I appreciate Chris's apology to folks about the IL-05 results, and I definitely agree with the spirit of his comment that mere moral victories are, at this point, frustrating. But if I may, let me file perhaps what we might call a Minority Opinion in this verdict.
I just wanted to add that (speaking only for me) I don't think an apology is necessary. I don't think any of us promoted Tom as anything other than A) a movement progressive B) a guy who had a steep uphill climb in a first race for Congress. Just because he lost doesn't make any of that untrue - nor do I believe it makes any contributions or work for him a waste worthy of apology."
Given that Tom Geoghegan finished in 7th place last night, with only 6% of the vote, I wanted to take a moment to apologize to the Open Left community on the front page about this campaign. Given that 212 of you donated over $11,500 to Geoghegan, it is the least you deserve. I can see two main things that went wrong in my decision making on the race:
Went in flying blind: There was only one poll on the campaign that I saw. The top three candidates in that poll finished in the top three, including a victory for the leader, Mike Quigley. Clearly, it was actually a good poll. The poll was conducted before Tom Geoghegan entered the campaign, and I thought the low numbers for the leader made it an attractive, and winnable, possibility. However, I probably should have waited for another poll showing Geoghegan at least in the mix, rather than just jumping in blindly.
Kept disregarding warning signs: I should have taken more heed of the warning signs that kept appearing. Geoghegan was not endorsed by local unions, by local ward leaders, or local newspapers. Also, his field campaign was, from what I heard "good but not great." In such a low turnout election, all four of those factors are absolutely crucial. These warning signs kept appearing in January and February, and I did not take the appropriate caution from them. Again, I allowed my hopes of what could be achieved in a wide open, low-turnout primary to get the best of me.
Now, I donated to Geoghegan's campaign as well, as I always make a point of taking whatever action I ask of the community. Also, while it appears that Geoghegan only received one vote for every $100 he raised, that amount seems pretty similar to everyone else in the campaign. We should have done better, but the lack of endorsements was the main cause for that.
This isn't the first time we have backed a candidate who lost by double digits, and I doubt it will be the last time, either. I am still happy to have supported such a strong progressive, and I don't think less of Tom Geoghegan as a person because of this. However, in the future, I promise to do a better job of gathering information on the campaign beforehand, and of monitoring warning signs as I see them appear. There were other, pretty progressive candidates in this campaign, and if I had done more due diligence, we might have been able to help one of them.
Thank you to those who donated. I will do better for you in the future.
BlogPac sent out an email today, pushing one last time for people to give to Tom Geoghegan. The election is on Tuesday, so if you are going to give, the time is now. Already, almost $2,000 has been raised.
This is an open thread. Tell the world what is on your mind.
Two months ago, I entered this race declaring we are in the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Every day more and more people lose their jobs, health care, and homes. We are witnessing not the unraveling of a few years of excess, but the insolvency of many of the economic practices and theories that became conventional wisdom over the past 30 years.
Most important of these, and that which has caused the greatest destruction, is the idea that debt is wealth. Over the last 30 years, American wages stagnated and people grew deeper in debt -- their homes, educations, health care, every aspect of life. And at the national level, the story hasn't been much different. We lost manufacturing and borrowed from across the globe. There were only two winners in all this, Wall Street and the banks.
WASHINGTON, DC - Progressive Democrats of America has endorsed Tom Geoghegan in his bid to replace Rahm Emanuel in the House seat representing Illinois' 5th Congressional District.
Following the endorsement of the local PDA chapter on Feb. 9, PDA members across the country were encouraged to vote in an online poll, which closed at midnight last night. Geoghegan won the endorsement with 99% of votes.
Geoghegan is the real deal. Thomas Frank of the Wall Street Journal called Geoghegan "a true reformer." The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg said Geoghegan is "change we can believe in." And, Kathy Pollit of The Nation called Geoghegan, "the next Paul Wellstone."
Read this if you want to elect a true progressive to Congress
I've been calling for Tom Geoghegan for the past few days. I've called for 7 past campaigns during my politically active years and here are some of the differences I'm seeing with this election:
- very low awareness of the election (not surprising, but different than other elections)
- very low commitment to any candidate
- no mention to me of support for any candidate other than tom. I realize they are less likely to tell me, but it is unusual not to have 1 mention of another candidate during calls
- people who do talk about Tom are enthusiastic about supporting him
I thought Sara Feigenholtz and Mike Quigley were going to be clearly in the lead at this point, and that isn't what I'm hearing from people I talk with. Definitely motivating me to keep on calling.
Here's some fun news from the new Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) that I'm involved with -- dedicated to helping progressive congressional candidates run first-class campaigns and win.
A bunch of netroots folks threw a small-dollar fundraising event for Tom Geoghegan this week in Washington, D.C. Together, we raised a whopping $3,800 on ActBlue and in-person -- enough to fund 2 field organizers for the final month before the March 3 special election to replace Rahm Emanuel.
Tom taped a video thanking everyone for their support, and detailing the bold progressive issues he will champion in Congress. Can you check out the video and help the PCCC keep the momentum going for Tom by chipping chipping in with an online donation today?
Want to put a bold progressive in Rahm's House seat in the March 3 special election? Here's what you can do.
If you live in DC, join us this Monday evening at Local 16 for a fundraising event for Tom Geoghegan, and meet the candidate himself. There's a high-dollar fundraiser later in the evening, but tickets to this netroots fundraiser event are only $30. Get them here. Facebook invite here.
Not in DC? Read more about Tom and donate at the event's ActBlue page. Every dollar makes a big difference, so please consider giving. (If you buy raffle tickets you can still win, even if you're not at the event.)
This is our first endorsement of the 2009-2010 election cycle, and the start of our Better Democrats 2010 page--Chris
Look, if you've read my work at all, you know I don't have a lot of good things to say about lots of politicians, and I don't spend my time shilling for anyone simply because they have a D behind their name. So I hope you take that into consideration when you read what I'm about to write:
As the Washington Post reports today, Tom is running in the March 3rd special election primary in Illinois' 5th district to replace Rahm Emanuel - one of the worst influences on Democratic politics in a generation. The idea that a lawmaker as soulless as Emanuel could be replaced with a progressive - any progressive - is an amazing thought. The idea that he could be replaced with one of the greatest living progressives in America is beyond amazing - it should make you contribute whatever you can right now.
As I said to start, I don't use phrases like "one of the greatest living progressives in America" often - if ever. But I mean it when I say it about Tom. I've written two columns about him in the last year (here and here), and if you've read any of his work, you know why I use superlatives to describe him.
STATE BLOGS
Look, if you've read my work at all, you know I don't have a lot of good things to say about lots of politicians, and I don't spend my time shilling for anyone simply because they have a D behind their name. So I hope you take that into consideration when you read what I'm about to write: