I’ve been getting a lot of requests for real bang-for-your-buck ways to help Democrats. This seems like a good one — that I found on Sam Wang’s site. It’s money for the Dallas County and Tarrant County Democratic parties. There are multiple pick-up opportunities in the state lej in those counties. Flipping a house in the Texas state legislature would be huge. In my experience, a lot of the nitty-gritty is done by country parties.
Sunday Respite Open Thread: Lots of Babies
Johannes
Not to discourage anyone from donating, but I’m really brassed off at Act Blue right now, Doug—I’ve been donating to the Biden campaign through it—$25 per week, and odd sums when asked—and I keep getting emails asking me to make my “first contribution.” I’ve written them, asking to clarify the status of my past contributions, and so far crickets.
burnspbesq
If The Texas House is going to flip, the suburbs of Dallas (Tarrant and Collin Counties) and Houston (esp. Fort Bend County) are going to have to lead the way.
Another Scott
@Johannes: I give monthly to Uncle Joe automatically every month as well. On the anniversary day I get a confirmation e-mail from them [ActBlue]. If you’re not getting that confirmation (and/or if it’s not showing up on your CC statement), then it probably didn’t “take” for some reason.
Getting an in-person response from them is probably going to be difficult – they do a huge amount of data processing but I imagine they don’t have many employees.
My $0.02. Good luck.
Cheers,
Scott.
marv
No, but I’ve seen Dallas Alice in every headlight, and willin’ to help out here.
Another Scott
Great idea. Donated. Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Roger Moore
@Johannes:
Are you donating directly to ActBlue? They manage the donations for Democratic candidates, but they also depend on direct contributions to them to keep the system running. If you have never added a contribution to ActBlue itself, they may be soliciting you for a donation to them directly.
SiubhanDuinne
Curious to know about the Act Blue “tip jar.” For those of you who contribute through AB, do you tip always, never, sometimes? Do you toss in 10%, 20%, or some other amount?
I usually include a tip, but not every time. Sometimes 10%, more often 20%.
patrick II
If you are looking for close races for worthwhile Democratic contenders, you might consider Virginia’s 2nd congressional district pitting Democratic incumbent Elaine Luria against the Republican troglodyte she unseated two years ago — Scott Taylor. They are both ex-Navy, Luria blue water, and Taylor a seal. Luria is an ex small business owner and a moderate dem, Taylor is a right-wing lying nut job who in his last campaign advertised he was for protecting pre-existing conditions whole voting against the ACA. He voted with Trump 97% of the time.
We are very near Norfolk here, and Luria’s support of impeachment has brought her some trouble with the old vets who have retired here. The race is rated even right now.
Anyhow, DougJ, if you want to put her on your list it would be a good thing.
Scott Taylor
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: I do it often enough that I feel no guilt in giving a $5 tip each time rather than a percentage. YMMV.
Similarly with GoFundMe and the like (when they offer the option).
Cheers,
Scott.
Betty Cracker
I heard a discussion with Wang on a podcast recently — probably either the Obama bros. or maybe the Rick Wilson-Molly Jong-Fast collab? Anyhoo, Wang explained at length why Tarrant County is such a low-investment/high payoff proposition. It was pretty fascinating. I’m glad to see Dems getting smart about stuff like this instead of everyone showering money on the same high-profile races.
germy
Let’s help Tedra Cobb beat Elise Stephanik.
H.E.Wolf
Not only have I probably seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night, it was probably a Love Field landing or take-off.
My favorite thing about that airport was the map of the world inlaid in the floor of the concourse.
Let’s flip more of TX to blue! Molly Ivins, Barbara Jordan, and Ann Richards (just for starters) would all approve.
zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne:
I always include 10%.
sdhays
@patrick II: Unless I’m remembering a different race, Luria has an 8-1 advantage in cash in hand over her opponent, and Taylor’s fundraising is not showing any improvement.
Kenfair
One of the most important reasons to flip the Texas House is 2020 redistributing, to repair the damage done by Tom Delay. Flipping the Texas House could easily result in a couple more Ds in Congress.
Woodrow/asim
@SiubhanDuinne: I almost always tip ActBlue as well, yes.
Another Scott
Since I don’t want TaMara to cut me for posting downstairs, … ;-)
For the weather junkies – today’s Navy modeling of hurricane Isaias’s track up the east coast – https://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/coamps-web/web/ens?&spg=1&sid=09L&mdl=CTCX&ddtg=2020080200&var=trk_int_combo
(Click on the left for models of other storms, previous models, etc. Click the tabs at the top for other datasets.)
Cheers,
Scott.
way2blue
@Betty Cracker: I also heard Sam Wang interviewed on a recent ‘New Abnormal’ podcast (aka the Rick & Molly show). And found Sam’s comments quite incisive per which state races are key to controlling redistricting in 2021.
Another Scott
@Kenfair: +1
We can’t forget that DeLay did more than anyone to make Texas red and mess up national representative government. State legislatures are vitally important, and can enable “gradually, then suddenly”.
Cheers,
Scott.
piratedan
AZ-CD6 may be in play this year… as the GOP incumbent just got indicted for campaign fraud, so depending on who comes out of the Dem primary, may have an actual shot this year if you can paint the incumbent as the same corrupt POS that is apparently the embodiment of the GOP as a whole.
Ken
@Another Scott: The NHC models are similar. It’s not a big storm (knock wood) but it looks like it’s going to scrape all the way up the east coast.
Ken
To answer a question from a couple of weeks ago, Illinois is automatically sending vote-by-mail applications. I received mine last week. It can be returned immediately, but ballots won’t be mailed until September 24.
raven
@Another Scott: Windy is a really cool weather site with a bunch of filters.
Geminid
Those folks down in Texas will get to see a lively Senate race, between John Cornyn and MJ Hegar. Hegar just won a tough primary runoff against veteran state Senator Royce West. Hegar’s war chest was depleted, but turnout far exceeded the previous record for a Democratic runoff, and Hegar did well among Hispanic voters in the Rio Grande Valley. Congresswoman Veronica Escobar of El Paso supported her. Hegar doesn’t have a lot of money right now, but she has spirit. When the Cornyn campaign released a statement warning voters that Hegar was “Elizabeth Warren on a motorcycle,” she fired back in interview, calling Cornyn “a spineless bootlicking lackey.”
Yutsano
Let’s get every seat we can everywhere we can. National, state, local, any and all of them. We need our benches strong and our presence known so we might have a chance to save our republic and our fellow citizens from even greater harm.
Ken
@Yutsano: I take some consolation when I consider what the Republican benches will look like for some time to come. Let’s see, the raving loon, or the guy who says the raving loon doesn’t go far enough….
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Geminid:
Awesome response. I like how she insulted Cornyn without dragging Warren
Yutsano
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It does sound like we’ll have to drop her some scratch soon. DougJ do your magic please and thank you!
patrick II
@sdhays:
O.K. The poll I was looking at showed them even, but a newer poll has Luria up 4, but I can’t find one recent enough to trust. But, if she doesn’t need money, then I shouldn’t have asked.
oatler.
Civil War? What Civil War?
https://lawandcrime.com/crazy/im-a-white-supremacist-man-goes-on-trump-rant-slaps-woman-then-gets-choked-video/
CaseyL
@raven: My favorite weather blogger, Jeff Masters, left Weather Underground some years ago, but is now blogging at Yale Climate Connection.
Yutsano
@oatler.: I can see they’re not sending their best…
Geminid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I think politicians do best when they can truly be their selves. That’s not necessarily an easy thing. But Hegar is a very confident person. If you check out her biography you can see why- at age 44, she has accomplished a lot. Hegar doesn’t have Beto’s soaring eloquence, but she is cheerfully tough. When she called Cornyn a spineless bootlicking lackey, Hegar was being herself.
raven
@CaseyL: I saw him at a conference and he was spectacular!
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: I tip them NEVER. I could be wrong, of course, but I have assumed they get 3% or so off the top as the entity that is handling the financial transaction.
WaterGirl
@Ken: I thought folks had said they are only sending automatically if you have voted in the past 4 elections. Or maybe in one of the past 4 elections?
I have not received a ballot in Illinois, even though I have voted regularly.
Ruckus
@Yutsano:
Funny thing, that is about as good as it gets. Sure he’s physical but how many of those moms who have gone off in stores aren’t willing to get right up in someone’s face? They don’t have good, if you are supporting shitforbrains, you aren’t a good person, and have not one positive attribute.
Of course that was probably your point…….
Elizabelle
Donated. Good cause. I hope you will fundraise for Dallas and Tarrant again this cycle. Am into bang for the buck.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
ActBlue gets a a 3.95% processing fee on each donation according to their site. Any tip you leave is in addition to that. They have collected over 5 billion in donations since 2004. As donating goes it’s actually pretty cheap and works well
Their site has all this info, they don’t try to hide anything, what they do, what they charge. Someone has to do the work of collecting donations, and it costs money. I like they aren’t greedy and do what normally is the work of handling money. I’ve had to do it for the two businesses I’ve owned and for other jobs I’ve had. They do good work, for a good and fair price.
Yutsano
@Ruckus: There could be an underlying mental illness issue there but I’m not going to speculate further on that. The aggression seemingly out of nowhere is the real issue. Are they going to be acting like that after Dolt45 loses? Are there going to be loose cannons of MAGA heads going off with little to no provocation all over the country? It’s not a pretty picture and I don’t know how to fix it.
germy
Johannes
@Roger Moore: I’m pretty sure my donations are to Joey the B, plus tip jar, but will check My emails to be sure. Thanks for the suggestion.
Johannes
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): That’s a perfect (and spot on) reply!
Ruckus
@Yutsano:
That underlying aggression is there, it’s their personality. They have been “allowed” to let their freak flags fly by shitforbrains constant approval of their racist/misogynistic bullshit. The last 50-60 yrs of the republicans not saying the quiet parts out loud, of actually trying to not say it out loud, allowed this bullshit to flourish below the surface. shitforbrains saying it out loud has “given them permission” to be the dicks they’ve always been, just be open about it, because he is. This is the result of decades of racist/misogynistic approval being set free. Watch that video. Most of the people didn’t do anything as long as he was just being a dick. But the moment he escalated they acted and restrained him. I think a lot of republican supporters feed on the constant anti democratic news and BS out there are starting to realize that shitforbrains and his supporters really, really are way farther out there than they are and are realizing what that means. Not all of them for sure, which is why you see the guy in the Village in FL, Ed, take a lot of shit. But most of those are the slightly less out there folks, supporters, but not rabid. We know that there will always be a percentage of people who are going to be hard core right wing, just like there are a percentage of hard core left wing. shitforbrains is just showing the squishy middle right that maybe, just maybe they really don’t want to be hard core right wing. Because that’s been one of the things that the right wing has done, get everyone on their side to go along 100% with everything. shitforbrains has broken that hold, by going all in, all the time, and exposing the hard right for what it is, a totalitarian concept of capitalism, the rich get richer, everyone else gets fucked, some more to some far more than others. Not everyone will see or understand but some will.
Ruckus
@Yutsano:
I doubt that they will climb back into their caves without intervention. And of course the worst is that a percentage of cops are them. How many times in the last few months/decades have we seen armed racist crap and the cops are friendly? While relatively calm people are beaten, maced, tear gassed? Those years of hard right wing bullshit take their toll, more so on the victims but also on their followers. And the genie is out of the bottle now, how do you get it back in, and do you really want to bottle it back up? I think we need to expose it for what it is and rebuild a reasonable government, one that actually helps people, even at the expense of the economy, especially the economy of screw everyone except the very rich. This country has taken a windy road to get to where we are, as the two sides of our politics have split massively on where we should go and how we should get there. I don’t believe that until recently many have recognized how far the right has tried and successfully split the politics of this country. The left really is on the same road, the right is going backwards, and was at a pace that didn’t raise massive suspicions, until 4 yrs ago, and now they have gone all in, in a back to the past effort. They can’t be just the confederate states, so they are trying to turn all of us into the confederate states of america.
There go two miscreants
Thanks for that link to the Windy site, raven. Looks interesting!
J R in WV
@SiubhanDuinne:
I do a monthly contribution to ActBlue, and never “tip” when I make a contribution to a candidate. Every month I get a receipt email from them thanking me for the support donation.
Folks, if you aren’t getting emailed receipts from ActBlue, they aren’t taking additional payments from your credit card account. Every donation to anyone produces a receipt email to the email account you used when making your contribution.
The donation process is pretty fool proof, with one exception, you need to pay attention to the “No, make this a monthly donation!” selection versus the “No make this a one time donation!” options. PIck the one you intended to pick, everything else is smooth.
Perhaps unless their emails are going into your spam catcher, which I haven’t had a problem with ever. You can also use a link in every receipt email to look at the ActBlue records for your account, where you see every donation they have a record of.
I have never had any trouble getting things straightened out if they were messed up, just using their system.
J R in WV
@WaterGirl:
That is not correct, you were wrong about that. That sounds like a Republican plan, which is not how Act Blue operates.
ActBlue operates on either direct donations, which we do monthly, or a percentage you select to donate when making a donation to a candidate.
For me it’s easier to track a direct monthly ActBlue donation, with all of the specific candidate donations going 100% to the candidates.
Geminid
MJ Hegar’s campaign videos are dynamite. I don’t link, but they are easily found. John Cornyn will have to be on his A game- if he has one- to beat Hegar. A poll last fall showed the 33% of Texans approved of his job performance, and 33% disapproved. 33% had no opinion. It’s probably not his fault that he looks like an empty suit, but he does. A “Working Mom, Combat Veteran,” Hegar may be the right candidate to beat Cornyn. MJ is short for Mary Jane.
J R in WV
@Ruckus:
I was under the impression that’s the credit card corporation fee for moving money from a donor’s CC account… but I have been wrong once before… ;-)
Ruckus
@J R in WV:
I see that you are correct!
Here is the relevant couple of paragraphs. I got what I posted above from the how it works page, without clicking on the deeper explanation.
So, tip when you can!
burnspbesq
@Geminid:
‘I’m a Hegar skeptic. If she couldn’t beat John Carter in TX-31 (my home district) in 2018, I don’t know how she beats Cornyn. But I will throw some $ her way.
Geminid
DougJ
Thanks everyone