Solidarity... Progressive Candidates Standing With Each Other

Digby, John and I have been doing the Blue America PAC for over a decade now. We love helping facilitate fundraising for progressive candidates, especially for the ones the Democratic Party establishment refuses to get behind-- both during the primaries and, especially, after the primaries. Nothing gets me angrier at the DCCC than when a progressive candidate works hard during a primary and beats some corrupt conservative the DCCC backs and then the DCCC staffers decide to undermine the primary winner. It's one of things I detest most about the DCCC.

Yesterday, we had a first-ever experience. Sam Jammal, one of our favorite candidates from this cycle-- yes, admission: each of our candidates is "one of our favorite candidates"-- took some of the left-over funds from his campaign, funds that arrived after the primary had ended, and contributed by dividing some of it among 8 of our candidates still slugging it out against Trumpists, endorsed by Blue America, who have won their primaries and are still not being embraced by the DCCC. None of them are on the DCCC's Red-to-Blue list and thereby get ignored by journalists, pollsters, institutional funders, pundits who take the DCCC as the first and last word in Democratic electoral politics.

I've long stopped expecting even a "thank you" from some of these folks we back, politicians-- obviously there are exceptions-- but Sam's idea of contributing to candidates still in the midst ofcampaigning in uphill races, while he re-adjusts to a sense of normalcy, is very touching a very inspiring. (And, by the way, although Sam was defeated by a silly lottery winner who spent $5,000,000 of his lottery winnings while being actively backed by the DCCC, eager to use him for his money, he is now back working for what motivated his congressional run: the clean energy industry.)

One more early Saturday morning "by the way": Today is the finally day of our Green Day platinum record giveaway on behalf of Kara Eastman. If this is the first you're hearing about it, you can still get into it right here. While the contest was in full swing, FiveThirtyEight came out with a new forecast for her Omaha-based district, showing that Kara's chances to win in November had risen significantly from "tossup" to "leans Dem." Their read is that she has a 5 in 8 chance of winning-- 61.4%-- and that her Trump rubber stamp opponent, incumbent Don Bacon, has just a 3 in 8 chance (38.6%). If you're looking for "a good bet," to invest some money in, Kara should be at the top of anyone's list-- whether you're a Green Day fan or not.