Courage breaks into Top 5 MapChangers !

[sonias]

I know we could all use some good news here so here is a small bit. John Courage Democratic candidate for CD21 has broken into the top 5 rankings. We now have 3 Texans in the Top 5. Bell, Radnofsky and Courage. But this is no time to give up. I'm going to be begging once again for 1st place votes for John if you haven't voted. In order to keep John in the Top 5, we have to continue to give him #1 place votes. Please do vote for all of our Texas candidates in the Western slate but the order is critical. A first place vote is worth 5 points while a 5th place vote is only 1 point. Bell and Radnofsky are secure, but any up comers might take John off 5th place if we don't continue to protect that slot. So please help us by telling more of your friends here on DU and on your mailing lists. Today is the last day to vote. Vote here.

Standings:
3. TX-Sen Barbara Radnofsky
4. TX-Gov Chris Bell
5. TX-21 John Courage

Congratulations to our Texas team!!

Thanks!

Sonia

[Richardo]

1. ..and I'll put in a request for a 2nd place vote for Ted Ankrum (CD10)

A well-qualified alternative to our current Cornyn-clone in #10.

[sonias]

2. Absolutely Richardo

And Mary Beth Harrell as well. You can vote for all Texans in the Western slate.

Sonia

[NoPasaran]

3. Great news!

Congress needs Courage!

[sonias]

4. Now more than ever

Let's all keep in mind that Lamar Smith the republican operative currently occupying CD21 wants to be the chair of the legislative committee that will oversee VRA legislation. We know Smith's plans for the VRA are not good. He wants to gut Section 2 and Section 5. We absolutely must take him out of office this year, in the currently drawn district or a more republican leaning district. John Courage is the best man for the job, and he's willing to take Lamar on in either district.

Protect the VRA and make Lamar go away!

Sonia

[sonias]

5. Back in danger - urgent

We've lost that 5th place spot again. Come on Texas let's kick it up a Texas size notch. We have until midnight tonight! Let's get out that vote for John and reclaim that spot! Remember he needs 1st place votes to overtake Winter again.

http://www.forwardtogetherpac.com/mapchangers/contest/current_results
Standings as of June 29, 2006 @ 12:30 PM EST

1. MT-Sen Jon Tester

2. TX-Gov Chris Bell

3. CA-11 Jerry McNerney

4. TX-Sen Barbara Radnofsky

5. CO-06 Bill Winter

thanks

Sonia

[sonias]

6. Got Courage? (Deadline tonight 6/29)

Some exciting news from Burnt Orange Report's B-Mail

Apologies for another e-mail this week, but I have an URGENT call to action and then some GREAT news!

First, John Courage and our Texas candidates need your help tonight before 2 AM when the voting in Gov. Warner's MapChangers contest ends. Courage is now just 8 votes away from moving back into the Top 5 like he was this morning. This is worth $5,000 and for that reason I ask you to vote the following strategic ballot at any remaining e-mail addresses you have before 2 AM CST tonight.

1) John Courage
2 & 3) Chris Bell & Barbara Radnofsky
4 & 5) Ted Ankrum and Mary Beth Harrell

John Courage Named National Netroots Candidate
Joining the likes of Ciro Rodriguez, Francine Busby, and Paul Hackett, Texas' very own John Courage has been alerted that he will become a National Netroots Candidate. Soon to be profiled, Markos Moulitsas of the DailyKos had to following to say about John today in comments that set the Courage campaign abuzz.

"We've got four new candidates coming on the ActBlue Netroots page thanks to huge grassroots/netroots demand -- Jay Fawcett in CO, Larry Kissel in NC, Dan Seals in IL, and John Courage in TX. More info on these guys coming soon. That puts us at 16 candidates. We'll keep adding candidates as determined by the strength of local blogging support and (political) lightning strikes. If you want your favorite candidate added, the best way to make that happen is to start a blog covering the race."
It's because of the support of Texans like you and the hardworking staff at Team Courage that another one of our own is soon to be in the National Spotlight. So don't forget to put a full head of wind in John's sails by making him a MapChanger as well.

Read John's Open Letter to the Netroots


Karl-Thomas Musselman, Editor
Burnt Orange Report
burntorangereport.com

Go John Go!!!

Sonia

[NoPasaran]

7. We did it!

Standings as of June 30, 2006 @ 3:00 AM EST.
WEST
1. MT-Sen Jon Tester

2. TX-21 John Courage

3. CO-06 Bill Winter

4. CA-11 Jerry McNerney

5. TX-Gov Chris Bell

EAST
1. VA-Sen James Webb

2. OH-03 Stephanie Studebaker

3. CT-04 Diane Farrell

4. MI-09 Nancy Skinner

5. PA-08 Patrick Murphy

[TexasThoughtCriminal]

8. Yea John!

I'm just bummed that BAR didn't make the list. But a Texas 3 out of 5 might have pissed off the rest of the country.

But we all know what's really going on here, don't we? Like Feingold's Progressive Patriots, this is just a clever and cheap way to harvest our email addresses for a future presidential run. For just a few thousand dollars, they can piggyback on local support of hundreds of regional candidates to build name recognition an email list. But I'm willing to play their game. It costs me nothing and gets money to our cash-strapped Tx candidates.

Oh yeah, and now it can be said. I did a rethuglican thing and voted twice!:blush:

[muse]

9. Great job!

I did my part with my several email addresses and I blogged about it. I'm sorry Radnofsky fell out of the top five, but you have to hand it to Courage supporters. I must have received five emails yesterday urging me to go to mapchangers for Courage, if I hadn't already and to forward the email on.

Great netroots effort!!

[sonias]

10. Thank you muse and everyone else that voted

I'll admit I trolled and begged many DUers for John, and yesterday I was begging for both John and BAR. I was really hoping we would get three up there. I am so bummed BAR did not make it. When I went to bed last night BAR was in 5th and John still wasn't on the list. I thought BAR would make it for sure. John jumped all the way to 2nd. Damn that was some serious late night voting.

We got a lot of help from everybody, Burnt Orange Report, DailyKos, TXKos, DFT, Glen Maxey, our local Travis County party, our SDEC chairs in SD25 and many individuals who did personal e-mails. Thank you everyone!!

Congratulations to both John Courage and Chris Bell, we won 40% of the Top 5 Wester slate!

:woohoo:

Sonia

[sonias]

11. We need to thank the late night student effort

I just read Glen Maxey's blog at BOR, the UT students and Texas State students were up until 2 am organizing student voters to vote. Damn they're good.

Glen loves to use the word "amazing" and hey this was amazing effort.

http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1276
Amazing students: Changing the Equation
Ultimately, it was young people on the UT campus and Texas State campus who organized other young people to vote for John Courage. Those hundreds of “young” voters changed the equation radically.

And just watch the students across CD 21, as they register thousands of new voters, get them into the polls, and take out a congressman who has voted consistently against their interests and Higher Eduction.

And a final note: Those same folks have some political savvy, too. My understanding is that when it looked like their effort to push Courage had an unintended consequence of pushing Chris Bell out of the top five, they changed gears and made sure Bell had enough votes to stay in the top five, also. That’s very good politics, too.

Great going young Democrats! :yourock:

Sonia

[Melissa G]

12. I voted for our 5 with my non political husband's email address

I told him if if i did not get permission the couch might be looking pretty good for him...:evilgrin:

[sonias]

13. Every vote counts baby

I voted for my hubby too, but he's a Courage supporter anyway. He just didn't want to decide on any of the East coast races. So I took over for him after he put Courage in the #1 spot.

Sometimes you just gotta get people to the polls - even the virtual ones.

Great GOTV effort for the grassroots.

Sonia

[Melissa G]

14. Oh, He's a Courage supporter too...Bell is where he either balks

or pretends to balk..I put on a such a show whenever he threatens to vote for C4N3P or Stinky that he may be doing it just to bait me..He is evil that way..:evilfrown:
He did vote for Nader so you never know...