Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Top 10 Candidates & Committees on ActBlue, September 8-14, 2008

Editor's Note: Each week, ActBlue will release key statistics from campaigns across the country, along with brief biographical notes on the week's Top 10 Candidates and Committees.* When we have information that may help to explain why a candidate or candidate has had increased activity on ActBlue, we will provide it in italics below the biography. Descriptive content reproduced in the ActBlue Campaign Newswire is collated from publicly available sources. ActBlue does not take sides in any Democratic primary. You can subscribe to the RSS feed of the Campaign Newswire at http://feeds.feedburner.com/ActBlueCampaignNewswire.

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Barack Obama | President | $111,436.65

Kay Hagan | NC-Sen | $109,177.53

Gary Peters | MI-09 | $32,196.27

Rick Noriega | TX-Sen | $31,790.73

Equality for All | $28,320.00

Tom Udall | NM-Sen | $26,509.52

NY Democratic Senate Campaign Committee | $25,000.00

Jeanne Shaheen | NH-Sen | $23,255.67

Gavin Newsom | CA-Gov | $22,860.00

Larry Kissell | NC-08 | $22,075.30

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1. Barack Obama (President)

Illinois Senator Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee for President.

The Obama-Biden campaign has been the beneficiary of fundraising pushes by AmericaBlog, Atrios, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos (Orange to Blue), and National Anthem, a group of Boston-based classical musicians staging a benefit for the campaign this month (http://www.actblue.com/page/obamaconcert).

Obama's ActBlue hubpage: http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/16332

Obama's campaign site: http://www.barackobama.com/

2. Kay Hagan (NC-Sen)

Kay Hagan is a Campaign Newswire regular and is once again in the top 3. Hagan is running against Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole and was named one of the "top ten most effective state senators" by the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research (NCCPPR). After winning the Democratic primary in May with 60 percent of the vote, the five-term North Carolina state senator continues to pick up high-profile endorsements.

Hagan, who recently became the fourth candidate to cross the million-dollar mark on ActBlue, is one of several candidates to use innovative fundraising techniques to fund media buys this cycle. Hagan spells out the challenge for her supporters: "North Carolina is the most expensive state to compete in this cycle. With 10 different media markets, nearly 9 million people and a little more than two months until Election Day, it is imperative that I have the resources to stay on the air." Reminding her supporters that it was "two powerful television ads" that "brought us ahead," Hagan asks readers to help her put the ad embedded in her fundraising page on television (http://www.actblue.com/page/kayisahead). Hagan has also benefited greatly in the past week from a fundraising push by Senator Barbara Boxer, and from other innovative fundraising asks like "Liddy's Slippers" (http://www.actblue.com/page/liddysslippers), a joint production with the North Carolina Democratic Party: "Elizabeth Dole was a Kansan for over 25 years, even running for President as a Jayhawk, right up until she set her sights on a North Carolina Senate seat. Help us help Liddy click her heels three times and go home to Kansas so we can have a true North Carolinian to represent us in the U.S. Senate. A bus ticket from DC to Kansas: $177. Plane ticket from DC to Kansas: $319. Taxi from Capitol to Watergate: $6.25. Fill up Liddy's Gas Tank: $75. A train ticket from DC to Kansas: $147."

Hagan's ActBlue hubpage: http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18560

Hagan's campaign site: http://kayhagan.com/welcome

3. Gary Peters (MI-09)

Gary Peters is running against Republican incumbent Joe Knollenberg for Michigan's 9th District congressional seat. While serving in the state Senate, Peters was the Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, and the ranking Democrat on many prominent Senate committees, including the Finance and the Judiciary committees. Peters won accolades for his success as Commissioner for the Michigan State Lottery, a post he was appointed to in 2003. Peters has also managed branches for two major Wall Street firms, and served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

The Peters campaign's success this week on ActBlue reflects high numbers on its hubpage.

Peters's ActBlue hubpage: http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18229

Peters's campaign site: http://petersforcongress.com/

4. Rick Noriega (TX-Sen)

Noriega is certainly no newcomer to ActBlue success, and has appeared on every Top 10 List since ActBlue launched the Campaign Newswire in June 2008. After Noriega's Army tour in Afghanistan, the two-term Texas state representative and Lieutenant Colonel was appointed Incident Commander of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in Houston, Texas. He's now running against Republican incumbent John Cornyn for the Texas Senate seat.

The Noriega campaign, skilled in online messaging, has once again used an embedded video, rather than text, to bring the campaign's case to voters. In one of the campaign's highest-yielding recent asks, http://www.actblue.com/page/ricknoriega, the campaign highlighted a video on Cornyn's "last-minute switch on the Medicare bill." The Noriega campaign also continues to attract donations via Daily Kos's Orange to Blue list (www.actblue.com/page/orangetoblue).

Noriega's ActBlue hubpage: http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18187

Noriega's campaign site: http://www.ricknoriega.com/

5. Equality for All

Equality for All is a diverse coalition encouraging Californians to vote against a ballot initiative ("Prop 8") that would rewrite the California Constitution to define marriage as a valid union between only a man and a woman. Equality for All is comprised of nearly 50 organizations, including LGBT, pro-choice and civil rights organizations, and organized labor and religious groups. California supporters can take the "Vow to Vote No" on Prop 8 at http://eqfed.org/campaign/vow.

Equality for All's totals this week reflect composite efforts by a number of community fundraisers. In a prime example of a personalized fundraising ask, "Lesbian Dad" makes the case to potential supporters: "The California Supreme Court's decision didn't merely read the equal protection clause as including lesbians and gay men; it didn't just rule that an individual's right to marry is protected. The court's ruling went on to say that 'an individual's sexual orientation, like a person's race or gender, does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights.'" [...]Defeating Proposition 8 (which, as the ballot makes clear, "eliminates the right of same sex couples to marry") won't just defend the fundamental right to marry for all Californians. It will turn the tide in the entire anti-gay marriage movement nationally. Those working to pass the proposition know it: they are marshaling resources on an epic scale, because they know if they can't win here, there's little sense in mounting battles like this elsewhere.[...] But this race will be down to the wire, and will be won or lost by a fraction of a percentage point. Not at all kidding here. [...] Please contribute as much as you can to this fundraising page today! Then pass it on. "

No Prop 8, Equality for All website: http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/19788

No Prop 8, Equality for All campaign hubpage: http://noonprop8.com

6. Tom Udall (NM-Sen )

Representative Tom Udall is running for Senate in New Mexico. As Attorney General, Udall championed tougher ethics laws, and while in the House, Udall wrote and passed a bill to establish a national renewable energy standard, championed expanded preventive healthcare, and voted against the Iraq War.

The Udall campaign has been the beneficiary this week of major fundraising pushes by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and blogger Atrios.

Udall's ActBlue hubpage: http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18608

Udall's campaign site: http://www.tomudall.com/

7. NY Democratic Senate Campaign Committee

Senate Democrats in New York have launched a campaign to recapture the State Senate, aiming to win two seats in 2004, two in 2006, and three in 2008. The Committee has beaten the odds, winning five seats in the last three years, and is "on the edge of taking back the State Senate for the first time in four decades."

The NYS DCCC is working to court high-dollar donors.

NYS DSCC ActBlue hubpage: http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/19810

NYS DSCC site: http://www.dscc.net/

8. Jeanne Shaheen (NH-Sen)

The only woman elected governor of New Hampshire, Jeanne Shaheen is running to unseat Republican John Sununu. As Governor, Shaheen developed the state's first comprehensive energy plan, emphasizing renewables and increased efficiency; launched New Hampshire's CHIP, providing health insurance to tens of thousands of New Hampshire children; passed comprehensive reforms to regulate HMOs' ability to deny patients healthcare; established the state's first ethics code for employees; implemented a program to help families pay for college and increased state aid to public schools; and created a Job Training Fund and tripled tourism promotion to create jobs. Shaheen's New Hampshire became only the 10th state to include sexual orientation in anti-discrimination laws, and saw mercury pollution reduced by forty percent.

The Shaheen campaign's totals reflect fundraising on Shaheen's behalf by Senator Barbara Boxer.

Shaheen's ActBlue hubpage: www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18422

Shaheen's campaign site: www.jeanneshaheen.org/

9. Gavin Newsom (CA-Gov)

Gavin Newsom is the first-term Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco and is currently exploring a run for governor of California in 2010. The contributions this week for Newsom, the youngest San Franciscan mayor in 100 years, are for his exploratory committee, which he launched in July 2008. Newsom made international headlines in 2004 when the city-county clerk began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples under his instruction. The Mayor continues to attract national media attention after implementing a universal health care system for all San Franciscans and signing the City onto the Kyoto Protocol, an environmental agreement in which signatories pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2012.

Newsom's list placement this week reflects continuing high support through his ActBlue hubpage.

Newsom's exploratory committee hubpage: http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/20517

Newsom's exploratory committee website: http://www.gavinnewsom.com

10. Larry Kissell (NC-08)

Larry Kissell worked for 27 years in the textile mills of North Carolina. When the mills began to close down, Kissell became a social studies teacher. In October 2005, Kissell decided "it was time for regular working Americans to take back their House," and decided to run for Congress, coming within 330 votes of unseating Robin Hayes in 2006. He is running now for the second time.

The Kissell campaign continues to work to build a large base of small-dollar donors.

Kissell's ActBlue hubpage: http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/16138

Kissell's campaign site: http://www.larrykissell.com/

* All fundraising totals represent the amount raised from 12:00 a.m. on September 8 until 11:59 p.m. on September 14.

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