Raising Kaine and ActBlue are joining forces! Thanks to the powerful fundraising tools brought to the netroots by ActBlue, RK is launching its first coordinated fundraising campaign for our progressive Virginia candidates. The first slate of candidates: Chap Petersen, Janet Oleszek, Bruce Roemmelt, Carlos del Toro, and Troy Farlow. We'll be adding more great candidates soon, but we're excited to have this first great round of candidates in important '07 races.Let's show the Virginia GOP the power of our progressive community and raise a combined $1,000 (or more!) in 15 days for these candidates and RK.
As you all know, this is an important year for progressives in Virginia. Every single seat in the Virginia General Assembly - 40 in the State Senate and 100 in the House of Delegates - is up for election. And Democrats have a real chance at capturing the Senate and making serious gains in the House. Such success is especially important, as this is the last chance before redistricting in 2011. And, given the fiasco of a transportation "compromise" the Republicans just passed, Gov. Tim Kaine (D) could use some more allies to help pass a REAL transportation plan next session.
So please click here to make your donation to your favorite candidate(s) in Raising Kaine's new ActBlue coordinated fundraising page! Or just make your donation in the box below to spread your donation out to them all!
Thanks for all your support over the years. And let's "Raise Kaine" for Tim Kaine and Virginia progressives!
(For more on these individual candidates, click through to the extended entry.)
*Former Delegate Chap Petersen (D) is taking on Congressman Tom Davis' wife, State Senator Jeannemarie Devolites-Davis (R), in a district that went for John Kerry (D), Tim Kaine (D), Leslie Byrne (D), Creigh Deeds (D) and Jim Webb (D) the past few years. If we are going to take back the State Senate in 2007 - a crucial goal given redistricting in 2011 - this race is essential. Overall, we need to pick up four seats in the State Senate this year to take control. That goal starts with this race; there's none that's more important. And Chap himself is a great candidate - former Delegate, impressive Lt. Governor candidate, important early supporter of Jim Webb - running against a corrupt incumbent who is part of a party that is out of step with this district.
*Janet Oleszek (D) is going after State Senator Ken Cuccinelli, a right-wing Republican who is increasingly out of touch with a district that went for Tim Kaine (D), Leslie Byrne (D), Creigh Deeds (D) and Jim Webb (D) the past two election cycles. Janet's a strong candidate and an excellent match for this district. Let's help her defeat "the Cooch," also known as "Kookinelli." Janet is another great candidate - as former Fairfax teacher and current Legislative Chair of the Virginia Parent Teacher Association, she'll be a strong advocate for education issues in the Senate.
*Bruce Roemmelt (D), a firefighter, educator and veteran (not to mention an all-around great guy with a handshake like an iron vice!), is making his second run at Bob Marshall, possibly the most heinous right-wing Republican in the Virginia House of Delegates. And that's saying a lot, considering how heinous some of these guys are. How extreme is Marshall? Well, he wants to make homosexuality itself illegal. He wants to outlaw abortion and return Virginia to pre-Roe days, while simultaneously discouraging use of contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies. He opposes embryonic stem cell research. This is a tough district, but Roemmelt won around 45% of the vote last time around. As with many races in a low-turnout year, this one will be decided by 1,000 or 2,000 votes. We can make a huge difference with our help to Roemmelt, so let's do it!
*Carlos del Toro (D), who has had a distinguished 26-year Naval career that included combat support experience during the Persian Gulf War and worked to balance federal budgets in the Clinton administration, is challenging Del. Mark "Scorched Earth" Cole (R-88th). Cole is a poor representative for the people of his district, as he seems more interested in his strange (and pointless) quest to merge the House and Senate into a unicameral legislature, rather than finding solutions to challenges in transportation, health care or education. Carlos will bring his unique experience to the House as he has lived the American dream - moving from a young boy in poor immigrant family to a Navanl Acadamy grad, a distinguished Naval officer, and a successful small business owner.
*Troy Farlow (D) is a great candidate who stepped aside in last year's primary in the Second District to let Phil Kellam run unopposed to take on Thelma Drake. Now, he's taking on social issues far-right-winger Melanie Rapp in the 98th. Troy plans on addressing the most pressing needs facing the Peninsula, including transportation, education, and smart growth - issues he says Rapp and her party have abdicated responsibility and pass the burden onto local communities. Troy is a successful business man with a deep call to public service - in response to the events of September 11, he left graduate school and moved to New York City to volunteer with a small investment-banking firm that lost nearly half its staff in the World Trade Center attacks. He formerly was a small business owner on the Eastern Shore, but now lives on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay, in the Williamsburg/Historical Triangle/York County area.
*Raising Kaine PAC is, well, you know who we are! The money we raise will, among other things, go towards operating this online community, as well as taking action in the real world, like producing flyers, newpaper ads, and other materials that might be a bit too "snarky" for the candidates themselves. We did this very effectively against Jerry Kilgore in 2005, and we hope to do it again this year.
We will be adding more great Democrats in coming days and weeks. For now, though, please do everything you can to help our first five candidates by going to our ActBlue page and giving generously. Remember, your contributions make a proportionately FAR greater difference on the local and state level - where elections are often decided by just a few hundred votes - than they do nationally. Help turn Virginia blue with Raising Kaine and ActBlue!
Hope others can join me.
I think that is all we are waiting on.
Ferguson will be a great delegate.
One of the things that you may see from ActBlue in this next cycle are fundraising progess bar widgets if there is interest in such a thing.
Hopefully you won't mind being the first test of our rollout to state efforts this year- something I'll be working on doing with every other state community blog in the nation (where ActBlue is active) as we work to grow both state efforts and state level blogging communities.
You may not know it, but you really are part of something special. Will it be successful? Will there be things we can improve? Will there be new innovations on fundraising? I'm sure the answer will be yes to all of these but it's up to you to prove it all to be true.
I came on board ActBlue last month (fresh from graduating at the University of Texas and blogging at the Burnt Orange Report) and I couldn't be more excited to be engaging netroots communities across the country. You have some amazing candidates here and an amazing blog community. I'm proud to have VA be the first state I've worked with.
Now get donating, y'all!
DONORS: Don't forget to tip the great folks at ActBlue, they don't take a cut out of the donations to candidates, so need the tip money to pay for the servers, great staff like KT, and all sorts of other infrastructure and legal costs.
As we all know, Lowell and this blog were vital to the Democratic victories of 2005 and 2006. We're in a tough race against an entrenched, flat earth, no tax, no compromise Republican- but with RK and your help, we can send Carlos to Richmond to strengthen the Democratic caucus and give voice to the citizens of Virginia who are tired of partisan, do nothing politics.
I'd again like to extend an invitation to Carlos' kick off celebration on March 4th. Please see our website at www.deltorofordelegate.com for details and directions, or feel free to call me at 540-604-6591.
Thank you all again!