Last week, 2008 congressional challenger Annette Taddeo suggested she might be interested in a possible run for CFO.  This would be a very good idea.

If you already know about Annette and agree, go sign the petition and encourage her to jump into the race. You don't have to be a Floridian to sign the petition, either, we want to show her that people across the country support her.  And, trust me, you want talented, progressive Democrats in charge in Florida, it'll help everyone.

Taddeo ran a strong campaign against Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in Florida's 18th District.  Despite widespread support and much excitement generated by her candidacy, she was unable to overcome the popularity of the incubment, who had the vast resources of her office and long career in politics to hold off the newcomer.  Taddeo did establish herself as a progressive politician to keep an eye on, though.  

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Back in July, I introduced two candidates who had made a real impression at Netroots Nation, Debbie Cook in CA-46 and Annette Taddeo in FL-18. Well, in keeping with their exceptional potential, now with two weeks to go, both of these challengers are seriously within striking distance of their entrenched Republican opponents. Updates on their races below:

• CA-46: I posted yesterday about Debbie Cook's fierce challenge to Dana Rohrabacher in this sleeper race down in Orange County, CA (a new GOP internal poll has Cook within the margin of error) and you guys delivered with some great fundraising love. Thanks for that.

  Today was their one and only debate and I went down to see the train wreck that is Dana Rohrabacher for myself. But even though crazy Dana is always likely to say some crazy shit, and he did, what I took away from the debate most of all was how unabashedly progressive Debbie Cook is and how lucky we would be to have her in Congress. This is a fairly red (albeit getting bluer every day) district, one where you might expect the Democratic challenger to moderate her views for the electorate. Nope, not Debbie. I'll write about the debate more later, hopefully with video, but here are just three of the issues where Debbie shined today:

  - On global warming, Cook, who is an energy expert, in response to Rohrabacher's global warming denier nonsense, asserted "The debate is over. I can't get into a discussion over climate change, to me it's just a fact, we need to move on to solving our oil depletion problems."

  - On Proposition 8: "I strongly oppose Proposition 8, I am in favor of full marriage equality."

  - And on healthcare reform, Cook advocated for a single-payer Medicare for all model. "Health care is a right every American should enjoy."

  It's incredibly rare for Democrats running for congress, or anything, really, to be so overt about their progressive views, let alone in a red district. Reward good behavior and give to Debbie's campaign HERE.

• FL-18: Great news out of Southern Florida. While the DCCC launched an ad against the Diaz-Balart brothers leaving Bush rubber stamp Republican incumbent Ileana Ros-Lehtinen untouched, Barack Obama made sure to give a shout out to her rising progressive challenger, Annette Taddeo:

  Speaking at his "jobs summit" in Palm Beach Community College, Barack Obama dropped Congressional hopeful Annette Taddeo's name.

  He told the crowd she is a "future member of Congress -- as long as you guys turn out to vote!"

  Taddeo was also greeted with some great news on the polling front from Lake Research Partners (June numbers in parentheses):

  Taddeo: 41 (27)
  Ros-Lehtinen: 48 (58)

  Some incredible movement there. Swing State Project elaborates:

  Taddeo has made a lot of progress, increasing her name recognition from 14% to 63%. With Democrats experiencing a remarkable voter registration surge in this district (cutting a 23,202 GOP registration advantage in 2006 down to a deficit of only 1,730 voters this year), Ros-Lehtinen could end up receiving a November surprise.

  FL-18 is located in South Florida and includes parts of Miami Beach. It really should be a blue district and ever since I first met Annette in Austin and then interviewed her in Denver, I knew she would make this race competitive. Now, I know Debbie Wasserman Schultz has announced she won't be lifting a finger to defeat her best Bush rubber stamp buddies down there but I hope the DCCC uses some of its $15 million loan to support Taddeo in this race. You can support her HERE.

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Three and a half months ago, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen released a pair of "preemptive" press releases trying to put "distance between herself and President Bush." Of course, as Joe Sudbay at AMERICAblog wrote at the time, "if you have to say you're not a `rubber stamp,' it's too late."

Joe was right - Ros-Lehtinen, my opponent for Congress in FL-18 (downtown Miami, Miami Beach, City of Miami, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, and all of the Florida Keys), is a Bush Rubberstamp. She's voted with her President more than 85% of the time, marching with him lockstep for the war in Iraq, against SCHIP expansion, and in favor of privatizing Social Security.

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In the last week, Annette Taddeo, progressive Democrat running in Florida's 18th district, has been on a roll. First, Blue America held a fundraising competition for a $5k donation, which Taddeo won by mobilizing her grassroots supporters. Then the DCCC decided to put its seal of approval on Taddeo's candidacy by adding her to their Red to Blue list. And this all comes on the heels of having been named to DailyKos's Orange To Blue list and receiving EMILY's List's endorsement. What's interesting about the diversity of support Taddeo is receiving is that it spans both the netroots world and the more traditional DC institutional world; any divide that still exists betwixt the two, Taddeo clearly bridges.

I can't say I'm surprised to see such support going Taddeo's way. I first met her in Austin and was instantly impressed. She has a warm welcoming but also no-nonsense style that at once is inviting but also makes you instantly think "damn, whoever she's running against better watch out." That someone is Bush rubber stamp Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen one of the three infamous Southern Florida Cuban-Americans who are endangered this cycle. I sat down with Taddeo in Denver to speak with her about the race and she spoke bluntly about Ros-Lehtinen.

The district she represents has some really blue areas. There is a significant gay population, it's heavily Jewish, very progressive. Even the Anglos in the district are from the Northeast. Many people in the district though think she's a moderate. They don't know that she's 100% anti-choice. She doesn't even believe in choice in the case of rape or incest...And we checked her PAC. She's the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, she had to buy those votes. So she supported Musgrove, Schmidt, the authors of the anti-gay legislation.

Taddeo is confident that once her message gets out and people see that there is a real progressive in the race, whose values are consistent with the district, that she has a real shot to take this seat. Central to that in her mind, is the netroots. I asked her about her engagement with the blogs and she began by pointing to the area where we were sitting at the time -- in The Big Tent -- and just said "This is awesome." She expressed genuine enthusiasm for the netroots, which goes beyond seeing us as a fundraising tool or even a communication tool; she seems to really get it.

Since I started, I reached out to the blogs in Florida. I actually followed blogs. I felt they were the best way for me to reach constituents and get the word out about the campaign. We're still using the conventional means too, of course, but this is the new wave. Florida bloggers were a natural. Since then, this has become a national race. The voters are in Southern Florida but the blogging community has been instrumental in getting the word out about my race beyond that base.

She also spoke with some pride about the enthusiasm she is seeing locally for her candidacy, especially among young voters and activists who are working hard on her campaign.

We have a great internship program. 18, 19 yearold kids working for us, walking precincts in 90 degree heat. That's dedication....That's what you get when you have a businesswoman running and not a career politician. I know how to hire the right people. [...]

We're seeing a new generation of involvement. We're seeing young folks involved in politics like never before because of the situation our country is in. Bush took our nation in a direction that woke us all up. Myself included. I decided I had to run, I wasn't going to sit on the sidelines anymore. These kids could be working for Obama but we involve them, we give them ownership of the campaign.

Taddeo believes that while Obama will definitely have coattails that will benefit her, he will also benefit from the excitement she's generating on the ground -- a sort of reverse coattail effect. I think that's a really good point that's not talked about enough, the sort of two way street that exists between downticket challengers and Obama around the country.

I'm sure you'll get to know Annette much better between now and the election. She's already posted here at MyDD and promises to continue to do so. You can also read more at her website and contribute to her campaign over at ActBlue.

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Maybe someone out there who knows the inner workings of EMILY's List can explain to me why this group has not put money behind Becky Greenwald, the Democrat challenging loyal Republican foot-soldier Tom Latham in Iowa's fourth Congressional district.

I have been going over the list of Democratic women running for Congress whom EMILY's List is supporting, with a particular focus on the six challengers most recently added to this group in early August. I do not mean to denigrate any of those candidates, and I recognize that every race has its own dynamic.

However, after comparing Greenwald's race to those of other candidates, I remain puzzled that EMILY's list is not more involved in IA-04.

Follow me after the jump for more.

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