Help Save Brad Miller, NC-13 from One Bullet, No Gun

Many of you have read the diaries written by Representative Brad Miller from North Carolina. You know that he gets science. You know he supports the blogging community and was part of a panel at Yearly Kos. You know he's a progressive and you probably know he's just a great guy - very honest, very smart and very genuine. What you might not know about Brad Miller is something that many of you will think is trivial, but I think is vitally important.

Have you heard the saying that 80% of success is just showing up? Well, Brad Miller shows up to vote. Every. Single. Time. He is one of only 5 representatives in the U.S. House that has bothered to show up for every single vote during the 109th Congress.

This record is something to be proud of. His support for technology and science is something to be proud of. His progressive record is something to be proud of. The new endorsement from Markos applauding Brad Miller's support of the online community is something to be proud of. All this could be taken away in November by Vernon Robinson, aka - One Bullet, No Gun. That's right, a man who appears to be so desperate to be accepted he dresses up like a cowboy and panders for the gun vote. This is almost as pathetic as Bush in his flightsuit.

You've probably heard the stories about the slime tactics Robinson uses. He linked Brad and Markos romantically, though they'd never met and are both married; and he delved into the Millers' private lives as if the public had a right to know why they did not have children. As abhorent as it seems, this man who adopts these vile, loathsome tactics could be the next representative from the 13th District. As much as it pains me to say this, we need to keep Robinson in North Carolina and not send him to Washington.

True to his character, Congressman Miller wrote a diary earlier this week asking DKos readers to help out a couple of challengers before the deadline tomorrow (Friday). One of the candidates he has endorsed for your support is Larry Kissell, a candidate in North Carolina's 8th Congressional District. Larry Kissell is challenging flip-flippin' Robin Hayes. Larry is coming off some successful fundraising with two more planned before the deadline. I've blogged about Larry before as have others here on DKos. He has quite a following in this state. At the state convention this past weekend progressives from all over the state were flocking to Larry's table to find out how they can help.

There has been such a response from some areas that fundraisers, phone banks and neighborhood walks are being planned by voters outside the district. Everyone who meets Larry seems to feel the same way.

Here's a report from a fundraiser held last night. Congressman David Price and BlueNC's Anglico teamed up for this amazing fundraiser where they raised more than $25,000 for Larry. Another fundraiser is June 30th in Robin Hayes's home town of Concord.

This past Saturday the wonderful folks atFireDogLake hosted a fundraiser for Larry and Heath Shuler through Howie Klein's Blue America posts and raised almost $1200 in just a couple of hours. Howie also wrote an excellent post at Down With Tyranny

The polls look good and the fundraising is picking up. The candidate and staff are constantly on the move meeting as many people in the district as they can and getting the word out. For more information you can visit BlueNC or The Southern Dem.

Many of you have met Larry here and have been so generous with your financial support and your words of encouragement. Larry started out his campaign networking the online community in North Carolina. The enthusiasm and energy for this campaign is shared by the grassroots community and the local weblog community. I wish all of you could meet him in person so you would know why we feel so strongly about his candidacy.

Robin Hayes is a millionaire and Republicans will be piling on with leadership pac contributions this month, so it's vital that Larry raise as much as possible by Friday. If you still aren't sure, just read this diary by RANT that includes a letter from Larry's minister.

Precinct by precinct, district by district Democrats can win in the South. It won't be easy, so we can't afford to lose great Representatives like Brad Miller and we can't afford to lose the opportunity to replace Bush loyalists with excellent candidates like Larry Kissell.

Many of you have dug deep into your pockets already. Thank you for all you have done to help our candidates. For those of you who have a little more room in your budgets, please go here to help. Every $5 dollars counts. Here is an ActBlue link, or visit Larry Kissell's site or Brad Miller's site.

Thank you.

Update: After a re-read, I realized that I had called Vernon Robinson a vile, loathesome man and I have never met him. I decided to change that to "a man who adopts vile, loathesome tactics" because that sounded more fair. If I ever meet Robinson, which I doubt will happen, I will let you know if he is as vile in person as his campaign tactics make him appear to be.