40 days from today - on May 18 - we will see two HUGE primaries for U.S. Senate. Even though these races aren't in Texas, 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.
These two races are tremendously important to defining who and what the Democratic Party is and what we will be fighting for.
If you can volunteer for these candidates (or encourage friends and family in Pennsylvania and Arkansas to do so), that would be amazing.
Of course, if you can help with a contribution to either or both via the Expand the Map! ActBlue page as soon as possible, it will make a big impact.
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.
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.
Democrat
Currently At
End-of-Quarter Goal
Distance to Goal
Kendrick Meek
$25
$300
$275
Bill Halter
$445
$750
$305
Joe Sestak
$1,320
$1,600
$280
Paul Hodes
$1,447
$1,700
$253
Robin Carnahan
$1,163
$1,400
$237
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.
As many of you know, over the last five days, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, in partnership with a number of progressive organizations and blogs including Senate Guru, asked those in the netroots, "Should a Draft Sestak movement be created to take on Sen. Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary?"
The results are in and they are overwhelming. 85% of Pennsylvanian respondents and 86% of respondents nationally want Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak to challenge Arlen Specter in the 2010 Democratic Senate primary. The poll has even gotten the attention of Congressman Sestak, as the PCCC points out:
"I am honored that so many of you took the time to vote in the recent grassroots Straw Poll. Let me tell you, I and many others were paying attention. If I decide to run it will be in large measure because of the grassroots energy of so many people like you. Until I and my family make that decision, please accept my thanks and my best wishes as you continue be active participants in our people-powered democracy. Thank you so very much!"
Due to such an overwhelming response, a Draft Sestak Fund has been created on ActBlue. To contribute and further encourage Congressman Sestak to enter the race, click on the image below:
If you need any additional motivation to contribute to this effort to draft a real Democrat to oppose Specter in the primary, consider Specter's actions since announcing his Party switch:
1) Specter opposed the Obama budget.
2) Specter opposed the "cramdown" mortgage/bankruptcy reform, siding with banks over families.
3) Specter reiterated his opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act.
4) Specter reiterated his opposition to President Obama's nomination of Dawn Johnsen to the Office of Legal Counsel.
5) Specter announced his support for Republican Norm Coleman over Democratic Senator-elect Al Franken in Minnesota's Senate race.
6) Specter promoted a website that appeared to raise money for cancer research but, in actuality, simply raised money for his campaign.
7) Specter denied reports that he told President Obama that he would be a "loyal Democrat" despite multiple reporters sticking to their story.
The netroots have displayed overwhelming support for Congressman Sestak to take on recently-Republican Arlen Specter. Help the effort by contributing to the Draft Sestak Fund.
I do some advising for ActBlue and as such am sharing this here and other state blogging communities. It was frontpaged yesterday at Open Left and MyDD.
"I believe candidates with strong, sound stances deserve our support, and this is a race where your dollars can make the difference. Please make a contribution to this critical cause."
Sound familiar? If you have any experience with our fundraising pages you will have seen this (and perhaps fallen asleep to it) a few too many times. It is the default text for ActBlue's fundraising pages. ActBlue's customizable fundraising pages allow progressive activists to raise money for the best Democratic candidates out there easily and effectively, and the fifty state blog network has taken advantage of this feature to support state and national candidates with customized, targeted pages. But while the original blurb did help Democrats use our pages, we're in year 5 of ActBlue, and this is definitely year 3-4 material. We'll be working with thousands of new fundraisers this cycle, and we want to make sure they have the best language. And, well, this isn't it.
So, we need ideas.
We know you're best equipped to know what language will appeal to your friends and neighbors, so we wanted to give all of you an opportunity to create the next fundraising page blurb. If we pick yours, it will show up automatically on almost every fundraising page created on ActBlue. To show our appreciation, we'll send the winner and two runners-up an ActBlue Ice Cream Scoop! (No, we're not kidding. And trust us, it's a high quality scoop - The Original Zeroll.)
Okay, here are the guidelines:
The blurb must be fewer than 50 words.
It has to be fairly generic (no specific issues or names), but still get across the basic reason for the fundraising page. This is something our current text does fairly well, if you are looking for an example.
If you can make it apply to pages for candidates and/or committees, all the better. If not, at least make it appeal to people looking to donate to candidates.
We are Democrats, and our pages are for Democrats. If your message would appeal to Democrats, that would probably earn points.
Humor is a big plus, but only that universal humor that works for everyone.
Effective fundraising is personal. Think about what kind of language would help you be a better fundraiser, and think about why your friends and family might feel compelled to give.
I take special pride in writing this post because the topic is about two organizations that I have worked for and together, have been incredibly successful. So indulge me. -kt
Democratic Senate nominee Rick Noriega passed the $1,000,000 mark yesterday in funds raised and processed online through the online fundraising powerhouse, ActBlue.com. That now makes him the #1 largest (non-presidential) online fundraiser with ActBlue since its inception. In fact, Noreiga alone is responsible for 1.75% of all funded raised through ActBlue, ever. And with 11,200 donors he has one of the most diverse and largest contributer pools of any candidate.
That's all to say, that even without many people's blessing, support, or full on assistance to take back Texas, Rick Noriega and his team are proving that a draft started by the Texas Netroots has resulted in a very real broad based effort to change the direction of our state.
That's very real and Sen. Cornyn better come to terms with it.
If I may, I'd like to take a brief moment to talk about my former employer ActBlue. As most readers know, I ventured off to Cambridge, MA last year to go work for that up and coming online fundraising portal for Democrats. I of course came back to Texas where I belong but I keep up with ActBlue and continue to be an evangelizer of what they are doing.
Well, yesterday they blew past the $50,000,000 mark for the amount of funds they have processed for Democratic candidates. That's right, $50 million and this latest push was assisted by one of our own here in Texas- Rick Noriega.
From their press release...
Democratic fundraising topped $50 million on ActBlue yesterday evening, signaling a surge in fundraising well beyond the presidential contest. The $50 million total represents contributions from more than 395,000 donors to more than 3000 candidates and committees, with a median contribution of $50.
Propelled by high numbers from, among others, Rick Noriega's Texas Senate campaign and Leslie Byrne's bid for a Virginia Congressional seat, ActBlue's totals also reflect records from some unlikely directions. In California's Third Senate District, all four Democratic primary challengers used ActBlue, raising more than $500,000 ahead of last week's primary. The victor in that contest, Mark Leno, raised more than $227,000 from 600 donors, an ActBlue record for a state race.
Speaking of Rick Noriega, he's just crossed having raised $700,000 online from over 7,650 donors. That number really blows me away because I had a real fascination for ActBlue stats when I was working there (and still wish they would open them up more because bloggers would write about ActBlue a lot more if they did).
Anyways, by my rough estimation, knowing some of 2006 cycle stats, Rick Noriega has raised more at this point online than every 2006 candidate that used ActBlue did for the entire 06 cycle (except Webb, and Sestak which he'll pass in a few months). The number of donors Noriega has probably puts him in the all-time top 10 of all candidates on ActBlue and we're only in June.
Not many candidates on ActBlue at this point in the cycle can say that they have raised over a quarter of a million dollars, but Rick Noriega is among them. In addition to that, he's had over 2,500 online contributors, the most of any non-incumbent Senate challenger on ActBlue. A large part of that is due to the the successful Stamp Out Bush efforts last month.
Currently the campaign is looking to raise an extra $35,000 by the end of the year.
You can pitch in here to help towards that goal.
Cross-posted from the ActBlue Blog. This was a really awesome piece to write and I'm glad that the Texas bloggers made this possible. -KT
There is a rising force in the online community, often forgotten by the mainstream media because of their niche audience and dispersed nature. With over half a million readers a week they are on the front lines of grassroots battles. Their ears to the ground and their footsteps echoing in the halls of their capitals, they are often the first to report on issues and breaking news that eventually bubble up to the national discussion.
This force is the vast and ever growing community of state and local blogs, both those in the 50-state blog network and beyond. These blogs and their nearly 1000 authors are both a part of the national Netroots and unique local communities unto themselves.
In some states with more established blogging traditions, networks of bloggers have created communications tools to facilitate the sharing of best practices and to coordinate messaging campaigns. Other blog networks have worked to grow readership and develop true community-oriented sites. This year has seen some of the most interesting developments as these blogging communities started flexing their fundraising muscle in state and local races. Even better, some have gone a step further by leveraging their online presence into offline action. This maturation of state blogging is truly exciting.
I've gotten in touch with some of the organizers of this new breed of activism in hopes that by sharing their experiences, we might inspire others to similarly innovative action.
I want to take the time to cross-post this week's entry here as a Texas candidate made the list. I'll try to do that each week in any state with a community blog if they have candidates on that week's list as a service to the larger blogging community. It should not be construed as an endorsement by me or ActBlue in any way. So let's get started!
A new blog series that I'm starting up at the ActBlue Blog is a weekly activity report (to be posted each Monday). In it, we'll look to feature the most active campaigns and fundraising pages at ActBlue for the prior week. It's a scaled down version of our Monthly or Quarterly activity reports but if something neat or creative sticks out we'll try to highlight it.
Total Contributions last week: $226,262.30 Total Donors: 1794 Avg. Contribution size: $128.33
Here are the Top 5 Recipients on ActBlue last week by number of donors.
Name
District
Raised
Donors
John Edwards
President
$36,870.80
520
Rick Noriega
TX-Sen
$12,332.61
154
Steven L. Beshear
KY-Gov
$2,433.02
106
Democracy for America
Organization
$1,722.70
88
Tom Allen
ME-Sen
$2,601.03
84
Here are the Top 5 Candidate Recipients on ActBlue last week by total amount raised.
Name
District
Raised
John Edwards
President
$36,870.80
Rick Noriega
TX-Sen
$12,332.61
Gary Trauner
WY-AL
$11,200.00
Jamie Eldridge
MA-05
$10,004.61
Russ Warner
CA-26
$9,196.60
Here are the Top 5 ActBlue Fundraising Pages last week by number of donors.
Today ActBlue marks its 3rd Anniversary. Seriously, 3 years? I know- time flies. And how lucky am I to work here. So allow me to brag a little.
Back in 2004, our founders Matt DeBergalis and Benjamin Rahn thought they could build something that would change Democratic fundraising- making it, well, more democratic. The two of them, living off of savings and limited investment, set out to build a platform that would end up changing our Party. Working out of their homes, they built the first generation of ActBlue.
This innovative, secure, and groundbreaking way to give money to Democrats was launched in June of 2004 before the end of the fundraising quarter. The earliest adopters, the blogosphere, helped push $250,000 into federal campaigns that summer. Printing $1 million in checks out of Matt's living room by the end of 2004 was an accomplishment for the start-up. ActBlue caught the eye of Democratic campaigns, organizations, and establishment investors and it was time to grow.
And grow ActBlue did. You can see it for yourself in the numbers.
Total Raised for Democrats through ActBlue: $24,167,741
# of months until ActBlue outgrows its 600 sq foot office: 1 (that's over $40,000/sq.ft. of productivity!)
There a lot of talk about investing in lasting infrastructure for the Democratic Party. ActBlue returns over $20 in aid for Democratic candidates for every $1 in investment. We have more ideas under the hood than you can shake a stick at, limited not by our creativity, but by time and investment.
ActBlue is an investment in our Party. ActBlue is an investment in a Democratic future.
So, in honor of our 3rd Anniversary, will you invest in ActBlue?
