Progressives like Keith Ellison, Pramila Jayapal and Jamie Raskin-- as well as other Democrats-- joined the folks at PFAW this week at an event introducing the launch of their newest in a series of progressive bench-building initiatives the Next Up Victory Fun. the purpose of the new program is to elect young progressives to state and local offices.
A few years ago Blue America's list of endorsed candidates had the biggest success rate of any PAC recruiting and endorsing candidates. We beat NARAL, the Sierra Club, the Human Rights Campaign and the League of Conservation Voters that year-- not to mention the NRA and Club for Growth. I laughed when I read the stats. Blue America isn't about picking candidates who will make the PAC look good.
The Florida Democratic Party has been pretty moribund in recent years, confining itself in a few small urban ghettos and leaving progressive ideas and values without champions in vast swathes of the state. Southwest Florida is pretty much all red now thanks to Florida Democratic Party neglect and negligence.
Rubio called Scott Walker last week and made a hard push to pry an endorsement out of him.
Gloria Totten is president of Progressive Majority, a group that works to elect progressives to state and local office. The GOP has completely outgunned the Beltway Democrats in this arena, and without the steady efforts Totten and her group have been exerting to recruit and train progressive candidates, the Democrats would be in even worse shape bench-wise than they already are.Most people don't contribute to political campaigns. And most of the ones who do give to presidential candidates. Some give to Senate candidates. It becomes really slim pickings after that.
