Tuesday night Wisconsin's extreme right Governor, hard core ideologue Scott Walker, suffered a major rebuke when one of his most craven minions, Jeff Stone, was soundly defeated in the race for his old job, Milwaukee County Executive, by a little-known Democrat, Chris Abele. It was a stunning 60-40% loss for the Republicans. Meanwhile, after a running at 25% in the February nonpartisan open primary for a Supreme Court seat, Democrat JoAnn Kloppenburg has fought rabid right sociopath David Prosser, another Walkerite, to a dead 50/50 tie. (He had scored 55% in February and was considered completely safe.) And all this even before Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan announced his plan to end Medicare and John Boehner signaled he didn't have the strength to hold back the teabagger mob inside his own cause that so badly wants a government shutdown!

Sometimes it seems that warm, sunny, prosperous, blue California is in a world apart from this insanity. But not to those who watch Sacramento politics closely. True enough, California has a Democratic governor, state Senate and state Assembly. But that's hardly the end of the story. All of the Republicans and nearly all of the Democrats are in the pockets of the big money lobbyists, who practically run the state legislature. You can count the number of dyed-in-the-wool progressives in the legislature on the fingers of one hand. Last month Digby, John and I spent some time with one of the most outstanding and courageous of them, Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, who has had a spectacular career in the Assembly and is campaigning for the state Senate seat opening up in his East L.A. area-- Bellflower, Artesia, Paramount, South Gate, Long Beach, Lynwood, Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens. Today Tony will be joining us in the comments section below for a live chat at 2pm (PT).

Tony, the son of immigrant parents, farm workers, is a former school teacher and the first in his family to go to college. Public education is close to his heart and he has been one of California's most outspoken champions for teachers and students. "I have benefited," he told us, "from a system that is free, open and non-discriminatory. The greatest strength of the U.S. educational system is universal access to public education. This belief is what keeps our country competitive. It is what fuels the American dream. More than 90 percent of students in the United States attend public schools. And if they try hard, almost all of them have the opportunity to go to college-- the opportunity to make whatever they wish of their lives. I fight for public education not only because I am a former public school teacher of 10 years, but because I am one of those kids you read about who has defied the odds and graduated from college. I know I couldn’t have done it without a strong public education system and I am committed to preserving, protecting and strengthening it for the benefit of future generations.”

When Tony got to the Assembly, instead of resigning himself to settling into the widely accepted go-along-to-get-along mode, he moved right into action, never fearing controversy. His very first bill, A.B. 97 in 2007 was all about ending the use of trans-fats in California restaurants. With the special interests-- particularly the California Restaurant Association and the Chamber of Commerce-- lined up solidly against him, it literally looked impossible. It took two years and he didn't get a single Republican vote, but he managed to get it passed and signed into law. "We're the first state to require restaurants to cook without artery-clogging trans-fats, which have been linked to heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Banning their use helped to reduce the number of cases of cardiovascular disease-- the No. 1 killer in the nation-- by an estimated 6 to 19 percent, reducing health care costs and most importantly, saving lives.”

That's why Tony is in government service-- to make a real difference in people's lives. It's why Digby, John and I have decided to try to help keep him in government service and why we're recommending him today. Right now we're working with him on a bill he's shepherding through the legislative process again, A.B. 22, a model for what progressives in Washington would like to do. Tony's bill would prevent employers from using credit reports to discriminate against workers. It's already passed both houses twice... and was vetoed twice by Schwarzenegger. “A credit report," Tony told us, "is not a good indicator of a person’s trustworthiness or work ethic. Many Californians are still experiencing financial hardships from the economic downturn including layoffs, high unemployment rates, and the ongoing foreclosure crisis. All of these things make it harder for people to pay their bills. Consider the condition of the economy and the negative effect these circumstances can have on a person’s credit-- a credit report is an unfair lens through which to view job applicants. Using credit checks in the hiring process decreases employment opportunities. Many people have blemishes on their credit reports, especially at this time in our economy. Preventing someone from becoming employed due to a poor credit history is shameful. This bill will simply remove an unnecessary barrier to employment for those seeking jobs.”

It's essential to keep the few men and women with Tony's perspective and instincts in government and not just leave it to the special interests and their shills, whether in Washington or in Sacramento. If you can, please join us in contributing to Tony's senate election campaign.

Last night Wisconsin's extreme right Governor, ideologue Scott Walker, suffered a major rebuke when his acolyte, Jeff Stone, was soundly defeated in the race for his old job, Milwaukee County Executive, by a little-known Democrat, Chris Abele. It was a stunning 60-40% loss for the Republicans.

People think that California is a far more solidly Blue state where there's much less to worry about. True enough, California has a Democratic governor, state Senate and state Assembly. But that's hardly the end of the story. All of the Republicans and nearly all of the Democrats are in the pockets of the big money lobbyists, who practically run Sacramento. You can count the number of dyed-in-the-wool progressives in the legislature on the fingers of one hand. Last month Digby, John and I spent some time with one of the most outstanding and courageous of them, Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, who has had a spectacular career in the Assembly and is campaigning for the state Senate seat opening up in his East L.A. area.

Blue America is proud to endorse him and proud to ask you to consider making a contribution to his Senate campaign.

Tony, the son of immigrant parents, farm workers, is a former school teacher and the first in his family to go to college. Public education is close to his heart and he has been one of California's most outspoken champions for teachers and students. "I have benefited," he told us, "from a system that is free, open and non-discriminatory. The greatest strength of the U.S. educational system is universal access to public education. This belief is what keeps our country competitive. It is what fuels the American dream. More than 90 percent of students in the United States attend public schools. And if they try hard, almost all of them have the opportunity to go to college-- the opportunity to make whatever they wish of their lives. I fight for public education not only because I am a former public school teacher of 10 years, but because I am one of those kids you read about who has defied the odds and graduated from college. I know I couldn’t have done it without a strong public education system and I am committed to preserving, protecting and strengthening it for the benefit of future generations.”

When Tony got to the Assembly, instead of resigning himself to a go-along-to-get-along mode, he moved right into action, never fearing controversy. His very first bill, A.B. 97 in 2007 was all about ending the use of trans fats in California restaurants. With the special interests-- particularly the California Restaurant Association and the Chamber of Commerce-- lined up solidly against him, it literally looked impossible. It took two years and he didn't get a single Republican vote, but he managed to get it passed and signed into law. "We're the first state to require restaurants to cook without artery-clogging trans-fats, which have been linked to heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Banning their use helped to reduce the number of cases of cardiovascular disease-- the No. 1 killer in the nation-- by an estimated 6 to 19 percent, reducing health care costs and most importantly, saving lives.”

That's why Tony is in government service-- to make a real difference in people's lives. It's why Digby, John and I have decided to try to help keep him in government service and why we're recommending him today. Right now we're working with him on a bill he's shepherding through the legislative process again, A.B. 22, a model for what progressives in Washington would like to do. Tony's bill would prevent employers from using credit reports to discriminate against workers. It's already passed both houses twice and was vetoed twice by Schwarzenegger. “A credit report," Tony told us, "is not a good indicator of a person’s trustworthiness or work ethic. Many Californians are still experiencing financial hardships from the economic downturn including layoffs, high unemployment rates, and the ongoing foreclosure crisis. All of these things make it harder for people to pay their bills. Consider the condition of the economy and the negative effect these circumstances can have on a person’s credit-- a credit report is an unfair lens through which to view job applicants. Using credit checks in the hiring process decreases employment opportunities. Many people have blemishes on their credit reports, especially at this time in our economy. Preventing someone from becoming employed due to a poor credit history is shameful. This bill will simply remove an unnecessary barrier to employment for those seeking jobs.”

It's likely the L.A. Democratic Machine will run a candidate more easy for them to deal with against Tony. Blue America is proud to endorse him and proud to ask you to consider making a contribution to his Senate campaign. Tony will be joining us for a live chat at Crooks and Liars 2pm (PT) on Thursday and we hope you can come by and meet him. He's an extraordinary guy-- and a leader for the future.

Thanks for doing what you can,
digby, John, Howie and the Blue America team

Are You Ready for April 5th?

OK, you may be asking what's so special about April 5th? It's true that Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe on that day. And FDR signed executive order 6102, which is blowing Glenn Beck's mind even now because it forbids the hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens. But that's not why it's important to our Blue America community. Can you guess yet?

April 5th is the day that Wisconsin will hold its Supreme Court election and in light of the unprecedented actions of Tea Party Governor Scott Walker, a very important choice will be made that day.

Conservative Justice David Prosser is up for re-election against Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, and he's made no bones about the fact that he is a Conservative.

At this moment, the court is divided 4-3 in favor of conservatives and it's Wisconsin's first chance to show their support for all public union workers who have been fighting for their right to collectively bargain -- and possibly give the court a majority to overturn the law.

The Koch Brothers and their puppet Governor can fill their pockets with more of your hard earned money. Aren't you tired of being treated like an ATM machine for corporations?

Maybe you're thinking, "why should I care? I don't live in Wisconsin?" It's a fair question. The problem is that Walker's extremism is spreading like Ebola and it threatens the rights of every working family in the United States.

Ohio Tea Party convert Governor John Kasich has already signed into law Senate Bill 5, which dramatically reduces the power of unionized state workers, including firefighters and teachers. And that's just for starters.

Still not convinced?

Gov. Paul LePage (R) of Maine, who recently pulled down a mural depicting working-class people because hard-working people must terrify him and his Republican legislators, who are trying change child labor laws so they can make it legal to increase the amount of hours a child can work and decrease their hourly wage to 5.25 an hour for the first 180 hours.

Are you almost there?

Florida Tea Party Governor Rick Scott just signed an executive order requiring new state workers to submit to mandatory drug testing which could cost the state millions of dollars. Oh, isn't every state in financial trouble right about now hence all these radical steps to cut costs all over the country?

What's next, maybe drug testing 5-year-olds if they cry too much in school? And guess what? There happens to be a company in Florida named Solantic and one of the most popular services they provide is drug testing. Oh, and guess who co-founded it. Yep, Rick Scott. (Sure, he had to divest his interests in it to be Governor. But wouldn't you know it -- the controlling shares are now are now entrusted to his wife.) No conflict of interest there, right?

I could go on and on. but I know you're in now.

So please, GOTV for Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg; defeat Conservative Justice David Prosser and be at the forefront of leading American back on the track to normalcy before we're all forced to wear "I Love The Koch Brothers" T-shirts.

And if you can spare to throw a few bucks to Blue America PAC to help us organize against these draconian measures, we'd appreciate it.

When a mutual friend at DFA called me to tell me about a candidate for state Senate in New Jersey running in a Paterson-based district not far from where I once lived, I came away very impressed with his credentials and with the significance of the race beyond just the borders of his north New Jersey district. But I decided to check him out further by calling an old friend of Blue America's 2010-- and hopefully 2012-- congressional candidate Ed Potosnak. I asked Ed if he'd ever met Jeff Gardner. His enthusiasm was positively explosive and I asked him to write a few lines for us today:

"I am extremely pleased Jeff Gardner is running for NJ State Senate. Jeff is a progressive Democrat, which is sorely needed in our state Legislature, and a strong voice in support of equality and opportunity for all, not just a select few. His opponent, a 30+ year Trenton incumbent, has lost touch with the needs of his constituents, and has failed to deliver for his district. In addition to being a strong advocate for all residents, Jeff is down to earth, able, approachable, and will fight to create jobs and to realign our State's out of control spending to attract and retain business and stimulate innovation. As a fellow New Jerseyan who cares deeply about our America's economic recovery, reestablishing trust in government, and ensuring equality, I hope you will join me, and Blue America, in supporting Jeff. When elected he will change how NJ works."

As we explained at DownWithTyranny a couple of days ago, it takes a really exceptional candidate for Blue America to go beyond our mission of electing progressives to the U.S. House. Jeff is just such a worthy exception. And his opponent, John Girgenti, New Jersey Majority Whip, is drowning in a sewer scandal and made a name for himself by loudly and spitefully crossing the aisle in Trenton to vote with the GOP against marriage equality.

Please join Jeff in the comments section below and if you like what you hear and can handle it, please consider making a $5 or $10 contribution to his grassroots campaign through our Blue America ActBlue page.

Jeff is eager to rid the Democratic Party of a bigoted and corrupt fossil like Girgenti and then to move forward and deal with an even worse problem: Chris Christie. “We need leaders in Trenton," he told me, "who are looking out for our families, not the politically-connected and the powerful. We can’t balance our budgets on the backs of working families. Our cities and our middle-class have sacrificed enough. I promise to protect vital government services and make sure multi-millionaires and faceless corporations pay their fair share.”

And in case you're discouraged that the power of well-funded corrupt political hacks like Girgenti is too much to overcome, keep in mind that Jeff already beat him once! "He used to be the Democratic municipal chairman in my hometown of Hawthorne. After years of increasingly bad results for Democrats at the local level, I mounted a challenge and won. Against an entrenched incumbent whose support is built on little more than patronage and graft, it seems that hard work and the promise of real representation is quite effective."

Last year, while many Democrats were failing to draw enough of their former supporters to the polls -- two incumbents, Blue Dogs Betsy Markey and John Salazar, were defeated in districts adjacent to Jared's -- Democrats and independents in CO-2 were anything but disappointed in their freshman Representative. Jared had run on a strongly pro-jobs, pro-family, pro-equality candidate and few freshmen worked as tirelessly as he did to deliver. He was rewarded with a hefty 57% of the vote (148,720 to be exact, over 15,000 more votes than the Democratic performance in the previous midterm).

His latest legislative initiative is H.R. 998, the Student Non-Discrimination Act, a widely supported, bipartisan bill that will add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Title 9 protections afforded students who are victims of bullying. From Jared's website:

Every day, students who are, or are perceived to be, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) are subjected to pervasive discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, which is harmful to both students and our education system. While civil rights protections expressly address discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability or national origin, they do not explicitly include sexual orientation or gender identity and, as a result, LGBT students and parents have often had limited legal recourse for this kind of discrimination.

To address this lack of protection and ensure that all students have access to public education in a safe environment free from discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, the Student Non-Discrimination Act establishes a comprehensive Federal prohibition of discrimination in public schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity and provides victims with meaningful and effective remedies, modeled after Title IX.

When I talked with Jared on the phone yesterday, he reminded me to ask everyone to sign up to get action updates from the Fearless Campaign which will help them develop an effective activist base across the country. Please join us in the comments section below for a free ranging chat with Congressman Polis.

If you're not from Chicagoland you probably haven't heard of John Atkinson (yet). If you do live around the Windy City there's a chance you remember the full page ad (above) from last year, which ran in the Tribune, the Sun-Times and the Southtown Economist. The ads were put together and paid for by John and his wife Bonnie; I'm figuring they cost between $25 and $30,000. But they didn't work, Lipinski still bragging to this day-- and using Republican talking points in the process-- that he not only voted for the anti-Choice Stupak Amendment but that he was one of only 33 Democrats to cross the aisle and vote with Boehner against healthcare reform a year ago this month. Lipinski's ignoring the ads was part of the impetus that has made John throw his hat into the ring in seeking the Democratic nomination for the seat currently held by Lipinski, one of the most corrupt and reactionary Democrats in Congress.

This weekend, John officially registered with ActBlue and he's looking like a progressive and principled candidate for sending a Democratic Establishment that countenances corporate shills and bigots like Lipinksi a good strong message. You can contribute to his campaign at the Blue America Democratic message page.

President Obama won Illinois' 3rd CD with 64% of the vote, about 5 points better than either Gore or Kerry did. It's a solid Democratic district and there is no reason the party needs to keep nominating a Republican-lite shill like Lipinski, whose politics are more in tune with his home in Tennessee than with Cook County. The 3rd has one of the highest concentrations of Muslim-Americans of any district in the country and yet Lipinski, who never shuts up about super-serving Polish-Americans and other ethnic groups represented in the district, has been silent about the plight of Muslim-Americans unfairly targeted by Republican bigot Peter King in his McCarthy-like Homeland Security hearings. The day after King began his anti-Muslim hysteria, I asked John Atkinson if he would be handling this situation differently than Lipinski. He graciously agreed to write a guest post for us:

Representative Peter King (R-NY)-- in the latest example of his Party's relentless pursuit of a narrow ideological agenda-- has found yet another way to distract this new Congress from focusing on the issues that really matter to American families and businesses. Instead of working together to create jobs, pass a responsible budget, address growing concerns about our dependence on nonrenewable resources and foreign oil, the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives is spending their time investigating what they're calling "The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community's Response."

Unfortunately, these hearings aren't just a waste of taxpayer dollars, the King hearings are an affront to our hard-working, patriotic Muslim American neighbors; and an embarrassment to anyone who believes in the American principles of fairness and religious freedom. We have Muslim Americans dying in defense of our country, teaching our children, healing our sick, serving in Congress, and living next door. They are our friends and our fellow citizens. And, according to law enforcement officials, they are on the front lines of homeland security, working hard to identify and stop those who are or may be engaged in terrorist activities.

It is outrageous enough that Peter King and his Republican colleagues are leading the charge against our Muslim American neighbors. Something is deeply wrong in this country when we begin drawing lines to separate us from each other. We deserve leaders who will bring us together-- black and white, gay and straight, people of all religions and no religion at all, people of every language and every ethnicity-- to help us work together to meet the challenges that confront us all.

There is no question that extremism is a threat to our security-– but extremism is not limited to any single group. On the day before Peter King opened these hearings, law enforcement officials arrested a neo-Nazi in a plot to murder 1500 Martin Luther King Jr. Day marchers in Spokane, Washington. And on the day the hearings opened, police arrested five people, including the head of the Alaska Peacemakers Militia, an anti-government "Patriots" group, in a plot to murder judges and state troopers. (Source: Southern Poverty Law Center, http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/03/11/the-screaming-hypocrisy-of-peter-king/#more-6017)

Mr. King, why aren't we investigating "The Extent of Radicalization in the "you name the group" Community and that Community's Response"? Because, Mr. King, in America it is not OK to indict a whole community of people because of the illegal actions of a few.

There have been times in our history when we look back and we know that our leaders, who claimed at the time to be acting in the interest of national security, got it horribly wrong. This is one of those times.

Blue America is getting to know John but my guess is that he's a very good prospect for an early endorsement. Like I said, right now you can help launch his primary campaign at our Sending the Democrats A Message page.

Our radio ads in NJ-7 and FL-24, exposing the gross hypocrisy of Leonard Lance and Sandy Adams-- each of whom tried to deceive their constituents by claiming to not be taking government-subsidized healthcare while getting it from their respective state's programs-- have stopped running... at least for now. We have some more plans for these two liars.

As Jim Rosen pointed out for the McClatchy newspapers a few days ago, Norman Ornstein, an analyst with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, notes a significant gap between the talk and the walk of lawmakers who oppose "the federal takeover of health care" while accepting taxpayer funded medical benefits for themselves and their families. Ornstein points out that "The amount of hypocrisy here is obviously very high for people who talk about how we all have to make sacrifices, but don't make any sacrifices themselves. They talk about how the health care system is out of control, but then they take these very generous benefits they get as members of Congress."

One or two of the Republicans-- but literally only one or two-- actually sound almost like progressive Democrats when they refuse the healthcare package. Florida freshman Richard Nugent, in turning down the federal medical benefits to which he was entitled, seemed to indict the vast majority of the other GOP freshmen as hypocrites. "When you have Americans that are struggling, why should I get a cost savings because I've just got elected to the United States House of Representatives?" Sounds great, right? Except... does the former sheriff get taxpayer-funded healthcare through his old job, the way Lance does?

Seventeen new Republican lawmakers, almost one-fifth of the large House GOP freshman class, have rejected federal medical coverage for themselves and their families to highlight their opposition to President Barack Obama's showcase health insurance law.

South Carolina's four rookie congressmen aren't following their lead.

Reps. Tim Scott, Mick Mulvaney, Trey Gowdy and Jeff Duncan all voted last month to repeal what they and their Republican colleagues scathingly call "ObamaCare," the landmark bill the president signed into law last March to provide federally mandated coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans.

Yet the state's four freshman representatives aren't repealing their own new memberships in the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program, a heavily taxpayer-subsidized plan with broad choices, generous provisions and low premiums thanks to discounted rates for its 8 million policyholders nationwide [72% of whose costs are paid by taxpayers].

...Rep. Trey Gowdy, a Spartanburg Republican who defeated incumbent Rep. Bob Inglis last year in the Upstate's GOP primary, said he now has the same health coverage he had from 1994 to 2000 when he was a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Greenville.

"The way our health insurance is set up in this country is-- you receive health insurance from your employer," Gowdy said.

Gowdy said he chose to go on the federal health plan instead of using state government coverage provided to his wife and their two children through her job as a Spartanburg public schools teacher's aide.

"It may have scored political points for me to tell everyone I turned down my federal health insurance, but it seems disingenuous and would have added to the South Carolina rolls someone who has employment elsewhere," he said.

However solid it may be, that kind of reasoning could extract a political price.

Only one-third of Americans believe that new House members who campaigned against Obama's health insurance law should accept their federal medical coverage, according to a survey in November by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-affiliated firm in Raleigh, N.C.

Fifty-two percent of Americans think the GOP freshmen lawmakers should reject the federal benefits, while 15 percent have no opinion.

Republican and independent voters had even stronger feelings, with 58 percent of them saying their party's new House members should turn down the medical coverage.

We're trying to raise the funds to put our ad on more New Jersey radio stations. If you haven't heard it or would like to donate to that effort, you can do both here. And if you'd like to read a guest post from Ed Potosnak, the progressive Democrat who ran against Lance in 2010 and plans on doing the same in 2012, here's a link.

Last night Forbes Magazine summed up our dilemma: because technically our first ad was inaccurate-- we didn't mention that Lance was still taking government-subsidized healthcare paid for by New Jersey taxpayers through the state plan instead of the far less costly federal congressional plan-- we had to stop running it on WCTC, 1450AM in Somerset. "[T]he reason Rep. Lance turned down the federal benefits," explains Forbes "is because he’s already getting a better policy at a much better deal from the State of New Jersey. As a retiree from the state senate, he qualified for a free Cadillac style health care plan the state provides for retirees and their families (he does have to pay co-pays but no premiums) for life."

That would be one of the programs that have come under attack by conservative Governor Chris Christie in his battle with public employee unions over the unusually lucrative benefits paid to retiring public servants.

Oops. So much for sacrificing to make a point.

...What is important here is that Rep. Lance and his family are in great shape when it comes to their own health care thanks to the generosity of the taxpayers of New Jersey. As for the Americans who would be denied health coverage by Lance’s repeal vote-- coverage that does not even begin to approach the quality of what the good Congressman is receiving for free-- well, I guess that’s a personal problem for Americans that Rep. Lance cannot be bothered about.

So... our new ad (above) is ready to go and we're getting it up on WCTC this week. And we'd like to get it on some other stations as well. Can you help us do that through our ActBlue page?

Ed Potosnak, the Blue America-endorsed candidate from 2010, who is looking like Lance's likely challenger in 2012 as well, is demanding that Lance "come clean with New Jerseyans and admit the radio ads run on WCTC were essentially correct." We agree.

Lance claimed ads educating listeners to the fact that he voted to deny everyday Americans the benefits, protections, and security he gets through Government provided healthcare for him and his family were false. After Congressman Lance requested the ad be pulled because he forwent federal insurance, what Mr. Lance was attempting to conceal was then uncovered. Congressman Lance’s family health insurance is being paid for by New Jersey taxpayers, to the tune of $1,906.42 per month, or $22,877.04 per year, more than twice the cost of the federal plan.

----

“If we are going to get our edge back in America we need to change the people in Washington because our families are taxed enough and deserve some honesty,” Potosnak added. “I am committed to creating jobs for unemployed Americans by simulating innovation, research and development and improving education,” he concluded.

When Lance's clueless bully of a Chief of Staff, Todd Mitchell, insisted WCTC stop running the ad because of the technicality, he stepped in it big time. "I should've kept my mouth shut," he moaned to the Cherry Hill Post-Courier when Lance was exposed trying to mislead his own constituents by making them believe he was paying for his own healthcare without any government subsidies, the way he insists they do.

We'll look forward to helping Democrats win back this seat, one that President Obama won in 2010, next year and replacing a hypocritical and dishonest career politician with a forward-thinking progressive, hopefully Ed Potosnak. Somehow I have a feeling New Jersey residents are sick and tired of being represented by Snooki and Leonard Lance. Again, give us a hand if you can with the ad here and... listen to it again:

John Amato: Here's my quote from Blue America's press release:

"Governor Christie," said Amato, "claims he's opposed to these Cadillac style plans for state retirees. Well Lance's plan is a Rolls Royce, not a Caddy and he didn't need to be burdening New Jersey taxpayers with his family healthcare. He could have done what almost every other member of Congress did-- including all the other Republicans in the New Jersey delegation-- and accepted the federal plan. Or is Christie's opposition just for public employee unions-- teachers, firefighters and policemen-- and not for career politicians like Lance?"

Blue America PAC, along with Daily Kos, Americans For America PAC and Americans United have teamed up to run ads that are exposing Republicans who are voting to try and repeal health care for Americans while they are receiving their own government funded health care. In NJ, Rep. Leonard Lance's people successfully stopped our ad from running on radio due to a technicality, but then the Courier Post actually did some reporting:

Reporter Jane Roh did some great investigative journalism for the Courier Post.
New Jersey Congressman Leonard Lance successfully challenged the accuracy of a radio ad attacking him this week and got it pulled off the air.

But in doing so, the 7th district Republican may have created more problems for himself.

"I should've kept my mouth shut," Chief of Staff Todd Mitchell told the Courier-Post Friday.

The progressive group Blue America PAC Wednesday released basically identical ads hitting four House Republicans on their votes against health care reform. The ads implied the Republicans-- Reps. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Charlie Bass, R-N.H., Sandy Adams, R-Fla., and Lance-- enjoy taxpayer-funded health insurance.

"They voted to make it tougher for you to get affordable health care," the announcer said.

markos tweets:

First smart thing Republican has said in a while: "I should've kept my mouth shut". http://is.gd/NUVj9P

Greg Sargent weighs in on the story and has a great piece up online at the Washington Post: House GOPer against big government health care enjoys taxpayer-funded state government insurance

Okay, this one is funny. As you know, Dems and lefty groups have been loudly insisting that House Republicans in favor of repealing the Affordable Care Act should forego the "government run" insurance they enjoy as members of Congress.

One of those GOPers is Rep. Leonard Lance of New Jersey, a fiscal hawk who opposes the health reform law out of opposition to big government. He is in the crosshairs of an ad by Blue America PAC accusing him of enjoying taxpayer-funded insurance. After that ad started running, Lance's office protested that he is not enrolled in the plan enjoyed by members of Congress, and successfully got the ad pulled. But in response, New Jersey's Courier-Post did some digging and found that as a retired state government official, he and his family do enjoy taxpayer-funded health care on the state level

---

Whoops! Rep. Lance's chief of staff appears to realize that by protesting the ad attacking him, he's only created more problems. The aide told the Courier-Post: "I should have kept my mouth shut." It's another mark of the ways that the politics of repeal -- even if the health law is unpopular -- are putting some Republicans in a very awkward spot.

I want to thank those of you who have helped fund our newest round of ads and we're redoing our original one so it will be running in NJ very shortly.

We'd like to run a revamped version of the ad on even more stations. Can you help us with a $10 or $20 contribution here

Blue America has had a running battle with Wall Street shill Rahm Emanuel for as long as we existed as a PAC. Our enthusiasm for Carol Moseley Braun is not about Rahm Emanuel though. Yes, electing him mayor is the worst thing that Chicago could possibly do to itself, but Carol Moseley Braun would be a formidable candidate no matter who the opposition was. Today she's coming to chat with us in the comments section below. When I spoke with her on the phone a few days ago and asked her about the sleazy, relentless and very effective way Emanuel has undermined her in the minds of so many voters, she was eager to talk about her own reasons for running, not about him. She did agree with me, however, and said she's "had to deal with negative racial and gender narratives all through my career. They're not about substance; just about slinging mud and hoping it sticks... In all my years in public service I have never leveraged my elected office or any political connections for private gain." That, of course, is the exact polar opposite of the Rahm Emanuel model, an exemplar of a high level revolving door that has left him a multimillionaire many times over based on one thing and one thing alone: political access.

When Ambassador Braun left the Illinois House of Representatives, where she had been Assistant Majority Leader and an effective champion of progressive causes-- even when it meant going up against powerful conservatives in her own party-- she was dubbed "the conscience of the House." In fact, when she ran for the U.S. Senate, the impetus was to hold conservative Democrat Alan Dixon accountable for an unconscionable and shortsighted vote to confirm Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. In beating Dixon, and going on to win the general election, she became the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator in an election, the first and only female Senator from Illinois and the only African-American woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate. Those are incredible achievements and she has had to fight with some heavily armed opponents every step of the way.

With the withdrawal of state Senator James Meeks and Congressman Danny Davis from the mayor's race-- both have endorsed her-- Carol became the consensus candidate with an actual shot at beating the Big Business-backed Emanuel. Despite Emanuel's very focused disinformation campaign with the corporate media, to Carol and to Chicago reformers with the ability to see past that, this election is a referendum on inclusiveness and transparency in Chicago politics and on what Markos would clearly see as outsiders crashing some of the highest, most forbidding gates in political America.

If you'd like to help Carol Moseley Braun, you can do it at our Blue America page we set up specially for this race. I might add that the first 10 contributions today will elicit a gift from Blue America in the form of Jordan Rubin's powerful new book on healthy eating The Raw Truth.