Sarah Feinberg, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman, estimates that incumbent members in a competitive race spend “twenty-five hours a week” fund-raising, while challengers devote “forty to fifty hours a week” to literally dialing for dollars.
In addition to the fourteen-hour workday [Heather] Wilson [R-NM-1] often puts in—soliciting money, sitting on the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Intelligence Committee, and taking care of constituents—she faces a grueling weekly commute that takes seven hours each way (if all goes smoothly) between her studio in Washington and her full-time residence in Albuquerque. Wilson’s family is used to this: her daughter, Cait, was just over eighteen months old when her mother first won federal office [...] (When Cait was younger and would say “I want you” over the phone to Wilson, the congresswoman recalls, “it was almost physically painful.”)
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi works fourteen-hour days whether or not Congress is in session. [...] Pelosi’s schedule between 1:15 p.m. on Friday, June 23, and 9:00 p.m. on Monday, June 26, featured stops in Providence; Cambridge, Massachusetts; San Juan; Pittsburgh; and Washington, D.C., and included five fund-raisers, three media appearances, two official meetings, one charity event, and a dinner for members of Congress that she hosted in her own home.
One of the only times former House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey got truly angry at his executive assistant was when she decided, in response to public criticism that lawmakers earned too much money, to calculate how much Armey earned an hour. She established that it averaged $3.57.
This is an urgent message from American Family Voices at 202-293-1128. Congressman Randy Kuhl voted for a $13 billion Christmas present for the oil industry in the way of tax giveaways. Meanwhile, Congressman Kuhl has taken thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the oil industry. Why, with oil prices over $100/barrel, and gas prices on their way to $4/gallon this year, why in heavens name should Congressman Kuhl be giving tax giveaways to big oil?WETM, Channel 18 in Elmira, also has a story on the call. By my count, this is the fourth robo-call from this group. Other calls concerned unsafe toys, S-CHIP and war with Iran. According to the non-partisan Public Citizen organization, American Family Voices is a 501(c)(4) funded mainly by AFSCME.
Call Congressman Kuhl at 607-776-9142 and tell him we should be helping Americans at the pump and not rewarding big oil.
2. Randy Kuhl is swimming against this tide. Evidence for this includes his "disingenuous, dishonest and incredibly negative writings in local newspapers, and his spending of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money to sent out glossy two-sided mailers."
We are energized. People in this country are absolutely at wits end and fed up with politics as usual in Washington, DC. The go along to get along, good old boy network is not resonating with the American people. Washington DC is broken, and to fix it we have to change it.
After the intro, Rick Miller of the Olean Times-Herald asked some questions about the primaries. The net of them was that Massa is going to vote for Hillary, he doesn't officially endorse anyone, and his supporters are backing different candidates but are unified in their support of Massa.
I'm going to center my campaign on what we believe in and what we stand for. But I cannot help but point out, and it must be pointed out, that who we have representing us today is a classic example of what is wrong in Washington. Washington is broken, and Randy Kuhl is one of those broken pieces.
Recotta also asked how Massa's campaign will tap into the energy coming from the Presidential contest.
tell people that they need to change Congress. When a sitting Member of Congress calls his colleagues a 'Post-Office Congress' but he's one of the guys setting up a bill naming a Post Office, then he's part of the problem. We need people to work across party lines. I used to be a Republican. I'm bi-lingual. I speak donkey and elephant, eat carrots and peanuts. We need to elect people who don't judge their fellow Americans by the party they're part of.
Rob Montana of the Hornell Evening Tribune asked what Massa's biggest problem was with Kuhl's editorial.
I like to think some of that energy is coming from our campaign. We're like a can of Coke that's been shook up. We see more volunteers, more activity and more excitement. I don't think it's an Iowa or New Hampshire phenomenon -- it's a national phenomenon.
My answer is great, time to leave. I was not in favor of going into Iraq, and I continue to be in opposition to our occupation in Iraq. We were sold a bill of goods. We were told there would be a Summer surge. Last time I checked, there was snow outside, and Iraqi soldiers were shooting American soldiers in the back. The surge was supposed to create a functioning Iraqi democracy. That hasn't happened. It's time for us to look at the President and say 'You don't get to keep 150,000 Americans in Iraq.'
Here's the first email I received last night after the Iowa caucus was called for Obama:
Yeeeeaaaahhhhhhh!!!! You did it!
The DFA Unite for a Progressive President Campaign was a huge success and helped propel Senators Obama and Edwards to first and second place victories in Iowa.
A year ago, the pundits and beltway Democrats said this race was a forgone conclusion. Over the last two months, you made it a dead heat on the ground in Iowa.
Tonight: Progressives Won!
The nomination is far from over. New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina are coming up fast. And, Super Tuesday could decide the nomination.
DFA stands for Democracy for America, a political action committee. Perhaps they did have something to do with setting the stage for Senator Obama's win last night. But the notion that someone should send them $15 because Obama won is a staggering misdirection. If you have a few bucks to send, you'll get the most bang for those bucks by sending them directly to your candidate of choice.With your help, we will continue to make history. You did it in Iowa. Let's do it again across the nation. Contribute $15 right now and support our campaign for a progressive president.
Alas, there has so far been no sign that the government of Nuri al-Maliki is poised to grab this opportunity. Indeed, as an adviser to General Petraeus glumly describes it, “The politics is going nowhere.” The government still acts like a collection of competing fiefs, not a body that speaks with a national voice. Even among Shias, a paralysing factionalism has, if anything, got worse. [...]Also, I didn't sleep through the Petraeus hearings, where he made it clear that the surge will end in the Spring. By that time, both parties will have picked their nominees and Iraq will once again be a major issue getting tons of airtime as part of the Presidential race. Surge or no surge, a broad majority of Americans still want to get out of Iraq. Thinking that this issue will just go away is simply unrealistic. We are going to hear a lot about Iraq in 2008, and much of it will not be kind to Kuhl's record on the issue.
Worse, Mr Maliki is still failing to reach out effectively to the Sunnis. The main Sunni block in parliament, which had a clutch of ministries in the ruling coalition, continues to take no part in government. [...] To cap it all, the Sunnis are sorely divided too—and not just over al-Qaeda. The main Sunni block in parliament is deeply wary of the Awakening in Anbar, which may displace it as the authentic voice of the Sunnis nationwide.