MoveOn.org Uses Senate Candidate Al Franken to Beg for Money

This is unusual.

Al Franken, the liberal Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota, just sent out a solicitation email for MoveOn.org urging MoveOn members to give money to Democratic candidates, including himself. Here is how it goes:

Dear MoveOn member,

 

It’s not enough to merely win this election. We’ve got to win big.

 

Great—I can tell from your nodding head that you agree. Now, let’s make it happen—by helping three champs win tight, crucial races: Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Larry Kissell of North Carolina, and, ahem, Al Franken of Minnesota.

 

I’m not asking for $700 billion—just $10, $25, or whatever you can spare. Donate by clicking below:

 

[LINK]

 

Here’s why this is so important. When Republicans tried to privatize Social Security back in 2005, they ran both houses of Congress and the White House—but they lost. The same thing happened to us with health care reform in 1993.

 

Now, they were wrong on Social Security, and we were right on health care. But the fact is, big change—for better or worse—takes big majorities and big mandates.

 

In fact, in the last century, there have been just a couple of truly transformative elections: 1964, when a Democratic landslide paved the way for Medicare, and 1932, when a Democratic landslide opened the door for the New Deal (and enraged generations of right-wingers by creating Social Security in the first place).

 

That’s what we need in 2008: Not just a majority, but a landslide.

 

But who, you may be asking, are these three specific candidates? I’ll tell you, with help from my friends in the Bullet Point department:

 

Jeff Merkley, running for the Senate in Oregon, led Habitat for Humanity in Oregon and then cracked down on predatory lenders, passed ethics reform, and cut taxes for working people in the State House.

Larry Kissell, running in North Carolina‘s 8th district, worked in textiles for 27 years and taught high school civics. In 2006, he ran for Congress against Republican Robin Hayes, one of the oil industry’s biggest cheerleaders—and lost by 329 votes. This year, the oil industry is gushing with cash for Hayes, but my money (and, I hope, your money) is on Kissell.

Me. I’m running for Senate in my home state of Minnesota. It’s not just that six years of Norm Coleman in the Senate is already six years too much. I’m running because it’s time for change, and because change is going to take progressives—like Jeff, Larry, and myself—who are willing to stand up and fight.

We need you to vote, to knock on doors, and to make phone calls. And, right now, we need you to take out your credit card, click the link, and donate some money.

 

This fall, the higher the stakes become, the nastier the Republicans are going to get—so we need the resource to fight back with the truth. The election is just 37 days away. Click here to donate now:

 

[LINK]

 

Thanks for all that you’ve done, and thanks for helping MoveOn rebuild the progressive movement in America over the last ten years. Thanks for your hard-earned money (did you forget to donate? No problem! Click here.)

 

And thanks in advance for working side by side with me, Larry, Jeff, Barack, and the new Democratic landslide to truly, day by day, take this country back.

 

–Al Franken

 

Climate change alamist-profiteer Al Gore also put his imprimatur on a MoveOn.org letter recently.