Darcy Burner

WA-08 (Map)

I’m mostly focusing on Senate races, but I’ve included Darcy Burner’s U.S. House race for three reasons:
1) She is a terrific candidate (more on that below).
2) She is challenging a horrible incumbent, who narrowly defeated her in 2006.
3) She recently lost her house in a fire, so she can really use some extra help.

Darcy Burner is out in front on a number of issues. I’m particularly impressed with her initiative. She came up with a Responsible Plan to End the War and has gotten other candidates to sign on as co-sponsors. We need to send her to Congress to enact that plan!

Darcy Burner’s website

Raised on this page: 3 110
Raised across ActBlue: 14,446 523,468

Mark Udall

CO-Sen (Map)

In this open seat, Congressman Udall is in a close race with very conservative former Congressman Bob Schaffer. Check out Udall’s two minute message on his website,
then come back here and contribute.

Mark Udall’s homepage

Raised on this page: 5 160
Raised across ActBlue: 2,121 113,214

Jeff Merkley

OR-Sen (Map)

Jeff Merkley has been a remarkably effective Speaker of Oregon’s State House, considering that the House is divided almost evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Now he’s challenging incumbent Republican Senator Gordon Smith. Smith is not as conservative as some of the lunatics in the Senate, but he has been far more supportive of George W. Bush than he would have you believe. This looks to be a very close race.

Jeff Merkley’s website

Raised on this page: 3 85
Raised across ActBlue: 4,677 373,783

Al Franken

MN-Sen (Map)

Al Franken may be a comedian, but he’s been studying the issues seriously for a long time. He would be a tremendous improvement over incumbent Senator Norm Coleman. Like Gordon Smith of Oregon and Susan Collins of Maine, Coleman is a self-described moderate who is not really all that moderate.

Al Franken’s website

Raised on this page: 2 75
Raised across ActBlue: 8,159 240,063

Tom Allen

ME-Sen (Map)

Incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins parades as a moderate, but when push comes to shove, she nearly always falls in line with the Bush Administration. We have an excellent chance to replace her with a true progressive: popular Congressman Tom Allen. Check out the introductory video on his website.

Tom Allen’s website

Raised on this page: 3 100
Raised across ActBlue: 2,968 122,887

Jeanne Shaheen

NH-Sen (Map)

Popular former Governor Shaheen has an excellent chance of unseating very conservative incumbent Senator John Sununu, who is way out of step with this blue trending state. Sununu is pro-war, anti-choice, pro-school prayer, pro-big business (even when it comes to retaining tax breaks for businesses that move overseas!) and favors privatizing Social Security. Shaheen has been well ahead in the polls throughout the campaign, but the race has begun to tighten recently.

Jeanne Shaheen’s website

Raised on this page: 4 85
Raised across ActBlue: 3,497 303,216

Rick Noriega

TX-Sen (Map)

This is probably the longest shot on my list, but there is reason to be optimistic. Incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn is about as exciting as a doorknob, and the doorknob probably rivals him in the IQ department. Challenger Rick Noriega is much more gifted in both areas. He’s currently a State Representative and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Texas Army National Guard. He’s a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. He can speak with authority about the need to bring our troops home from Iraq.

Rick Noriega’s website

Raised on this page: 4 110
Raised across ActBlue: 18,112 1,496,473

Kay Hagan

NC-Sen (Map)

Elizabeth Dole’s North Carolina Senate seat wasn’t supposed to be in jeopardy this year, but now it’s on everybody’s radar. Kay Hagan emerged from a competitive Democratic primary battle as a stronger candidate than many expected. And Elizabeth Dole has some major weaknesses. There is not even a pretense of moderation in her record. And she’s highly vulnerable to charges that she’s out of touch with her constituents. After living in Kansas and Washington, D.C. for decades as the wife of former Senator Bob Dole, she ostensibly moved back to North Carolina so she could run for the seat of then-retiring Senator Jesse Helms. She won the seat; however, by any reasonable measure, she does not really live in the state. Kay Hagan is currently a State Senator who has been praised for her effectiveness. She is no flaming liberal, but her stands on most issues are pretty progressive. She’d be an astronomical improvement over Dole.

Kay Hagan’s website

Raised on this page: 2 75
Raised across ActBlue: 8,894 1,507,581

Mark Begich

AK-Sen (Map)

This seat is currently held by Ted Stevens, the arrogant, extremely conservative king of pork barrel spending. It’s likely that Stevens will wind up in jail next year instead of being returned to the Senate. Federal agents raided his house last year, and he was recently indicted on seven counts. Other nefarious dealings have tainted most of the Alaska Republican party, providing a rare opportunity to replace both Stevens and the equally heinous Don Young, the state’s only member of Congress, with Democrats. Popular Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich is the Democratic standard bearer for the Senate seat.

Mark Begich’s website

Raised on this page: 0 0
Raised across ActBlue: 4,705 137,538

Tom Udall

NM-Sen (Map)

The retirement of Republican Senator Pete Domenici has turned this Senate race into a free-for-all. All three of New Mexico’s current congressmembers vied for this seat. Steve Pearce and Heather Wilson duked it out on the Republican side, with the more conservative Pearce eking out the nomination. Tom Udall had the Democratic field to himself. He’s had a considerable lead over Pearce in the polls throughout the campaign, though recently the race has tightened somewhat. Udall’s prospects still look very good—the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee cancelled its planned expenditures on behalf of Pearce, seemingly giving up on this seat. However, third party attack ads could have an effect, so we can’t take this race for granted.

Tom Udall’s website

Raised on this page: 4 135
Raised across ActBlue: 1,788 421,527

Democratic National Committee

DNC Chair Howard Dean’s “50 State Strategy” has been paying off. Democratic candidates are suddenly competitive in places that until very recently were written off as solidly red. We’ve won all three recent special elections for the U.S. House of Representatives, all of them longtime Republican seats, including one in Louisiana and one in Mississippi. All this success notwithstanding, the national committee level is the only area in which Republicans are dramatically outraising Democrats. According to end of June reports, the Republican National Committee had well over three times the cash on hand of the Democratic National Committee. Let’s help chip away at that disparity and give the DNC the resources it needs to keep up the good work.

DNC website

Raised on this page: 2 75
Raised across ActBlue: 3,445 209,768

Barack Obama

President

Obama is running a great campaign and McCain is running an embarrassingly bad one so far. However, the right-wing lies and smears are coming, and you can bet they’ll only get worse. Obama needs to counter them at every turn. Our nation simply cannot afford another Republican president; please give what you can afford to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Barack Obama’s website
Fight the Smears web page

Raised on this page: 1 50
Raised across ActBlue: 11,360 872,585