Do you want clean elections, publicly financed?

Then join "Public Campaign. It's free:
http://www.publicampaign.org/join

:)

I think the Senate may react differently this time. And it would be a great tribute to Wellstone who was one of the few to side with Kerry on this in 1997.

NT

all the attention as the reform legislation. People just wouldn't give public financing the respect it deserved.

The state bills that HAVE passed adopted much of the language from that Senate legislation for their own bills, so it wasn't a wasted effort, at all. Now that some states have passed it, and it has proven effective, it is even MORE REASON to resubmit with the proof that it DOES work.

Here's an excerpt from a David Corn piece:

>>>

The following year, a re-elected Kerry was in another lonely position as one of only five original sponsors of the Clean Money, Clean Elections Act, to provide for full public financing of Congressional elections. The measure would remove practically all special-interest money from House and Senate campaigns. (Kerry's colleagues were Wellstone, Leahy, John Glenn and Joe Biden--all Democrats.) "Kerry was totally into it," says Ellen Miller, former executive director of Public Campaign, a reform group pressing for the legislation. "He believes in this stuff."

In introducing the legislation, Kerry said on the Senate floor, "Special interest money is moving and dictating and governing the agenda of American politics.... If we want to regain the respect and confidence of the American people, and if we want to reconnect to them and reconnect them to our democracy, we have to get the special interest money out of politics." He was also a backer of the better-known McCain-Feingold legislation, a more modest and (some might say) problematic approach to campaign reform. But over the years he's pointed to the Clean Money, Clean Elections Act as the real reform. "It is a tough position in Congress to be for dramatic change in financing elections," says Miller. "It's gutsy to go out and say, 'Let's provide a financially leveled playing field so there is more competition for incumbents.' Kerry and Wellstone were the leaders and took a giant step. It was remarkable."
>>>>>

Is this possible when there are those candidates who opt out, like Kerry did in 2004, so they can compete on a level playing field with the other well financed candidates.

The price of television ads is out of control. Something must also be done to fix this. It is the reason they need to raise such obscene amounts of dough!

One of the Tiger Principles, "For Politicians to be Respected, we must free them from the humiliating and enormously time-consuming task of fundraising."

Check out the Kerry connections of three members of the Blue Tiger team:

Jed Taxel, Executive Director
Before joining Blue Tiger, he was a Finance Deputy for the Democratic National Committee and John Kerry for President in New York City.

Ben Geyerhahn, President, Progressive Ventures, Blue Tiger Group
In 2004, he was New York State Deputy Political Director for the John Edwards for President Campaign and served with Kerry Edwards 2004.

Vincent A. Roberti, Director, Blue Tiger Dems
Executive Producer of the documentary, Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry.

Down with the Donkey! Bring Back The Democratic Tiger & Civic Engagement

That group deserves its own thread.

I saw your other post and put that on my list to check out. Sigh, so much politics to do, so little time. :-)

And I am grinning ear to ear.

I know your message was to another poster, but, well it is a public post...

:shrug:

themselves to fight the fight that previous Dem organizations, like the pre-Dean DNC, chose to stay clear of. Seems they want to engage in the tough battles against the GOP, and for that I am glad. Many of Kerry's people watched the ineffectiveness of the Dem party and DNC who were supposed to be countering the RNC - but instead they got steamrolled in every match up. Fighting Tigers will make a difference, and I'll bet Dean will be happy to use them.

I feel so often that the Big Dem names are just playing behind-the-beltway power games. It is great to see the people who backed Kerry moving seamlessly into the Blue Tigers and working to ACTIVATE the base.

You can listen to Bill Samuels being interviewed on "Ring of Fire" here - just click the link for Show Hour 2: http://www.ringoffireradio.com/show.asp?jid=148

And here is an article of Samuels' on Huffington Post - "A Blue Tiger Prowls Wyoming"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-samuels/a-blue-tiger-prowls-wyomi_b_35211.html

:D

ones who are able to fight best, but rarely popped up to do any of the actual fighting and opposing of Bush for the last 6yrs. When it became clear Dems were going to do well in November, they shifted from their 'be cautious' stance to jumping in front of the parade as if they were leading the fight all along.

Thom says that virtually ALL politicians keep their eyes out for a good parade. When they see a good one marching by they grab a sign and run out in front of it.

So OUR job is to create the parades! Wake up the people! Everybody march!

March for clean elections.
March for open and transparent government.
March against war.
March for our environment.
March for justice for all.

LOTS & LOTS OF PARADES!

:D

If you have iTumes the best stream is here: http://www.whiterosesociety.org/Hartmann.pls

The stream above replays the Hartmann show on a 24/7 loop.

You can also stream Thom (noon to 3:00 p.m.) from the AAR website: http://www.airamerica.com/thomhartmannpage

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2945950&mesg_id=2945950

:D

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:s.00918:



excerpt of CRS Summary (section titles only):

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:SN00918:@@@D&summ2=m&



Might be worth going to the link and reading the rest.

...from Minnesota should talk about that.

Of course, no one has declared he or she is running yet.

thanks.

CA measure was defeated 11/7/06 :(

We should also push for "Truth in Advertising" - especially for political ads -regardless of who runs it. Misrepresentation, half-truths, unsubstantiated accusations and outright lies, should be illegal -

I don't think having lawsuits based on campaign ads (unless they're truly libelous) or empowering the FEC to take down ads it decides are untruthful would be desirable.

I want dirty campaigns financed privately. But they should also be financed anonymously.

I, for instance, donate to Democrats because I supporrt their positions and want them to win, not because I want access. I could therefore care less if they know I am financing them or not. The same should be true for everyone else who is not a crook.

THAT reform passes constitutional muster (freedome of speech) and doesn't require taxpayers to support a campaign they oppose (you do realize that with public campaign financing a portion of your taxes will be used to help elect Republics).