You have nothing to lose but your change
Chris Bowers ("MyDD") has put together a list of Maryland and other Democrats in the House of Representatives who...

• have more than $200,000 on hand and face either...
• an opponent who's raised less than $10,000 or
• no opponent at all.

Maryland's include:

• Albert Wynn (MD-4): token challenger, $206,823 on hand -- 301-925-1818, 202-225-8699
  
• Steny Hoyer (MD-5): no challenger, $875,508 on hand -- 301-856-0240, 202-225-4131
  
• Elijah Cummings (MD-7): no challenger,$332,012 on hand -- 410-669-8400, 202-225-4741

With word that nearly 60(!!) House races nationwide are in play for Democrats at this point, and both the DCCC and the DNC taking out loans, it's worth calling these representatives (well, at least some of them) -- or the ones like them from your home state -- and urging them to make one more key investment in their party's chances before this opportunity passes.

Bowers suggests asking them to contribute 30% of their cash on hand to the DCCC or selected competitive challengers who could use the help. All of the Democrats on his list have probably already made contributions, but they're in safe races and could afford to do so again. If Democrats win out in the House, Hoyer in particular will gain new clout as the majority's whip.

Meanwhile, Howard Dean and the Democratic National Committee are running an innovative Grass Roots Donor Match 2006 program: pledge to match contributions up to the level of your choice. I've given a bunch this cycle, by my puny standards, but I'm going to pledge to this too, and hope you'll join in.


...or your voice, if you prefer
Finally, whether or not either of the above appeal to you, consider joining eRobin ("fact-esque"), PA Action, and "Women's Voices Women Vote" (WVWV) to urge single women in key Pennsylvania congressional districts to vote. It's nonpartisan -- no Democratic messages here, please. But many are arguing that single women are the key Democratic demographic this year, and helping get one or two or twenty more to the polls will magnify your own impact on this election.

All you need is an Internet connection and a way to make phone calls while you're online. PA Action has set something up with an outfit called popvox.com so that the phone calls are on them -- they call you using the phone number you give them, and then connect you to your first call. You stay on the line, talk with the person (there's a script to use), keep track of your progress and results over the Internet, and click on the next call to make. Pretty slick! See eRobin for more explanation, or just go here, register, and get started.


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UPDATE, 10/25: Some clarification about the WVWV/PA Action stuff: I'm told the list has women who are likely to be voting for Democrats judging by available data (age, cohabitation at the address, etcetera). I'm also assured male volunteers are a priori welcome to join in making these phone calls; I assume there's some form of quality control ("this phone call may be monitored" etc.) that weeds out or deters creepy phone callers. Although come to think of it, live phone banks I've worked on often don't do much in this respect, either -- not that it's been a problem as far as I know. posted by Thomas Nephew at 5:45:00 PM -- |    

 
Rage on, base
Former admiral Joe Sestak has been mounting a strong challenge to corrupt 10-term Republican Congressnut Curt "Able Danger" Weldon in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District. Sestak explicitly ignored advice to not advocate pulling troops out of Iraq -- the thinking being "it would only encourage the image of Democrats as weak on national security," according to a Sunday New York Times report by Kate Zernike. That thinking appears to be wrong -- a recent poll puts Sestak up 52-44, and Chris Bowers ("MyDD") is talking "local realignment."

Glenn Greenwald comments,

The single most erroneous and destructive premise among the Beltway political class -- which includes the Democratic consulting class along with their intellectual twins in the David-Broder-led punditry circles -- is that anger and passion are the enemies of successful political movements. [...]

Anger and passion are indispensable weapons for overcoming indifference and motivating political action. Particularly in a non-presidential election -- but, really, always -- people need a reason to care about the outcome.

Now compare David Ignatius' plaintive bleat in yesterday's Washington Post, "Which Way to Win?":

Are Democrats doing well in this campaign season because Americans want to find their way back to the civilized center? Or are they profiting from the Democratic base's rage at George W. Bush? That's the troubling question that lingers after reading Halperin and Harris's book: If the Democrats win next month, will they be the heirs of Clinton's vision of politics or of Rove's? Are we heading for unity or even sharper division?

Neat trick, David: people justifiably angry about years of lies and brass knuckle Bush/GOP politics would suddenly be the "heirs of Rove."

I think the best answer to Ignatius' first two questions may be "both." Like Greenwald says, anger and passion are essential to overcoming indifference. If Democrats win on November 7, they'll be replacing a GOP leadership so radical, undemocratic, and hyperpartisan that they can't help but nudge the country's politics back towards a true "civilized center" -- not just some red-shifting midpoint between one party steering hard right and another too helpless or unwilling to fight back.

As Ned Lamont put it to Stephen Colbert back in July,

I think George Bush is driving this country into a ditch, and if Joe Lieberman won't challenge him, I will.

posted by Thomas Nephew at 12:23:00 AM -- |    

 
Observer observed, Free State politicked
Yours truly is featured in the Takoma Park monthly Takoma Voice, in "Bloggers play a growing role in local elections" by Kate Prahlad. It's a well written and well put together article, do have a look. I'm characteristically modest and wise:

Although they might not affect national politics, local blogs do hold a certain sway over "micropolitics," says Thomas Nephew, a Takoma Park resident who runs Newsrack Blog. Nephew uses that term to describe the "neighbor-to-neighbor, person-to-person discussion" of politics that can both inform and change minds.

I was pleased to mention the "Politics Potluck" Labor Day neighborhood barbecue in that respect, which I think my blog had something to do with. I also think the Fair Share online forum was a good example of what one person can do with a blog in a local election. I think that there were other local blogs that played more of a political hangout and discussion spot role than mine did, notably MoCoPolitics, Outside the Beltway, and the Voice blogs by editor Eric Bond and contributor Gilbert.

I may have undersold the value of blogs to national politics a bit; I think Henry Farrell ("Crooked Timber") gets it right in an excellent article he has in the Boston Review:

Blogs have political potential not because they can organize and deliver votes in large numbers but because they have a comparative advantage in debating broad political messages and ideas and, where necessary, transforming them. If the netroots are to deliver on their potential to change the Democratic Party and reverse Republican hegemony, they need this kind of agenda. Creating and delivering these arguments successfully is crucial if progressive bloggers are going to succeed in really changing American politics for the better. Long-term political success doesn’t come from adapting your party to a political marketplace in which the other side has set the rules of competition. It comes from a concerted effort over time to remake those rules yourself. The netroots can play an important part in remaking these rules. They should go to it.

See in this respect also my own thoughts from earlier this year about the role the wider lefty "blogosphere" might have played in supporting outsider campaigns like Chuck Pennacchio's in Pennsylvania.

For my part, I've recently joined the "Free State Politics" Maryland blogging group, where I've posted a couple of "No on Question 4" articles, about election laws in Maryland that threaten to entrench failed leadership and questionable electronic voting systems. The first one is "No on Question 4: the Linda Lamone Lifetime Appointment Act," and the second one is "No on Question 4: the Election Technology Boondoggle Act." Onward, Rocinante! posted by Thomas Nephew at 12:30:00 PM -- |    

 
"Two years of Congressional hearings"
I'm a little late with this, but the New Republic's Ryan Lizza has reported that Karl Rove made Foley an offer he couldn't refuse -- given that Foley's other goal in life was to become a lobbyist:

"He said, 'The White House made it very clear I have to run,'"explains Foley's friend, adding that Foley told him that the White House promised that if Foley served for two more years it would 'enhance his success' as a lobbyist. "I said, 'I thought you wanted out of this?' And he said, 'I do, but they're scared of losing the House and the thought of two years of Congressional hearings, so I have two more years of duty.'"

Foley's friend said he referred to those pressuring him as "the White House and Rove gang."

"Two years of Congressional hearings." Bring it on!


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UPDATE, 10/17: Counterpunch wonders how exactly the White House engineered Foley's crucial CAFTA flip-flop in July 2005; he'd voted against it because of the Florida sugar lobby until then. posted by Thomas Nephew at 8:03:00 PM -- |    

 
Thank you, Senator Mikulski
I got an e-mail today from Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) which I thought I'd share on the day that President Bush signed the Military Commissions Act into United States law.

Dear Mr. Nephew:

Thank you for getting in touch with me to express your concerns about the treatment of detainees. It's good to hear from you.

I appreciate hearing your views on recent legislation to establish procedures for detainee interrogations. I'm for tribunals to bring terrorists to justice, but with tough and smart interrogation guidelines. I voted against the Military Commissions Act (S. 3930) because it did not rule out torture techniques that we don't want used on our troops. The bill undermined the Geneva Conventions, which is the only protection our troops have if they're captured. This bill also removed the basic right for a detainee in Guantánamo Bay to ask any court in the U.S. why he is detained and if the detention is lawful. I am disappointed that the Senate passed this bill by a vote of 65-34.

I have joined my colleagues and so many others around the world to condemn the treatment of prisoners held in Iraq and at Guantánamo Bay . What happened at Abu Ghraib prison is deplorable, despicable, and dishonorable. It does not reflect the values of the United States of America or the code of conduct for the United States military that so many of our brave men and women live by every day.

I also share your concern about protecting due process rights for detainees. This is obviously a matter of great concern to our nation. Like you, I believe that the U.S. needs to place a higher priority on protecting human rights. I also believe that everyone is entitled to due process of the law.

As you may know, I supported an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2006 Defense Appropriations bill (H.R. 2863) that would establish uniform standards for the interrogation of Department of Defense detainees by codifying the Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation. This amendment would prohibit cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of U.S. detainees. The Senate passed this amendment by a vote of 90-9.

Again, thanks for keeping in touch with me. Please let me know if I may be of assistance to you in the future.

Sincerely,
Barbara A. Mikulski
United States Senator

Not everyone went along with the Military Commissions Act and its assault on human rights and the law; there's a core of decent, intelligent patriots ready to help retake the reins of this country when these evil days are past. Because of their votes on this bill -- and many other votes over the years -- I count Senator Barbara Mikulski and outgoing Senator Paul Sarbanes among them, and they have my heartfelt thanks. posted by Thomas Nephew at 5:45:00 PM -- |    

 
Second North Korean nuclear test soon?
Via ArmsControlWonk.com, a Bloomberg report by Meeyoung Song suggests a second North Korean nuclear test is on the horizon:

South Korea has detected signs North Korea may be preparing to conduct a second nuclear explosion, after a report said U.S. satellites picked up activity at the site of the country's first test last week.

The South Korean government is aware of the indications of activity, a government official who declined to be identified said today by phone in Seoul when asked about the report from Washington by ABC News.

Yesterday, the U.S. Directorate of National Intelligence issued a brief statement saying that radioactive "debris" confirmed that the underground explosion on October 9 was indeed a nuclear test; the point had been disputed because the relatively small explosion might have been accomplished with conventional explosives. The New York Times' Thom Shanker and David Sanger report that indications are it was a plutonium weapon:

American intelligence agencies have concluded that North Korea's test explosion last week was powered by plutonium that North Korea harvested from its small nuclear reactor, according to officials who have reviewed the results of atmospheric sampling since the blast.

Together with what's known about North Korean reactor fuel supplies, the finding suggests that North Korea has no more than 6-10 weapons. The fact that they exploded a plutonium weapon and not a uranium one clarifies who exactly dropped the ball on North Korea. As ACW.com puts it, "Uranium would mean Clinton messed up, plutonium suggests the error was on Bush’s watch." Sanger and Shanker:

As president, Mr. Clinton negotiated a deal that froze the production and weaponization of North Korea’s plutonium, but intelligence agencies later determined that North Korea began its secret uranium program under his watch. The plutonium that North Korea exploded was produced, according to intelligence estimates, either during the administration of the first President Bush or after 2003, when the North Koreans threw out international inspectors and began reprocessing spent nuclear fuel the inspectors had kept under seal.

Unlike the Clinton administration in 1994, the current Bush administration chose not to threaten to destroy North Korea’s fuel and nuclear reprocessing facilities if they tried to make weapons.

So now what? Not much. As former Secretary of Defense William Perry wrote last Wednesday ("In Search of a North Korea Policy," emphases added),

The attractive alternatives are behind us. There should and will be a U.N. resolution condemning the test. The United Nations may respond to calls from the United States and Japan for strong sanctions to isolate North Korea and cut off trade with it. But North Korea is already the most isolated nation in the world, and its government uses this isolation to its advantage. Stronger sanctions on materials that might be of use to the nuclear program are reasonable, but the horse is already out of the barn. Economic sanctions to squeeze North Korea would increase the suffering of its people but would have little effect on the elite. In any event, they would be effective only if China and South Korea fully participated, and they have shown no inclination to do so.

Heckuva job, Bushie. posted by Thomas Nephew at 12:15:00 PM -- |    

 
attack attack attack
I went canvassing again for Ben Cardin and the rest of the Maryland Democratic ticket here in Montgomery County last weekend. No major campaign stories, really. The combined campaign is targeting sometime Democratic voters at this point; while they were emphasizing absentee ballot applications last time, this time it was mainly just outreach. Anecdotal evidence from my canvassing in Silver Spring near Georgia and 16th: those sometime Democratic voters will be there this time, and will be voting Cardin (D), O'Malley (D), and Van Hollen (D).

We had maps and walking lists (the names and addresses of our intended, um, targets). It felt a little disorganized, as this kind of thing almost always does, but my partner and I did OK, plotting out a fairly efficient route through most of the streets we were assigned. It wasn't till we were headed home that some of the other canvassers told me those little dots on the map represented the homes we were supposed to go to. D'oh! Knowing that would have helped, they looked like random flyspecks on the map I had. (The best canvassing outfit I've seen this year was Heather Mizeur's. Very tight, clear instructions, and good maps and lists, right down to color coded routes on the maps.)

Anyhow, I'm planning to go again: Saturday, 10AM, 7832 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda; easy walking distance from the Bethesda Metro station, and the J2 bus gets you there from the Silver Spring Metro station.

And I hope you'll volunteer, too, wherever you are. Why? Because we could just possibly win big if we get busy. Adam Nagourney (New York Times):

Senior Republican leaders have concluded that Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, a pivotal state in this year’s fierce midterm election battles, is likely to be heading for defeat and are moving to reduce financial support for his race and divert party money to other embattled Republican senators, party officials said.

Mocopolitics points to the Rasmussen Reports wrap-up -- which has Maryland only in the "leaning Democrat" column, with Cardin leading Steele 50%-43%. So tempted as I am to cross the river and put in some time for Webb somehow, somewhere, I'll probably be staying here and working for Cardin. Mocopolitics summarizes the overall outlook this way.

Contrary to the widespread belief (including on this very blog) that Democrats have very little likelihood of taking control, Rasmussen shows that such an outcome is not only very possible, but, I submit, probable, based on the current state of the polls. [...]

...Of the Democrats' 18 Senate seats, 15 are safely tucked away, according to Rasmussen, including former prime targets Bill Nelson of Florida, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, and Robert Byrd of West Virginia. [...]

Only three Democratic seats remain in either the "tossup" or "leans Democratic" column: Maryland and Washington (both leaners) and New Jersey (tossup).

I came to the Nagourney column via Steve Benen, who writes:

In other words, three weeks before Election Day, based on Republican concessions, Dems are already two-thirds of the way to their goal of going +6 for the cycle. Left with no other choice, the GOP strategy is spend like crazy in Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia, and then hope to win two of those three. It sounds kind of risky? It is.

Publius ("Legal Fiction") is looking at some of the same news and comments:

And so if you’re in Virginia, Tennessee, or Missouri, you’re at Ground Zero — and if you've had an itching to get involved in campaigns, no time like the present.

Luckily I can count on or call on friends and family to do their part in those states -- and in New Jersey, too, for that matter. So we can wrap this thing up between us, right?

Choose campaign:Akaka (HI) Bingaman (NM) Byrd (WV) Cantwell (WA) Cardin (MD)Clinton (NY) Conrad (ND) Feinstein (CA) Ford (TN) Kennedy (MA) Kohl (WI) Lamont (CT) McCaskill (MO) Sanders (VT)Tester (MT) Webb (VA) Whitehouse (RI) More information

I'm lucky to have pretty good candidates to work for in Cardin (Senate) and O'Malley (governor). But even if your Senate candidate may not be your precise cup of tea, that's what the primaries are about, not the general election. Run yourself next time; let me know, I'll kick in.

Meanwhile, think what you will of Ford or Brown or Menendez or McCaskill or whoever your Democratic Senate candidate is... except maybe Casey... urgh... But when they're stacked up against their adversaries, and with the brass ring of a Senate Democratic majority within reach, this is the very, very good work you really ought to be doing.

Despite being outfundraised, out of office, and as scattershot as ever, this unwieldy donkey of a Democratic party might just pull off the worst-to-first turnaround to beat them all. There's something brewing; I hope you'll be a part of it.


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EDIT, 10/17: Senate volunteer form added. posted by Thomas Nephew at 12:24:00 AM -- |