The amazing organization VoteVets is having a contest to see which candidate gets $5k in PAC. VoteVets endorses military veterans, a group that needs more political representation, and the leader of the organization, Jon Soltz, argues aggressively for smart national security strategy on cable news channels in a way most of wish Democrats would. He takes it to the Republicans every day on Iraq and on smart uses of the military, breaking us out of the stultified national security conversation.
The group was essential in beating George Allen, and ran effective ads on body armor in 2006 that were extremely powerful. They are having an endorsement contest to see which veteran gets a $5k PAC donation.
I've been meaning to sign up for their alerts anyway, so I signed up here and voted for Eric Massa, the only VoteVets guy to endorse the Responsible Plan.
The Iraq debate is going to be heating up for the next eight months. Tom Andrews of Win Without War just sent an open letter to Congress calling for an end to Congressional funding of the war. Significantly, the call is not just to cut off funding for the war effort general, but to cut off funding for permanent military bases, military contractors, and any long term status of force agreements with the Iraqi government that will tie the hands of the next President. Andrews is also calling for the funding of a diplomatic offensive in the region.
It's a turn for the Iraq campaign, and a way to broaden the conversation away from the ridiculous notion that this war can be stopped in one fell swoop. You can co-sign the letter here.
