(I wanted to make sure this got the visibility it deserved. – promoted by SFBrianCL)
Those of us who have been following the race to unseat Paid-For Pombo in CA-11 just got a big morale boost.
Jerry McNerney has been added to the National ActBlue Netroots page.
And, bonus, Jerry is a DFA Grassroots All-Star.
Our congratulations to Jerry and his team. They’ve earned this every step of the way.
Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Phil Angelides, Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA-04, CA-11, Richard Pombo, John Doolittle, Brian Bilbray, Ken Calvert, health care, corruption, immigration.
Governor’s Race
Paid-For Pombo / CA-11
15% Doolittle / CA-04
Other Republican Paragons
Health Care
Immigration
Reform
Miscellany
Related to the local corruption post noted by Say No To Pombo, Dump Doolittle has a look at the way that 15% Doolittle contributes to local corruption in his neck of the woods.
Courage Campaign: Americans like the idea of Clean Money. See also D-Day.
Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Phil Angelides, Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA-04, CA-11, Richard Pombo, John Doolittle, Jerry Lewis, David Dreier, corruption, environment, immigration, minimum wage, reform. And now back to Mexico v. Argentina.
Governor’s Race
Jerry McNerney / CA-11
15% Doolittle / CA-04
Other Republican Paragons
The World Around Us
Immigration
What Is Villaraigosa’s Deal?
Reform
Miscellany
Isn’t it interesting that 15% Doolittle (through his wife) has received almost $200,000 in direct payments from campaign contributors since 2001? And of course $67K for event planning for Jack Abramoff. One might also note that 15% Doolittle already earns well over $150K / year of taxpayer money + lobbyist freebies and federal benefits. What a Greedy Gus.
(I hate to interrupt Brian’s roll, but ONE hour left — go vote for McNerney. – promoted by jsw)
Democracy for America‘s Grassroots All-Star competition is coming to a close in just 2 and a half hours, at 2 PM PST. The top spot has been flipping between Jerry McNerney and Nancy Skinner, both deserving candidates possessed of unquestionable true-blue credentials. The endorsement, however, can only go to one. Of course, my natural tendency is to support McNerney as the home team competitor, but even failing that McNerney would be the best national candidate to receive the endorsement, for two big reasons explained below the fold.
1. The Incumbent Nancy Skinner is running in the MI-9 against, as Skinner champion and Kos diarist GOTV put it yesterday, “Mr. Inertia” Joe Knollenberg. Joe Knollenberg doesn’t do anything. Ever. When was the last time you were outraged over “the Knollenberg Bill”? I can’t think of one. He’s also 72. So basically, while we want to get rid of him, he’s more or less harmless, and close to retirement besides. Rick Pombo in the CA-11, on the other hand, undoubtedly has a place among the congressional pantheon of villains. He’s ambitious, conniving, corrupt as a bastard, and universally acclaimed as the most environmentally rapacious member of the United States Congress (which of course explains why he’s chairman of the house Natural Resources Committee. On top of all that, he’s young (just 45) and already broke his term limits pledge. He’ll be there for a long time, and is already slated to take over the Agriculture Committee in 2008. If we have a choice between hastening the departure of a doddering fool by a few years or nipping the arsenic-tainted bud of a “conservative” mastermind, doesn’t the latter seem the wiser course of action?
2. Positioning The CA-11 is 53/47 Republican, but Jerry McNerney is up by 4 points in the latest poll, despite still lacking name recognition. He’s fighting from a position of strength. Pombo, however, has the corporate backing to launch a counterattack that would overawe Marshal Pétain. Fleets of sewage-laden bombers will soon be plastering Stockton and Pleasanton with every sort of libelous charge you can imagine. When this happens, one of two things will happen. Either McNerney will have the resources to beat back Pombo’s bull charge, or he won’t. Skinner, on the other hand, despite coming from a somewhat more Democratic district (50/50), has not yet seen fit to release any of her internal polling, which suggests to me she hasn’t yet seen any numbers she likes. Skinner is fighting an uphill battle. She may be able to parley additional support into concrete results – or she may not. Name recognition isn’t her problem – she’s a radio host in the district, for Pete’s sake! With McNerney, we know exactly how the money’s going to help him. With Skinner, the race may never get close enough for the money to do anything.
No matter what kind of netroots Dem you are, McNerney’s your man. If all you want is to take back Congress, he’s better positioned to take your support and do just that. If you want to take out one of the most odious men ever to hold a Congressional seat in the bargain, electing Jerry McNerney is a twofer. I wish Nancy Skinner all the best, but not at the expense of Jerry McNerney. Come on, he’s our man!
As the A-1 Commercials say, “It’s just that important.” Vote now. You can’t hear them, but the spotted owls are thanking you.
There are two ways for you to help California candidates right from the comfortable seat you’re sitting in right now.
First, vote for Jerry McNerney for DFA Grassroots All-Star. If he wins, Democracy For America will make him the subject of a nation-wide fundraising drive.
If you want to be extra-definitive for McNerney, finish after the first choice. The DFA poll closes this Friday, 2 PM California time, so don’t dilly-dally
Second, Mark Warner’s Forward Together PAC is running a Map Changers poll. The winner in this round gets $5K, and the top ten will compete to get Warner to fundraise for them. The three California candidates here are Bill Durston (CA-03), Charlie Brown (CA-04), and Jerry McNerney (CA-11).
Vote here for the Map Changers endorsement. The deadline for this endorsement poll is June 29, but don’t procrastinate — go vote.
Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Phil Angelides, Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA-04, CA-11, CA-50, Paid-For Pombo, 15% Doolittle, Jerry Lewis, David Dreier, Brian Bilbray, corruption, immigration, minimum wage, reform.
Governor’s Race
CA-50
15% Doolittle / CA-04
Paid-For Pombo / CA-11
Other Republican Paragons
Immigration
Helping People
Reform / Miscellany
As you may have read in various posts here on Calitics (for example, here and here), Jerry McNerney was not the choice of DCCC and its leader (?) Rahm Emmanuel. But, in recent days, McNerney has picked up the support of Russ Feingold’s Progressive Patriots PAC and he’s in the DFA’s run off for its grassroots all-star online vote. But according to Roll Call (Subscription required)
InRoll Call(6/15, Drucker): “Jerry McNerney s (D) victory in California s 11th district primary last week means the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will mostly stay out of the race going forward, though Rep. Richard Pombo [CA-11] still faces the well-funded opposition of the environmental community. McNerney hasn t written off help from the DCCC in the general election even though he handily dispatched Steve Filson, the committee s endorsed candidate, in the June 6 primary. McNerney, a wind turbine manufacturer, is trying to schedule a meeting with DCCC Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) for next week when he s in Washington, D.C. But a Democratic strategist close to the DCCC doesn t expect those meetings to lead to the committee getting heavily involved in the campaign. That s not surprising considering the DCCC, believing that the liberal McNerney is unelectable in the GOP district by virtue of his shellacking by Pombo in 2004, took the unusual step of endorsing in a primary even naming Filson to its ‘Red to Blue’ fundraising program. … DCCC leaders originally tried to recruit moderate Democratic state Sen. Michael Machado into the race but were rebuffed, leading them to Filson, an airline pilot and military veteran.” (Roll Call 6/15/06) (Subscription required)
Nope, the DCCC wouldn’t want to support a solid progressive candidate that would dare to actually stand up for what he believes in, and is comfortable talking abou the situation in Iraq. That’s because Jerry McNerney hasn’t shown the kind of electability that Steve Filson did. Oh right, Filson has never won any elections. But that being said, Defenders of Wildlife did a poll showing Pombo trailing both candidates; McNerney’s lead was 46%-42%. And while that is within the survey’s MoE of 4.9%, isn’t this race a worthwhile investment?
I think this is a winnable election. Given that a large chunk of money that the DCCC raises is from Northern California, perhaps it would be a good idea to invest some of that back in the region.
Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Phil Angelides, Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA-11, CA-50, Richard Pombo, Jerry McNerney, John Doolittle, Buck McKeown, corruption, health care, immigration, reform.
Governor’s Race
CA-11
CA-50 / Voting Integrity
Other Electoral
From California Progress Report, the ED of the California League of Conservation Voters is happy with the outcome of the primary.
Republican Paradigms
Immigration
Reform / Miscellany
Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Phil Angelides, Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA-50, Richard Pombo, Jerry McNerney, John Doolittle, Marcy Winograd, prisons, immigration, biodiesel, redistricting, reform.
Governor
CA-50 (Finally, the end of the post-mortems)
Other Electoral
Miscellany
minions fellow travelers in Placer County aren’t doing so well either.
(Make your voice heard. – promoted by jsw)
Russ Feingold’s Progressive Patriots Fund (a PAC) is having a special vote at Yearly Kos to see which candidate will receive a $5,000 donation from them. They are not publicizing the vote outside of Yearly Kos, so very few votes will be cast. This means that each vote matters much more than in the other votes by the PPF.
Please help Jerry McNerney, and help us fight Richard Pombo, by voting for McNerney at the following URL by the end of Sunday.