In 2004 I started timetogojoe.com. The goal was simple, get rid of a DINO. Well, together we did. True, we didn’t get him out of the Senate, but he is no longer a Democrat and if Connecticut had a sore loser law he would have been “out of there” and Lamont would be a real progressive Democrat representing Connecticut.

In 2006 I looked at what we, as Democrats, needed to do to eliminate the rest of the corporate shills and GOP members in Democrats clothing. What did we need to do to make a difference and change the Democratic Party back to the party it once was, a party for the people; a party representing the working men and women; a party for the interests of families.

The answer was simple. We had to effect change before it got to the polls in November and our vote had been manipulated and controlled by whomever took the most corporate money having the ability to silence any other message.

Then I considered the following. What if we could get 100,000 people to save $5.00 a week. When the primaries came around what if thatmoney was directed to progressive Democrats who were running against entrenched corporate shills (read “DLC”) and GOP-Lite (read “Blue Dog”) Democrats? The influx of money to these under funded campaigns would be massive and would be able to move these seats to progressive Democrats who represented our Democratic values.

But, how do you do that and not be another Political Action Commitee? How do you do that and not be another special interest to be pandered to?

I thought about the original Emily’s List. They check bundled. Individuals wrote checks to the candidates that would represent their interests (please note that things have changed dramatically since then, but that’s how they started). Well, thanks to places like actblue.com, you can do that in almost real time these days. But there needed to be a place where this could all operate from, where the progressive Democrats could highlight themselves and their positions, and where people could be made aware of who was out there to support.

Thus we have electrealdemocrats.com a place where you can go and sign up, select the states where you are interested in donating and be advised when someone is running from that State who meets the goal of (1) being a progressive Democrat and (2) running against a DLC or Blue Dog Democrat in a primary.

If this works it will make some real massive changes in the way our Congress works and who they represent. It will be the beginning of “equal financing” against incumbents. It will allow new voices to be heard and will change the political landscape from our elected officials pimping themselves to corporate donors and doing corporate favors for campaign cash to actually representing the people.

So, here is what you do, what we do, and what will be happening.

YOU: sign up and pick some States. Then set aside $5.00 a week to “donate” at a later time (later in the primaries) US: We look for progressive candidates willing to run against DLC and Blue Dog Democrats. When they file we will then provide them with a free web page where they can introduce themselves and their positions and a link to the actblue.com fundraising page. US (again): Once a month we will send an update e-mail to YOU only on those candidates that we have added that are in your states of interest. YOU (again): Come back, look over the candidate and decide if you wish to donate to them BUT DON’T DONATE YET! US: 45-60 days before the primary we will send out a “DONATE NOW!” e-mail for those candidates that interest you. YOU: Donate!

Why hold off donations until so close to the primary date? Because you will be the “big push” that will be a surprise to the entrenched incumbent who thought he had it all locked up with his war chest in the bank. We will help get the challengers name out there in his big final push, one that the incumbent won’t be expecting because the incumbant has sucked up all their corporate cash and his opponent hasn’t got squat.

Imagine the surprise of an incumbent DLC or Blue Dog when the progressive Democrat starts to flood the local election with pieces that show that the incumbent is not what he claims, a Democrat. That the incumbent has supported corporate welfare over middle class values. That the incumbent is part of the problem, not part of the solution. Look at the current crop of DLC and Blue Dog Congresscritters and you see that none of them have what it takes to fight back against this truth. But they do have enough to drown out the truth with war chests built by the people that they do business for.

The goal of this site and effort is to level the playing field so progressive Democrats can end the run of the DLC corporatists and Blue Dogs. We need your help and support to do this. We need your help and support to change Congress.