Evening Tour of Chicago
Ted sent some pictures along for us after his plane landed in Boston very early this morning. While we wait for his stories to catch up with the pictures, check out these snaps that he took while rushing from one place to another in Chicago last night.
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Ah, yes. The City of Big Shoulders… and dark skyscrapers. ‘Photos très artistiques,’ Ted!
:0)
skyscrapers for skyscrapers’ sake,
Otter
I didn’t know JK was coming to Chicago. Clinton was here yesterday for Duckworth and Bean. What is the event in Chicago?
I know that later today Duckworth has an event with Michael J. Fox. in Wheaton, Illinois. Hopefully there will be a good turnout.
Chicago is…my kind of town!
Thanks, Ted, for showing how great a city this is. Can’t wait to read about the rest of your adventures in our wonderful city—and especially about Dan Seals!
oncall, JK was here to meet with the DNC Trailblazers, a group of young professionals in the city.
I really hope the democrats can have a landslide win this election over the republicans.
tks ted for your work
kevin
I gave money to Kerry, and continue to support him via all those annoying (but worthwhile!) telemarketing calls to ‘Friends of John Kerry.’ I voted for him, not half-heartedly, but enthusiastically—I supported him, I talked him up. I -still- think he’d be a fantastic president.
But please, don’t actually go out of your way to dampen my enthusiasm. I’m a ‘real’ netroots activist, and all I know is that Kerry’s sitting on $14 million right now. He’s been working his ass off, and that’s great—but this election coudl turn into a watershed moment. Giving four or five million dollars, especially if it’s directed toward 2nd and 3rd tier races, and being left with -just- $10 million, would do two things to me, as an anonymous cowardly netroot activist.
One, it’d help win my country back, at this very pivotal time.
Two, it’d help my enthusiasm for Kerry remain high. I don’t want to have to spend the next two years defending him against ‘why didn’t he contribute, we just barely didn’t take the House’ comments. ANd if he doesn’t contribute, I won’t defend him. I won’t be able to.
For $5 million, he can buy a -lot- of goodwill.
http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/10/post_1740.html#014105
JRN - Did you have specific candidates in mind? JK has given more than any other Democrat. Amounts per candidate are shown here: http://www.johnkerry.com/
Senator Kerry: You have an enormous 14 million dollar war chest. Please contribute more of it to help other congressional candidates. You can afford to be much more generous than you already have been. Please follow Barney Frank’s example and share your resources with those whose races could make all the difference in the effort to take back control of the Congress.
Dear JRN,
As I understand it, it’s not 14 million—it’s more like 8.5 million. And he’s using that money to travel all over the country and stump—as he said to Stephanopoulos, he’s spending down, not building up money for himself. Matter of fact, he’s not raising anything for himself—and remember, his Senate seat comes up in the next election cycle, so it would be stupid to empty his coffers entirely.
I understand your desire to remain enthusiastic about JK—I guess what I’m saying is, you *can* do that. Don’t allow an anonymous website to mess up your day. If their attacks were substantive, they’d come out in the open to make them.
JRN and John O.,
If you believe a little twerp sitting behind a keyboard thinking he is numero uno blogking, and trots out lies and assumptions about Senator Kerry and David Wade, I pity you for falling for and contributing to a swiftboat like attack.
Markos Moulitsas should be ashamed, he talks netroots, well sorry I do not want to be a part of a site that tears down Dems more then builds them up.
Kos should be ashamed and owes an apology to Senator Kerry and David Wade. He also should remove that diary, it is nothing but assumptions and lies with no facts to back it up.
Senator Kerry has been doing more then any Dem out there for the past 2 years. I know that as fact, I’ve watched, listened and read everything that Senator Kerry has done since ‘03. Why do I support John Kerry? Not because I gave him money, but because I trust him and he has never ever let me down.
Senator Kerry: Will you pledge to follow Barney Frank’s example and share 30% of your war chest with fellow Democrats who don’t have your resources and could greatly benefit from the assistance? This is a critical election Senator. I have been a supporter of yours since you were a Lt. Governor candidate. I have been surprised that you have let your employees and supporters respond to requests for help with ad hominem attacks that don’t meet the issue. Please help Senator. Please join Barney Frank in spreading resources that could ensure that the Democratic party takes Congress and the country back.
JK on the “Pot of Money” myth:
http://www.bluemassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4758
Dear Sen. Kerry:
I hope you don’t listen to the misinformed people who have come to this website and posted things that have no basis in facts. I have been watching this website and have seen the incredible amount of work you have been doing for other Dem candidates.
It is very, very sad to see anonymous websites pushing misleading information against a single Democrat. I hope that you don’t give into this kind of blackmail and continue to do what you have been doing, raising money for good Democratic candidates all across this country.
I have no idea why you have been singled out for this fundraising smear, but I do know that it is wrong and it is full of incorrect information. I have no idea how some Democrats think that spreading this sort of thing will help the Democratic cause. It’s just sad.
john o,
Maybe you should go through the entire site - especially the link to candidate support in the election 2006 section - and realize how much time (especially time), effort and money (lots of money) that JK has contributed to candidates who are competitive in their race because JK saw past the politcal one upsmanship and decided to make an effort to help good candidates. Your childish appeals make you look horribly uninformed.
All of you are missing (deliberately obfuscating?) the point that Barney Frank grasps. This is not about what has been done thus far, it is about ensuring a Democratic takeover of Congress. More money invested in close races where money is tight could make all the difference. Why is the Kerry team unwilling to make the same commitment that Rep. Frank has made?
Read or listen to the Kerry interview in the link Democrafty gave to the Blue mass group. Kerry has already been doing MORE than the Barney Frank committment.
As others told you, he has spent a large part of the $14 million left after the big committee donations of $2.5 million. The estimate given upthread is that he has about $8.5 million left. In that case, he has given closer to half his money - (2.5+ (14-8.5))/(2.5 + 14) = 48.5% I assume this is too simplistic, but it does give some order of magnitude.
It is also notable that he has NOT been soliciting money for himself. Hillary, on the other hand, has raised over $45 million for a race with no viable opponent. The reality is that while Hillary has amassed a huge warchest, Kerry has reduced his to help other candidates - likely leading to both Bayh and Hillary having more money.
This is a swiftboat like attack on a Kerry strength. It is not directed at everyone - only Kerry, with the intent of making it look like he did less, when he did far more.
Clever parsing of putative numbers is beside the point. Barney Frank has just said that he will give 30% of his funds to other candidates. Will Sen. Kerry now do likewise? Based on the vitriol thus far from the Kerry staff and on this Blog, I can only assume that the answer is NO. Apparently Senator Kerry is more interested in saving for another presidential run than winning Congress now. For shame.
(And shame on Hillary Clinton and Evan Bayh and any other similarly situated Democrats who refuse to share their wealth. This is not a Kerry-only issue.)
I didn’t detect any vitriol in the responses given to you, john. Frustration perhaps that there is little to no recognition in the general blogosphere of the fact that JK was raising money early and has continued to put his body, staff and resources completely into fundraising for the current election cycle.
Go look at his schedule and see the amount of valuable free face time on local television stations he’s helped these candidates gain with his appearances. He has continued to raise money—yesterday’s email on behalf of the 4 Senate races (MO, TN, VA, NJ) to his email list raised $300,000 in the first 12 hours.
There’s also something about election cycles that’s been missed in the current discussion about funds. John Kerry has given more than $1 million in the 2006 election cycle to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The key word here is “cycle.” From the day after one election to the next election day is one “cycle.” Every single dollar contributed during that period counts as one “cycle.” Kerry’s $1 million donation helped the DSCC retire the campaign debt left over from the 2004 cycle.
By donating this money at the beginning of the cycle, he made it easier for the DSCC to raise money from all sources for the rest of the cycle.
Nothing in campaign fundraising is more difficult than raising more money when donors know you’ve got a whopping deficit. Paying off debts is not “sexy”. No one wants to give money when he/she knows that the money’s going to pay off a bank loan, not to help candidates directly. So the timing of Kerry’s donation was critical: by helping the DSCC quickly get rid of the debt, Kerry made it possible for the DSCC to kick its 2006 fundraising effort into gear earlier and more effectively.
He knows how important it is that we change the course our country is traveling. I believe that he is carefully considering how to maximize all the resources he has at his disposal to make sure it’s a historic day for the Dems on Nov. 7th.