Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

In after Baud. Damn.

We still have time to mess this up!

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

In my day, never was longer.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

You are here: Home / Political Fundraising / Targeted Political Fundraising 2023-24 / Forget the Conventional Wisdom, or At Least Ignore It!

Forget the Conventional Wisdom, or At Least Ignore It!

by | 120 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

On Wisconsin!

With just 5 weeks left to go, we are embarking on our next big fundraising push. We’re now at the point where billionaire dollars are flying in to attack the good guys!

With headlies like this from the media:

Rush of Billionaire Cash Poised to Topple Democrats’ Key Senator
and
Tester falls behind in way he hasn’t before over two decades

We are supposed to be scared and demoralized.

Screw that – we have our secret weapons.

Four Directions turning out the Native vote.  Polling is not recognizing the motivation and enthusiasm of the BIPOC community, not to mention childless cat ladies.  And we can’t forget those “useless” women who are over 50!

The Republican party thinks defeating Tester is the key to Republican control of the Senate, we are not that short-sighted.  Definitely not giving up on Tester, but we can multitask.

Enter Nebraska.

Dan Osborn is a pro-choice, pro-labor Independent running for Senate in Nebraska against Republican Deb Fischer. He hasn’t taken a cent of corporate cash and has vowed never to do so.

His campaign for Senate spent most of 2024 in obscurity, ignored by the national media and written off by political observers despite the fact he has polled even with Deb Fischer since July. This has changed. In the last week polls have shown Dan up 1 point and attack ads against Dan from outside Republican groups have started pouring into the state.

We have talked with the director of field operations for the Osborn campaign, and they have committed to using our donations for field operations.  Nothing else.

The Osborn campaign has had little funding and a skeleton staff until now, but with our support, the campaign is and will build out a state-wide grassroots operation, hiring field organizers and opening offices not just in Omaha and Lincoln, but in rural Nebraska towns such as Scottbluff, Kearney and North Platte. With our support, they will bring Dan’s message to voters across Nebraska and get out the vote on election day.

 

You want options?  We have options!

They want us rocking in a corner, but we’re going on offense!

Latest info on Angel matching in the first comment below.

Nebraska

Montana

North Carolina

OTHER NC THERMOMETER COMING IN A DAY OR SO

Arizona

WE MET OUR GOAL FOR THE AZ SUPREME COURT & ABORTION PROTECTION! GREAT WORK EVERYONE!

.

Reader Interactions

120Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    This was Monday’s Angel match info.

    We have $200 left on the Angel match for the AZ Supreme Court fundraising

    We have $1,500 left on the Angel match for AZ Candidates.

    We have a $1,000 Angel match to get us started on Field Operations for the Osborn Nebraska senate race

    For all of these, matching up to $100 per person when you tell us about your donation in the comments or by email to WaterGirl.

    edit: All angels above are anonymous!

    Please see comment #112 for Angel matching available on Tuesday morning.

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    UH HUH

    UH HUH

     
    99 percent of Hurricane Matthew aid requested by NC denied by Trump administration
    Updated: May. 10, 2017 at 4:56 PM CDT
    RALEIGH, NC (WNCN) – The State of North Carolina requested $929 million from the federal government to help with costs associated with Hurricane Matthew, but the state will be receiving far less than that, according to an announcement by Gov. Roy Cooper.
    North Carolina will receive only $6.1 million from the Trump administration. That’s 99 percent less than the requested amount.
    In a letter Cooper sent to the president and other officials today, he expressed “shock and disappointment in the lack of federal funding for Hurricane Matthew recovery efforts.
     

    The governor had worked with Sen. Thom Tillis and Representatives David Price (D) and Rep. David Rouzer (R) in April to come up with a request to Congress to help cover the costs associated with the destruction left by Matthew.

     

    https://www.wbtv.com/story/35398478/99-percent-of-hurricane-matthew-aid-requested-by-nc-denied-by-trump-administration/

  3. 3.

    Bupalos

    Wow is that a killer ad.

    It’s an underdog type approach but I wish Brown was coming out a little hotter like that.

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    Also, please note that my “n” key is on strike, which means that if I don’t catch it, autocorrect changes the word to something else.

    Please be kind until I get this resolved.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    I didn’t want the post up top to get too long, so here’s the info from yesterday about the NC candidates.

    Key Candidates in North Carolina

    There is a lot of money sloshing around in North Carolina.  So we asked our NC partners for a short list of candidates who could really use our money and whose election would make a difference in the lives of North Carolinians and protect the state from its corrupt and overreaching Republican party.   They had one question for us:  Candidates at what level?   My answer was “any level; we want to support the most strategic races.”  Based on their recommendation, it clear that their focus was on the courts.

    Allison Riggs – NC State Supreme Court Justice (KEEP)

    The seven-justice NC Supreme Court has a 5-2 Republican majority.  The MAGA court threw out a voting rights case and allowed the legislature free reign to gerrymander the state.  Justice Riggs is a social justice attorney who was appointed by Governor Roy Cooper, and is up for partisan reelection against a Republican challenger who ruled that life begins at conception while on the Court of Appeal.  More about Judge Riggs here.

    Carolyn Thompson – NC Court of Appeals  (KEEP)

    Incumbent Judge Thompson is also up for partisan re-election.  She is African-American and focused on victims of domestic violence while in private practice.  As a state legislator, her opponent, Thomas Murry, tried to exempt NC from the ACA and pushed draconian voter ID laws.  More on Judge Thompson here.

    Raymond Smith – Challenger, State Senate (FLIP!)  

    Raymond Smith is an African American Gulf War veteran and former NC state Assembly member.  Smith was drawn out of his district (total coincidence, I’m sure!)  so he is running to flip a Senate seat in the Goldsboro area and shatter the Republican super-majority.  Let’s hope the Republican power move backfires on them.  His opponent, with the Republican-sounding name of Eldon “Buck” Sharpe Newton III is Chair of the Judiciary Committee.  Good ‘ol Buck championed outlawing public mask wearing in protests and shepherded a performative measure limiting voting rights to citizens.  More on Raymond Smith here.

    We trust our engaged and on-the-ground NC partners to recommend candidates, but we’ll also revisit other potential candidates in NC and elsewhere after Q3 fundraising totals are released (shortly).

  12. 12.

    BR

    Anyone know if Osborne would caucus with Democrats? I donated because he couldn’t be worse than the alternative.

  14. 14.

    ArchTeryx

    @BR: Seems likely based on his campaign positions. He’s certainly no Lieberman. He’s taking a very smart route, because the “D” is pure poison in Nebraska, but “I” might not trigger the same visceral loathing, and give him a puncher’s chance at winning the election

    If he wins, the hard test is who he votes for as Majority Leader. And sooner or later that question will come up in his campaign.

  16. 16.

    WaterGirl

    @BR: Dan Osborn has committed to not caucusing with either party at this point.  He is to taking party funds, from either party, as I understand it.

    But he’s pro-choice and pro-labor, and pro- some other things I care about.  So even though I for sure won’t like all his choices, he is 1,000 times better than a flat-out Republican who most definitely does’t was to allow me to make choices about my own body.

    And he won’t be the 51st R vote in the senate to give Rs a majority.

    Eyes on the prize, fellow BJ peeps!

  17. 17.

    EarthWindFire

    $100 each Osborne and Four Directions/Tester (glad to see we, or we adjacent, have a shot in NE)

    $30 for NC, $20 for AZ SC

    Thanks for directing my remaining 2024 contribution budget, WG!

  19. 19.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Right now, CNN and MSNBC both airing Kamala speaking at FEMA HQ.

    Umpteenth stark contrast between Kamala’s maturity and Trump’s childish buffoonery.

  20. 20.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Wyatt Salamanca: Since the speech is made at FEMA, it must involve policy.

    I only say because I’m shocked the news orgs would notice.  They probably wouldn’t if we weren’t dealing with the impact of a hurricane right now, however.

    Umpteenth stark contrast between Kamala’s maturity and Trump’s childish buffoonery.

    You say stark contrast like those in the media and undecided voters should be able to discern a difference…

  22. 22.

    Baud

    This was mentioned earlier but reddit has noticed. Hopefully other young people will.

    Harris says she backs legalizing marijuana, going further than Biden

  23. 23.

    Eric S.

    The Chicago Board of Elections emailed me today to inform me my mail in ballot has been sent to me.

     

    I also kicked in $25 to AZ over the weekend.

     

    ETA: My comment prompted myself to go get the mail. Not only did the email come today but so did the ballot.

  24. 24.

    ArchTeryx

    @Baud: About goddamn time. In New York State that horse left the barn over a decade ago, and a few years ago, recreational was also made legal here.

    Those of us that take it medically would have SO much easier a time traveling if the feds got out of the drug enforcement business with pot. They’ve done it unofficially for a while, but it needs to be made official, and everyone jailed on possession charges pardoned.

  26. 26.

    Hungry Joe

    One hundred Hungry Joe dollars headed to Nebraska.

    If Osborn votes with the Dems even half the time — and I suspect it’ll be way more than that — we’re ahead of the game. No GOP Senate majority means no blocking of judicial appointments. This alone is HUGE.

    Osborn may be our secret weapon. Kind of like North Carolina: If we elect Osborn, and Kamala grabs NC, the GOP ain’t taking the Senate, and T’s road to 270 EV will be forced into a near-impassible detour.

    (Oh — and 200 postcards headed to Montana, for Tester, on Oct. 24.)

  27. 27.

    H.E.Wolf

    @WaterGirl: Also, please note that my “n” key is on strike, which means that if I don’t catch it, autocorrect changes the word to something else.​

     You have my sympathies.

    Let’s go, ebraska! :)

  28. 28.

    frosty

    @Hungry Joe: 50 postcards for CA-47 done. Starting in on the next 50 now.

    And I did my first canvassing shift in PA-10 yesterday. About the same as usual, 21 houses on the walk list, 9 answered the door.

  29. 29.

    Hungry Joe

    @frosty: GREAT!

    I find canvassing easier than phone banking. People aren’t nearly as rude face-to-face as they are on the phone.

    (I should say, “MOST people … “)

  30. 30.

    Sister Golden Bear

    A little NC pick me up, Mark Robinson Craters In New Poll

    Support among Republicans for their party’s candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, has dropped by 20 percentage points, according to a new poll released Monday by East Carolina University. Among all voters polled, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein now has a 17-point lead over Robinson.

    The ECU Center for Survey Research poll shows a major shift in the governor’s race compared to its last poll, just a few months ago. The new poll has Stein with 50% of the vote, compared to Robinson with just 33%.

    In ECU’s previous poll, Robinson had the vote of 83% of fellow Republicans. That support has dropped to 63% of Republicans. Robinson used to lead male voters, but now Stein has the lead.

  33. 33.

    SatanicPanic

    @Baud: FINALLY. JFC Dems have been leaving votes on the table for that for years. It would have been a great wedge issue ten years ago.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    @SatanicPanic:

    Honestly, I’m skeptical about how much it moves votes. I’ve heard people claim so many things were killer issues that weren’t. But if it does here, I’ll be ecstatic.

  37. 37.

    SatanicPanic

    @Baud: Probably not anymore since so many places already legalized. It might have if, say, Hillary had included it in her platform. I still don’t know why Obama didn’t.

  38. 38.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @rikyrah: we need a few big billboards around nc, to remind folks of this. It’s neglect. I find it appalling, not sure how nc  coped.

    Or some carefully positioned radio/ interviews/podcasts. While Helene is so very prominently in folks minds.
    even a game show question…
    would you rather: have 6m after a hurricane for relief, like in 2017, or 300m for appropriate hurricane disaster relief?

    Jeepers

    Autocorrect is messing me up, I hope I caught and fixed everything

  40. 40.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @SatanicPanic: I still don’t know why Obama didn’t.

    Eminently understandable risk aversion.

    Obama created space for our politics to change but didn’t benefit much from it personally.

  41. 41.

    BR

    @SatanicPanic: ​

    Trump is trying to have it both ways. He gave a tepid endorsement of the Florida legalization referendum but when in office he was super anti cannabis. This is perfect to push out to low-info bros. Somehow they need to get this to the Joe Rogan crowd.

  43. 43.

    cain

    @Baud: The opportunity for private equity firms are vast. Buy up all these small cannabis companies, raise the prices, pay the people working a pittance – great profit.

    See, private schools, daycare, vets, old folks homes, bowling alleys, and shoe stores.

    When everything comes an index, it is profit as far as the eye can see!

  45. 45.

    Baud

    @BR:

    I don’t if they were paid or foreign trolls, but the reddit page I linked to above has comments that Dems, and Biden, always promise to legalize but never do.  That’ll probably be Rogan’s spin as well.

  47. 47.

    SatanicPanic

    @BR: I think that blunts the ability for Democrats to use it as a wedge issue. Like I said above, they should have done this years ago when it hadn’t already been legalized everywhere. now I think voters take it for granted.

  52. 52.

    stinger

    @SatanicPanic:

    I still don’t know why Obama didn’t.

    As a black man who had acknowledged publicly that he had smoked marijuana (when young), he couldn’t. He was already scary enough.

  55. 55.

    SatanicPanic

    @stinger: He came out in favor of gay marriage, which was polling at exactly the same percentage (58%) in 2015. I don’t think it would have cost him any votes.

    And don’t even get me started on Clinton and Biden not supporting legalization. That was just dumb.

  58. 58.

    Baud

    Anywho, Harris has done the right thing so this election will prove how salient of an issue legalization is.

  59. 59.

    Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    @WaterGirl:  In for $100 to 4 Directions Montana/Tester

    and $100 for Dan Osborne.

    W.G. You have all my sympathy for the keboard issues. I hope none of your important passwords have Ns in them!

  61. 61.

    BR

    Anyone find video of Harris’s speech at FEMA headquarters today? Seems like folks need to be reminded that the grownups are running this, since Trump is out there doing his photo op thing.

  62. 62.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    Umpteenth stark contrast between Kamala’s maturity and Trump’s childish buffoonery.

    You say stark contrast like those in the media and undecided voters should be able to discern a difference…

    The media prefer Trump’s buffoonery. Nothing made them as angry as the competence of the Biden administration.

  65. 65.

    SatanicPanic

    @Baud: Sure, there are lots of issues that on their own poll high but for various reasons don’t drive votes. And those issues are already being talked about by politicians and have been for decades. Marijuana legalization is an issue that before Kamala Harris no candidate for president had ever endorsed. If there’s some voter out there that really wants legal weed, why not appeal to them? The margins are so thin that even a few thousand voters in the right place matter.

    And every issue that you promote says something about the party promoting it. Marijuana legalization fits well into the party’s social justice and freedom focused platform. It’s harder to say Democrats want to make you miserable if they’re the only ones saying it’s OK to smoke some weed, you know?

     

    EDIT- but again, I don’t think it’s the issue it might have been ten years ago. It’s already been largely addressed at the state level where it matters.

  66. 66.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Rudy Nosferatu Ghouliani’s daughter Caroline has endorsed Kamala

    Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s daughter spoke out against former President Donald Trump in a new editorial for Vanity Fair on Monday.

    Caroline Rose Giuliani urged readers not to vote for the Republican presidential nominee she argued destabilized the nation and derailed her father’s life.

    “As Rudy Giuliani’s daughter, I’m unfortunately well-suited to remind Americans of just how calamitous being associated with Trump can be, even for those who are convinced he’s on their side,” she wrote.

    “Watching my dad’s life crumble since he joined forces with Trump has been extraordinarily painful, both on a personal level and because his demise feels linked to a dark force that threatens to once again consume America.”

    h/t https://www.rawstory.com/rudy-giuliani-daughter

  69. 69.

    TBone

    @BR: Deadline Whitehouse played it today, there will prolly be a clip soon.

    ETA But I keep thinking this is our current President’s forte, and will watch what he does.  He will not disappoint.

  73. 73.

    SatanicPanic

    @Baud: I think my case that it would likely result in a few more votes (and no measurable loss of votes) is stronger than the alternative.

  75. 75.

    zhena gogolia

    They did a Jasmine Crockett thing on SNL but it’s so inside baseball I can’t understand it. I guess that’s what Charli XCX looks like.

    ETA: I guess bottom line, whether or not I understand it, it’s not funny.

  76. 76.

    stinger

    @SatanicPanic: Support for marriage equality does not say Scary Black Man to the racists among us.

    Obama was already married, so it was unlikely he’d be kicking back in the White House with his gay husband. But legalizing weed — easy for some to imagine the Scary Black Man with his finger on the red button kicking back with a doobie. My god, they hated it when he wore a tan suit.

  78. 78.

    SatanicPanic

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Because it’s already been legalized in 22 states. No one in a legal state is changing their vote on it now because they can already buy all the weed they want. So potential gains are now limited to swing states that aren’t legal- WI, PA, and GA. And even in those states the issue isn’t as salient, because voters now know they can just legalize at the state level and not worry about the feds.

  79. 79.

    SatanicPanic

    @stinger: I highly doubt that anyone concerned about him getting high in the White House was under the impression that he’d need to get his drugs legally.

    Edit- also, there was plenty of insinuation on the right that Obama is gay.

  81. 81.

    Snowlan01

    Go Huskers!  . . .  It would be nice if Nebraska re-discovered its George W. Norris traditions.  The state used to take pride in being independent.   (I worked for the Unicameral early in my career, so I say this with personal experience.)

  83. 83.

    frosty

    @Hungry Joe: I did a phone bank once in 2004 and decided never again. I don’t like canvassing either (it’s hell on an introvert) but it beats talking on the phone.

    Ms F and I text each other; rarely if ever talk!

  86. 86.

    frosty

    @SatanicPanic: And to quote John Fetterman, a huge percentage of Pennsylvanians are near the “Candyland of New Jersey” where weed is legal. Add New York and Maryland now and it’s just the unlucky Yinzers on the west side who have to drive very far.

  87. 87.

    Maxim

    $25 to each of the 5 thermometers. I wish I could do more, but I’ve had some extra expenses.

    @frosty: I phone banked for Kerry. It was difficult because those poor folks had been hammered with ads and phone calls for months and they were beyond sick of it. Sometimes I felt like the calls did more harm than good.

    On the other hand, I once called local Democrats who had signed up somewhere or other to volunteer to get them to follow through, and that was a great experience. Virtually everyone I reached said yes. So I would happily do voter turnout calls and the like.

  89. 89.

    scribbler

    $25 to Nebraska/Osborne and $25 to Tester/Four Directions.  Thanks for all the hard work, WaterGirl!

  90. 90.

    Dagaetch

    $25 sent to Osborne. I’m not going to get my hopes up, but since he isn’t getting money help from the national Dem organizations I feel that’s a good race to contribute my small dollars to.

  91. 91.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @SatanicPanic: I don’t follow the cannabis thing much, but I like cbd.  However, I’ve been at jobs where they tell us up front, this non profit job receives federal funds, marijuana may be legal in Colorado, but it’s federally not legal, so don’t use it, when you work here.

    so maybe it’s slightly relevant in those swing states. Maybe, or maybe not. I don’t know much about the current anti marijuana folks…I don’t know the risks pro and con, for it to be part of the platform

  96. 96.

    WaterGirl

    Thanks to everyone who is donating!  This was my first day “up” after my Covid booster, and I just ran out of steam.  I promise I will catch all the comments for donations in the morning!

    This was a great start!

  98. 98.

    Ironcity

    @frosty: Yes, but we can always go to Ohio and get fireworks to blow our fingers off instead of getting weed and the jagoffs in Philly can’t.

  102. 102.

    LNNVA

    I gave $25 to Nebraska’s Osborne earlier this evening. Does that count for angel matches? I hope so. And, thanks for all you are doing Watergirl.

  103. 103.

    LNNVA

    On second thought, I didn’t know you were doing Osborne and went directly to his name on Act Blue. So, I probably messed up.

  111. 111.

    WaterGirl

    Okay, I am caught up on matches!  Thanks everybody, great first day

    I case I missed anyone, these are the comment #s with donations added to the spreadsheet.

    5
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    25
    26
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    53
    57
    59
    63
    80
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    90
    92
    93
    94
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    99
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    104
    106
    107
    108
    109
    110

    Reply here if you donated and your comment # isn’t listed.

  113. 113.

    WaterGirl

    We have a $1,000 Angel match for Four Directions / Jon Tester in Montana!

    We have a NEW $1,000 Angel match to keep us going on Field Operations for the Osborn Nebraska senate race.

    We have $1,250 left on the Angel match for AZ Candidates.

    For all of these, matching up to $100 per person when you tell us about your donation in the comments or by email to WaterGirl.

    AZ Supreme Court fundraising is complete!

    All of today’s angels are anonymous!

  114. 114.

    Can I do this later?

    $100 for Four Directions Montana, in honor of Sheehy refusing to apologize for his comments stereotyping natives in the debate last night.

Comments are closed.