Why Do Republicans Fear Music?

Howie Klein — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 17:28:01 +0000

Lately the Republican Party has been slamming Democratic candidates for having been in bands in high school and college. Let's face it, the arts have never been a conservative thing.

True, none of them attacked Sonny Bono for having been in Sonny and Cher before he became the congressman from Palm Springs but when it comes to Beto O'Rourke in Texas and Kara Eastman in Nebraska, you'd think they both had joined a terrorist group.

Conservatives fear change and they fear young people:
Kara's communications director told me that Paul Ryan's SuperPAC has been spending loads of corporate money in her Omaha district trying to villainize her for her college performance band.

"We find it ironic that the opposition would want to attack Kara, and Beto, for doing something many American teens do-- join a band, sing songs about issues that matter to them, and express themselves through music. Congress would be a better place with more musicians, and while we were joking about a College Band Congressional Caucus, Kara is looking forward to working with politicians like Beto who lead with heart-- and music."

When Kara and I first met, Green Day came up. I was the president of their record label and she was a fan and friend. Her husband's band, Horace Pinker, opened shows on a Green Day tour and Green Day stayed at their house after the first concert.

"For me, Green Day will always be the band we watched play in small clubs all over the world," Kara told me. "How many people can say Tré Cool serenaded them in their apartment? Well, maybe a lot. The last time I saw them live, I paid $5 to get in. After that concert, I brought Billie Joe back to my friends' house and to this day they still can’t believe they met the lead singer of Green Day. We’ve all come a long way from those days. Now, they are busy playing sold-out arenas with their political anthems, and I am running for Congress."

"One thing," she continued, "we still have in common though: Green Day and I are not fans of the Trump administration. A verse from one of Green Day’s newest songs, "Troubled Times," says this:

What part of history we learned
When it's repeated
Some things will never overcome
If we don't seek it
The world stops turning
Paradise burning
So don't think twice
We live in troubled times

"And we do indeed, live in troubled times. We cannot continue passing environmental issues off to our children to deal with later. The time to deal with climate change is now. Working families need to be paid a living wage, so they no longer have to work two or three jobs to make ends meet. They should be able to take sick leave when needed and have the time they need to bond with their babies after childbirth. Parents should not weigh the costs before seeking emergency care for their children, or skip preventative care because they can’t afford it. Prescription medications must be affordable. I’m not going to stop until I get into Congress and can work to ensure that we come out standing tall after these troubled times. There is so much work that needs to be done and you can help me accomplish these goals."

And... Blue America wants to help her get into Congress and help her accomplish these goals. We're hoping to raise some contributions for her campaign by giving away a super rare RIAA-cerified double platinum award plaque for the 1994 Green Day hit album Insomniac.

Just contribute-- any amount-- to Kara's campaign on this page, or by tapping the thermometer on the right, and you'll be eligible for the random drawing. We'll pick one person at random. If you give $2,000 you get a chance to get the platinum award. If you give $27 or $10 you get the same chance to get the award. (Yes, we're Democrats, not Republicans; that's how we roll. In fact, if you don't have the cash to give and you want the plaque, just send a note to us at Blue America, P.O. Box 27201. Los Angeles, CA 90027 and you'll have the same chance as everyone else.)

Many contributors want to know if their donation will help. There are no guarantees of course, but polling shows that the residents of NE-02, in Omaha and its suburbs, want a new congressmember representing them. The most recent polling shows a very tight toss up with Kara slightly ahead of Trump rubber-stamp Don Bacon-- 50.7% to 49.3%.

If Kara can continue to get her message out, she will win this one. We need your help-- whether you're a Green Day fan or not-- although, I should mention that Christmas is coming up and what a great present that plaque would make!

You can follow Kara Eastman for NE-02 on Twitter, and volunteer to help phone bank/door-knock/postcard/host an event for her campaign here.

Thanks for always doing what you can to make this a better world,

Howie, for the entire Blue America team

Help Dethrone Steve King Today

Howie Klein — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 18:32:45 +0000

Steve King was once named "America’s Worst Member of Congress" — not because of all the disgusting and divisive things he says, but because of his ineffectiveness. In 16 years in office, he’s passed one bill-- renaming a post office. Earlier this year, Rolling Stone named King one of the "Hateful Eight" most bigoted members of Congress. And if that’s not enough, King was also recently named one of the "15 Worst for Women" in Congress. The list of horrible things Steve King has said and done is endless.

But this post isn’t about Steve King, it’s about the man who’s going to beat him in November, J.D. Scholten.

When J.D. Scholten launched his campaign over a year ago, no one gave him much of a chance. A first-time candidate with no real ability to self-fund his campaign, J.D. looked like a longshot in a race against the high profile eight-term incumbent. But anyone who thought he didn’t have a chance hasn’t met J.D. A former minor league baseball player, Scholten is as competitive a person as you’ll ever meet-- and a classic team player. As he said in his first big speech after kicking off his campaign last year, "Youthful stubbornness, an athlete’s energy, and a passion for helping others are a dangerous combination." Dangerous for Steve King and his own peculiar brand of bigotry and ego-centricism.

Scholten has focused that energy and passion into his campaign; in a geographically huge district, J.D. spends nearly every day crisscrossing the district’s 39 counties. He put 35,000 miles on his car, and then, as he says, "People didn’t notice me when I came into town, so I upgraded!" He now drives in, works from, and often sleeps in, a 29-foot RV with his campaign logo plastered on all sides. He stops at the small towns most people usually just drive by. He’s made it his mission to get out and talk to the voters, to gain their trust, and to earn their votes. He spends every day talking to anyone who will listen about his campaign motto of "Standing Tall for All," a motto that isn’t really about him being 6’6”, but about standing up for a healthcare system, an economy, and a government that works for all of us. He’s turned a progressive message into a populist rallying cry, and people are responding, eager for a representative that cares more about building the district’s future than dividing it apart.

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When the final quarterly fundraising reports of 2017 came out, most were shocked to see that Scholten had actually out-raised Steve King.

This caused the Cook Political Report to declare Steve King’s seat "at risk." Most impressively, Scholten, who regularly talks about getting big money out of politics, has done all this while refusing to accept corporate PAC money (Steve King receives 30% of his donations from corporate PACs). Also of note, in each of those quarters, he’s received contributions from every county in district AND every single one of the 50 states. With nearly 13,000 individual donors and an average gift size of less than $20, Team Scholten is creating a true district-wide, statewide and nationwide grassroots movement to "Dethrone the King."

Over the past month, Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, Inside Elections, and the Cook Political Report have all shifted the rankings in this race, moving it out of the "Safe Republican" category. Just as Blue America has, national groups like MoveOn and Our Revolution, have now endorsed J.D.

And as Scholten likes to say on the campaign trail, "Tell me this race is unwinnable, tell me Steve King is unbeatable, and that only adds fuel to my fire!"

When J.D. Scholten launched his campaign over a year ago, no one gave him much of a chance; far fewer people in the 4th district are doubting him now.

Please, join the movement to Dethrone Steve King today!

Randy Bryce Won Tuesday-- Now The Hard Part Begins

Howie Klein — Sun, 19 Aug 2018 06:19:12 +0000

Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Tuesday's primaries in Connecticut, Vermont, Wisconsin and Minnesota added up to a very good day for Democrats and for progressives up and down the tickets. In every state and in every contested congressional election, far more votes were cast in Democratic races than in Republican races. That's a clear indication of Democratic enthusiasm and Republican lack thereof.

Let's take Vermont, a state that went for Hillary, and Wisconsin, a state that went for Trump, as examples. Both states had highly contested gubernatorial races. Democrats overwhelmingly nominated progressive Christine Hallquist in a 4-way contest. The Republican race pitted popular incumbent Phil Scott against a far right challenger backed by the NRA. Not only did Hallquist, a transgender woman, win more votes than Scott, but 57,102 voters participated in the Democratic primary, while only 35,840 bothered to show up for the Republican primary.

In Wisconsin, 537,840 voters showed up for the Democratic primary but just 456,007 came for the GOP primary, where GOP incumbent Scott Walker is polling significantly under State Superintendent of Education, Tony Evers, who won the Democratic primary.

And in the big congressional races, progressives won the day-- Ilhan Omar in Minnesota, Jahana Hayes (who faced down a Chamber of Commerce establishment shill) in Connecticut, and Randy "IronStache" Bryce in southeast Wisconsin.

There's a good chance that the first time you heard about Randy it was from us. Why would I say that? We helped the Working Families Party and state Senator Scott Larson recruit him to run long before the DCCC had ever heard about him. He was "just" a grassroots veterans and union leader activist at the time. But he was the answer to our decades-long prayers about finding someone who could stand up to Paul Ryan. Bryce didn't only stand up to Paul Ryan, he built a brand and a campaign team for himself that drove Ryan, speaker of the House, out of the race.

After the primary results showed a 20 point win-- and showed more Democrats coming to the WI-01 polls than Republicans-- Bryce wrote that "I’d really like to take the opportunity to thank Blue America for all of the incredible help getting us to where we are today. This wouldn’t be possible without amazing people doing amazing things."

"Next stop," he continued, "is to take out Paul Ryan’s handpicked successor. He claims to be a 'manufacturer.' Truth is-- he’s a corporate lawyer who outsourced American jobs to Mexico and China. Trump recently tweeted out an endorsement for him. I really hope he comes to campaign for him."

Like in most districts across the country, voters have an opportunity to get even with Republicans for what they've done to us, while Randy Bryce is telling Wisconsinites what he plans to do for them. "The top issue in the district," he told us, "is health care. It’s really heartbreaking to listen to someone say that they can’t afford to live. Health care isn’t a privilege and I’m going to fight like hell to make sure that we get Medicare-for-All passed. There IS enough to go around but we need to stop giving the wealthiest donors all of the breaks and help out those who do the work."

Needless to say, by Wednesday Ryan's SuperPAC had already started spending big to smear Randy. "It’s not a surprise-- we knew they were coming," he said. "The Republicans don’t have any ideas that help us so it’s all that they have left. It just keeps the batteries charged and makes me want to work even harder. Again-- thank you! I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for you."

But now the hard work starts. Ryan's SuperPAC is slated to spend as much as $5 million dollars against Randy. They were already spending during the primary in the hope of knocking him out then. That didn't work. Nor did it deter them from pushing the Ryan clone they picked as their candidate, Bryan Steil.

Please help Randy get through the next two-and-a-half months and take back Wisconsin's first congressional district for working men and women instead of for the rich and privileged. There's a reason why Bernie picked Randy as his first candidate to endorse and why he picked Racine as the first city he campaigned in for a congressional candidate. He wants to see Randy Bryce in Congress. If you do too, please consider contributing what you can by clicking on the 2018 Blue America congressional thermometer on the right.

The DCCC begs candidates to not include controversial issues on their websites. Randy Bryce has done the exact opposite-- straight talk from someone who plans to work in Congress reforming it. Check out his campaign platform here.

Let's take Vermont, a state that went for Hillary, and Wisconsin, a state that went for Trump, as examples. Both states had highly contested gubernatorial races. Democrats overwhelmingly nominated progressive Christine Hallquist in a 4-way contest. The Republican race pitted popular incumbent Phil Scott against a far right challenger backed by the NRA. Not only did Hallquist, a transgender woman, win more votes than Scott, but 57,102 voters participated in the Democratic primary, while only 35,840 bothered to show up for the Republican primary.

And in the big congressional races, progressives won the day-- Ilhan Omar in Minnesota, Jahana Hayes (who faced down a Chamber of Commerce establishment shill) in Connecticut, and Randy "IronStache" Bryce in southeast Wisconsin.

There's a good chance that the first time you heard about Randy it was from us. Why would I say that? We helped the Working Families Party and state Senator Chris Larson recruit him to run long before the DCCC had ever heard about him. He was "just" a grassroots veterans and union leader activist at the time. But he was the answer to our decades-long prayers about finding someone who could stand up to Paul Ryan. Bryce didn't only stand up to Paul Ryan, he built a brand and a campaign team for himself that drove Ryan, speaker of the House, out of the race.

After the primary results showed a 20 point win-- and showed more Democrats coming to the WI-01 polls than Republicans-- Bryce wrote that "I’d really like to take the opportunity to thank Blue America for all the incredible help getting us to where we are today. This wouldn’t be possible without amazing people doing amazing things."

Like in most districts across the country, voters have an opportunity to get even with Republicans for what they've done to us, while Randy Bryce is telling Wisconsinites what he plans to do for them. "The top issue in the district," he told us, "is health care. It’s really heartbreaking to listen to someone say that they can’t afford to live. Health care isn’t a privilege and I’m going to fight like hell to make sure that we get Medicare-for-All passed. There IS enough to go around but we need to stop giving the wealthiest donors all of the breaks and help out those who do the work."Goal Thermometer

But now, the hard work starts.

Ryan's SuperPAC is slated to spend as much as $5 million dollars against Randy. They were already spending during the primary in the hope of knocking him out then. That didn't work. Nor did it deter them from pushing the Ryan clone they picked as their candidate, Bryan Steil.

There's a reason why Bernie picked Randy as his first candidate to endorse and why he picked Racine as the first city he campaigned in for a congressional candidate. He wants to see Randy Bryce in Congress. If you do too, please consider contributing what you can by clicking on the 2018 Blue America congressional thermometer up on the right.

Please help Randy get through the next two-and-a-half months and take back Wisconsin's first congressional district for working men and women instead of for the rich and privileged.

So, it's 'ON like DONKEY KONG' in WI-01. Are you ready to fight? Here's where to start.

Thanks for always doing what you can to make this a better world,

Howie, for the entire Blue America team

DCCC Still Refusing To Back Progressive Primary Winners

Howie Klein — Sun, 12 Aug 2018 20:46:03 +0000

Credit: The Jimmy Dore Show on YouTube

Last Tuesday, one of the most promising candidates running for governor, Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, lost his race. I tweeted that he ran a great campaign but that it was now time to get behind Gretchen Whitmer and help her defeat Trump's hand-picked extremist candidate Bill Schuette. One of the first people to "like" my tweet was Abdul. Whitmer might not be my kind of candidate-- nor his-- but she's the legitimately nominated Democrat-- and the only way to stop Schuette.

After the congressional races on the same day, the DCCC added some of the winners to their Red-to-Blue page... but not the progressives who won. This is outrageous.

On Tuesday, James Thompson won an astounding 65.3% in his Wichita-based district, a nearly two-to-one victory. He congratulated his opponent on a well-run campaign and she did likewise and now Democrats in the 4th district are united and working towards defeating Ron Estes. Although not with the DCCC, who is, once again, refusing to recognize Thompson as a candidate.

Likewise in southwest Michigan, the progressive in the race, Matt Longjohn, came in a strong first in a 4-way race. He beat the establishment fave, wealthy lobbyist George Franklin, 37% to 29% with the other progressive in the race, Dave Benac, taking 21%. Democrats in MI-06 are unified now in their determination to defeat Fred Upton-- but not the DCCC. Longjohn was recognized by President Obama as one of America's best physicians calling him one of the "top healthcare innovators in America." Not good enough for the DCCC, which is still pouting that a wealthy conservative lobbyist like Franklin didn't win.

This isn't new to the DCCC. Rahm Emanuel inserted it into their DNA when he was chairman and he was infamous for undercutting progressives who won primaries and refusing to back them in the general election. Many of them would go on to win without his help, making them independent of the corrupt Democratic establishment, a boon to them and to their constituents and to all of America.

As you probably know, Blue America has a page for progressive primary winners who the DCCC refuses to back.

I just want to point out that one of the candidates on it is J.D. Scholten, who is going up against America's most vile bigot, Steve King in Iowa's 4th congressional district. J.D. was in a tough 3-way primary over two months ago. And he won over 50% of the vote! But the DCCC has still refused to get behind his campaign.

One pundit in Iowa told me there was more to it than just how much the DCCC hates progressives. "They make money off King," she told me. "Every time he says something racist or insane, they send out a fundraising letter. They'd rather see him stay in Congress as a cash-cow for themselves than see someone actually defeat him."

She told me that staffers at the DCCC were disappointed that small donors were contributing to J.D. so heavily and that as of the June 30 reporting deadline he has outraised King significantly-- $755,973 to $505,775. (Awwww. Here's your tiny violin,

Should Republican Billionaires Be Picking Democratic Candidates?

Howie Klein — Sun, 05 Aug 2018 08:05:49 +0000

Let's start with some news: Last week, Fox News' James Rupert Murdoch, a British billionaire, put half a million dollars into one of Nancy Jacobson's shady No Labels SuperPACs that aims to fill Congress with candidates from the Republican Wing of the Democratic Party.

Their current goal is a smear campaign against Alan Grayson.

Most recently, Jacobson pulled off the same filth against Marie Newman in Illinois’ 3rd District House primary, spending $931,600 to spread absolute lies against Newman while bolstering anti-Choice Blue Dog Dan Lipinski.

Jacobson, widely considered one of the most vicious and destructive players in American politics, runs a dark web of 8 of the most pernicious and sleazy SuperPACs in the country, United for Progress, United Together, Forward Not Back, Progress Tomorrow, Patriotic Americans PAC, Citizens for a Strong America, etc, entirely funded by contributions from 5 and 6-figure right wing donors, such as Rupert Murdoch, his son James Murdoch, Chicago White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, hedge fund manager Louis Bacon, former Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan Selig and Wheels Inc. executive Jim Frank.

By Friday they had spent $138,401 on mail and digital ads trying to bolster Grayson's worthless right-of-center New Dem opponent, Darren Soto, and attacking Grayson.

This cycle, Jacobson has also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from Republican contributors trying to win Democratic nominations for far right candidates running against progressives. Recently she failed in Pennsylvania, where Susan Wild beat No Labels DINO John Morganelli and she failed in Albuquerque, where Debra Haaland beat the No Labels DINO, Damon Martinez.

Darren Soto is exactly the kind of easily corruptible, fake Democrat Jacobson, the Murdochs and other GOP billionaires want to see beat progressives like Grayson. Soto voted to prosecute all abortions as murder and voted to force women who want an abortion to undergo a humiliating procedure called "transvaginal ultrasound." Since being primaried by Grayson he's been apologizing for those votes, saying he "made a mistake."

He hasn't apologized for the votes that earned him "A" ratings from the NRA-- twice. And because of those hair-raising votes, the NRA endorsed him. He voted for Trump-sponsored laws 40 times in Congress and both times impeaching Trump came up in Congress, Soto voted NO. The reason No Labels is so enthusiastic about him is because he has said that he is "open-minded" about phasing out Social Security benefits or eliminating them altogether, No Labels top issue.

Meanwhile, Soto is one of Congress' most corrupt Democrats, well known for partying with lobbyists, spending taxpayer money and campaign money illegally on personal items for himself and his wife. He has even accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign support from Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her charter school allies. Generally speaking he's been a big waste of a solidly blue seat in Congress, accomplishing nothing for anyone... but himself. That compares badly with Grayson's record:

During a debate with Grayson last week, Soto claimed "to be a great champion of women’s rights," a lie Grayson directly challenged, bringing up the specifics of Soto's shameful voting record. Soto had no answer... except to say he regrets those votes. He doesn't regret them enough to turn down the help he's getting now from the anti-Choice extremists who are flooding central Florida with lies against Grayson and nonsensical assertions of Soto's grandeur.

Blue America members have been helping Grayson with his election campaigns since 2006. And he's never let us down-- always one of the 2 or 3 best members of Congress and living up to his promises.

He needs us again now.The primary is August 28 and he really needs to get on the air and respond to the lies Jacobson and Murdock are flooding TV and radio with. Please consider contributing what you can by clicking on the Blue America 2018 congressional elections thermometer on the right.

As of yesterday another dark money PAC had bought ads on one of the big Spanish language radio stations-- one ad every hour until election day! That's called brain-washing. It's what fascists do; it's what Republicans do.

Republican billionaires know their party is going to lose control of Congress in November. So they are working to defeat progressives and make certain friendly conservative DINOs become the nominees of the Democratic Party.

We can't let this happen. It's our party, not theirs.

Another Texas District Not As Safe As The GOP Thought

Howie Klein — Sun, 29 Jul 2018 15:22:55 +0000

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Blue America has endorsed Mike Siegel for the congressional seat that stretches from Tomball and Cypress in the exurbs northwest of Houston, through Prairie View, Brenham and Weimar into northern Austin and its suburbs. Mike beat his TX-10 primary opponent with over 70% of the vote. Now he'll face entrenched incumbent Michael McCaul, one of the richest members of Congress. The DCCC has refused to offer him any assistance, as they have with many progressives running this cycle. Mike's been raising decent grassroots money in this extremely gerrymandered district and as of the June 30 FEC reporting deadline he had brought in $175,279. That's already more than anyone has raised against McCaul in a decade.

Friday, the Austin water utility reported that McCaul's sprawling West Austin home used more city-supplied water than any other single-family residence in 2017-- more than a million gallons, something McCaul is desperate to cover up.

Coincidentally, the same week that McCaul’s water waste came to light, Mike received the national endorsement of the Sierra Club. "McCaul’s water-hogging is consistent with his worldview," Mike told us. "He believes this world is a playground for the rich, never mind the needs of the rest of us. Take his vote for the 2017 tax cuts: over $40 million went into the pockets of his family, and then he voted to cut our healthcare and retirement... We need to move past this latest gilded age and get to a place where everyone has a fair shot."

This week, Mike made the point that there are many societal functions that should not be for-profit. He reminded his supporters that

"the GOP family separation policy is not just a cynical show to motivate hateful Republican voters, it is also a profit-center. A growth industry. A wellspring of extravagant fortunes for well-connected entrepreneurs. And a source of political contributions. Private prison operators donate tens of millions of dollars to political candidates. My general election opponent, Rep. Michael McCaul, has received at least $15,000 from jailers profiting from immigrant detention, including Corrections Corporation of America (now "CoreCivic") and the Geo Group. In his capacity as Chairman of Homeland Security, McCaul advocates to fill more beds in immigrant detention centers. There is a direct line between the money he receives and the policies he creates."

Yes, what he's talking about is America's prison industrial complex and warns us that "the influence of companies like Geo Corp and CoreCivic threatens to take immigration policy out of the hands of the American people and into the hands of those who profit for suffering... In a functioning democratic system, our elected representatives would not allow for so much suffering to be conducted in our name."

WATCH Mike Siegel's first video, "You Can't Buy People".

He went on to contrast McCaul's record with what he's promising to do in Congress:

"Two-thirds of the American people oppose family separation. In November we have a chance to hold some of the key perpetrators accountable, including Michael McCaul. I will make sure that every Texas 10th voter knows that McCaul supported separating mothers from their children from the first day the policy was announced. As the Democratic nominee, I have promised to reject all corporate PAC donations, and I am committed to undoing the privatization of our immigration detention system and fighting for a larger overhaul of how we treat migrant families, asylum seekers, guest workers, students, and other visitors to this country.

This summer, my campaign successfully petitioned the Texas Democratic Party to add opposition to private detention centers to its statewide platform. The next step is to change our representative."

Voters across the country are ready to throw out corrupt and self-dealing politicians. McCaul is one of the worst, using his chairmanship to advance a pernicious industry that in return, fills his campaign coffers. Removing him from office will be a victory for human rights and common decency.

We hope Blue America members will help by contributing to Mike Siegel's campaign at a special ActBlue page. This page assists progressives who won their primaries by have been abandoned by the DCCC. Small contributions add up and help beat even the wealthiest GOP plutocrats and oligarchs like Michael McCaul.

Thanks for always doing what you can to make a better world,

Howie, for the entire Blue America team

A District To Win Back In Maine

Howie Klein — Sun, 22 Jul 2018 14:09:31 +0000

Maine's second congressional district isn't white collar Portland or ritzy Kennebunkport. ME-02 is an all-American blue collar district. It's a swing district that Obama won by about 10 points both times he ran but that Hillary lost by about 10 points to Trump. The Democratic establishment was looking for a Blue Dog to run, a Republican-lite character who would sound like a less extreme version of the current congressman, Trump enabler Bruce Poliquin. Instead, Mainers chose one of their own, Jared Golden, a populist leader who doesn't act like anything... he's an authentic working class guy and Marine veteran. Golden has a great record of accomplishment as one of the leaders in the state House. He has a well-rounded platform, but his top issue is healthcare.

Blue America asked him to write a guest post explaining why:

Mainers Want To Talk About Healthcare
by Jared Golden

As I travel across Maine's 2nd Congressional District-- the largest district geographically east of the Mississippi River-- the one issue voters want to talk about most is healthcare. When speaking with small business owners, private building contractors, those working in Maine's fishing industry, the best shipbuilders in the world at Bath Iron Works, and Mainers of every stripe, more often than not, the discussion turns quickly to healthcare. And it's no wonder. For years, the hard-working people of Maine-- and America-- have struggled under the ever-increasing challenges associated with ensuring they and their loved ones have access to affordable, quality care.

Hearing their stories has given me both hope and determination. Hope because the folks I meet remind me of how ruggedly independent the people of Maine are; determination because these same people need a representative who has their back in Congress. Unfortunately, the current office-holder, Republican Bruce Poliquin, has turned a deaf ear to these stories. In fact, Poliquin refused to even meet with the people he is elected to represent about the issue when, last year, the Congress was debating the repeal of the ACA. Ultimately, Poliquin voted to pull the rug from under his constituents that would have left more than 100,000 without healthcare. Fortunately, this partisan effort failed due to three courageous Republican Senators but, if Poliquin had been successful, devastating consequences would have soon followed.

The American Health Care Act of 2017 passed the House of Representatives in May of 2017 with the help of my opponent. The AHCA would have made dramatic changes to Medicaid, a program, that for 50-plus years, has served the needs of the poor and disabled, including low-income seniors, and children living in low-income homes. Despite the fact that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected 23 million additional Americans would become uninsured, Poliquin still voted for this flawed legislation. And the bad news didn't stop there.

Maine is a rural state but, in the 2nd District we take rural to another level. Mainers living far from the urban centers of the state rely heavily on rural healthcare clincs and hospitals located throughout the district. Poliquin's vote would have devastated that network leading to a large percentage-- if not all-- of these facilities closing their doors. That would have left many of his constituents without care, plus led to the elimination many good-paying jobs thus causing a double-whammy to local economies. And you don't need to take my word for it. “We’re all worried,” Jeffrey Austin, vice president of government affairs at the Maine Hospital Association said in an article published by the Portland Press Herald. “The average operating margins in Maine hospitals are about 1 percent. There just isn’t room for dramatic negative impacts.”

The Maine Hospital Association opposed the repeal Poliquin voted for. And then there is the looming opioid crisis that Maine is facing. Poliquin's repeal would make a terrible situation even more unbearable. In a March 2017 piece published in Perspective Magazine, doctors Peter Friedman, Christina M. Andrews and Keith Humphreys laid out the need to preserve the healthcare tools provided by the ACA in fighting the scourge of the opioid crisis-- a crisis that has led to more than a death per day in my home state. The doctors wrote "Although the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was not designed with the opioid epidemic in mind, it provides valuable tools for expanding access to medication treatment." They went on to point out "...inclusion of addiction treatment as an essential health benefit that existing insurance plans must cover, and requirements that benefits for treatment of opioid use disorder be provided at parity with coverage of medical and surgical procedures" were among the reasons the ACA should not be repealed. Despite the impact on his constituents, despite the real damage repeal would have wrought upon local communities, and despite the heartbreak of the on-going opioid crisis, my opponent still broke from the rest of our state's Congressional delegation in voting to repeal the ACA.

I've served my country as a U.S. Marine; I've served as a staffer to a U.S. Senator; I've served as an elected office-holder in the Maine Legislature; and I've served in a leadership role in my caucus. In each and every one of those roles I was told to remember the people I was serving and, to the best of my ability, I have. If elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, I will take the lessons I've learned in my previous roles with me-- most important among them, to remember the people I'm serving.

But I need your help.

This race has recently been moved from 'leans Republican' to 'toss-up' by the non-partisan Cook Report. That's encouraging-- and serious. We can win this seat and return the voice of Maine's 2nd Congressional District back to the hard-working people who call it home.

(Howie) A 'toss up' means that with a little extra help with campaign funds Jared has a EVEN SHOT to Flip this District from Red to BLUE. Please consider sending some "BlueWave" love to Jared Golden on our #BlueAmericaBetterHouse2018" page.

Thanks for always doing what you can to make a better world,

Howie, for the entire Blue America team

I've Been A Miner For A Heart Of Gold

Howie Klein — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 16:05:42 +0000

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The Blue America contest for Alan Grayson is still going strong. It ends Saturday. We're giving away a very rare gorgeous RIAA-certified double platinum award for Neil Young's HARVEST, his 4th studio album (1972). Just contribute any amount to Alan Grayson's congressional campaign on this ActBlue page. That makes you eligible to win, regardless of how much you give. All the arcane FEC rules are here, if you have the mind of a lawyer.

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Alan is a big Neil Young fan but Alan's wife, Dena, is the real Neil aficionado, even singing his songs to Alan. She's the one who can tell you anything you want to know about every song on HARVEST. Alan's the one who can't stop talking about "Let's Impeach The President" from Neil's Living With War album. This is what he told his own supporters a few days ago:

At a slightly earlier moment in the space-time continuum, Neil Young wrote a song that seems very apt at this moment. The song is called "Let’s Impeach the President." He wrote it regarding an earlier awful President, not the current awful President. But most people whom I know think that this one is more awful than that one-- by a wide margin. Read the lyrics, listen to the case that Neil Young made for impeachment, and ask yourself: Doesn’t Donald Trump deserve it even more?

Let's impeach the President for lying
And misleading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door

Who's the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
They bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war

Let's impeach the President for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones

What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government's protection
Or was someone just not home that day?

Flip - Flop
Flip - Flop
Flip - Flop
Flip - Flop

Let's impeach the president for hijacking
Our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected.

Yes, let’s impeach the President. Please contribute to our Dump Trump campaign fund, and earn a chance to win a platinum record award from Neil Young, the singer who said it first

This one's from HARVEST:

The contest ends Saturday. And, like Neil, Alan is a real superstar. Contest or no contest, we need this guy back in Congress. While other candidates hide under their beds when someone asks them if they back impeaching Trump, Grayson has his district covered in the billboards you see up top.

One more thing, if you've become used to click on a fundraising thermometer to make your contributions, we have a Blue America Harvest thermometer for you too.

Please think for a second about how this isn't just about a contest... it's also electing someone to Congress who's shown us what he can do.

Remember Alan in the well of the House, Republicans going absolutely nuts on the floor: The Republican healthcare plan: "Don't Get Sick... If You Get Sick... Die Quickly!" They yelled and screamed he should retract that and apologize.

There were even establishment Democrats who asked him to do what the Republicans asked for. You know, he never did, right? That's not Alan Grayson. He'll apologize when he makes a mistake; that was no mistake!

Thanks for always doing what you can to make this a better world,

Howie, for the entire Blue America team

CONTEST! Neil Young, Alan Grayson, Harvest!

Howie Klein — Sun, 15 Jul 2018 19:44:19 +0000

Florida has a late primary, August 28-- a couple weeks before this year's harvest moon (September 14).

If you win this contest you'll have your own harvest moon in time to celebrate. Blue America is doing a contest/give-away to benefit Alan Grayson's campaign for Congress in Orlando.

The winner gets a very rare and very beautiful RIAA-certified double platinum award for Neil Young's release of Harvest. You can't buy one of these in a store, no matter how rich you are. A limited number were produced for Neil and his band, his staff and a few people who helped promote the album. If you're a Neil fan-- or if you know a Neil fan... this is completely primo.

And for Grayson, Neil's music is very personal. Alan:

"Every once in a while, Neil Young makes a special appearance in my bedroom. Not personally; just his music. My wife is a huge Neil Young fan, she has a spectacular voice, and every once in a while, she treats me to a Neil Young lullaby. "The Needle and the Damage Done," "Ohio," "Down by the River," "Rockin’ in the Free World"... whatever it is, she makes it sound magical. Thank you, Neil Young, for inspiring her to inspire me."

Meanwhile, helping Grayson-- a lifelong fan of Neil's music, by the way-- get back into the House is something that will be good for our country and for working families everywhere. I can't think of anyone-- and I mean anyone-- who will be a more effective bulwark against Trump and Trumpism than Grayson.

So this is how it works: This is the page.

And like we wrote there, there is no minimum to be eligible to be entered into the random drawing to win the plaque. A $20.18 contribution has just as much chance to be selected as a $1,000 contribution.

The contest ends at 9 in the evening (PT) on Saturday, July 21. if you don't have the cash to give and you want the award, you can enter too-- just send a note to us at Blue America, P.O. Box 27201. Los Angeles, CA 90027 and you'll have the same chance as everyone else. There's an excruciating FEC rules diatribe here which I doubt anyone has ever read besides a couple of lawyers.

Easiest way of all to get to the page: the Act Blue Neil/Alan thermometer on the right. This is a win-win for everybody-- except Trump and except Putin.

Thanks for always doing what you can to help make this a better world,

Howie, for the entire Blue America team

Progressive Primary Winners Abandoned By The DCCC

Howie Klein — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 18:16:20 +0000

Normally, I don't buy into "lesser-of-two-evils" politics. If Democrats nominate a corrupt reactionary Blue Dog I'm at least as incensed as I am over a Republican. That's not going to change either. And, I'm still saying that "normally" no longer applies, not with Trump and his Congressful of enablers and rubber stamps. I'm telling friends and relatives-- my sister lives in Jeff Van Drew's district-- to just hold their noses and vote for anyone with a "D" next to their name.

As Digby has been saying since he moved into the White House, we're in existential territory here. Boxing in Trump is more important than anything.

That said, there's no need to stop reminding the establishment Democratic Party that we need them to stop turning off the base with their Blue Dog/New Dem agenda and their uncontrollable hatred for the Democratic grassroots, for progressives and for the kind of reform that will cut off the spigots of money and power that motivates the careerism of the Hoyers, Wasserman Schultzes, Crowleys (buh bye) and the mirror images the DCCC keeps recruiting as candidates.

The DCCC is now whining how progressives have to get on board the unity train and pull together to elect a Democratic Congress to stop the boogie man in the White House. They're correct. What they're not correct about is that that's a one-way street.

Let me give you an example. The DCCC drew up a list of the most crucial districts that they absolutely had to prioritize to flip in November. They call it their "Red to Blue" list. One is the Omaha swing district, NE-02. The DCCC went out and recruited a Blue Dog, Ben Ashford, who the voters in the district had rejected in 2016 after he served a term in Congress and voted pretty consistently with the GOP. Democrats refused to reelect him and now there's a Republican, Don Bacon, in the seat.

The DCCC's strategy, which is regularly proven wrong, is that if a conservative Democrat votes with the GOP, "moderate" Republicans will eschew their own candidate and vote for the conservative Democrat. When will the DCCC learn that just doesn't work and all they do is turn off base Democratic voters?

In Omaha, a progressive Democrat, Kara Eastman, ran a grassroots campaign on issues that voters wanted to hear about. And she won, despite massive DCCC fingers-on-the-scale help for Ashford. The voters picked her-- 20,239 (51.43%) to 19,113 (43.57%). So how did the DCCC respond? They wrote NE-02-- their "must win" district-- out of their 2018 strategy and refused to back Kara. No institutional money is flowing in her direction. They flat out refused to add her to their Red-to-Blue page.

The same thing is happening with progressive primary winners all over the country-- including in must-win swing districts! Blue America has a page for that: Abandoned By The DCCC.

There are men and women-- mostly women-- on this list who won their primary races and who the DCCC is refusing to recognize while they're asking progressives to support wretched Blue Dogs and New Dems because... "TRUMP!"

I spoke to one of those candidates this morning, J.D. Scholten. He was in a 3-way primary race to see which Democrat would take on the odious Steve King. J.D. out-raised King in each of the last two FEC reporting quarters. Each time, he called the DCCC to tell them and urge them to work with him to beat King. And each time, the DCCC refused to take his call or to call him back.

Then came the primary. Scholten beat the establishment fave, an ex-lobbyist with a Blue Dog agenda, Leann Jacobsen, and another candidate, John Paschen-- and it wasn't close.

• J.D. Scholten- 14,514 (51.27%)
• Leann Jacobsen- 9,055 (31.99%)
• John Paschen- 4,741 (16.75%)

So, J.D. called the DCCC to tell them and ask for their help. Do you want to guess what happened? That's right... no return call.

J.D. is campaigning full-time, not by sitting and calling donors and PACs and corporations, although he's still raising enough grassroots money to be ahead of King-- $195,348 cash on hand for J.D. and $87,250 cash on hand for King-- but by driving his RV into every town and hamlet in the sprawling 4th district and meeting the voters. The DCCC doesn't recognize that as valuable.

Please consider contributing to the candidates who have won their primaries -- up against Republicans while the DCCC ignores them. These are important races, not the "easy" ones the DCCC regularly screws up. Maybe these candidates are lucky not to have DCCC interference in their campaigns. But they do need some money to compete effectively.

Thanks for always doing what you can to make this a better world,

Howie, for the entire Blue America team