Mac

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Mac D'Alessandro is friendly, engaging, well-informed, hardworking, smart, personable, bold, and effective. He's the sort of candidate anyone who meets will want to vote for, and he'll be a Representative everyone will want to work with, yet he won't be shy about his values, and he'll fight for them.

Mac is challenging Massachusetts Congressman Stephen Lynch, in the 9th district, which is part of Boston and a bunch of cities and towns south of Boston, including Quincy and Braintree. The contrast between the two of them is big:

• Lynch voted for the Patriot Act, Mac would've voted against it.
• Lynch voted to invade Iraq, Mac would've voted against that
• Lynch voted against health care reform, Mac supported it
• Lynch opposes a woman's right to choose, Mac supports it
• Lynch voted for continued no-strings funding of the Iraq occupation, Mac would've voted against that
• Lynch voted for the Stupak Amendment, Mac opposed it.

Before running for Congress, Mac was the northeast political director of the Service Employees International Union, which represents janitors, healthcare workers, food service workers, and other low income people. Before that, he worked at Greater Boston Legal Services, which provides civil legal assistance to people who can't afford it. I've met Mac several times - the first was when he volunteered going door to door on another campaign I volunteered on. I've had long conversations with him about issues and about his campaign, and I've seen him talk to others. He says the things I keep desperately hoping members of Congress would say.

Election day is September 14th, less than two months away. Although beating an incumbent is always tough, polls show only 1/3 of Democrats in the district think Lynch deserves re-election. With enough resources and support, Mac can win. Wanna help?

1. The Really Easy Part - this'll take you less than a minute.
   90 candidates competed for Democracy for America's "Grassroots All Star" endorsement, and in the first round of online voting, Mac came in 4th! That's amazing, and it shows he could win the finalist round. DFA will lend a lot of organizational and fundraising support to the winner, and some to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place candidates as well. Voting ends this Sunday, July 25th.
   
   Even if you already voted in the first round, please vote for Mac.
2. Pass it On - link to this post on Facebook, Twitter, your LJ, ...
3. Give Mac a bit of your time or money.
   
   To run an effective campaign in such a short time, Mac needs to pay for: staffers, offices, a web site, a voter contact database, office supplies, phone bills, postage, hiring people to do some internal polls, food for volunteers, some advertising... every little bit helps, and all of it can go to good use. How much is it worth it to you to have a Congressman who'll fight for clean energy, ending wars, fairness for workers and immigrants, to protect civil liberties? Donate at my fundraising link.
   
   And on Saturday, July 31st, I'm going to volunteer on Mac's big Boston canvass and it would be a lot more fun if you joined me! Who's coming?