How Will Candidates Spend Last Minute Contributions That Come In Today And Tomorrow?

Chamber of Commerce selling America to China

If you've been pumping iron at a Gold's Gym-- or, for that matter, sleeping at an Omni Hotel-- you've helped pay for thousands and thousands of vicious and distorted attack ads against progressive champion Alan Grayson and for narrow-minded religious fanatic Daniel Webster in Orlando. The owner of both, Texas billionaire and right-wing fanatic Robert Rowling, has been pumping millions of dollars into Karl Rove's shady American Crossroads operation whose sole purpose is to take over Congress on behalf of the richest 2 or 3% of Americans... like Rowling. American Crossroads has raised more than $65 million as of Monday, $30 million of which has already been spent on 14 Senate and 18 House races, according to the Federal Election Commission. Grayson and other vulnerable progressives in tight races are among their key targets. Grayson's Orlando district is awash with shady but legal corporate cash and illicit foreign money targeting his reelection bid. The special interests want him out more than anyone else. He's too effective and too inspiring for the elites who run the country to be able to tolerate him, no matter what it costs.

On Tuesday alone, Rove's two corporate and billionaire-funded money machines, American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS spent $6.1 million attacking Democrats in 11 House races and 4 Senate races. The 2 biggest expenditures Tuesday were against Senator Patty Murray in Washington ($1,040,427) and Alexi Giannoulias in Illinois ($1,025,203) but while much of the rest was spent against Blue Dogs like Heath Shuler and Joe Donnelly, Rove also hit progressives Maurice Hinchey ($268,546) and Colleen Hanabusa ($76,195). As OpenSecrets pointed out, "his year’s federal election will obliterate spending records for a midterm contest, surpassing the previous high-water mark set in 2006 by about $1 billion... enough cash to run the city of Pittsburgh for two years. "

Identifiably conservative organizations are spending more than $2 on advertisements and other communications for every $1 liberal organizations do. While corporations are behind much of this money, many of these companies have skirted public scrutiny by laundering their cash through intermediary organizations, which often sport nondescript names and don’t immediately, if ever, reveal who funds them.

...Throughout most of last year, health care-related industries favored Democratic candidates and committees in their political giving. As Democrat Barack Obama entered the White House in January 2009, people and political action committees associated with the health sector that month donated about two-thirds of their federal-level contributions to his partisan brethren. The sector continued to favor Democrats for most of the year.

Suddenly, in January, the trend flipped-- just as Democrat-led health care reform legislation began to near final passage. In each month since, health interests have donated more money to federal-level Republican candidates and committees. And in September, a preliminary analysis of campaign finance filings by the Center indicates that the health sector donated more than 60 percent of its political money to the GOP-- by far, the greatest percentage of the 2010 election cycle.

A similar shift took place among Wall Street-related industries, which also dramatically shifted their donation patterns toward Republicans while Democratic-led financial reform legislation-- unpopular among many banks and financial firms-- coursed through Congress.

As recently as March 2009, Democrats enjoyed 63 percent of these industries’ campaign dollars. By September, the Center’s preliminary analysis finds, that figure had more than reversed itself, with 67 percent of Wall Street-related industries’ cash going to federal-level Republican interests.

...Small donors have the potential to give candidates a booster shoot of cash, as people who donate to a candidate, regardless of the amount donated, become invested in a candidate’s success.  And political candidates on the right and left have attempted to tap the enthusiasm of donors who contribute $200 or less-- political pocket change-- this season.

Some politicians rolling in the dough from small donors are Tea Party favorites, such as Florida Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio, Nevada Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), the chairwoman of the House Tea Party Caucus. Others are liberal firebrands, such as freshman Rep. Alan Grayson known for his YouTube-friendly rhetorical torrents against Republicans.

With nearly $4 billion already spent on the midterms is it still possible to have an impact with late contributions-- like today? I asked some of the candidates and their campaign staffers if there was anything they could do with last minute money that would make it worthwhile. Here are some of the responses:

Wednesday Justin Coussoule was on TV with Ed Schultz again and more donations came flooding in. Alleia Phipps manages Justin's grassroots effort in southwestern Ohio against John Boehner. "Just today," she told us, "I was able to book another 15K in media across the 8th District. While that may not sound like a lot to those in large media markets, we are able to purchase morning radio for as little as 4, 7 and 11 dollars each! A television spot in either market (Dayton or Cincinnati) can be purchased for $50 on cable with nightly news running about $1500.

Every penny we raise goes straight to media and I have our media reps on my blackberry ready to add more!

And I have to say, I do feel better and better about Justin's race knowing as we add media, so is Boehner! His campaign bought more just minutes after we did!"

I also spoke with Beth Krom, the savvy and intrepid Democrat taking on radical right Orange County Republican John Campbell.

The money that comes into campaigns between now and election day can allow campaigns to reach voters through a variety of mediums which drive GOTV efforts. Whether those resources underwrite enhanced media buys to get produced ads up on the air, or pays for professional literature drops to supplement volunteer efforts, I can think of no campaign that would not be able to effectively deploy contributions. The truth is that most campaigns commit dollars before they are raised and depend on a steady stream of contributions through election day to get their message out. We are continuing to raise in our race to end on the strongest note possible-- and have already committed to an additional mailing which those dollars will help to underwrite. Like it or not, campaigns must run like a business. That means raising the capital necessarily to effectively market the candidate. It’s not an easy proposition, and nothing is more frustrating than finding yourself with a great candidate and a great message, but lacking the financial resources to fully execute.

Lainey Edmisten is the campaign manager for Billy Kennedy's race against hate merchant Virginia Foxx in northwestern North Carolina. She answered the question very succinctly: "50% of the voters in our race have yet to hear Billy's name. 30% are still undecided. Of the folks who have seen our ads, they break our way. We have yet to go on network." Billy's campaign get's really specific about how supporters in the district can help over the next few days at that link half a sentence back. Blue America is running cable TV spots in this race and every cent that comes in on this page goes right up on the air immediately. Same for Justin Coussoule's race at this page.

Colin, who's managing Ann Kuster's surging campaign in New Hampshire has definite plans for late donations to the campaign. "In a tied race like ours, our campaign is scouring our polling and field data to find small pockets of voters that we can turnout to give our candidate the edge-- a few hundred, or a few thousand people who share particularly demographic or geographic traits that make them likely supporters. Donations by Friday at midnight can get one final piece of mail to them. Donations by Sunday at midnight can fund a ‘tele-town hall’ where we call 10,000 or 20,000 voters and put them on a professionally-managed conference call with the candidate to hear her pitch and ask questions. And donations by midnight Monday can be spent on the kind of last-minute ‘Google Surge’ advertising that helped Scott Brown defeat Martha Coakley in Massachusetts last winter."

The Blue America-backed progressive running against Wall Street shill Leonard Lance in New Jersey's 7th CD, Ed Potosnak, has outlined several plans he has for last minute contributions and he's put together an impressive Google ad initiative. "I am in a statistical dead heat with my opponent and engaged in an aggressive campaign," he reminds us. $10,000 today would allow me to beef up efforts currently underway in online advertising and voter outreach. My message has already been viewed 2,000,000 times and we have a goal to get another 10,000,000 impressions. Your contribution now will allow me to maintain this aggressive push and increase the number of times my ads are viewed by voters. Online advertising is an increasingly effective way to persuade voters and get them to the polls."

Kristopher Daams and Katie Mantz at Bill Hedrick's campaign here in Southern California will also make good use of whatever last minute contributions come in. "Probably the most effective way to use the money for GOTV would be to purchase minutes on a predictive dialer that increases the volume of GOTV phone calls a campaign can make (a predictive dialer is like this computer system that dials the telephone number automatically, increasing volume). Those calls can go out to 'lazy' Democrats who don't normally vote in midterm elections."

Fred Johnson's campaign manager, Lance Penny, tells me "If we got $500 - $1000 we'd like to put up a radio ad in Grand Haven. This is a town on the Lake Michigan shoreline that went blue for the first time in decades in 2008. It is loaded with first time voters from 2008, and will be key to our outcome. We'd love to run a GOTV centered ad on radio, to get these voters out. I can record a spot on a moment's notice, and have it on air later the same day. We could also do this in a number of other similar towns along the lakeshore, for about the same money in each town. It's not too late!"

Joyce Elliott's campaign manager, John Whiteside, also got back to me with a plan-- and a new ad (below). "It is definitely not too late to help our campaign as we enter the home stretch. Money you give today will immediately help us towards our television media buy which will be closing with the new advertisement. In addition, money given today and tomorrow will help us stay up with a strong presence on radio, internet, and our Get out the Vote volunteer and paid phone operations. We know the national folks have overlooked our race and we are grateful that the opposition has underestimated the strength of our candidate and the true progressive nature of our district. I can tell you Joyce Elliott's race is one of the best kept secrets in the country and it's a shame because she is one of the most talented and well qualified candidates in the country. We know we are going to win on Tuesday and we will be forever grateful for your help in these late stages and we will always remember those who stood with us."

You can donate today to the Blue America candidate of your choice on our House page or on our Senate page. The money won't be wasted.

Washington DC... What A Place! Somebody Should Clean It Up, Don't You Think?

Unlike the DCCC, we'll forgo the second clause

When John Amato was getting ready for his meeting with President Obama at the White House yesterday, I gave him some advice. I suggested he ask the President why he keeps giving dangerous Wall Street Paul Ryan public blowjobs (but to figure out a less colloquial way of putting it). He says he would have if he had one more question. And I told him he look up Dan Pfeiffer, one guy in the White House who always seems to have his head screwed on right, while everyone else was trying to kiss up to bigger name players like Axelrod. And, I'm happy to say that Amato did bond with Pfeiffer and even gave him an autographed copy of his new book, Over The Cliff. Just before he sat down with Amato, Pfeiffer blogged at HuffPo about the motivation of the billionaires who are pouring money into the Republican campaign coffers.

Last week, as special interest billionaires continued to pour secret donations of millions of dollars each into front groups supporting Republicans, we asked the obvious question: "What do they expect in return?"

Today we found out they're already drawing up the plans. Washington lobbyists are lining up cash to help Republicans in Congress repeal Wall Street reform, repeal health care reform and go back to the same policies that led to this mess. The New York Times describes the blitz of meetings between Republicans in Congress and Washington lobbyists.

...This should come as no surprise given the track record of Congressional Republicans over the past two years. Rather than listen to the American people, Congressional Republicans have repeatedly shown their loyalty to these special interests by retreating behind closed doors to strategize with their lobbyists on the most critical issues for the American people.

On Wall Street reform, Congressional Republicans didn't listen to the millions of Americans who lost their homes and savings as a result of the financial crisis. Instead, House Republicans teamed up with Wall Street lobbyists to try to defeat the bill, and Senate Republicans leaders traveled to New York City to meet with Wall Street executives and hedge fund managers to discuss their opposition to the legislation and solicit campaign contributions. In fact, right after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell got back from that trip, he announced that Senate Republicans would not support the bill providing the toughest consumer financial protections in history.

On health insurance reform, Congressional Republicans didn't listen to the stories of Americans who cannot afford insurance or have been denied coverage for pre-existing conditions. Instead, House Republicans introduced an "alternative" bill that borrowed proposals from health insurance companies, and before any of the Senate committees had even begun working on health reform legislation, Senate Republican leaders met with health care lobbyists in an effort to "recruit stakeholders to oppose" important Democratic proposals.

See why I wanted Amato to get to know Pfeiffer. Still, I bet Pfeiffer wouldn't appreciate a little tangent I need to take. I'm setting up a story for right after the election. And this piece of the story stands on it's own even before I tie the ends together and weave it into a narrative. Pfeiffer-- and his bosses at the White House-- want us to think about the big corporate money flowing into the GOP. So do I. It's repulsive and makes our democracy into an auction and a shame. This morning Thom Hartmann was on the radio talking about the original Supreme Court case (and the slimy right-wing Supreme Court clerk) from which this whole farce about corporate personhood was foisted on the country. It was at the root of the hundreds of millions of dollars a handful of billionaires, corporations and foreign powers are buying this year's elections for the Republican Party. However, it isn't-- and what ever is?-- all one-sided. The Democrats, alas, can be nearly as corrupt as the Republicans given half a chance. More about that after the election. Now let's take a little look at Arkansas' two viable House races.

The two seats are open, AR-1 and AR-2, because alcoholic reactionary Blue Dog Marion Berry and moderate Vic Snyder are both retiring. AR-1 gave Obama just 38% of its vote in 2008, the worst among the 3-Democratic-held House seats in Arkansas. AR-2 was the best-performing district in the state for Obama-- 44%. Neither incumbent had been challenged by the GOP in 2008 but in 2006 both incumbents won landslide victories. That was the background. Now to the meat of the matter.

Both Democratic candidates, conservative Chad Causey (AR-1) and progressive Joyce Elliott (AR-2) had tough primaries and both are on the DCCC Red to Blue list. Causey is a DC inside player, the chief of staff for Berry (who has been drunk for a decade-- which accounts for why all the other insider players know him so well; Causey has been running the show for Berry). Like Berry, Causey is an ultra-conservative Democrat, the right fringe of the Blue Dogs. Should he be elected, he can be expected to oppose anything that is in the slightest but helpful to working families and to vote as much with Boehner and the GOP as with the Republicans... in fact, it's likely that on key contested matters he will vote far more freuqnetly with the GOP. The Democrat in the other district, Joyce Elliott, is an actual Democrat, motivated by the values and ideals elucidated by Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. She's the Arkansas Senate Majority Leader-- running against slimy Karl Rove protégé Tim Griffin-- with a distinguished career of service on behalf of ordinary Arkansas families. If she wins this election she will make history as the first African-American woman to ever be elected to a federal office in the state of Arkansas.

Like I said, both were added to the DCCC's once vaunted, lately moribund, Red to Blue program. Causey has benefited mightily. In fact, his campaign has gotten more financial support, as of today, than any Democrat-- more than any incumbent and more than any challenger. So far the DCCC has put $1,760,297.20 in I.E.s into his race. And Joyce Elliott? Nothing-- not a dime, not a nickel... nothing.

Recently Nancy Pelosi sent word to the DCCC that they shouldn't spend all their money on supporting candidates who don't support the Democratic agenda and that they should use at least some of it to support candidates who do support the agenda. That comes from several progressive campaigns. The DCCC-- whose ineffectual chairman, Chris Van Hollen is also Pelosi's "Special Assistant"-- essentially ignored the Speaker. Why? That's the story I want to tell after the election. But keep the Arkansas piece of the puzzle in mind, ok? Oh-- and if you want to help Joyce Elliott, you'll find her at the Blue America '10 page.

It's Late October-- So It's A Time For Goblins, Goons And Griffins... I Mean Caging

No, caging isn't what Alaska extremist Joe Miller does to journalists who ask him tough questions. That's handcuffing. Caging is one of the things-- there are many-- that elites do to hold down voter participation in elections, because, of course, there are lots of regular folks and only a few multimillionaires and if we vote, they're more likely to lose. One of the books I never tire of sharing is Thom Hartmann's Threshold and, yes, he has a great explanation of caging.

[T]he Republican Party has devised dozens of ways to prevent people from voting, particularly in largely Democratic regions. They engage in "caging"-- a practice the Republican Party has been under court order to stop for more than two decades but regularly ignores-- where they mail letters to people's homes and if enclosed cards aren't returned or if the original envelope is returned, they can challenge the voter at the polls, forcing them to vote on a "provisional ballot," which is usually not counted. They have passed laws in more than a half-dozen states (the most infamous in Indiana, which was the subject of a Supreme Court case that upheld this Republican practice) that say that a voter's registration must exactly match his driver's license or Social Security records. Thus, because I'm registered to vote as Thomas C. Hartmann but my driver's license says "Thomas Carl Hartmann," a Republican poll challenger in Indiana could, if he thought I looked like a Democrat (a criterion that's often skin-color or age related) or lived in a heavily Democratic area, prevent me from voting on a real ballot and force me to a provisional ballot.

The British Broadcasting Corporation documented in a TV news special in October 2008 how more than three million Americans had shown up at the polls in the 2004 elections thinking they were registered to vote, only to be turned away or forced to use a provisional ballot. Because of aggressive Republican efforts in the following four years, estimates of disenfranchised voters in the 2008 election run from seven million to ten million. In Colorado, for example, the BBC reported that in 2008, even after a massive voters registration drive by the Democratic Party, fewer people were registered to vote than in 2004 because of the voter-purging efforts of two successive Republican secretaries of state.

Rove's point person on voter caging during the Bush Regime was a sleazy Arkansas lawyer named Tim Griffin, who Rove had placed in a U.S. Attorney job in Little Rock, where he further disgraced himself and was forced to resign. Needless to say, he's among the flotsam and jetsam the teabagger faux-- though well financed-- movement has puked up this year. He's running for an open House seat in Little Rock (AR-2)-- and he's running against Blue America backed Joyce Elliott. Yesterday Brad Friedman looked at how the voter caging scandal had largely escaped media scrutiny-- until now.

it's nice to see a bit of in-depth coverage of issues that actually matter from local news reporters for a change. Here's Melissa Sims of KARK 4 News in Arkansas last night, on the vote caging of Tim Griffin, the Karl Rove protege installed as U.S. Attorney without Senate confirmation by the Bush Administration during their infamous U.S. Attorney purge.

Griffin's vote-caging dirty work for the Bush Regime in 2004 was originally reported on by Greg Palast working on the BBC special referenced by Hartmann above. There's little doubt that Griffin should have been prosecuted and punished for his criminal behavior. Yesterday Palast was writing about Griffith again.

"What he [Griffin] did was absolutely illegal and he should be in jail."

That's hardly the kind of endorsement a candidate for Congress expects. But that is the conclusion of voting rights attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after digging into the evidence of Congressional candidate Tim Griffin's role in directing the Republican National Committee's (RNC) racially biased attack on voters known as "caging."

A brutal mano-a-mano race in Arkansas' Second District has become a showdown between Sarah Palin's banner carrier Griffin (funded by SarahPAC) and Democrat Joyce Elliott, who has drawn homeboy Bill Clinton back to Little Rock.
The ex-president, in Arkansas this week, was especially worked up about Griffin's caging list, vote suppression scheme. (Our Good Ol' Boy in Chief told me back in 2008 he would bust out the story, and it only took him two years to do the right thing, a personal best for Bill.)

Here's how caging à la Griffin works: In 2004, Griffin and the Bush re-election committee sent letters to Democratic voters marked "do not forward." Griffin seemed especially interested in sending notes to active duty soldiers sent overseas, especially soldiers of color. When the letters to the servicemen were returned to the RNC as "undeliverable," the Bush crew would then challenge the soldiers' absentee ballots as fraudulent. In other words: Go to Iraq, lose your vote. Mission accomplished.

This past Monday, the local NBC TV affiliate's news anchor, Melissa Simas, confronted Griffin on air about his using caging to challenge the votes of black soldiers on active duty overseas. Griffin, pathetically, tried to paint his "Tim Crow" operation as patriotic.

In June 2007, our BBC "Newsnight" team disclosed that US federal prosecutor David Iglesias was fired because, he told us, the Griffin/Rove/Bush crew wanted him to arrest innocent people for voting fraud. He refused and he was fired. Seven other prosecutors, most of them Republicans, were also dismissed for failure to pursue a phony "voter fraud" investigations which would justify the RNC's caging operation.

One of these resistant prosecutors who chose integrity over politics, Bud Cummins of Little Rock, was replaced with Griffin himself.

The day after BBC broadcast our exposé, Griffin resigned as US prosecutor, literally in tears, blaming "that British reporter" for his downfall. Mr. Griffin, I'm not British, I'm as American as apple pie and post-imperial warfare.

The race in Little Rock has come down to a slugfest between a 30 year veteran teacher of public schools and one of the sleaziest lowlifes to ever emerge from the bowels of Rove's dirty tricks menagerie. Character is an issue-- and if it turns into the dominant issue, Griffin is going to lose this race despite prevailing trends. In a debate Monday Griffin actually tried blaming his colleagues from the Bush Regime for his bad reputation. "The Bush administration mishandled that entire episode,” Griffin said. “It doesn’t take away from the fact that I was proud to be asked and proud to serve" and at the debate he told the audience that his consideration for his wife, then pregnant, lead to his resignation, as well as his belief that he would not receive a fair trial.

The Fight To Save Social Security Starts... Again

Yesterday Blue America and the Americans For America PAC launched the first in a series of ads meant to emphasize what's real at stake if the GOP takes over again after the midterm elections. If you missed it yesterday, take a look at the video today. As you see, John Boehner addressed the long held Republican Party (and conservative) dream of dismantling Social Security. This morning a coalition of 60 groups representing over 30 million Americans launched a campaign specifically meant to strengthen Social Security, not weaken it as Boehner, the GOP (and some conservative Democrats) hope to do.

Richard Trumka (AFL-CIO), Gerald McEntee (AFSCME), Justin Ruben (MoveOn.org), Dennis Van Roekel (NEA), Eliseo Medina (SEIU), Terry O'Neill (NOW), Donna Meltzer (Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities), Hilary Shelton (NAACP), and Ed Coyle (Alliance for Retired Americans) held a press conference this morning at the National Press Club to announce the new campaign. With some serious indications-- like Obama's reactionary nominees to the panel-- that the his fiscal commission is considering recommending that Congress cut Social Security benefits, these groups are launching a major new campaign to push back and demand that Congress not make any benefit cuts. New polling shows massive public support for members of Congress who support strengthening, not cutting, Social Security. I love this video they put out to get the truth before the public:



This campaign fits right in with Blue America's campaigns this year. All of our endorsed candidates are running against Republicans who want to dismantle Social Security. It's not just Boehner; Michele Bachmann, Tim Griffin, Ken Calvert, Virginia Foxx, John Campbell and the gaggle of idiots running against Alan Grayson in Florida and Fred Johnson in Michigan all want to see Social Security shrivel and die. Our candidates are committed to saving it, no matter what compromises Obama and Hoyer are willing to make. I called Joyce Elliott, the Majority Leader of the Arkansas state Senate and a tireless champion of working families who opposes Tim Griffin's ideas about dismantling Social Security. This afternoon she told me that "Social Security has been a sacred covenant that America made with its greatest generations. As we approach the 75th anniversary of its founding, we are reminded of the benefits Social Security offers to many Americans and the future generations that stand to gain from its promise. Since 1935, it has been the right of every American to work hard and save for the future. We should ensure that they receive the benefits they have earned over a lifetime of employment. Now, more than ever, it is critical that Social Security be preserved. The economic climate has proven to be unpredictable at best, but Social Security has provided financial stability to Americans who need it most. There are over 620,000 people in Arkansas that depend on Social Security to provide for themselves and their loved ones. We should commit ourselves to protecting Social Security for not only ourselves, but also our children and grandchildren. As the next Congresswoman for Arkansas’s 2nd District, I will always stand up to honor and protect this commitment we have made to our most important citizens."

CREW Reveals The Most Corrupt Candidates Of The Cycle

Yesterday CREW unveiled its nonpartisan list of this year's worst crooks running for election. "CREW's Crooked Candidates, the write, "highlights 11 candidates with scandal-littered pasts and histories of questionable ethics [and] focuses on office-seekers who have engaged in unethical and, in one case, even criminal conduct. Their misdeeds range from quid pro quo schemes to abusing state office for the benefit of friends and donors, to an obscenity charge. I don't understand how Ken Calvert, who even Fox thinks is the most corrupt member of Congress missed the Top 11, but I was happy to see CREW brave enough to go after crooked Democratic Rep.-- and Senate candidate-- Kendrick Meek, who many so-called "good government" types have let slide because he's vaguely progressive in his voting record. But, of course, most of the perps are egregiously corrupt Republicans like Roy Blunt (R-MO), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Dino Rossi (R-WA). How they missed David Rivera (R-FL) is troubling.

I'd like to focus on one of the worst of CREW's worst miscreants: Arkansas congressional candidate, Timothy Griffith, who has been discussed before in these pages. CREW's carefully researched report on the corporate Republican shill running in AR-02 (Little Rock) for the seat being given up by Democrat Vic Snyder:

Mr. Griffin was a former aide to and protégé of notorious political operative Karl Rove. In the 2004 presidential election, Mr. Griffin was the research director of the RNC where he may have spearheaded Republican vote caging efforts, a legally questionable direct mail campaign to disenfranchise poor, minority and military voters.

Mr. Griffin was most prominently touched by scandal when he was picked to replace a U.S. Attorney in Arkansas who, despite being highly regarded, had been asked to resign. Emails between the Justice Department and the White House revealed that despite his lack of prosecutorial experience, the selection of Mr. Griffin was personally important to Mr. Rove. Knowing that he would never pass muster at a Senate confirmation hearing, Mr. Griffin was appointed interim U.S. Attorney for an indefinite time period under a misused, emergency provision of the PATRIOT Act.

Mr. Griffin resigned effective June 1, 2007, after less than six months on the job and in the midst of an investigation by the House Judiciary Committee into the political motivations behind the U.S. Attorney scandal.

One of Blue America's most important endorsements this year is Arkansas Senate Majority Leader Joyce Elliott, an outstanding progressive champion of working families, who's running for Snyder's old seat-- with Snyder's full and enthusiastic blessing. Blue America endorsed her and if you'd like to contribute to her campaign, you can do it here at our ActBlue page. Last night I reached out to a campaign spokesperson we had heard about CREW's bombshell.

It certainly should give the voters of Arkansas pause to know that a person like Tim Griffin, who by his own words is running to clean up Washington, has a record of such unethical behavior that he would be named to a top ten list of "the most corrupt and unethical candidates vying for federal office in 2010."  To be named to a bi-partisan list of the most unethical candidates running for office in 2010, is certainly not the type of bi-partisan record of accomplishment that voters in Arkansas will reward in November.

Joe Barton Sticking His Oily Fingers Into Arkansas Politics

Tools: Barton & Griffin

Our friends at Blue Arkansas have started looking closely at who's been financing Karl Rove protégé, Tim Griffin, in his bid to take over Vic Snyder's congressional seat in central Arkansas. And they found something very interesting, a shady outfit called the Texas Freedom Fund has contributed a grand towards Griffin's campaign. It didn't take much digging for Blue Arkansas to figure out who and what the Texas Freedom Fund is.

If you've been following the news lately, you couldn't possibly have missed the dustup over Congress' most oily member, Joe Barton (R-TX). Turns out he's the sole owner of the Texas Freedom Fund and he uses it to funnel vast sums of cash from Big Oil executives and lobbyists into competitive campaigns around the country, particularly into campaigns where filthy oil money might prove embarrassing to the recipients. Now, keep in mind that Barton has taken more money from Big Oil than any other member of the House-- by far: $1,447,880, so far. And after his performance last week, apologizing to B.P. for being made to clean up their mess in the Gulf, there's every reason to believe that his own personal gusher will keep flowing strongly. As the Ranking Member of the House Energy Committee he is in a position to make sure the Oil Industry's agenda becomes official policy.

So who's this Griffin character Barton is so dead set on getting into Congress? Many of us first became familiar with Griffin around the time of the 2000 election when he worked as an opposition research director for Bush. His job, to smear Al Gore, was covered in Peter Marshall's BBC documentary Digging the Dirt, and viewers got the impression, which over the years has proven correct, that he is one of the slimiest and least trustworthy rogues to mount the political stage in our lifetime. After serving on the Florida Recount Commission that helped steal the election for Bush, he was appointed a Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General, Michael Chertoff, then when back into opposition research for Bush's reelection bid-- two years before the election-- and then became an aide to Karl Rove in the White House. Eventually Rove was able to force Arkansas US Attorney Bud Cummins to resign and to replace him with Griffin. Griffin, considered the sleaziest appointment in the entire Bush Regime, was never confirmed by the Senate, served on an interim basis and was eventually pushed aside when he became too embarrassing even for the Bush people.

The folks and Blue Arkansas are hoping to raise the money to match Barton's $1,000 for the progressive challenger running for the seat, Joyce Elliott. Joyce was endorsed by Blue America even before she won her tough primary race against a conservative Democrat and we would be eager to help her win this seat regardless of who the Republican opposition was. The fact that it's someone as disreputable and as utterly unfit to hold public office as Tim Griffin only makes us even more determined. So... we'd like to encourage anyone who wants to help to toss a donation into the pot. At this ActBlue page you'll find a slot for Joyce-- as well as for other Blue America-backed candidates who are being targeted by Joe Barton and his oily corporate polluters with big bucks for Republicans. Barton wrote a check from the Texas Freedom Fund for $4,000 for Ken Calvert, $2,000 for Dennis Ross, and for $5,000 for Charlie Bass, conservatives running against Bill Hedrick in California, Doug Tudor in Florida and Ann Kuster in New Hampshire. Today everyone who makes a contribution to all three candidates-- Joyce Elliott, Bill Hedrick, Doug Tudor, and Ann Kuster, will get a Blue America thank you CD and one winner will be drawn randomly to win an autographed book-- This Moment on Earth by John and Teresa Kerry. (The hardcover book was signed for us by both of them.) Again, here's the page to make your contribution.

Yesterday we got a letter from Ann Kuster's campaign warning us that Barton was in New Hampshire this month campaigning for Charlie Bass and that Bass-- another outrageous corporate toady himself-- prasied him as “a man of energy, integrity-- a good friend and great Congressman.” Ann doesn't see it quite the same way. " I couldn’t disagree more with Congressman Barton’s words, or with the long pro-oil voting record that Congressmen Bass and Barton have racked up in their combined 38 years in Congress... As your congresswoman, I will end tax breaks for big oil companies; be a voice of caution against expanding offshore drilling and using taxpayer dollars to subsidize nuclear power; stand proudly with environmental leaders; and invest in the renewable energy technologies that create jobs here in New Hampshire."



Democratic Candidates Have Taken Note

Natalie Mosher is a progressive grassroots activists running for the seat currently held by Thaddeus McCotter, a member of Boehner's leadership team. McCotter is thought to be vulnerable this year and he's running around looking for cash. He took some from the highly toxic Texas Freedom Fund. Natalie is now insisting he give it back.

“Big Oil thought they could launder a political contribution to McCotter through Joe Barton's PAC and get away with it. Well BP, Barton and McCotter need to know that it's not just me that has an eagle-eye on their underhanded campaign fund raising, both Republicans and Democrats are sick of the Washington games that career politicians are playing. I'm going to stand up for people in this election and I won't back down from telling the ugly truth about what McCotter's up to in Washington,” said Mosher.
 
Mosher went on to point out that as the Chairman of the Republican House Policy Committee he has the ability to lead by example on BP and Big Oil's stranglehold on the Republican Party.
 
“The extremist Republicans in Washington should be scared of their collectively cozy relationship with Big Oil and what it will cost them at the polls in November. As a member of the Republican leadership in Washington, McCotter should lead by example and return Big Oil's money. To do anything less would be signal McCotter's official stamp of approval on the reckless practices that have led to the largest and most economically devastating oil spill in American history. For someone who prides himself an intellectual and a history buff, McCotter sure has acted like a dunce on this one,” concluded Mosher.

Blue America Was Successful Last Tuesday In Arkansas-- And I Don't Mean Symbolically; Our Candidate Won

Just about one year ago to the day, John, Digby, Jacquie and D-Day were scurrying to put together our Blanche Lincoln ad campaign. It was a very homemade affair, the first 3 ads being produced by Digby in John's kitchen. 862 donors contributed $33,753 and Blue America kicked in another $70,000. The average donation was just over $39.00. We ran those ads-- and a fourth one we made later-- all summer, fall and winter and stopped running them as soon as the big labor unions came in with their candidate-- and bankrolls. We didn't stop because we necessarily had anything against Lt. Gov. Bill Halter-- more about that below-- but because we felt our mission was accomplished. We had driven Blanche's approval ratings down drastically, especially in the 8 counties across from Memphis which are crucial for Democrats in statewide races. Our ads let the voters there know that although Blanche Lincoln called herself a Democrat, she was voting with the GOP for the corporate special interests and not in the interest of Arkansas' working families the way Democrats are supposed to. I know, I know; it's an old fashioned supposition (as Blanche started proving again, immediately after she was declared the winner of the runoff).

Anyway within moments of Bill Halter declaring his candidacy I did two things-- added him to the PAC's Send the Democrats A Message They Can Understand page (on which 161 donors contributed $4,673.75 directly to Halter For Senate); and I called his office to invite him to participate in a Blue America live blogging session at Crooks & Liars, which is how we introduce our candidates to our readers and donors. We invited him half a dozen times and got various excuses over the next couple of months. He never came on and never got in the phone either. We never had any idea if he fit any of the Blue America criteria for an endorsement. So we never endorsed him.

Did he believe in campaign finance reform? Was he solid on Choice? How would he stand when it came to corporate special interests vs working families? Afghanistan? Equality for gays? The environment? We never got any answers. Instead I got a call from an old and trusted friend, Lara Bergthold who had worked closely with Halter in the Wes Clark campaign. She told me that as bad as Lincoln is-- and she agreed that Blanche is a nightmare, Halter would be no improvement and, in fact, could be even worse. That gave me pause. Lara worked on a guest post on March 2. On June 7, she was interviewed along the same lines in the NY Times and made it clear that, from her perspective, Halter was no progressive.

Ms. Bergthold, who spent weeks in 2003 working with Mr. Halter on Gen. Wesley K. Clark’s presidential campaign, said Mr. Halter had been among the most conservative voices in the room, even pooh-poohing the importance of meeting with labor unions and other key segments of the Democratic base.

Now, Ms. Bergthold worries that the groups that have poured millions of dollars into his campaign might not know what they are getting. Compared with Mrs. Lincoln, a senator for 12 years, Mr. Halter is a political cipher, with no voting record and several chapters of his history unexamined.

“I don’t like to see him turned into a progressive darling on the national stage when I know him to be something different,” Ms. Bergthold said. “He’s a political opportunist.”

By then Blue America had long made a decision to "root" for Blanche to lose and leave it at that. Instead we saw a real opportunity for progressive governance and we jumped on it. Back when I was first looking for an alternative to Blanche-- and when Halter had personally assured me he would not be running-- virtually everyone I spoke with in the state told me the most progressive voice in state government was a Little Rock senator, Joyce Elliott, but that she would be unlikely to go up against Blanche and the Democratic Machine, something that would end a promising political career.

And then moderate Democrat Vic Snyder, the congressman who represented the 2nd CD, which includes all of Joyce's senatorial district, suddenly decided to retire. Every progressive in the state wanted to see her run, although there was almost immediately a crowded field-- of conservative-leaning white men. In January Blue Arkansas really introduced Joyce to outsiders like myself, calling her the "the one candidate that really thrills me":

Senator Elliott is an excellent representative and a great progressive, but there are reasons to question her ability to win this district, and we all know why-race and ideology. The second was President Obama’s best district in Arkansas, but he still lost it by nine points. There is of course deep seated racism and reluctance to vote for African American candidates in some segments of Arkansas, even among so called Democrats, and the Republicans have a top tier recruit in Tim Griffin. Then you have to factor in sourness towards Obama and national Democrats found heavily in Arkansas, a product of both the President’s indifference to connecting to voters here and of our Democratic establishment refusal to respect voters by talking to them like adults and their cowardly refusal to stand up to the teabaggers and the rest of the rabid right. It’s all plenty of reason to give any of us pause when considering such a promising progressive as Elliott.

In the end Blue Arkansas endorsed her and fought hard for her. She won the first round of the 5-way primary, beating her closest opponent, arch conservative House Speaker Robbie Wills 39.6- 27.9%. Blue America endorsed her immediately, started raising funds for her and had her over to Crooks & Liars for a live session. Wills' campaign was basically to have his surrogates repeat over and over that an African-American could not win in November and that if she were nominated she would be beaten by the execrable Tim Griffin. The scare tactic didn't work and last Tuesday Joyce triumphed decisively, 53.8- 46.2%, over Wills.

If Joyce wins in November she'll be the first Africa American to win a federal election in Arkansas since the Union troops were withdrawn from the state after the Reconstruction period that followed the Civil War. She'll be facing Karl Rove protégé Tim Griffin, the disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney. Please consider contributing what you can towards her campaign.

Blue America's success with Joyce had a great deal to do with the spectacular GOTV operation in Pulaski County by the unions. Unfortunately many of the voters who they got out to vote were listening to Obama and Clinton who had urged them to vote for Blanche. But they voted for Joyce as well. And that success didn't change my opinion one bit that the unions and other Halter backers did the right thing for them-- showing conservative and corrupt corporate Democrats that there is accountability and a price to pay for their perfidy. I bet Ben Nelson got a very clear message from the horrific-- and expensive-- primary and run-off Blanche had to fight. Right after the votes rolled in AFL-CIO activist Amy Dean posted a worthwhile piece at Daily Kos Why Taking on Blanche Lincoln Was the Right Call + Building a Real Progressive Agenda.

Challenges within the primaries allow us to define what it means to be a real Democrat--to insist that the party truly puts the interests of working people first. That's what makes elections like Tuesday's run-off in Arkansas between Bill Halter and incumbent Senator Blanche Lincoln, the victor, so important. Labor and progressive movements got together to target Lincoln because she had opposed the Employee Free Choice Act, helped to block a robust public option in health care reform, and refused to back one of President Obama's key nominees to the National Labor Relations Board.

Conventional wisdom within the Democratic Party states that we need strong majorities in order to pass better public policies in Washington, DC. But the logic of "more" doesn't add up if those people we elect do not provide us with the votes we need. As long as our political strategies ask only that candidates have a "D" behind their names, we'll never get the type of majorities that will take hard stands to confront the power of big business and create real reform.

Going back to the Carter years in the 1970s, we had large Democratic majorities in Congress, yet we saw labor law weakened and the right to collective bargaining eroded. Under Clinton, Democratic majorities gave us NAFTA and more unfair trade. If we don't want history to repeat itself with the current administration, we cannot get wrapped up in the temporary excitement of a given electoral campaign. We need to have the memory, foresight, and strategy to craft something different. That's why we should hope that challenges within the primaries become more standard.

Doing politics differently means two things:

1) having a higher standard of accountability; and

2) judging our success in electoral contests based on a dual bottom line.

Accountability first means being clear about what our agenda is. Strong health care and labor law reforms are key structural changes needed in our economy if we are to rebuild the American middle class. We can't forget these in the next Congress and simply move on to new matters. Rather than waiting for the White House to lead and hoping that candidates follow, we must lead by putting our priorities forward. We don't need friends on issues that are foundational to working people, such as health care, living wages, and making collective bargaining the norm; we need champions.

There have been countless calls from labor and other progressive constituencies for accountability from politicians. Nobody disagrees that elected officials should be made to answer for their votes. But there is not much said about how to make this happen--about what the vehicle for ensuring accountability will be.

The answer is an organized base. None of the progressive lobbies in Washington, DC can hold any elected official accountable without strong, organized, permanent grassroots organization in the home states.

I've sensed a lot of progressives are downheartened the Halter lost. I understand it, but I don't really share the feelings. I would have liked to have seen Blanche lose-- as she probably will in November-- and it probably would have been better to have her lose to a Democrat than to a Republican corporate hack like John Boozman. He'll also oppose healthcare reform; he'll also oppose Employee Free Choice; he'll also oppose fair taxation and push to abolish the Estate Tax; he'll also serve the interests of the 100 wealthiest families and the biggest corporations in America. Meanwhile, if we're lucky, we'll have a proven progressive leader in Joyce Elliott beginning a long fruitful House career.

Perhaps on that same day Tarryl Clark will replace Michele Bachmann, and perhaps Billy Kennedy will replace Virginia Foxx, Ken Calvert could be ousted by Bill Hedrick. And we'll be working to pull off what the DCCC won't even dare to approach-- replacing John Boehner with Justin Coussoule. We have our work cut out for us and we're not going to get anywhere without your support. Last cycle Blue America scored better than any PAC in the nation in terms of bringing home winners-- better than the unions, the environmental groups, the women's groups, etc. And "viability" is far, far from the top of our list of candidate qualifiers. Principles, values and character are what we're looking for. I hope you are too.



Digby Takes It To The Next Level

In a post this afternoon Digby charged down the field-- and scored:

If you don't try, don't support progressive candidates, challenge the establishment, work hard over a long time horizon to help build progressive infrastructure it will never happen. And like all progress it happens in fits and starts, two steps forward, one step back.

It's easy to lose heart and figure there's no point, especially when you try something as big as the Halter campaign, with all the money and institutional clout, and lose. But it seems clear from all historical examples that it takes a while to build a movement, especially one based upon a value system, worldview and set of principles rather than a single issue. It obviously requires long term dedication to education, rhetorical refinement, infrastructure building and patience. Solidarity-- the single most important aspect of movement building, in my opinion-- takes time. I don't think there are any shortcuts. And like most things in life, I would guess that it's important to acknowledge the smaller victories and build upon them.

Joyce Elliott is facing one of the most disreputable GOP dirty tricksters in the business, Tim Griffin a truly malevolent piece of work who made his bones manufacturing lies about Al Gore in the 2000 election and went on to be the poster boy for Karl Rove's despoiling of the US Attorneys office during the Bush administration. There is no person more unworthy of being in the United States congress. And at least partly because of a netroots and union push in the state, we have a very accomplished progressive running against him in the most progressive district in Arkansas. And he can be beaten.

So, despite the fact that the Halter campaign didn't go the distance, never think it wasn't worth it. If Joyce Elliott becomes the next congressional representative from the 2nd district, every penny will have been well spent, no matter what the petulant complainers from the White House said. She could very well be the one that ends up succeeding Blanche Lincoln a few years from now. That's what playing the long game is all about.

You can donate to Joyce's campaign here.

There's A Real Life Progressive In The Arkansas Runoff June 8-- Blue America Welcomes Joyce Elliott

When moderate Democrat Vic Snyder decided to retire from Congress, half a dozen Democrats jumped into a race that was sure to pit one of them against crooked Karl Rove protégé, Tim Griffin, the sleaziest of the corrupt U.S. Attorneys who were appointed by Bush to turn the Justice Department into a punitive arm of the Republican Party. In the end there was a formidable group of Democrats in the race to replace Synder, including his chief of staff, David Boling; the Senate Majority Leader, Joyce Elliott; and the House Speaker, Robbie Wills. Wills, who hails from Conway in Faulkner County north of Little Rock, is way on the right-wing fringes of the Democratic Party, a corporate hack who opposed health care reform, taylor made for the Blue Dog caucus Snyder never joined. Joyce Elliott has been a tireless and well respected advocate for ordinary working families as a member of the Arkansas House (2000-2006) and then as a member of the state Senate. She came out on top in the primary last week, despite being outspent by both Boling and Wills and despite the never ending din of "convention wisdom" that an African-American woman could never win federal office in Arkansas. In the 5-way race she drew 39.7% of the vote to Wills' 27.8% and Boling's 19%, the other candidates in the single digits. Closet racists in central Arkansas currently have a mantra, "She can't win against Griffin so we have to support Wills" (who will vote like Griffin but at least wears a blue jersey).

Boling has endorsed Joyce and Wills is scurrying around to find bit players to counter that devastating blow to his candidacy. Joyce was also enthusiastically endorsed by Blue Arkansas which urges its readers to help her make history:

State Senator Joyce Elliott has been a progressive leader and champion in the state legislature long before Blue Arkansas was ever around to back her up. Now she’s running to represent the people of AR-02 in Congress. No matter what position she has taken or how hard the fight was, Senator Elliott has always lead with courage, intelligence, grace, and character. She is the best choice to succeed Vic Snyder and represent AR-02 in these tough times, and we will stand with her every step of the way, no matter how tough the fight is.

Today Blue America also endorses Joyce, who will join us for a live blog session at Crooks and Liars at 2pm, PT (4pm in Little Rock). I hope you can stop by to meet her and ask her the kinds of questions you think candidates for Congress need to address. Last week when I was on the phone congratulating her for her convincing win in the first round I asked her a tough one-- how she would have voted on October 3, 2008 when Bush was pushing his Wall Street bailout. I like the way she approached it:

Though I am an unabashed optimist, I am grounded in reality. The Wall Street debacle forced a clash between my worlds of reality and optimism. The indefensibility of the Wall Street debacle rendered this confluence particularly disturbing when tax payers became “forced” partners to the bail out. While I accept it was better to pull our country back from the brink of economic disaster than to let the entire system crash, I find it wholly unacceptable that transparent, stringent accountability was not a part of the equation. Handing over the Tax Payers of America credit card to “too-big-to-fail” institutions with no strings attached or with strings so loose they were totally uninhibiting was bad policy. The gravity of the economic situation was threatening, I am sure; nevertheless, it is the responsibility of Congress to conduct business in a manner that is accountable to taxpayers who pay this country’s bills, even in under great pressure. While I won’t bog myself down in hindsight, I will use hindsight going forward to make sure I never cast a vote such as the “bail out” without holding institutions and/or individuals accountable.

Please consider making a contribution to Joyce's campaign today. In fact if you do so at the Blue America ActBlue page before midnight tonight, we'll enter you in a drawing for a rare, numbered, collectible and very beautiful print of Patti Smith, one of only six that were made. This one was signed by both Richard Aaron, the photographer, and by Patti Smith herself, who wrote on it, next to her signature, "People have the power." Joyce reminds me of Patti, which is why I dug it out and decided to give it away today.

People Have The Power-- Patti Smith, Joyce Elliott

Patti wrote "People Have the Power" with her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith in 1988 and released it as the single from Dream of Life. The song has become so iconic for her fans now that it's pretty much a live Patti Smith live anthem now. A few years ago photographer Richard Aaron created a gorgeous photo collage of Patti images and printed 6 on archival paper, signed them, numbered them and gave them to me. I asked Patti to sign them and she wrote out "People Have the Power- Patti Smith" across the bottom of each.

Earlier today we posted an introduction by Diallo Brooks to an outstanding state legislator, Joyce Elliott, the progressive leader of Arkansas' Democrats. Tomorrow Joyce will be a live Blue America guest at Crooks and Liars. I have no idea if she's a fan of Patti's music or not but I do know that the two women are completely in synch with Patti's song, "People Have the Power." It's certainly what Joyce's career embodies, as an educator and as a legislator. Blue America is offering one of these 6 rare signed printed that I referred to above to someone who donates to Joyce's campaign at the Blue America ActBlue page before midnight tomorrow--Tuesday, Pacific Time. (One donor's name will be drawn from a hat to determine the winner, regardless of how much the contribution is.)

Values Based Leadership From A Progressive Champion In Arkansas-- Meet Joyce Elliott

Tomorrow Blue America will be formally endorsing Arkansas state Senator Joyce Elliott in the June 8 runoff for the Little Rock-based congressional seat Vic Snyder is giving up. Diallo Brooks is the Director of Field Mobilization for People For the American Way and he's worked with Joyce in the past. I asked him to put together a quick introduction for DWT readers in preparation for our live chat with Joyce tomorrow at Crooks and Liars (2pm, PT/4pm in Arkansas). Meanwhile, if you're so inclined, Blue America has added Joyce's campaign to our main endorsements page and all contributions are welcome.

-by Diallo Brooks

With such an important midterm election season well under way, many have wondered where progressive champions will emerge.  Well look no further than the 2nd Congressional District in Arkansas. State Senator Joyce Elliott is a candidate with a proven track record of leadership that is not only good for Arkansas but for our country. Joyce brings the passion, knowledge skills and, most importantly, the progressive values that can provide leadership so desperately needed in a divided Congress.

Joyce served three terms in the Arkansas State House before being elected to the Arkansas State Senate in 2008 where she currently serves as the Majority Leader. I have had the pleasure to know Joyce for many years since her time as a state representative in Arkansas, fighting for reform on issues such as education, health care, and economic justice.

Joyce has served even beyond elected office having spent thirty-one years teaching high school juniors and seniors. And her fight for education continued as she worked for the College Board, focusing on expanding access to Advance Placement curriculum for students currently underrepresented in AP classes: African American, Latino, rural and low-income students. Until 2010, she was the Director of Government Relations for the Southwest Region of the College Board.

As a champion for heath care, Joyce has shown leadership through sponsorship of legislation in 2009 that increased eligibility for ARKids First, a program which provides coverage options for more than 70,000 Arkansas children who otherwise might have gone without it. She may be best known for her work in education but she has also been active in teh fight for healthcare reform and in 2005, Joyce sponsored the Arkansas Colorectal Cancer Act, which mandated that insurance companies offer colorectal cancer screenings as recommended by the American Cancer Society.

To know Joyce is to know her passion, her honesty and her commitment to dealing with the tough issues of the day using a progressive values based philosophy to not only talk about change but to lead that change to implementation. Leadership is not a word that I use lightly but with Joyce it’s the definition of who she is.  It’s Joyce’s unwavering commitment to common sense solutions that makes her formidable in the battles that make sure progressive voices are heard. 

Should Joyce win a June 8th runoff election and go on to win the congressional race in November, she will be the first African-American elected to congress from Arkansas since 1870. If we truly want more progressive leadership in Washington, we all should do what we can to support State Senator Joyce Elliott a true champions of progressive change.

To support the campaign to elect Joyce Elliott, please visit her campaign website and don't forget the live blog session tomorrow at Crooks and Liars. Below is a video of the first part of an interview she did with Blue Arkansas.

Many Happy Returns-- Last Night's Primary Results

I tweeted away the night yesterday, starting in Kentucky, where the Blue America candidate, Jack Conway, won a great victory over three conservatives:

*Jack Conway (D)- 226,773 (44.1%)
*Dan Mongiardo (D)- 221,269 (43.0%)
*Rand Paul (R)- 206,159 (58.8%)
*Trey Grayson (R)- 124,238 (35.4%)

The big loser, of course, was Mitch McConnell, who drove poor, old senile Jim Bunning out of the race so he could get his colorless protégé, Trey Grayson into the Senate. With the populist masses of both the right and the left rebelling against the hated Inside-the-Beltway party establishments, McConnell's embrace of Grayson was the kiss of death. Nor did it help that Cheney and especially not John Cornyn also endorsed Grayson. It was an anti-Establishment slaughter from the first Republican precincts counted. Jim DeMint could offer McConnell a formidable challenge to the Senate Republican leadership, especially as the increasingly radicalized Republican grassroots is reminded that what Boehner and Ryan and Cantor did for Wall Street in October 2008-- in terms of forcing Republicans to vote for Bush's no-strings-attached bailout-- McConnell did in the Senate.

And on the Democratic side... well, it was one of those crystal clear choices between a real working family-oriented Democrat (Conway) versus a conservative, anti-Choice, anti-gay, anti-healthcare, corporate-oriented shill (Mongiardo). Although low-information voters in rural counties turned out for Mongiardo, Conway won in traditional Democratic constituencies. In Jefferson County (Louisville) for example, Conway racked up gigantic majorities (50,906, as opposed to Mongiardo's 21,203; Rand Paul won 30,005).

And although the DSCC stayed neutral in Kentucky, they spent tons of money and energy trying to bolster two hopeless incumbents in Pennsylvania and Arkansas. Sestak beat Specter convincingly, 559,131 (53.9%) to 478,245 (46.1%) and the areas where Specter did best-- basically Philly-- are the very areas most likely to swing most easily to Sestak in November. Sestak won every single county in the state with the exceptions of Philadelphia, Lackawanna and Dauphin. Specter immediately congratulated him and vowed to work for his election against Toomey in November. My favorite tweet of the evening was from Greg Sargent:


Early in the evening I predicted an anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-healthcare corrupt conservative will win in the PA-12 special election to replace Jack Murtha. I couldn't have lost that bet since both the guy in the blue jersey and the guy in the red jersey both fit that description. The one in the blue jersey won and DCCC nitwit Debbie Wasserman Schultz was all puffed up with pride:


The House race I was most interested in though, was in Arkansas, specifically AR-02, the Little Rock-centered district that moderate Vic Snyder is retiring from. Five candidates vied for the seat and June 8th will see a run-off between the most progressive of the lot, state Senator Joyce Elliott (39.6%) and the most conservative of the lot, House Speaker Robbie Wills (27.9%). The winner of that runoff will face Karl Rove protégé Tim Griffin.

Bill Halter's goal was to hold Blanche Lincoln below 50% and force her into a run-off, which is bound to be an even lower turn-out election, something that will probably help Halter and his energized base against the low-info Blanche supporters. There'll be no run-off in Republicanville where pro-bailout wingnut John Boozman took 52.9% of the vote, despite being hated by the teabaggers. Halter and Lincoln have been see-sawing for the bragging rights to having the plurality but they are clearly going to a June 8 runoff.

So... the Blue America May Primaries page is still open and functioning. At this point Jack Conway and Joe Sestak will need help beating their extreme right Republican opponents, Rand Paul and Pat Toomey, and Bill Halter and Elaine Marshall will both battle it out against the DSCC and their corporate-friendly opponents, Blanche Lincoln and Cal Cunningham. Please do what you can to help.



UPDATE: Sane Republicans In Kentucky Won't Support Teabagger Candidate GOP Nominated

Republicans may be crazy but they're not that crazy. And 43% of Trey Grayson supporters say they won't be voting for far right sociopath Rand Paul in November.

The likely Rand Paul victory in the Kentucky Republican primary today should give Democrats a very good chance of winning in the fall because supporters of Trey Grayson, Paul's main opponent, really don't like him.

Some primaries play out in such a way that party loyalists view several of the candidates favorably and just choose the one they like best. That was very much the case with the recent Democratic contest in North Carolina. But in Kentucky we find that Paul's supporters hate Grayson, and that even more Grayson's supporters hate Paul.

53% of likely Grayson voters for today have an unfavorable opinion of Paul to only 23% with a positive opinion of him. More importantly though just 40% of Grayson voters say they'll support Paul in the general election if he wins the Republican nomination with 43% explicitly saying they will not.