If we in Massachusetts want to affect the composition of the US House, we will have to do it in other states. I’ve blogged here about Paul Hodes’ race in NH-02 — the best overall source for information on this race I’ve found is this blog. There is canvassing from the Cheshire County Democrats going on this afternoon, and presumably also in the near future.
I now know of two groups that are organizing Massachusetts people to wok in nearby US House races. I canvassed with Swing The Vote in 2004 — they are an anti-GOP rather than pro-Democratic group targeting Cheshire County, NH (which contains Keene). I just learned today about Change Congress ’06, which is targetting four nearby races: NH-02 (Paul Hodes vs. Charlie “Catch and Release” Bass), CT-02 (Joe Courtney vs. Rob “Not Gene” Simmons), CT-05 (Chris Murphy vs. Nancy Johnson (R-Insurance Industry)), and NY-20 (Kirsten Gillebrand vs. John “Fratboy” Sweeney). I urge anybody in western MA to sign up to get on their mailing list, which will soon have canvassing opportunities.
You can also support these worthy campaigns through the BMG ActBlue page. So far there is $220 showing there, all mostly [there’s one to Phil Dunkelbarger –ed.] to out-of-state races (though you can give to MA candidates there as well). Let’s try to boost that! In particular, Hodes has an FEC reporting deadline coming up on Tuesday, and he is very close to getting $10K total from all ActBlue pages. Even $5 and $10 contributions from BMG can help put him over the top. (Gillebrand is not yet listed on the New England-centric BMG page, but you can give to her through ActBlue here [I just put Gillibrand on our page. Fine candidate, awful, awful opponent. — Charley]).
Phil Dunkelbarger. He’s running against DINO-Bush-supporting-Iraq-loving-PRO-LIFE Representative Steve Lynch.
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There’s lots people in Greater Boston could do to send a Republicanish candidate home in our very own state.
if we’re talking about control of the House (which is what the post is about), Lynch/Dunk doesn’t matter. You may dislike Lynch’s politics, but he still counts toward the # of Dems.
I was just pointing out that there are things people can do here – and that’s help elect Dunkelbarger.
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Sure, I want to win back the house, but right now we have priorities that are just as important – and that’s getting rid of ALL Iraq war supporters, whether we elect new officials or force people to change positions. Steven Lynch has not changed positions, he’s used some rhetoric differently, but he still supports us being there in Iraq – and for a long haul.
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If I weren’t a lowly college student and was earning a salary, I’d definately send the New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island Dems money – and I wouldn’t send them anything to sneaze at, either. But, that’s not the case. The only thing I have is my words – and it’s a lot more time consuming to write a blog (and do the research) than write a check. Therefore, I choose to focus on Deval and the Lynch/Dunkelbarger race because they’re important and the people who read my blog are interested in them to boot.
A little bit further to the south in CT has Diane Farrell taking on Republican Chris Shays (which I see on the ActBlue Page, but because of the distance, isn’t on the Change Congress page). That race could be very interesting,a s if I remember correctly, Ned Lamont did very well against Lieberman in the 4th.
… to our ActBlue list. Upstate NY definitely counts in the regional strategy, and she’s running against a real skunk. Besides, I grew up very close to that district — call me parochial.
My parents live in the 20th now — up in the Adirondacks. They’ve been getting all these slick mailings from Sweeney touting how independent he is.
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The guy is running from Bush and the rest of the Congressional GOP as fast as he can.
I came to Mass from Nevada, where I was born and raised. I always supported progressive Democrat candidates there, even though Nevada Democrats are somewhat to the right of Massachusetts Republicans. (See Harry Reid for example.)
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Anyway, I just posted this:
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on my blog.
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If anyone feels like helping out candidates in the Silver state, please visit that ActBlue page!
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Thanks!
How do you like Jack Carter’s chances?