Here are updates and success stories in each of our ProgressNow partner states:

CALIFORNIA / Courage Campaign:

In December, the Courage Campaign launched an accountability campaign focused on Meg Whitman and others running for office in 2010. Whitman, a billionaire, is trying to buy the California governor's office, and began her campaign with a large radio buy across the state. During the Copenhagen climate summit, Courage Campaign members helped produce and air a radio ad across California to hold Meg Whitman accountable -- and we got Whitman's attention in the process. The ad -- called "California's Sarah Palin" -- compared Ms. Whitman to Sarah Palin for their shared views on global warming, raising questions about whether Whitman's strategy of attacking environmental legislation makes sense in California.

Ms. Whitman felt so threatened by the Courage Campaign's radio ad and our campaign that her campaign manager sent out a fundraising email attacking us. Candy Crowley mentioned the ad in a CNN story on Whitman, and the Los Angeles Times called Whitman's position "a risky move" and cited the Courage Campaign's ad as an example of how Whitman's stance has generated public reaction.

"California's Sarah Palin" radio ad: http://www.couragecampaign.org/CaliforniasSarahPalin

Los Angeles Times article referencing the ad: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/11/opinion/la-oe-robertstrounstine11-2010jan11

COLORADO / ProgressNow Colorado:

ProgressNow Colorado has launched accountability campaigns focusing on right-wing candidates for statewide office in Colorado. The campaign will highlight the extreme positions and ethical lapses of candidates for Governor, Senate, and Congress.

ProgressNow Colorado also has served to coordinate rapid-response media for the 2010 legislative session that began in early January. On January 27th, for example, we coordinated a press conference at which seniors, students, and working families gathered to respond to corporate special interests who earlier on the day held a rally at the Capitol to bash the Democrats' balanced plan for balancing the state's budget. The corporate special interests objected to a proposal to suspend a small fraction of the more than $2 Billion in giveaways at the expense of taxpayers in Colorado. The corporations proposed instead a new tax on groceries. Our press conference helped frame the issue as corporations versus seniors, students, and working families and praised our progressive leadership for their efforts to find a balanced approach to balancing the state's budget. This press conference generated both television and print coverage and effectively framed the issue from a progressive perspective.

FLORIDA / Progress Florida:

Pushing back against right wing spin
 
In the first week of 2010, two of Florida's most right wing legislative leaders, Speaker Designate Dean Cannon (R-Winter Park) and Senate President Designate Mike Haridopolos (R-Melbourne), announced they were holding a "jobs summit" on January 15th in Orlando. They included their email addresses in the announcement urging Floridians to contact them with their ideas.  Knowing that Cannon and Haridopolos wanted to use this so called "jobs summit" as an unabashed opportunity to promote boilerplate right wing economics: deregulating corporations, tax cuts for the wealthy, gutting smart growth laws and drill, baby drill, Progress Florida organized an online letter writing campaign in response.
 
In less than 48 hours, Progress Florida Netroots activists generated nearly 1,000 letters to the legislative leaders, urging them to make Florida a leader in creating a "green economy" and generating job growth by investing in energy conservation and a clean energy future. Progress Florida is laying the groundwork to help derail the right wing economic agenda expected dominate the fast approaching 2010 Florida legislative session.


MICHIGAN / Progress Michigan:

Progress Michigan has been leading the fight to expose tea party activists and their right-wing friends in the state Legislature and drive the progressive narrative that the right is pushing a no-nothing race to the bottom. When Governor Jennifer Granholm's delivered her State of the State address, a tea party protest was staged in front of the State Capitol and Progress Michigan took to the streets and created the video, What Happens When You Join a Tea Party? With nearly 700 views, the video created an immediate buzz among lawmakers and put a face on the tea party that cut through the claims their activists are mainstream. 

When right-wing state Senator Majority Leader Mike "Mikey Blue Eyes" Bishop unveiled conservative "reforms" in mid-January amid a blitz media coverage and presentations to corporate lobbyists, ProgressMichigan exposed his proposed $1.8 billion in pay and benefit cuts for middle-class union families as blatant hypocrisy and pushed the message that the "reforms" were weak and politically motivated.   While Bishop, a candidate for state attorney general, was saying the state needed to balance its budget on the backs of workers, he was also exempting himself and his legislative colleagues from a proposal to end free lifetime health care benefits for state lawmakers after just six years in service. The Detroit Free Press editorialized against Bishop's plan.  


MINNESOTA / Alliance for a Better Minnesota:

Setting the Agenda for the 2010 Governor's Race

It has been 17 years since Democrats have controlled the governor's office in Minnesota.  Alliance for a Better Minnesota is laying the groundwork to make sure that Democrats win in November.  We just concluded a poll, which discovered that voters are evenly divided between supporting an unnamed Democrat and unnamed Republican in 2010.  This information will guide the development of a message frame that will resonate with voters. 

During the legislative session, we have the opportunity to advance legislative proposals and a message frame that will move our targeted voters to the Democrat side.  In a difficult economic environment the state will have make important decision about what we value.  Republicans have focused their effort at protecting corporate tax breaks at the expense of critical areas of investment such as education and senior services.

We are launching an effort to protect cuts to Minnesota's meals on wheel program by ending wasteful corporate tax breaks.  An independent audit of corporate tax breaks found that they do nothing to keep jobs in Minnesota.  This effort will show Minnesotans that Democrats care about making government more accountable and investing in programs that reflect out shared values.



NEVADA / ProgressNow Nevada:

ProgressNow Nevada has taken the lead in advocating progressive solutions to the state's $900 million deficit. In January we helped a partner group with the launch of their major initiative petition to increase the tax on mining companies doing business in Nevada.
 
Additionally, we offered an alternative "State of the State" address Monday, Feb. 8 in which we call for a no-cut solution to the crisis. The governor proposed 22 percent cuts to higher ed (which would result in at least two colleges being closed); 10 percent cuts to K-12 (resulting in a 4-day school week); and laying off at least 300 state employees. He and Democratic leaders also said no new taxes. Since we began pushing lawmakers to seek additional revenue we have seen movement from the governor and Legislature on taxes to the mining industry. At the start of the special session we handed Depends undergarments to each legislator (some of the cuts involve adult diapers). We also gave legislative leaders a petition urging them to raise taxes.

NEW HAMPSHIRE / Granite State Progress:

Rep. Al Baldasaro, an ex-Marine archconservative who has bills in the NH State House requiring recipients of public assistance to give urine samples before collecting food stamps, a mandate to remove New Hampshire from federal health care reform plans, and a "no amnesty for immigrants" declaration to the U.S. Congress, is also part of a town-by-town effort to pressure for a statewide vote on the definition of marriage.
 
Baldasaro and his cohorts are trying to use the NH town meeting process this spring to create a wedge issue for the November ballot and build media for anti-GLBT purposes. But Granite State Progress has quickly formed a group of stay-at-home moms, gay and lesbian couples and other community allies to present a strong and unified front against hate and prevent the vote to discriminate from appearing on the ballot in his own hometown. In the meantime, a member filmed some of Baldasaro's outlandish comments during the public hearing on marriage equality repeal bills, the NH Democratic Party used it to call for Baldasaro to step down, and other Granite State Progress members worked the press to help get it covered locally and nationally.

OHIO / Progress Ohio:

Work on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Mayors Against Guns (gunshow loophole)

After being approached by Mayor's Against Guns, ProgressOhio conducted a sting on illegal Gun Sales at the Sharonville Convention Center outside of Cincinnati.  The program centers on gunshow loopholes which are being exploited in shows around Ohio.

Building off a previous sting last Fall, ProgressOhio's press conference on Saturday January 23 garnered front page news in the Cincinnati Enquirer and all area television stations and statewide press.

During the second half of 2009, ProgressOhio made the AP and Reuters wire 9 separate times, resulting in our work being seen in thousands of outlets. In the past two years, ProgressOhio has been cited for its work by prominent media outlets such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, NPR and Politico. All of this is in addition to the hundreds of stories over the years that we've broken or contributed to in papers, television and radio shows across Ohio.


PENNSYLVANIA / Keystone Progress:

Keystone Progress organized the first Pennsylvania Progressive Summit the last weekend in January.  It was the largest, most dynamic gathering of progressive activists ever assembled in Pennsylvania, with at least 600 progressive activists and leaders in attendance.   We held 48 workshops and panels with on communications and media, organizing strategies, electoral campaigns and advocacy.  The Summit included sessions with national experts on the environment, jobs, equality legislation, healthcare and immigration, including  USAction President William McNary, United Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard and healthcare whistle-blower Wendell Potter. 
 
The Summit also included the first Gubernatorial Debate with all four Democratic candidates answering pointed questions from progressive activists and organizational representatives.  The debate was followed by U.S. Senate forum with Senator Arlen Spector and Congressman Joe Sestak facing hard questions about the issues progressives care about.
 
The summit received great media coverage, and is likely to become an annual event that will add unity to the progressive movement and give new skills to hundreds of progressive leaders.

WASHINGTON / Fuse Washington:

Fuse's comprehensive campaign to generate stronger leadership from elected officials includes both an electoral accountability program and a legislative organizing program.

Fuse has started allocating funds to our PAC to support an independent expenditure program this fall.  Our 2010 budget makes a substantial allocation to external spending on independent expenditures, in addition to in-kind staff work. These funds will be invested in challenges to underperforming legislators and defending progressive champions.  We are working closely with other progressive stakeholders on these efforts, and our investments should be substantially leveraged by allies' contributions.

Our efforts to build a progressive caucus in the state House continue to be productive. Fuse organized a facilitated planning retreat for progressive House members that allowed them to establish an agenda for the session, decide how they will make decisions and work with allies, and identify other legislators they want to recruit.   Without our efforts, they would have started the session as a well-meaning but completely disorganized bunch. We are also providing them with dedicated staff support during the session - enabling them to organize meetings, implement plans, and coordinate with stakeholders.


WISCONSIN / One Wisconsin Now:

One Wisconsin Now, through its ground-breaking Wisconsin Research Project, compiles all of the state's executive and legislative opposition research for polling and message development for progressive issue advocacy. One Wisconsin Now's research has raised the issue of fair taxation in three issue campaigns using multi-millionaire conservative Terrence Wall's avoidance of state personal income tax, local property tax and business tax as a backdrop. One Wisconsin Now has unearthed that Wall, who is challenging incumbent U.S. Senator Russ Feingold:


One Wisconsin Now's research and message development on this issue has highlighted the issue of tax avoidance in media across the state and nearly every one of the hundred-plus articles that have been written about Wall includes at least one of the pieces of research compiled by One Wisconsin Now. The Wisconsin Research Project has also been the lead progressive organization raising the issue of executive management competence, ethics and priorities around the poor performance of conservative Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, who is running in Wisconsin's open gubernatorial race.