So the Republican Party of Minnesota has a new webpage devoted to photos of people they claim to be DFL activists protesting Republican events. They want to discredit Democrats and our supposed incendiary rhetoric.

Here's my simple retort. And more.

So, my $35 2002 contribution to Paul Wellstone notwithstanding, I just joined a very exclusive class of citizens. The political donor class.

In my experience perusing lists of political donors, I'm surprised by how parochial the contributions of even very wealthy people are. Generally, people give to their local candidates, whether they are in competitive races or not, or they give to political action committees of their pet issues. It's surprising how unstrategic most giving is.

I sought to avoid this parochialism. I'm a rational guy looking at the whole table. So, flush with birthday money, and casino winnings won with that birthday money, I decided to make some contributions.

$20 - Patty Wetterling, CD6 - Minnesota
$15 - Dan Mongiardo, US Senate - Kentucky
$30 - Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
$20 - Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
$40 - Tom Daschle, US Senate - South Dakota
$50 - Minnesota DFL House Caucus
$30 - Brad Carson, US Senate - Oklahoma
$40 - Martin Frost, CD32 - Texas

I think it's a healthy mix. We've got a very competitive house race in the homestate (with an eye towards picking off a possible 2006 challenger to Mark Dayton), a fairly long shot US Senate candidate who is on the cusp of running a competitive campaign, and an incumbent US Senator who's highly targeted and despised by the opposition that would be fun to keep in office.

Donations to the DSCC are to bolster our fairly strong odds of retaking the Senate, and the money kicked to the DCCC is an optimistic long shot. It's unlikely to make the difference in obtaining a House majority, but we can at least build toward it as the decade progresses.

Addendums: Added MN DFL House caucus to help retake the Minnesota legislature. After the dismal 2002 election cycle, where DFL House candidates lost nearly all of the close races, we should be able to pick up more and cut down on the Republican majority. And the $50 gets refunded by the state.

Added Brad Carson. Tom Coburn is quite possibly the most extreme right wing candidate running for the US Senate, and we're lucky we have a very viable candidate in Brad Carson to compete for the seat. But it'll be close. Hence the contribution.

Added Martin Frost. Tom Delay's redistricting put him in the same district as another incumbent, Pete Sessions. Frost, on paper, should be losing, as the district is in Dallas and is overwhelmingly Republican. But Frost is a very solid campaigner, and frankly, a smarter politician than Sessions. That, and he's got a strong liberal record. I want to keep him in the US House.

Total donated this election cycle: $255.