Dayna Steele with VCG in BeaumontOn Friday evening the Vote Common Good tour finally arrives in California, appropriately enough, in Escondido Grape Day Park for a rally with much-maligned progressive Democrat Ammar Campar-Najjar (CA-50). Ammar has been attacked by desperate criminal Congressman Duncan Hunter as a Muslim, although Ammar was born and raised a Christian and is still active in his church. The DCCC refuses to defend him but the pastors associated with Vote Common Good will be in the district doing just that.On Sunday evening they'll be rallying with Harley Rouda at the Wayfarer in Costa Mesa, Monday evening with Katie Porter and her team at the Irvine United Congregational Church. Then they move north to Buena Park's UFCW Union Local 324 Hall on Stanton Ave with Gil Cisneros on Tuesday-- one week out from election day!-- and then on to rallies with Katie Hill in Santa Clarita on Wednesday, with T.J. Cox in Bakersfield on Thursday, with Andrew Janz in Fresno on Friday...Mike Siegel with VCG in AustinIn Texas this week, both Dayna Steele and Mike Siegel enjoyed the experience of working with progressive evangelicals. It was a cold and rainy day when Vote Common Good pulled into Beaumont," Dayna told me, "but you would not have known it with the warm and loving people we met and worked with. Honesty, integrity, empathy-- it's people like this that I am running for and want to represent in Congress.Mike he was inspired "to hear the message of these Christian leaders who have devoted weeks of their lives, traveling in cramped quarters to get out the vote. For me, it was a good opportunity to step back from policy and speak about faith and morality. I am hopeful that Vote Common Good will yield benefits for Democrats in 2018. More importantly, we must continue this outreach in the years to come, to show Christian folks who is really fighting to represent their values." If you want to help Dayna and Mike execute their end of the cycle ground game, please consider tapping on the Act Blue Turning Texas Blue thermometer on the right and contributing what you can.One of the organizers of these events-- and the guy who introduced Ted Lieu and I to Vote Common Good-- is Frank Schaeffer. Yesterday, he wrote that This Election Is Not About Politics-- It Is About Morality. Stop This Evil Man! Why aren't more self-professed followers of Jesus full-heartedly embracing Frank's and VCG's message? "Claiming children and mothers are criminals is nothing new for Trump. And he acts out his mean xenophobic fantasies, putting kids in cages. The 'caravan' of 'criminals' is made up of suffering families. Trump is a liar-- worse a cowardly bully. Republicans ," wrote Frank, "enable his cruelty."
One cannot help but think Trump is trying to distract from his feeble response to Saudi Arabia’s murder and dismemberment of Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by picking on helpless women and children in a made-up “hardened criminal caravan.” What a corrupt bully.If only the Honduran mothers and babies had bought billions of dollars of apartments from the organized-crime Trump organization to launder their money, Trump would be welcoming their “caravan” at the border like he welcomes the Russians and Saudis.