes the House and Senate candidates all in one place.

There's a page for worthy incumbents who need and deserve some help, 10 so far, some, like Mike Honda, who have tough campaigns against reactionaries and some, like Mark Pocan and Keith Ellison who we are helping build power towards leadership positions.

Then, of course, we have our Bernie for President page which already has 401 contributors and $26,482, just over our goal's halfway point, including 20 new contributions yesterday.

Another way to support Bernie is on a page dedicated to him and to the candidates who have explicitly endorsed him and are running for Congress on the same issues he's running on. I mean if Bernie is president, he's going to need as many allies in the House and Senate as he can get. He's sure not likely to get much support from the Schumercrats in the Senate and the Blue Dogs and New Dems in the House.

There's also a page dedicated to progressives running for state legislative seats around the country.

There are specific pages we use to raise money for Alan Grayson's Senate race and another one for Donna Edwards' Senate race, each running against an establishment Wall Street-friendly primary opponent.

And there's a page soley for the Blue America I.E. Committee, which collects contributions that don't go to candidates; it's money Blue America uses to finance projects meant to help candidates independently, primarily through advertising and related activities.

Anything appeal to you? Give one or two a try-- and remember, there is no such thing as a contribution that's too small. And the only meaningful deadline is before the first Tuesday of November. Oh more thing-- whenever you see a thermometer, like the one below, all you have to do is tap it and it will take you to a contribution page.




UPDATE: Obama To Take Action On Gun Safety

In his Saturday address to the nation this morning, President Obama looked forward to some unfinished business in his final year in the White House, particularly in regard to the epidemic of gun massacres that have been inflicted on us by the NRA and conservative politicians.

Last month, we remembered the third anniversary of Newtown. This Friday, I’ll be thinking about my friend Gabby Giffords, five years into her recovery from the shooting in Tucson. And all across America, survivors of gun violence and those who lost a child, a parent, a spouse to gun violence are forced to mark such awful anniversaries every single day.

And yet Congress still hasn’t done anything to prevent what happened to them from happening to other families. Three years ago, a bipartisan, commonsense bill would have required background checks for virtually everyone who buys a gun. Keep in mind, this policy was supported by some 90% of the American people.  It was supported by a majority of NRA households. But the gun lobby mobilized against it. And the Senate blocked it.

Since then, tens of thousands of our fellow Americans have been mowed down by gun violence. Tens of thousands. Each time, we’re told that commonsense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, so we shouldn’t do anything.

We know that we can’t stop every act of violence. But what if we tried to stop even one? What if Congress did something-- anything-- to protect our kids from gun violence?

A few months ago, I directed my team at the White House to look into any new actions I can take to help reduce gun violence. And on Monday, I’ll meet with our Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, to discuss our options. Because I get too many letters from parents, and teachers, and kids, to sit around and do nothing. I get letters from responsible gun owners who grieve with us every time these tragedies happen; who share my belief that the Second Amendment guarantees a right to bear arms; and who share my belief we can protect that right while keeping an irresponsible, dangerous few from inflicting harm on a massive scale.

So I know there are a bunch of us who care about this. If you are one of them, I need your help.

Change, as always, is going to take all of us. The gun lobby is loud and well organized in its defense of effortlessly available guns for anyone. The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well organized in our defense of our kids. That’s the work of citizenship-- to stand up and fight for the change that we seek. I hope you’ll join me in making America safer for all of our children.