For those of you who attended last year's Netroots Candidates' Celebration and had a blast, there is good news....

Netroots Nation is doing it again!

Excuse the quick hit, but this is just too insane...

Supreme Court strikes down 'millionaire's amendment'

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has struck down the "millionaire's amendment" as an unfair way to help opponents of wealthy candidates who spend from their personal fortunes.

And it was Jack Davis who brought the suit to the court.

Jon Powers is running for Congress in NY-26 in a primary against Davis and his is a people powered campaign. We need to support Jon and make sure Jack isn't given the opportunity to lose this seat a third time.

Russ Feingold's Progressive Patriots Fund is holding a vote to determine which Senate challenger deserves support from the fund and from Progressives.

There are some very good candidates, but my vote has gone to Scott Kleeb.

I would encourage everyone to go and check out the list and cast your vote for Scott. He has been a member of this community for a couple of years, always been here for us and we should do our best to be there for him.

He's got a tough race in Nebraska and this is a way we can help from around the country.

SO CLICK HERE to cast your vote for Scott.

I have worked on a campaign or two...I've also run for office myself. One of the things I've learned is that the staff and the people who volunteer to work dog tiring hours for a candidate have some of the best insights into the candidate's spirit, integrity and character.

I have recently signed on to help out one of my favorite people, Larry Grant. I say people, because that is what I think makes him a great candidate, but this diary isn't my testimonial...that will come later.

Many of you already know Larry. He attended the YearlyKos Convention in Chicago, which is where I first met him, and he ran for Congress (ID-01) in 2006...narrowly losing in a hard fought campaign...and, last but not least, he is a friend of Idahoan, McJoan.

Okay, so I used a cheap shot to get your attention, but in some respects, the title is accurate in that, Scott Kleeb's Campaign is branded.

As some of you may recall, we (and I say we, because I am working with the Kleeb campaign...Disclaimer complete) held a logo contest and the response was pretty amazing.

Over 100 people submitted work and we narrowed that group down to 10...then to four...and now we have THE WINNER!

Actually, we took parts of many of the designs and came up with the logo that is after the flip.....

Big News for us New Yorkers

In another sign of how bad things are for the Republican Congressional Caucus this fall, the Cook Report has responded to the retirement of Tom Reynolds with an upgrading of the race...and he throws some love Jon Powers' way.

It's in a district that has been royal red for as long as one can remember; New York's 26th District.

The skinny is after the flip:

I'm here to introduce many of you to the man who can be, with your help, the next Congressman from New York's 26th District, Jon Powers.

I first met Jon while I was organizing the Netroots Candidate's Celebration at YearlyKos last Summer. We had lunch in Manhattan and I was immediately impressed with his poise, sense of self and confidence in his ability to lead. He spoke of the importance of "Leadership by Example" and then laid out his vision of where he wanted to lead the country. Big ideas for a young man.

But, I shouldn't have been surprised, because he had honed those leadership skills during the time he spent as a Captain in the Army; time he spent on the mean streets of Baghdad during the Iraq War.

John Hall has sent an editorial to various media outlets outlining his feelings about the present FISA debate. I attended a meeting of local Hall supporters and the Congressman in Dutchess County recently, and he distributed The editorial.

So much material...where to begin?

First up: Fake Suffering People

Seems that Jim Oberweis, the Republican candidate running to for Denny Hastert's seat in Illinois' 14th CD, really, really, really, really wanted to slam is opponent, Bill Foster, in an attack mailer claiming that Foster would raise the taxes on American families. He wanted to use examples of who would supposedly suffer if Bill Foster is elected.

It's an old Republican ploy; Tax and Spend, Tax and Spend, Tax and Spend, Tax and Spend, Tax and Spend, Tax and Spend, Tax and Spend, Tax and Spend, Tax and Spend, blah, blah blah....

BUT the problem is, he couldn't find any people who would suffer...but that didn't stop him. He simply made them up.

More after the flip:

Posted on all Blue Majority sites. Daily Kos, Open Left and The Swing State Project. Promoted by SusanG.

A couple of weeks ago, I announced that Senator Barack Obama had filmed a commercial supporting Congressional Candidate, Bill Foster, who is running to succeed Denny Hastert in Illinois' 14th District.

The Special Election, and the first real non-primary Congressional race to be decided this year, will be held this Saturday, March 8th.

This race is very close, and this commercial from Senator Obama will help us get Bill's message of change out to the people of the 14th District.

There is a lot at stake in this race. The NRCC has launched an $850,000 ad buy for Oberweis in the district, and, according to The Hill:

NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said Monday that he recognizes the magnitude of the race to replace the former Speaker and he expects it to be close.

"We understand the symbolic importance of the race; it’ll be spun out of all proportion if we were to lose it," Cole said. "It’ll be, ‘My God, it’s the end of the Republican Party.’ "

Now, with Senator Obama supporting our message of change, we now need your help to keep that message on the air.

With every dollar we raise, we can continue to make sure the people who will be deciding this election will see this appeal.

We have set up an Actblue page dedicated to supporting this television commercial.

Obama For Foster

Please help us turn Denny's seat blue. Think about how you would feel if you woke up on March 9th and the headlines read, "Hastert's Seat is now occupied by a DEMOCRAT." The implied headline would be, "There are no safe Republican seats in November."

I promised you the ad. Here it is:

Do what you can to help us keep Senator Obama's support of Bill Foster for Congress on the air.

Obama For Foster

Update: Bill Foster just received the endorsement of The Chicago Tribune

Disclaimer: I work with the Foster campaign, and I'm pleased to bring you this diary.

Update II by kos: If you want to contribute to keep the ad on the air, click here.

Update III: Obama has called for volunteers on his blog.

Race tracker wiki: IL-14

This past week, we here in New York received some great news. We are one step closer to holding the majority in the NYS Senate for the first time in a century.

This is huge news...and the main reason I ran for office in 2006 was to realize this dream and turn that State Senate blue.

There were many reasons for the win...many of them outlined at The Albany Project, but one of them was due to the incredible television ads produced by the fine people at a-political...the same folks who did last year's Eliot Spitzer's spots.

Move after the flip....

First, the polling info.

Democrat, Bill Foster, is ahead of Wingnut Republican (more about that in a bit), Jim Oberweis, in the Special Election to be held on March 8 to replace ex-speaker, Republican Denny Hastert, in Illinois' 14th CD.

This is according to a tracking poll released by the campaign today. You can View the polling Memo here.

Here's the Skinny:

More after the flip:

After watching the  insane scare-a-thon video that was posted by Republican House members on their web site, I was reminded of a diary I posted a little more than two years ago...on February 10, 2006.

I know it's not good form to repost diaries, but I think this moment, two years later, would be a good time to see how things really haven't changed.

After the fold is that diary:

THERE HAS BEEN AN OFFER BY BACK2BASICS TO MATCH 10 PEOPLE GIVING $5.00. REPLY TO HIS/HER COMMENT!

One of the treats of working with the Bill Foster campaign has been that I've had the chance to visit and read some really cool local Illinois blogs. I perfect example is Hiram Wurf's, Wurfwhile. He has written extensively about the Bill Foster campaign, and, although he has been an outspoken supporter of Bill in the primary, he has been incredibly fair.

Today he has a post up about John McCain's visit to Illinois' 14th District to raise money for uber-wingnut, Jim Oberweis.

Flip with me to read Hiram's take:

The race in Illinois' 14th District just got VERY INTERESTING. First of all, earlier in the day  John "100 Years of War" McCain announced he was coming to IL-14 on Feb 20 to raise $200k for the wingnut's wingnut, Jim Oberweis to try and hold on to Denny Hastert's seat for the Republicans in the upcoming March 8th special election.

However, Bill Foster's campaign just announced that Barack Obama has shot a commercial supporting Bill Foster.

The Press release is after the flip....

In case you didn't know, Bill Foster is running against a wingnut's wingut, Jim Oberweis, in a March 8 Special Election to fill Denny Hastert's old seat. He has essentially been running as George W. Oberweis as in, "War? Good. Help for real people? Bad."

This has been especially true about Iraq. Well, if you want to see a wingnut spin himself into the ground and get a preview of what the Republican Enabler's talking points are going to be this Fall, he was on the local News this morning and we've got it to show you.

But first, let me show you the Foster ad that went up days ago calling G.W. Oberweis on his 10 year war plan.

Bill Foster, who won the special election primary on Feb. 5th, has released his first ad in the campaign to take Denny Hastert's seat. And it's a good one.

Bill's opponent is Jim Oberweis, a total Bush clone, who would be a disaster if he were to take this race.

This is also the first Congressional race of the 2008 election cycle and, should we win, we will send the message that no Republican seat is safe.

First of all, let me say that I am working with the Foster campaign. Let me also say that I work only with candidates in whom I believe.

On Feb. 6, all hell is going to break loose in Illinois' 14th Congressional District, because a special election campaign to replace Denny Hastert in Congress is going to begin. That's right, Denny's gone, and we want his seat.

The special will be held on March 8th and it will choose the first Congressman of this election season. The hell will break loose on the 6th, because on Feb. 5, there is going to be a primary to decide who runs in that election...and turnout should be huge with Obamamania hitting his home state.

I want us to win that seat. If we do, it will send an unmistakable message to the country that there will be no safe seats for the Republicans in 2008.

But, let me tell you why I support Bill Foster in that primary after the flip...