On The Road Again-- Blue America Truck Is Visiting Devin Nunes' And Jim Costa's Constituents In The Central Valley

That tweet up top with a picture of the truck was sent by Rory Appleton, a political reporter for the Fresno Bee, the most read newspaper in both Nunes' and Costa's districts, respectively CA-22 and CA-16. Both members are extremely conservative, though Nunes is a Republican and Costa is a Blue Dog Democrat. Blue America's specific reason for the mobile billboard-- written by Digby, designed by Bill Mahaney-- was to draw attention to the two of them voting to continue U.S.-supported bombing in Yemen.

I wrote about the vote back in December at which time I noted that "although 18 Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with the Democrats against continuing the bombing, it was 5 conservative Democrats crossing in the other direction that ensured more children in Yemen would die. One was Costa and I also noted that if he is defeated in a primary, his D+9 district will certainly stay in Democratic hands. Appleton recommended his twitter followers read a very hard-hitting and provocative piece about Costa by his colleague, Kate Irby, written just a few days after my own: Why has California’s Jim Costa voted twice against limiting US involvement in Yemen?

She pointed out that Costa is one of only two House Dems, both Blue Dogs, naturally, "to vote with Republicans twice in recent weeks to block efforts to cut military assistance to Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. [Costa] said his votes, one last month and one last week, were cast for procedural reasons."

Critics saw a motive behind Costa’s votes-- his benefactors in the oil and gas industry. 
Oil and gas companies represent Costa’s second biggest industry supporters, behind only crop processing and production. Costa flatly denied that had anything to do with his vote.


“Absolutely not,” he said.

Costa noted his votes were to limit debate on the initiatives, and apply only to legislation effective this year. The House can take up cutting Saudi Arabia aid again next year.

And Costa said the U.S. policy does need to change in Yemen to address the humanitarian crisis, though he did not specify his views on military aid.

“When we’re in control of the House next year, we can control the debate,” Costa said.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), the sponsor of the measure to cut U.S. military involvement in Yemen, plans to reintroduce legislation next month to cut aid to Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, according to spokeswoman Heather Purcell. Republicans now control the House, but Democrats will have the majority starting Jan. 3.

Costa received $100,000 from oil and gas companies in the last campaign cycle and $500,000 from the industry over his congressional career, which began in 2003.

Two other Democrats currently in the House have gotten more donations from oil and gas than Costa over the years-- Reps. Gene Green (D-TX) and Henry Cuellar (D-TX). Neither voted with Republicans to end debate on pulling out of Yemen.

Rauf Mammadov, a scholar on energy policy at the nonpartisan Middle East Institute, said U.S. oil and gas companies are closely watching relations with Saudi Arabia.

While those companies, all dependent on Saudi oil, are constantly worried about a “last straw scenario,” when relations between the countries completely deteriorate, Mammadov said there’s little reason to think withdrawing U.S. aid in the war in Yemen would provoke that scenario.

“Saudi Arabia is likely fear mongering these companies now, and it is the largest exporter and largest producer (of oil),” Mammadov said. “But I would not equate pulling out of Yemen with ending Saudi relations.”

Cyril Widdershoven, a Middle East defense energy analyst, mostly agreed with that assessment, but added that oil companies have become more worried as tensions have built between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia for a long time now.

“How deep a hole can you dig before you fall in?” Widdershoven said.

While the Senate passed a measure cutting U.S. aid to Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen last week, the House no longer has to consider it for the rest of the year thanks to the provision attached to a farm policy bill that Costa approved.

When that maneuver came up for a vote, five Democrats sided with cutting off debate, joining 201 Republicans to insert the provision. Eighteen Republicans and 185 Democrats voted no.

Costa, a moderate [Note: someone needs to explain to Kate what "moderate" means and how it differs from "conservative."] Democrat who represents an agricultural district near Fresno, says he voted the way he did because it was attached to the farm bill, which is vital in his district.

“I was worried it wouldn’t happen if I didn’t vote for it,” Costa said. “I walked on the floor and was told 15 members of the (conservative) Freedom Caucus wanted to kill the farm bill, and they said we might need your vote to save it.”

But he couldn’t explain why he voted for a measure that did the exact same thing regarding Yemen last month, when the measure was attached to the Manage Our Wolves Act, meant to remove Grey Wolves from the endangered species list.

The truck has been on the road this week and will continue into February, covering Fresno and some of the smaller cities in the two districts-- Madera, Chowchilla, Los Banos, Merced, Atwater, Livingston, Clovis, Dinuba, Visalia and Tulare-- and the roads in between them. Today there's a Black History Month celebration at the Energy Education Center on South Laspina Street in Tulare-- and we'll be there. Tonight the Visalia Fox Theatre is hosting the Felipe Esparza Comedy Show-- and we'll be there. Tomorrow will be a busy day for our driver:

• The Jimmy Run – Run for Families in Recovery in Woodward Park, Fresno
• Kennel Club of Fresno All-Breed Dog Show at the Madera District Fair on West Cleveland Ave in Madera
• And in the evening, Fresno State's basketball team plays New Mexico on Campus.

On Tuesday there's a Kiss concert at the Save Mart Center at the Fresno State campus and we'll definitely be there too. I hope Fresno Kiss fans are also peace fans. What about prize fight fans? On Sunday the 10th we're planning on being at the 1pm Jose Ramirez world title match against Jose Zepeda, also on the Fresno State campus. Hmmm... or maybe we should just spend more time at the Nifty Thrifty Flea Market in Clovis that afternoon instead. What do you think? And, by the way, if you'd like to chip in for gas or for keeping our truck with the mobile billboard on the road for another week or so, the Blue America 2020 thermometer on the right is how you do it; just click on the image and contribute what you feel comfortable giving. We are trying to encourage strong progressive Democrats to run against Nunes and against Costa next year. This is our first round of action. Believe me, the Central Valley, Congress, California and America will be way better off without the two of them. Not to mention the women and children in Yemen. Now... isn't that bipartisan!

Eye On The Ball This Week: 2 Special Elections, 5 State Primaries

As you know, Blue America raises money for progressives running for office, primarily for the House, but also for the Senate, for a handful of worthy incumbents, for governors, for state legislators who look like they will have careers beyond the state level, and, in one, case, for presidents. Oh, yeah... and for progressives who have won their primaries and have been subsequently abandoned by the DCCC. Keyword: progressives. However, this cycle, there is a special circumstance: the existential threat to our democracy, our country, our world posed by Trump. So this cycle while sticking to our rule of raising money just for progressives, we're also rooting for all candidates with a "D" next to his or her name running against a Trump enabler. Actually, there are 2 exceptions, where even holding our collective nose and closing our eyes won't work: Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL)... but that's a separate story.

The point is: we need Democrats-- even imperfect (and very imperfect) Democrats-- to put a check on Trump. In primaries though, like the ones coming up this week in Michigan, Kansas, Hawaii, Washington and Missouri, its all progressive all the way. In the OH-12 special election, a conservative Democrat, Danny O'Connor, is pitted against a very conservative Republican backed by Trump. To our friends in northern Columbus and it's suburbs and in Dublin, Worthington, Westerville, Pataskala, Mansfield, Bellville, Etna, Newark, and Zanesville... on Tuesday vote for "Danny Boy," as the orange orangutan called O'Connor on Saturday night in Lewis Center. Whatever else it is, it's a vote that will help hold Trump accountable and help keep him from pushing the U.S. in an ever more fascist direction. That overrides everything else. As Trumpanzee said: "Get your friends, get your neighbors, and get your family." Here's the kleptocratic ape's brilliant and inciteful political critique of the OH-12 election Tuesday:

The PVI is R+7. Trump beat Hillary 53.2% to 41.9%. Obama only took 43.9% in 2012 and 44.8% in 2008. It's a solid red, solidly gerrymandered, district. If O'Connor wins tomorrow-- and support for him is surging as of this morning-- the NRCC will be begging Trump to stay out of non-Southern states from now until November 7. And this special election is all about Trump-- which is exactly what he wants, what he always wants. In fact, yesterday, on ABC's This Week John Kasich said the hapless GOP candidate told him that he didn't invite Trump to Saturday's Delaware County rally. Kasich said the Trump appearance may lose the race for Balderson because of "the chaos that seems to surround Donald Trump has unnerved a lot of people... Suburban women in particular here are the ones that are really turned off, it's really kind of shocking because this should be just a slam dunk and it's not."

Last week, DCCC West Coast regional vice chair Ted Lieu tried to lure Trump into doing some of his crazy rallies in California. "I would pay the permit fees for Donald Trump to come to California and do one of his toxic rallies," he told us. "Can't wait for him to explain how the GOP tax scam increases taxes on millions of Californians; the random Trump tariffs hurt Californian farmers: and the rollbacks to environmental laws hurt our air and water. Trump's presence in California would help all Democratic candidates." Aside from the Ohio special election, 4 states have primaries on Tuesday and Hawaii has its primary on Saturday. Let's go through the House races first.

Kansas has 4 congressional districts and there are 3 that have Democrats running. KS-01-- the entire western and most of the central part of the state-- is so godforsaken (R+24 PVI), that no Democrat is even running. In the other 3 districts there are 2 Bernie carts and a Blue Dog in contention. KS-04 (Wichita) seems to be on the way to nominate James Thompson, the Kansan Blue America has endorsed. An oddity of this race, for the Koch brothers seat Mike Pompeo left to join the Trump regime, is that incumbent Ron Estes' Republican primary opponent is also named Ron Estes (and he's a registered Democrat!).

There is also an excellent progressive running against Republican Kevin Yoder in KS-03 (Topeka, Lawrence, Atchison, Pittsburg), Brent Welder. It's the least red district in the state (PVI-- R+4). Brent has a bevy of standard variety Democrats to get through tomorrow before he can face Yoder. For KS-02 (Kansas City), the DCCC has heavily backed a right-of-center Blue Dog, former state House minority leader Paul Davis, for the open seat, and his has no primary opponent. There are 7 Republicans in the hunt. Davis has raised more than the 3 top Republicans in the race combined.

The big race statewide in Kansas is for governor. After Sam Brownback bankrupted the state and ran off to become Trump's so-called "Ambassador for International Religious Freedom," Lt. Governor Jeff Colyer, a relatively mainstream conservative became governor. Neo-fascist Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has his head planted up Trump's ass, is challenging him. Both Hannity and Trumpanzee, Jr have endorsed Kobach, of course.

In Michigan, there is also a big gubernatorial primary tomorrow. The status quo establishment pick is Gretchen Whitmer and the progressive in the race is Abdul El-Sayed (endorsed by Blue America). There's also a fake-progressive multimillionaire in the race, Shri Thanedar, who has helped fund Republicans. On the GOP side, Trump has endorsed a vile extremist, Attorney General Bill Schuette, against more mainstream conservative, Lt. Governor Brian Calley (who's being backed by outgoing Gov. Rick Snyder.

Michigan has 14 primaries (one of which-- in Detroit-- is a special election to replace John Conyers). The front runner is AAA progressive Rashida Tlaib (endorsed by Blue America). These are the primary candidates in Michigan, all progressives, we recommend voting for:

• MI-06: Matt Longjohn
• MI-09: Ellen Lipton
• MI-11: Haley Stevens
• MI-12: Rashida Tlaib

There's not much going on for progressives in Missouri,other than a long shot chance to replace corrupt Democrat Lacy Clay with progressive Cori Bush in St. Louis.

Washington state has 10 congressional seats-- 6 held by Democrats and 4 held by Republicans. With the exception of Pramila Jayapal in Seattle-- one of the best members of Congress-- the Democrats are all status quo conservative New Dems. The big news though is that 3 of the 4 Republicans are vulnerable in November. Imagine a Washington delegation with 9 Democrats and 1 Republican! One of the New Dems, Adam Smith (WA-09), is being primaried by progressive Sarah Smith. Now, what we all want is to see 3 Republicans replaced with 3 Democrats-- in WA-03, where Carolyn Long is poised to oust Jaime Herrera Beutler; in WA-05, where Lisa Brown (endorsed by Blue America) is poised to oust the 4th highest ranking Republican in the House, Cathy McMorris Rogers; and in WA-08... well, that's the complicated one, which will be solved tomorrow. Dave Reichert, the Republican incumbent in this district-- with an even PVI (and where Obama won both times and where Hillary beat Trumpanzee 47.7% to 44.7%)-- is retiring. A more conservative Republican, Dino Rossi, has his nomination locked. The 3 top Dems in the primary, Kim Schrier, Jason Rittereiser and Shannon Hader, are all decent progressives. The Democrats in the district, which stretches from Seattle and Tacoma's eastern outer suburbs-- 75% of the voters live in King and Pierce counties-- and then east past the Cascades as far as Wenatchee, Chelan and Ellensburg, will render their verdict tomorrow.

And then comes the one primary next Saturday, where there is a gubernatorial battle and a congressional race in Honolulu. The Honolulu primary pits one of the most progressive candidates anywhere in the country, Kaniela Ing (endorsed by Blue America) running against 4 conservatives from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. One, Beth Fukumoto was the actual minority leader of the House Republicans until recently, fighting every progressive bill Kaniela proposed. Now she claims to be a "Democrat." The other 3 are Ed Case, a former far right/Republican-lite Blue Dog member of Congress (the Kyrsten Sinema of his day and a cousin of AOL's Steve Case). He may be the worst in the race, but Donna Mercado King is a close runner-up-- a vicious anti-gay sociopath and a Republican in every way except for the "D" next to her name. Doug Chin is the corrupt corporate Attorney General who was appointed to his job and never won a race for anything and likely never win. We'll be talking more about this crucial race later in the week. Please consider contributing to Kaniela here, while considering why this poster-- and Alexandria's decision to travel to Hawaii next weekend-- is so important.

Goals Hit And Goals Missed— Blue America, 2017

Someone contributes $7 and Austin hits our 2017 goal for him

I really want to say thank you to all the DWT readers who helped end the Blue America efforts this year to help raise campaign funds for our House candidates on high note. We reached or surpassed almost every goal we set for ourselves for 2017. And now the real work starts, the work that determines whether or not we’ll have a strong progressive voice in Congress starting in January, 2019. A couple of things I’d like to ask you to help with first though-- reaching those unmet 2017 goals. This is the list of each Blue America House candidate where we didn’t quite meet out goal and how much we missed it by. Can you consider helping us reach each goal but making a contribution for that candidate, rather than splitting the contribution up among everybody, which about 70% of donors do these days? You can contribute by tapping the ActBlue thermometer on the right. This is serious stuff. Trump, Ryan and the Republican Party think this is their opportunity to wreck Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security-- for real. We’ve got to stop them-- and these candidates are part of the solution. The 2017 goals are the first number. Our shortfalls (in parentheses) are the second number

• TX-07- Jason Weston- $2,000- ($439)
• KS-04- James Thompson- $2,000 ($385)
• ME-02- Jared Golden- $1,500 ($339)
• NM-01- Antoinette Sedillo Lopez- $500 ($298)
• IL-03- Marie Newman- $1,000 ($264)
• CA-25- Katie Hill- $3,000 ($238)
• TX-21- Derrick Crowe- $2,000 ($238)
• MI-06- Paul Clements- $2,000 ($191)
• IN-09- Dan Canon- $1,500 ($173)
• PA-18- Jess King- $500 ($165)
• NC-05- Jenny Marshall- $5,000 ($140)
• TX-32- Lillian Salerno- $1,000 ($28)
• CA-39- Sam Jammal- $2,000 ($19)
• IA-03- Austin Frerick- $1,000 ($7)

If you’re wondering why some candidates have much higher goals than others it generally means the ones with the high goals were endorsed a long time ago-- like Jenny Marshall-- and the candidates with low goals were just endorsed very recently, like Antoinette Sedillo Lopez. By Election Day, 2018 we hope to raise at least $15,000 for each. At least.

And if you’re wondering which candidates surpassed their 2017 goals, that would be Doug Applegate (CA), Tom Guild (OK), David Gill (IL), Tim Canova (FL), Randy Bryce (WI), Kaniela Ing (HI) and Chuy Garcia (IL).

And rest assured, none of the Blue America candidates are on Politico’s idiotic 10 must-watch candidates of 2018. They warned that though Señor Trumpanzee’s name won’t be on the ballot “his influence will be everywhere.” The Democrats they chose to highlight are overwhelmingly conservative, real Republican-lite types. The corrupt corporately owned New Dems have endorsed 3 of them-- Paul Davis (KS), Anthony Brindisi (NY) and Mike Sherrill (NJ)-- and the Blue Dogs endorsed the two worst, Davis and Brindisi, awful candidates, who (unbeknownst to Politico and the DCCC) fly in the face of the excitement and energy that has infused the Democratic Party at the grassroots. Politico on the right-wing shitbag from Kansas: “Paul Davis kicked off his campaign for Congress in Kansas by promising to not support Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House, heralding a new generation of Democrats that won’t be sticking by the California congresswoman. But Davis’ political gamble-- crossing his party’s leader for the sake of competing in a bright red district-- hasn’t cost him much in Washington. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Davis to the first round of its ‘Red to Blue’ program, while Steny Hoyer’s PAC donated to his campaign. No doubt Pelosi either gave him the OK to diss her… or suggested it to him herself. Look for him to be swept into Congress by the tsunami, disappoint Democrats by voting consistently with the Republicans and lose to a Republican in the 2022 midterms. A pure garbage candidate.

Almost as bad is Brindisi who Politico describes-- with admiration-- as “a moderate” who occasionally criticizes party leaders like Gov. Andrew Cuomo and has received an ‘A’ rating from the National Rifle Association. After recruiting him for years, Democrats finally landed the assemblyman as a challenger to GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney in her upstate New York district.” When they say “a moderate,” they mean a right-of-center fake Democrat who, like Davis, will be voting with the GOP after the DCCC dumps something between $3 and $4 million into his race. And then Politico writes “Democrats” have tried to recruit him, they mean clueless Beltway DCCC losers, not actual Democrats, who loath candidates like Brindisi. He has one thing going for him; he isn’t as bad as Tenney. Nope, not outré kind of candidates-- not now, not ever. Would I contribute money to them? Never. Would I vote for them? Never. Would I root for them to win? Nope, not even that.

How Did Trump Win-- And What Can We Learn From That?

I hope you weren't surprised yesterday when el President-elect Señor Trumpanzee won the electoral college-- and only lost 2 "faithless electors" (half the number Clinton lost). Over the course of the last two weeks, Blue America got a couple dozens letters asking why we weren't participating in the attempts to get the Republican electors to vote against Trump. I patiently responded to each letter that that isn't what Blue America does. We don't send out phony-baloney petitions-- used to build big e-mail lists-- and we don't ask our members to contribute money to wasteful bullshit schemes. There was never any chance that the electors were going to overturn the formula the unfortunate 2016 election was fought under. Blue America is busy doing real work, recruiting progressive candidates to win back the House in 2018. That's what we do. And that's the way-- as far as I can tell, the only way-- to slow down Trumpism politically.

We have to win back a net of 24 Republican seats. We've endorsed our first candidate already in that quest, Doug Applegate, who nearly defeated Darrell Issa on his first foray into electoral politics. Almost no one ever wins the first time out. We helped persuade Doug to try again in 2018 and he is committed. We endorsed him and we're raising money for his campaign here. (Please chip in. This is for real, not like the futile silliness over the electoral college scams.)

Even before 2018, there will be a few special elections to fill various seats. We've endorsed the best-qualified and most inspiring candidate running for the seat Xavier Becerra is giving up in Los Angeles as he takes on the job of California Attorney General. And that candidate is a young super-progressive Assemblyman, Jimmy Gomez. The case for endorsing him is here and you can give his campaign a hand here. Jimmy's extraordinary record speaks for itself and there's no need to depend on well-meaning campaign promises from novices that will likely go unfulfilled. Presumably that's why people we trust-- from L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, Supervisor Hilda Solis, state Controller Betty Yee, state Treasurer John Chiang, state Senate President Kevin de León to congressmen Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)-- have rushed to endorse Jimmy.

Currently we're working to help persuade good progressives to run for seats being vacated by Trumpish appointees Tom Price (GA-05), Mick Mulvaney (SC-05) and Ryan Zinke (the at-large Montana seat) and for the Albuquerque seat being vacated by Michelle Lujan Grisham so she can run for governor of New Mexico. That's how you stop Trumpism. If he doesn't have Congress he can fulminate all he wants but the legislation he wants to pass will fail and the budgets he needs to finance his schemes won't be available.

The DCCC doesn't do the job. They're incompetent and caught up in the organization's fatally defective ideological DNA that consistently moves them away from progressives and populists and in favor of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. It's how they've managed to lose 70 seats in just the last few years. Pelosi, who originally came from the progressive wing of the party, has bent over backwards to placate conservaDems, so far backwards that she's unbalanced the whole Democratic congressional party in a way that will take a decade to fix. A decade that won't even start until after she and Hoyer are gone-- presuming Crowley and Wasserman Schultz can somehow be stopped from taking over in the post-Pelosi era. People hate this stinking, corrupted establishment. That more than anything is why we have Trump. Yes, more than Comey, more than Putin, more than sexism... people want to overthrow the establishment. Watch this spectacular documentary by Leighton Woodhouse, Trumpland, which will help you understand how Trump could have possibly won:



It didn't have to be Trump. Except for the machinations of a corrupt Democratic establishment, it would have been Bernie. Without Wasserman Schultz and wretched mini-versions of her around the country, Bernie would have won the primary and would have then beaten Trump. That's unprovable-- and plenty of people refuse to believe it. As Michael Sainato wrote in The Observer yesterday, Democratic elites still can’t grasp that Sanders would have won in a landslide. He points out that the "notion that Sanders would have lost to Trump for being too liberal is baseless. Trump won without much support from the Republican establishment, while Clinton touted dozens of elite Republican endorsements, but got nowhere. Trump’s appeal was based on being an outsider. Clinton’s appeal to insiders from both parties repelled many of the voter demographics she needed to win the presidency."

Clinton’s record was filled with scandals and corruption, fueled by her evasive nature. “Crooked Hillary” and “Hillary for Prison” were mantras developed by the right wing that would never have been applied to Sanders, who even Republicans have praised for his integrity.

“I like and respect Bernie Sanders because he is honest, he’s candid,” said Sen. Ted Cruz in an interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball. “We are philosophically different, but Bernie was an honest man,” Sen. John McCain said in an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “I think he’s an authentic guy. I think he’s an honest guy,” 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Jimmy Kimmel Live. On CNN, conservative and former Fox News host Glenn Beck admitted, “Bernie Sanders is at least honest about who he is.”

Sanders is, across the board, respected and revered by his colleagues because he has remained true to his principles, no matter what government agent or corporation disagrees with him. He has the record of bipartisanship needed to bring together both parties, and enact meaningful reforms demanded by a public disenfranchised by a dysfunctional Congress. The words “socialist” and “radical” have been used to describe Sanders in a condescending manner, but those same labels have been used to describe past presidents who brought about significant changes and progress for the United States. Liberal elites still have a difficult time grasping this reality, and remain oblivious as to why Clinton couldn’t beat one of the most unpopular presidential candidates in modern history, wasting $1.2 billion in the process.

The past few years in America have been marred by a dysfunctional government, vast increases in wealth for the richest one percent, and perpetual warfare and threats from abroad. The problems facing the United States today call for revolutionary actions. The Democrats’ answer to that call was to coalesce around Clinton, who embodies the status quo. Voters chose the only other candidate who offered any semblance of challenge to that status quo, Trump-- many based solely on the reasoning that he isn’t Clinton.

Voters were given a choice between the establishment (Clinton), and something new (Trump). However, as a recent MSNBC forum with Sanders revealed, given the ways in which Sanders’ candidacy would have challenged the establishment compared to Trump, many voters would have chosen Sanders. Too bad they weren’t given the chance.

Yes, The Democratic Establishment Dragged Us Into Another Loss, But Why It's Not All Gloom And Doom Around Here

A few years ago Blue America's list of endorsed candidates had the biggest success rate of any PAC recruiting and endorsing candidates. We beat NARAL, the Sierra Club, the Human Rights Campaign and the League of Conservation Voters that year-- not to mention the NRA and Club for Growth. I laughed when I read the stats. Blue America isn't about picking candidates who will make the PAC look good. Blue America is about endorsing and working with the candidates-- like unlikely winners Donna Edwards, Alan Grayson and Elizabeth Warren-- who will fight for the legitimate aspirations of working families.

Last year, for example, we worked hard to elect Eloise Reyes to Congress in the Inland Empire. The DCCC had their own candidate, corrupt conservative Pete Aguilar. Aguilar won-- and promptly joined the New Dems and ran up one of the worst voting records of any Democrat in Congress. ProgressivePunch-- whose CEO argued with me wen I told him how terrible Aguilar would be before the election-- gave him an "F" this year and, according to their algorithm, shows his crucial vote score for his one term to be less progressive than all but 10 Democrats, 2 of whom (reactionary Blue Dogs Gwen Graham and Brad Ashford) are leaving Congress in January. Meanwhile, Eloise took stock of her loss, learned the appropriate lessons from it and one week ago absolutely clobbered one of the most corrupt conservative Democrats in the California state legislature, Chevron Cheryl Brown, beating her decisively and spectacularly catapulting herself into a position where she can do a lot of good for the working families she represents (and who Brown ignored).

Reyes' whip-smart campaign manager, David Keith, told us this morning that she "proved you can be outspent by large margins-- in her case from an enormous corporate super PAC running negative communications against her-- by running an efficient grassroots campaign that communicates to voters what in fact electing the challenger (Eloise) will do for them and their families." We count that as a big Blue America win, even though it isn't something you'll read about in the Washington Post or NY Times or hear about on MSNBC.

Eventually, all the progressive groups came around and endorsed state Senator Pramila Jayapal for an open seat in Seattle and we all worked to raise her the money she would need to win a tough primary and then the general election. Blue America was the first to endorse her and encourage her compelling leadership style and emphasize it to other national progressives, some of whom whined about how it was "unfair" to take sides because the other candidates were good too. Last week Pramila made history, as the first America with South Asian roots to win a congressional seat.

When Nanette Barragán, a small town mayor and environmental activist, decided to take on the entire stinking California Democratic Party establishment by challenging their handpicked conservaDem candidate to fill a deep blue seat in one of Los Angeles' poorest congressional districts, Digby, John and I invited her to dinner, got to know her and Blue America became one of the first national PACs to endorse her and help make her case and raise her the money she needed to beat the "impossible" odds she faced in beating the establishment-- impossible odds she overcame to win a jaw-dropping victory last week.

Blue America didn't look for candidates who were likely to win; we looked for candidates who had a reasonable chance to win-- with help-- but who would be likely to be great legislators. We look forward to seeing Ruben Kihuen (NV), Jamie Raskin (MD), Carol Shea-Porter (NH)-- along with Nanette-- and possibly Doug Applegate (ballots in his tight race against arch-villain Darrell Issa are still being counted today) take eventual leadership roles in a House Democratic minority that sorely lacks cohesive and inspiring leaders.

And this was a good year for Blue America in terms of helping build a progressive, activist Democratic bench on the state legislative level. Aside from Eloise, we helped elect Marcia Ranglin-Vassell and Mike Connolly, both of whom beat powerful, entrenched corrupt Democrats to win seats, respectively in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Stanley Chang-- like Eloise, a 2014 Blue America congressional candidate-- came roaring back this year and beat the last remaining Republican in the Hawaii Senate-- and in the reddest district in Hawaii! Justin Bamberg, our Berniecrat candidate in South Carolina, was reelected and Wenona Benally, another 2014 congressional candidate, introduced to us by Raul Grijalva, won a hard-fought Arizona congressional seat last week. And our Berniecrat legislator in Colorado, Joe Salazar, not only won his state House seat but was already leading the Denver mass anti-Trump protests this weekend.

But before we say thanks for helping make this possible with your generous contributions, I want to point to one more victory-- an old one. When Sheldon Adelson suddenly struck in 2014 in the open CA-33 seat, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into a last minute sneak attack, then-candidate Ted Lieu went to Steve Israel at the DCCC for help in responding. Israel flat out refused-- not one dime, not one nickel to answer Adelson's half million dollar SuperPAC. So Blue America did it instead. (That's the L.A. Times ad we ran twice in the final two weeks of the campaign, above.) Ted won, was elected congressional freshman class president, has been one of the most outspoken and successful bipartisan advocates on a series of crucial issues, from cyber-security to peace and climate change, and this weekend was in the news again, standing up against Trump "crazy shit", urging concerned Americans to follow him in becoming a supporter of the ACLU, while other congressional Democrats just cower in fear or plot personal career advancement. Ted Lieu-- one of Blue America's best ever investments!

So, from the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank the mind-boggling generosity of the Blue America members who gave-- and then gave again and again-- and helped progressive champions get into office when they are needed more than ever. And, fyi, right now we're busier than ever recruiting progressive candidates to run for what could be a really good 2018 cycle.

How It Counts-- A Guest Post From Tom Wakely's Campaign Manager

-by Zack Lyke

“You will not win.” Well, that's awfully nice of you to say the day after the primary (in March). “It can't be done.” Again, thanks for the encouragement. “You're wasting your time.” Thanks, I needed that. “Do you even know what you're up against?”

I was the campaign manager for Tom Wakely's bid against Lamar Smith, and as one of the congressman's constituents for nearly two-thirds of my life, yeah. I knew damn well what I was up against. We all knew what we were up against. Howie and Blue America did, too, but they lent us an ear and believed in our campaign. I thought I'd take the time to not just say thanks or spit out a campaign eulogy, but to really give some insight as to what this year has meant to me.

I had a great conversation about the race with the one full-time staffer / volunteer Tom had in the primary, a fantastic retired letter carrier by the name of Dan Torres, during a Bernie Sanders watch party on the night of the Texas primary (March 1st). I'd always followed the TX-21 race and told Dan should they win I'd be happy to help, despite having very little campaign experience. I voted for Tom since he was the true progressive in the race, but I also knew Tom had been outspent by a factor of sixteen. I wasn't planning on an empty promise, but figured he'd have a tough go of it that Tuesday. Within minutes of the polls closing they called the TX-21 Democratic primary for the man who would get the next eight months of my life.

In the first month I wound up re-designing the logo, literature, website, and wrote the copy for our policy platform. Somewhere in the middle of that Tom asked me to be his campaign manager. Like most progressive campaigns in Texas there was hardly any cash to go around. That wasn't going to put me off, though. I'd long thought since South Austin was lumped into the district in 2012 that if a campaign could exhibit any amount of polish, the people would join the fight. I was in it for the long haul.

From the first week of the general election, there were a few wonderfully insane people who worked with me until the very end and never took a day off. If you'll indulge me for a moment, it's important you know their names because this was far from a solitary effort. Allison Pope became easily one of the best digital directors of the cycle. The campaign social media accounts garnered re-posts from the likes of Jon Cryer and Judd Apatow, we accrued more Twitter followers than Lamar Smith's campaign account, and had an active engagement ratio across all of our platforms that far exceeded many of the DCCC-funded campaigns. She also won a writing contest mid-cycle hosted by Progress Texas and was awarded with a trip to Netroots Nation. She's amazingly talented. Colt Osburn was our field wizard. A former Bernie staffer, he spent all of his downtime making calls into the district along with our volunteers. When he wasn't cutting turfs or learning a new piece of software, he was always on the phone. Given our limited resources, he mounted a GOTV effort that resulted in the most Democratic votes cast against Lamar Smith. Ever. We spent far less than a dollar per vote. He was seemingly always in three places at once, and I'm still not entirely convinced there isn't something supernatural about him. Bryan Naylor was our hitman. Tables and chairs needed setting up at an event? He'd get there early and do it alone. Did a gathering or event need flyers? He'd print them and drive hours across the district to establish a presence. Before you could point him in a direction he'd already be there, working himself to the bone. When large 4x8 signs weren't in our budget, he painted them himself. He was in every space before the rest of the campaign arrived to make sure we'd be good to go. We also had one incredibly gifted summer intern, Emma Eatman, who's already back in D.C. at Howard and interning with the ACLU. She probably regretted at times reaching out to our crazy staff but she was absolutely integral to our team and has remained in touch every day since going back to school. None of these people joined the campaign as political experts, yet before the campaign ended they were already receiving job offers. They trusted me to lead the staff, and it was a true privilege to fight alongside them. I figured you should know a little bit about them, too.

Endorsements were hard-fought. People like winners or at the very least campaigns with full coffers. It's understandable and natural. Labor organizations were on board early given Tom's history, but I wanted the climate groups to know we had their back. Eventually we broke through, earning endorsements from Clean Water Action and Climate Hawks Vote. It was soon after that I was introduced to Howie Klein. I didn't know it when we first spoke, but he'd wind up being an inspirational and driving force for our campaign. The first post I wrote for DownWithTyranny was simply a state of the race. I meant every word. I thought we could win then, and I really do believe there's hope in the future for a progressive to retire Smith. DownWithTyranny gave us our first bit of coverage. People across the country tuned into our race. They began to cheer for us.

Although we never had much monetary support as far as typical congressional campaigns go, the money we did have pouring in from DownWithTyranny posts gave us the opportunity to push our message. We soon had signs, buttons, postcards, flyers, you name it. There was some money for the staff to eat, to pay some bills, to stay in the race. Morale was lifted, and progressive groups across the country began to take a good look at our campaign. We had the resources to travel everywhere and put our retail politics strategy into every corner of the district. Lloyd Doggett was giving us shout outs. We went from the little campaign that shouldn't to the little campaign that could.



Fast forward to later in the fall. Blue America had endorsed us and Howie went dark (as is the law of the land with outside groups and campaigns). I wasn't sure what to expect. With the exception of a check every six weeks from a different labor union, our campaign had little experience with support from outside groups. It wasn't long after that I saw a DownWithTyranny post that had a picture of the mobile billboard truck featuring our campaign. I read that it would be in the district for over two weeks. I was floored. Beyond validation and vindication, there was now physical proof that someone had our back. I recognized the street corner in the photo and realized it was maybe 5 minutes from my home. By the time I got on the road, I encountered the truck driving in the opposite direction. It was right by my old elementary school. I don't use the word surreal very often, but, there it is. I probably followed that truck for a good fifteen minutes. When the truck unexpectedly showed up to a rally we were having with the local AFL-CIO, everyone had to take their picture with it. The staff wouldn't stop smiling. Tom was politely forcing every guest to go look at it. The guests made multiple visits back to where the truck was parked to just stare at it. I don't think I'll forget that day.

Soon thereafter we heard Howie on local talk radio supporting our campaign. The host mentioned the truck and that it was everywhere. The Wakely campaign was finally getting coverage. Texas Public Radio called to do a segment with Tom and block walked in Tom's neighborhood with the campaign. Time Warner Cable News did an interview with Tom in Austin. A poll was released that showed Lamar Smith could be vulnerable due to his obstructionism. Texas Climate News block walked with us. ClimateWire covered our race. More volunteers started showing up. More local clubs began hosting events for us. There were oftentimes too many emails to answer in a single sitting. The day before the election, the Washington Post ran their interview with Tom and their coverage of our race. Breitbart even ran a piece that day on how we subscribed to the “climate orthodoxy” and had launched a “virulent attack” against Smith. The Breitbart piece might have been my personal favorite simply because who doesn't like making those guys mad?

By the end, nobody was telling us that our efforts were in vain. They wanted badly for us to win because they believed in the work we did. People who initially laughed at us were wearing Wakely shirts and singing our praises. For lack of a better word, it was just incredible.

With just a handful of folks and a fistful of cash, we'd already accomplished the unthinkable. We wanted a victory, but campaigns have expiration dates. We didn't have all the time or resources, but we were an unexpected arrival on the national stage and drove focus to an incumbent who's far overstayed his welcome.

We finished with more Democratic votes than any other candidate's received against Smith. In fact, we had the highest raw vote of all the Texas Democrats running against incumbent Republicans in Congress and we did it on less than a dollar per vote. We finished with the best Democratic percentage of any previous campaign against Smith. This was the first time Lamar Smith had finished with less than 60% of the vote.

I could spend another thousand words spinning the numbers, but I'll spare you. My point in all of this is when progressives band together and when people have the guts to work on a true fight for that progress, it doesn't take much to validate their efforts. Oftentimes we're told that the left can't win, the left can't fight, the left can't possibly articulate their issues in the middle of a red state. All it really takes is someone or some group with the guts to be the first to say “Okay, I'm in.” Howie and Blue America stood with us from day one, and our team will never forget it.

Our campaign is proof that you can do amazing things with the right kind of support. I'm honored to have been involved in this campaign and so grateful for everything it's brought me. I'll leave you with a phrase that's popular here in Texas: “Dance with the one that brung ya.” I'm really looking forward to the next dance.

Goin' Mobile-- A More Progressive Congress For 2017?

A few years ago, Alan Grayson suggested we use a mobile billboard-- a truck with billboards mounted on them like the ones on this page-- in a campaign we were doing to help defeat Buck McKeon. Grayson was right about the efficacy of the mobile billboards compared to far more expensive TV advertising... and Blue America has been doing it ever since. (The powerful and entrenched McKeon was thought to be invincible and the DCCC refused to work against him, but he nearly lost and got so scared that he would the next time that he unexpectedly retired and started a lobbying firm.) We have 4 trucks on the road now-- for Carol Shea-Porter in New Hampshire, Tom Wakely in Texas, DuWayne Gregory on Long Island and for Ruben Kihuen in Nevada. The only candidate the DCCC is helping at all is Ruben... mostly because Harry Reid and the Nevada unions are forcing them to. If you'd like to help us expand our fleet of trucks-- we're dying to get one up to Zephyr Teachout's district and one down to Doug Applegate's district (the guy running against Issa)-- please contribute to our IE Committee here (that Independent Expenditure).

Yesterday, Grayson sent out an alert to everyone on his mailing list about our efforts. "in key races around the country," he wrote, "Blue America PAC is sponsoring 'mobile billboards' (trucks) to help progressives win. Would you like to pay for the gas money?"

In elections, there are only two things that matter:

(1) What the voters see, and,
(2) What the voters hear.

(Until, of course, television is replaced by smellovision, and the candidates can appeal to that all-important third sense. With cinnamon, perhaps, or in the case of Donald Trump, eau de skunk.)

In advertising, each time a member of the audience sees or hears something, that’s called an impression. Political advertising, like all advertising, tries to maximize impressions.

TV advertising spots-- seeing and hearing, for 30 seconds-- have completely dominated political “messaging” for a generation now. In fact, one very successful Florida elected official told me that TV ads are “the only thing that matters.”

That very likely was true 40 years ago, when there was CBS, NBC, ABC and very little else. But today, a lot of people aren’t watching TV at all, except maybe for news and sports. (“57 channels and nothing on.”- The Boss.) And for those who still do watch TV, the audience is completely fragmented. The most-watched TV series last year drew precisely 6% of all Americans.

So how does a candidate “deliver the message”? Where are those eyes and ears?

Well, people still see billboards.

Blue America PAC is reaching voters where they live, in their neighborhoods, with “mobile billboards” delivering progressive messages for progressive candidates. Please help this unique national effort-- every dollar counts.

Political media consultants won’t quote you prices “per impression.” Because if they did, candidates would run screaming into the night. A 30-second TV spot can cost more than $1 per targeted voter. Billboards? Less than a penny.

But . . . a regular billboard is seen only by the people who drive by it. If you want to reach a good chunk of the 700,000+ people in a congressional district, you have to go to them. And that is exactly what Blue America PAC is doing, with its national mobile billboard program, for progressive candidates only.

And no one else is doing it. Not the Super PACs. Not the political parties. Not even the candidates themselves.

Most progressive candidates start their campaigns with roughly the same name recognition that they had at birth-- their families know who they are, and very few others. In many House races where the Democratic nominee is a progressive, the voters don’t even know that he or she is a progressive. In fact, unless the candidate has $1 million to spend, most voters don’t even know the candidate’s name.

Blue America PAC is changing that, with its mobile billboards. Please pitch in $15, $40, $75 or more, and help elect true progressive all around America

Courage,
Rep. Alan Grayson

“I can pull up by the curb.
I can make it on the road.
Goin' mobile.
I can stop in any street,
And talk with people that we meet.
Goin' mobile.
Keep me movin'.
Out in the woods,
Or in the city,
It's all the same to me.
When I'm drivin' free,
The world's my home.
When I'm mobile."

-The Who, “Goin’ Mobile” (1971).

The Blue America Trucks Started Rolling Today

Today at 10 AM our first mobile billboard truck rolled down the road; well actually last night it drove into NH-01 so I guess that counts too. I mean, people saw it as the driver made his way to Nashua. We have four of them starting this week, spread out around the country. And the one we deployed for Carol Shea-Porter officially started in Nashua, New Hampshire this morning. The driver told me he's spending most of the day in the Merrimack, most of tomorrow in Bedford. Thurdsay will be Goffstown day and Friday will be his first day in Manchester. And he trucks around on weekends too-- Hookset and Laconia this weekend, for example... Dover and Durham next weekend.

Rockingham County includes 36% of the voters in Carol's district and our truck will spend 7 full days there. And 5 days in Himmsborough County, where 26% of the NH-01 voters live, 4 days in Stafford County, where 19% of the voters live, even a couple days in Belnap County (9% of the voters), etc. This map shows where the truck's driver will concentrate most of his time:

Now, as you may know, I live in Los Angeles, Jacqiue lives in San Leandro up in the Bay Area, John lives in Venice and Digby's in Santa Monica. And we're not legally permitted to discuss the truck with Carol Shea-Porter or her campaign. So... we need advice about where to go... especially if there are any events in that would be good targets for the truck. Any suggestions? Please leave 'em in the comments section.

More great news. The truck in Las Vegas gets on the road in time for the final presidential debate tomorrow. I'm figuring that people in Clark County are going to be excited not just because of the debate tomorrow but because the Las Vegas Sun just endorsed Ruben Kihuen, our candidate. "The opposing candidates in this race," they wrote, "cling to dramatically different values. Cresent Hardy, a Republican from Mesquite, was surprisingly elected to the seat two years ago over incumbent Steven Horsford when lethargic Democratic voters in the very blue district stayed home on Election Day. Previously, Hardy served in the Assembly for two sessions." Yeah... there was that, plus the DCCC's Steve Israel and his racist idea that blacks shouldn't represent white districts. But this cycle, the DCCC isn't ignoring NV-04 and they are supportive of Ruben's campaign and have thus far spent-- along with Pelosi's House Majority PAC-- $2,032,589 on independent expenditures against Cresent Hardy and for Ruben. Back to The Sun:

Hardy had fully supported Trump’s candidacy, then withdrew his backing this month following the release of the tape in which Trump boasted of aggressively groping women. Hardy is sympathetic to Cliven Bundy’s anti-government rants, opposes closing loopholes in background checks, suggests conserving Social Security funds by pushing retirement age to 70 or 75, has voted to defund Planned Parenthood, opposes the immigration-reform bill that won bipartisan support in the Senate and says that if he were still in the Legislature, he would have opposed Gov. Brian Sandoval’s bipartisan education-reform package in 2015.

Kihuen, whose family arrived to the United States when he was 8, was elected to the Assembly when he was 25. He served two terms and has been elected and re-elected to the state Senate, where he now serves.

His positions are essentially the opposite of Hardy’s. Kihuen wants background-check loopholes closed, a ban on the sale of firearms to individuals on no-fly lists, immigration reform with a path to citizenship and an increase in the minimum wage, and he supported Sandoval’s school-reforms package.

We endorse Kihuen for Congress and implore the district’s Democrats to get off their duffs this time and vote.

Yeah, we do too. Please help Blue America keep the trucks for Carol and Ruben-- and for Duwayne on Long Island and Tom in the Austin/San Antonio region of Texas-- on the road through November 8 by contributing what you can here. Blue America members paid for these trucks. Thanks.

Our Fleet Of Trucks... Needs Gas Money

It's that time of year again. Staring tomorrow we have trucks, 2-sided mobile billboards prowling the highways and byways of at least 4 districts with Republican incumbents that we think are flippable. These are the four races:

• NV-04, where we expect Ruben Kihuen to beat NRA patsy Cresent Hardy
• NH-01, where Carol Shea-Porter looks like she can end the political career of dishonest Trumpist Frank Guinta
• NY-02, where Suffolk County legislator DuWayne Gregory is on track to oust right-wing crackpot Peter King
• TX-21, our long-shot race, where Berniecrat Tom Wakely has made tremendous inroad in the San Antonio and Austin suburbs thanks, in great part to the tight bond between Lamar Smith and Donald J. Trump

These four trucks are already in production and the first two-- in New Hampshire and Nevada-- will be on the road Tuesday; Long Island starts Wednesday and Texas starts Thursday. We are asking for some money to keep these four rolling right up until November 8. And... if anyone is feeling flush, we'd like to get trucks on the road against Issa in Orange and San Diego counties, against Pet Meehan in the Philly suburbs and against John Faso in upstate New York (Zephyr Teachout's district). Enough $20 contributions will be great for the gas but trucks will cost around $15,000 each for for a run between now and election day. Fortunately, the Blue America Independent Expenditure Committee can take bigger contributions than is permitted to candidates. If you want to give enough for a truck or for a significant part of a truck and it's for a specific candidate, just let us know by e-mailing me at downwithtyranny@gmail.com/

Our IE Committee ActBlue page is here.

Meanwhile, if you want to help the candidates directly, you can contribute to their campaigns on this page, but remember, none of that money goes for the mobile billboard campaign and none of the I.E. money can be shared with the candidates.

And if you like the thermometer style of contributing... here's the thermometer for our Independent Expenditure Committee; don't be shy. There's no such thing as a "too small" contribution:

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.