There are almost 170,000 members of DKos now. Aside from a small number of idiot trolls sent by the McBush campaign, they are mostly strong Democrats. What I want to know is this: given this site's incredible technical prowess, is it possible to mass email ALL of us at once? If so, I have a proposition. If we could get the members of DKos to give an AVERAGE of $20 a month to the Obama campaign for 4 months, that amounts to a contribution of $13,200,000 to help our man become #44. Here are my thoughts.

Today Kos wrote a diary about how he decided not to endorse Obama to the hilt and why it doesn't matter.

He says it doesn't matter, and that others will "pick up the slack."

This would seem to undermine the whole premise of getting people involved as volunteers, organizers and contributors, and also, to vote.

I'll share the experience of why one of my friends doesn't vote, today.  I'll say exactly what he said, and show that it maps perfectly to Kos' "Why I aint contributed and it's okay" post.

After staying completely financially independent of any primary POTUS candidate, I finally started giving to our Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

That being said as many of you know me here I believe in my heart that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both great Americans and Democrats...

We are at a crossroads as a progressive movement, and what we do now will determine our relevancy for the foreseeable future. It may also determine our country’s future.

Last week, the majority of this community was on the verge of immolating itself on the altar of "party unity" and accepting the FISA capitulation without a fight. But Feingold's maneuverings on the Senate floor have given us a little over a week’s reprieve. A week’s time to make it CRYSTAL CLEAR that the Fourth Amendment and the Constitution are OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE to us and that eviscerating  is not just "one issue" that we can live with. It is THE ISSUE. And we need to tell Democrats everywhere, especially Obama, that it is a non-negotiable item. And this should be our SOLE FOCUS between now and the time the Senate reconvenes after the July Fourth holiday.

Typically I only write diaries when I think I have something profound to say.  (As opposed to when I actually do have something profound to say ... but if I held out for that, I'd only write once every six months or so.)

But thinking is hard, dammit. And it is Friday afternoon, and I do not like thinking hard on Friday afternoon. So no deep thoughts today.  My turn for a cheap "Let's give Obama more money" diary. So here goes...

T-shirts!  Get yer Obama T-shirts here!

I've already written in one comment that I'm very disenchanted right now.  Somehow, we're still in Iraq, don't have universal healthcare, don't have stem cell funding.  We're seeing pushes for offshore drilling.  And this week, our party assumed the position when it comes to FISA.

What was even more infuriating is to see candidates that many candidates heavily supported the grassroots and the Netroots (both in the more limited sense that includes the page DailyKos, Swing State Project, etc collaborate on. and the broader sense to include all of the liberal websites such as Democracy for America and MoveON).  It's both heartbreaking and infuriating to see people like Patrick Murphy, Kirsten Gillibrand, Nancy Boyda, Jim Webb, and Jerry McNerney, people we thought would be the vanguard of the coming progressive era, vote they way they do, with the likes of Murphy and Gillibrand joining the Blue Dogs!

I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to political horseraces; this is the first election cycle I've been following with a magnifying glass. I'm endlessly fascinated with the very different ways Obama and McCain are going about their campaigns.

Obama tends to veer towards populism, hiring extremely smart people who might not be best of friends but definitely know their stuff. We all know this, we're betting the next four years on this extraordinary guy.

But he's extraordinary for another reason; he's forgone public campaign financing. This, coupled with his reliance on small donors, makes him different in that for the first time, "We, The People" seem to have been given the purse strings for his entire campaign.

I'm going to do a poll here. Put me on the record as being for the idea of what i'm going to coin right now as Obama's REAL Public Financing Plan. I think this should limit contributions to $500 per person total.

You might say why $500? I feel that its high enough to get the funds needed to fight 527 groups but also low enough that it sends a message that we don't need crazy amounts of money to get the message out.  The Obama campaign could also build into his contributions page an option for people to check off if they spend more than $500 that it will go to 1 of 5 different non-profit groups like the Red Cross and the site could keep a running tally on that. Or maybe contributing to the DNC however that could be looked at as a backdoor to promoting Obama as well.

The revolutionary Obama Organizing Fellowships are unpaid positions open to graduates and recent graduates to become extensively trained world changers.

The application deadline for the training has been extended to May 15th. The Field has the story: http://ruralvotes.com/...

With the link to the Obama web site page with application:
http://my.barackobama.com/...

Perhaps Daily Kos could sponsor a few?  

"Clinton aides said late Sunday she would report raising about $20 million in March and that she had more than $8 million for the primary available at the beginning of April."  (AP Story)

Now looking at the filled report for March 08 we see:

1. From Funds Contributed by State:

District of Columbia  $6,996,575.65 (or about 35% of TOTAL March contributions.)
link: http://query.nictusa.com/...
and

2. From Funds Contributed by Date:

MARCH 31, 2008 $8,525,621.13
link: http://query.nictusa.com/...
So H. Clinton's campaign says she had ~$8 mil available for the Primary at the start of April. It appears that ALL of that was given on MARCH 31.  And where from?  It seems we should look to Washington D.C. And please remind me: who lives in Washington D.C. and hands out lots of money? That's right: THE LOBBYISTS.

This needs to be checked further.

Technically that is true, at least not from oil companies directly.  But he does take money frfom those that are employed by oil companies.  So one could make the case that they are private and personal donations, not made to influence.

I was surprised to see an envelope with "JOHN EDWARDS" in the return address spot, so I opened it right away. John says that although he's confident that a Democrat will win the presidential election,

what truly frightens me--and should frighten you, too--are the 49 Republicans who want to continue George Bush's agenda even after he's gone. ... And they will keep using the "War on Terror"--a slogan designed only for politics, not a strategy to make America safe--to justify the sacrifice of more American lives for George Bush's failed policy in Iraq.

According to the letter, for every dollar donated to the DSCC between now and April 30, a group of Democratic senators has pledged to raise two more dollars, tripling the contribution.

From Huffington Post:

A DNC spokeswoman is confirming that the party is returning money, totaling $45K, to three donors. Details will indeed be reported in that April 20 filing. All three are FL donors upset with the ongoing debate about how and if the state's votes and delegates will be counted.

I am so glad that Dean decided to return the money, rather than capitulate to these extortionists....

And to think that these contributors call themselves "Democrats"?!?

Un-fricking-believable!!!!

We'd wondered earlier if the DCCC (and Speaker Nancy Pelosi) would get a contribution boost from Democrats taking offense at the letter signed by the 20 super contributors who were trying to pressure Ms. Pelosi to abandon her stance that Superdelegates should reflect the will of the voters.

Well, here's new info:

Obama March Number:

March Fundraising by the Numbers
Total Raised in March: More than $40 million
Contributors in March: More than 442,000
First-Time Contributors in March: More than 218,000
Average Contribution: $96
Total Contributors to Date: More than 1,276,000

H. Clinton March Numbers:
Said by her campaign "to be close to $20 Million."

This means that the NEW Obama supporters ALONE gave MORE than ALL of Clintons supporters in March. This has extremely important implications for the viability of H. Clintons campaign.

Of course in Clinton Math "close to $20 Mil" may be as little as $15 Mil.  ;)

I know it's kind of skimpy but...

...will John Edwards endorse Obama based on the will of his donors?

Sen. Bob Casey, today stepped forward and pledged his super delegate nomination for Presidential Candidate Barack Obama.  The Clinton campaign continue to state that with all the issues surrounding Sen. Obama's previous pastor, he is not going to be electable this coming November 2008.  The Obama campaign continues to argue that Sen. Clinton fails to release her tax records for the past 8 years and is feeding the media hate dialog and misrepresenting Obama's former pastor, in order to destract attention away from her misrepresenting the Bosnia trip.

Let's video review the arguments and evidence and make our own decision...

Mainstream media fails to cover the Paul v Clinton case.  The circumstances surrounding this case are issues many American voters would like to hear discussed on mainstream news.  The public has a right and interest in knowing Hillary's involvement with this case.