Jay McGovern (FL-4) Strong Challenger in a Red District

[courtesy of Blog for America]

One of the key things that we should start to do as activists is expand our playing field when it comes to thinking of elections.  Howard Dean's 50-state strategy and Barack Obama's commitment to fighting in every state and territory have produced results that show us this approach is one that can lead to positive change.  It can give candidates a chance to win who might not otherwise do so, it can send a message to Republicans that places they have assumed are theirs by birthright must be earned and it can sap Republican resources and make them spread their spending and activity to places they usually wouldn't bother to worry about.

A first step we can take down this road is to support good candidates in supposedly red districts.  Frequently this will mean spending money outside your own congressional district.  If we only focus on our own districts, we'll never be in the majority, we need to work together to change the state, not just our own backyard.  And the more candidates we help and the more candidates we help win, the more our congressional delegation will owe progressives when it comes time for them to vote on things like the recent FISA/telco immunity fiasco.  Like it or not, politics works on the you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours level a lot of the time.  If we scratch their backs with our votes, our voices and our checkbooks, they'll have to scratch ours.

At the recent Jefferson-Jackson fundraiser in Hollywood, I met a candidate in this exact situation.