Throwing Gas On The Fire Of Republican Discontent-- OH-02... Time For Mean Jean Schmidt To Leave Congress

Mean Jean Schmidt has been a complete puppet for Big Oil. She doesn't even charge a lot for her services. Other congressional shills-- from both political parties-- have been paid massive amounts of money to vote the way Schmidt does. But Big Oil only threw her $9,100 in return for having never opposed them on anything-- not on cutting their corporate taxes ($13.6 billion in tax breaks for the most profitable corporations in history), not on sabotaging every attempt to increase fuel efficiency standards, not on irresponsible footdragging on the development of alternative energy, not on cracking down on price gouging, and not on supporting any efforts to force Big Oil to drill on the millions and milliosn of acres they current lease from the federal government. Mean Jean is what you call a patsy.

And crazy. Her idea of energy policy is to make up stories about China drilling under Florida from Cuba and stealing American oil. She embarrassed the Republican leadership with her wild and false claims and finally Florida's Republican Senator Mel Martinez had to step in and explain that her bizarre charges were an "urban myth." If he was unfortunate enough to actually know Mean Jean, he'd know most of her public pronouncements are what polite society might call "urban myths."

Anyway I was really happy to find out today that Victoria Wulsin's campaign is about to run the TV ad below all over southern Ohio starting on the opening day of the Republican Convention. If you can spare any change, please consider making a donation to her campaign so she can run the ad lots of times. Recent polling shows that only half the Republicans in the second district are considering voting to re-elect Schmidt. Overall, the poll found that only 33% approve of her performance in Congress and only 36% are prepared to re-elect her.

Here's why Mean Jean Schmidt should resign from Congress -- and no, it's not (or not JUST) because she says things that are stupid and untrue

It's one thing to say stupid things. We all do that occasionally. It's another thing to say things that aren't true, though again, we all do that occasionally. It's still a worse thing to say things you ought to know, through normal prudence and fact-checking caution, are untrue -- but this is still not unknown to most of us. It gets really, really bad when you're saying stuff that's stupid and untrue and you really ought to know that it's untrue. Even there, though, stuff happens.

However, if you find yourself doing this repeatedly, and you're not Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Ann Coulter, if you are in fact an elected member of the United States government, and you keep doing this, well, this is close to as-bad-as-it-gets. Embarrassing, surely, Disgraceful, of course. But still not enough, really, to require your resignation.

But when you keep on telling vicious stories that turn out to be untrue, and you're always stunned to be told, and you keep on repeating the vicious lies after you know that that's what they are, well, then, I think the choice is really taken out of your hands. In all decency, you really have to resign.

We noted the other day that Ohio's Mean Jean Schmidt was one of the loudest-mouthed right-wing loons screeching about how the Chinese are drilling for oil in the Florida Straits. It was, we noted, a story that even Florida GOP Sen. Mel Martinez acknowledged simply had no basis in fact.

What was really striking, as I noted at the time, was that Mean Jean seemed shocked when the whole world came crashing down on her -- much the way she had seemed shocked the first time most of us heard of her, when she called Rep. Jack Murtha with his well-known Marine background a coward for coming out against prolonging our military misadventure in Iraq. And Mean Jean isn't like many other loud-mouthed right-wing loons, who know when to cut their losses and move on to fresh, not-yet-disproved lies. Why, it barely seems to register on Mean Jean when members of her own truth-be-damned party are bearing down on her begging her for God's sake to shut her goddamned trap.

Nope! Like as not, she keeps right on saying the stupid, vicious, known-to-be-untrue things. She seems positively indignant at the suggestion that she should stop saying them. And so it has been with this fairy tale of Chinese oil drillers drilling off the coast of Florida. And so, by God, she went on the radio with right-wing titan of truth Bill Cunningham and, sure enough, once again uncorked the discredited Chinese-drilling delusion -- as heard midway through this podcast.

At some point the whistle has to be blown, the last technical foul called, and Mean Jean has to crawl back under whatever rock she slithered out from under. Sorry, Jean, but it's time. Truth be told, isn't it already way past time?


MEANWHILE, WHERE ON EARTH IS THE DCCC?

I do want to apologize for the misimpression I passed on the other day that this time out the DCCC, after inexcusably sitting on its hands when Dr. Victoria Wulsin came so close to unseating Mean Jean in 2006, has come to its senses. The indications, as Howie reported earlier, are that the boys still don't get it.

And as Howie also reported, this flies in the face of new data from OH-02 indicating that a seismic change in voter registration has occurred, and that Dems now actually outnumber Repugs in this once-blood-red district. It is, in other words, a CD that's ripe for the picking. All the elements are in place, including an outstanding candidate.

It's enough to make a person wonder about the House Democratic leadership. Can it be that what we at DWT and Blue America mean by a "better" Democrat is something the leadership wants not more but less of? Vic Wulsin is certainly no Heath Shuler or Tim Mahoney or Chris Carney, and maybe that's the problem. The DCCC didn't see the squeeze coming in this district, and therefore didn't seize the opportunity to shove a closet Republican like Shuler or Mahoney down local Dems' throats.

For nearly two years now Speaker Pelosi and her apologists have explained the House Dems' failure to do anything about the Iraq war, or to oppose the Bush regime on a whole array of issues (now, shamefully, including a constitutionally appropriate replacement for the expired FISA law), by lamenting time after time that "she just doesn't have the votes." Is it possible that in reality the House Dem brain trust would rather hold onto that excuse? That in fact they would rather have Mean Jean keep her seat than have her replaced by a progressive, independent-minded, non-corporatist Democrat?

As I say, it makes a person wonder.

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UPDATE: OR... HOWIE'S TWO CENTS... ASKING FOR YOURS

If ever a candidate deserves our help it is Vic Wulsin. The DCCC apparently doesn't see what they're missing but... well, they sure didn't with Donna Edwards either. Funny, at one time they weren't so hop on a young state legislator from Maryland named Chris Van Hollen either. Power corrupts so damn badly. Please consider donating what you can afford to Vic's campaign. I just had a message from a progressive political operative who is not enamoured on the DCCC. I'll leave his name out of this but I will say that I've known him for several years and that he is completely trustworthy and well-informed. Here's what he wrote to me: "Your good buddy John Lapp was the general consultant for Vic Wulsin's primary opponent this year. It's a strange coincidence? That guy was crushed, but I bet if Lapp's DINO candidate won he would have been R2B in a heartbeat. Not sure if Lapp is pulling the strings but he could have sway as he supposedly 'knows the area' as he was the campaign manager for right-wing Dem Ken Lucas accross the Ohio River in his first race for Congress and he is a spiteful mofo IMO."

THE CONGRESSIONAL DO-OVERS AND THE DCCC

This year we will see exact rematches of a half dozen very close races from the 2006 cycle. In all but one of these cases, the Democratic grassroots candidate probably would have won if they had been given timely and sufficient support from the DCCC. In order of closeness:

NC-08: Robin Hayes 60,926 (50%) vs Larry Kissell 60,596 (50%)
FL-13: Vernon Buchanan 119,102 (50%) vs Christine Jennings (50%)
WA-08: Dave Reichert 61,921 (51%) vs Darcy Burner 59,268 (49%)
OH-02: Mean Jean Schmidt 120,112 (51%) vs Victoria Wulsin 117,595 (49%)
NY-29: Randy Kuhl 99,926 (52%) vs Eric Massa 92,974 (48%)
IL-10: Mark Kirk 97,242 (53%) vs Dan Seals 84,625 (47%)

The race that did get all the DCCC support anyone could ever want was FL-13, where Christine Jennings was Rahm Emanuel's hand-picked, Republican-lite shill. All the other candidates are actual Democrats. (Jennings is an "ex"-Republican who I expect will vote something like Tim Mahoney, Emanuel's other Florida ex-Republican shill, who did win-- with the help of a little strategically placed leaks about his opponent molesting young pages.)

Of the 6 on the list above, 4 have already been endorsed by Blue America-- Larry Kissell, Darcy Burner, Victoria Wulsin and Eric Massa. Now that he's won his primary, we're looking into Dan Seals as well. We don't endorse Blue Dogs, Bush Dogs, DLC hacks or Republican lite-shills so Jennings isn't eligible.

All but one of the candidates on the list have been put on the DCCC Red to Blue Page. In their first round the DCCC signaled that their first priorities were:

John Adler (NJ-03)
John Boccieri (OH-16)
Charlie Brown (CA-04)
Debbie Halvorson (IL-11)
Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15)
Linda Stender (NJ-07)
Gary Trauner (WY-AL)

Decent list, mostly. When James Walsh announced his retirement a few weeks later, the DCCC immediately added Dan Maffei, another Blue America-endorsed candidate.

Then a week or so ago they announced round two for the Red to Blue program:

Kay Barnes (MO-06)
Anne Barth (WV-02)
Darcy Burner (WA-08)
Robert Daskas (NV-03)
Steve Driehaus (OH-01)
Jim Himes (CT-04)
Christine Jennings (FL-13)
Larry Kissell (NC-08)
Suzanne Kosmas (FL-24)
Eric Massa (NY-29)
Gary Peters (MI-09)
Mark Schauer (MI-07)
Dan Seals (IL-10)

Some seem like better ideas than other, but it's a perfectly respectable list. Except for one omission. Did you catch it? Mean Jean Schmidt certainly did.

Congresswoman Jean Schmidt’s campaign today said that the decision to remove the Second Congressional District from the Democrat target list and abandon Victoria Wulsin’s campaign is proof that she is out of touch with the district. The target, or “red to blue” list, released by the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) yesterday, did not list Schmidt as a target.

“This is a stunning change of course for the DCCC, and shows that they have lost faith in Dr. Wulsin’s ability to win in the Second Congressional District,” said Bruce Pfaff, Schmidt for Congress spokesman.

Schmidt is running for the third time and a second full term in congress. In last week’s Primary election, Schmidt won by a wide margin in all seven counties of the Second Congressional District.

Pfaff pointed out that the DCCC did include three other Ohio challengers on its list of targets, which makes the decision to abandon Wulsin’s campaign even more significant.

“Congresswoman Schmidt has proven to her constituents that she represents their issues, and the decision by the DCCC to remove the Second Congressional District from its targeted race list is a strong testament to that fact,” Pfaff added.

“Even Congresswoman Schmidt’s first Democrat opponent, Paul Hackett, who was quoted in an article about the DCCC decision, acknowledges she will be difficult to beat,” said Pfaff. “Congresswoman Schmidt will work hard to deliver her message to every corner and community in the district and expects to bring home a big victory in November for Republicans,” Pfaff concluded.

Obviously Pfaff is a ridiculous hack and shill spinning this for his pathetic candidate's own purposes. Vic was hardly "taken off" any list; she just hasn't been added yet-- though she should have been. As for Hackett, his comments may have been stoopid, ego-driven and misconstrued, but they were not anti-Wulsin. In fact, they say more about him than about Vic and have moved at least one Ohio blog to bid him a less than fond adieu.

As for the DCCC, they're probably still smarting from the thorough thrashing Vic gave to their ex-Executive Director/Emanuel lapdog, John Lapp. Lapp ran the filthy Rovian campaign against Vic by lifelong Republican Stephen Black who tried getting into the race as a Democrat, something that fooled very few actual Democrats in OH-02, but had the DCCC all excited at the prospect of... of what? Helping elect another "Democrat"-- like Heath Shuler, Jason Altmire, Brad Ellsworth, Joe Donnelly, Nick Lampson-- who will reflexively vote with the GOP on crucial substantive matters whenever it takes his fancy?


UPDATE: IDAHO

If I had made a list of the 7 closest do-overs, instead of just the half dozen closest, I would have included ID-01 where Larry Grant was/is challenging freshman wingnut Bill Sali. In 2006 Sali only managed to win 50% of the vote to Larry's 45%. Three independent candidates accounted for the other 5%.

REPUBLICANS DIG IN BUT FAIL TO PREVENT THE CREATION OF A NEW OFFICE OF CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS

GOP golfers Tom DeLay & Jack Abramoff, Inc-- in happier days

More often than not, we're not happy in DWT World with the lack of real action and real reform from a Speaker we had placed so much stock in. Last night, however-- as she does every now and then-- Nancy Pelosi came through with flying colors.

Individual legislators fall into corruption because of human nature and there are always some bad apples, like William Jefferson (D-LA). But when the whole system malfunctions and descends into a massive Culture of Corruption-- and this becomes the norm-- our government and even our society is endangered. After a decade of Republican rule that was premised on greed and selfishness as an ideological ideal, that is exactly what happened. Nancy Pelosi and some-- though not a majority-- of reform-minded Democrats plus a tiny handful of reform-minded Republicans, were determined to prevent that from happening again, regardless of which party controls the House. The resistance was not unlike Winston Church's defiance of the Germans. Kansas right-winger Todd Tiahrt thundered at his colleagues: "If you have a single ounce of self-preservation, you'll vote no." He was joined by a Hawaii moderate, Neil Abercrombie who also thundered. "Ladies and gentleman, we have a new grand jury in the House. Any referral to the Office of Congressional Ethics will be tantamount to a guilty verdict. Any other conclusion by the ethics committee will be seen as a cover-up. I guarantee it."

It's so much easier if you can make all your own rules that you have to live by and then police them yourself too. How will there ever be campaign finance reform when the beneficiaries of the corrupt status quo determine the rules. Who is going to ban lobbyists when lobbyists are schmearing all those who would vote on the ban? The House members have been very comfortable with the House Ethics Committee because no one ever gets into much trouble. It was more like a let's-save-each-other's-asses racket. Pelosi was genuinely committed to changing that-- and last night, against all odds and through an immense strength of character-- she did.

A friend of mine who works in her office said that it was "a huge feather in the cap of our new members, who played a key role in pushing this... including one Bill Foster whose first vote was to override Bush's veto on torture and then was the deciding vote on the procedural vote that almost killed this rule change." And those procedural votes will get you every time. Congressmembers assume no one is ever watching those and they get away with murder and think they won't be held accountable-- like when Lieberman would notoriously and consistently vote with the GOP on procedural matters and then, having made sure the progressive legislation was doomed, join the Democrats in the pointless final vote and go scampering back to his progressive state claiming he had voted the way his constituents insisted he should.

But even in the final roll call, 23 Democrats joined the Republicans to vote against the new ethics bill. That was more than made up for by 33 Republicans giving their corrupt leadership the finger and voting with the Democrats. The vote cut across ideological lines, although progressives and moderates tended to vote for the legislation and reactionaries tended to vote against it. Many vulnerable Republicans in tight re-election campaigns-- from Randy Kuhl (R-NY), Sam Graves (R-MO), Chris Shays (R-CT), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and the Diaz-Balart Brothers (R-FL) to Vito Fossella (R-NY), Phil English (R-PA). Tom Reynolds (R-NY) and Robin Hayes (R-NC)-- were too scared to vote no, well aware it would wind up as an election issue back home.

With the exception of William Jefferson (who voted for the bill), all of the most ethically suspect members-- from hard-core criminals awaiting indictment such as Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Virgil Goode (R-VA), John Doolittle (R-CA), Heather Wilson (R-NM), Don Young (R-AK), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Tom Feeney (R-FL) and Gary Miller (R-CA) to the ones who always have smelly rumors circulating about them, such as Jack Murtha (D-PA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), John Shadegg (R-AZ), and Darrell Issa (R-CA)-- voted no. As far as I can tell the only freshman Democrat to vote with the GOP on this was Rahm Emanuel's boy Heath Shuler (D-NC).

The final vote was 229-182 and Pelosi had to bend the rules and twist some arms to get there. This morning's NY Times posits that "the new Office of Congressional Ethics was promoted by Democratic leaders as a way to restore credibility to an internal policing process that had been seen as largely ineffective in recent years, even as individual lawmakers were indicted, rebuked and jailed for various offenses."

By creating a panel of six people of “exceptional public standing,” the House, for the first time, delegated the authority for regulating behavior in the House to nonlawmakers. Current members of the House, federal employees and anyone who has been a registered lobbyist in the past year would be ineligible.

“The public does not trust us on ethics issues at this point,” said Representative Michael E. Capuano, Democrat of Massachusetts and head of a task force that recommended the new panel. “They think we are all here protecting each other.”

I asked two of the Blue America-endorsed candidates, Dennis Shulman, who is running against far right rubber stamp, anti-reform incumbent Scott Garrett, and Mark Schauer, who is running against Tim Walberg in Michigan, someone cut from an identical mold, how it is possible that congressmen purporting to represent well-educated and moderate New Jersey and Michigan districts could possibly vote against this bill to clean up Congress. Dennis pointed out that "while right wing extremists like Scott Garrett continue to support awarding Dick Cheney's Halliburton billions of dollars in no-bid contracts in Iraq, they refuse to support setting aside even a fraction of that money to ensure our Congressmen uphold the highest ethical standards. It's time to bring sensible leadership back to Washington." Mark, of course, agrees. "I have always believed that public officials should be held to the highest standards, I am disappointed that in this time when trust of the government is at an all time low that Congressman Walberg would turn his back on the opportunity to have real ethics reform." And we agree with them both-- which is a big part of why we set up Blue America in the first place and why we support high quality candidates like Dennis Shulman and Mark Schauer.


UPDATE: BOEHNER VOWS TO SABOTAGE NEW HOUSE ETHICS PANEL

This afternoon's Congressional Quarterly reports that Minority Leader John Boehner, just hours after the House passed serious ethics rules-- which, needless to say, he and the rest of the corrupt GOP leadership bitterly opposed-- was bragging that he will prevent the rules from being implemented by not cooperating. Blunt went and hid under a table.


UPDATE: AND THEN THERE WAS MEAN JEAN SCHMIDT

Needless to say, Ohio's worst Bush rubber stamp, Mean Jean Schmidt, voted against ethics reform. She and ethics reform have a contentious history. In 2006 Schmidt was reprimanded by the Ohio Elections Commission for making false statements about her education and endorsements. Last fall, she was accused of earmarking funds that benefited a contributor to her campaign.

The Democrat running against her is Blue America-endorsed Victoria Wulsin and, at least in part, she decided to run because of Schmidt's sorry ethics record. "Jean would rather play politics than focus on ending corruption in Washington,” said Dr. Victoria Wulsin. “Our government needs to recapture the trust and confidence of the American people. We need to put their interests first and not let politics stand in the way of accomplishing what is right."

THE BIG NEWS FROM LAST NIGHT YOU WON'T HEAR ON CNN-- ESPECIALLY IN OHIO

Dr. Vic Wulsin was a big winner last night

The big news this morning is that Hillary won 3 of the 4 Democratic primaries last night-- including Ohio and Texas-- although in terms of delegates, it looks about even between her and Obama for the day. (You can play with the Slate delegate counter, which is fun for wonks.) Also John W. McCain clinched the worthless Republican nomination to be the GOP's snarling sacrificial lamb in 2008. Turnout was massive-- for Democrats... even in Texas where Democrats have long given themselves up for dead.

Now, in terms of congress... there were several important races. For Blue America, the two most important were Vic Wulsin's in OH-02, which we covered last night-- and which we'll be going over this afternoon at 3pm (EST) at Firedoglake with Vic-- and Rick Noriega's senate race in Texas. With 3 opponents, the key for our candidate, Rick Noriega, was to avoid a run-off so he could start focusing on Cornyn. Mission accomplished. Rick wound up with 51% of the vote, just about double his nearest competitor, Gene Kelly. Bad news for Cornyn: about 18% of Republican primary voters rejected him. There were 3 congressional races in Texas we were following, two of them GOP primaries. Ron Paul coasted to renomination against the GOP Establishment rubber stamp Chris Peden (covertly supported by the McCain forces). And among the 10 far right maniacs looking to bring fascism back to TX-22 Shelley Sekula Gibbs took almost 28%. If she wins the run-off, as is likely, she'll face right-wing Democratic freshman Nick Lampson. For progressives and moderates there can be no winner this year in TX-22, although Lampson is less horrible on many issues than Sekula Gibbs. The only Democratic primary in Texas that had interested us was for the right to challenge the Clear Channel son-in-law, Bush rubber stamp Mike McCaul in a gerrymandered district starting in Austin and snaking east towards Houston. Grassroots fave, Dan Grant, was beaten, substantially, by Larry Doherty.

In Ohio, 99.99% of votes are now counted. Dennis Kucinich fended off his 4 challengers. He wound up with 52.27% of the vote. In OH-02 Vic Wulsin took 57.89% of the vote against two challengers. Fake Dem Stephen Black-- supported by former DCCC Executive Director/Emanuelista John Lapp-- ran the most repulsive primary campaign I've ever seen (straight out of Lapp's Karl Rove playbook). The interesting thing about OH-02, though is that is an overwhelmingly Republican district, far more Democrats came out to the polls than Republicans. In the presidential primary, there were 103,729 Democrats, while only 47,337 Republicans voted. Hillary garnered 55,783 votes against Obama's 46,426. McCain only managed 26,920 votes. Look at those numbers again. The Democratic loser absolutely swamped McCain-- in the GOP heartland! In the congressional race 94,946 Democrats voted while only 71,139 Republicans bothered to stick around, just over 40,000 of whom voted for Schmidt. So... Vic wound up with 54,965 votes to Mean Jean's 40,891. This race is going to be a big priority for Blue America for 2008. Try to make it over to FDL this afternoon (3PM- EST) to talk with Vic and if you can spare some money, she needs to replenish her war chest after a hard fought primary. Her Blue America page-- and Rick Noriega's-- is open now.

Other races in Ohio look bad for the GOP. Ohio's first CD, where Dreihaus is taking on struggling incumbent Steve Chabot, Steve wound up with 55,476 votes to Chabot's 44,661. In OH-03 Jane Mitakides will be the Democratic candidate against incumbent Mike Turner. 91,000 Democrats participated in that primary (giving Jane just under 50,000 votes) while only 60,000 Republicans bothered to vote. In OH-07 where Republican Dave Hobson is retiring, 83,000 Democrats voted, giving Sharen Neuhardt a victory in a crowded field while only 82,000 Republicans showed up and gave Steve Austria the nomination, also in a crowded field. Republican incumbent Steven LaTourette is in big trouble in OH-14. 95,000 Democrats voted and picked Bill O'Neill as the candidate with 59,857. Only 51,650 Republicans bothered voting. Bye-bye LaTourette. The other Ohio race of interest is in the 16th CD where Republican Ralph Regula is retiring. John Boccieri got 68,388 votes out of 106,000 cast on the Democratic side, while only 68,000 Republicans voted, picking Kirk Schuring with 32,503 votes (47.3%).


UPDATE: MANY REPUBLICANS VOTED FOR VIC WULSIN YESTERDAY

We have been talking with Vic over at FDL and she just dropped a bit of a political bombshell: "The 2nd District has some very interesting dynamics. Congressman Bob McEwen [OH-R] called this morning to congratulate me. He said that at his dinner table last night, the other six guests - all Republicans - had chosen Democratic ballots and voted for, yep, Vic Wulsin! He says the Repubs want her OUT (he barely lost to her in the ‘06 primary, so remember where he’s coming from) and want a reasonable alternative. So, I’d like to think some of the crossing-over comes from a desire to get Schmidt out."

VIC WULSIN BEAT REPUBLICAN-IN-DEMOCRAT CLOTHES IN OH-02

In 2006 Dr. Victoria Wulsin nearly beat the deranged extreme right wing incumbent Mean Jean Schmidt, less than 3,000 votes separating them out of over 237,000 cast in the deeply red district. Vic is set to run against Schmidt again-- and send her into retirement-- but she needed to beat, Stephen Black, a life-long Republican who decided to "switch" to the Democratic Party rather than challenge Schmidt in the Republican primary. His vicious Rovian campaign-- run by Rahm Emanuel lieutenant, John Lapp-- was classic smear, attacking Vic on her strongest attributes and just piling on slander and innuendo, in one ad insinuating that she injected people with AIDS.

This is what happens when we encourage Republicrap to come into our party. In the end I saw Black purposely smearing Vic so badly as to make it more difficult for her to take on Schmidt, although he never had any realistic chance to win the primary himself.

With over 72% of the precincts in OH-02 counted, Vic beat him in every county. So far 45,000 Democrats have voted in the congressional primary, while 32,000 have voted in the GOP primary (which was also contested-- Schmidt getting 56.72% of them). On the presidential level in OH-02, 46,000 Democrats and 34,000 Republicans voted, One of the most corrupt counties in America-- when it comes to voters fraud-- Clermont (which has a sordid history of just making up election results) hasn't reported any precincts yet, as is their custom. Like Vic, Schmidt beat her two opponents in every other county.


UPDATE: BLACK CONCEDES

Clermont County is in and Vic won there too-- same margin as everywhere else. She not only beat Black in every county; she beat Mean Jean in every county! “The voters rejected the kind of negative tactics my opponent used, and they trust me to represent them,” said Wulsin. “The message is clear-– the people of Southern Ohio want a representative who will put their families first. Jean Schmidt has voted against the interests of this district time and again. From health care for children to veterans issues, student loans and more, Jean Schmidt has stood with President Bush. The voters want a representative who will listen to them, and that’s what I’ll do.”

Vic joins us tomorrow at Firedoglake at 3pm (est); noon (PT). Now she needs to get busy to beat Mean Jean. If you want to help... here's the place

MATTHEW GRIMM AND RED SMEAR DOING LIVE SHOWS FOR BLUE AMERICA CANDIDATES IN THE MIDWEST

I hope you've watched the new video of "One Big Union." It's so inspiring. Please take a look:



It's great that Thom Hartmann played it on his show the other day. Matthew and his band, Red Smear, are debuting the song live this Saturday (Jan. 19) at the legendary Mill in Iowa City. After that he's going to be doing some rallies for some of the Blue America candidates. John Laesch has a pre-primary day rally on February 4 and they're working out a show for Vic Wulsin. We'll let you know where and when.

VIC WULSIN BATTLING TWO SLEAZY REPUBLICANS IN OHIO-- MEAN JEAN SCHMIDT AND STEVE BLACK

It was odd seeing the vitriolic, misleading, Rove-like attacks made against progressive Democrat Vic Wulsin by a rich Republican claiming he is now a Democrat, Steve Black, and running against her in the Democratic primary. Vic was endorsed by Blue America last year-- and re-endorsed this year-- and came within a small handful of votes of beating Mean Jean Schmidt in the second most Republican district in Ohio (51-49%).

We've covered Black's opportunistic attempt to secure the Democratic line for a Republican (himself), more than once, already. But what we didn't know at the time is that one of Rahm Emanuel's closest and most disreputable colleagues, ex-DCCC hack John Lapp, is behind the anti-Wulsin smears. Black couldn't use Rove so he got someone just as vicious and unscrupulous. Last we heard from Lapp he was trying to torpedo Jerry McNerney on behalf a Rahm Emanuel-Ellen Tauscher shill. It didn't work; the shill was laughed out of the district and McNerney went on to rid the U.S. Congress of Dirty Dick Pombo. Lapp is playing a similar role in Ohio with Black.

The desperate Black campaign-- polling in the single digits-- is trying to claim Vic isn't really a doctor and they have an absurd video up on YouTube with an elaborate search for her license. Probably a 14 year old could have suggested they look under her maiden name since she wasn't married when she got her license. A vote for Steve Black in March is a vote to make sure there are two Republicans running against each other in November: Mean Jean Schmidt and Steve Black.

Black can count on plenty of money from other wealthy Republicans embarrassed by Schmidt's drift into anti-American neo-fascism. Working men and women have been endorsing Vic in droves. Progressives are stepping up to the plate for Vic and if you'd like to help out, our Blue America page is accepting contributions for her campaign. So far 367 from our community have donated over $11,000. Don't be shy about stepping in and joining us. It's good for Ohio and good for America.

WHICH POLITICIANS WILL BE HURT BY THE MORTGAGE CRISIS?

Mortgage crisis likely to destroy Donna's opponent, Al Wynn

Somewhat ironically, a DCCC employee sent out a powerful piece from the new issue of Time today, Will Bad Mortgages Hurt the GOP? It's very likely they already have. A slew of Republican rubber stamps in districts with worried and pissed off homeowners have been announcing their retirements every week. All of these retirees have something in common-- aside from craving lucrative jobs on K Street: they all voted for Bush's heinous and, for hundreds of thousands of homeowners, catastrophic bankruptcy bill.

Tim Walberg was one of the rare Republican success stories in 2006. After defeating Joe Schwarz, the moderate G.O.P. incumbent Congressman in his rural southwestern Michigan district, he went on to narrowly beat Democrat Sharon Renier with just 50% of the vote. Walberg, a fiscal conservative, ran on a platform of limited government, tax cuts and strong support of the war in Iraq.

Last Thursday, to the delight of Democrats, Walberg lived up to his conservative ideals-- voting against a bill in the House that tightens restrictions against predatory lending. The measure, which garnered the support of 64 Republicans in passing 291-127, would force lenders to apply for licenses and require them to verify the ability of borrowers to repay loans. "I think the market always works when we let it," Walberg told TIME just before voting against the measure. "We want to make sure that we have opportunities for consumers to have safe and opportune mortgages. This bill, I think, goes away from that, puts heavy regulation in place, discourages lending practices for just very few people who've had that problem."

As the subprime mortgage crisis has worsened and Democrats have moved to pass legislation to the address the problem, they are accusing their G.O.P. counterparts of doing too little to prevent the predicament. The issue could become a potent campaign issue in '08, as the Democrats have targeted several vulnerable G.O.P. members, including Walberg, who voted against last week's bill.

The Republicans "were asleep at the wheel while this problem was heading straight at us," said Congressman Chris Van Hollen, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democratic candidates. "This is affecting people across the country in Michigan, in Florida, in Ohio-- all important swing states. This will be part of the debate about the economy overall. And people who ignore it do so at their own peril."

It is also affecting people across Van Hollen's home state of Maryland where Bush's Republican rubber stamps were joined by a particularly corrupt Democrat, Al Wynn, to help pass the bankruptcy bill that has put homeowners in double jeopardy. The irony comes in because there is a progressive icon running against Wynn in the Democratic Party primary, Donna Edwards, and Democratic powermongers like Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Rahm Emanuel, are out pimping for... Wynn, of course. So they may denounce Bush and his cruel agenda and try to use it-- as they should-- against rubber stamp Republicans, but when a grassroots Democrat tries to hold a corrupt reactionary like Wynn accountable what happens? Pelosi scurries over to do a fundraiser for him, showing anyone following politics that Democratic insiders are every bit as hypocritical and untrustworthy as Republicans.

Donna has an answer for Democratic insiders and hypocrits: "Montgomery County has over 700 homes in foreclosure and Prince George's County leads the state. Yet Al Wynn keeps taking in campaign cash from big banks and lenders, and voting their way. His vote for their bankrutcy bill put more power in the hands of his special interests backers; hurting consumers who are having a tough time making ends meet." Donna has pledged not to take camapaign contributions from corporate special interests and to crack down on predatory lenders and help rewrite Bush's and Wynn's bankruptcy bill so that it protects consumers instead of victimizing them.

Today Donna's campaign has a new video out that makes Times point far better than Time and makes it clear that if Republican members of Congress who took legalized bribes to vote for the interests of the credit card and mortage companies and against their own constituents are in trouble, so are the handful of Democrats who went along for the ride. Take a look:



If you think Congress needs better Democrats than Al Wynn, please keep in mind that Blue America is supporting Donna Edwards and several other progressive Democrats battling against the forces of reaction and corruption within our own party. I urge you to consider donating to Donna and other grassroots Democrats with serious primaries like John Laesch (IL), Rep. Steve Cohen (TN), Victoria Wulsin (OH), Howard Shanker (AZ), Sam Bennett (PA), Mark Pera (IL), Gretchen Clearwater (IN), Jon Powers (NY), Randi Scheurer (IL). You can hit them all-- or any combination of them-- right here at our Blue America ActBlue page.


MEAN JEAN SCHMIDT-- A NOTORIOUS SUPPORTER OF PREDATORY LENDERS

Last week when we looked at the small minority of congressmembers who refused to back the bipartisan legislation attempting to deal with predatory lenders and mortgage bankruptcies, prominently on the list, as expected, was Bush rubber stamp Mean Jean Schmidt (R-OH). Her opponent, Vic Wulsin, proposes an entirely different kind of representation for southern Ohio, one based on the needs and wishes of the folks who live there, not on the demands of corporate campaign contributors.

We need real change in Washington. I support this bipartisan, common sense effort to rein in an industry that has spun out of control, and would have voted for it. I believe we must protect all Americans from unfair and predatory lending practices. 

We know what’s happening in our neighborhoods and towns. According to Malia Rulon of the Enquirer, "Ohio ranked fifth in the nation for foreclosures in the past three months," and Cincinnati "had one foreclosure per 145 households." As of today there are 2,103 foreclosure listings in Cincinnati alone, and a shocking 75 in Jean Schmidt’s home town of Loveland, OH, population under 12,000.

What do Jean Schmidt’s neighbors think of her voting against them?

Unlike Rep. Schmidt, Republican Senator George Voinovich knows that this is an important issue, saying that "Ohioans can no longer wait while Congress fails to act." [Cincinnati Enquirer, 11/16/07.]
 
We need to stand up for our hard working families, not the Wall Street insiders who made billions when times were good and are now looking for a government bailout. Maybe she’s listening to the developers who have supported her political career.

 

END OF THE QUARTER... SOME PROGRESSIVE PRIORITIES

I've been hearing so many people complaining about "The Democrats." Why aren't they doing what we elected them to do? Why are they wasting time condemning the MoveOn newspaper ad instead of getting us out of Iraq or, crucially important for our country's soul, impeaching Bush and Cheney? Are they as bad as The Republicans? Who are "The Democrats?" We've been telling you about scum like Rahm Emanuel and Steny Hoyer for years. They are as bad as Republicans, even if they do sometimes, for whatever putrid reason, wind up voting for positions our progressive values dictate.

Today is the last day of the quarter for campaign fundraising. Humor me for a moment and open up the Blue America ActBlue page run by DWT, Crooks & Liars, Firedoglake and Digby. No presidentials on that page-- just candidates and incumbents committed to progressive values and ideals. And some of them are in primary races against the other kind of Democrat, the kinds who vote against the interests of working men and women. We only endorse in primary battles when there is a clear case of a progressive versus a reactionary-- a Ned Lamont vs Lieberman situation. In many of these races, the Democratic primary is tantamount either to election or-- worse-- to a choice between a reactionary Democrat and an even more reactionary Republican. Bleeeech!

Now is the time to effect that. Now is the time we can act in concert to derail some of the reactionary Democrats who give Bush the margin of victory to keep his toxic agenda of war and devastation and corruption hurtling down the tracks. Our collective action, in coordination with local grassroots activists, has already frightened off establishment, opportunistic Democrats seeking to get their reactionary asses into races against Darcy Burner and Eric Massa. But some of our Blue America candidates are still facing opposition from the wrong kind of Democrats. These are the ones we should be concentrating on right now.

We have one progressive incumbent, Steve Cohen, being challenged by an untrustworthy DLC-backed candidate in Memphis. Steve's voting record is the 4th most progressive among the freshman class and when it comes to Iraq, to the well-being of our military personnel, to environmental issues, and to health care his votes are 100% on the Progressive Punch scale. Steve has earned our support. If you want another compromising, corrupt reactionary to replace a real Democrat, do nothing to help Steve keep his seat. And now is the time in this district that went 70% for Kerry.

Donna Edwards is an old friend who should be running for president instead of for Congress. But first steps first. She's challenging a Steny Hoyer hack, a corrupt thug who has sold out his constituents on every occasion, the notorious Al Wynn. Donna seemed to have beaten him last year until some suspect last minute ballot boxes turned up. She's far better known now and she has a much better chance of beating Wynn.

Victoria Wulsin nearly beat Mean Jean Schmidt in southwest Ohio last year. This year, far better known, she is poised to close the deal. And wouldn't you just know it, some rich, opportunist shows up to muddy the waters. Vic was one of our favorite candidates in 2006 and we need to back her as strongly this year, now in the primary and then against Mean Jean in November of 2008.

With Denny Hastert finally slinking off in disgrace, we have a chance to elect a Democrat in IL-14. But what kind of a Democrat is up to us. There are two visions competing here-- a Blue Dog who will be a bit better than a Republican and then there's John Laesch, a union carpenter and Iraq War vet who is deeply grounded in progressive values. The choice couldn't be clearer. Unfortunately, though predictably, the Blue Dog is a millionaire eager to buy the seat. John... well, like I said... he's one of us, a working person.

South of John's district is IL-03, currently misrepresented by one of the worst of the Bush Dogs, Dan Lipinski, a Democrat in name only. He firmly opposes women's right to choice (and even stem cell research!) and consistently backs Bush on his war agenda and on domestic spying. Fortunately we have an incredible candidate running against him, Mark Pera, who has a real shot to defeat this slimebag right in Rahm Emanuel's own backyard. Lipinski has enlisted a gaggle of pathetic allies to jump into the race and split the vote, a tactic he employed last year as well. The netroots and local grassroots activists aren't being tricked and the opposition to the odious Lipinski has rallied behind Mark.

Our candidate in upstate western New York, Jon Powers, is taking on rubber stamp Republican Tom Reynolds and he has a great shot at defeating him. But first he has to defeat Alice Kryzan, one of Reynold's financial backers who is running as a "Democrat" to confuse voters. Most Democrats in the district who know her, and that isn't many, know her as the attorney for Occidental Petroleum who called the citizen uproar over the toxic disaster known as Love Canal "hysteria." Jon is a very different kind of candidate and I'd like to urge you to read his live session at Firedoglake and then think about donating what you can to his campaign and the campaigns of the other exceptional candidates mentioned here. Do it right here; it'll make you feel good.

WHAT'S WITH THESE RIGHT-WINGERS CALLING ON BIKERS TO INTIMIDATE THEIR CONSTITUENTS? LIKE MEAN JEAN SCHMIDT AND MITCH McCONNELL?

Last night TRex helped expose Kentucky's closeted gay senator, Mitch McConnell for what he is-- a brittle, uptight authoritarian who resorts to vigilantism when confronted by constituents angered by his rubber stamp support of Bush's occupation of Iraq. And Miss McConnell isn't the only panic-stricken Republican incumbent calling the Hells Angels to strong arm disgruntled, peaceful voters. DWT Mean Jean Watch correspondent, Karen Allen, is worried about a "Reich-wing trend" taking over the GOP. Here's Karen's report on the latest from Mean Jean World:

In the southwest Ohio congressional district represented by Mean Jean Schmidt, leaders of the Iraq Summer group sponsored a 24-hour "Support Our Troops, End the War" vigil outside of her suburban local office from Monday afternoon through Tuesday afternoon.  The many protesters ranged from committed high school students all the way to senior citizens.  They had signs, candles... a guitar.  Someone even ordered pizza to be delivered to the friendly and decidedly peaceful group.  As cars drove by,  drivers honked their horns, smiled and gave the "thumbs-up" symbol to the protesters. A poll of district residents showed that 70% favor a responsible and speedy withdrawal from Iraq (unlike their congresswoman, who is the quintessential Bush-Cheney rubber stamp and is a knee-jerk supporter of "Stay the Course.")
 
A panicked Schmidt sent out emergency phone calls to her goon squad buddies in her hometown in Clermont County.  Before long, a few motorcycles flying large flags probably "borrowed" from schools began arriving at the protest site. The drivers sported baseball caps, large overhanging beer bellies, dirty hair and several missing teeth.  They milled about across the driveway from the peaceful protesters, shouting insults and doubting that the protesters were "true Americans".
 
A resourceful attendee drove across the street to a party supply store and bought numerous American flags and distributed them to the protesters to carry.  Goon squad Hell's Angels types have no monopoly on American flags, and it took away some on their panache.  Eventually, Jean Schmidt's chauffeured SUV pulled into the driveway.  Without getting out, Schmidt thanked her outnumbered goons for their support.  She said nothing to the anti-war constituents on the other side of the driveway.
 
What a democracy lesson for the high school students to observe!  Trust Mean Jean to foul up anything and everything.

Last year of all the outstanding progressive Democrats endorsed by Blue America who ran for the House, Victoria Wulsin, was our top pick. We raised more money for her than for anyone else running for a House seat. And she came within a handful of votes of dislodging Schmidt. This year we've endorsed Victoria early and donations have already been flowing in. There is no clearer choice-- not just on Iraq, but across the board-- on how to govern America than between Victoria Wulsin and Mean Jean Schmidt. And I can guarantee you that it would never cross Dr. Wulsin's mind to call out a goon squad on her constituents. Please think about contributing to Victoria's campaign here at our Blue America page.

THERE ARE TWO REPUBLICANS RUNNING AGAINST VIC WULSIN IN OH-02-- AND ONE IS IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY

Last cycle Victoria Wulsin was one of Blue America's favorite candidates. Almost 1,100 of our members donated just over $27,000 to her campaign and our PAC also bought hundreds of radio spots in rural southwest Ohio to help OH-02 voters understand the stark difference between Victoria and the divisive and controversial incumbent, Mean Jean Schmidt. Victoria came with a handful of votes of beating Schmidt and is certainly poised to take that seat in 2008. We've already endorsed her and we urge anyone with a little extra money to consider lending Vic a hand. Maybe our song from last year will encourage you?



I know the archive of the chat we had with Vic over at FDL should help you to understand why this race is important, important to poeple in the district and important to people all over the country.

Now everytime I mention how close we are to winning OH-02, I get a comment from someone connected to the campaign of an ambitious and opportunistic man who would like to be a member of Congress. He saw how well all the grassroots and netroots work got Vic and he decided he could do better. His name is Steve Black and he's a well connected lawyer in a major Republican law firm ( Graydon, Head, and Ritchey, Taft's and Portman's old firm) and he thinks he can march in and win the Democratic nomination. In fact, Black may claim to be a Democrat now but he's been a Republican-- and a donor to Republican candidates-- alll his life and for the last few years while Paul Hackett and Vic Wulsin were doing the hard work of opening people's minds in the very red CD, he was still voting in the Republican primary.

Public records show that Black contributed money to Republicans right up to last year, including Greg Hartmann, Mary Taylor, Jim Petro, Bob Taft, Betty Montgomery and... believe it or not... Ken Blackwell. And now he's a Democrat? And thinks he should be the Democratic congressman from the district?

Last week another opportunistic fake Democrat looked around at reality and dropped out of his race against Eric Massa. I have a bad feeling that this isn't going to happen in OH-02. I think Steve Black is too good of a Republican to drop out. It looks to me like he's doing Mean Jean's wrork by getting Vic to spend campaign money on a primary. We should redouble our efforts to assist Vic Wulsin in winning the congressional seat in OH-02, against Republican Steve Black and then against Republican Mean Jean Schmidt.

WILL JOE LIEBERMAN ENDORSE AL WYNN? STEVE BLACK? ...MEAN JEAN SCHMIDT???

Corporate lawyer Steve Black, one of them big money Republicrats-- he's voted for Republicans in primaries but never for Democrats for as long as the Ohio Secretary of State has kept records-- smells blood in Mean Jean Schmidt's water. Black looks at Mean Jean's near-death experience last November-- when Vic Wulsin drew 117,595 votes against her 120,112-- and he thinks the grassroots and progressive Democrats in OH-02 are just sitting around waiting for him to step up to the plate. So he's filed a primary challenge to Vic (as has anti-choice loon Jeff Sinnard). These two are entitled to challenge Vic in a primary. Her problem-- our problem-- is that she'll have to divert funds that should be going towards educating voters in southwest Ohio about Mean Jean's voting-record-from-another-planet.

So I was sitting around wondering how to help Vic and another extraordinarily good progressive with a tough primary coming up-- Donna Edwards (MD-04)-- and it dawned on me that something that worked really well for Tom Allen last week, might work well for Donna and Vic too.

Black says he's running as a Democrat because our party has moved in his direction lately. He has loads of cash-- and rich Cincinnati blue-blood connections-- but is he going to be a fighter for the issues that make Victoria Wulsin such an attractive candidate? Will he even have any credibility when he talks about the values and issues that matter to us? And who even knows if he-- like Al Wynn-- will sell us right out at the first opportunity. If issues like universal health care, ending the occupation of Iraq, environmental concerns not always being trumped by Big Business and developers, and women's right to choice are meaningful to you, it's time to think up ways to make sure candidates like Vic and Donna have the resources they need to compete with wealth and corporate power.

Al Wynn is totally a Lieberman type incumbent, a corrupt slimebag and Bush/corporate rubber stamp. Steve Black will fit right in that mode as a candidate. Now, is Lieberman only endorsing Republicans in this cycle or will he help treacherous and reactionary Democrats too? My gut tells me an endorsement for one's opponent by Lieberman-- which helped us raise over $4,000 in 2 days last week-- is a gift that will keep on giving and giving. Other than an embrace from Bush or Cheney, nothing will help a progressive more than Lieberman jumping on board with the opposition. He's far more toxic, politically speaking, than reactionary DLC chairman Harold Ford (who has, as expected, endorsed Wynn) or than Rahm Emanuel or than Ben Nelson. How do we get Lieberman interested in OH-02 and MD-04? Steve Black and Al Wynn are both right up his alley.

The Blue America Page is open (24-7) and happy to accept contributions, no matter how small, for Victoria Wulsin, Donna Edwards and Tom Allen, as well as a host of other progressive, grassroots candidates, none of whom, are Joe Lieberman Insider Money Party pols.

Oh, oh, oh... I just thought of something! Victoria Wulsin and Ned Lamont were actually college housemates for a while! Now, how do we get that information to Lieberwhore?

BLUE AMERICA-- THIS YEAR WE WILL PUT A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE: VICTORIA WULSIN

This afternoon we welcome Doctor Victoria Wulsin back for her second Blue America live blog session at Firedoglake, 2pm, EST. Her first one is archived here and you will get a great idea of just what an incredible candidate-- and person-- she is. Last year, of the 30 men and women our community supported in House races, we donated more money to Vic than to anyone else running, over $27,000 plus hundreds of radio spots our PAC placed independently.

Vic came very close to winning the election-- in an area renowned for crooked Republican vote counting overseen by the most egregiously corrupt Secretary of State in the nation, now departed. Within days of the election I was urging her to consider running again. I was overjoyed last week when she announced she would do it. We spent some time on the phone Thursday and Friday and I'm firmly convinced that as good a candidate as she was last year, she's supercharged this year! This is a very smart woman who knows how to learn from experiences.


Another big factor her supporters can feel optimistic about is how the fast-learners are now being joined by more and more Americans in their disdain for the Bush Regime and the rubber stampers like Mean Jean Schmidt who enable it and prop it up. Last year Vic got to 49% with virtually no assistance from Inside the Beltway. It was all grassroots and netroots. This year the grassroots and netroots are as fired up as ever-- more so-- and a more enlightened Van Hollen-led DCCC is already interested in Vic's campaign. Paul Hackett has told people he isn't interested in running for the seat and there doesn't appear to be any viable competition for a seat Vic needs only a couple thousand more votes to win.

Of course she is far better known throughout the district too and she's starting from a powerful base of volunteers. Emily's List has already jumped into the campaign and when Rove was illegally urging the GSA to disregard the Hatch Act and come to the aid of vulnerable Republican incumbents, Schmidt was right on the top of his list. Interestingly, she may be as endangered from disgruntled Republicans as she is from Democrats and independents. A primary challenge is almost a foregone conclusion, although she's likely to win that.


Even the Republican-leaning local media has been more evenhanded in their coverage of Schmidt lately. The Cincinnati Enquirer covered Schmidt's incomprehensible viewpoint on the treatment of wounded American vets at Walter Reed, as did the local TV stations.

Of course, the best case for the election of Vic-- other than Vic herself-- is Mean Jean. Many people in the area are still concerned that she's relentlessly promoting the importation of nuclear waste into the district, just upriver from Louisville and Cincinnati. "Radioactive exposure is permanent," Dr. Wulsin reminds me. "She thinks it's a jobs program." But it's nutty attitudes like this that discourage real jobs from coming to OH-02. The Batavia Ford factory is closing; that's real jobs. Will employers want to locate somewhere that has a national laughing stock as a representative who is trying to import nuclear waste that could be a threat to their own families and employees?

Almost every answer I got to the questions I asked Vic was informed by her public health background. We talked about the tragedy at Virginia Tech and last week's tragedy at the Supreme Court and in both cases she was approaching the subjects as health and healing issues. "There's no such thing as a 'partial birth abortion.' ...Abortion isn't a good method of family planning. They should be legal, safe and rare. Education for women and for men is very important as are the accessibility of birth control pills, contraceptives, clinics where the patients aren't stigmatized."

When I asked her about Virginia Tech her immediate response was to talk about the warning signs that were so clear in the shooter and how society refused to deal with them. There was no support system that could have prevented this tragedy. Gun control is a very tough issue in her district but she isn't ducking it. She feels that society has to distinguish between guns people are entitled to for recreation and self-defense-- especially in rural areas where there isn't ready access to law enforcement-- and guns for mass destruction. On the campaign trail she gets the feeling that half the NRA members she talks to agree with her. "People with untreated mental illnesses and with impaired judgment should not have guns; that's a challenge but not impossible."

And speaking of not ducking a tough issue, Vic, who campaigned against the war and occupation of Iraq in 2006, says she plans to hit on that issue even harder this year. "We can't solve their civil war. We should bring our troops home and as soon as possible." Similarly she feels she needs to talk to people in the district about the Constitution and how it has been under threat. "The level of miseducation, much of it from outlets like Fox, is unbelievable." She feels a need to talk with people in southwest Ohio about habeas corpus and why that's important to every single one of us.

I know these issues are important to every reader of this blog. And I know from the outpouring of dedication and generosity last year that lots of us understand why it's important to help a woman like Victoria Wulsin get into Congress where she will be a force that is a part of creative and fresh solutions, instead of a festering sore on the ass of every problem that we face like... well, you know who. I'd like to urge you to join me in donating to Vic's campaign and moving her from the bottom of our list towards the top. 24 hours from when this story was posted I'm going to put all the names of the people who have contributed into a bag and pull 12 out. Each of the 12 will get a copy of the new book by Jeffrey Feldman, Framing the Debate, a book about the power of communication in contemporary progressive politics. Jeffrey has autographed each book in an effort to help us raise some funds for Vic's campaign. If you already have a copy, just add .01 to your donation as a sign you don't want us to send you another.

MEAN JEAN SCHMIDT GETS SOME VERY BAD NEWS: VICTORIA WULSIN JUST DECLARED SHE'S RUNNING FOR CONGRESS AGAIN

Last year Blue America supported 30 Democrats running for House seats across the U.S. The candidate for whom we raised the most money was Dr. Victoria Wulsin, who ran against Mean Jean Schmidt in OH-02. Our online community managed to donate over $27,000 for Dr. Wulsin's campaign. She didn't win. But she did manage to get the most votes of any Democrat in the history of the district-- 117,595. Mean Jean Schmidt got 120,112 and recently Karl Rove listed her as one of the most vulnerable Republicans and illegally solicited assistance for her re-election campaign from the General Services Administration (GSA). Mean Jean raised $1,944,434 in 2006, most of it from Big Business and from herself. Victoria raised $1,069,096, 74% of which came from individual contributors.

I hope you remember this song Rickie Lee Jones and two of the Squirrel Nut Zippers sang for OH-02:



That was done with money contributed, mostly in $5 and $10 donations to the Blue America PAC by 1,383 members of our online community. We're open for business again-- and I'm meeting with Tom Maxwell, the writer of the song, in a couple weeks to see what we can come up with for next year.

A few weeks ago I urged Victoria to run again and she told me she was considering it and talking it over with her family and local backers in southwest Ohio. This morning's good news is that Victoria is in! I hope to get her to come on FDL for a Blue America chat in a couple weeks. Meanwhile, here's what she had to say:

"When Americans are fighting in Iraq, going without affordable health care, and struggling to support their families, we need an independent voice in Congress, not a rubber stamp for special interests and the Bush Administration," Dr. Wulsin said, adding, "The people of the Second District deserve a Congresswoman who will be honest with her constituents."