Today's the first day of a week-long Blue America contest, I'd like to invite you to participate in. Some of our candidates have been endorsed by the DCCC's Red to Blue program, which makes it easier for them to access institutional Democratic money-- big donors, labor unions, single-issue groups, incumbents, etc. And some haven't. Blue America wants to spotlight nine of our House endorsees this week who may eventually wind up in the program but who need campaign cash to compete effectively now. These are the nine:

Sam Bennett (PA-15)- Lehigh Valley
Debbie Cook (CA-46)- Orange County
Larry Joe Doherty (TX-10)- northern Austin to Brenham and Katy
Alan Grayson (FL-08)- Orlando
Jared Polis (CO-02)- Boulder and Westminster out to Eagle County
Dennis Shulman (NJ-05)- northern New Jersey from Bergen and Passaic around to Warren County
Annette Taddeo (FL-18)- Miami-Dade from Miami Beach and Coral Gables down to Key West
Russ Warner (CA-26)- northeast L.A. suburbans from Rancho Cucamonga to Arcadia
Barry Welsh- (IN-06) east central Indiana centered on Muncie

We're counting votes at a just launched new ActBlue contest page. Whether you donate a dollar or $20 or $2,000 to the candidate, of your choice, it counts as one vote-- although you can certainly vote for as many candidates as you'd like. The candidate who gets the most votes gets a $5,000 Blue America check. The winner will be announced on Saturday, September 6th.

Hell yeah, that's the kind of ad all Democrats should be running. Howie has more:

Blue America-endorsed candidate running against garden variety rubber stamp Republican Ric Keller in an Orlando district that has been turning blue. Early balloting started this week for Florida's primary election and Alan has been the only candidate with a TV ad up-- and what a TV ad! If every Democratic candidate had an ad this powerful to run, we wouldn't be talking about 12-20 House seats; we'd be talking about 30-50. Of course, not every candidate has a story as compelling as Alan's. [..]

If you'd like to see Alan keep this running, please consider donating to his campaign at the Blue America ActBlue page.

Matt Stoller has more at Open Left: Alan Grayson on Iraq Reckoning: "We'll Put People in Prison"

And it's not good for the Republican party.

CA-04 — OPEN (Doolittle) — Solid Republican to Likely Republican
CO-04 — Marilyn Musgrave — Lean Republican to Toss Up
CT-04 — Chris Shays — Lean Republican to Toss Up
IL-10 — Mark Kirk — Lean Republican to Toss Up
NM-02 — OPEN (Pearce) — Likely Republican to Lean Republican
NY-29 — Randy Kuhl — Lean Republican to Toss Up
NC-08 — Robin Hayes — Lean Republican to Toss Up
OH-01 — Steve Chabot — Lean Republican to Toss Up
VA-02 — Thelma Drake — Likely Republican to Lean Republican
WA-08 — Dave Reichert — Lean Republican to Toss Up

And wait till they get some of that sweet Obama money.

We have some solid Blue America candidates running in some of those races. Your help can push it even further into the Democratic category. I'm just sayin'...

A week from Tuesday (June 10) Virginia holds its primaries and the one we're watching most closely is between the progressive Blue America-endorsed Leslie Byrne and a reactionary Joe Lieberman/Zell Miller-type Insider, Gerry Connolly, who worked for a major war profiteer firm, a story I broke at DownWithTyranny a few days ago. Friday, it hit the Washington Post and suddenly the Blue America donations for Leslie Byrne have gone through the roof.

We're in the middle of a contest with Air America and to vote which candidate gets an Air America check, all you have to do is add one penny to your donation on our Blue America page. Leslie and Gerry Connolly are in a neck and neck race that will go right down to the wire. It's a case of "More Democrats" or "More and Better Democrats." Connolly is far from better. He's trying to pose as a progressive but his record conforms to the worst stereotypes of the corporate Democrat and threatens to cost the party a long-awaited takeover. Connolly has been mired in questions about his employment with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), one of the worst of the major defense contractors, his cozy relationship with business developers and his general affinity for what most of us would call pay to play politics.

Earlier today Glenn Greenwald, The Seminal and DownWithTyranny did posts on accountability for members of Congress who buckle under to Bush's demands and compromise basic constitutional rights. Part of what makes America great and unique is that no one-- not a president, not a Congress, not a multinational corporation-- has the right to spy on Americans without a court warrant. After seeing the TV ads and newspaper ads Blue America is deploying to remind Chris Carney of his duty to protect the Constitution, we heard from a staffer in the office of one of the top House Democrats asking us to hold off a little because he felt Carney might come around on this issue. OK, we're reasonable; we'll wait-- a day or two.

Meanwhile we heard from Eric Massa, one of the strongest Democratic candidates anywhere when it comes to national security. He's running against Bush rubber stamp Randy Kuhl in western New York. You can rest assured that if he gets into Congress he won't be voting special extra-legal privileges for anyone. "If it were not tragic, it would be ironic that the Republican minority with it's habit of fear and smear politics is willing to grant corporate telecommunications companies immunity when they knowingly throw away the very principles of the Constitution that they are sworn to defend. I wore a uniform for 24 years to defend what makes this country great and anyone who acts to destroy our common values is no patriot." Take a look at the TV ad and if you're so inclined, you can donate to keeping it on the air here-- and to Eric Massa here.

This is a great idea. It appears that the Republican nominee for the presidency---John McImpotent, can do nothing to pull the racist attack ads against Obama in NC:

"The television advertisement you are planning to air degrades our civics and distracts us from the very real differences we have with the Democrats," he wrote. "In the strongest terms, I implore you to not run this advertisement."

As usual the press will praise him for standing up to their Rovian tactics while nothing is done to stop them. So it's up to Liddy Dole to get these pulled. Jane writes:

Who's the most senior member of the NC GOP? Well that would be Liddy Dole. NC Democratic Party Chair Jerry Meek has sent a letter to Dole saying "without a doubt, you could halt this ad with a simple telephone call." Dole is up for re-election this year (and will be running against either Kay Hagen or Blue America candidate Jim Neal).

She can stop the racist attack ads against Obama, and we're asking her to send this letter:

Dear Chairwoman Linda Daves,

I disapprove of the content of the North Carolina Republican Party's recent advertisement "Extreme". I feel that it resorts to a type of negative politicking that betrays the best interest of North Carolinians.

I call on you, as Chairwoman of the North Carolina Republican Party, to immediately stop airing this advertisement. Failure to do so will reflect negatively on all North Carolina Republicans, and would necessitate that I return the Party's contributions to my campaign to disassociate myself from the vitriol which you appear to embrace.

We'll be working with NC bloggers (including Pam Spaulding) to deliver the petition to Dole's office. You can cosign here.

Yes, it's an excellent idea and I'm very happy to be supporting Jim Neal in NC along with the rest of my Blue America colleagues. (Crooks & Liars, Firedoglake, Digby, Down With Tyranny )

If you can throw a few bucks his way while you're at it---that would be very cool. But please cosign if you have the chance.

This afternoon at 2pm (in North Carolina, 11am here at C&L World Headquarters) Blue America is hosting our first Q&A with progressive senate candidate Jim Neal, who is running against Bush rubber stamp Elizabeth Dole for a seat-- ironically once held by Jesse Helms.

Jim made a video for us yesterday explaining why he opposes the Bush Regime's demands for retroactive immunity for themselves and their Telecom cronies. Take a look at the one minute clip and consider coming over to FDL and asking Jim any questions you'd like. Also, please consider making a donation to his campaign at our Blue America page. He's up against the Big Corporate interests and has no one behind him... but the grassroots and ordinary citizens of North Carolina.

More and better Democrats....that's the plan. And don't think for a minute that the leadership isn't getting very nervous. Blue America and its other ActBlue counterparts are having an impact on Washington DC, and we can't do that without you.

WSJ:

On Tuesday night, two veteran Maryland congressmen became the first members of Congress to lose re-election bids this year, and the first significant notches on the belts of activists unhappy with party moderates.

The decisive losses of both moderates -- Democrat Rep. Albert Wynn and Republican Rep. Wayne Gilchrest -- highlight tension brewing in both parties, where activists representing more extreme factions are raising thousands of dollars online to fund primary challengers and run ads against incumbents.

For most incumbents, primary challengers generally aren't much of a threat because they often struggle to raise money and improve their name-recognition. This year, however, several high-profile lawmakers are facing something of a scare. Republican presidential challenger Ron Paul has pulled back from his national campaigning somewhat to work on getting re-elected to his congressional seat in Texas, where he faces a challenge from a Galveston city councilman. In Ohio, Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich is facing four primary challengers and some grumbling back home in Cleveland that he has spent more time running for president than taking care of business for his district.

Matt Stoller, a prominent Democratic blogger, has launched a campaign against 39 so-called Bush Dog Democrats -- House members who voted in favor of Iraq war funding and warrantless wiretapping -- whom he considers to be unworthy of being in office.[..]

Criticized for his vote to authorize the war in Iraq, Mr. Wynn drew the ire of liberal activists and bloggers, who spent months dissecting his votes and examining fund-raising reports. Much of Ms. Edwards money came via donations on the Democratic fund-raising site ActBlue.com, but MoveOn.org also became involved, sending out a fund-raising email and asking supporters to held defeat "right-wing Democrat Al Wynn."

"We'll be working this fall for 'more' Democrats, but today we struck a blow on behalf of better Democrats," wrote Markos Moulitsas Zuniga on the popular blog DailyKos.com Tuesday night. "Our caucus is once again on notice. If they continue to serve corporate interests rather than their constituents, if they insist on remaining aloof to the nation's popular sentiment, they'll get booted in a Democratic primary like Joe Lieberman in 2006 and Al Wynn in 2008."

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman speaks to the winner of a hotly contested and closely watched primary challenge for Maryland's 4th District, Blue America candidate Donna Edwards. And just as important as having a solid, progressive Democrat running, Edwards' win is a shot across the bow to other Bush Dog Democrats that they should not consider their seats safe because they're in a blue district.

And I believe that those voices needed to be heard in the Congress by somebody who’s a standup Democrat who represents this congressional district. I think the voters got that message. And, you know, voters have an awful lot of things going on in their minds [inaudible]. We have a troubled economy. We’re facing record foreclosures in our congressional district, just like around the country. And we want somebody who really speaks for real change and who will make a difference in the lives of working people. And those messages came through yesterday.

The full interview and transcripts available at Democracy Now! NOW on PBS focused on the Edwards/Wynn race earlier with their Democrats Divided episode, also available online.

Okay, actually, he called the OpenLeft bloggers "punks" instead of dirty hippies, but the intent is clear.

I don't think I've seen more clichés and fury, signifying utter desperation before.

Mark Pera is one of our Blue America candidates. If you'd like to join us punks, we'd appreciate your help.