| Dave Schwab and others have been working their tails off to help Jill Stein raise enough money in her bid to become governor of Massachusetts to qualify for matching funds and be allowed into the gubernatorial debates with establishment candidates Deval Patrick and Charlie Baker.
That Ms. Stein's campaign, and her helpers in the progressive blogosphere, have been able to raise the $125,000 necessary to get included within the space of a few days is testament to the fact that, yes, the non-Democrat left IS indeed organized, and that with enough support from the left, can achieve astounding results.
The outpouring of support from excited Green Party supporters, grassroots activists and fed-up voters willing to take a chance, is amazing. According to the Stein campaign's web site, donations have been coming in online in such numbers that they overloaded their PayPal account.
9/24/10 - 4:35 pm
Due to an overwhelming outpouring of support which has pushed PayPal to it's limits, we need to temporarily stop taking donations via PayPal.
We hope you'll come back again soon and try again! We will turn the Contributions Page back on as soon as we can.
Thank you!
It is impossible for me to overstate just how big an accomplishment this is.
Can we now get an acknowledgment from the naysayers that there are viable third party candidates out there, and that they have earned support from the mainstream blogs? Or will they cook up some other excuse for refusing to help push Democrats to the left?
That's not mere snark. That is a serious question. One of the biggest hurdles in trying to raise awareness, raise campaign funds, get out the vote, and so on, has been the catch-22 condition that until Greens and other candidates could prove viability, they would get no support from mainstream bloggers even as that condition was made with the knowledge that without the help of mainstream blogs, it is exceedingly difficult to meet the requirements necessary to obtain that viability.
Only now that catch-22 has been broken. As of last Friday, Rasmussen reported that Patrick, a nominal Democrat, was only slightly ahead of Republican counterpart Baker.
Incumbent Democrat Deval Patrick remains slightly ahead of his Republican challenger Charlie Baker in the race for governor of Massachusetts.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Bay State finds Patrick earning 45% support, while Baker picks up 42% of the vote when leaners are included. Democrat-turned-Independent candidate Tim Cahill runs a distant third with five percent (5%), and five percent (5%)more favor some other candidate in the race. Two percent (2%) are undecided.
With the race that close, Jill Stein's candidacy gives progressives a real shot at shaping the outcome of the Massachusetts election. We have leverage enough to force Patrick, a darling of the right-wing Democratic Leadership Council in 2007, to actually adopt left-wing positions and govern accordingly.
None of this would have been possible if not for the hard work and dedication of third party activists, concerned voters, and an energized progressive movement. Also deserving of thanks are the people at this and other blogs who helped spread the word about Jill Stein. You all rock AND roll! |
