Here is the strategy of one of our many enemies. CREDO is run by Becky Bond and Michael Kieschnick, CREDO Action (CREDO Mobile). This is two emails from CREDO sliced and put together. AT&T AND VERIZON WIRELESS MADE THEIR CHOICE. NOW IT’S YOUR TURN TO CHOOSE. Over a year ago, we decided to create CREDO SuperPAC in order to take down some of the most odious and extreme Tea Party Republicans in the House. People like Allen West who were just too crazy to serve in Congress and who set a new low for what is acceptable from Republicans in public life.
On November 6, we we did just that. We took down Allen West. And Joe Walsh. And Chip Cravaack. And Frank Guinta. Dan Lungren is trailing his opponent as final provisional and absentee ballots are being counted. And Michele Bachmann got the biggest scare of her political career — she retained her seat by a shockingly small margin of just over 4,000 votes.For two years now, Tea Party politicians have created havoc in Washington, trashing all things progressive — denying climate change, waging a war on women, attacking workers’ rights, decimating the social safety net, and more. Leading the charge of the Tea Party brigade has been Michele Bachmann, who founded the House Tea Party Caucus.
To put in perspective just how difficult it was to pull off this feat, you need to know that 98% of incumbents win re-election. It is against those astonishing odds that we defeated five Tea Party Republicans who not only enjoyed the deep coffers of being a sitting member of Congress but who also were backed by tens of millions of dollars in rightwing super PAC ads which flooded the airwaves with negative television advertising attacking Democratic challengers.
To defend the most extreme band of Republicans in federal office in history, outside groups spent hundreds of millions of dollars, mainly on broadcast television ads. The response of the Democratic establishment and some of the biggest liberal groups in Washington DC was to fight fire with fire, launching big money ad campaigns and millions in direct mail.
We went a different way. We fought fire with water.
Instead of raising and spending millions in anonymous contributions, we built our campaign with the donations of nearly 70,000 CREDO activists and customers, giving one $20 bill at a time.
Instead of spending millions on huge ad buys in the districts, we empowered over 3,000 local volunteers to get involved and hold their extremist representatives accountable, deploying proven voter contact methods in the most cost-effective ways.
Our campaign shaped these races, and put our progressive values squarely in the local and national conversations in this election. We hired progressive organizers and opened local storefront offices that quickly became community gathering places for activists working on our campaign. We held protests in their districts, we packed their town hall meetings, we got local and national journalists to cover the Tea Party Ten's extreme statements and actions.
And then of course we knocked on over 120,000 doors. And made over a million phone calls. And had the volunteer-to-voter conversations which are the single most effective way to move voters. Thanks to this work, and in the wake of the defeat of Allen West and the other Tea Party Ten members, all Republicans are now on notice: If you continue your attacks on women, Medicare, minorities and the middle class there will be a high price to pay.
In the districts of the Tea Party Ten and Michele Bachmann, we were up against nearly $30 million in spending by conservative super PACs. We won five races but we didn't win them all. We fought valiant efforts to defeat Tea Party Republicans Mike Coffman (CO-6), Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-8), Sean Duffy (WI-7), Jim Renacci (OH-16) and Steve King (IA-4) but Republicans prevailed.
AT&T and Verizon Wireless contributed to Bachmann’s 2012 campaign. And not only that, both companies supported some of Bachmann’s worst Tea Party colleagues. AT&T contributed $941,000 and Verizon gave $177,100 to members of the House and Senate Tea Party Caucuses.
At CREDO, we blazed a different path. We launched an unprecedented campaign to defeat some of the most extreme Tea Party politicians in this election. CREDO SuperPAC mobilized volunteers, hired organizers, knocked on 120,000 doors and made more than a million phone calls. And it worked.
But we’re not done. We’re determined to work hard to advance the progressive agenda. Credo then asks for more activism and rewards monetarily—join CREDO Mobil, and get 40% off the monthly voice fee for a whole year. Not only do progressives who join CREDO help fund our high-impact activism, they also help us raise millions in donations — more than $70 million since 1985 — for courageous nonprofit groups like Planned Parenthood, Rainforest Action Network and the ACLU.
Here’s the simple math: The more people who join CREDO Mobile, the harder we can fight for progressive change. |
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