Yes, I've just succumbed to the latest nag to help raise the number of donors to 1000.  Because even though the keyboard I'm sitting behind is a heck of a ways from New York, I have a vested interest.

Like you, I want more and better Democrats. But I also want to do my bit to help counter the crap I found oozing from these sneaky bastards when I Googled his name for more info:

Who is Dan Maffei and What Does His Campaign Stand For?

Dan Maffei has been running around Central New York as a perennial political candidate for the last 2 1/2 years.  This blog is dedicated to tracking his moves and revealing the facts behind his "I want to play politician" shenanigans.

Fighting the slime is motivation enough. But follow me over the flip and I'll tell you the real reason this New York race is personal for this Oregonian.

While the pundits are mumbling about his campaign losing steam, you wouldn't know it by the crowd waiting in the rain yesterday for tickets to his gig tomorrow at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon.

From the Oregonian:

Lines for tickets to his Friday morning rally in Portland stretched around the block Wednesday afternoon outside a hastily assembled campaign headquarters on Southeast Division Street. Traffic backed up several blocks as hundreds of people sought a chance to hear the Illinois senator speak.

And those who got tickets early were the lucky ones. The campaign gave away all 12,800 tickets within a few hours Wednesday. The first 11,000 were given away online and went almost instantly. The rest were given to people who waited in line at the Division Street office.

Of particular interest to me was comment of Rep. Earl Blumenauer "who was on hand to watch."

More after the fold:

Okay, maybe the topic is slight, but the diary has rich potential if I can persuade enough of you to tell your stories.

What got a chuckle out of you today? Was it a bad joke told by your brother-in-law? Something you read? Did you see it on TV? Was it a kitten or puppy being cute?

Better yet, did you laugh at yourself?

My first giggle of the day was at my own expense and if you follow me over the flip, I'll tell you about it.

Carrying over a diary by TrueBlueMajority asking us to weigh in on polls about Gore as winner of the Peace Prize.

Here's the link for the Wall Street Journal

Do you agree with the choice for the Nobel Peace Prize?

And here is the link for CNN's poll.

Are Al Gore and the climate-change panel deserving winners of the Nobel Peace Prize?

As TBM says in the earlier diary:

Please vote! Otherwise the story will become that "people" (read: Republicans) do not agree with the Nobel Prize selection.

Please spread the word to other blogs as well!  

I can't help myself -- a full-fledged diary this ain't -- but I just checked the numbers and I'm blown away!

At 5:42, it was $64,392 with 1769 donors. Now two hours later it's $74,165 with 2091.

How fun is this?!

Jim Webb will be speaking before a sold-out crowd at the National Press Club this afternoon. C-Span will carry the speech live beginning at 1 pm ET. Look for it under C-Span3, Political Issues.

Webb serves on the Committee on Foreign Relations, Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Veterans Affairs, and the Joint Economic Committee. In the short time he's been in the Senate he has already introduced a GI Bill (S.22)designed to provide veterans who have served since 9/11 a level of educational benefits identical to those received by the veterans of World War II.

He is also an original co-sponsor of bills pertaining to stronger ethics rules, prescription drug pricing negotiations, the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, stem cell research, energy/global warming, college affordability and rebuilding the military.

Just listened to this morning's CNN interview with Smith and heard him say that before the Senate gets around to the vote next week on Kennedy's proposal, "Bush will have his surge accomplished."

The action in Baghdad isn't the prelude, it's the escalation in action. Bush has hit the Democratic Congress with a preemptive strike.

Smith spent face time with the President and it sounds like Bush told the Republicans what he was going to do and when.  The poor trusting Democrats have been shafted once again.

Smith's remarks come just before the end of the interview.

Since we first heard it in school, we've been haunted by the story of Washington and his tattered Continental Army on the march in mid-December, the men starved and half-naked crossing the ice and snow on feet wrapped in rags. Washington himself tells us that ". . . you might have tracked the army from White Marsh to Valley Forge by the blood of their feet."

Our men and women on duty this winter in Iraq and Afghanistan may not suffer the same deprivations and miseries endured by the Continental Army, but it's still a heartbreaker to think of them trying to do their work in such terribly dangerous places. The failures of this Administration can be tracked by the blood of their sacrifice and the loneliness and grief of the loved ones they've left behind.

Those of us who hang out at Daily Kos care deeply about these things. And because of the size of our community, when we pool our ingenuity and resources, we can be a powerful force for good. So what can we do to help our soldiers and their families?  I have a few suggestions and I hope that you'll add some ideas of your own.

With Skilling on his way to prison, now is the time to remind Leiberman supporters that Joe was fiercely opposed to the very reforms that would have prevented the Enron disaster.  Instead of working to protect investors, he fought on behalf of the bankers, shielding them from oversight.  And then he maneuvered himself to head the Senate committee investigating what went wrong so that he could limit the scope of the investigation.

A strong link between Leiberman and Enron would erode his base of supporters. Older voters can relate to those who lost pensions in the company's meltdown.

Lots of background available on-line to get the job done.  Samples on the flip...

So far, Lamont's appeal has been his opposition to the war in Iraq.  But Leiberman is re-gaining traction -- time to remind his supporters that Joe was fiercely opposed to the very reforms that would have prevented the Enron disaster.  Instead of working to protect investors, he fought on behalf of the bankers, shielding them from oversight.  And then he maneuvered himself to head the Senate committee investigating what went wrong so that he could limit the scope of the investigation.

A strong link between Leiberman and Enron would erode his base of supporters. Older voters can relate to those who lost pensions in the company's meltdown.

Lots of background available on-line to get the job done.  Samples on the flip...

My son sent this from Moody AFB and asked me to post it for him to help get the word out.

• Bugsby's diary :: Permalink ::
• There's more... (8 comments)