Burnt Orange Report

It's the End of the Quarter.... you know what that means!!

By Byron LaMasters

It's June 26th, and the end of the quarter is four days away, so I decided to make my end of the quarter donations tonight. I'm a student, working part-time this summer, so I figured I could spend a little bit of money giving to candidates that I support. I'd encourage all of you to donate to the candidates of your choice at the end of the quarter (so within the next four days). End of the quarter reports can make a second tier candidate a first tier candidate. They can make seemingly uncompetetive candidates viable. Small contributions can make a difference, especially when they're bundled. That's why I decided to donate money to Kerry (which has become a monthly thing) as well as three of the dKos 8 candidates. I didn't contribute to the three top congressional races across the country, but I contributed to three races where my $10 contribution bundled with hundreds of others could make a difference.

• John Kerry - $25.00. He's the next president of the United States. He needs our money to fend off hysterical attacks like the latest Bush WebAd comparing Kerry's attacks to Adolf Hitler. It's outrageous and it's one of the main reasons that inspired me to contribute to John Kerry again today. Anyway, I still think that Kerry is running a great campaign, and he deserves our support.
• Richard Morrison - $10.01. Sure, it may be a longshot. We probably won't beat Tom DeLay. But it's important to send Tom DeLay a message that we don't like what he's doing. Tom DeLay is responsible for making the U.S. Congress the most partisan and uncivil Congress in recent history. At the very least, he needs a serious challenge, so that he'll at least have to watch his back.
• Stan Matsunaka - $10.01. He's running against Congress's number one hater - Marylin Musgrave. She's the sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment, and is obsessed with gay people. All she seems to care about it denying rights to gays and lesbians. She doesn't give a flip about her district. She's a one-issue congresswoman and she's out of touch. Her district deserves better. She won in the 2002 GOP landslide in Colorado, but Stan Matsunaka saw that she was looking vulnerable in the polls and decided to take a second shot at the race. He deserves our support.
• Jim Stork - $10.01. Jim Stork is running against Clay Shaw in a district that Al Gore carried in 2000. Democrats nearly won the district in 2000, but recount technicalities kept it in GOP hands. This coastal Flordia district is Democratic, and ought to have a Democratic congressman. Jim Stork has experience as a small business owner and as a mayor. Stork is also openly gay, so his election would mean that we'd have four openly gay members of congress (out of 535, house + senate). Of course, Florida already has a gay member of congress, Mark Foley, but he refuses to discuss his sexual orientation. It would be nice for Florida to have an openly gay Congressman.

There's other great candidates to consider as well. Stan Matsunaka is one of the candidates advertising on BOR, but there are others advertising here as well that are worthy of your support:

• Betty Castor for U.S. Senate in Florida - She's one of the three Democrats running for Bob Graham's seat. She's been leading in many of the recent polls. The Democratic primary is in September.
• Lorenzo Sadun for U.S. Congress - Lorenzo is who I'll be writing in for Congress this November. I live in his district, and he's my candidate. He's a UT professor and he's been making his rounds in the district. Help him make a serious campaign this November.
• Tom Daschle - for U.S. Senate - Do I need to say anything more? Tom Daschle is the most endangered Senate Democratic incumbent this cycle. John Thune is running again, and Republicans would like nothing more than to take out our Senate leader. Tom Daschle needs our support.