Use It or Lose It

An interesting Netroots campaign called “Use It or Lose It” is quickly gaining steam.

Over the past three days, we fired some warning shots across the bow of ultra-safe House Democrats who are hoarding campaign cash despite having either no Republican challenger, or token Republican challengers. By our count, this comes to over $50,000,000 we could use to extend the playing field outside of our top twenty-five targets. Today, with the help of MoveOn.org and several other blogs, the campaign moves into high gear.

Here is what we want: the 70 ultra-safe Democrats on our list to give 30% of their September 30th cash on hand directly to Democratic challengers, or directly to the DCCC. We then want them to post a statement on their websites, or issue a press release, explaining why they feel said donations are so important this year. In return, they will receive a much better chance of a Democratic House majority, and the adoring love of the netroots. If they do not this give this money, it will become more difficult to achieve a House majority, and they might also face some recurring questions about why they did not give when our candidates needed it the most, and when our target list was deeper than it has been in a generation. If they don’t give and we don’t win a majority then, well, that will really look bad in the future.

It’s an interesting take on a real problem, underfunded Democratic candidates are struggling to get their message across to the people.

Here’s a handy list of “safe” Democrats who can and should contribute to their underfunded party peers.

Rep. Brian Higgins is on the list and he should be urged to follow Rep. Louise Slaughter’s lead.

Slaughter transferred $100,000 of her own campaign money so that it can be used by campaigns that need it.

If you’re a progressive and want to demonstrate the power of the netroots, contact Rep. Higgins and tell him to donate 30% of his warchest to the DCCC. Higgins surely doesn’t need it for his campaign against Mike McHale. Yeah, no one else knows who he is either…

Rep. Brian Higgins
Local Office: 716-683-1107
DC Office: 202-225-3306