Down to the wire

October 22, 2004

OK, so 11 days to go. And yes, we just gotta vote out George Bush. But, if we don't get back the Senate, there's gonna be hard times accomplishing anything. There's some hope for a Dem victory here, but it's close and there are a lot of close races.

If you want to help, here's how: contribute to some of the close races. These folks could use some help and you'll feel better for having helped to defend democracy from the radical right.

The Dems need to pick up two seats, three for outright control. Barak Obama is a pickup, but there are what appears to be lost seats in Georgia and quite likely, Louisiana. There are some other close races, like Tom Daschle in SD and Erskine Bowles in NC, but here's my picks for strategic assistance.

	Betty Castor, Florida. Defense. Competing for Bob Graham's seat, who's retiring. A close race against Mel Martinez, who's run very far to the right. Betty can win this race. She could use some help, though. Donate here.

	Inez Tenenbaum, South Carolina. Defense. This is Fritz Hollings seat, another retiree. Close race. Crazy ass opponent Jim DeMint, who's had to apologize for crazy ass comments a couple of times. Did very well on Meet The Press while DeMint was on the defensive. Donate here.

	Tony Knowles, Alaska. Pickup opportunity. Knowles opponent is Lisa Murkowski, daughter of former Senator and now governor. Alaskan's don't much like her and don't like the nepotism. Tony Knowles is a former governor and ahead, but it's close. Donate here.

	Ken Salazar, Colorado. Pickup opportunity. Going against Pete Coors, who, if you know about the Coors family is just as right-wing as you'd expect. Plus he's never run for office before. Salazar is ahead in the polls, and again, this is close. Donate here.

	Dan Mongiardo, Kentucky. Pickup opportunity. Republican Jim Bunning was a shoe-in to retain his seat until people started noticing he was mentally unstable. No, really. He's made a bunch of out of character wacky statements, skipped a debate, got caught using a teleprompter during a debate, said Dr. Mongiardo looked like Uday Hussein and distributed pictures of a home that was supposedly Dr. Dan's, but turns out wasn't. He's now tied and has the momentum, especially with Bunning refusing to release his medical records to demonstrate there's not something wrong with him. Don't pass this one up, donate.

	Brad Carson, Oklahoma. Pickup opportunity. Not the most liberal Dem, but his opponent is a right-wing loon. That's actually been largely what made Congressman Carson competitive for this Senate seat. Tom Coburn has embarassed himself almost as regularly as Alan Keyes. It didn't help when he called for the death penalty for abortionists to find out that he'd performed abortions or that there was a fraudulent medicare billing scandal in his past. You don't want another loon in the Senate, help pickup this seat. Donate.