Dear Democratic Supporter,
You may not have heard of me — I'm not quite as well-known as the other people who may have written to you recently asking you to help elect Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives. My name's Duncan Black, though I'm more widely known by my internet pseudonym "Atrios." I operate a blog called "Eschaton," which can be found at http://atrios.blogspot.com, where I regularly write about politics and the media. The site also is a great community forum for discussion, activism, and fundraising activities, with more than four million visits last month alone.
People frequently ask me where they should be sending their donations with Election Day fast approaching. Whether they can give a little or a lot, they want to know that they're spending their money wisely and doing the most they are able to do to help end the era of Republican control in Washington.
What I tell them is that while there are many worthy candidates and organizations out there who are fighting as hard as they can to make sure that Democrats will be in charge again, there's only one organization that gets to hold a few ace cards up its sleeve:
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)
http://www.democraticaction.org/atrios/
Right now, both sides can pretty much see the cards the other side is holding. Poll results, fundraising totals, campaign spending — these things are all common knowledge. The Republicans see this information and allocate their resources accordingly. However, they don't know where and when the DCCC is going to pull out those ace cards. Things can change very fast in these races, and a surprise injection of a fairly modest amount of money into an important race at the right time can make all the difference. When opportunity knocks, the DCCC can be there.
Those ace cards cost money, however, and the other side is also playing this game. When they play one of their cards the DCCC needs to have resources at its disposal to fight back when the other side suddenly starts running attack ads against our candidates.
Every race matters, and every dollar counts. Right now it's absolutely vital that the DCCC can go head to head with the right wing spin machine and come out on top.
http://www.democraticaction.org/atrios/
Republican Dennis Hastert is the current Speaker of the House, but everyone knows that the man pulling his strings is Tom DeLay, someone who was just "publicly admonished" by the House Ethics Committee for trying to bribe another Congressman to obtain his support George W. Bush's horrible prescription drug plan for Medicare. It wasn't that long ago that Tom DeLay ludicrously claimed that he was unable to serve in the Vietnam War because, in the words of Houston Press reporter Tim Fleck:
"So many minority youths had volunteered for the well-paying military positions to escape poverty and the ghetto that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself."
At the time, DeLay was a relatively unknown member of Congress, and after he made those remarks a TV reporter who was present asked, "Who was that idiot?" That "idiot" is currently the most powerful man in the House of Representatives.
Please do what you can to help support the DCCC in its Campaign for a New Majority. Do what you can to help make sure that Nancy Pelosi will henceforth be referred to as Speaker Pelosi. With less than 27 days until the election, do what you can to help us take back the House and take back America!
http://www.democraticaction.org/atrios/
Sincerely yours,
Duncan Black ("Atrios")
http://atrios.blogspot.com/
P.S. I've set up a page on the Majority Makers site to raise money for the DCCC, and if you set up your own online headquarters on http://www.majoritymakers.com/ you'll be entered in a contest to win a trip to Democratic National Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Check the site for more details.
http://www.majoritymakers.com/
