Matthew --
Today, the people of Wisconsin voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new kind of politics.
They rejected an onslaught of negative attacks and attempts to distract them from the common concerns we all have about the direction of our country.
No doubt we'll hear much more of these attacks and distractions in the days to come.
But the noise of these tired, old political games will not drown out the voices of millions calling for change.
You can help bring a new voice to our political process. By giving through our matching program, you will double the impact of someone giving for the first time this year.
We're nearing our goal of 500,000 people giving so far in 2008. You've already donated to this campaign -- but now you can help push us over the top and bring in someone new.
Make a matching donation right now:
https://donate.barackobama.com/promise
We won't know until late tonight the results of today's Hawaii caucus, but we'll let you know how that turns out tomorrow.
If we win in Hawaii, it will be ten straight victories -- a streak no one thought possible, and the best position we can be in when Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, and Vermont vote on March 4th.
Thank you for making this possible,
Matthew -- The so-called "American Leadership Project" will take unlimited contributions from individuals and is organized the same way as the infamous Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. ABC News reports that this group is seeking 100 Clinton supporters to each give $100,000 to fund its $10 million effort to promote Senator Clinton and "contrast" her positions with Barack Obama's. That's the opposite of how politics should work, and the opposite of how Barack Obama has run this campaign. The same day this group's activity was revealed, we announced that nearly 1 million individual people have donated to this campaign. Stand up against politics-as-usual. Help reach the goal of 1 million donors calling out for change by encouraging a first-time donor to own a piece of this campaign. If you give as part of our matching program, you will double the gift of a new donor. You can even choose to exchange a note with them about why you are part of this movement. Make your matching donation now: https://donate.barackobama.com/promise Groups like this are forbidden from working primarily for the purpose of electing or defeating a candidate. Yet here we have a committee that springs up on the eve of an election, promotes a specific candidate, and has no history or apparent purpose of lobbying specific issues outside the benefit to the candidate of these communications. This raises a number of legal and ethical issues, but more than anything it reveals an attitude towards politics as a game that is played to win at all costs. Americans are ready for change. We are tired of Swift Boat-style groups and smear campaigns. Help reach the unprecedented goal of a million voices calling for a new kind of politics and a new kind of leadership. Make a matching donation now: https://donate.barackobama.com/promise I'll keep you updated as the situation with this group evolves. Thank you for your support, David David Plouffe Dear Matt, 
Campaign Manager
Obama for America
From the beginning of Campaign 2008, liberal media pundits have fawned over the Democrat presidential candidates while ignoring their lack of substance on the issues. You can be certain that as the campaign heats up they will continue to mislead voters with their anti-Republican agenda.
Matt, Republicans must fight back against the mainstream media's clear liberal bias -- and we need your help to do it.
Please make an urgent secure online contribution of $1,000, $500, $100, $50, or $25 to help the RNC get our responsible message of lower taxes, a strong national defense, and limited government past the liberal media filter and directly to the voters.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Best Wishes,
Robert M. "Mike" Duncan
Chairman, Republican National Committee
Dear matthew,
You know why I am always calling my friends at the DSCC before I go on the air? Because if you don't have all the facts, you look awfully foolish.
The DSCC seems to know all the outrageous things Republicans do in every Senate race out there. After a ten-minute phone call, I end up madder than ever.
But you know what they say: Don't get mad, get even. And the best way to get even is with the facts and the truth on your side. So now, the DSCC is going to send regular updates with the absolute latest news about every Senate race.
It's called "The Rant" which I think is perfect because there is plenty in here that gets me fired up. I had to send it on to you, because I know you'll just love it.
Sincerely,
James Carville
That's how long we have until American troops can leave Iraq according to John McCain's recent comment that we could stay at war for "maybe 100 years." McCain also said such a ludicrously long timetable "would be fine with me."
The thing is, John McCain isn't the only Republican senator who doesn't have a clue on Iraq. At least four of the DSCC's top targets have a long and sordid history of blindly supporting the Bush-McCain status quo.
You can see just how lockstep they all are in the latest DSCC web video. We match the records of four top Republican targets with John McCain and George Bush point for point and quote for quote.
Click here to see how the most vulnerable Republican senators have always supported the failed Bush-McCain status quo in Iraq. Watch the latest DSCC web video.
John McCain and the rest of the Senate Republicans may be fine with continuing Bush's failed policies for the next 100 years, but most Americans couldn't disagree more. They want real change, not Senators who echo the Bush status quo in their quotes and their votes.
Colorado: The Reverse Romney
Remember when Mitt Romney realized that he wasn't nearly Neanderthal enough to win the Republican presidential nomination, so he started flip-flopping on basically everything? One minute, he was for stem cell research. During the campaign, he was adamantly against it. You think he's pro-choice, but - poof! - now he's always been anti.
It's déjà-vu all over again in Colorado. In the 2004 Republican Senate primary, Bob Schaffer was the ultra-conservative candidate, attacking his opponents over abortion, pornography, and gay marriage. Turns out that after four more years of the Bush disaster, the same playbook doesn't work.
This time around, it's kinder, gentler mainstream Republicanism all the way: tax cuts, "smaller government," and staying the course in Iraq. (This is what passes as moderate in the modern Republican Party!?)
It's gotten so bad that ColoradoPols.com christened Schaffer's machinations the "Reverse Romney." The only thing we don't like about that nickname is that we didn't think of it ourselves.
It would be nice if it all meant that we could just wait a few months before Schaffer slicks back his hair, blows a pile of money, and drops out of the race, but the truth is that this is going to be a tight race right up to Election Day.
Democratic Congressman Mark Udall is virtually tied in the latest polls, and the DSCC will work as hard as we can to make sure he comes out on top.
New Mexico: CQ Makes an Upgrade
The latest fundraising reports from New Mexico show that Democratic Congressman Tom Udall (Mark's cousin) raised more money than both of the leading Republican candidates combined - even though his opponents each hosted ritzy fundraisers with America's worst hunter, Dick Cheney! This is a crucial measure of success in what is sure to be an expensive race.
Even the venerable DC-insider publication CQ Politics recognizes the shifting ground and has upgraded its rating of this race from "No Clear Favorite" to "Leans Democratic."
It's all very good news, but we can't get too cocky. We don't have to tell you how good the Karl Rove Republicans are at swift-boating front-running Democrats. We've seen it way too often and we can't let it happen here.
Sununu to New Hampshire: Stop Whining
"Stop complaining about health care," Republican Senator John Sununu told a gathering of Concord business leaders. It would be sort of sad if it weren't just so bizarre.
Americans spend more than $2 trillion on health care. That's $6,700 per person and more than 15% of the total GDP. And the numbers keep going up. The total cost is expected to reach $4 trillion in the next decade.
The skyrocketing cost of health care is obviously a huge issue in this campaign. It affects public health, working families, small businesses, big businesses, and the very fabric of our economic competiveness.
"Stop complaining about health care" is all the Granite State hears from its duly elected representative in Washington.
Is it any wonder that former Democratic Governor Jeanne Shaheen is up by a whopping 17 points in the latest Senate race polling from New Hampshire?
Now that the state Democratic Party has united around Shaheen, we can get to work on maintaining that lead right through Election Day.
The best part is that once Shaheen is elected, they won't have to complain about health care anymore because the strong Democratic Senate will be doing something about it.
The Latest News
Finally, just a reminder that in addition to The Rant, you can always get the absolute latest news from Senate races around the country at the official DSCC blog, From the Roots:
http://www.fromtheroots.org
Dear Matthew,
Wow. In 2 days, MoveOn members across the nation signed up to host over 900 "Yes We Can" parties to get out the vote for Barack Obama in Texas! And yesterday, Bill Clinton said that if Obama wins Texas on March 4, he'll win the nomination.1
So on Sunday, March 2, we're holding the biggest phone bank in presidential primary history. Folks everywhere will come to Obama parties armed with cell phones—ready to call thousands of Texas MoveOn members whose votes could put Obama over the top on March 4.
Can you help us reach 1,000 Obama parties by hosting one in your living room on Sunday, March 2, at 4 p.m.? To host a party, click here: There will be a lot of interest in making calls—people will just need a place to go. If ever there were a Sunday afternoon to help Obama, this is it. You don't have to know anything about Texas voting to host, and you don't need tons of phone lines. We'll get you all the information you need and folks will bring their own phones. We'll also help you build your crowd.
At these parties, we'll make sure folks know about the unusual primary-plus-caucus system in Texas, which allows voters to double their impact. If we can get our 125,000 MoveOn members in Texas to flood primary and caucus locations, Obama will win. But it's up to us to make sure everyone knows how the system works.
By opening up your living room for a couple hours, you can help put Obama over the top. Please sign up to host a "Yes We Can" Obama party here:Thanks for all you do.
–Adam G., Anna, Eli, Laura, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
Sources:
1. "Clinton says wife must win Texas and Ohio," United Press International, February 21, 2008http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3447&id=12204-4820096-5E_lAE&t=824
Support our member-driven organization: MoveOn.org Political Action is entirely funded by our 3.2 million members. We have no corporate contributors, no foundation grants, no money from unions. Our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. If you'd like to support our work, you can give now at:
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Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
matt --
If you had a TV on yesterday, you saw who jumped to his defense -- the team of lobbyists who work for him, led by campaign manager and lobbyist Rick Davis, and the well-oiled right-wing noise machine, led by Rush Limbaugh. In an ironic message to McCain supporters yesterday, lobbyist Davis wrote...
[John McCain] has led the charge to limit the money and influence of the special interests in politics and stomp out corruption.They spent the day breathlessly assailing the New York Times as "liberal," ignoring the ethics lapses the team of reporters had uncovered. The fact is, John McCain is facing legitimate questions about lobbyists, favors, and campaign contributions, just as he did during the Keating Five scandal that nearly derailed his political career twenty years ago.
Seeing more dollar signs, the McCain campaign and the RNC decided to jump at the chance to take advantage of the distraction they had created to raise money. They had spent the day firing their supporters up, trying desperately to change the subject, and then they literally cashed in on it. It was textbook sleaze.
So, let's hit back.
Don't let John McCain's team of lobbyists, Rush Limbaugh and the right-wing noise machine, the RNC and their special-interest backers take advantage of John McCain's most recent ethics scandal -- it's disgusting, and we can't let them get ahead like this. They're screaming as loud as they can, and you can send a message right back:
http://www.democrats.org/McCainEthics
You and I know the truth. We know that John McCain is no maverick; he's no reformer. He promises the same ethics that have defined Washington and the Republican Party for far too long.
Just read what the Washington Post had to say today about John McCain's campaign operatives...
For years, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has railed against lobbyists and the influence of "special interests" in Washington, touting on his campaign Web site his fight against "the 'revolving door' by which lawmakers and other influential officials leave their posts and become lobbyists for the special interests they have aided."
But when McCain huddled with his closest advisers at his rustic Arizona cabin last weekend to map out his presidential campaign, virtually every one was part of the Washington lobbying culture he has long decried.
The facts are clear: from Keating Five to today, throughout his 25 years in Washington John McCain has consistently taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from his special interest friends, flown on their corporate jets, and then turned around and tried to do favors for them. And he's surrounded himself with just the type of people he claims to fight against -- including Rick Davis, Charlie Black, and senior advisers Steve Schmidt and Mark McKinnon.
McCain and the right-wing noise machine will do anything and say anything to win. Turning an ethics scandal into a fundraising opportunity is just the start, and exactly what you'd expect a team full of lobbyists to come up with.
Now we have to make sure that every voter in America knows it. We need your help to make sure we can take them on -- we can't afford four more years of lobbyists, corporate interests, and George Bush's Washington.
Send a message about how Washington should work. Match the McCain campaign and the RNC right now:
http://www.democrats.org/McCainEthics
Thanks for hitting back,
Howard Dean
P.S. -- John McCain may try to claim that the past careers of his advisers are irrelevant, but look at this passage from today's Washington Post article about Charlie Black, McCain adviser and chairman of lobbying firm BKSH and Associates...
But even as Black provide a private voice and a public face for McCain, he also leads his lobbying firm, which offers corporate interests and foreign governments the promise of access to the most powerful lawmakers. Some of those companies have interests before the Senate and, in particular, McCain's Commerce Committee.John McCain literally has a lobbyist for "corporate interests and foreign governments" working from the "Straight Talk Express."
Black said he does a lot of his work by telephone from McCain's Straight Talk Express bus.
Where will they work from if he wins the White House?
Make a contribution right now to stop this kind of politics:
http://www.democrats.org/McCainEthics
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