Money talks loudly ... TODAY!

Eleven days to go until November 7 and the 2006 election.  Candidates for federal office—US Senate and House—are about to make their final television, radio, cable, print, and online advertising buys, and their decisions will be based on how much cash they have on hand TODAY.

That’s why every blogger, all across the country, is pushing readers hard in this final push.  Please, if you have any money to spare, any credit card on which you can elevate this month’s balance, any extra amount in your PayPal account, it would behoove you to contribute to you favorite candidate(s) TODAY.

I’ve placed a number of buttons over there on the left side of the page, under the My 2006 Endorsements header, that show the candidates I’m supporting most strongly with my money, my time, and my blogging.  Hover over those buttons, click your mouse, and fill in your information on their contribution pages.  To make it even easier, and to remind you about the specific candidates I’m particularly partial to, here’s more about them:

• The top button on the sidebar takes you to the BlueNorthwest ActBlue page.  Well over a dozen Pacific Northwest bloggers, many of whom are listed in the Blogtopia section of the sidebar, collectively support about ten candidates (both federal and state-level) through that page.  The federal candidates we’re backing are Darcy Burner (WA-08), Peter Goldmark (WA-05), and Larry Grant (ID-01).  I’ll have more to say about Darcy and Peter, whose endorsement buttons I list proudly, in a moment.  As for Larry Grant, he’s a former officer at Micron Tech, a native Idahoan on the tradition of Frank Church.  He’s running against a true wingnut, backed by the reprehensible Club For Growth, who is even reviled by important leaders of his own party.  ID-01 is an open seat, as the incumbent is running for governor (and in a real dogfight as even Idaho loses some of its red-state lustre).  This is a Congressional seat that can be won.  You can contribute to Larry Grant through either of the links in this bulletpoint.
• While I haven’t written specifically about Darcy Burner, running across Lake Washington in WA-08, that’s not for lack of interest and enthusiasm.  Darcy is young, vibrant, and sharp as a tack.  She built her candidacy into a powerhouse without help from anyone other than a sea of volunteers and her own tenacity, and she’s built it into a movement that scares the hell out of Sheriff Hairspray.  A Harvard-educated Microsoftie, she knows her way around Net Neutrality and netroots activism.  This is a formidable woman, and I can think of no one I’d rather see as the first Democrat ever to represent the Eastside’s Congressional district.  Contribute to Darcy either through the link on her name above or via the BlueNorthwest page.
• I have written previously about Peter Goldmark, two months ago in this post.  I stand by every word I wrote.  In the interim, Peter has gotten better and better, making such gains that today he was added to the DCCC’s Red to Blue program.  Goldmark is an extraordinarily compelling person, a dedicated rancher who’s also a PhD molecular biologist.  He exemplifies the rapidly burgeoning “cowboy Democrat”, in the mold of Brian Schweitzer, Jon Tester, Scott Kleeb, and Gary Trauner.  All Peter lacks is “face time” with the voters in his district; anyone who gets to see and hear him will know immediately that this is an authenticly upstanding human being, who will do what’s best for WA-05 because he is WA-05.  To contribute, click on his name above, or do the one-stop-shopping thing on our BlueNorthwest page.
• My final plea is for a candidate clear across the country.  I went to college with Paul Hodes.  In fact, Paul and I were in the same class at Dartmouth.  Now he wants to represent Dartmouth’s district (NH-02) in the House of Representatives.  Hodes is a former prosecutor, an environmental lawyer, and an accomplished musician and kids’ performer.  His ideas and ideals are our ideas and ideals.  NH-02 is the more Democratic of New Hampshire’s two CDs, having supported both Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004 (and it was where Howard Dean ran best in the 2004 primary).  His opponent is the scion of a multigenerational Republican dynasty in the state, but he has strayed far from his predecessors’ rock-ribbed New England conservative roots.  Recently, he even went so far as to pander to ethnic stereotypes in regional political contests.  Paul Hodes will change all that, and bring his seat back into the Democratic fold after over a decade in the other guys’ hands.

Once again, TODAY is the day that candidates will determine how much advertising they can buy for the final push in this most vital of national elections.  Just as every vote can make a difference in determining the outcome of these races, so too does every dollar in ads make a difference in influencing the choices made by the voters.  Please be generous, please give ‘til it hurts.  That’s what I’m doing—for these candidates and many others.

Comments

If you can help canvass, that’s highly important as well.  The party that can get out their voters to vote will see the biggest wins this election.  That takes time, and money.

----------------------

Absolutely.  I’ve done some phonebanking for Darcy, and intend to do more.

----------------------

I live in an area so Democratic that in the primary for “Party Preference” my precinct was 89.9% D, and 10.1% R, so for me turnout is everything. I’m pesky enough to check who has voted by 6:00 p.m. and go knock on doors.

----------------------

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

<< Back to main