ActBlue — Reasonable choices

Reasonable choices

by Doug Edwards

13
Supporters 46,400
Raised $
Distributed among the recipients below

These are all candidates I’ve given to in 2007 in preparation for the 2008 election. I’ve selected them after talking with the DCCC about key races and then vetting their records (using Google News, Wikipedia and the Washington Post voting records site) or meeting them in person to discuss issues. Some are candidates I supported in the last election, others are new.

I don’t have a specific litmus test, but I favor more liberal candidates and I do drop those I feel are not living up to their campaign rhetoric (for example Chris Carney of Pennsylvania voted against making it a hate crime to attack someone on the basis of gender, even though Republicans in his state voted for it).

I expect candidates in rural areas to oppose gun control even though I support it and I have a real bias toward those who show leadership on cleaning up the lack of ethics oversight in Congress. Mostly, I like people who seem thoughtful and competent, even if I don’t agree with their stands on every issue.

Because this is the primary season, you can give up to $2,300 to each candidate and then give up to that amount again for the general election. The maximum you can give across all candidates for each cycle is $42,700. My contributions don’t show up on this page, because I gave to these candidates before deciding to build it. I will funnel my own contributions through this page going forward, but it’s up to you if you’d rather donate through other means. This is purely here to make it easier if you want one-stop shopping.

Thanks for visiting and helping to change our government.

-Doug

Jerry McNerney

CA-11 (Map)

Surprised everyone by defeating anti-environmentalist Richard Pombo in a very Republican district last cycle. McNerney is a wind energy engineer and the only congressman with a doctorate in math. He once gave a speech on the floor praising scientists for work that “involves defining the detailed structure of a geometric object called E8, the largest of the exceptional Lie groups used to study symmetry.”
McNerney is squeezed between Bay Area liberals who want him to be adamantly anti-war and his very Republican district that is not so radical on Iraq. Karl Rove knows how hard it will be for him to maintain his balance. That’s why he made McNerney the number 3 target on his hit list for 2008, according to a leaked document.
If you think having rational, logic-driven engineering types in Congress would improve our public policy, this is your guy.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/05/14/MNGGGPQDMM1.DTL

Raised on this page: 1 4,600
Raised across ActBlue: 597 19,037

Kirsten Gillibrand

NY-20 (Map)

I met her in SF and was blown away by how smart, thoughtful, informed and competent she seems. She is not a gun control advocate, as might be expected in her district, but is otherwise a fiscally conservative, socially moderate Blue Dog Democrat. She is a strong proponent of ethics and campaign finance reform and speaks equally forcefully about milk pricing (she’s from an agricultural district) and Iraq. Though she voted for funding the troops without benchmarks, she made it clear it was because she promised her district she would never vote to cut troop funding. She also voted for (and preferred) both bills with benchmarks before the house leadership proposed the final compromise version (though Nancy Pelosi, who sponsored the final version, ultimately voted against it). I really expect to see her have a long and distinguished career in public service.

Raised on this page: 1 1,300
Raised across ActBlue: 122 20,362

Charlie Brown

CA-04 (Map)

His opponent John Doolittle is being investigated by the FBI and was involved with Abramoff. Doolittle recently stepped down from his Appropriations Committee seat and is seen as very vulnerable. Brown, a career military man, former Republican and social moderate, almost defeated Doolittle last cycle and is trying again. He’ll likely succeed, though it’s possible Doolittle will be pressured to bow out and a more palatable Republican will run in his place. Brown is more conservative than I am, but he seems like a good man who is far better than his opponent.

Raised on this page: 1 1,300
Raised across ActBlue: 4,128 120,038

Tom Allen

ME-Sen (Map)

I met with Tom Allen one on one and had a chance to talk with him at length. He is trying to step up from Congressman to Senator from Maine against well-entrenched Republican Susan Collins, who was recently endorsed by Joe Lieberman. Collins has been a consistent supporter of the war and as Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, was the person responsible for oversight of all the Halliburton contracts in Iraq. She never once called a meeting to review them, even though Lieberman himself issued a press release asking her to do so.
Allen describes himself as a fairly traditional New England moderate with no positions likely to surprise his supporters. He’s a Rhodes Scholar , Harvard educated lawyer and friend of Bill Clinton. I would have liked to have seen him be more aggressive on ethics reform, but he is more focused on Iraq and healthcare which are bigger issues in his district.
This race is one of the top 3 that are likely to result in Democrats picking up a Senate seat. Given Lieberman’s leanings, it’s imperative that every one of these get full support or the balance could tip back to the Republicans, splitting Congress yet again.

Raised on this page: 2 6,900
Raised across ActBlue: 1,754 77,335

John Yarmuth

KY-03 (Map)

A Yale grad and former newspaper publisher, Yarmuth was a progressive political columnist before becoming Kentucky’s first Jewish congressman. He won by 51% to 48% and was praised by his opponent for his campaign in her concession speech. You may have seen him debating with Stephen Colbert, who picked the topic “Kittens should be shredded in woodchippers” and made Yarmuth take the affirmative position.
Yarmuth has voted with his party 98% of the time and voted against appropriations for Iraq without benchmarks. His other positions are harder to ascertain, though he seems to be pretty liberal for his district. Given how close the race was last cycle, it’s likely there will be a strong effort to recapture the seat by the Republicans.

Raised on this page: 1 4,600
Raised across ActBlue: 35 6,031

Mike Arcuri

NY-24 (Map)

A former District Attorney and NYPIRG attorney, Arcuri is a Blue Dog Democrat, meaning he’s fiscally conservative, but socially moderate. He has voted with the Democratic leadership 98% of the time since his election, including opposition to troop funding without benchmarks. With Kirsten Gillibrand he is pushing hard for ethics reform as a freshman, which is an uphill battle on both sides of the aisle.
Arcuri is high on the list of candidates the DCCC would like to protect and the Republicans would like to eject. He seems to have the charisma and likeability the party needs more of and may not have much trouble winning reelection, though it’s too early to tell.

Raised on this page: 0 0
Raised across ActBlue: 110 13,047

Christopher Murphy

CT-05 (Map)

Another of the strong Freshman advocates for ethics reform, Chris Murphy actually won a decisive victory in his 2006 run despite a barrage of negative ads from the RNC that led to the contest being characterized as “the nastiest campaign in state history.”
Since his election, Murphy has voted with the Dems 97.6% of the time, including opposition to troop funding without benchmarks, though he missed a vote on lobbying reform that was overwhelmingly supported by both Republicans and Democrats.
The NY Times gave him this endorsement when he ran in 2006:
“Mr. Murphy, a lawyer, is impressive. He has spent eight years
in the Connecticut House and Senate. He pushed for the state to
adopt a system of campaign finance reform when he first entered
the House, long before this was considered an important issue.
He helped pass legislation that made it easier for the uninsured to
obtain health insurance. He wants to work on the same issue in
Congress. Mr. Murphy believes the war in Iraq has forced America
into a false choice between war and civil liberties and has made
us more vulnerable to terrorism. He advocates a timetable for
withdrawal. Ms. Johnson has supported the war and has voted to
continue the current open-ended commitment. We’ve supported
Ms. Johnson in the past, but are disenchanted with her support of
her leadership’s radical agenda. Mr. Murphy would be a strong
candidate in any race, and even against a seasoned incumbent,
is impressive. He would make a superb addition to Congress. We
strongly endorse his candidacy.”

Raised on this page: 1 4,600
Raised across ActBlue: 117 7,574

Tim Walz

MN-01 (Map)

Walz served 24 years in the National Guard before returning to a teaching high school geography. He decided to run for office when 2 of his students were removed from a Bush rally because one of them had a Kerry sticker on his wallet.
Since his election in 2006, Walz has voted with his party 96.6% of the time, though he voted for Iraq funding without benchmarks, a not unusual position for a veteran to take. In his first week, he sponsored the minimum wage increase, voted for stem cell research and for negotiation of pharmaceutical prices.
The DCCC has Walz high on their list of seats to protect and already 3 Republicans have stepped forward to challenge him. You can read more here:
http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2007/05/09/cq_2693.html

Raised on this page: 0 0
Raised across ActBlue: 359 10,969

Harry Mitchell

AZ-05 (Map)

Fairly conservative by my standards, but a moderate for Arizona, Mitchell was hand picked by DCCC chair Rahm Emanuel to run for the traditionally Republican seat. A former mayor of Tempe and a state senator, Mitchell has a lot of experience with public service, while his opponent was characterized by the Arizona Republic as a “bombastic” and “obnoxious” “bully.” It was an extremely tight race in which the Republican refused to concede.
Mitchell’s seat will likely be targeted again this cycle and early money will help him build momentum to keep it. Mitchell has voted with the Dems 93% of the time, and though he did support the last version of the Iraq funding bill without benchmarks he claims on his website that Congressional oversight in Iraq is critical. I’m hopeful he’ll back that up more strongly in the future.

Raised on this page: 0 0
Raised across ActBlue: 96 3,591