Jerome Armstrong has said, "The race in PA 8th, which all started here with the netroots activists, has become a top-tier, first priority, contest for control of the House." Since this history was also talked about in the new article on
Jerome, Markos, and the blogosphere I thought a recap may be in order.
I'm sure most Kossacks know that Ginny Schrader is now a top target race, the surge in traffic to Daily Kos suggests there are a lot of people who might not know the history of how the blogosphere catapulted Ginny to be a top target for the DCCC, MoveOn PAC, DfA - and of course all of the people on the other side.
The extended entry contains a brief recap of what happened on July 19th, 2004 - a day that will also be remembered on our side of the blogosphere.
Ginny Schrader online:
Daily Kos - Mon Jul 19th, 2004 at 20:43:28 GMT
Mr. Liberal: Breaking News: GOP Congressman Greenwood (PA-08) Leaving Congress This Year.
I just read this at PoliticsPA.com and in a breaking news e-mail from RollCall.com. Congressman Jim Greenwood, a moderate Republican in Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional district, just announced he will not seek reelection this year, instead removing his name from the ballot. The Democrat, Virginia "Ginny" Schrader, is an attorney who has just $7,000 in the bank as of June 30th. Greenwood's district voted for Gore in 2000 by a decent amount, and the GOP is now scrambling for a replacement.
Schraeder's website is http://www.ginnyschrader.com . A good place to contribute to would be at ACTBLUE at http://actblue.com/list/Schrader , as it will track the donations recieved for the campaign.
I would suggest that we get involved ASAP. This seat is a Democratic-leaning one, and is too good to miss. Schrader is a liberal-to-moderate, pro-choice Democrat. In addition, she supports civil unions and is against Bush's positions on Iraq and the Patriot Act. She is an attorney who ran for State Rep. in 2002 and lost by a respectable margin.
This is completely out of left field, folks, and it gives us another opportunity for a pickup. Ginny Schrader is the luckiest candidate in the nation today, but can her luck hold?
Daily Kos - Tue Jul 20th, 2004 at 01:20:09 GMT
Kos: PA-08: Ginny update
I just spoke with Virginia "Ginny" Schrader, and the news is spectacular. Between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET, her campaign has raised $14K online. Some from Daily Kos, some from other sources. This is a blogosphere-wide phenomenon.
She also going to be our candidate heading into November. And more importantly, she hasn't been asked by any prominent local or state Dems to step aside for someone else. That doesn't mean that the party can't change its mind once it has analyzed the situation with a sober mind, but 1) Ginny has put her entire life on hold for this race, and isn't about to drop it, and 2) the money coming in tonight will act as insurance, helping put to rest the "she can't raise money" excuse they might otherwise deploy.
Despite her limited resources, Ginny has already assembled a staff of two full-timers and a host of full-time volunteers, and has been receiving the enthusiastic help of local Dean groups (including one across state lines in New Jersey). I'm not sure if the Philly for Dean people are helping out, but that was one of the best Dean groups in the country. Hopefully they'll lend a hand. Especially since, given the ridiculously expensive Philly media market, her campaign plans on running a heavy ground operation.
Her campaign has already done joint canvassing with the local Kerry effort, and ACT is active in the area. It's going to be a battleground district for the presidential race, and their heavy emphasis on the ground game should have positive repercussions up and down the ticket. Spectacular news indeed.
Update: I originally wrote that Ginny had five paid staffers. My mistake, I misheard. It's actually two, but the new cash already has them looking to beef up their staff.
Swing State Project - Monday, July 19, 2004
DavidNYC: Help Ginny Schrader in PA-8
As you probably know, my election-year mantra is "Make Them Sweat:" Contest every race, and fight hard in each one. We won't win them all, but we'll make life a hell of a lot tougher for the other side. Just check out what Richard Morrison has managed to do down in Texas: For the first time in ages, I'm told, Tom DeLay is actually nervous enough that he's opened up a campaign office. (And not one, but two!)
The best part about following this strategy is that every once in a while, you get supremely lucky. And that, folks, has happened today. The blogosphere (led by DKos) has been abuzz with the news that Rep. Jim Greenwood, a "moderate" Republican representing Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District (Philly suburbs), has decided to retire.
This is a district which went narrowly for both Gore and Rendell. In short, it's a race we can definitely win, now that it's been thrown wide open. And you already know how important a swing state PA is, and how crucial it is for us to drive up turnout in the heavily Democratic Philadelphia region.
Our candidate, Ginny Schrader, looks good on paper in all aspects but one: She's very low on funds. We can make a huge difference overnight if we chip in to help her out - and we can also scare off any Republicans who might consider entering this race now. Imagine the headlines tomorrow or the next day if the blogosphere rapid-response network can toss Ginny some serious coin. I've seldom suggested donating to a particular candidate, but the special nature of this situation makes it impossible to pass up.
I suggest donating via ActBlue, which makes it much easier to track where donations come from. (And don't worry, ActBlue gives 100% of all donations to the campaigns.) I've already made a contribution - I hope you can make one, too.
Let's go, Ginny!
P.S. I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that as Bush's situation looks more dire, and the prospects for Democrats to retake the Presidency and Congress look better and better, more Republicans will start announcing their retirements. If you're in your 60s, say, and facing the possibility of returning to D.C. in the minority party, the warm embrace of your grandkids - and that cushy lobbying job in the private sector - start to look very tempting.
UPDATE: Kos just informed us that Ginny's campaign raised an astounding $14,000 online in just four hours tonight. This is going to be a big story.
Monday, July 19, 2004 at 4:59 PM
Jesse Lee: Greenwood Out in PA-8?
politicspa.com:
Sources tell PoliticsPA that Congressman Jim Greenwood will end his re-election bid and retire. This sets off a scramble within the Bucks County GOP to find a suitable replacement. According the her most recent Federal Elections Commission report, the Democratic PA8 nominee, Virginia Schrader, has $7,741 cash on hand.
Check back for details.
Hate to see ya go.
Update: Reader Jason rightly admonishes us for not posting a link to Greenwood's opponent, Ginny Schrader. Go pay her a visit, and may Jason forgive us as it is our regular practice to do so, I simply got called into a meeting as it was happening.
Update II: The good folks at ActBlue write in comments-
We've set up a page at ActBlue to track donations to Ginny Schraeder. You can give here:
http://actblue.com/list/schrader
I'm doing periodic updates of how much people are giving on the comments thread on dkos and also on the web page.
MyDD - Tue Jul 20th, 2004 at 12:42:44 AM EST
Jerome Armstrong: The way of the blogosphere
There's an interesting thing happening. You could feel it growing from this morning, and kos and I were talking back and forth about the possibility. You just can't prepare for these things. It's like a mob blog or something. Neat stuff has happened since the story broke earlier by
Yellin on Daily Kos, and
Bowers here on MyDD.
The progressive & lefty blogosphere has been on fire all day today for Virginia "Ginny" Schrader, with probably nearly $20K raised so far today. If the campaign plays the news right, they will be able to propel the amount quite a bit higher, even into the six-digit numbers. Though most of the contributions have been rocketing through Daily Kos visits, there's a number of other sites trumpeting the blogosphere's bounty of cash on Ginny's candidacy. Pennsylvania's Atrios did a "drive by" post yesterday, Steve Gilliard has a post about it, Our Congress, the Swing State Project, and Blog For America just posted about the story. Heck, even though the DCCC's official spokesperson is totally clueless ("Speed declined to comment on whether Schrader could -- or even would -- be replaced with another candidate") at least the Stakeholder can see what's happening, good work Jesse Lee.
While the DCCC states that "we're watching developments closely and are optimistic should the seat open up," the blogosphere is leading the way. The DCCC will come around, so likely will a Dean (Bakers) Dozen endorsement, and EMILY to make some bread.
Heading to Boston to cover the Democratic convention next week as a blogger, I've gotten more than a few reporters calling to ask about blogs and some are really trying to figure out what's happening, to get a handle on it... Well, look no further, this is live.
MyDD - Mon Jul 19th, 2004 at 05:48:33 PM EST
Chris Bowers: Ginny Schrader for Congress, PA-8
Democrats have just caught a remarkable break. James Greenwood, the Republican congressman from PA-8 (Bucks county, northern Philadelphia suburbs) has decided not run for re-election. This leaves Virginia "Ginny" Schrader with an excellent chance to win in this
slightly lean-Dem district. In 2000, it went for Gore 50.7-46.9-2.4. This is exactly the sort of luck that Democrats need to pounce on in order to take back the House sooner, rather than in 2012.
I have never asked you to do this before, but today I am asking. Donate to Ginny Schrader today. Thus far, she has only raised $13,191, but that is going to change. Add $.02 to your donation so they know it came from MyDD.
If you need to check out Scharder's issue page first, be my guest. I do not think you will be disappointed. I am going to take a strong personal interest in this race. Go Ginny!
Update(Jerome): I chipped in $50 and my 2 cents toward Ginny. The philly burb has more on the story. Come on everyone, she's in the race to stay, she's the kind of progressive we want to elect, and all she's lacking is the funds to win this race. It's a Democratic district, Gore/Nader got 54% in the new redistricted 8th. Hit it.
Daily Kos - Tue Jul 20th, 2004 at 07:10:00 GMT
Kos: DCCC Fails Schrader
It's
this sort of bullshit that keeps pushing me further away from the party committess:
This is a very good opportunity for a Democratic pickup. This a district that is every day becoming Democratic," said Greg Speed, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
"Bucks County was carried by [Gov.] Ed Rendell [D-Pa.] by over 50,000 votes. We're watching developments closely and are optimistic should the seat open up," Speed said.
Speed declined to comment on whether Schrader could -- or even would -- be replaced with another candidate.
What these DCCC should realize is that you never, NEVER, talk down a candidate. Now, assuming Schrader is staying in the race as promised, Speed has made it look as though she's second choice. That given the chance, the DCCC would've preferred someone else in the race.
Well, if the fucking DCCC wanted someone else in the race, they should've recruited that person to begin with. But from where I'm sitting, Ginny is doing just fine. She has great creds, and has been working the district tirelessly over the last few months. And that $7,000 in the bank has taken a turn for the better over the last 8 hours, no thanks to the geniuses at the D-trip who have handicapped the Democrats into long-time minority status.
Let them try to touch her. Just let them.
The rules are changing. The party committees no longer have unquestioned control over such decisions. We now have a voice, and I'm taking this chance to flex ours.
As Jerome notes, Ginny is now a bona-fide blogosphere celebrity. Keep an eye on Technorati to gauge how the story spreads.
Update: Perfect example of what I'm pissed about. As the story breaks, Jesse Lee enthusiastically blogs the outpouring of support for Schrader over at the DCCC blog, linking to the ActBlue fundraising page and all. Then, a few hours later, he is forced toe the party line:
I know a lot of folks are wondering about our candidate situation, but if Greg Speed has no comment, nor do I - sorry.
The way to respond to the reporter's question whether the party would seek a replacement candidate would've been to say, "We look forward to working with Schrader to pull the district into the Democratic column." And
then, they could've done whatever backroom maneouvering they felt necessary, however unsavory that might be.
But refusing to end speculation that the party may try to replace Ginny simply harms her efforts. Especially considering they can't
force her off the ticket and she doesn't intend to go.
Update: Much of the commentary runs along the lines of, "well, maybe the reporter misinterpreted Speed" when writing that "no comment" line. Well, that's the nice thing about having a blog. The DCCC could easily clarify their position at the Stakeholder. Instead, they merely reinforced the "no comment" line.
I also cleaned up some of the language in this post.
Four days later, Salon: At the speed of blog:
After a Republican congressman resigned unexpectedly, a lefty blogger called for readers to send money to his opponent -- and the cash poured in.
On Monday afternoon, July 19, Stephen Yellin, a 16-year-old politics junkie and frequent contributor to the lefty blog Daily Kos, noticed an intriguing development in Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, an area to the north of Philadelphia. The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call was reporting that Jim Greenwood, the district's popular, moderate Republican congressman, had unexpectedly decided not to seek reelection, meaning that his House seat was now up for grabs. This is the sort of news that sets partisans like Yellin jumping for joy, and so, of course, he blogged about it.
"I would suggest that we get involved ASAP," Yellin, who goes by the handle MrLiberal on Daily Kos, wrote. Virginia "Ginny" Schrader, the Democrat running for the open seat, "supports civil unions and is against Bush's positions on Iraq and the Patriot Act," he noted approvingly. But she was woefully low on cash -- as of June 30, Schrader had only $7,000 in the bank. Yellin implored Daily Kos' politically obsessed readers to change that situation: "This is completely out of left field, folks, and it gives us another opportunity for a pickup," he wrote. "Ginny Schrader is the luckiest candidate in the nation today, but can her luck hold?"
What happened next was beyond anything that Yellin had expected. ...
Schrader on Act Blue:
Atrios 65 donors - $2830.84
Kos 780 donors - $27473.36
MyDD + SSP 59 donors - $3725.08
PowerWomen 27 donors - $340.00
Mr. Liberal - 131 donors - $4811.00
Note: this doesn't include the early money Ginny Schrader raised online.