I'm forwarding this message to all Webb supporters. You'll see why below. John Hlinko, the author of this message (pictured at left), is a special person and someone I consider a friend. Along with a couple other people, John was the "Lowell, Josh and Lee" of the Draft Wesley Clark movement in 2003. He is the means by which thousands and thousands of us got involved with Wes Clark. Along with his brother Josh, John worked in so many capacities throughout the Clark campaign.
John is now passionately working on the stem cell issue because his little nephew, Josh's son (born after the 04 election), has a genetic disorder that doctors feel could be helped with stem cell research. The recent veto by Bush has fired John up--and when John gets fired up, he takes action in a big way. Read on.
Read on, and feel free to forward to any and all persons who either support Jim Webb, support stem cell funding and research, or support one of the candidates listed here. I'm pleased and proud that John has included Jim Webb in his email, along with another friend and fantastic candidate, Eric Massa. I'm sure the others are great too--I just don't know them personally. Send this far and wide, and lets give some voice to this issue and the candidates who will speak out for it.
DebbyFrom John Hlinko, founder of StemPAC:
Are you angry now? Irate? Looking for "revenge" against the House and Senate members who voted against HR 810, and voted against cures? Here's your chance:
http://www.actblue.com/page/stemcells
Short version: Spread the word as much as humanly possible, link to this page from your sites and blogs, and tell all those pissed off stem cell supporters to "put their money where mouse is."
Longer version...
I've been working with some of the other stem cell leaders and some other campaign strategists (my day job) to come up with a way to get back against the House and Senate incumbents who voted against stem cell research.
Here's the deal -- the time for "teaching" them is over. The time for "forcible early retirement" is here -- November 7th, to be exact. Accordingly, we have specifically put together this page to make it as easy as possible for other stem cell supporters to channel their donations in the most effective way possible.
We have identified the races that combine the following elements:
1) An incumbent who is strongly against embryonic stem cell research -- and a challenger who is strongly for it.
2) A race that is close enough that we really can make the difference. (No impossible longshots, or ones we've already got in the bag)
We have set this up through ActBlue. It's a great service, and it doesn't take a commission -- so the $$ goes right to the candidates.
Further, ActBlue enables us to automatically let these candidates know that these donations came specifically from stem cell supporters.
I'll be blunt -- if we want to win this battle in January, 2007, we need a majority that can override the president's veto in both houses. This will take two things:
1) Defeating as many anti-stem-cell incumbents as possible, and...
2) Making sure to tie those defeats to the stem cell issue specifically, so we can scare enough of the ones who remain into "seeing the light" on stem cell research.
And to be even blunter -- it's time to pony up. It's time to make a donation to these candidates, and to tell your 10,000 closest friends to be the same. We need to stand up, and we need to stand out. We may have the majority of Americans on our side, but that will not be of any use if this majority is viewed as a "silent" majority.
These House and Senate members have voted against science, voted against cures, and voted against us and our families.
Are you angry now? Good. Get angry -- and get even:
http://www.actblue.com/page/stemcells
We'll be adding (and possibly subtracting) candidates over time, as new ones emerge who are strongly and VOCALLY in favor of stem cell research. We want to help those most who are making a priority of this issue -- not just talking about it on page 347 of their platforms.
If you want to do something with the November elections that will make an impact -- start by spreading the link, and making a donation yourself, at:
You all know Jim trails Felix, but is close enough now that this will be a real contest with enough money.
Eric Massa, who at one point was chief aide to Wes Clark (despite being a navy man!), and who was on the USS NJ when the Marine Barracks were blown up with a truck bomb in Beirut in 1983, killing his 4 year roommate from Annapolis, is running even with Randy Kuhl in the NY 29th.
Pat Murphy is running against a piece of work named Mike Fitpatrick in Bucks County PA. This is a district that over the years has gone back and forth between the two parties. Pat has taught at West Point, and during the recent floods nearPhiladelphia shut down his campaigning, using his website, staff and volunteers to raise emergency assistance for those displace by the floods.
Vic Wulsin (she uses "Vic" when she blogs at dailykos) is running in the district that Paul Hackett almost won in the special election. It is a very heavily Republican district, but Schmidt first had to survive a brutal primary which drained her coffers. Further, she has tanked in her approval rating, starting when she effectively said on the floor of the House that John Murtha was a coward. She has been shown to claim two degress she does not have, claimed an endorsement she didn't have, and in that famous statement on the floor offered a statement from a veteran that he denies having made. This one is doable, which would be a huge upset, and Paul Hackett endorsed her.
Jim's campaign should be your top priority, but if you have some extra and are feeling generous, give nominal contributions to the others.
If it wasn't for him, I probably would have never been this interested in politics today.
Support John Hlinko.
--Dave Montoya
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-melber/is-the-netroots-incoheren_b_25741.html