A grassroots movement is building excitement about former Governor Brian Schweitzer’s possible candidacy to run for the US Senate.
The movement is called “Draft Brian Schweitzer” and is being led by Billings resident Sean Whiting.
The group has three simple goals – to gather 5,000 signatures state wide, recruit 500 state wide volunteers and raise $50,000.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a political-action committee based in Washington, D.C., is leading an active “draft Schweitzer” movement, rounding up money and supporters. The group’s co-founder, Adam Green, visited with Schweitzer in Montana in May, and the group is buying Internet ads in Montana saying “Draft Brian Schweitzer for Senate!” So far, PCCC has raised $29,000 dedicated to helping the Schweitzer Senate campaign, signed up 415 people who say they’ll work as volunteers on the campaign and had nearly 18,300 people sign an on-line petition urging Schweitzer to run.
Last night, almost a hundred Montanans attended anAi??early organizing meet-up in Missoula. Among the attendees were progressive Democratic State Representative Ellie Hill,Ai??Pat Noonan, Bryce Bennet, and former Democratic congressman Pat Williams.
The gathering attracted the support of 75 additional Montanans, who signed a petition in support of a Schweitzer run for Senate. Additionally, the house party raised over $1059 to put towards Schweitzer’s run that he would get on day one of his campaign.
Here are some pictures from the event:
Click here to join our Draft BrianAi??SchweitzerAi??for Senate campaign.
(OrAi??donate $3 that Brian will receive on Day OneAi??of his campaign, so he can hit the ground running.)
The Draft Brian Schweitzer for Senate campaign has set its first Missoula organizing meet-up for 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Montgomery Distillery in downtown Missoula. Members of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in Montana and nationally launched the effort after Baucus announced last month that he would retire from the Senate. The committee said more than 18,000 people nationally have urged Schweitzer to run at DraftSchweitzer.com.
PCCC’s Adam Green was a featured guest on MSNBC’s Ed Show on Sunday, May 19th. He discussed the Draft Brian Schweitzer campaign in Montana, and the efforts of progressives across the nation to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits.
Adam Green has been following Brian Schweitzer from afar for years. Even before he co-founded the Washington, D.C.-based Progressive Change Campaign Committee with former union organizer Stephanie Taylor in 2009, he saw Schweitzer as ai???an authentic guy who says whatai??i??s on his mind and generally stands up for the little guy.ai??? Now Green and Taylor are trying to draw Schweitzer out of his post-gubernatorial life on Georgetown Lake and convince him to run for the U.S. Senate in 2014. Theyai??i??re already primed to hand him $24,000 in contributions the moment he declares.
ai???We look for game changers,ai??? Green told the Indy during one of several stops in western Montana early this week. ai???People who will both represent their state well and have a systemic impact on the culture of politics in Washington. Brian Schweitzerai??i??s authenticity and economic populism is something that the Democratic Party sorely needs right now, and could have huge ripple effects across the nation if he has a bully pulpit in Washington, D.C.ai???
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) was one of only four Democratic Senators to vote to kill expanded background checks for gun purchases, even though 79 percent of the people in his state support this measure.
On Friday, late night talk show host David Letterman named Baucus “Stooge Of The Night” for this vote against background checks. Watch it:
videoWant to help us fight for gun reforms?Ai??Click here to pitch in a few dollars to run a Montana TV ad holding Max Baucus accountable for voting against background checks.
RepublicanAi??pollster Harper Polling has just released a new poll it conducted of Montanans finding that former Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) leads all of his potential Democratic and Republican Senate challengers in the primary and general.
Schweitzer holds the highest favorability rating of any of the public figures polled, with 54 percent of Montanans saying they have a favorable view of him. The poll found that Montanans would favor Schweitzer for the Senate seat over Mark Racicot, a former Republican governor, by four points. Schweitzer’s lead over Montana Rep. Steve Daines (R) is even greater — ten points. Former Republican State Senate Minority Leader Corey Stapleton is bested by Schweitzer 54-29.
Within his own party, SchweitzerAi??handilyAi??bests Denise Juneau, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 78-14.
All of this is in a poll where, when respondents were asked who they would vote for in a hypothetical election, a generic Republican leads a generic Democrat 42-34.
This is encouraging news for progressives because Schweitzer is an awesome economic populist. Read our top ten reasons why and click here to join our Draft BrianAi??SchweitzerAi??for Senate campaign.
(OrAi??donate $3 that Brian will receive on Day OneAi??of his campaign, so he can hit the ground running.)
With members of Congress back in their home states for recess this week, activists pushing for tougher gun laws are hitting two senators with new appeals on television, asking them to change their votes.
A liberal group, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said Wednesday that it was spending $50,000 on a television ad in Montana to pressure Max Baucus, the stateai??i??s retiring Democratic senator, to support an enhanced background check system for gun buyers.
The latest ad, from the national liberal group Progressive Change Campaign Committee, hit the airwaves Wednesday morning on broadcast and cable channels in major Montana media markets — Helena, Missoula, and Billings — and on cable in Washington, D.C. The $50,000 ad buy will run for one week.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, or PCCC, a political action committee, will launch a new television ad on Wednesday to up the pressure on Baucus to support gun control legislation that would expand background checks to include gun shows and online sales.
This morning the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) has launched a new TV ad pressuring Max Baucus to support background checks for gun sales, something over 79% of Montanans support according to the post recent Montana-specific poll.
Earlier this month, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) went to bat for the NRA by being only one of four Democratic senators to vote to kill expanded background checks for gun purchases.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is responding to Baucus’s move by launching a new ad featuring Montana gun owner and grandmother Claire Kelly, who herself was a victim of a home invasion and says that gun ownership can protect Americans. Kelly warns, however, against guns being in the wrong hands, which is why background checks are needed.
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow covered the ad on her show tonight. Watch Maddow’s coverage:
Click here to pitch in a few dollars to run the ad in Montana.
Rachel Maddow previewed the PCCC’s latest ad featuring a Montana gun owner taking on Max Baucus and asking him to support background checks.
With the news that Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is retiring, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee has launched a campaign to draft former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D) to run for the spot.
As of this writing, over 15,000 Americans have signed onto the campaign, and have donated over $21,000Ai??Ai??to a draft fund that will go to Schweitzer on Day One of his campaign
Here’s why you should too –the top ten things that make Brian Schweitzer an awesome economic populist:
He Unequivocally Endorses Medicare-For-All, Single Payer: Schweitzer is an advocate of expanding Medicare to all Americans, and even sought a waiver from the Affordable Care Act to allow his own state to pursue single payer. Schweitzer explainedAi??his support for Canadian-style single payer health care like so: “Imagine if you went to a gas station, and you looked over at a car with a Canadian license plate. They were paying $1 a gallon for gas, and youai??i??re paying $2. Wouldnai??i??t that make you mad? Thatai??i??s exactly whatai??i??s happening. Iai??i??m mad for all the people in the country.”
He Calls Out Corporate Control Of Our Government — And Fights It: Ai??In an interview last year, Schweitzer said that ai???corporations are controlling not just our governments but our everyday lives.ai??? How many Democrats are willing to state that truth? Schweitzer alsoAi??has blasted Citizens United, supports a constitutional amendment to ban corporate money, and is especially passionate about this issue since the Supreme Court struck down Montana’s ban on corporate money in elections.
He Stands Up To Big Drug Companies:Ai??Schweitzer sought a waiver from federal law to allow Montanans to buy cheaper pharmaceutical drugs from Canada. Big Pharma lobbying has made it illegal for Americans to buy this cheaper medicine from …
Progressive Change Campaign Committee has launched a six-figure ad buy against each of the four Democrats who voted against background checks — Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mark Begich of Alaska, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Max Baucus of Montana.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee launched a “Draft Brian Schweitzer for Senate” campaign just hours after Baucus announced he would step down at the end of his sixth term in early 2015. The group has already raised more than $18,700, spokesman Matt Wall told BuzzFeed, with a pitch that asks progressives to replace the “Senator from K Street” with Schweitzer, whom they call a “bold progressive populist.”
Within hours of an announcement that Montana Senior Senator Max Baucus would be retiring in 2014, political action committees have already been raising money to welcome Brian Schweitzer into the race. The Political Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) has a website devoted to Schweitzer, in which it describes the former Montana Governor as “a bold progressive populist who supports single-payer health care and lists Paul Wellstone as one of his icons.”
In the hours leading up to the U.S. Senate’s vote to on a bill calling for universal background checks for gun purchases, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee held a conversation with concerned Montanans urging Sen. Max Baucus to back the legislation.