Lately From MoveOn.org

MoveOn.org has become bigger than most if not all of us thought it could ever get. It's really turning heads every single time it does something. Now, they're looking for some paid organizers in the Philly area. I got an email from them four days ago...

Operation Democracy, our national network of neighborhood teams, is making a difference on the critical national issues we all care about: from building pressure to end House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's abuse of power to opposing Bush's risky Social Security privatization scam.

Through our work on these issues, we're also building toward real victory in the 2006 elections. Now it's time for the next step. Our partner, Grassroots Campaigns, is hiring organizers to work with MoveOn members in swing districts across the country. Organizers will help expand Operation Democracy and win critical elections.

Sound like something you'd be interested in? Apply!

I also got another email from the MoveOn squad today concerning the 2006 PA Senate race. They wanted the input of MoveOn members within PA before endorsing a candidate on the Democratic side.

There are two Democratic candidates currently running to defeat him: State Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. and Charles Pennacchio, a university professor. Most political observers believe Casey has a lock on the Democratic nomination, and we tend to agree. But we wanted to check in with MoveOn's Pennsylvania members before we endorse anyone.

Absent from their list is Alan Sandals. MoveOnPAC is the sister organization focussing on electing progressives to national office, so I think the choice is clear, Pennacchio. But will they think that Casey has a better chance given the strong backing from the higher ups in the PA Democratic elite? I hope not. Joe Hoeffel was a MoveOn backed candidate in 2004, I wonder if he'll try to flex his muscle and try to get them to endorse Casey. But MoveOn is about the people, not a selected few with influence. So go head on over and vote for the person you feel MoveOnPAC should endorse.

Comments

[Rep. Mark B. Cohen]

It's wonderful that MOVEON is getting involved this early the battle to oust Rick Santorum. We need many thousands of new registered Democrats, and a real effort to persuade the Gore-Santorum folks (people who voted for Al Gore for President and Rick Santorum for Senator in 2000) that it's time to vote straight Democratic for the top offices in 2006.

I would love to watch a focus group of Gore-Santorum voteers explain why they voted for both of them. They are certainly not the most logical people in the world--although I would guess that support for incumbents was a key motivating factor for some of them. In any case, we should work to identify and persuade those thinking of a Rendell-Santorum vote in 2006.

[albert]

And also those Kerry-Specter voters as well from 2004.

[Rep. Mark B. Cohen]

The Kerry-Specter voters were encouraged by some Democratic-oriented groups, like the AFL-CIO and the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association who admired Specter because of specific breaks with Republican orthodoxy. Santorum had no comparable organized base of Democratic supporters in 2000, although, like Specter, he did have an underfunded Democratic opponent.