A few things of interest as we head into the holiday weekend:

• That mortgage legislation that I noted passing the Assembly yesterday was quickly taken up in the Senate (there were some amendments in the Assembly bill so concurrence was needed, and it passed easily (the vote was 32-8).  The legislation will now be sent to the Governor and there are indications that he will sign it.  Because of the 2/3 vote it received, most of its provisions will take effect immediately.  It’s a decent first step but it had better not be the last.

• The new Cook Report ratings are out, and among the slew of seats where Democrats are gaining, one race in California has shifted:

CA-46    Dana Rohrabacher    Solid Republican to Likely Republican

That’s pretty big news.  Charlie Cook’s report is widely read by insiders, and clearly they are taking notice as to the strength of Debbie Cook’s campaign.  Joe Shaw, communications director for Cook’s campaign, calls it “the first Orange County congressional race to be considered competitive since Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez’s 1996 race against incumbent Bob Dornan.”

• In CA-04, Charlie Brown announced a whirlwind schedule for the 4th of July, participating in events in King’s Beach, Lincoln, Roseville, Grass Valley, Auburn, and Alturas.  Tom McClintock must have seen that and scrambled up on the plane from his Thousand Oaks redoubt, because he hastily scheduled a couple campaign events.  In fact, the two candidates will be in the same parade in Lincoln.  That should be fun.

I don’t know if people still have some notion that Tom McClintock is a good general election candidate, having never won a contested general election race, but this John Doolittle affair should completely put an end to that.

The story goes that on June 16, McClintock appeared to signal that he would be meeting with the disgraced Congressman to talk about campaigning in tandem during the fall election.

“We’re talking about doing a couple of events and we’re putting them together,” said Doolittle spokesman Dan Blankeburg….Stan Devereux, a spokesman for McClintock, confirmed that the campaign had set up a meeting to discuss Doolittle’s support for McClintock.”

The very next day, June 17, a McClintock spokesman denied any desire for an endorsement or joint campaign event.

“If you’re running as an outsider why would you want anyone’s endorsement?” asked John Feliz, a McClintock consultant, when asked if the campaign would be receiving Doolittle’s stamp of approval.” June 17, 2008, PolitickerCA.

Then on June 18, McClintock’s spokesman contradicted his consultant:

McClintock spokesman Stan Devereux told Election Central that the ongoing investigations against Doolittle would not render him a political liability: “Doolittle is still the congressman for the area, has served the district well.”

McClintock himself contradicted his own spokesman on June 20:

“I don’t have any plans to meet with Doolittle next week and I don’t have any plans to campaign with Doolittle,” McClintock said by phone from Sacramento.”

Two days later, on June 22, there was news in the El Dorado Mt. Democrat of an imminent meeting:

Fourth Congressional District Republican nominee Tom McClintock will meet with Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, next week to discuss his campaign, a Doolittle spokesman said Wednesday…he (McClintock) said, …’I certainly do welcome the intimate knowledge Doolittle has with the district…’ …The meeting is planned for June 27.”

And yesterday, June 25, McClintock told Roll Call that he killed the meeting.

State Sen. Tom McClintock (R), running for the 4th district seat being vacated by Rep. John Doolittle (R), said Tuesday that he personally killed a meeting between him and the Congressman.

This is the work of a schizophrenic, not a disciplined campaigner.  Truthfully, the McClintock team probably wants Doolittle’s help but doesn’t want anyone to know about it, but there are ways to go about that which look less… pathetic than this.  Word is that McClintock has already pissed off local reporters with this behavior of saying different things at different times.

Charlie Brown is going to have a field day with this guy.

With less than 145 days to the November election, we are ramping up a ground operation unlike any the 4th District has ever seen—through which grassroots organizers and volunteers will personally relay Charlie’s positive message to more than half a million voters between now and November 4.

The key to ensuring we can hit every door and call every voter will be having 3 fully staffed and fully equipped satellite offices up and running–in addition to our Roseville Headquarters-by June 30th.

Click Here to help us meet our $40,000 Goal to Support our Field Offices in Roseville, Oroville, Grass Valley, and Placerville.

$1,000 pays for one full time organizer to hit the streets of District 4, 30 hours a week for a month.

$500 buys a high volume laser printer to help us produce the thousands of canvass packets, walk, and phone lists we’ll need at each office location.

$275 pays the phone bill at one of our satellite offices for a month.

$100 buys enough toner to print 5,000 pages worth of canvass and phone lists.

$75 buys phones for one of our satellite office phone banks.

$50 buys postage for 172 neighbor to neighbor postcards.

$25 prints 1250 neighbor to neighbor postcards.

You all know how this campaign was built-one person, one home, and one neighborhood at a time.  That’s the approach that has begun narrowing District 4’s voter registration gap, and put Charlie out front in the early polls And it is that same homegrown, grassroots approach that will take us to victory in November.

As we saw in 2006, career politicians will stoop to any level to preserve their power.  But we know that their sleazy mailers and attack ads are no match for real people on the ground, organizing their neighbors, registering new voters, and letting every single 4th District resident know about the high stakes and clear contrast in this election.

Click Here to Volunteer to Phone Bank or Walk Precincts

Click Here to Contribute and Support our Satellite Offices!

As we move towards the stretch run this fall, each Brown for Congress campaign office will become a vital beach head for volunteers, and a place where folks can learn more about the campaign, as well as pick up yard signs, bumper stickers, and campaign literature.  And because of your incredible efforts these past 3 years, those materials are in high demand!

So with growing momentum, energy, and people power on our side, it comes as little surprise that Southern California Senator Tom McClintock is now reaching out to our soon to be ex-Congressman John Doolittle for help. Click here to read the article.

As Charlie has said so many times before, we cannot and will not allow one out of touch, career, “partisanship first” politician to be replaced by another.  So with the June 30th FEC deadline fast approaching, that’s exactly the message you’ll be sending with your support.

Help Send McClintock and Doolittle a strong message–Contribute Now!

Friends, you continue to be the difference maker in the bellwether race of the 2008 Congressional Election.  Thanks again for all you are doing to get our country back on track.

Sincerely,

Todd Stenhouse

Campaign Manager

P.S.  Help create Brown for Congress Beach Heads across the 4th CD—Your Gift of $500, $250, $100, $50, of $25 helps to staff and equip our offices in Roseville, Grass Valley, Oroville, and Placerville!

It’s hard to describe fully how stupid this is:

John Doolittle, the retiring congressman who is under investigation for his ties to jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, appears likely to campaign for state Sen. Tom McClintock, the Republican nominee for Doolittle’s Roseville-area seat.

“We’re talking about doing a couple of events and we’re putting them together,” said Doolittle spokesman Dan Blankeburg. Blankeburg declined to provide any further details, adding that the two sides had only talked in what he called “conceptual terms.” […]

Stan Devereux, a spokesman for McClintock, confirmed that the campaign had set up a meeting to discuss Doolittle’s support for McClintock.

Doolittle was running 20 points behind Charlie Brown in the polls before dropping out of the race.  Southern Californian McClintock may not know the rules up in the Sierras, but political common sense dictates that this is a guy you run screaming from in the other direction, not WITH.

Looks to me like McClintock hasn’t locked down the “gimme gimme” base of Doolittle’s support, those who received political favors and giveaways from him.  Brown was undoubtedly going to tie the two together based on their shared radical ideology – apparently McClintock wants to make that easier by sharing the penchant for using government as a profit-taking machine.  Maybe Doolittle can introduce ol’ Tom to Jack Abramoff.

Well, the votes are in, the matchups are set, and so I thought it was time for a baseline roundup of where I think the California House races stand as of now.  The main pieces of information that are causing me to reset my expectations are the primary results, the April 1-May 15 fundraising numbers and the new registration numbers from the Secretary of State’s office.  You can track all three yourself:

Primaries

FEC disclosures (you can search by candidate name)

Voter registration by Congressional district.

That said, let’s take a look, starting with the one threatened Democratic seat.

(A note: I’m going to start a state legislative roundup as well)

DEMOCRATIC SEATS

1. CA-11. Incumbent: Jerry McNerney.  Challenger: Dean Andal.  Cook number: R+3.  % Dem turnout in the Presidential primary: 53.7%.  DCCC defended.  Good news and bad news out of this race.  The good news is that Dean Andal can’t seem to raise any money – just $11,000 in the pre-primary filing period.  The bad news is that Andal got about 900 more votes in his uncontested primary than McNerney did in his.  McNerney seemed to have a lot of trouble attracting votes in San Joaquin County, which brought back more votes than any county in the district.  While the NRCC and RNC will clearly be gunning for McNerney, the Barack Obama factor is certainly going to help him, as well has his incumbency status.  So it’s not time to pull the alarm just yet.  But McNerney does have some work to do.

REPUBLICAN SEATS

I’m going to do three tiers in setting apart the top seats where we have challenges to Republican incumbents.

First Tier

1. CA-04.  Last month: 1.  Open seat.  Dem. challenger: Charlie Brown.  Repub. challenger: Tom McClintock.  PVI #: R+11.  % Dem turnout in Feb. primary: 44.7.  DCCC targeted.  Well, the battle is set.  Tom McClintock, the Alan Keyes of California, came out of his divisive primary triumphant, and now Charlie Brown has an opponent.  The Brown campaign released polls showing him leading McClintock in a head-to-head matchup.  Steve Weigand isn’t yet willing to bet the farm on a Brown pickup, but he recognizes the Roseville Democrat’s strength against the carpetbagging Republican from Thousand Oaks.  That Brown was able to get 42,000-plus votes against token competition on Tuesday shows that he has an energized activist base.  Peter Hecht has a good primer on the state of the race.  Expect Brown to hammer the message of Patriotism Above Partisanship against his knee-jerk wingnut conservative opponent.  Also, McClintock is broke after a costly primary and has a lot of catching up to do financially.

2. CA-26.  Last month: 2.  Incumbent: David Dreier.  Challenger: Russ Warner.  PVI #: R+4.  % Dem. turnout: 50.2.  DCCC targeted.  Russ Warner avenged his earlier loss to Cynthia Matthews in 2006 by winning handily on Tuesday, 67%-33%.  His turnout was not great, however (just 14,000 votes).  David Dreier got 74% of the vote, not great for an incumbent, and turnout was low district-wide.  Warner has been stepping up his game with a Web ad about Dreier’s frequent trips abroad and a companion site, Frequent Flyer Dreier.  My gut feel is that this is not an effective line of attack, especially when the easiest one is tying Dreier, a member of the House Republican Leadership, to George Bush and a failed conservative agenda.  I think there’s enough interest in this seat that such a message will get out there, however.  But Warner needs to improve on his June performance.  The new registration numbers are moving in Warner’s favor, however.

Second Tier

3. CA-45.  Last month: 4.  Incumbent: Mary Bono Mack.  Challenger: Julie Bornstein.  PVI #: R+3.  % Dem. turnout: 51.3.  Bornstein easily bested two challengers and won her race on Tuesday with just over 60% of the vote.  Adding up the Dem v. GOP vote you get about 22,000 Dems and 33,000 Republicans, which isn’t great.  But I feel Bornstein has some advantages.  Being an affordable housing advocate at a time when foreclosures are at an all-time high gives her authority on an important issue.  This article explaining her support for the Foreclosure Prevention Act is an example.  Manuel Perez’ win in AD-80, which partially overlaps the district, will be helpful too, especially if they engage in a campaign to register voters in the underperforming eastern regions of Riverside County like the Coachella Valley.  There’s a lot of room to run here, and it’s wide open for Democrats to exploit.  The registration numbers show just a 19,000-vote difference between Democrats and Republicans, and a dearth of registered voters relative to other districts.  This is an opportunity.  Bornstein also had pretty solid fundraising in the pre-primary filing (around $40K in 6 weeks).

4. CA-46.  Last month: 6.  Incumbent: Dana Rohrabacher.  Challenger: Debbie Cook (Responsible Plan endorser). PVI #: R+6.  % Dem. turnout: 47.2.  There’s a great profile of this race in today’s Los Angeles Times.

Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook has survived a few long-shot political battles. But the Debbie-versus-Goliath matchup she’s facing this fall is her biggest gamble yet.

The popular Surf City official is the Democratic hope to unseat GOP incumbent Rep. Dana Rohrabacher — seeking his 11th term — in an underdog campaign some observers believe may succeed.

Read the whole thing.  I need to see Cook’s fundraising numbers go up before I become a true believer, and her primary performance on Tuesday didn’t set the world on fire.  Cook got around 20,000 votes to Rohrabacher’s 35,000.  But Rohrabacher isn’t doing any meaningful fundraising at all, and he continues to stick his foot in his mouth with asinine comments like yesterday’s about torture being just a bunch of “frat boy pranks.”  Cook’s communications team is fabulous and understands the netroots, and they’ll be sure to get attention in this cycle (Blue America has already hosted her).  Rohrabacher acknowledges in the LAT article that he’ll have to pay attention to this race.  He’s right.

5. CA-50.  Last month: 3.  Incumbent: Brian Bilbray.  Challenger: Nick Leibham.  PVI #: R+5.  % Dem. turnout: 50.8.  DCCC targeted.  Nick Leibham had a good fundraising cycle (about $70K raised in 6 weeks) but a disastrous primary.  Cheryl Ede, who was not well-funded, got 43 percent of the vote, and Leibham was only able to manage 19,000 votes to Brian Bilbray’s 46,000.  The implication here is that Leibham has a problem with the activist support he’s going to need going into November.  That spells trouble – especially in a seat that’s winnable enough that Bilbray’s going to try and blur party lines in anticipation of a Democratic wave.  In such an environment, we need someone willing to offer a real politics of contrast.  This biographical ad is a decent start but Leibham has to get the message out there.

6. CA-03.  Last month: 5.  Incumbent: Dan Lungren.  Challenger: Bill Durston. PVI #: R+7. % Dem turnout: 51.8.  The news is all pretty good for Bill Durston.  He had a fantastic fundraising cycle (77,000 in 6 weeks) and a strong showing in the primary, getting 26,000 votes to Dan Lungren’s 34,000.  Lungren, last seen in a Speedo on a lobbyist-paid trip to Hawaii, is absolutely going to have to work this time around.  Durston’s strategy in his second attempt to win this seat is slightly reminiscent of the effort against Richard Pombo in 2006.  He’ll need the same kind of support from outside groups to pull it off but it’s not impossible; like in CA-11, the registration numbers are all pointing in the Democratic direction, with less than 4 percentage points and only 15,000 votes separating Democrats and Republicans, the closest of any GOP-held seat.

Third Tier

7. CA-52.  Last month: 8.  Open seat.  Dem. challenger: Mike Lumpkin.  Repub. challenger: Duncan D. Hunter.  PVI #: R+9.  % Dem. turnout: 47.2.  The election night numbers show this seat to still be firmly Republican, with Duncan D. Hunter getting over twice as many votes in his race as Mike Lumpkin got in his.  Lumpkin managed only 58% of the vote, too, so he needs to lock down base support.  Lumpkin’s fundraising remains OK but Hunter’s got a big advantage there.  I personally liked Lumpkin’s rejection of those who would treat marriage equality as a divisive wedge issue.

8. CA-44.  Last month: 11.  Incumbent: Ken Calvert.  Challenger: Bill Hedrick (Responsible Plan endorser).  PVI #: R+6.  % Dem. turnout: 49.3.  Bill Hedrick got only 15,000 votes in his uncontested effort on Tuesday, but Ken Calvert got only 25,000 votes in his.  This seems like one of those seats where nobody actually knows who the incumbent is.  In a Democratic wave election, this is on the outside edge of being competitive.

9. CA-24.  Last month: 9.  Incumbent: Elton Gallegly.  Challenger: Marta Jorgensen.  PVI #: R+5.  % Dem. turnout: 50.6.  This was the shocker primary of the night.  Marta Jorgensen, who had dropped out of the race up until a couple weeks before the primary, ended up besting her two challengers, leaving party leaders in the district baffled.  There were hopes that this could be a battleground in November, but obviously Jorgensen – who had no expectation of winning and was told about her victory by the media – has a lot of work to do.  She introduced herself to the Calitics community today, and her record as someone who worked on the Draft Gore movement is admirable.  We’ll see how she approaches the next few months.

10. CA-41.  Last month: 10.  Incumbent: Jerry Lewis.  Challenger: Tim Prince.  PVI #: R+9.  % Dem. turnout: 46.3. Tim Prince received just 32% of the vote in winning his primary over 3 challengers on Tuesday.  With Jerry Lewis apparently in the clear from a legal standpoint, even his role as one of America’s most corrupt politicians may not be enough to take him down.

11. CA-42.  Last month: 7.  Incumbent: Gary Miller.  Challengers: Ed Chau.  PVI #: R+10.  % Dem. turnout: 44.0.  Ed Chau got around 7,000 votes in disposing of two challengers on primary night, while Gary Miller, running unopposed, got 32,000.  Chau needs to raise his profile throughout the district, as he lives outside it.  There is a small Asian community in the district and that would be a good place to start.

12. CA-48.  Last month: 13.  Incumbent: John Campbell.  Challenger: Steve Young.  PVI #: R+8.  % Dem. turnout: 45.1.  In a district including Irvine, the housing issue is going to be enormous, so if Steve Young wants to have a shot he’s going to have to make that the big issue.  He got 18,000 votes in his uncontested primary; John Campbell got 40,000 in his.  It’s an uphill climb.

You all know how awesome Lt. Col. Charlie Brown is… I just want to  make sure you guys all take a sec to vote for him at the “Democrats  Work” site in a competition to bring Gen. Wesley Clark to his district to campaign on his behalf.

Polls close tonight at 9, so vote now:

http://democratswork.org/index…

Charlie’s going to need all our help to defeat Tom McClintock.

* Disclaimer: I do technical work on behalf of Charlie’s campaign.  I believe in the man.

This is funny (and Charlie Brown’s people confirmed this with me).  

As Mike Spence just reported, Doug Ose failed to sign his ballot when he voted at the Placer County Registrar of Voters this morning. I was actually there with Rick Staats and we witnessed the whole episode. Here’s what happened when Ose realized he hadn’t signed his ballot. The election officials had to get a key to unlock and reopen the highly secured ballot box and retrieve his invalid ballot.  In true elitist fashion he was unwilling to take responsibility for his incompetence, muttering under his breath “this is bull ****!”

Since when is ballot security bull ****?

Keep in mind that yesterday Ose had McNally Temple employee Richard Robinson call the Registrar’s office and ask to have someone there to “show Doug how to vote.”  He needs to be shown how to vote?  Guess he didn’t know how things work in Placer County because he has never voted here before.  Maybe he thought we vote differently here in a conservative county.

Of course, there wasn’t such a foul-up with Red County’s hero Tom McClintock, because he’s not eligible to vote in the district at all.  Rumor was he was flying down to Los Angeles on election day to cast his ballot.  So basically, among the 3 major candidates in CA-04, only Charlie Brown actually knows how to vote there.

Absolutely huge news from out of CA-04.  On the eve of the primary, with Tom McClintock and Doug Ose locked in a death struggle of a primary, spending over $4 million dollars because they think the nomination is a prelude to an easy walk to a victory in November and a seat in Congress, Charlie Brown’s campaign has released an internal poll showing him leading both Republicans.

The survey of 400 likely General Election voters was conducted by Pete Brodnitz of the Benenson Strategy Group on May 14th and 15th.  The margin of error was +/- 4.9%.

Despite a $4 million advertising blitz by the GOP frontrunners, the poll shows Brown leading Ose 38% to 34%, and leading McClintock 42% to 40%.

The survey also showed a generic ballot between the Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress tied at 43%, with self identification of voters moving sharply away from the often cited voter registration statistics of the district.

“The numbers confirm that district four voters want real local leadership, and they want change,” Brown said.  “No matter which career politician wins the GOP Primary on Tuesday night, this race will continue to offer a clear contrast between a partisan approach that has failed America , and a country first approach that leads by example to solve problems.”

It’s an internal poll, and internal polls are often favorable to those who release them.  But Brodnitz is a solid pollster and there’s no reason to believe that Brown hasn’t benefited by staying out of the primary scrap, while cementing his excellent reputation among voters in the 4th District.  

But more than that, the internals of the poll show that voters in this so-called “red” district are desperate for change and believe in Charlie’s ability to help bring it about.  On the flip:

The right-track/wrong-track numbers in this poll are 18/70.  That’s astounding for a district John Doolittle has represented for years.  But the killer number is this: 37% of those polled self-identified as Republicans, and 35% as Democrats.  In August of 2006, the numbers were 42% Republican and 27% Democratic.  That’s an enormous swing in less than two years, and remember, Brown almost pulled off the upset in 2006 when the district was far more Republican.  Brown’s net favorables are higher than any of his challengers as well.

In the generic ballot, Democrats lead Republicans among DTS voters 50-34.  If that’s what to expect in this district in November, Brown’s going to win this thing.  I know there are a lot of preconceived notions out there that this is Republican country and Brown faces an uphill battle, but one thing is very clear to me – there are NO MORE Republican districts left, and a strong Democrat can win anywhere in the country.  And Charlie Brown is one of the strongest we’ve got.

Very exciting stuff in this poll.

Some thoughts as we head to Tuesday:

• I thought I’d have time to put together a monthly roundup for May, but it never came together, and the primary is going to change those analyses a bit, so I’ll put something out after the primaries.

• I have to correct an error.  On Saturday I wrote that Marta Jorgensen had dropped out of the race in CA-24.  She had, but she recently got back into the race and is focusing on turning out new voters in Northern Santa Barbara County around Lompoc.  This is a crucial effort to activate Hispanic voters who traditionally have not turned out, and I both salute Ms. Jorgensen for her efforts and apologize for the error.  Hopefully she can visit Calitics and fill us in on that effort up in Lompoc.

• Doug Ose has loaned his campaign another $600,000 in the waning days before the GOP primary against Tom McClintock in CA-04.  This primary now exceeds $4 million dollars, and it’s hard to spend that much in that district.  McClintock pulled out of a debate earlier this week, and there was the Pete Wilson savaging as well.  Reading the tea leaves, I don’t think Ose would make that extra investment if he wasn’t close to nailing this down, but I could be wrong.

• In CA-03, Bill Durston offered comment on Dan Lungren’s Hawaiian pool party revealed this week by ABC News:

“Lungren’s behavior is disgusting. He claims to be a leader in ethics reform, then he turns around and subverts House ethics rules. This is just one of many examples of Lungren’s hypocrisy […] The people of the 3rd Congressional District deserve better representation than a career politician like Dan Lungren who sells out to special interests. I’ve been caring for the people of our district for over 25 years as an emergency physician. I believe we have an emergency in our government. I’m running for Congress to help restore government of, by, and for the people.”

I like it.  Durston is trying to put up a big number in the June 3 primary, despite running unopposed, to show his strength in this challenge.

• And it’s not primary-related, but I think we have the first ever Calitics mention in the LA Times in this story about Laura Richardson.  Hey guys, you could have used my name, it’s right above the title….

UPDATE (by Brian): I have said before that some of the IEs have really angered me. It seems that at least a couple of these annoying IEs have something in common: EdVoice. Chris Cabaldon’s former lobbying organization employer has been quite busy this year. In SD-23, they have the cheezy “Carbon-neutral voting” mailers.  In AD-8, EdVoice has gone all in for their former CEO, Cabaldon.  Randy Bayne has the story on a negative mailer on Mariko Yamada for supporting vocational education for mentally retarded Californians. Not cool.

(This is an issue that’s starting to reach critical mass, and Charlie Brown is at the forefront of it.  Between recent reports about record numbers of veteran suicides and foreclosures in military towns tripling the average rate, the care and treatment of our veterans is an absolute disgrace.  And it has fallen to leaders like Brown, BEFORE reaching Congress, to show the compassion and wisdom to get those who served this country what they need.  I can’t have more pride in how he’s run this campaign. – promoted by David Dayen)

As many of you know, back in 2006, first time candidate and Retired USAF Lt. Col. Charlie Brown came from obscurity to within less than 9,000 votes (or 3%) of victory in a district that had been electing Republicans by 30 point margins just two years before.

I worked on Charlie’s campaign in 2006, and I’m proud to be serving Charlie again in 2008. I didn’t come back because I enjoy the 16-hour days. I certainly didn’t come back because of the paychecks. I came back because there’s something different about a “typical day” on the Charlie Brown for Congress campaign—something that can’t be described in sound bytes or talking points…something so important, you want the world to experience it with you…

You want them to hear the desperate cries of the Iraq Veteran who contacts the campaign to say he is contemplating suicide.  Or the e-mail from the married father of two who already tried.  You want them to meet the Gold Star mother who calls for gas money, so she can afford to take one of the guys from her son’s unit to the VA for rehab.  Or the Vietnam Vet who has weeks to live because of Agent Orange exposure, and has had his VA benefits denied for years.  And the list goes on, and on and on…

Every day, these are just some of the people who are reaching out-from across the country—to the Charlie Brown for Congress Campaign.  

They’re not calling to volunteer, contribute, schedule a meeting or inquire about a policy position.  They aren’t even calling to express their support or opposition to Charlie’s candidacy.  

They called to ask for help.

It begs the question, why would anyone call a Congressional Challenger who has never held public office before for help?

You have to remember that Charlie Brown is no ordinary politician—in fact he has, in the span of less than two election cycles, transcended politics as most of us know it.

Charlie’s making history not by virtue of who he is (though one could argue that a Congressman who is a career military officer, husband of a veteran, and father to a son who has done 4 rotations in Iraq is far from typical these days), but what he is doing to address one of the many OLD problems on which politicians have over promised and under delivered for years-the plight of America’s war veterans.

I came back to fight for Charlie because I knew that this campaign took a different approach to solving problems—leadership by example. With Charlie’s “Promises Kept Veteran’s Charity Challenge,” we’re seeing community based organizations that fill in the gaps for veterans get the support they so badly need.  The 5% of campaign contributions that Charlie is giving these groups helps to keep the lights on at shelters, supply those places with blankets and food and office supplies, and help pay for qualified counselors to do outreach on the streets.

But the commitment of Charlie’s campaign goes beyond money.  It’s a frequently something even more valuable–a live voice on the other end of the line when crisis comes.    

And when those calls come, it’s not about winning and losing elections—it’s about saving lives.

The stories of veterans who call us very often break your heart—but they also remind us what a different kind of campaign can mean for people in need right now—long before voters go to the polls next November.  

It also inspires hope—because as we work with callers to help them find solutions, we can’t help but think what a little Charlie Brown in Washington could mean for hundreds of thousands of veterans who are waiting in line for benefits, or struggling to deal with invisible scars, or trying to rebuild lives that have been shattered by war.  

Or what it can mean on energy independence, healthcare, or so many other “old problems” where the results from Washington simply don’t match the rhetoric we’ve been hearing for years.

My entire life, I was brought up to believe that honesty, hard work and determination make up the character of a person. And if you give a little back and fight for those who can’t stand up for themselves, then you have done your share. I fight for Charlie because he embodies what I was raised to believe: that integrity and a sense of duty (not political ambition) win out at the end of the day.

I am flush with inspiration, and every time the phone rings, that much more flush with perspective.  But I know that true change cannot be accomplished in a vacuum—and that’s why I wanted to share what’s been happening here on the ground with the netroots—and I hope you will share it also.

The two leading Republicans in this race-Doug Ose and Tom McClintock—have spent $4 million dollars in 4 months.  Once you get through their endless stream of attack ads, their message comes down to “vote for me I’m more Republican than he is”— and if you are looking for someone to take action, listen, or offer your family a little hope or dignity before November—look somewhere else…  

…I say look no further than Charlie Brown.

Neil Pople

Director of Online Communications