Thanks to you and those like you, I made the cut in the Democracy for America All-Star Grassroots competition.(
http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/housevote/)
Now we're in the final round and I'm asking for your vote. All of the candidates in the final round will want your vote, so I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you about my own journey and my experience with the grassroots community.
When I first decided to run for Congress, I began by searching the Internet to find out what I needed to do to run. I learned about filings and petitions and election rules. But I didn't learn about the unwritten rules that say you should be connected or rich. I didn't learn that it helps to have "somebody" send you.
There's one other thing I didn't learn in those first days of googling "Congress run election Democrat". I didn't learn what a difference grassroots support could make. I didn't learn that from Google. I learned it from my neighbors - from the hundreds of volunteers that worked with me day after day to replace Henry Hyde with someone like them. I learned it here, from the netroots community of average citizens across the country who have risen up online to take their country back.
I learned from the grassroots and netroots that when you stand up for change, people stand up with you. When you raise your voice, people raise their voices with you. I learned that fighting for change was a community act and that in times good and bad, we would stand together in our deep commitment to take our country back.
In 2004, I ran against Henry Hyde because I simply had to do something. I have two sons in college and the America they are inheriting is not the country I want to leave them. I want them to dream big dreams and have a real chance of achieving them. I want them to live their own American dream. That can't happen if they inherit a country where the doors of opportunity are only open to a few. It can't happen if they inherit a country of great divide between rich and poor, where you can't count on a good education or a good job. It can't happen in a country where a health care is unavailable, where a medical problem means poverty. It can't happen in a country where war means peace. It can't happen in the country we might become. I want my sons and others like them to have the chance to achieve their dreams and that won't happen if we don't take our country back.
I'm just an average citizen who decided to do the unthinkable and run for Congress. On the strength of those who helped me, with little funding and no support from the national party, I won 44% of the vote against Henry Hyde. It was amazing. It was inspiring. It wasn't enough. I was running to win, not to place or show. I'm still running to win.
For the 2006 election, I'm facing a Tom DeLay protégé that is Henry Hyde's heir apparent. To win, I need the same outpouring of grassroots support that brought us so close to victory in 2004. I need it early because in 2004 we sure got the Republicans attention. Now they're pouring money into my district. They're pulling out all the stops, offering my Republican opponent advice from the war horses of the Republican party - Norquist, DeLay, Rove even I hear. To combat that Republican onslaught - I have you. I think that's enough.
I hope you'll help me by voting for me in Democracy for America's All-Star Grassroots (http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/housevote/)competition. I want to win to get the early resources I need to win this race. I want to win to honor the members of the grassroots and netroots community that have stood with me and fought since I first decided to run. I want to win to show that the power of the grassroots and netroots communities is stronger than any Republican machine they may build to beat me. To do that, I need your vote. Please vote today.