This is actually some breaking news: MoveOn.org, Daily Kos, Democracy for America, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee have reached:
$1,000,000 raised for Bill Halter to defeat corporate Democrat Blanche Lincoln.
Our goal for one week was met in 48 hours!
[Insert balloon dropping, bells, and whistles here...hmm, and cowbell.]
MoveOn raised the lion's share from their vast 5 million person membership. Daily Kos, PCCC, and DFA raised six-digits together.
And it continues by the minute. If you haven't donated to Halter yet, get your feet wet with a $2 contribution today...trust me, it'll feel good. :)
You can also join 1,700 others in joining our "grassroots army to defend Halter" when he's inevitably under attack.
UPDATE: Thanks for putting this on the most-rec'ed list. Please keep the rec's coming so others can see!
UPDATE: Bluesee writes, "$26.25 Never Felt So Good" :)
I wanted to take this opportunity to flag something that helped fuel yesterday's fundraising: Bill Halter's strong support for the public option.
Yesterday, we at the PCCC got multiple emails from reporters asking things like, "Is Bill Halter for the public option? I can't find any past statements."
Halter could have beat around the bush or delayed his public positioning on this supposedly-controversial (though actually very popular) issue position. But he came out swinging yesterday. First when talking to Huffington Post's Sam Stein:
On health care -- the most contentious issue of the day and the most divisive one when it comes to Lincoln's standing in the Democratic Party -- Halter struck a decidedly more progressive pose than Lincoln...
"I do think that we need greater competition," Halter said. "I do believe that we ought to offer an option to the public. They get hung up on the words 'public option' and there's been a real messaging problem there. People don't know what that really means, so let me try to use an alternative formulation to tell you what I think people would respond to, and that is give the public the option, on a voluntary basis, to buy into a program like Medicare."
Huzzah! Are you inspired? If so, chip in $3 to help Halter win....trust me, it'll feel good.
But there's more -- talking to the Washington Post Plum Line's Greg Sargent:
Asked directly if he supported a public plan that would give folks access to Medicare or something like it, Halter answered: "Yes."
...Asked directly whether he’d back a reconciliation vote on the public option — and the use of reconciliation in general to pass reform, which Lincoln has hedged on — Halter answered Yes on both counts.
Boo-yah! Are you inspired? If so, chip in $4 to help Halter win....trust me, it'll feel good.
More from Sargent:
Asked whether Lincoln’s hedging on these issues ill served her constituents, Halter said: "We have a difference of opinion," adding: "I think that that’s gonna be an issue of course in this campaign."
Pinch me. Kick me. Throw a snowball in my face. Did a Democrat just say they are actually going to campaign...on a winning issue like the public option in 2010? Obviously, this guy is not taking his talking points from the White House message shop.
Are you inspired? If so, chip in $5 to help Halter win....trust me, it'll feel really good.
In the push to $1,000,000, Halter's strong stand generated much buzz.
- Markos wrote: "AR-Sen: Halter officially files, supports public option"
- PCCC blasted out the headlines to the right, and let our members know, "Bill Halter's strong support for the public option proves why our help is so important in this race."
- MoveOn members opened their emails that described the public option right up top and said "thwack -- it ran into a brick wall in the Senate, when a handful of obstructionist conservative Democrats threatened a filibuster."
- Others opened emails from a Democacy for America member from Arkansas, who wrote, "Blanche Lincoln threatened to filibuster health care reform if it included the public option. While she was doing that, Bill was volunteering at the [Keith Olbermann free health] clinic."
Blanche Lincoln has lots and lots and lots of corporate contributors -- and will get lots more after she did the insurance industry's bidding on health care.
If you are inspired to be one of the thousands of small-dollar contributors to Bill Halter's momentous campaign, chip in $6 today to help him win....trust me, it'll feel pretty damned good.
And again, you can also join 1,700 others in joining our "grassroots army to defend Halter" when he's inevitably under attack.
Have a good day, folks.