It's time to me to Throw the Mighty Force of My Blogs behind a few candidates, as Kos has been doing. Obviously, I'll continue pushing Joe Hoeffel, but i'd like to pick 3-5 more candidates to support. I haven't yet chosen them, but I have been mulling over the criteria I'd like to use to pick them.:
1) They've built a decent online/online outreach operation.
No, this doesn't mean they've purchased blogads. But, we are, roughly, "netroots," and it's only reasonable to throw support behind candidates who have found ways to reach out to the online community (and, no, this isn't a call for candidates to reach out to me personally, or this blog, just more generally).
2) The money we can raise here can make a difference.
This one's rather complicated. Obviously, we can make a difference in terms of their fundraising with candidates who haven't managed to raise any money, but ideally we'd like to actually help someone to win (though, as I'll discuss in a bit, winning isn't the only goal). But, I don't expect to pull in Kerry-fundraising levels of money for congressional candidates (though that would be great). So, we're talking about a bias towards races in more inexpensive media markets, where 10 or 20 grand can be a nontrivial addition.
3) The candidate can win.
An obvious plus.
4) Even if the candidate doesn't win, the money will help seed future operations.
If a candidate has more money, they can hire more staff. This creates some more people with campaign experience, and helps build future operations down the road. In some places, there's a well-established democratic machine, with experience, in some places there isn't.
5) Some local bias. I'd like to help PA races.
Some bias -- as in, all things equal I'll choose a PA candidate.
6) Candidates need to be partisan Democrats.
They can be conservative (though it isn't my preference), particularly if they are running in a conservative area, but they must be proud Democrats. They may not vote as a liberal democrat, but they must be proud to stand next to them.
7) Bias towards helping challengers or redistricting victims.
8) Swing state bias.
None of these are dealbreakers, and I have no strong sense of how each is weighted, but that's roughly what'll guide my choices... Suggestions welcome.
