With Charlie Cook and Larry Sabato outlining a potential Democratic wave in November, we've got to look at more than the obvious "leaning" races and provide support for the next tier of promising candidates.  I keep saying this: Peter Goldmark, WA-05, is one of those races.  A smart and decent cowboy, with a UC Berkeley bioscience PhD. and Harvard post-doc. Grew up ranching.

He's got a new TV ad now you can see on his web site: www.petergoldmark.org
Watch the video, read his positions and tell me in the poll below if you think he's got a shot.  Not spit polished and no Bill Clinton but a real candidate for Eastern Washington.

His current quick position summary:

Crisis One: Families face losing farms to high fuel and low crop prices.  
Crisis Two: America becomes more dependent on foreign oil.
Crisis Three: Global warming threatens dramatic climate changes.

Three crises--one solution, according to Peter Goldmark.

"Biofuels represent an opportunity to turn around the economy of Eastern Washington, to move toward energy independence, and to provide a fuel that is carbon neutral," Goldmark said.

This guy deserves some pennies in the jar.  Send him a tenner.  Goes far in the Okanogan.

There's more...

Russ Feingold has a great podcast from Iowa, one of the best I've seen.  Newsy, informative, to the point, relaxed, and real - makes you want to go to Iowa and start getting out the vote now.  Check it out. http://progressivepatriotsfund.org/

The season is coming where GOTV and hitting the streets will be critical.  The time to prepare to do this is now.  A shift in 10 votes per precinct in some states will make all the difference in the state outcome.  And there will be no substitute for people to people contact.  Shut off the computers, get out in the heat wave with a jug of ice tea.  Go meet people and ask them to vote.  Pick a place in real America.  That's the country we want back.

One option is to sign up for Russ Feingold's Patriot Corps.  Here's the story from the web site:

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The Patriot Corps is the Progressive Patriots Fund's new campaign training program for field staff. We will be hiring, training, and sending staff to key races across the country. Senator Feingold has long believed that a strong grassroots field program is the key to electoral victory. He has designed the Patriots Corps to support important races nationwide.

We're looking for 15 energetic, personable activists from across the country. Once chosen, Corps members will participate in an extensive, multi-day training program, before being placed on targeted races in Wisconsin and around the country. Training will focus on volunteer recruitment, organizing a canvas, running a phone bank, advanced GOTV training, and staffing a candidate.  Prior campaign experience is appreciated, but not required.

    Applications will be accepted through August 11.
    * Qualified candidates will be interviewed in Mid-August.  
    * Training will be held in Milwaukee September 5-7.
    * Corps members will work on targeted campaigns from September 8 through the November 7th election.
    * Corps members return to Milwaukee for wrap up session through November 10th.

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Road trip.

There's more...

Democrat Peter Goldmark is running in Washington State's 5th Congressional district against one term Republican incumbent, Cathy McMorris.  McMorris is a Bush rubber stamp with no special qualities (98% GOP voting record) but successful at getting contributions from Tom DeLay's PAC, oil & gas interests (voted AGAINST price gouging legislation) and pharma interests.  

Peter is home grown in Eastern Washington and a powerful and experienced thinker with commitments to the issues that matter to many Americans in our farming and ranching West.  He embodies Western American values, a rancher and farmer in the best traditions. But he has a perspective that will surprise you. See his impressive description below.  

Raised in Okanogan, a stone's throw from the famous Omak stampede and suicide race, Peter was a classic "cowboy" before this bunch of Texas pretenders - all hat and no cattle - sullied the word by ignoring its roots in living wage "livestock" and turning it instead into special interest payola laughing stock.

Peter has a good shot at surprising those who don't seem to pay attention to what is happening to our traditional best of America Western values.  Check him out.  Support him.  $50 goes a long way in Eastern Washington message support costs.  

www.petergodlmark.org

Peter J. Goldmark

Peter Goldmark began his education in a one-room schoolhouse at Duley Lake near Okanogan, Washington. He graduated from Okanogan High School in Okanogan and in 1967 received a degree from Haverford College near Philadelphia. After receiving his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1971, he traveled to Harvard University for a postdoctoral fellowship in neurobiology. Following his marriage in 1972, he moved back to Okanogan with his wife, Georgia. Together, they raised their five children on the family ranch. Sadly, Georgia succumbed to cancer in 2003. Goldmark has had a lifelong involvement with agriculture, science, education, and public service. Included among his public service positions are the following:

   * Director of Agriculture for State of Washington, appointed by Governor Lowry in 1993
    * Chairman of the Governor's Council on Agriculture and the Environment in 1994-1996
    * Governor's Council for a Sustainable Washington in 2002-2003
    * Governor's Council on Biodiversity in 2004-2005
    * Founding board member and past Chairman of the Board of Farming and the Environment, a unique coalition of farmers, ranchers, and conservationists founded in 1999
    * Board of Regents of Washington State University, 1996-2005; President of the Board in 1999-2000
    * Board of the Washington State University-University of Washington Policy Consensus Center, 2003-2006
    * Okanogan School Board, 1998-2005

Goldmark maintains a small scientific research facility at his ranch and has published scientific articles in national and international journals. He currently maintains a wheat-breeding program at his facility and has recently released new varieties for Washington wheat farmers. Goldmark left the Washington State University Board in 2005 to run for the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 5th District. He recently remarried and lives in Spokane with his wife, Wendy, splitting his time between campaigning from his Spokane office and managing operations on the family ranch near Okanogan.

There's more...