/(crossposted from Daily Kos)/

I received this in my e-mail today and present it as a public service:

Friends,

I have great news! Over the weekend, Governor Jerry Brown, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, Congressional Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the California Democratic Party and a host of other Democratic Leaders have thrown their support behind my campaign for Congress. These great leaders share my commitment to ending the wars overseas, investing in our communities at home and creating sustainable, green jobs. They know what it will take to get it done, and they know I’m the right person to represent this district.

(continued after the jump)

The primary campaign that ended last week was difficult – its always tough when fellow Democrats talk about what sets them apart. But now that we’re facing an extremist, Tea Party Republican in the general election we simply must bring all the members of our party together.

Will you help us unify the Party? There is too much at stake in this election to let even one Democrat sit out the election in July. If you can give $50, $75 or even $100, we can reach all those who voted in the primary, and make sure they’re with us on general election day.

Our Republican opponent does not share our vision for the future, and he doesn’t represent the people in our communities.We need your help to make sure your friends and neighbors know how much this election means, and come out on election day. A small contribution goes a long way!

Thanks,

Janice

Janice Hahn supporters, I think that this was intended for you rather than me.  I presume that, in CA-36 and given the institutional support that she received, Hahn should be able to beat teabagger Craig Huey without lots of small-donor contributions.  (If not, then nominating her was not so bright a move.)  So this fundraising effort seems more likely to pay off past debts to the advisors who encouraged her to come up with an “unqualified support for Israel” pledge — as if that was the major issue we face today — to give Debra Bowen the choice between (1) pissing off major funders who, if such a pledge existed, would expect to see it signed and (2) Marcy Winograd, who if Bowen signed the pledge would get into the race and split the progressive vote.  For those of us who thought that using the sensitivities of the Jewish community to bait such a trap for her own political gain was pretty rotten, I see no particular point in helping her retire any such debt.  Frankly, it just encourages this sort of misbehavior.

I do hope that Hahn beats the Teabagger in the runoff, but I resent now being asked to pay for it in the name of “party unity.”  Frankly, if you want party unity after the election, don’t pull that sort of crap before the election.  If you do, you should expect to pay for the runoff by yourself.  There are other races — including those recalls in Wisconsin — that also need progressive money.  If Hahn is hurting, Jane Harman might be able to get some friends together and write her some checks.

If this letter had come from someone else, on Hahn behalf, it would not rankle in quite the same way.  It’s telling that it didn’t.

Did anyone notice how incoming freshman Representative Jeff Denham (CA-19) has just

hosted a huge $2,500 / plate dinner fundraiser to welcome the rest of his class to Washington.

Welcome to lobby central.    

{First, a cheap plug for my blog Senate Guru.}

40 days from today – on May 18 – we will see two HUGE primaries for U.S. Senate.  Even though these races aren’t in California, they impact Democrats across the country and, well, the entire country as a whole.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak will try to upset Republican-for-decades Arlen Specter.

In Arkansas, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter will try to upset corporate lackey Blanche Lincoln.

Polling shows that both Specter and Lincoln are at risk of – if not likely to – hand these Senate seats over to far-right-wing Republicans. (And, even if these two retain the seats, that’s not much better on many key issues.)

Congressman Sestak and Lieutenant Governor Halter winning these primaries are critical to keeping these seats in truly Democratic hands. Your support can help make that happen!  Please hop over to the Expand the Map! ActBlue page right away to make a contribution – an investment in the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party to pull out an old expression – and show your support.

Thanks SO much for any support you can provide. 40 Days.

{First, a quick plug for my blog Senate Guru.}

As we await the historic vote on health care reform, it’s important to remember that we’re just ten days away from the end of the first fundraising quarter of 2010.  The fundraising totals reported in this quarter will be pivotal to determining the tenor of many races for the rest of the year.  If there is any time to contribute, now is the time!

Please head over to the Expand the Map! ActBlue page and contribute whatever you are able to these terrific Democratic candidates for Senate.

Remember, the contribution you can make isn’t just a donation to a single candidate or political campaign.  It’s an investment against Republican obstruction (and conservaDem enabling) and an investment toward achieving that more perfect union.

Hi- my name is Spedwybabs.  I’m a regular at Daily Kos and today I wanted to introduce myself and tout the Netroots Nation Auction and why I’m such a strong supporter of Netroots Nation.

My happy story begins last June when kossack jnhobbs blew into town and I got to meet him face to face.  Jnhobbs is someone I’ve long admired, long before I knew him as a kossack and I was tickled pink to get the chance to actually meet him.  While we were talking that night he asked if I was attending Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh, which is only 6 hours away from me by train.  I wasn’t planning to.  I had been involved in the diary efforts for Netroots for the Troops and WANTED to attend, but considering the dire financial situation of my business (at the time I was co-owner of a very struggling restaurant) I just didn’t think it was going to be possible.

Fast forward to August…miracles (note the plural there) happened and I was on a train to Pittsburgh.  I had but 2 goals in mind:  I HAD to meet Bill in Portland Maine and Common Sense Mainer & I HAD to help pack the carepackages for Netroots for the Troops.

Little did I know how much that weekend would change my life.  While there I met Stranded Wind and within in a few days we had started the Blog Workers Industrial Union, which then led to us starting Progressive PST, a company aimed helping the left side of the aisle use Twitter for all kinds of great endeavors.  We also have been helping a fellow Kossack start a new people powered political action committee, the PeanutButterPAC, and we’ve been off to the races ever since.

In December my creamery closed, after months of agonizing and thinking …it was just time.  And suddenly I had all kinds of time on my hands.  Well anyone who knows me at ALL knows that sitting idle isn’t my thing.  So I dove into building the company and the union and I dove into a variety of political endeavors that are fun- like continuing my work with Netroots for the Troops, serving on the board for the new PeanutButterPAC, working  on the organizing committee for Pennsylvania Progressive Summit and my newest adventure…co-chairing the Netroots Nation Auction.

Now as you might imagine the story comes full circle.  Co-chairing the auction allows me to give back to an event and organization which, while it didn’t intend to, changed my life.

So today it is with intense happiness that I beg you to please go to this link and donate something for us to auction off in our auction which begins on March 10.  There’s no such thing as something too small, too big, or too trivial …and it doesn’t have to be political in nature.  For example, my personal donation is going to be a Soup Recipe in a Box!  If you are the winning bidder on this auction item you will be mailed a box of non perishable items with a small perishable item shopping list AND a recipe for one of my infamous soup recipes.

There’s all kinds of cool things already being offered…Auction Items like for example- an infamous Bill in Portland Maine fun pack.  And there are lots of goodies not yet posted that I KNOW will excite you…but you’ll have to check back often to find out what they are- including some really BIG items that are sure to tickle your fancy.

So please…help us raise money to support Netroots Nation…you never know who’s life will be changed by it this year.

PS- Another way you can help out is by offering to write a Netroots Nation Auction.  It’s easy and fun!  Just email me at spedwybabs at gmail dot com OR reply to my tip jar and we’ll get you all set up!

Just a rundown of events in the CA-10 race with a week until primary day:

• Late last week, fundraising reports were due, showing that over $2 million dollars has been raised by the various candidates seeking Ellen Tauscher’s old seat in Congress.  By any metric – total cash raised, cash raised in the last cycle, cash raised since June 30, cash on hand, and cash on hand less debts – John Garamendi has the lead, though much of his money comes from big donors.  Anthony Woods, and to a lesser extent Mark DeSaulnier, have found a smaller-donor base, though Woods’ is mostly out of district.  Joan Buchanan has basically not raised money at all; she has given herself as much as $750,000 in loans and is generally self-funded (and what donations she has not given herself have come from such health industry interests as Wellpoint, one of the largest insurers in America).  I would say the top four candidates probably have enough money to get out the message within their budgets, however.

• The Contra Costa Times, the main newspaper in the main population center of the district, endorsed John Garamendi for the position.  However, their criticism of Mark DeSaulnier, that he “acced(es) to the wishes of organized labor, particularly public employee unions,” gives you an indication of their orientation and whether or not you find them a trusted source.

• DeSaulnier continues to hammer on the largely irrelevant point that Garamendi doesn’t live inside the district.  Here’s a mailer to that effect.  And practically every missive from campaign staff re-emphasizes this point.  I would like their research department to find one instance of when a residency issue like this had any impact on a Congressional race.  I just really think DeSaulnier has missed his target here.  He’s better off showing his progressive bona fides on issues like health care, transportation and the environment, IMO.  This is such a critical time, and residency issues do not appear to be at the top of the minds of people who want to see this country make good on the change agenda from 2008, particularly Democratic partisans who would vote in a special election primary.

• Anthony Woods held another live chat at AmericaBlog this week.  His position in local endorsements always comes at the end and reads something like “we were very impressed with him and think he has a bright future.”

Brian is wrong, that does not take care of the horse race for the day! Today is the deadline for Congressional incumbents and challengers to declare their fundraising totals for the second quarter of 2009, and some numbers on the California candidates jump out.  If I write “incomplete,” that’s because their FEC report hasn’t popped up yet.  I’ll fill in when they become available:

We’ll start with the special election in CA-10:

John Garamendi: $300,000 raised, $260,000 CoH, $54,000 debt

Mark DeSaulnier: incomplete $212,000 raised, $136,000 CoH, $77,000 debt

Joan Buchanan: incomplete $64,000 raised, $179,000 CoH, $308,000 debt

Anthony Woods: $105,000 raised, $65,000 CoH

Adriel Hampton: incomplete $22,500 raised, $269.77 CoH, $346.82 debt

Waiting on more info on this one.  John Garamendi’s number came from 350 people, almost $1,000 a head.  That suggests no grassroots fundraising base.  Anthony Woods had over twice as many donors, who could be tapped again.  UPDATE: OK, this is interesting.  Joan Buchanan raised a fairly paltry amount considering the primary is in six weeks, but she took out a $250,000 loan and has a significant amount of debt.  She seems to be blowing through operating expenses too.  Likewise, Mark DeSaulnier, who raised a decent amount, has over half of his cash on hand in debt.  And I missed that John Garamendi has $50,000 in debt as well.  Suddenly, Anthony Woods has more debt-free cash on hand than anyone in the field but Garamendi.

CA-03:

Gary Davis: $34,000 raised, $30,000 CoH

Dr. Amerish Bera: $288,000 raised, $286,000 CoH

Dan Lungren (inc.): incomplete $233,000 raised, $322,000 CoH

Bill Slaton: $113,000 raised, $224,000 CoH, $116,000 debt

That is an eye-popping number for Amerish Bera, and lest you see it as a doctor self-funding, only $4,800 came from the candidate.  I was shocked by that total.  We’ll see what Dan Lungren ends up raising later today, but it’s entirely possible that Bera will have MORE cash on hand than the incumbent (Lungren only had $121,000 on hand at the end of April, with $12,000 in debts).  Wow. UPDATE So Bera outraised Lungren, but he ekes out a cash on hand lead.  As an incumbent, however, that’s a weak performance. UPDATE II: Bill Slaton claimed to some that he raised $227,000 in three weeks, but half of that comes in the form of a personal loan to the campaign.  His actual cash on hand is much less than Bera.  But $113,000 in three weeks isn’t bad.

CA-45:

Steve Pougnet: $201,000 raised, $203,000 CoH

Mary Bono Mack (inc): $166,000 raised, $448,000 CoH

Steve Pougnet outraised the incumbent in Q2, which is quite impressive.  Mary Bono Mack starts out with a bigger war chest, so he has some work to do, but this is an excellent start, and I think Pougnet has a natural fundraising base that will only expand once his story gets out.

CA-44:

Bill Hedrick: $65,000 raised, $66,000 CoH

Ken Calvert (inc.): incomplete $407,000 raised, $384,000 CoH

Certainly an improvement over the first quarter for Bill Hedrick, and all of the money came from Southern California, which means he has a solid fundraising and volunteer base locally.  He needs to spread that out nationally to maximize his potential in this winnable race.

CA-26:

Russ Warner: $60,000 raised, $58,000 CoH

David Dreier (inc.): $138,000 raised, $872,000 CoH

Believe it or not, Dreier actually had a much bigger war chest last cycle.  Russ Warner needs to do better to be competitive, but he’s actually in a slightly better position than two years ago.

CA-48:

Beth Krom: $76,000 raised, $98,000 CoH

John Campbell (inc.): $223,000 raised, $470,000 CoH

This was a tough quarter for Krom, with the tragic death of her son taking up a lot of time in the final weeks.  Campbell ramped up his fundraising a bit after Krom beat him in the last quarter.

CA-50:

Francine Busby: $160,000 raised, $136,000 CoH

Tracy Emblem: $22,000 raised, $15,000 CoH

Brian Bilbray (inc.): incomplete $325,000 raised, $388,000 CoH

A solid quarter of fundraising for Francine Busby, notwithstanding that police action at one of her fundraisers while guests were pepper sprayed.  UPDATE: Brian Bilbray had a good quarter.

CA-24:

Elton Gallegly (inc.): $42,000 raised, $831,000 CoH

The field is still getting together in this race, but I wanted to see Elton Gallegly’s fundraising output, which is somewhat pathetic.  He does have enough of a war chest that he doesn’t necessarily need to get moving on that yet, however.

UPDATE the last: Swing State Project has a full roundup with a number of other interesting tidbits.

• In CA-04, Tom McClintock raised a bundle – $341,000 – but he still has over $100,000 in outstanding debt and only $245,000 CoH.  Some fiscal conservative.

• In CA-10, one Republican is showing financial viability, David Harmer, with a $175,000 haul (but that’s based on the first six months, not just the quarter).  He has $144,000 CoH and $17,000 in outstanding debt.  And his ideological viability in that district is, shall we say, suspect, though he is likely to reach a runoff.

• In CA-11, which I think is safe, Jerry McNerney raised $288,000 and has $519,000 cash on hand.  One of his potential opponents, Brad Goehring, would seem to have a good financial position with $259,000 CoH, but he only raised $14,000 for the quarter and has $250,000 in debt due to a massive loan.  The same with Jon Del Arroz, who guaranteed a huge loan for himself and has as much in debt as he does in cash on hand.  These guys are wasting money, in my opinion.

• I added Ken Calvert’s numbers in CA-44.  Clearly the NRCC is protecting him by bolstering his fundraising.

• CA-47 is on the fringe of being competitive, but Van Tran had a good quarter, beating Loretta Sanchez (barely) in fundraising:

Sanchez: $242,000 raised, $714,000 CoH

Tran: $253,000 raised, $251,000 CoH, $10,000 debt

Tran gave himself $5,500 to boost his total.  And Loretta has a pretty large war chest from prior years.