Raising money is the dirty underbelly of our democracy. And that’s why I do not take money from PACs or special interest groups. I do this in order to set an example because until we have meaningful campaign finance reform our democracy will be up for sale.  

Our campaign has shown that you don’t have to raise millions to compete. Just look at the most recent SurveyUSA/WTVD poll.  We are running in a dead heat against an established insider who has outspent us three to one.  Now, with 28 days left, we need your help to push us over the top.

People across North Carolina are frustrated with their economic reality.  Our nation’s economy lost 80,000 jobs last month.  For those who do have jobs, take-home pay buys less. The cost of gas, housing and food are rising. And most feel that politicians are more interested in protecting campaign contributors than regular citizens.    

Millions of people this year are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure.  Many families who have made their monthly mortgages on time will see their home values plummet as their neighborhoods become populated with vacant homes.  Approximately 20,000 families lose their home every week.  Real solutions are needed now.  But, the Bush administration has done little to provide relief for these families. Congress has not done much better.  The Foreclosure Prevention Bill in the Senate offers billions of dollars to big campaign donors like mortgage companies and home builders who played a role in getting us into this mess in the first place. But there is little help for home owners whose property is losing value or worse.

It’s critical to understand the reasons for our skyrocketing oil prices if we want to lead our country away from protracted conflicts in the Middle East and towards energy independence.

The United States is the world’s largest consumer of oil, using about 20 million barrels per day.  Petroleum is not traded in a free market.  If the oil market were truly free, it’s unlikely we’d be paying over $100 a barrel.  Oil prices are in fact highly manipulated by people who claim to be proponents of free market capitalism and cartels that are interested in anything but a free market.  But our government has the power to manipulate oil prices as well. It could bring down the price of oil, if it so chooses, by opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Tapping this cache of over a half a billion barrels of oil would have a dramatic and immediate impact on oil prices.

Background after the jump.

[cross-posted to my BlueNC diary]

We’ve been talking a lot about our US Senate campaign being a choice between politics as usual and speaking truth to power.

I was surprised and frankly shocked while reading Greensboro’s Yes Weekly article about State Senator Kay Hagan.

Kay points to Senate Bill 3 (SB 3) as an example of how "we do things right in Raleigh." The legislation adopted by the state senate last year gives away the store to Duke Energy, one of the top contributors to Kay’s state senate campaigns .

You may not know about SB 3. And the problem is I don’t think you’re supposed to. The Raleigh News-Observer says SB 3 was "an insiders' deal from the get-go," passed with "virtually nonexistent" public debate and no "serious financial analysis of its total impact on consumers." http://www.newsobserver.com/...

As a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Elizabeth Dole, the people of North Carolina and our nation deserve to know my values and where I stand on the FISA bill before Congress.  

As a kid growing up in Greensboro, I was taught to believe in equality and fair play.  

That’s why I unequivocally oppose giving telephone companies amnesty for felony violations of the current FISA law.  

Lots of folks in Iowa and New Hampshire took their place at the table. Our democracy is vibrant with more people speaking than ever.

The signal development in this yet-young election cycle is the broad participation of so many Americans who are checking back in with democracy. Young and old, party affiliates and independents, participation is through the roof.

Party labels aren't as sticky as they have been in the past. Thank God we're moving beyond the days of party bosses anointing the candidate who we were expected to show up at the polls and reliably pull the lever for. People are not relying on party leaders to do their thinking for them. But party leaders and special interests still control the dollars which flow to "their" candidates. You can change that paradigm - through small dollar contributions to candidates. That's the future of campaign finance and will truly democratize the election process. Let's make it happen in larger numbers in 2008!

I'm heartened by the loud rejection of status-quo politics which Iowans- Democratic, Independent and Republican- registered at their caucuses last night. I'm betting my Senatorial candidacy in NC (and have from the day I entered the race) that the electorate is  no longer willing to recycle politicos in and out of office. No longer willing to follow the lead of special interest groups. No longer willing to fall in line with political machines. The gilded revolving door-- open and shut by a political elite fueled by dollars and glib talking points bereft of personal conviction-- is about to be slammed in November. Slammed shut by the only people who matter, the only people who own our democracy and the only people who vote: us.

Depending on which economist or market pundit one follows in the Wall Street Journal or on MSNBC, you’ll get a 24x7 takeout deli menu’s worth of economic prognoses: strong and resilient, showing strains, weathering a recession and so forth. Few acknowledge that they believe our economy is currently in a recession, and certainly not any member of the Bush Administration, their allies on the Hill and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

I don’t profess to have a crystal ball-- but will join the debate with my point of view:

I stopped in Alexander County to visit a furniture manufacturing facility in Taylorsville. Every politician and business leader from NC should take note of what a small band of North Carolinians can accomplish—even when competing on a global stage— pulling together and working hard to get results. That’s what the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams Furniture Company is - a storybook success in NC’s once-domineering furniture industry which has largely moved offshore. Mitchell Gold took me on a tour of one of three manufacturing facilities which the company operates in Alexander County. Employing over 700 enthusiastic workers, the company is a model for a 21st century workplace environment which rewards and respects hard work, community and fair play.