A few months back, I wrote about moral hazard in the LGBT community around the National Equality March. The concept was whether march organizers, who up to that point (eight weeks out) had done a poor job of planning and the March looked like it would be a failure, who made the bed should be forced to sleep in it alone, or whether lots of LGBT community leaders and organizations would ride to the rescue to get them media attention, attendees, etc. It turned out to be the latter, as it became evident that many would rather not get embarrassed on a national stage. The moral hazard problem this created was that any big-name activist who unilaterally plans a major action that will get massive media attention can look at the March experience and witness that others will ride to the rescue to make sure the LGBT movement doesn't look stupid. Insulation from risk.
I'm starting to see this again in California as a movement to repeal Prop 8 is moving forward. The debate had been raging over the past year regarding whether to move forward in 2010 or 2012. Arguments in favor of 2010 include that civil rights should never wait, that there is a very palpable anger in the community to harness, that we could have won if the No On 8 campaign didn't suck so much. 2012 advocates argue that a presidential year is better for us in terms of turnout, that the polling hasn't shown any movement, that more persuasion needs to be done, that there isn't enough time or enthusiasm to raise the tens of millions necessary to win in California. And perhaps the biggest one is that if we lose in 2010, we're done for quite some time.
This past week, as Phillip with UniteTheFight reports, Love Honor Cherish, a Los-Angeles based advocacy group, announced a drive to obtain the one million signatures to qualify its already-submitted language for the 2010 ballot. There are a number of problems with their effort, though, and this is set up to be a very dangerous proposition.
To keep the momentum going, Open Left community member debcoop has pledged to match the next $500 in donations. So, if you give right now, your donation counts double!. Deb will also give another $500 if we stop the Stupak amendment from ending up in the final bill.
Your support, as always, is humbling and a great reminder of who we work for on Open Left. The next six months will cover the most pivotal legislative fights of a generation--health care, climate change, financial regulations, reproductive rights, a new jobs bill and what to do with the leftover bailout money. We want to keep making as big a difference as we can during these fights, and need another $8,645.01 to cover our operating costs until May. Please, chip in what you can now.
Update: $170 into the donor match. Please, take this chance to double your support!
First update on the fundraiser: as of 6:30 p.m. eastern, 82 contributors have donated $5,572.99!
This is a great start, and will cover another 56.5 days of our operating expenses. In order to last until May, we need to cover another 126 days worth.
Please, if you value the information we provide, the campaigns in which we engage, and the analysis we produce, contribute to Open Left today. We work for you, and we can't work without you.
Update (Adam): An amazing thank you to those who have chipped in so far. I am always heartened by everyone's support to keep us going.
If folks are on Twitter, Raven Brooks, Executive Director of Netroots Nation, pledged to donate $2 for each retweet of this tweet (up to $100) over the next 24 hours. Let's empty Raven's wallet by retweeting, and thanks Raven! :)
RT @ravenb Support Open Left! http://bit.ly/3TbUXw Pledging $40 and an additional $2 every time this gets RT'ed next 24 hrs up to $100 #p2
Six months ago, Open Left held a fundraiser to keep us from shutting down operations. Because of your incredible support at that time, we were not only able to keep going, but to expand our capabilities and make a real impact on the legislative process.
In particular, with the assistance of over 35,000 members of the Open Left community, we played a major role in pulling together enough votes to pass a public option through the Senate. Proving there were over 50 votes for the public option in the Senate, and helping to educate the grassroots on both Senate process and the progress of the campaign, were essential to Harry Reid including a public option in the Senate bill.
Now, against the predictions of virtually all pundits, a health care bill with a public option will reach the Senate floor next week. This is a monumental achievement, and through your financial support of Open Left, as well as your activist participation in whipping Senators, you helped make it happen.
In order for Open Left to keep operating and make an even bigger impact over the next six months, we once again need your support. If you value the information we provide, the activist campaigns in which we engage, and the strategic analysis that we offer, then please, join our fight for a progressive governing majority, and contribute today.
Open Left currently has total a monthly operating cost of $7,500 per month. This covers payments to David Sirota, Mike Lux, Adam Bink, Paul Rosenberg, and myself. It also provides health insurance for me and my partner Natasha Chart--without which we would have really been up a creek when she broke her foot in July. Additionally, we need to pay for website hosting, accounting, and our Internet action tools.
With your help, we are going to keep working to bring the public option over the finish line, to engage the fight for marriage equality wherever it is being waged, and to prevent conservative Democrats from instituting new, sweeping restrictions on reproductive rights. Down the road, we are going to keep pushing the progressive envelope with efforts to end the filibuster in the Senate, to institute a new millionaire's tax in next year's budget, and to turn remaining bailout funds into a second stimulus for the rest of America.
Next year is an election year, too. We are going to use new election analysis tools, more accurate than those developed on any other website, to keep putting more progressives in Congress. In 2010, we are going to replicate our previous victories in electing Donna Edwards to Congress through a primary challenge against a corporate Democrat, and to elect Alan Grayson to Congress over a corporate Republican.
Through it all, we are going to keep up our rigorous analysis, and keeping finding innovative, creative leverage points. Whether through my vote counting and data-driven analysis, Mike Lux's expansive and insider knowledge of progressive institutions and power structures, Adam Bink's on the ground reporting, David Sirota's hard-nosed economic populism, or Paul Rosenberg's wide-ranging cultural critique, Open Left will continue to provide the sort of thoroughgoing, left-wing, yet still realpolitik, progressivism found in few other media outlets or political organizations in America.
Last night, 23 Democrats voted against providing 36 million Americans with health insurance while reducing the deficit, but in favor of the Stupak amendment to restrict reproductive rights for low-income women. Those 23 Democrats are:
Jason Altmire (PA-4); Bobby Bright (AL-2); John Barrow (GA-12); John Boccieri (OH-16); Dan Boren (OK-2); Ben Chandler (KY-6); Travis Childers (MS-1); Artur Davis (AL-7); Lincoln Davis (TN-4); Bart Gordon; Parker Griffith (AL-5); Tim Holden (PA-17); Jim Marshall (GA-8); Jim Matheson (UT-2); Mike McIntyre (NC-7); Charlie Melancon (LA-3); Collin Peterson (MN-7); Mike Ross (AR-4); Heath Shuler (NC-11); Ike Skelton (MO-4); John Tanner (TN-8); Gene Taylor (MS-4); Harry Teague (NM-2)
In 2008, more than $1 out of every $12 the DCCC spent on electing Democratic House members went to electing one of these Democrats. Based on expenditure reports compiled by Swing State Project, here are the details:
Voted to restrict reproductive rights, but voted against the budget, climate change legislation, and health care reform Childers: $296,766.97
Total: $2,605,113.00, or $0.034 of every $1.00 the DCCC used on independent expenditures.
Voted to restrict reproductive rights, but voted against health care reform Boccieri: $2,461,828.65
Teague: $1,535,780.01
Total: $6,602,721.66, or $0.086 of every $1.00 the DCCC used on independent expenditures.
These Democratic members of Congress are a net drag on progressive efforts. Not only do they vote to pass regressive legislation, and not only to they vote against any meaningful progressive legislation, but they vacuum up Democratic money in the process.
It does not matter that these members of Congress are from supposedly conservative districts. What matters is that your money is being spent to elect these people to Congress.
If you donate to the DCCC, then your money is being spent to restrict reproductive rights for low-income women, and against health care reform. In 2010, an even larger percentage of DCCC money is likely to be spent defending the 23 Democrats who voted against health care reform, but who voted in favor of restricting reproductive rights for low-income women.
If Republicans held those seats, there would absolutely be no difference in the outcome of legislation in the House. However, at least more Democratic money would be spent on more progressive candidates. Giving to these candidates is worse than a waste of money--it actually has a net negative effect on progressivism.
It is time for progressives to pass a Stupak amendment of our own. We need to stop giving money to organizations that spend money on John Boccieri, Bobby Bright, Travis Childers, Parker Griffith, and Harry Teague. We are better off without spending a single dime on most, if not all, of these 23 Democrats.
Just sent out the following email to 955 Larry Kissell donors. In 2006, these donors gave a total of $24,689.51 to Larry Kissell's campaign:
Does Larry Kissell Owe You Money?
Dear Chris Bowers,
This weekend, the House of Representatives is pushing for a vote on a health care bill that will cover 36 million currently uninsured Americans while reducing the deficit. Right now, Democrats do not have the votes to pass this bill, and Congressman Larry Kissell has merged as a potential vote against reform.
In 2006, and possibly again in 2008, you contributed money to help elect Congressman Kissell. With the vote expected this weekend, today is ideal for campaign contributors, like you, to contact Congresman Kissell's re-election campaign office. Tell the campaign that, if Congressman Kissell votes against health care reform this weekend, you will be calling again on Monday to ask for your money back.
The number for the campaign office is 1-877-428-4048
The email is info@larrykissell.com
A handful of progressive members of Congress are opposing the bill because they want a stronger version, but Congressman Kissell is not one of them.
Campaigns are obligated to return donations from unhappy donors. Contact Congressman Kissell's campaign office now, and say that you want your money back if Congressman Kissell votes against health care reform this weekend:
The number for the campaign office is 1-877-428-4048
The email is info@larrykissell.com
You received this email because you contributed to Larry Kissell on the Netroots Candidates Act Blue page back in 2006. If you are not already signed up for Open Left Action, this is a one-time only email sent to you on an urgent piece of legislation in the House. You will not receive any further emails from Open Left Action unless you choose to sign up to our email list. You can sign up here:
So I've spent the whole day in the No On 1 campaign boiler room. Today we raised close to $70,000 from 1,200 people. Which is stunning. I asked you guys for help this morning, when we saw our opponents did a big 'raiser to air their new radio ad and who knows what else. You just absolutely blew away our expectations, and we think based on past fundraising they've done online, blew their 'raiser out of the water.
Jesse Connolly, the No On 1 campaign manager, just walked back in the office on his way back from the bank. He saw the ActBlue total on my screen and literally grabbed my Flipcam.
My sentiments exactly. I've been writing about this campaign for months, asked you for a lot, and you've given over $7,000 at our OpenLeft/Better Dems page, and now this. I'm a little mentally wiped and don't have much eloquent to say except thanks. Again.
If you want the latest from on the boiler room here, tonight I'll be on The Young Turks at 8:40 PM EST (listen on Sirius 109, XM 98) and then on Live From the Left Coast with Angie Coiro (if you're not on the left coast, click here to listen).
Looking forward to bringing home a win tomorrow for you guys.
Back in college, I did a lot of organizing around the 2004 Presidential election. In particular, I organized large out-of-state canvass trips to Pennsylvania and Ohio for America Coming Together. The logistical barriers were enormous in terms of cars, class schedules, and so forth, but none as large as money.
At the University of Rochester, like many colleges, everything revolved around "Flex" money, which was money you or your parents/guardians put on your ID card. Flex purchased you anything from textbooks to food to concert tickets on campus. It was frequently the only kind of currency any student had. We set up tables to sell anti-Bush merchandise to raise money for our trips, and the first question out of students' mouths were whether we accepted Flex or not. If not, the population to which we could sell literally plummeted.
Because political travel out of state wasn't a U of R-sanctioned activity, we could not raise money for our trips via Flex. Students did not have checkbooks, many did not have credit cards. Many had parents willing to donate online, but we had no place to accept such a donation. Sending checks in the mail took time. I'm not even sure if PayPal was around then, but it was unheard of. Fundraising was an enormous barrier.
I'm writing about all of this because ActBlue, partnering with TravelForChange.org (the organization that helped Obama volunteers travel to swing states last year), has a new tool that allows you to create a personal fundraising page to cover your travel expenses to Maine. This may seem simple, but I actually consider it an amazing leap forward. Much of the population willing to travel are young people, particularly college students willing to miss a week of class, and more spontaneous (no children, fewer hard commitments, etc.) In my organizing experience, young people have the most willingness to go, but the fewest resources in terms of finances to support travel. This helps break down that barrier. And it's not just for young people. You can set up a page and blast it around to friends, family, etc, utilizing Facebook and other means we didn't have five years ago. TFC.org cuts you a check, and that's that. No questions asked. Spend it on gas, food, interstate tolls, any other travel expenses. You can also do a joint page with friends if you want to carpool.
Here's Shai Sachs (of MyDD fame) and Ben Gonzalez, both of whom came up to volunteer. Ben explains how he used TFC/ActBlue to raise money to support his travel here from Southern California.
Talking with campaign staff here, the biggest need we have for the remainder of the campaign is volunteers. The polls are still tight. We're two weeks out today. If you're up for coming to Maine, but need a little financial help, get in touch with either myself (adambink at gmail dot com) or fill out the form here to get started.
First of all, I have to say thank you myself. As a result of our Moneybomb for Maine this week for yesterday's Oct. 15th deadline, you raised over $1.125 million, including $32,000 yesterday. I know I've asked you guys for money over and over, and you came through, raising over $7,500 at the OpenLeft/Better Dems page. I am amazed and thankful.
What's more, here at the campaign office, when I said I'm from OpenLeft, every single person I've met said a huge thank you. They all knew about OpenLeft and the help we've given across the progressive netroots, including MoveOn.org. So, I decided to get a little of it on tape. And a little fun Friday GLEE cover music to accompany. It's their way of saying thanks. You deserve it. Thank you!
Open Lefters, it is time to dig into your pockets and show your support for Representative Alan Grayson by giving to his campaign today.
Representative Grayson was one of the Better Democrats on Open Left who defeated a Republican incumbent in 2008. Now, Republicans are drafting a resolution to condemn him for saying the Republican health care plan was "don't get sick, and, if you do, die quickly." Here is the video:
Republicans are claiming this is the equivalent of Democrats condemning Joe Wilson, even though Wilson broke House rules with his comments, and Grayson did not. Donate to Alan Grayson now.
Democratic leaders, of course, are already encouraging Grayson to apologize. They didn't bother doing the same when those Republicans made their remarks. Thanks, guys. Donate to Alan Grayson now.
Matt Stoller, who co-founded Open Left and now works for Alan Grayson, is being directly attacked in this firestorm, too. Some Democratic "allies" are even leaking his private emails to the Politico. Nice. Good to know we have such friends on Capitol Hill. Donate to Alan Grayson now.
Republican lies, double-standards for progressives, backstabbing Democrats, Congressional leaders who won't stand by us-if we don't stand up for one of our own at a time like this, no one will. We have to defend our champions when the right-wing smear machine comes after them, and Democrats help that smear machine out. Donate to Alan Grayson now, and defend a Better Democrat who made it to Congress.
Update (Adam): The NRCC just launched this website, www.alandisgrayson.com, attacking Alan Grayson and his record. They're all piling on, so now is critical to have his back.
The last day of the third fundraising quarter of 2009 (whoa, time really flies!) is this Wednesday, September 30. Our Democratic candidates for Senate need to make as big a fundraising splash as possible in the third quarter to help refute the growing conventional wisdom among the traditional media pundits that 2010 could be a Republican year.
Please, please, please consider making a contribution today to our Democratic candidates for Senate via the Expand the Map! ActBlue page. I've set some lofty, pie-in-the-sky goals that, if we were able to meet them, I'd be wonderfully surprised and gratified and blown away by your generosity.
Democrat
Currently At
Goal
Distance to Goal
Robin Carnahan
$681
$1,000
$319
Paul Hodes
$780
$1,000
$220
Joe Sestak
$758
$1,000
$242
Charlie Melancon
$193
$400
$207
Please click on over to the Expand the Map! ActBlue page and make a contribution to help stop ongoing Republican obstruction in the Senate. Every contribution makes a real impact whether it's $100 or $25 or $10 or, well, any amount. Want to rebel against multiples of five and contribute $63 or $39 or $27, knock yourself out!
Remember, the fundraising quarter ends this Wednesday, so please contribute today if you can. Thank you SO much!
If you're not a centrist machine Democrat, never give money to any national or state Democratic organization. I really think that this should be an absolute principle. If at some point we're in a position where the Dems need us and come asking, then we can deal. But not while they're treating us with contempt.
I've long believed that such an attitude was just a matter of common sense. If you give money, it should be bundled, to help send a message. And nothing says "Kick me, I'm stupid" like sending the message, "Anything the party bosses want is fine by me."
If there's any silver lining to the long list of abuses heaped on the Democratic base since Obama took office--a sampling of which I cataloged earlier today in "Versailles Dems Ongoing War Against Dem Base "--then that silver lining is this: the foolishness of just giving money to the Democratic Party, no strings attached, has become starkly apparent.
As John went on to elaborate:
We do have this weird situation where the parties are rich, and the single-issue groups are rich, and they work independently. But the groups which want to change the party so that it will do things differently are poor.
I was in a single issue Central American peace group around 1980 which was moderately effective, but to all intents and purposes we were asking the Republicans and many Democrats to abandon one of their central foreign policy commitments. Major issues can't be dealt with that way; they're not details that you're asking to be changed. In order to win a big issue you have to take over the party AND win an election.
I had intended to write a more elaborate diary this weekend about extra-party institution building, but there's a certain power in just keeping things simple--and nothing could be more simple than pooling our money and refusing to support the Democrats without getting real power in return. That's how the corporate special interests play the game, and we're simply chumps if we continue making ourselves utterly irrelevant by giving them money no matter what.
It's time to pit a stop to that. Now! If we start building independent campaign funds now, they will only have a greater and greater impact, the closer we get to the midterms in November 2010.
So the Hey Hey Ho Ho Equality Has Got to GoYes on 1 campaign in Maine came out with their first ad, and the good news is that, well, it's not so great.
Aside from being a classic fear ad, it strikes me as wholly inauthentic. I don't know what's with the Boston College expert walking around his office (did they just flip through their rolodex and pick a name at random?), freaky Thriller music and lots of words running across the screen all at once. Contrasted to the first two No On 1/Protect Maine Equality ads below with two authentic families, it's a dud.
Here's the bad news. The Break Up FamiliesYes on 1 campaign's ad buy is $700,000, enough for each voter to see that ad 20 times.
But there's also some more good news. The No on 1/Protect Maine Equality campaign just launched a peer-to-peer fundraising tool to use to hit up friends, family and colleagues you have. I've played with it a bit, and it's pretty easy to use.
I just thought about it, and I have plenty of LGBT friends who are not invested in this campaign because it's way up in Maine, but should be, the same way we all care who wins a random primary election somewhere else. I believe the Maine campaign- particularly in the wake of the Prop 8 loss- will be an important moment in progressive and LGBT politics. If they win, their side is batting 1.000 on marriage ballot votes since 2004. That's critical for the haters to keep receiving support and funding from the right-wing. Our side will also be severely demoralized after this and Prop 8. If we win, we preserve the rights of Mainer families and have an important victory to take to the bank. We have to win.
That's why I'm writing tonight, using this tool, to ask them to support a campaign that will affect us all. And you'll support quality ads and what I and many colleagues know to be a very good campaign staff. I hope you'll join me.
Update: We broke $300,000 overnight, and we're kicking it up to $450,000. I do so like a challenge.
Stunning. In less than 72 hours, over 4,700 people have given close to $300,000 to the Blue America page thanking members of the Progressive Block for standing firm on the public option. It's been covered now in a NYTimes health care blog and in Roll Call, one of the "must-read" newspapers on Capitol Hill. Thanks in part to a MoveOn blast today, the goal is now $50,000$100,000$200,000$350,000 $450,000.
There are a ton of members of Congress out there who vaguely get what the netroots is, vaguely understand what blogging is. I scroll through the list of members, and I see a lot of people who have been solidly on the left for years, but haven't written on DKos like Louise Slaughter or thanked OpenLeft in a video like Donna Edwards. A lot of the newer members like Eric Massa get it, and folks like Darcy Burner, who now runs the Congressional Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation, get it, and have been working all year to connect progressive members of Congress with us through means like the special hours to answer questions from the online progressive community on the House floor. However, this will help members get it better than anything- waking up to find an extra $1K, then $2K, then $5K in their account- and all from signing a letter. As David wrote, carrots, not sticks, also work.
I just threw another $10 in for Anthony Weiner, whose awesome video smack-down laying out the inherent problems with the insurance industry I just can't get enough of. This man deserves a thank you.
Last cycle, I started an ActBlue page specifically for Democratic Senate candidates working to pick up seats held by Republicans. I named it the Expand the Map! ActBlue page because the goal was to expand the map of competitive Senate seats. The effort was a big success, achieving over 300 contributions and $40,000 for the Democratic Senate candidates included on the page.
Today, I kicked off the 2010 edition of the Expand the Map! ActBlue page with three Democratic candidates for Senate: Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, New Hampshire Congressman Paul Hodes, and Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak.
In New Hampshire and Missouri, we have the strongest candidates available, candidates who will also make terrific Democratic Senators. In both races, however, fundraising will always be a top priority. Missouri Republican Roy Blunt will be able to tap his lobbyist buddies and corrupt cronies for cash ad nauseum. No doubt the NRSC will also make holding New Hampshire a top priority; and the D.C. GOP establishment has already begun fawning over Palin-esque quitter Kelly Ayotte. Carnahan and Hodes need our support! A few years back, all four of New Hampshire's and Missouri's combined Senate seats were held by Republicans. Wouldn't it feel great to have flipped all four?
In Pennsylvania, y'all know the deal. Arlen Specter was a Republican Senator for decades. Even though he changed his Party affiliation, he's still not a Democrat as far as I'm concerned. Joe Sestak is a real Democrat, and he - not Specter - should win the Democratic primary. But Specter has a significant edge when it comes to campaign cash; and, Ed Rendell will do all he can to shut off Sestak's fundraising. Let Specter, Rendell, etc. know that they can't shut down the netroots by supporting Sestak!
Please, please, please help kick off the 2010 cycle's Expand the Map! effort by sending these highly deserving Democrats a few bucks. $100 makes a huge difference, $20 makes a huge difference, $10 makes a huge difference! Hop over to the Expand the Map! ActBlue page and make your voice heard.
This is not just a contribution to these Democrats' campaigns. This is a contribution toward slowing and eventually stopping Republican obstruction in the U.S. Senate. Thank you SO much!
Collin Peterson is getting a lot of credit, both on Open Left and elsewhere, for holding up the Waxman-Markey climate change bill. However, it needs to be pointed out that Peterson is only able to do this through anti-climate change solidarity from every single Democrat on the Agriculture Committee. All 28 Democrats on that committee are refusing to pass pre-weakened climate change legislation unless the legislation gets even weaker.
Further, it needs to be pointed out that 13 of the 28 Democrats on the Agriculture Committee were first elected to Congress in 2008 or later, 3 were first elected to Congress in 2006, and 3 more were first elected to Congress in 2004. Still further, many of these are the same Democratic candidates who received the lion's share of Democratic Party Committee spending, and who also received the most progressive, small donor money from Act Blue.
In other words, the climate change bill is being held up by Democratic newbies in the House who received enormous amounts of donations from progressive activists. Here is a chart showing just how much money we are talking about: $18,508,225.
Agriculture Committee Democrats, Frosh and Sophomores
I am deeply humbled to report that, about an hour ago, the Open Left fundraiser passed not just our original goal of $6,000, but has also passed $16,000.
This is a transformative event for Open Left. As recently as last week, I was seriously worried we would have to shut down the site. I hadn't been able to pay myself in four months, and was worried about paying my June rent. Paul Rosenberg will be able to start drawing a regular salary now for his voluminous writing. Progressive Strategies can do the same. We should be financially secure through the end of the year.
Over 240 of you made this happen. Thank you to everyone who donated and gave verbal support. I will be sending personal thank you over the weekend. For now, please accept this general thanks. A special thanks goes out to SEIU, Firedoglake, Debra Cooper, and Michael Kieschnick.
It is times like these that the idea of a progressive community really hits home. Without our support for each other, all of our efforts would collapse. And because of this, please consider giving money to two other fundraisers taking place right now: Drinking Liberally and Marcy Wheeler. Also, don't forget to sign up with SEIU for the health care fight. All of these organizations deserve your help it every bit as much as we do, if not more. I will be doing so myself.
It is good to know who you work for. Over the past forty-eight hours, you guys could not have made it more clear. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I will do my best to live up to your support.
Go to this webpage and sign up for SEIU's health care fight. It is a rare win-win-win: you get to join the fight for the public option, support Open Left, and support SEIU, with one easy, 30 second action. This is a real chance to build the progressive movement, and it is free.
The Open Left fundraising has gone better than my wildest dreams, and I feel very humbled as a result. Let's continue to support Open Left, but to do so in a way that also supports a cause that is winnable and of paramount importance: public health care. Sign up to join SEIU's health care fight now!
Update 2: As of 8:00 p.m. eastern, 34 members of the Open Left community have contributed $3,030. Help us reach $6,000 here. More than half way there! These are always the most humbling times to be a blogger.
Update: As of 6 p.m. eastern, 17 Open Left readers have contributed exactly $1,000. Thank you so much! Help us reach $6,000 here.
Over the next few days, we are holding a fundraiser on Open Left asking for contributions in order to maintain our operations. We are looking specifically for $6,000, which will allow us to meet our costs for another few months during what is sure to be a dramatic, even climactic, legislative season for the Democratic trifecta. If you already see the value in what we do, and the role we play in the broader progressive landscape, then click here and contribute. If you need a little more convincing, then please keep reading.
Even during a time when progressives and Democrats are ascendant politically, very few political organizations and media outlets overtly self-identify as left-wing in America. The urge that many politicians, pundits and organizational staff have to apologize for being leftist, or deny they are leftist altogether, is palpable. See, for example, Democrats tripping over themselves to call Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor moderate. While conservative, pro-corporate policies have driven the country into a ditch, being called "liberal," "leftist," and to a lesser degree "progressive," remains a label that most prominent Democrats and advocacy organizations work to avoid at all costs.
Open Left is a rare exception to this rule. We have consistently produced analysis, and organized activist campaigns, with unabashedly left-wing goals. For example:
When the national media was looking for someone--anyone--to articulate a coherent left-wing critique of Obama administration appointees during the transition, they had few places to turn but Open Left.
When, in 2007, Democratic presidential candidates were all claiming they were going to end the war in Iraq, it was Open Left that exposed the reality behind the rhetoric. We forced a national debate over plans to leave tens of thousands of so-called "residual forces". Additionally, we helped produce an alternative policy called the Responsible Plan to End the War, which was signed by several then-congressional candidates, and now-current members of Congress.
When the Democratic congressional majority was still rubberstamping Bush's agenda, only Open Left coherently identified the perpetrators (Bush Dogs), and also assisted in every single primary campaign against the Bush Dogs (there were four). This included embedding our own Matt Stoller in Donnna Edwards's victorious campaign.
In 2009, we have continued this accountability work as one founding members of Accountability Now, the larger, more coherent organization dedicated to progressive Democratic primary challenges. We have even helped partner with organizations like Brave New Films, ACORN, Color of Change, and MoveOn.org in producing and running our own television ads against Democrats who vote with corporations and against their constituents.
On top of these campaigns, we have always worked to ground what we do in rigorous analysis and innovative, creative leverage points. Whether it is my polling and demographic analysis, Mike Lux's expansive knowledge of progressive institutions and history, David Sirota's hard-nosed economic populism, or Paul Rosenberg's wide-ranging cultural critique, this is not the sort of thoroughgoing, left-wing, yet still realpolitik, leftism you will find in many other media outlets or political organizations in America.
I know that times are tough for people right now. In a painfully irony, the difficult economy means that we actually need your contributions now more than ever. Internet advertising is way down in 2009, and is no longer a self-sustaining means of maintaining Open Left. In order to allow David to write on weekday mornings, Paul to write on weekends, and for me to take over the main blogging duty during the weekdays, we need another $500 a month in reader donations to cover basic costs. The $6,000 goal in this fundraiser will accomplish that for the rest of 2009.
I am proud of what we have accomplished here on Open Left, and I hope to continue making new accomplishments. With health care and global warming legislation looming on the horizon, the climatic legislative season of the Democratic trifecta takes place this summer and autumn, and I am excited about Open Left playing a vital role in making that legislation as progressive as possible. Also, the 2010 elections are creeping over the horizon, and I am excited to reprise our electoral forecasts and innovative grassroots campaigns like Use it Or Lose It, Searching for John McCain and Personal Paid Media. Further, we are going to be doing a lot more series-based blogging, like the Future of the Electorate articles from two weeks ago. Perhaps most exciting of all, we will be starting up a new video podcast series focusing on a numeric analysis of the new and progressive strategy within the next month.
We will continue to neither hide that we are seeking left-wing goals, nor to eschew the necessary hard-work and innovation needed to achieve those goals. As always, this would be impossible without the support of the community. So please, contribute to Open Left.
Last October, Representative Michele "Crazy as Steve King" Bachmann (MN-06) disgraced herself on "Hardball" and sparked a ridiculously successful fundraising drive for her Democratic opponent, El Tinklenberg. I was impressed by the enthusiasm and kicked in a few bucks for Tinklenberg myself, but I was dismayed to see bloggers continue to help him raise money even after he'd raised more than $750,000 and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had promised to spend an additional $1 million in his district. Within a few days of Bachmann's notorious comments, Tinklenberg had more money than he needed to run a solid media and GOTV campaign during the final two weeks before the election.
A fellow Iowa blogger sent me this piece from CQ Politics about how Tinklenberg's campaign committee was the largest donor to the DCCC in March, giving a total of $250,000:
You may recall that his Republican opponent was Rep. Michele Bachmann, whose mid-October comment that Obama "may have anti-American views" angered Democrats nationwide and spawned an avalanche of contributions to Tinklenberg in the waning days of a campaign that Bachmann won by 46 percent to 43 percent, with a third-party candidate taking 10 percent.
Apparently the money was coming in too fast for Tinklenberg to spend completely: he raised $3 million for his campaign, of which $1.9 million came in after October 15, and had $453,000 in leftover campaign funds at the end of 2008 and $184,000 at the end of March.
