In the first couple centuries of European warfare following the introduction of gunpowder, giant medieval walls met cannons and explosives.  Eventually, the cannons and sappers would blow a gap in the wall.  Then a group of volunteers, called in the British Army “The Forlorn Hope“, would charge the gap.  Those men almost always died, but their sacrifice was necessary to draw the fire of the defenders and force them to expend their ammunition, so the second wave of attackers could get through the breach.  Survivors, if any, were promoted to officer.

The 50-state, 435-district strategy requires that many Democratic candidates serve as a forlorn hope.  These Democratic candidates ran in heavily Republican districts where they had little to no chance to win.  But they forced the Republicans to spend money and resources simply to retain their seats, were there to take advantage of mistakes or scandal, and helped to build and energize infrastructure in those districts. 

While we’re all celebrating the victory of last Tuesday, let us thank the Democrats’ forlorn hope — they probably won this for us.  In California, at least in the races I’ve been following, that means that I want to thank these candidates and all of their campaign staff and volunteers:

• Charlie Brown, running against John 15% Doolittle in CA-04.
• David Roth, running against Mary Bono in CA-45
• Francine Busby, running again in CA-50 against Brian Bilbray
• Bill Durston, running against Dan Lungren in CA-03
• Jill Martinez, running against Elton Gallegly in CA-24
• Roberto Rodriguez, running against Buck McKeon in CA-25

Thanks to all of you.  You made this victory possible.