June 2—Jonathan Tasini, candidate for the Democratic nomination for the 15th Congressional District in New York, issued the following statement on his arrest yesterday during a demonstration against the Arizona immigration law. View the video here. Yesterday, I chose to be arrested, along with about 50 other people, during a demonstration in Manhattan against the racist, unconscionable Arizona immigration law. As the son of two immigrants, I will do everything I can to make sure that that law is opposed and overturned and that we rollback any future attempts to target undocumented immigrants. [more]

Take Action: Help elect Emblem--join the virtual phone bank! Published by Examiner.com. Tracy Emblem, a Democratic candidate running for Congress in CD-50 in North San Diego County, led the charge recently in Encinitas to demonstrate against both coastal oil drilling and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. BP is the largest oil provider of oil for the wars. Tracy was joined by Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) Chapter President Mike Copass and other concerned San Diegans. “In 2006, Brian Bilbray voted for the Deep Oceans Energy Act, which if passed would have allowed oil drilling off California. Our coastline needs to be protected,” Tracy said. “The off-shore drilling is motivated because Congress relaxed the federal royalty payments. We must eliminate incentives to increase profits at the expense of taxpayers in our district and nationwide.” [more]

Take Action: Help elect Winograd--join the virtual phone bank! Published by Los Angeles Times. The candidate, trailed by a volunteer, is knocking on doors in Mar Vista—down Beethoven Street, across Lucille Avenue, along Greenwood Avenue and on. The June 8 election is just weeks away. There is much ground to cover. "I'm Marcy Winograd, and I'm running for Congress," she says, over and over again. Her blue jacket is spotted with rain. "I'm a grass-roots Democrat who believes in jobs and bringing our troops home." [more]

Take Action: The California primary is June 8--make calls for Tracy! The Tracy Emblem for U.S. Congress campaign is proud to announce three new endorsements this week. We have a window of opportunity to elect a progressive pro-active candidate instead of Republican Brian Bilbray this November in California’s 50th District. Tracy needs your help with small donations and calls right now to help her win her contested June 8th Democratic primary. [more]

Published by The Nation. The action this year is supposed to be on the Republican side of the partisan divide, with Tea Party activists and anti-Obama enthusiasts crowding GOP primaries to get a head start on the big push toward November. Democrats, we are told, are supposed to be discouraged, disenchanted and disengaged. There's just one problem with that calculus: The actual numbers. [more]

Congressional Candidate Demands Opponent Divest War Portfolio & Return Campaign Contributions Before Congress votes on another $33 billion supplemental war appropriation, Congressional Candidate Marcy Winograd (CA-36) challenges her opponent Jane Harman to immediately divest of up to $8.3 million worth of investments in military contracting firms and return over $60,000 in campaign contributions from military contractors. Says Winograd regarding Harman's investments, "Clearly, Harman's votes to take us to war in Iraq and escalate in Afghanistan are making her richer by the hour. No wonder she voted for the Iraq invasion, despite pleas from constituents not to attack Iraq. With a portfolio heavily invested in weapons production, Harman should have recused herself from each war supplemental vote or divested her stock in military contractors." According to Harman's 2008 financial disclosure statement filed with the House of Representatives, Harman has the following investments in weapons manufacturers: Boeing $130,000 to $350,000, Lockheed Martin $80,000 to $200,000, Caterpillar Inc. $195,000 to $500,000, and General Dynamics $80,000 to $200,000. (Click here for full list.) [more]

Jonathan Tasini, candidate for the 15th Congressional Democratic nomination, released this statement today as part of a roll-out of a new coalition opposing new war funding in Afghanistan (view the related video statement here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMX7oUAb1Vs. Everywhere I walk in the 15th Congressional District, I can see places where the people need, and deserve, an investment of money. Roads with gaping holes, schools where teachers will be laid off, homeless people who need housing, and people in virtually every neighborhood who need good paying jobs. And, yet, we have wasted close to 3 trillion dollars on two immoral wars. Let me repeat that number: three trillion dollars. [more]

Visit Winograd for Congress Many are familiar with the adage, “When the people lead, the leaders will follow.” But what happens when people enable leaders to follow the dictates of the powerful? These days, the answers are arriving in the form of a news drumbeat that’s apt to seem like a dirge. From Afghanistan to Wall Street to the Gulf of Mexico, policies of military action and regulatory inaction are exacting terrible costs: in human life, economic resources and irreplaceable nature. Silence and inaction enable the destructive policies to continue. [more]

Take Action: Join Marcy's virtual phone bank! Americans spoke out loudly this past Tuesday. In two of the nation's most anticipated primaries, the Sestak vs. Specter Democratic primary in Pennsylvania and the Paul vs. Greyson Republican primary in Kentucky, the party underlings defeated their party leaders' choices and demolished the status quo. On the Democratic side, despite the full throttle barrage for Specter by Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey and Governor Ed Rendell, Congressional upstart Joe Sestak beat three decade incumbent Arlen Specter by 54 to 46 percent. In Kentucky, political neophyte, libertarian extremist, and tea party enthusiast, Rand Paul, clobbered the hand picked candidate of Senator Mitch McConnell, the most powerful Republican in D.C. The results of both elections send an earsplitting message to the leadership of America's two dominant parties, that warns: 'Your choices, endorsements and power don't matter. We're electing who WE want.' [more]

URGENT Action: Supplemental war funding vote this week--Tell Congress "No Money for War" Forty-six congressional candidates and 17 activist organizations released a statement on Monday opposing any more funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and inviting more candidates, incumbents, and organizations to sign on. The 46 candidates include 16 Libertarians, 15 Democrats, 14 Greens, 1 Independent, and thus far 0 Republicans (and more may be added to the website by the time you read this). Forty-two are candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, and four for the Senate. They do not all agree with each other on many topics, including their reasons for opposing war spending. But they all back this short statement: [more]

Read Bastien's responses to the PDA Candidate Endorsement Questionnaire On Thursday, May 13, the North Miami/Dade PDA chapter awarded Marleine Bastien its endorsement for Congress in Florida’s 17th Congressional District. The seat is currently held by Kendrick Meek. The chapter is based in North Miami, and most of its members live in either the 17th or 20th Congressional Districts of Florida. Meek’s self-serving run for the U.S. Senate and likely trip through the revolving door to a lucrative job in the private sector provided the PDA chapter with the tantalizing opportunity to find, endorse, work for and elect a real Progressive to represent the 17th District. The district is essentially an inner-city district similar to those represented by real Progressives in other parts of the country, like Barbara Lee in Oakland, Dennis Kucinich in Cleveland and John Conyers in Detroit. [more]

May 20, 2010—UAW Region 5 has endorsed Tracy Emblem for U.S. Congress in California's 50th Democratic primary race as the Democratic Candidate to vote for in the June 8 primary. UAW Region Five consists of active and retired members in 17 states in the Western and Southwestern United States and represents individuals such as manufacturing and aerospace employees, agricultural implement workers and academic student employees, readers and tutors at the nine teaching campuses in California. [more]

Poll of nearly 1,000 Likely Primary Voters Shows Incumbent With Just 43% Support A new poll of likely primary voters shows incumbent Jane Harman with just 43 percent support in California’s 36th congressional district, where Harman is facing a formidable challenge from Marcy Winograd. The figure is far below the 50% considered safe for incumbents, and reflects the mood demonstrated by the recent primary elections in which established D.C. figures were defeated by challengers. The IVR poll by the Merriman River Group for the Winograd for Congress campaign was conducted among a random sample of 991 likely primary voters and had a margin of error of 3.2 percent. [more]

Take Action: Tell Congress "No Money for War" Published by JonathanTasini.com. In the dysfunctional world of politics, games are played that no normal person would think makes sense. Right now, one of those games is being played out in astonishing fashion: Congress is being told that if it wants money for teachers, Haiti reconstruction and other good social needs, it has to vote for billions of dollars more to kill people in Afghanistan. Obscene does not begin to describe this game. [more]

Competing ads, a rare instance of investigative journalism and a hard-right embrace of AZ's Apartheid 'Pass Law,' helps close Poizner's gap against front-runner Whitman. Published by BradBlog.com. Photo: Race to the Right, Whitman vs. Poizner (from Bradblog) In "Meg Whitman, Wall Street, 'Billionaire Sociopaths' and the Media 'Substance Deficit,'" we noted: [more]

Published by The New York Times. FLORENCE, Ky.—Rand Paul grabbed a microphone, climbed onto a short brick wall and told a gathering crowd of supporters to brace for an Election Day uprising on Tuesday. “There’s a Tea Party tidal wave coming. It’s already hit Utah and it’s coming to Kentucky,” Mr. Paul said, delivering a confident pep talk here in the closing hours of the Republican primary for a United States Senate seat. “The day of reckoning is coming. We cannot elect the same old politicians without getting the same old mess.” [more]

Published by The Nation. But the United States as we know it did not take shape until 11 years after the declaration, when delegates from the former British colonies that had attempted to govern themselves with a loose set of agreements--the Articles of Confederation--gathered at Philadelphia to establish a more serious framework for the American experiment. The gathering, a constitutional convention, did not merely produce a document. it opened a rich national debate that remains, in many senses, unsettled to this day. The wrangling over our Constitution is not a bad thing. It is an indication of the extent to which we are all still engaged in the great work of nation building. [more]

Jonathan Tasini made the following announcement in a May 14 press release: I remain entirely energized about the mission to change our country and build a movement based on a vision of economic justice and a sharing of the great wealth of the nation. But, at the urging of a wide circle of people, two days ago I decided to seek election to the House seat in a district I’ve lived in for 23 years: the 15th Congressional District. [more]

Rallies from Mar Vista to San Pedro Congressional Candidate Marcy Winograd (CA-36/Harman) will conduct a Cost of Wars Tour this Saturday, May 15th, as she listens to voters' concerns, rallies support among volunteers and visits with campaign precinct walkers from West Los Angeles to San Pedro. Joining Winograd to talk about the cost of wars and veterans' issues will be Rick Reyes, former United States Marine serving in Iraq, now Latino Outreach Director for Winograd for Congress. The tour precedes a congressional vote on a 33-billion dollar supplemental war appropriation to continue the occupation of Iraq and escalate the troop level in Afghanistan. [more]

Join Marcy's virtual phone bank! Published by CounterPunch.org. What may be the last Democratic primary race worth paying attention to is taking place in the 36th Congressional District along the Southern California coastline where incumbent Jane Harman is facing a serious challenge from Los Angeles school teacher, Marcy Winograd, with the candidates’ widely separated positions on the Israel-Palestine conflict dominating a critical section of the political landscape. Harman is the second richest member of the House of Representatives with estimated assets between $112 and $377 million dollars. Whether it was her money or her Israeli connections that kept the Southern California Democrat from being indicted as a foreign agent five years ago or a combination of both is something the public is never likely to know. [more]