What’s that you say? What the heck is “Blogosphere Day”?
The tradition we now know as Blogosphere Day began in 2004 when, in a surprise statement, incumbent Rep. Jim Greenwood (PA-08) announced his retirement. Democratic challenger Ginny Schrader, with $7000 in the bank, came to the attention of the nationwide blogosphere via the front page of DailyKos, and over $30,000 poured into her campaign that day. Just three weeks earlier, a brand new fundraising platform for Democrats -- ActBlue -- was launched, and quickly adopted by those raising who were raising funds for Ginny Schrader.
As I mentioned in a comment earlier today, July 19 is Blogosphere Day.
Two years ago, on July 19th, the blogosphere sprang into action for Ginny Schrader. In one short day, a long-shot race became seriously competitive. It remains so to this day. From the $50K the blogosphere raised that day, Republicans have spent more than $5M trying to defend the Pennsylvania 8th, and are prepared to spend millions more against Patrick Murphy.
Last year, on July 19th, the blogosphere sprang into action for Paul Hackett. In one short day, the blogosphere raise $100K for Hackett, and suddenly an extreme long shot race became very close. Over the next two weeks, that money blossomed into $500K, and the fifth most pro-Bush district east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason-Dixon line was pushed to the brink of blue. To this day, the extremely conservative Ohio 2nd remain competitive, thanks in large part to Blogosphere Day.
Now, it is July 19th again.
As Chris Bowers mentions in his post on MyDD, the national Blogosphere Day Candidate this year is Ned Lamont.
A race of national importance, and also one which promises to stretch your dollar. Ned will be matching all online contributions from now till primary day.
That's fantastic, and I put a little in the kitty for Lamont myself.
But this 3rd Blogosphere Day is the first one in which we can also use Act Blue to send money to our statewide and legislative candidates.
If you have enough love to spread around on Blogosphere Day, come check out the Texas Kaos Fundraising page.
