Senate

Sen. Majority LeaderAi??HarryAi??ReidAi??sent a fundraising email to the PCCC’s nearly 1 million members nationwide yesterday saying that aAi??Senate Republican Majority would “hold our government hostage in order to pressure President Obama to swallow right-wing policies.”

Sen.Ai??ReidAi??urged PCCC members to supportAi??Ai??Mark Udall (CO-Sen), Bruce Braley (IA-Sen), and Mark Begich (AK-Sen) to help Democrats keep the Senate and avoid a Republican Majority.

In addition to raising the prospect ofAi??impeachmentAi??in a Republican Senate,Ai??ReidAi??spoke publicly about expanding Social Security benefits for the first time ever.

Check out Sen. Reid’s email:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From:Ai??Sen. Majority LeaderAi??HarryAi??Reid
Date: Wed, Oct 29, 2014
Subject:Ai??I need these three

Mary,

In 6 days, the fate of the final two years of the Obama administration will be determined.

Either House Speaker John Boehner and a new Senate Republican Majority hold our government hostage in order to pressure President Obama to swallow right-wing policies.

Or, we shock Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers, and many pundits like we did on Election Night 2012 — and have a Democratic Senate that puts hard-working Americans first.

I need Mark Udall (Colorado), Bruce Braley (Iowa), and Mark Begich (Alaska) to win their elections. All three races are neck and neck.

If you want Democrats to keep our Senate majority, please donate $3 to their campaigns. Please do it right away.

Udall, Braley, and Begich stand with me in opposing cuts to Social Security. In the red state of Alaska, Begich is narrowly leading after campaigning to expand Social Security benefits.

Americans are struggling. They need a government that actually tries to solve problems.But Republicans have already shown they have zero interest.

Frankly, a Republican House and Senate could go beyond shutting down the government — they could waste months of our lives onAi??impeachment.Ai??And every month that goes by without solutions, struggling Americans are in pain.

Join me …

Mayday is responding with even more money. As of this morning it’s upping its investment from $1 million to $1.25 million.

The straight-to-camera testimonial should be familiar to anyone who watches Mayday and its South Dakota partner, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. As Noam Scheiber explained last week, “PCCC insists on ads featuring local voters — often Republicans — which it unearths from its list of nearly one million members, distributed across every congressional district in the country.” It supplements this with direct outreach to its members, which MoveOn is also doing in South Dakota, in a race that’s unlikely to see more than 350,000 total votes cast.

When Lessig launched Mayday, the consultants he envisioned employing were the sort of high-priced Washington hands who cut issue ads for billionaires on behalf of their pet candidates. In the months since then, however, Mayday’s understanding of “bad-ass campaign shops” has evolved. Mayday has now essentially outsourced oversight of the $1 million it’s investing in South Dakota, as well as $3 million in other races, to a nonprofit grassroots outfit called the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), which styles itself in opposition to the professional consultant class.

The typical media consultant takes a 15 percent commission out of any media buy a campaign makes—potentially millions of dollars in a statewide race. Right off the bat, PCCC negotiated a zero-commission deal with the three ad consultants it retained. (They will receive a flat fee instead.) The typical consultant tends to favor slick, highly-produced ads. PCCC insists on ads featuring local voters—often Republicans—which it unearths from its list of nearly one million members, distributed across every congressional district in the country. The typical campaign uses some combination of paid staff, robots, and volunteers to encourage voters to turn up on Election Day, but it keeps their efforts separate, and the campaigns often lack a critical mass of volunteers needed to make calls efficiently. PCCC, using its “Call Out the Vote” program, can seamlessly supplement the campaigns’ own efforts with calls from the humans on its membership list, providing that critical mass continuously. And because the list is so extensive, it can make calls at enormous volume in a very short period of time. It recently placed 23,000 get-out-the-vote calls in a single night in Minnesota, a scale the typical statewide campaign often achieves in a week.

A progressive group aligned with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has outlined a plan to build a “firewall” around Warren’s staunchest allies running for Senate in 2014. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has raised more than $163,000 to support Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), and Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), lawmakers the group contends are critical to preserving Warrens’ populist vision. PCCC will officially endorse Merkley today, and it’s already raised nearly $70,000 for him.

“Jeff Merkley is one of the boldest leaders in the Senate because he isn’t afraid to take on the big fights like breaking up the big banks, expanding Social Security benefits, defending our privacy, and fighting to ensure Senate rules represent the will of the people,” said the group’s cofounder, Stephanie Taylor, in a statement.

A group aligning itself with Elizabeth Warren is endorsing and raising money for U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, whose election in 2008 predates Warren’s to the Senate from Massachusetts in 2012.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee says it has 21,709 Oregon members and nearly 1 million nationally. It has launched a national fundraising appeal, and says it has collected $69,400 for Merkley from 7,260 mostly small donors in Oregon.

Like Warren, Merkley has taken on Wall Street, and championed the creation of a Consumer Finance Protection Bureau that Warren proposed as part of 2010 legislation overhauling the financial system.

Progressive groups, transparency advocates and the whistleblower behind the Pentagon Papers are coming out strongly against a Senate bill to reform the National Security Agency (NSA), arguing the reforms it contains are inadequate.

“Our fundamental civil rights — the human rights we hold dear — are not adequately protected by either the Senate or House versions of the USA Freedom Act,” wrote the groups and individuals, including the Sunlight Foundation, Credo Action, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Daniel Ellsberg and Thomas Drake.

The Senate advanced a constitutional amendment meant to reverse two recent Supreme Court decisions on campaign spending after Republicans opted to back proceeding to debate on the measure.

Democratic political groups, such as the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), pushed hard for a vote, saying the issue motivates Democrats to go out to the polls.

“Citizens United gives corporate special interests the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money in our elections,” said Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who is up for reelection this November. “It’s wrong and I’ve been fighting it since the day the Supreme Court announced its egregious decision.”

Progressive Democrats had reason to celebrate Sen. Brian Schatz’s victory over Rep. Colleen Hanabusa late last week in Hawaii’s hurricane-delayed Democratic Senate primary: Schatz is one of a few prominent candidates nationally to call for a major expansion of Social Security benefits.

“This is a huge victory for the populist Elizabeth Warren wing of American politics, and a big blow to the corporate win,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a political advocacy group that strongly backed Schatz’s primary campaign. “Brian Schatz won by campaigning on a bold platform of expanding Social Security benefits.”

PCCC members contributed over $73,000 to Schatz’s campaign, and the organization ran online ads in the final days of the election that stressed the stakes for Social Security, according to a spokesperson.

Hawaii has lately not been much of a paradise for Democrats, who are divided against each other in a Senate primary that still isn’t decided almost a week after Election Day.

The race, between incumbent Sen. Brian Schatz and a sitting member of Congress, Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, has split Democrats in Washington and Hawaii.

“There is a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party taking place between the Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party and the corporate wing of the Party,” said Laura Friedenbach of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which endorsed Schatz and has run ads supporting him.

“The contrast is clear: Brian Schatz was one of the first U.S. Senators to support legislation to expand Social Security benefits, and his opponent Colleen Hanabusa voted for the Simpson-Bowles plan to cut Social Security benefits,” Friedenbach added.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee launched an “overtime” fundraising effort on Monday to help Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz defeat Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in the bitter Democratic primary, which is still too close to call.

Voters cast their ballots on Saturday, and as of Sunday afternoon Schatz was leading by less than 1,700 votes; over 230,000 were cast, according to the Washington Post. Due to a tropical storm, not all votes were counted, and the election was postponed in two districts in the Puna region which have about 8,000 voters, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat.

“The funds will go straight to the Schatz campaign to fund their grassroots efforts in those precincts,” said Laura Friedenbach, a PCCC spokeswoman.

The PCCC, which says it has already raised $67,000 for Schatz’s campaign, told supporters that ensuring Schatz’s victory was important for the “Elizabeth Warren wing” of the Democratic party.

A progressive group based in Washington has endorsed U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz in his U.S. Senate race in Hawaii.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee said Tuesday Schatz was one of the first lawmakers to support expanding social security benefits.

Co-founders of the group say they are impressed by Schatz’ leadership on climate issues and his ability to think strategically and plan effectively. They are visiting Hawaii to train organizers and endorse Schatz.

Today, we are proud to announce our endorsement of U.S. Senator Brian Schatz for re-election in Hawaii.

Social Security is a defining issue in this race.

Brian Schatz was one of the first senators to endorse expanding Social Security benefits.Ai??His primary opponent refuses to rule out cuts.

When we asked our 4,285 Hawaii members who they support, the answer was overwhelming: By 4 to 1 they support bold progressive Brian Schatz.

PCCC member Gerald, in Honolulu, recently told us, “Brian is the real deal progressive… He’s the clear choice to endorse!” Ai??We agree.

In addition to being a Social Security hero, Brian Schatz is one of the Senateai??i??s top leaders on the climate crisis. He recently led an all-night Senate debate that made big news and thrust progressive solutions into the national conversation.

Like Elizabeth Warren,Ai??Sen. Schatz is a true partner to progressives.Ai??He recently came to our PCCC candidate training to mentor new candidates.Ai??And tonight, he will welcome our PCCC team into his campaign headquarters as we start immediately organizing volunteers on his behalf.

Will you donate $3 to Sen. Schatz to help keep this bold progressive in the Senate?

First, progressive Senate candidate Shenna Bellows out-fundraised Republican Susan Collins.

Now, Shenna is profiled by US News & World Report and The Hill!

Check out below. Then please donate $3 to help win this huge Senate race.

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT:Ai??

Democrat Shenna Bellows, a former American Civil Liberties Union leader who grew up without electricity or running water until the fifth grade, is attempting to cobble together a unique coalition of liberals and libertarians to try and upset Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

But while sheai??i??s been dubbed ai???the Elizabeth Warren of Civil Libertiesai??? by the liberal Progressive Change Campaign Committee, she also finds herself seeing eye to eye with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on issues of national security and foreign policy…

Bellows is campaigning on repeal of the U.S. Patriot Act and wants to severely curb the National Security Agencyai??i??s bulk data collection program ai??i?? two issues that resonate with the left wing of the Democratic Party as well as libertarian-minded voters who propped up Ron Paulai??i??s strong showing in the 2012 presidential caucuses there.

ai???What I think we need is targeting based on individualized suspicion, reasonable suspicion that people are engaged in criminal or terrorist activity,ai??? she says in response to a question about what she thinks the NSA should be able to monitor.

Bellowsai??i?? candidacy was being largely ignored by national media until she revealed earlier this month she had raised more money than Collins during the last quarter. Now, sheai??i??s trying to capitalize on that news with a press blitz highlighting a grassroots campaign focused largely on local organizing in Maineai??i??s 500 towns.

Help Shenna Bellows continue the momentum! Click here to donate $3 and help Shenna defeat Susan Collins.Ai??

Then, share this great article on Facebook …