I agree, Matt. I will contribute $25 today and more later. (4.00 / 3)

If we want to end the war, deal with global warming, enact health care reform, change our tax code, and protect the internet, we're going to need our own people in Congress to do it.

This is the only strategy.  And we have to take the long view.  People like Darcy and Jeff merkely are the future leaders.   The ones who will refuse to triangulate.  

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by: Tom Wells @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 15:43:39 PM CDT

I am really excited about the prospect (4.00 / 2)

of electing Burner and Merkley. Two NW progressive Democrats who have a strong hold on their values. It's not in Jeff to capitulate and vote for something he doesn't believe in. It's just not who he is. This is the guy who worked for the Defense Dept and spoke out against investing in the B2. He's not afraid to stick his neck out, that's for sure.  

Netroots Director for Oregon Senate Candidate Jeff Merkley

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by: sarahlane @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 16:46:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Just did this at DKos before this was posted (4.00 / 2)

After I commented in a diary below, I went to Dkos and found their Act Blue list of candidates. I contributed to Darcy Burner and Al Franken (for now).

I don't believe I'll be contributing any more to Obama. Possibly, but probably not.

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by: Semblance @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 15:48:02 PM CDT

Indeed. Donation made directly from (4.00 / 2)

my Obama fund.

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by: xscinx @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 15:49:26 PM CDT

The MyBO Group (4.00 / 4)

Matt, thanks for mentioning the MyBO group against FISA. Please keep mentioning it. It's my judgment that the majority of Obama donors are against FISA... The MyBO group could get 500,000 members if people know about it.

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by: T Maysle @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 16:00:57 PM CDT

idealism (4.00 / 1)

To paraphrase one of our illustrious leaders: "you fight with the politicians you have".

Waiting to get a better crew in government is an appeal to inaction in the present, perhaps not by the motivated that visit sites like this, but by the mildly outraged who sit on the sidelines.

The FISA Obama group shows the kind of approach that should be undertaken while waiting for electoral utopia. I've changed my mind after reading a recent book - "Moral Clarity" by Susan Neiman and now think that appeals to idealism are a worthwhile effort.

Look at how many revolutions that we have seen in the past two decades that have used the ideals of Jefferson as their justification. There needs to be a continual effort to alert people to actions that compromise their ideals and ask them to speak up.

I think that there are a larger number of pols who would like to do better than they are currently, but are afraid or intimidated. If they see that the people support them and that, therefore, they will be reelected they may tend to do better. Call it the "George Bailey" effect - they need an angel to remind them of why the ran for office, just as Bailey needed to be reminded of his duties as a banker.

Expecting to get a presidential candidate to do anything controversial in the midst of a campaign is unrealistic, but the rest of congress is fair game. One "macaca" moment can throw a candidate for a loop, so pressure from the netroots has more impact than it did in the past, when letters and phone calls were filed and forgotten.

Any clever youtube video which gets support from like-minded people has a good chance of being seen by thousands. Elected officials need to be reminded that we are not as powerless (or voiceless) as in the past.

Policies not Politics

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by: robertdfeinman @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 16:27:43 PM CDT

Only 4 more! (4.00 / 3)

I contributed some more this morning, to Darcy Burner and Sam Bennett. Did others over the weekend.  Matt's right--these are much more likely to be our people.  The next 2 years will be the best chance to get progressive agenda items passed.  Let's get over the top.  

John McCain--He's not who you think he is.

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by: Mimikatz @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 16:35:31 PM CDT

i think i am going to donate to merkley (4.00 / 2)

the post-primary sting is far gone. i was going to wait until merkley did something exciting, but i think he deserves credit and a donation just for continuing to endorse the responsible plan for iraq. novick would have been better, but now i think merkley may be our best chance to get a progressive in the senate.

end the blurring--vote steve novick for u.s. senate in oregon

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by: petrichor @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 16:54:36 PM CDT

Glad to have you on board (0.00 / 0)

and thanks for the donation and support!  

Netroots Director for Oregon Senate Candidate Jeff Merkley

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by: sarahlane @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 17:37:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Now almost at 5750. (4.00 / 1)

Seems this has become fashionable. Exponential growth, anyone?

What happens when it becomes the biggest group by far on MyBO? Will Obama respond to the pressure? Will he make a big show of it?

If he does, will some people claim that this was obviously his secret master plan all along?
(Don't answer that.)

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by: illissius @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 17:15:12 PM CDT

Exponential growth indeed (4.00 / 2)

It just lit up digg ... here are the numbers of diggs for alapoet's open letter as it caught fire and made the front page.

5:25 - 240
5:30 - 278
5:35 - 315
5:40 - 348
5:45 - 399
5:50 - 425
5:55 - 456
6:00 - 492

Current count at 7:30 -- 764.  (Speaking of which: digg it.)

Setting it in the context of Matt's post: getting steadily more effective at strategies like this is key to furthering the progressive movement, both for the election and beyond.    Part of the reason I try to capture statistics is so that we can learn -- and go back and try to understand.  For example, it seems like the biggest impact yesterday came from the Crooks and Liars story (not the front-page posts here or dKos) ... what to learn from that?  It's relevant to lots of different topics, not just FISA....

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by: JonPincus @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 18:37:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

6100... (4.00 / 1)

IIRC, the biggest group on there is something like 13000 strong? Seems to be growing at (very roughly) around 100 an hour, so at this rate we'll catch them in ~3 days.

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by: illissius @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 19:29:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I have nice timing (4.00 / 2)

I was number 50. Yay!

I you want health care, work hard. If you want universal health care, vote for liberals.

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by: kazumatan @ Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 18:23:03 PM CDT