On Monday, DavidNYC wrote:

It's that time again: A week from today, all federal campaigns have to close the books on the fundraising quarter. This means that if you want your favorite candidates to be able to issue strong quarterly campaign finance reports, you've got to contribute by March 31st.

Now, I'll be honest - this is one of my least favorite parts of blogging, and it's certainly one of the less pleasant aspects of politics in general. But money still matters - a lot. If we want to expand our majorities in Congress - and especially if we want to see progressive change - we'll need a lot of cash to do so. Many big players - including labor unions, progressive organizations, and deep-pocketed donors - will look at these reports to decide which candidates to give to. It may not seem fair or even wise, but it's reality, and we've got to work the system as best we can.

The goal is to make it to 6,500 total contributions by March 31. We're not even to 5,700 yet, so there's a long way to go.

If you're focused on the presidential race, let me put it this way: Blue Majority candidates are running in swing states like Virginia, Florida, Washington, and Minnesota. If they have early money to be running a strong ground game, that will help get out the vote. And come January 2009, a Democratic president will need strong majorities in Congress to accomplish the things we all so want to see. So even if your heart is fully committed to a presidential candidate, give to a Blue Majority candidate for his or her sake.