| Dear friend, There's going to be a Republican Road Trip. It's true. Last week, Politico reported that GOP Representatives Kevin McCarthy and Lynn Westmoreland are going on the road this summer, starting this week, to recruit conservative candidates - all across the country, including in your own backyard.  It sounds funny, doesn't it? I mean, who would want to join a party whose last great example of leadership led to the worst economic crisis we have seen in decades?
But what is more humorous about Kevin and Lynn's excellent adventure is that we all know that good candidates don't materialize out of thin air. The best candidates don't wake up one morning and say "I think I'll run for office today." They are already active leaders in their communities, serving on school boards, city councils and in state legislatures. Progressive Majority knows that the state and local leaders we elect today may well be the future leaders tomorrow. In fact, 75% of the members of Congress were once state or local elected officials. Since 2004, we have become the most successful progressive candidate recruitment operation in the country, helping to elect 351 progressives across the country, flipping control of six state legislatures, 37 local governments, four statewide positions and one statewide body. Our candidates are making a difference in their communities right now. We know who they are and how to find more progressive leaders like them. Help support the strategic, cost effective candidate recruitment and development operation of Progressive Majority with a contribution of $25, $50, $100 or more and ensure that we will have quality candidates running for office at all levels of government for years to come. You would think the Republicans would know how to recruit candidates. In fact, they used to be experts at it - their long term work recruiting candidates for state and local office was the key to their success in elections throughout the 1990s and the early part of this decade. But I guess when George W. Bush was in power, they must have become complacent because Kevin and Lynn really shouldn't need to go on a long, expensive road trip to find a few candidates. Fortunately, Progressive Majority understands that the election of Barack Obama is no excuse for complacency. And we don't plan to slow down for a minute! We know that the conservative leadership will be at it again eventually, trying to rebuild their own candidate recruitment operations - in fact, since the 2006 elections, the budget of our competitor, GOPAC, has more than tripled. But in the meantime, we're willing to bet that their Republican Road Trip won't be nearly as effective at recruiting Republican congressional candidates as Progressive Majority will be at electing progressive state and local candidates this fall. Kevin and Lynn plan to visit at least eight states this August, including Colorado and Pennsylvania - two of Progressive Majority's top priority states. We want to raise $10,000 by the end of August to support our candidates in those states. That means we only need 25 people to give $100, 50 people to give $50, and 200 people to give $25 to meet our goal. And we need you to be one of those supporters. Please contribute today to ensure that no progressive members of Congress will ever consider wasting time on a long, boring road trip to find candidates. Let's show Kevin and Lynn how it's done.
Sincerely, Gloria A. Totten
President
Progressive Majority
Help Us Build a Progressive Majority: We're building a progressive network of candidates, activists and friends. Tell five friends about Progressive Majority's work and email list and help us build the movement across the country! Support Progressive Majority: Progressive Majority is on the ground, working with progressive candidates and campaigns to make sure they have the skills and knowledge to win! Your support of Progressive Majority can make all the difference in ensuring we have qualified candidates running for office.
Contributions and gifts to Progressive Majority are not tax deductible. Contributions to Progressive Majority may be used to support our state and local political activities. Contributions from foreign nationals are prohibited. Paid for by Progressive Majority, 1825 K Street NW, Suite 450, Washington, DC 20006. | 
