Clark Democrats - Some thoughts on Congressional Races

[jmaier]

I know that many of us are probably looking at making small donations to a number of Democratic contestants in battleground Congressional and Senate races. Naturally, I think that this is a wonderful idea. I would argue that we should hold off briefly until we get some further guidance from Wes himself. We can afford to wait for a while since these elections (other than Chandler in KY and Herseth in SD) are not imminent.

I did make donations to Ben Chandler and to Charlie Rangel but in Chandler's case the race was at hand and Wes himself sent out an email requesting support for Chandler. In Charlie's case, well, he has been such a staunch, vocal and public Clark promoter so how could I not and Wes obviously shared his supporter database with Charlie.

That said, it seems to me that we can do more to promote these candidates through a show of strength rather than a few at at a time, piecemeal donation to various candidates. Chandler was an excellent opportunity because he provided coding in his contribution link to attribute the contribution to Wes Clark. This is important because it not only raises funds for him but gives us, and Wes Clark, credit as the source. Because Wes triggered the donations with his own email it also permitted us to mass our support somewhat so the impact may have been greater.

Obviously, if it's a race in your district/state and you strongly support the candidate personally, don't delay. Otherwise, we should look at a strategy to act more in concert as a group to maximize the Wes Clark democrat impact. Thoughts?

[BootinUp]

1. Quite right

If it can be seen that we are loyal to Wes going forward it will increase his credibility with the party as a skilled and respected politician.

[LouisFC]

2. Agreed! n/t

[maddezmom]

3. agreed

Made a small donation to Charlie and Ben. We need to get a list together of all the folks that backed Wes and go from there. :)

[jmaier]

4. I'll see if I can dig up a comprehensive list

of those members of Congress and the Senate who were actually super-delegates for Wes. That would be a good place to start and I'll post them on my user blog at CCN jeffreymaier.forclark.com

[deminflorida]

5. This is a great idea!!!

n/t

[Lefta Dissenter]

6. My only issue with that

is that that doesn't necessarily focus on some great people whose seats are at risk. They are being specifically targeted by the repugs. My example is Russ Feingold, who will be facing a HUGE battle against two very wealthy repugs. No, Russ did not come out and endorse Wes Clark, but he said from start that he would not be endorsing anyone, and I have to respect that decision. I don't think that diminishes the importance of doing everything we can do to re-elect

THE ONLY U.S. SENATOR WHO VOTED AGAINST PATRIOT ACT!

...and the time for helping is NOW, if at all possible.


edited to fix stuff, as usual

[maddezmom]

7. We should add him to the list, for being one of the good guys!

Here's another one: he's going up against DeLay

http://www.richardmorrisonfordistrict22.com/index.html

[Lefta Dissenter]

8. thank you, mom

My blood is boiling over another thread on the board, so I'm feeling VERY sensitive right now! If you had so much as looked at me wrong for posting that, I would have started crying! :cry:

And yes, anyone who has the guts to take on DeLay gets some bucks from me, that's for sure! :toast:

[in_cog_ni_to]

19. Oh man....

what I wouldn't give to see Tom Delay LOSE that election! I detest that man! :puke:

[LandOLincoln]

42. "Tom DeLay's a fool!" --Wes Clark

I came across that quote somewhere recently, and IIRC Clark said it on somebody's show (Russert's? Matthews') fairly early in 2003--long before he announced his run for the presidency, in other words.

Does anyone remember this? I tried Googling it but still couldn't find it.

[MoonRiver]

46. I'll burst into song and probably spontaneously combust

if I am blessed with watching *:dunce: and Exterminator crash and burn together!

Oh, happy day!!!! B-)

[BootinUp]

20. Delay needs to go down for sure

But we need a little guidance on what races to focus on. We need General Clarks laser beam accuracy.

[_NorCal_D_]

26. Wow.

Anyone who runs against Delay is my hero. What a pleasure it would be to never see his smug, scowling face again! :bounce:

[BootinUp]

9. That is a very good appeal for Sen Feingold

I wonder if you could pass that on to the General somehow? I would not be surprised if he backed Russ.

[maddezmom]

11. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to email him our opinions

[e-mail] I'll wait until he's back from vacation, though...he deserves a break from all of us. :)

[BootinUp]

13. yep -eom-

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. I love Russ Feingold and will donate to his campaign.

I'm glad you posted about that or I would never have known. Thanks!

Just today I donated to Charlie Rangel's campaign. The man deserves whatever help we can give...he was an awesome Clark supporter!

What do you think about aiming our funds toward the 5 Southern Dem seats we are trying to pick up? They will need some major help because the repukes will no doubt be throwing tons of money into those campaigns. We need to have a "hub" for donations and have the funds sent out of there "On behalf of Clark Democrats" OR "In honor of Wes Clark" something like that...they need to know Clark and HIS supporters are behind it. I don't know if something like that is possible? :shrug: Maybe set up a Paypal Acct. for taking donations and you can also send donations out to the different campaigns via Paypal if you have a Paypal debit card.

Just a thought and I have NO CLUE if it's even feasible...I know nothing about politics/contribution regulation....stuff. ;)

[jmaier]

15. Actually, I agree

I wanted to get Clark supporter's list to see who was in a tight race and/or battleground state. Those would be 1st choices for cash. I think we should at least send thank you letters to those who aren't really at risk.

Otherwise, yes we need to identify those winnable new seats or at risk old seats. Ultimately, we aren't going to get 50,000 supporters to donate so I think we should pick 10 KEY races and see if we can make an impact there.

I grabbed the domain name wesclarkdemocrats.com -- I was thinking about having a pledge drive (pledges only no donations) like was done with draftwesleyclark.com site. If we could get a high enough $$$ figure -- we'd offer the pledge list and a proposed list of candidates to Wes and have him make the final call. Just thinking outloud.

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. Pledge Drive is a great idea.

I like it.

[Lefta Dissenter]

17. OK, so was the goal to make me

cry? :cry: You guys are so great. I LOVE CLARKIES!!!

I'm just on my way now to my first Feingold meetup with some other Clarkies. One of our State level Clark Staffers is also involved in the Feingold campaign, and earlier today we talked briefly about having some sort of coordination of the Clark group working for Feingold. He won't be there tonight, but I was going to touch base with him tomorrow after hearing what's going on at the meetup.

I'll run some of this past him, to see if he has any valuable input that could be applied across the board. Let's bookmark this thread so we can address this issue again.

Thanks again, you guys. You've given me a real boost. :grouphug:

[jmaier]

18. I'm ready to do this if you folks think it's a good idea

I've already written the pledge tracking database software and have the domain name so it's just the matter of a handful of web pages (I could use help with the graphics and copy!)

Let me know.

[in_cog_ni_to]

21. I like the idea, n/t

[maddezmom]

22. love the idea

would love to help with the puter stuff, but I'm a puter dummy. :dunce: But let me know when it's set up.

[texasmom]

31. Yes! Thanks for posting about Feingold.

I was reading some transcripts from the floor debates on the Patriot Act today and boy is it obvious what a hero Russ Feingold is.
I will definitely send money to him. Please keep us posted on that race. I'm going to make a point to follow it closely.

[Adelante]

24. This is what I have

Marion Berry, US Representative - Arkansas
Blanche Lincoln, US Senator - Arkansas
Mark Pryor, US Senator - Arkansas
Mike Ross, US Representative - Arkansas
Vic Snyder, US Representative - Arkansas

Rahm Emanuel, US Representative - Illinois
Bobby Rush, US Representative - Illinois

Mike Thompson, US Representative - California

Sanford Bishop, U.S. Representative - Georgia
"Buddy" Darden, Former U.S. Representative - Georgia

Dale Kildee, US Representative - Michigan

Betty McCollum, US Representative - Minnesota

Gene Taylor, US Representative - Mississippi

Max Baucus, US Senator - Montana

Steve Israel, US Representative - New York
Charles Rangel, US Rep. - New York (Nat'l Co-Chair Clark '04)
Anthony Weiner, US Representative - New York

Lincoln Davis, US Representative - Tennessee
Beecher Frasier III, Chief of Staff, US Rep. Lincoln Davis, Crossville - Tennessee
Marilyn Lloyd, Frmr U.S. Representative, Chattanooga - Tennessee

Martin Frost, U.S. Representative - Texas
Solomon P. Ortiz, U.S. Representative - Texas
Charlie Stenholm, U.S. Representative - Texas

Jim Matheson, US Representative - Utah



Other endorsements:

http://chat.forclark.com/story/2004/1/6/181538/4801

[texasmom]

34. Frost , Stenholm, and Ortiz were targeted in the redistricting and

could really use help in Texas.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/020604dnmetcongmoney.30b34.html
With redistricting they put Stenholm's home in one district and his farm in another. Both Frost and Stenholm have been in Congress for 25 years.

On Solomon Ortiz...
http://swdb.berkeley.edu/News_Info/News_articles/Texas/Redistricting%20so%20the%20GOP.doc

An example is Solomon Ortiz, once the sheriff of Nueces County. Since 1983, the 66-year-old Democrat has represented the 27th congressional district, which runs one county wide through five counties south down the Gulf Coast to the Mexico border.
<snip>
Ortiz got to Congress two years before DeLay. But DeLay's map likely would end Ortiz's congressional career, altering Ortiz's district to run north, west and south farther inland from Corpus Christi.

[DaisyUCSB]

10. Well I'm now going to be working for Edwards

and down the road Barbara Boxers reelection.

But we have more seats to defend than pick up in the senate. Things are looking awful in Georgia and South Carolina.

[BootinUp]

12. Tell me why

you mention Georgia specifically.

[DaisyUCSB]

28. because we don't even have a candidate

at least not anyone who's not a sacraficial lamb

[BootinUp]

29. At our meet-up here

Last night, They were talking about Mary Squires and how she did very well in her last election results. I need to find out more myself.

http://www.marysquires.us/

http://www.ourcampaigns.com/cgi-bin/r.cgi/RaceDetail.html?&RaceID=6404

[BootinUp]

33. Magistrate to Run for U.S. Senate seat in Georgia (Democrat)

I thought about our "The Magistrate" when I saw this story. hehe


http://www.ourcampaigns.com/cgi-bin/r.cgi/NewsDetail.html?&NewsID=6843

[Adelante]

43. LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!!

Oh. ;)

[Adelante]

32. Georgia

This guy? How is he doing?

Sanford Bishop, U.S. Representative - Georgia

edit: correction

[Adelante]

23. jmaier !

This is wht we need. This is exactly what we need. How should we proceed?

:bounce:

[jmaier]

25. WesDem

Here is what we will need to do:

1) build the web site and database. I can take the lead on this but will need some help from someone good with site design/graphics. I'm a techie, not a designer. I'll host the site for now and already have the domain name registered.

2) we will need help promoting it through any Clarkie venue folks can think of: the msn group, yahoo group, CCN and elsewhere to get an initial batch of pledges.

3) a high visibility volunteer should take the idea to Wes once we're up and running to get his blessing and, hopefully, get him to generate an email to his campaign database.

4) after that, we just roll up the pledges then turn to Wes to figure out where he would like to direct subsets of the pledgee database to donate.

[Adelante]

27. Okay

I can do these things:

1-Put up a temporary web page until you have a designer.

2-I have 500 megs of web space, so if you don't have as much or could use more for storage, it's yours/ours.

3-I can work on the list and do research if it helps.

4-I can help with content.

[BootinUp]

30. oh yea

the man with the plan...

:toast:

[incapsulated]

38. PM me

I used to do website design, pm me if you need help.

[Adelante]

39. That's our Theda

JMAIER!! WHOO WHOO :hi:

[mikehiggins]

35. This came up on Yahoo and elsewhere so lets look at it

Using MoveOn as a model we should invite Clark Democrats who think their CD could use a look, submit information and documentation to a central site. Then the membership as a whole should vote on one candidate from each region (divide the US into ten regions roughly equivalent in size and population, etc) and everyone should donate to one of those candidates directly.

The central group should NOT handle money in any way shape or form. The way money is handled is always the central weakness of grassroots operations, as most will acknowledge.

If we win even one race, no matter how insignificant, we become a political force to be reckoned with.

It really is as simple as that.

Of course, setting something like that up is very complicated. There are pitfalls galore along the way but you know what? It is doable, if we want to do it.

I for one think we should.

Comments?

[BootinUp]

36. Thats a good concept

We're getting some good stuff in this thread, looks like one to bookmark

[Adelante]

37. Comment

I was envisioning something a bit different.

1-A central site would provide the names of Dems holding threatened seats, or running for new seats, or who have supported/endorsed Wes Clark, or who Wes has endorsed.

2-Wes Clark Democrats could choose what races they want to fund and pledge the amount. This would all be calculated into the database and reported to Wes.

3-The money itself would be submitted by the contributor to Wes and bundled for maximum effect in each race.

OR

3-We would have links to the fundraiser sites (identifying the source of the funds as Wes Clark Democrats members).

4-Wes could also make recommendations based on his own strategies.

I agree we must not get involved in handling funds ourselves.

Generally, I think the simpler we keep the process the better.

on edit: clarification

[mikehiggins]

48. Absolutely. You are correct, sir! The simpler the better.

My major concern is with the point you are in agreement with. I have had a lot of experience with volunteer groups and not-for-profits over the years, and problem with money is one of the all-but-guaranteed causes of internal disagreement and bad feeling.

Just as claims of child abuse fly about in certain divorce cases, just so do claims of fiscal malfeasance or misfeasance surface whenever a controversy arises and is not being resolved in just the way one party wishes.

Best to avoid that if at all possible.

We really should move forward on this one, and the sooner the better if we want to have an impact on the November election. Everyone should flood the mailboxes of the guy running against Tom Delay, for example. Even if its only a ten dollar check, I'm sure it'll be helpful. It'd be nice to see old TD outspent in his own backyard, no matter how much he gets from Enron and the rest.

Pick a target and beat him into the dirt. That's all it will take.

[Adelante]

52. Guy running against Tom Delay: Richard Morrison

GO GET 'IM, CLARKIES!!!!!

Contribute here:

https://www.onlinecontribution.com/rmorrison/donate.php

(Keep your contribution records for entry into jmaier's database.)

This is Morrison's blog if you'd like to post an encouraging comment.

http://www.richardmorrisonfordistri.../blog/index.php

[Adelante]

54. Morrison's blog link

Something went wrong above.

http://www.richardmorrisonfordistrict22.com/blog/index.php

[jmaier]

40. Thank you, everyone

The Clark group is the BEST! I'm off for the night but I've bookmarked this thread so I can get back to everyone. What I'd like to do is write up a basic site plan/concept for everyone to shoot at. When we have a basic agreement then the real development can begin. We want to stay away from any actual money handling and keep this Clark grassroots ALL THE WAY.

Thanks again for your wonderful ideas and volunteering!

[jmaier]

41. Folks:

I'm going to work on a very simple specification of the features I'm proposing for version 1.0 of wesclarkdemocrats.com as we've been discussing on this thread. I invite comments from everyone so please email me if you'd like to get a copy of the document. I'll keep it a plain text file so it is easy for everyone to access.

If you would like to get a copy (hopefully sometime Friday evening), then please email me at jeffmaier AT twotap.com.

:kick:

[Lefta Dissenter]

45. Jeff,

I just emailed you. If you would reply asap, that would be simply spiffy! :D

[RandomUser]

44. Did any of the DU candidates endorse Wes?

I know we have a few people on DU who are running for office. And if I'm not mistaken, at least one of them endorsed Dean. But did any of these DU'ers running for office specifically endorse Clark?

[edzontar]

50. I don't think we have any congressional candidates

Here any more.

Vince Whitaker dropped out of his race for House, Charlie Crystle did the same for Senate.


Jeff Seemann, who was known here as AWD but is is not a DUer anymore, is still running for the House.

Have I missed anyone?

[Walt Starr]

51. I don't believe Jeff officially endorsed anybody

when he was a DUer.

[Jai4WKC08]

47. Kansas

I'd like to suggest adding Democratic Congressman Dennis Moore, from Kansas 3rd District. While he failed to take the leap of endorsing General Clark, he came to several of our functions and always spoke well of Wes Clark. And it's my belief that Rep Moore wasn't just telling us what we wanted to hear--he had met with Clark on several occassions and agreed wholeheartedly with his message. He was in fact on the verge of an endorsement when Clark pulled out of the race.

Dennis Moore serves in a heavily Republican district, made more so by the recent Kansas redistricting--they cut out one of the few areas of Democratic support, and it wasn't an accident. Additionally, this race has been targeted by the GOP and they are pouring money by the bucketload into the coffers of Moore's most likely opponent, a sycophantic little brown-noser to the likes of Delay, Hassert, and Gillespie.

Every two years, Rep Moore just barely holds on to his Congressional seat (no doubt the reason for his hesitancy to endorse the General--cowardice, yes, but perhaps understandable given his precarious position). Last election, Moore won with only a 3% margin (107,931, 50.2% to 100,999, 46.9%). This year it will likely be closer, given the attention (and $$$) the local GOP is getting from the RNC.

http://www.mooreforcongress.com/

Edit: Not that it's real important, but I forgot to add that Dennis Moore is the ONLY Democrat from Kansas currently serving in Congress. Losing him would be a real blow to a party that is already pretty weak here in this state, where the Republicans fight real hard to hold all the purse-strings and school board positions.

[BootinUp]

49. The only democrat from Kansas in the House?

Sounds damn important to me.

[RandomUser]

53. Bloop

Don't forget the CCN software is opensource and released as "Bloop," a modified version of the "Scoop" software that's used by slashdot and kuroshin, I think.

I don't know if this is only the CCN comment ratings software or if it includes the eBlocking stuff. Regardless, it might be worth looking into, and there was a volunteer techcorps group on the CCN devoted to creating new opensource software for future grassroots political campaigns. You might want to get in touch with some of them.

[maddezmom]

55. blip

are there any other candidates that need some help?

[jmaier]

59. self-deleted

on edit: misplaced post.

[robbedvoter]

56. Charlie Rangel - Sharpton payback. Will volunteer tomorrow

at his office,
Check this:
http://charlierangel.org/news/newsitem.php?section=ART&id=1444&showcat=1

[maddezmom]

58. another donation from me

this time I remembered the 04 and I put Wes Clark Dem as occupation. :)

[robbedvoter]

64. That is clever! I'll spread this one around!

Love it!

[carpetbagger]

57. Support Stenholm and Frost.

Charles Stenholm (TX-19) and Martin Frost (running in TX-32) endorsed Clark, and are in tough, but winnable races in gerrymandered districts. (Solomon Ortiz and Charlie Gonzalez also endorsed Clark, but they're in safer districts).

With whatever you've got left over, Max Sandlin and Chet Edwards (who both endorsed Gephardt), and Nick Lampson have tough races ahead.

If we can pull of three of these five, it cuts the effect of the gerrymandering down to three seats gained by the GOP, since Ralph Hall had already said he'd tip the balance if the speaker vote were close long before changing parties.

[maddezmom]

60. Martin Frost's Site:

http://www.martinfrost.com/

[maddezmom]

61. Stenholm's site

http://stenholm.org/

[jmaier]

62. An update on www.wesclarkdemocrats.com

Folks who have been following the idea of a grassroots Wes Clark site devoted to Congressional races: it's getting closer.

At present there is a pre-beta, in development release of the web site http://www.wesclarkdemocrats.com

The core features, other than a Article + comment blog are running and ready for testing/goofing around with.

I have to flush out the content, edit, figure out which Congressional races to highlight, etc. I also have to add site graphics and spiff up the presentation a bit but there is enough there to get a feel for what we've been discussing on this thread. An erstwhile DU'er is helping with the graphics.

I'm not doing this as an individual effort, I'd just like to help us coordinate our voices (and $$$) a bit when promoting Congressional candidates and get Wes Clark some nice in-the-party PR. I'd welcome anyone who wants to help with content and/or comments and criticism.

The goal is to lauch the RELEASE version on March 1. NOTE: if you play around with the Pledge Drive and/or Contribution Logging features for testing -- the data will be wiped out when I move to final release so don't hesitate to enter garbage data. I'd like to know how it breaks.

PM me here or use the Contact Us feature on the site to get comments to me. THANKS!

[Gloria]

63. The pre beta-site looks really great!

eom

[jmaier]

66. thank you!

Still have a bit of work to go but I hope that it ends up useful. :-)

[Leilani]

65. Just visited the Clark site

It looks terrific!!

Congrats on all your hard work!!

[SahaleArm]

67. WA State - 8th CD

The last Real Networks Exec to run for public office won, her name was Maria Cantwell. Jennifer Dunn is retiring and the 8th CD will lean closer to Democrats in 2004.

Official Website: http://www.alben2004.com/

Article on his bid: http://thestranger.com/current/city5.html