Over the past few weeks, there has been a wealth of information in the series of posts regarding the first Congressional run by a member of the netroots, and a campaign run by members of the netroots.  In fact, the entire list of posts is below, so you can go back and see the most excellent things that have been written about Ron Shepston and his historic run for Congress.

We were treated to posts that outline the district demographics, the incumbent and his myriad of ethical issues, the political landscape in the district as well as some of the very fine people who are working on this campaign, and why Ron is both an awesome guy and the right man for Congress (and no, those two terms are NOT mutually exclusive).  But what I want to talk about is why this oh-so-very important on many levels.

Previous diaries in the CA-42 campaign rollout series:
7/15: thereisnospoon’s CA-42: A Kossack is running for Congress
7/16: atdnext’s CA-42: The Case Against Dirty Gary Miller
7/17: Major Danby’s CA-42:  I’m managing a netroots U.S. House campaign
7/18: CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream’s CA-42: CA-42: Hi, I’m Ron Shepston and I’m running for Congress
7/19: hekebolos’s CA-42: A Netroots campaign– politics the way it should be.
7/20: dday’s CA-42: The Lay of the Land
7/21: OrangeClouds115 CA-42: “I Know His Heart”
7/22: Shockwave’s CA-42: Ron Shepston rides into a Republican stronghold
7/23: Major Danby’s CA-42: The DCCC knows us, reads us, and likes us
7/24: Major Danby’s CA-42: On YearlyKos, anger, and dreams
7/25: thereisnospoon’s Get Off the Internet!
7/26:  buhdydharma’s Help Save This Baby! **

I’m only talking about the future of progressive politics and the foundation of an infrastructure that has been built over the past few years, and more importantly, how we have been shaping that infrastructure, how we helped move it along in 2006, how we are continuing to do it through the 2008 elections and how 2008 will be a springboard for the future..

Yeah, yeah, you will probably say – heard it before.  Well, sure, you probably heard it from me here or here or even here.  So, it is safe to say that I have at least given this whole “progressive movement/infrastructure” thing a lot of thought (right, wrong or other).

Building a lasting movement requires us to think about what we will do in 2008 and later – after Bush is gone from the White House, and (hopefully) with the Democrats in control of Congress and the White House.  Sure, we have to stay on top of them to make sure that they don’t overstep, or that they do things that are for the good of We the People.  Or even that they are kept honest, and that more progressive primary candidates challenge those who are more of the DINO mold (to the extent practical and reasonable, of course).

But it goes way beyond just railing and ranting against Bush, the republicans or whatever isn’t fair or right.  And just as the netroots led the charge to counter the lies and crimes of the administration and the republican party, the netroots will “grow up” and adapt to the changing times.  Whether that means pushing policy, or being part of the “progressive message machine” or developing future leaders – this is the direction that we should collectively be looking towards.

And this is why Ron Shepston’s campaign as well as all of us here is such an integral part of this.  Building off of Brian Keeler’s (NYBri) run for NY State Senate in 2006, a national campaign with the support of the netroots – and run for and by us in the netroots, win or lose, it is a giant leap forward in terms of credibility.

Gandhi had a famous statement:  “first they ignore you, then they mock you, then they fight you, then you win”.  Well, we have been in the “then they fight you” phase for a while now.  2006 was a big step forward, and the acknowledgment by many in Congress that the netroots had a significant enough hand in tipping the balance of power in Congress (at least the Senate) to the Democrats.  And not just in the way that many of us have done for years – canvassing, phone calls, working on campaigns, donating money – but also by sharing ideas, successes, challenges and stories.

We are a force to be reckoned with, and both Democrats and republicans see what the netroots is able to accomplish.  Obviously, we still need to do all of the above things – donate money, canvass, share ideas and work on campaigns.  However, the “netroots campaign” of Ron Shepston is one that will give us and our causes a substantial amount of credibility.  Even for those of us who don’t live in CA-42, there is a LOT that we can do to help out this campaign.  It is not just Ron’s campaign.  It is our campaign. 

And it is just the beginning.  For Ron.  For the netroots.  For the progressive movement.

To donate to Ron’s campaign, all you have to do is click here!!!

(What a way to get to know the candidate! : ) – promoted by Andrew Davey (atdleft))

Major Danby asked me to write a diary for Ron Shepston, Congressional candidate for CA-42, ages ago. I’ve been stalling and stalling, since I didn’t know what I could possibly write about. Do I know CA-42, or the dirt on Gary Miller? Not even slightly. I first visited CA-42 only two weeks ago.

Do I know every single one of Ron’s positions on all the issues? Nope. He’s a true blue progressive, same as the rest of us. I’ve got a hunch once we start going down an exhaustive list of issues, we’d agree on 99% of things – but as Ron reminded me the other day, the issues that are big now will all have changed by the time he gets to DC.

But, then I realized what I can contribute. I know Ron. As Bush would say “I know his heart.”

Previous diaries in the CA-42 campaign rollout series:
7/15: thereisnospoon’s CA-42: A Kossack is running for Congress
7/16: atdnext’s CA-42: The Case Against Dirty Gary Miller
7/17: Major Danby’s CA-42: I’m managing a netroots U.S. House campaign
7/18: CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream’s CA-42: Hi, I’m Ron Shepston and I’m running for Congress
7/19: hekebolos’s CA-42: A Netroots campaign– politics the way it should be.
7/20: dday’s CA-42: The Lay of the Land

When Bush told the nation he knew Harriet Miers’ heart, I laughed. Knowing someone’s “heart” doesn’t make them qualified for jack squat. But you can also have a person who is smart as a whip with every qualification under the sun, and if they aren’t a good person deep down, you probably shouldn’t vote them into Congress.

Throughout my life, I’ve known several people who had political aspirations early on. These are the people who managed their images meticulously, making sure that no one would ever see them making a mistake, answering a question with “I don’t know,” or doing one of those stupid things that most humans do like leaving the house with one black sock and one blue one. They were masters of networking. They ran for student councils, applied for prestigious universities – some avoided smoking pot so they could answer honestly later on that they never tried it.

These people also acted sincerely interested in me when we first met – encouraging me to join them in whatever they were doing, be it canvassing in a local neighborhood or attending a meeting of the College Dems. Friends are something you can’t have too many of, and I found their enthusiasm extremely flattering – but I found out later it was insincere.

Since then, I’ve learned to recognize these people quicker than I did at first. They like to promise you everything and then drop you until you’re useful to them for some reason. (In fact, one got in touch this week when he found out I was moderating a panel for YearlyKos – he wants the coordinators to do him a favor and he thought perhaps I’d have some influence. This is someone who had no problem going years without so much as emailing me hello.)

That is the kind of person that Ron is not.

I met Ron and his wife at that LA meetup that gave birth to this campaign, last Jan 4 or so. I drove up because I was new to California and eager to see a few friendly faces. No one suspected anything would come out of it. We were just going to a deli for sandwiches, then to a bar for beers. Trashablanca was there wearing a shirt that said “Give Impeachment a Chance.” Hekebolos was there, showing off his pet spider Emily (back at his place, not at the bar). Nothing seemed unusual.

One thing I love about DailyKos is our ability to transcend differences in age. As a young person, it’s amazing to meet so many “grown-ups” who treat me as an equal and as a friend. Ron falls into this category – there’s a few decades of age and experience between us, but you’d never know it from our conversations.

Here we are together, a couple weeks ago:
 

Major Danby wanted an action photo, so he told us to talk while he got the picture. Neither of us could stop giggling.

One of my mom’s pet phrases while I was growing up was “actions speak louder than words.” It’s true. The people I’ve met who knew from age 3 they wanted to be politicians only have time for me when I can do something for them. Even during this first whirlwind week of his campaign, Ron has time to chat with me. He’s not doing so to angle for a favorable diary to be written about him either – it’s all same as usual, jumping from topics like YearlyKos to George Lakoff’s books to why I think my boss is a jerk (too much testosterone, but that’s beside the point). He’s a friend.

The other day, we arranged to talk (on the phone instead of online chat for a change!) so he could give me any info I needed in order to write a diary. Writing a diary about Ron’s character doesn’t require anything I haven’t learned in half a year of friendship, but I still wanted to hear more specifics about him in case there was something significant I didn’t know yet.

It was strange trying to have a structured conversation instead of our usual banter, but I asked him to give me his life story. Ron walked me through his past as a promising baseball player who nearly went pro before joining the Air Force during Vietnam, and then entering a career as an engineer after leaving the military. Then I busted out several questions I’d heard Air America hosts ask candidates last election cycle.

Ron obviously hasn’t mastered Tony Snow’s skill of answering the question he wishes you asked instead of the one you really asked yet (You know… a reporter asks if Bush lied… Tony replies that Bush supports the troops). Ron’s extremely straightforward, and very thoughtful, always taking a moment to digest the question before answering.

Instead of avoiding saying “I don’t know” at all costs (which I’ve even seen Democratic candidates who I like very much do – and not always very artfully), Ron really thought about each question I asked and told me the truth when he didn’t know. (For the record, he doesn’t know yet which committees he wants to be on… little premature to ask that I guess.)

In the end, our “interview” devolved into a conversation. We started talking about our philosophy on working with others and on solving problems. In Ron’s job as an engineer, often he has to go on site in an unfamiliar place with people he’s never met before to solve a problem, and my last job often put me in a similar situation.

He told me how he likes to start by meeting everyone and having them show him around. We agreed that you need to treat the people with respect and listen to everyone. It doesn’t matter if someone has a high school education or a PhD – if they work in a job every single day, they are most likely the #1 expert on the area they work with and by ignoring them, one can only hurt him or herself.

Obviously, if Ron is there because he has special skills to solve the problem, he probably knows a lot more about what he’s doing than the people who are describing the problem to him, but the best way to accomplish his goals are to treat them with respect as equals, and after listening to everyone he can synthesize all of the information and get to work solving the problem.

That’s exactly the sort of attitude I want to hear from someone who we in the netroots send to Washington. I don’t want to support someone who thinks they can address homelessness by only speaking to academic scholars about the issue. Academic scholars play a role, but Ron’s the type who would visit shelters and speak to the director, the staff, and the homeless themselves if he were trying to tackle the issues that are important to helping people get off the street.

I hope you can all get to know Ron as a friend (in addition to as a candidate) when you meet him in Chicago next month. I don’t want to write too much more since I realize I’m competing with Gonzogate today, so I’ll leave you with what Major Danby told me should be a “gentle reminder” that Ron has a ActBlue fundraising page and he welcomes all contributions, both large and small.

It’s great that the netroots candidacy of Ron Shepston for Congress is getting so much attention.  His race against the unfathomably corrupt Gary Miller represents a progressive hope and a decided alternative, and people are so excited that, at press time, he’s raised over $5,300 dollars through ActBlue in just a couple days.

Superlative.  Outstanding.  Fantastic.

Now let’s really look at what he’s getting into.  The campaign has asked me to contribute a guest column to the rollout providing the lay of the land.  We’ll start with the bad news and move slowly into the good.

Previous diaries in the CA-42 campaign rollout series:
7/15: thereisnospoon’s CA-42: A Kossack is running for Congress
7/16: atdnext’s CA-42: The Case Against Dirty Gary Miller
7/17: Major Danby’s CA-42: I’m managing a netroots U.S. House campaign
7/18: CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream’s CA-42: Hi, I’m Ron Shepston and I’m running for Congress
7/19: hekebolos’s CA-42: A Netroots campaign– politics the way it should be.

Here is a map of the 42nd District of California:

As you can see, it covers three counties, starting in San Bernardino County at Chino, moving into LA County with Whittier and Diamond Bar, and then Orange County with Brea and La Habra, snaking all the way down to grab Mission Viejo in the southern portion of the county.  Seems like a strange shape, doesn’t it?  It should.  California’s districts were gerrymandered to the extreme for incumbent protection after the 2000 Census.  Democrats and Republicans made the deal to lock in a set number of seats.  Between the 2000 Election and the 2002 Election, Miller gained 8 points from his challenger because the district was made more Republican.

Now, it doesn’t always work: Richard Pombo was forced out of office by Jerry McNerney last year.  But he is literally the ONLY incumbent to be deposed since this Congressional map was put into place.  More on McNerney later.

So this is a very Republican seat. George W. Bush beat Kerry 62%-38% in 2004, and Gore by 58%-38% in 2000 (when it was more Democratic). The district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index score of R +10 (meaning the district votes 10 points more Republican that the nation at large).  Only a few California districts are higher.  It’d be great to have a metric of Gary Miller’s most recent election, but in 2006 he was one of only 10 Republicans to run unopposed.  So we have to go back to 2004 and 2002 to look at results in this newly configured district.  They ain’t pretty.

United States House election, 2004: California District 42
Republican Gary Miller 167,632 68.2
Democratic Lewis Myers 78,393 31.8

United States House election, 2002: California District 42
Republican Gary Miller 95,737 67.6 +8.6
Democratic Richard Waldron 41,306 29.2 -8.2

So since this district has had its current configuration, Gary Miller’s opponent has never received more than 31.8% of the vote.  We’ll call that Ron’s baseline of support, since I’m not sure Lewis Myers or Richard Waldron offered up anything but token opposition.  The question is where to get the other 19%.

Let’s look at the demographics of the district (linked from Gary Miller’s House website!  Thanks Gary!  You can return to your regularly scheduled ripping off of America now!).

About 57.5% of the district is in Orange County, including the largest population center, Mission Viejo (no wonder they snuck it into the district).  The registration edge here is 55-27 Republican, and no area has a Democratic advantage (La Habra is the closest, at 45-37, which stands to reason because it’s close to the LA County part of the district).  The area of the OC in the district is 20% Latino and about 11% Asian.

LA County needs to be Shepston Country.  The registration edge here is lower (43R, 36D), and Rowland Heights is actually plurality-Democratic.  Of course, it’s only 21% of the district.  It’s heavily Asian (40%) and Latino (23%).  I don’t know if sprawl goes out this far and if these are Los Angeles bedroom communities for those priced out of the more expensive areas, but it’s certainly possible.

Finally, San Bernardino County is the final 21.5% of the district, and it’s also closer (45R, 38D).  In Chino there’s a 42%-41% advantage for Democratic registration.  The Latino population is strong out here; 37%.

The final numbers for the district are about 50% registration total, with a 21-point registration advantage for Republicans (51R, 30D).  The district is very diverse, 44% nonwhite (23.8% Latino, 17.5% Asian, 3.4% African-American).

So the key would appear to be to raise registration rates in Democratic areas, bring in big numbers in LA and San Bernardino County, and make sure the Latino vote turns out.  A tall order.  And did I mention that Gary Miller has $800,000 Cash on Hand after raising $137,000 in the most recent quarter?

But there’s more of the story to be told, points that argue in Shepston’s favor, and in favor of a strong challenge in a district some would call unwinnable.

• CORRUPTION: This was considered the number one issue according to exit polls in 2006.  Miller hasn’t been tested on this, since the revelations about his dirty dealings didn’t come out until the 2006 election, when he was unopposed.  And if anything, they’ve grown worse since then.  So there is a case to be made that voters will reject someone who appears to be doing the business of profit-taking instead of legislating.

• IRAQ: Gary Miller has voted in lockstep with the President on an issue that has scant support in the country, even in a district as red as this.  I assume that the netroots team running this race will not run away from the issue of Iraq as many consultants have the knee-jerk reaction to do.

• THE ALBATROSS: Ron Brownstein makes the case:

Unpopular departing presidents, though, have consistently undercut their party in the next election. Democrats lost the White House in 1952 and 1968 after Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson saw their approval ratings plummet below 50%. Likewise, in the era before polling, the opposition party won the White House when deeply embattled presidents left office after the elections of 1920 (Woodrow Wilson), 1896 (Grover Cleveland), 1860 (James Buchanan) and 1852 (Millard Fillmore). The White House also changed partisan control when weakened presidents stepped down in 1844 and 1884. Only in 1856 and 1876 did this pattern bend, when the parties of troubled presidents Franklin Pierce and Ulysses S. Grant held the White House upon their departure […]

It’s true that Republicans in 2008 should perform slightly better among voters who disapprove of the president than George H.W. Bush and Gore did, because their nominee, unlike those men, won’t be the retiring president’s vice president. But another pattern underscores how hard the challenge will remain: On average, 80% of voters who disapproved of a president’s performance have voted against his party’s candidates even in House races since 1986, according to the respected University of Michigan post-election polls. When a president takes on water, in other words, everyone in his party flounders.

This tracks with the idea that “there is no safe district” in the post-Bush era, and that any partisan numbers over the past several years are somewhat irrelevant to the landscape today.

• DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFTS: Getting the Latino vote out in a year where the Republicans have done absolutely everything to present themselves as the biggest brown-haters on the block is crucial.  You don’t have to have that long a memory to remember the anti-immigrant Prop. 187 fights out here in California, which set back Republicans to this day.  So making sure there’s a high turnout among the substantial Latino base would seem to me to be a key.  And I would gather than even more are in the district now, being priced out of LA County.

• STOPPING THE GRAVY TRAIN: Gary Miller has been using his money gained in fundraising from his rich buddies to reward Republicans in close races:

Miller’s expenditures are listed at OpenSecrets, and you can see that he spent his money (in 2006) enriching the coffers of Republican candidates in close races all over the country.  He didn’t need the ill-begotten money for himself, so he gave it to his most endangered colleagues.  A list:

Anne Northrup $1,000
Barbara Cubin $1,000
Deborah Pryce $1,000
Dave Reichert $1,000
Geoff Davis $1,000
JD Hayworth $1,000
Jim Gerlach $1,000
Keith Butler (MI Senate challenger) $1,000
Joe Knollenberg $2,000
Mary Bono $1,000
Mike Fitzpatrick $1,000
Mike Sodrel $1,000
Rob Simmons $1,000
Thelma Drake $1,000

That’s 14 candidates to the tune of $15,000.  A lot of those Republicans lost, but the recipient of the biggest expenditure from Miller’s campaign was the NRCC, the committee dedicated to re-electing Congressional Republicans, which sent mailers and put up attack ads and made robocalls all over the country.  They benefited from $112,000 from one Gary Miller.  All of the sleazy developer money he’s received over the years helped re-elect some of the worst Congressmen in the country by the skin of their teeth.  That’s $112,000 we wouldn’t be likely to see in the NRCC’s coffers if Miller were actually challenged and forced to run a campaign.

It’s not like Miller is going to run out of money any time soon; he’s rich beyond reason and can self-fund.  But he wouldn’t be as likely to fund others if challenged.

In conclusion, there are many signs out there that Ron Shepston does have the opportunity to be competitive and offer the voters in the 42nd a real alternative.  The best comparisons we can use for California are the aforementioned Jerry McNerney in CA-11, and Charlie Brown in CA-04.  Both went up against corrupt politicians in red areas.  Both excited grassroots and netroots activists to donate to and work on the campaigns.  Both engaged in bottom-up campaigning, with the big dollar money not coming in until later.  And despite the warped political landscape and the partisan gerrymander, McNerney is a Congressman and Charlie Brown is about to join him.  If he’s diligent and bold and unyielding, Ron Shepston can do the same thing.

(And if you’re in Southern California, YOU can also meet Ron Shepston at EITHER ORANGE COUNTY DRINKING LIBERALLY TONIGHT! Come to Rancho Santa Margarita at 7:00 PM and/or Santa Ana at 9:00 PM tonight, and meet the candidate! : ) – promoted by Andrew Davey (atdleft))

Yesterday, if you made your way to DailyKos, The Liberal OC, or right here to Calitics, you probably got the word that the blogosphere’s own Ron Shepston is running for Congress in California’s 42nd district against Dirty Gary Miller.  His campaign is being managed by DailyKos and Calitics poster Greg Diamond (aka Major Danby), and as you can see from his rollout yesterday Shepston’s starting out on the right foot.  He’s already hit on many of what I consider to be the most important elements of a campaign that’s insurgent and forward-thinking without abandoning everything good about traditional values and expectations.  So, for these and the other reasons I’ll dig into on flip, and in keeping with the newly established procedure for gaining Calitics endorsement, I nominate Ron Shepston to join Charlie Brown, Jerry McNerney and Mark Leno as an official Calitics Endorsed Candidate for 2008.

The Calitics endorsement process going forward will work like this (I’m sure with slight tweaks as necessary):

– A candidate can be nominated via diary by anyone, preferably with a bit of background on the candidate and why they would be deserving of consideration.  This diary will also be used as an opportunity for the Calitics community to pose questions for the candidate which would be relevant to determining if an endorsement is deserved.

– After questions have been suggested, an interview will be arranged with a member of the Calitics team in which the candidate will have the chance to respond to your questions and expand on what you may already know about them and their candidacy.

– The interview will be posted on Calitics for review by the general community who can then vote up or down on an official endorsement.  The community’s vote will count for 50% of the total and the Calitics Editorial Board will make up the remaining 50%.  A nominated candidate will need 60% of the overall vote to receive an endorsement and a spot on the Calitics ActBlue Page.

Confusing enough for you? Great. Now back to Ron.  Here at Calitics, we’ve been fortunate to have Ron as a diarist and commenter for quite some time, and the discourse has been better for it.  His stated goals are generally the sort that, just a few years ago, might have seemed rather humble, but now are desperately important.  “Defend the Constitution and the rule of law – while we can” he said yesterday.  Fighting for Democratic principles.  And no, it doesn’t hurt that he’s drawn on a number of impressive bloggers (thereisnospoon, Hekebolos, occams hatchet, clammyc, OrangeClouds115, atdnext, Shockwave, dday, vernonlee, theKK) to get the campaign rolling.

So this is our chance to get him talking about the issues.  I’ll be in Orange County tonight on a social call, and again over the weekend at which time, if we’ve gotten questions, I can hopefully sit Ron down and ask him your questions.  So how about it Calitics? The floor is open to you, ask whatever you need to ask in order to feel comfortable giving your endorsement.

(Woo-hoo! A REAL netroots candidate in Orange County! What more could I possibly ask for? Oh yes, and you can also enjoy this at Daily Kos and The Liberal OC! ; ) – promoted by atdleft)

(photo from Wikipedia)
I posted this over at dKos but really wanted to put it here because it’s such an important site in California netroots.

Caution is preferable to rash bravery – Sir John Falstaff, King Henry the Fourth, Part I

Falstaff may be beloved, but he was not who you wanted leading you into battle.  Political challengers today need to be brave, brash, maybe even a little rash.

In World War II, when the gates came down in LCVPs (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel), exposing the marines and soldiers inside to uncounted barrages of fire, they didn’t sit around discussing whether it was prudent to charge ahead with the goal of defeating a formidable enemy.  No one had to order them to go to give their lives; they just did it.  They had a world to save and they gave their lives for a cause they believed in.

Today, those of us who would defend the Constitution have a new fight.  Today, as a Democrat, a veteran, and a longtime member of this community, I’m marching off to that fight.

I’m running for Congress.

My campaign manager, Major Danby says that he likes this photo of me that he took at the Huntington Beach Fourth of July Parade, where I marched with the Democratic Party of Orange County, and that it has to appear near the top of the diary so people know who’s talking to them.  Here you go.
 

Now let’s talk about my campaign.

I’m running because Congress has let the President stomp on the Constitution, balloon the deficit, and get us stuck in a misbegotten war.  Gary Miller seems to see his position in Congress mostly as a way to make money for his friends.  I swore an oath to defend the Constitution when I was in the Air Force during Viet Nam (1966-1970), and that’s why I’m going to run.  I’m going to swear another oath to defend the Constitution as a Congressman. I didn’t see combat then but that doesn’t stop me from fighting now and when I get to Congress.

No one has elected me to “represent the netroots” in a run for Congress, but I think my opinions on issues reflect those of the broad community.  I want us out of Iraq and back to making the alliances with other countries that we /need/ to fight terrorism.  I want single-payer health insurance that is available to all.  I want a government that respects scientific facts – in global warming and otherwise – rather than fantasies that give them some political advantage – in making policy decisions.  But if there is one issue that motivates me above all others, it’s this:

*I want to defend the Constitution and the rule of law – while we can.*

There are forces in and out of our elected government who think that they have the right to ignore our laws and the fundamental basis for American values.  We see it with signing statements, defying subpoenas, ignoring constitutional amendments, evading Congressional oversight, and flouting federal law.  While this President and Vice-President have stomped on the Constitution, my opponent, Gary Miller, has held their coats.

I’ve been around for a long time and I have never before seen such a concerted effort on the part of a political party to subvert our precious and beloved form of government.  Not even Nixon.  At least Nixon had the honor to leave after even Republicans told him that it was that or be impeached and removed from office.  As I’ve written here, in effect Bush and his associates have been instituting something like a slow coup against our very system of government.  Their monarchical vision of our government is not how our system is supposed to work; we must restore our system to its proper form.

Democrats have control of the House – and control of the Senate when Joe Lieberman is thinking straight – which gives them a lot of power. It’s not total power, but it’s more than they use. Our party has the power to inform and rally and lead Americans. But too many members of our party convince themselves that it’s best to play it safe and wait until 2008, when they hope that things will all get better.

I think that’s wrong.  I think that we need to take the fight to the enemies of our Constitution.

Think back again to the Marines and Army storming the beaches of Normandy.  Imagine where we’d be if they stayed in their LSIs and waited for the enemy to leave!  It’s time that we metaphorically storm the beaches of government and take our country back from the enemy who would destroy it for their own purposes. 

If we storm all fronts, from the Water Board to every single Congressional District, we will overwhelm the enemies of the rule of law.  We will make America a better place and restore our values, honor and dignity in the world – and thus our public safety as well.

I want to be part of the second landing wave. The first wave consisted of Jon Tester and Jim Webb, of John Hall, Paul Hodes, Nancy Boyda, Jeremy Kalin, California’s own Jerry McNerney and others who were encouraged – some say in part put into office – by the blogosphere.  It consisted too of people like Brian Keeler who fired a shot across the bow of those who cling to power without serving the public good.  We were part of the solution in 2006.  I believe that we’re helping to foster a fundamental change in America.

I’ve been part of this community for 2-1/2 years.  I’m not a candidate coming /to/ the netroots for support; I’m a candidate coming /from/ the netroots.  I believe that I’m the first “homegrown” netroots candidate to run a viable campaign for the United States Congress.  I won’t be the last.

This is not a vanity or protest campaign. California’s 42^nd district is Republican-dominated, but increasingly independent – which means that it’s full of people who think like Democrats whom we have to convince to /vote/ the way they /think/.  It’s a district I can win.  The local party establishment supports me.  My opponent, Gary Miller, has been swimming so long in the ethical cesspool of Congressional privilege that he’s grown gills.  He’s vulnerable – but no one was on the ballot against him in 2006.  No local elected politician in the district – which has too few elected Democrats – is running against him next year.  So I’ve rashly stepped up and strapped up; now I’m going to show up and make people sit up and pay attention.

Part of why my campaign will be noticed – one reason that it has captured the interest of people /outside/ of the blogosphere – is that I am from the netroots and they’ve seen what it can accomplish.  Among the netroots who have been part of an incredible brain trust so far are thereisnospoon, Hekebolos, occams hatchet, clammyc, OrangeClouds115, atdnext, Shockwave, dday, vernonlee, theKK and the many others who’ve been part of this by means of offering their support and good wishes and still keeping it a “secret”. Major Danby will be managing my campaign full-time.  You probably recognize some of those names.  You’ll be reading a lot of diaries about the campaign from them in the days to come.

My aim in this campaign is to bring the netroots to the many wonderful people I’ve been meeting in the grassroots, and to bring back here some of what they have to offer.  With the spirit and broad expertise of the netroots and the local knowledge and drive of the grassroots, I think we can create something different and new.

I will come here looking for money like other candidates do; for the netroots to come out strongly for my campaign will get attention throughout the political world.  But today, having just announced, is not the day for a hard sell.  I’ll just say this: if you’d like to be among the first to contribute to my campaign, please go to my ActBlue page.  The amount of money that people donate, and the number of people donating, will for better or worse dictate much of the reaction that the world beyond the netroots will have towards my campaign.  To show them that we have a chance, we need to show them that we have a base.

This is not just about one candidate or one campaign, but about building a movement.  It’s about the netroots making connections with the grassroots, and with the voting public. The future of our movement is everywhere in the country, in whatever races we choose to focus our efforts.  It’s about re-establishing the rule of law.  It’s about defending America and American ideals. Are we ready to do that together?