Thanks to your help we raised over $10K for Candidates in the 2008 Cycle.
Please help us reach our goal of $30K for 2010
No donation is too small $1 sends a message
Our Candidate List
On Friday, I received an email from my friend and AL-03 candidate Joshua Segall. He regretfully announced he would be withdrawing as a candidate and his rematch of Mike Rogers. I was disappointed although I understand Josh's decision. I had the opportunity to speak with him on the phone and we discussed the factors.
The political climate in Alabama is tough for Democrats. We are likely going to lose control of the State Legislature on the House and Senate side which means that this seat +3 R PVI Seat would be diced up in redistricting. All that aside, this was intended to be a Democratic seat but that Never happened because the national Democratic establishment failed us miserably.
Unfortunately we just lost one of our top prospects for 2010 in AL-03. Here's the text of the email I just received from Josh. We will let you know if we find out any more information. Today is the deadline for Alabama Democratic Party Candidate qualifying. This is disappointing but we wish Josh success in his endeavors and hope to hear more from him soon.
Dear Friends,
After much thought and careful consideration, I have decided not to pursue the office of US Representative for Alabama's Third District. So many of you have been incredibly supportive of my run, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your advice, encouragement, and efforts. I am immeasurably proud and appreciative of what we have accomplished together.
For two years now, I have argued that America is a nation that needs consensus and cooperation in politics. We can rebuild trust in our government by investing in infrastructure to create a stronger economic foundation and establishing new rules for accountability and fiscal responsibility. Thousands of Alabamians agree that we must bring agricultural growth back to our state. I am more confident than ever before that these things are true, but for now, I will work to further these causes not in Washington, but as an active and engaged citizen of Alabama.
Again, I want to thank all of you for your involvement in an important cause and for your wonderful generosity. I will talk with as many of you as I can over the next few weeks.
Please, do get in touch with me any time. I wouldn't be where I am today without your support.
Reflecting Democrats' efforts to stay on offense this cycle, today the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is announcing several races to watch this year. In each of these races, Democratic candidates have generated excitement in their districts for their campaigns to create jobs and help fix the economic mess that the Republicans created.
"These strong candidates are getting the attention of folks back home because of their willingness to be independent voices for their districts and prevent a return to the same failed Bush policies that drove America into an economic ditch," said Jon Vogel of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "As these strong candidates continue building excitement for their campaigns to create jobs and help middle class families back home, the DCCC will help them become even more competitive in November."
The DCCC's list of 26 races to watch for 2010:
Top Races
AZ-03 (Shadegg) John Hulburd
CA-03 (Lungren) Ami Bera
CA-45 (Bono Mack) Steve Pougnet
DE-AL (Open-Castle) John Carney
FL-12 (Open-Putnam) Lori Edwards
IL-10 (Open-Kirk) Primary
NE-02 (Terry) Tom White
OH-12 (Tiberi) Paula Brooks
KS-04 (Open-Tiahrt) Raj Goyle
LA-02 (Cao) Primary
MN-06 (Bachmann) Primary
PA-06 (Gerlach) Primary
PA-07 (Open-Sestak) Bryan Lentz
PA-15 (Dent) John Callahan
SC-02 (Wilson) Rob Miller
TN-08 (Open-Tanner) Roy Herron
WA-08 (Reichert) Suzan Delbene
Emerging Races
AK-AL (Young) Harry Crawford
AL-03 (Rogers) Josh Segall
CA-44 (Calvert) Bill Hedrick
FL-10 (Young) Charlie Justice
FL-16 (Rooney) Chris Craft
IL-13 (Biggert) Scott Harper
MN-03 (Paulsen) Primary
MO-08 (Emerson) Tommy Sowers
TX-32 (Sessions) Grier Raggio
Remind our friends and readers to help these candidates.
Happy New Year friends! I hope yours was as good as mine, I visited my Dad and Stepmom in Missouri. We had a grand time with many good meals (two at Imo's pizza). Imo's is a chain out there that I really dig. I don't know if it's just that California pizza is bad, or this stuff is just really good pie but either way it's something I always look forward to. We saw Invictus, it's excellent! And I picked up a couple shows for my TiVo that I've been hearing about but hadn't seen: The Dog Whisperer, Jersey Shore and 30 Rock.
When I got back my carrots, bok choy, broccoli and mesclun were sprouted as was my chia cat grass that I got for Christmas. My cat Lenny was happy to see me and I'm happy to get back to my regular routine. 1st stop, can you guys vote on this poll? (Please vote Alabama, I'll explain why below)
Bobby Bright - D 191k 489k
Martha Roby - R 91k 178.5 k
AL-03
Mike Rogers - R 170k 308.4k
Joshua Segall - D 130.8k 162.6k
AL 05
Mo Brooks R 64.9k 113.9k
Parker Griffith D 272.2k 618.6k
Les Phillip 67.8k 31.8k
AL-07
Earl Hilliard - D 32.6k 29.4k
James Perkins - D 10.9k less than 1k
Terri Sewell - D 104.8k 317k
Shelia Smoot - D 14.4k 39.7k
Analysis:
AL 02 and AL 05 - Blue Dogs Bobby Bright and Parker Griffith have strong advantages over their challengers.
AL 03 - Josh Segall had an extremely strong quarter and is in great position. He will enter the first of the year a lot stronger than when he started in 2008.
AL 07 - Not a lot of money raised at this point. Sewell has a strong COH advantage although rumors of a poll still has her in the single digits.
MinistryofTruth had been asking about candidate breakdowns and updates. Well I've done a spreadsheet breakdown - shared on google docs for all to see of how much we have raised with our current candidates: total $ amount donated , total number of donations, avg. donation for each candidate and the percentage of each candidate toward the total.
Alan Grayson $8,835 281 $31.44 68.50%
MN-06 $1,284 53 $24.23 9.95%
Joe Sestak $983 43 $22.86 7.62%
Rob Miller $676 36 $18.78 5.24%
Anthony Weiner $600 30 $20 4.65%
Josh Segall $413 24 $17.21 3.20%
GA-07 $112 12 9.3 0.87%
totals 12903 479 $26.94
In the spreadsheet you will see what we need to raise for each of our candidates if we are to reach our 30k goal. This should change as our candidates get more exposure and we grow the list. But as you can see it is very top heavy leaning toward Grayson.
Dropped by a fundraiser for Josh Segall tonight - our endorsed candidate in AL-03. Josh nearly beat do-nothing Mike Rogers in 2008. Unfortunately, I had to leave early to get to another appointment and did not get to stay and record his speech.
However, I've seen Josh plenty and come away more impressed and motivated to help him each time. We asked for your help last week to help raise more money for Rob Miller who is the opponent for Joe "You Lie" Wilson. We raise $440 for someone who we had not heard of before Joe's outrageous outburst toward our President.
We have several great candidates and hope to add more, but I'm asking that we at least raise another $250 collectively for Josh between now and September 30th.
Click on the thermometer and donate $5, $10, or whatever you can afford
From those that read my diaries, you know that I have a love for calling out certain right-wing nut jobs, partisan hacks and do-nothings that unfortunately walk the Halls of our Congress. All of these need to be sent home for a variety of reasons.
My personal list of those that we need to replace include such perennial losers like: Michele "Bat Crazy" Bachmann (MN-06), Patrick "McDoofus" McHenry (NC-10), Mike "Mr Irrelevant" Rogers (AL-03), Peter "He's Bad" King (NY-03) and Ralph "Why am I still here" Hall (TX-04)
My list in the past week, like I'm sure yours will now also include, has grown with the additions of Obama health care speech GOP Problem Children Joe "You lie" Wilson (SC-02), Louie "What Bill?" Gohmert (TX-01), Eric "I can beat you in Brickbreaker on the Blackberry" Cantor (VA-07) and John "Leaving on a Jet Plane" Shimkus(IL-19)
Two of our 2010 targets - Mike Rogers (AL-03 Lameduckville) and Michele Bachmann (MN-06 Crazyville) have made the National Republican Campaign Committee's (NRCC) version of the endagered species list.
The National Republican Congressional Committee on Thursday will name 15 more Members to its "Patriot" program to boost the party's most vulnerable incumbents in 2010, bringing its membership to 25.
The 15 new Members named to the program are: Mike Rogers (Ala.), Mary Bono Mack (Calif.), Bill Posey (Fla.), Tom Rooney (Fla.), Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.), Lynn Jenkins (Kan.), John Fleming (La.), Bill Cassidy (La.), Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Blaine Luetkemeyer (Mo.), Lee Terry (Neb.), Scott Garrett (N.J.), Dean Heller (Nev.), Charlie Dent (Pa.) and Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.).
We are also closely watching the CA_-45 Mary Bono Mack and considering adding her challenger Palm Springs mayor Steve Pougnet to our 2010 Progressive Electorate list.
This bodes well for Josh Segall who will certainly be high on the DCCC Red to Blue list (hopefully the first wave) and the eventual DFL nominee in MN-06.
Josh Segall's 2010 camapaign aims to keep up the same energy we saw in 2008. Just got an email from the Segall campaign this morning announcing the hire of their first campaign staffer.
We've made our first hire of the campaign and I'm very excited to tell you about it. Chad Horrell spent the last year working for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as the Southern Field Director. Chad oversaw the national party's field programs for every targeted race in the South, from Virginia to Florida to Texas. He worked with the country's strongest candidates, many of whom went to Congress, and orchestrated some of the largest efforts their districts had ever seen to have conversations with voters at their doorstep.
This is exactly what we intend to do in this campaign, with YOUR HELP. We are 6 days away from the end of our first fundraising quarter. Please make a secure contribution by going to https://secure.actblue.com/con...
Grassroots word-of-mouth campaigning is the key to knowing your constituency, building energy and enthusiasm for our cause, as well as fostering the trust to create change. Hiring Chad is an important first step. It says a lot about our success in the last election and the tremendous opportunity we have in this one.
You'll be getting some email from Chad over the course of the election. I hope you won't hesitate to share your ideas and guidance with him.
The end of our fundraising quarter is now 6 days away. Please make a secure contribution by going to https://secure.actblue.com/con...
Thank you for your support.
Warm Regards,
Josh
I also got another message this evening about how you can go to the website and sign up to immediately help the team. While this information is not earth shattering news, I believe it is important to point out the type of strength that Segall plans on showing in 2010. This should be one of the top targeted races in the country this cycle and this move indicates that Segall should be taken very seriously.
You've very likely heard of Army Reserve Specialist Charles Graner . He's in jail for his role of torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
You've probably not heard of his former Direct Supervisor - Captain Christopher Brinson. (pictured here quite possibly celebrating his carried out orders)
Mike Rogers is already posturing for the 2010 election. One minute he's criticizing Nancy Pelosi and the next he's criticizing former Republican leader Tom DeLay.
Now he's voting with Pelosi and the three Democratic Alabama Congressmen in rejecting
an amendment to the 2010 budget resolution, H.Con.Res. 85, that would have set government spending at 20.7 percent of gross domestic product, made the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent and suspended the capital gains tax through 2010.
Well some Republicans aren't too happy with Rogers.
Here's the link, dead because there have been virus/spyware issues with a handful of rightwing blogs since the tea parties and I'm just not going to take a chance. I clicked so you don't have to:
Like Mooncat, I wonder if Rogers will get challenged within his own party. I doubt it would be anything other than a symbolic attempt from the far right.
Rogers really doesn't stand for anything but politically posturing. Seems like he's become adept at waking up in the morning and sticking out his finger to see which way the wind is blowing. Then he decides what rhetoric is good for that particular day.
Birmingham, AL - This week, Democrat Josh Segall announced that he is launching his reunion tour and will be running again for Congress in District Three. The campaign launch comes just five short months after voters told Segall "no" and issued a vote of confidence to Congressman Mike Rogers (R-Saks). After losing the election five months ago, and revving up again with 18 months left until the 2010 election, it is apparent that Segall views running for Congress as a hobby, and not a serious effort that impacts the lives of hardworking Alabamians. It is unfortunate that Josh Segall is injecting politics at a time when the rest of the Nation is focused on rallying our economy.
Rep. Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn), Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party said this of Segall's big announcement, "Congressman Rogers won the election and the folks in his district know that they can count on Mike to work hard for them in Washington, so all of this is really just a PR stunt by Josh Segall and the Democrats."
"I guess Segall just can't come to grips with the fact that he lost, but the arrogance of taking cheap shots while Congressman Rogers is in Washington working hard for the taxpayers, well, frankly just shows how desperate Josh is to be called 'Congressman,'" added Philip Bryan, ALGOP Communications Director.
###
Paid for by the Alabama Republican Party * P.O. Box 55628 * Birmingham, AL * 35255
This release has some great lines
Campaigning for Congress as a Hobby - Well then I guess Mike Rogers being a Congressman is a hobby with his numerous business interests and lackadaisical attitude about his constituents. However I would call it a hobby that Rogers has gotten bored with.
The campaign launch comes just five short months after voters told Segall "no" and issued a vote of confidence to Congressman Mike Rogers (R-Saks)
I'm not sure that I would call it a vote of confidence that Mike Rogers outspent Josh Segall 2 to 1 and beat him by a little over 5 percentage points. The voters in AL-07 told Artur Davis no in 2000 and he went on to defeat Earl Hilliard in 2002.
It is unfortunate that Josh Segall is injecting politics at a time when the rest of the Nation is focused on rallying our economy.
And what Mike Rogers said about Nancy Pelosi was clearly not injecting politics. Calling the Speaker of the House "Mean", "Crazy" and "Tom DeLay in a skirt" was pure statesmanship the Alabama GOP would tell us. And how exactly has Mike Rogers focused on rallying our economy? By giving billions of dollars to Wall Street while telling main street no.
The GOP attacks Segall here and he comes out on top without having to respond. Brilliant strategy. Did they really sent this out as a media alert?
Heck, Rogers ended 2008 with more money (about 8k more) than he has on hand now. One would think that an already vulnerable Congressman who squeaked by in a 2008 challenge from a 29 year old first time challenger would have raised a little more money.
What does this mean?
Mike Rogers is in serious trouble. As we announced yesterday, Josh Segall announced that he will be entering the 2010 race. Seeing that Rogers will not start off nearly as well funded, this should give Segall a strong opportunity to out-raise Rogers and have more cash on hand after the second quarter.
While Segall actually outraised Rogers for a couple of quarters in 2008, he lagged far behind Rogers in cash on hand. Rogers will not have this cushion in the 2010 election. Also, with the recent controversy about Rogers comments directed toward Pelosi and the Team Tom DeLay hypocrisy , I am very interested to see the Republican National party involvement in this race. Might they see AL-02 and AL-05 as better pickup opportunities and better use of trimmed resources than a tough retention in AL-03
Now I can see why Rogers won't consider returning the money or giving away to charity the $30,000 he received from the DeLay led PAC's. He simply could not afford to give any money away at this point.
How does this compare to other Republican Congressmen in the State?
Of course Rogers is easily the most vulnerable Republican Congressman in the State. However, we should also take note at the fact that Spencer Bachus (AL-06) and Jo Bonner (AL-01) each have nearly half a million each on hand after the 1st quarter of 2009. Although he has not reported yet for the first quarter of 2009, Robert Aderholt (AL-04) ended the year with almost a quarter of a million so I wouldn't expect his cash on hand to change much.
I'm sure that while this information will come as a pleasant surprise to Democrats in the State and Nationally, I think the Republicans are a bit more concerned than this time last year that they have an enormous challenge on their hand. Josh Segall proved that he is an excellent fundraiser and campaigner in 2008 and now with a level playing field he should have Millionaire Mike scarred out of his new three million dollar home.
Josh Segall announced that he will be running against Mike Rogers in AL-03. Segall ran a very strong campaigin against Rogers in 2008 garnering nearly 47% of the vote in the general.
Look for this to be one of the hotly contested races in the country. I just talked to Josh and he is very excited about this campaign and taking his message back to the voters.
Of course we will be endorsing him for the 2010 Cycle. We should have him on our page by tomorrow.
Josh's statement
"It's time for a new direction. I am a fiscal conservative who will work to create and attract 21st Century jobs to east Alabama so that hardworking people can get ahead," said Segall.
"Alabama is suffering under irresponsible policies that bail out greedy executives who created this mess and leave hardworking Alabama families holding the bag. Rogers supported the Wall Street bailout, but did nothing for Main Street Alabama. He voted to send Alabama jobs overseas, when what we needed was a plan to create good jobs at home. It's time to stand up to special interest politics and put Alabama families first once again," said Segall.
"Rural Alabama has been suffering for a long time and this recession has made it so even fewer of our children can live where they grew up. Rural areas all over the country need to be reinvigorated. I will work with Members of Congress who represent similar districts to make rural areas strong again."
We are Progressive Democrats that discuss national, local and regional politics, politicians and issues. We support candidates that share our passion for improving government, ensuring equal rights and opportunity, social and economic justice and civil liberties. We strive to improve the economy, environment and the health of all Americans. We're also big sports fans. Please register and join us with your own posts and comments. If you can please donate to help us continue this service.
