We are pleased to inform you that your support for DAPAC helped elect seven new progressive Democrats into Congress in 2008, three of whom have recently been appointed to the House Financial Services Committee. To build on this momentum, we have bold new plans that we need to implement immediately. We progressives are creating a new future. We are taking the opportunity to rebuild the global economy, free from discrimination, while protecting the environment with clean, green, high technology, safeguarding everyone's health. Please send in your donation of $ today, so that we can begin these new projects.

First, we have expanded our target list to 56 House seats and eight Senate seats. Many more seats are in play this cycle due to the progressive Democratic voter wave sweeping the nation. The youth vote has been increasing rapidly for a few cycles now, and these voters are overwhelmingly Democratic. Moreover, increased urbanization and an influx of immigrants that favor Democrats 4-to-1 over Republicans gives progressive policies an edge in 2010. Now that we have a Democratic majority, our real work to elect strong progressives begins.

Before we give our endorsement, we personally screen candidates and require them to pledge their support for progressive issues and values in writing. In the past, several Democratic senators have requested our endorsement, but we had neither the time nor resources to get involved in Senate races. As we seek to build a progressive majority, we want to offer our help and endorsement to truly progressive Democrats running for office in states trending in our direction. This is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss. For the 2010 congressional cycle, we are producing a nationwide program to recruit people to run in targeted districts. We want to involve as many people as possible in helping find the best progressives to represent us in government. We will do this by offering web-based tools that will allow activists and bloggers to suggest and discuss candidates. Additionally, we will profile districts and incumbents to give insight to people who wish to participate in the recruiting and vetting process. We believe our efforts to produce research and analysis early in the cycle will help us find the best progressive candidates to run for office in the next election.

In addition to our recruitment efforts, we are producing a candidate training program based on our years of experience in hundreds of campaigns. Previously this program has only been available to candidates we endorsed, but we wish to make it available earlier to help candidates put their best foot forward. We generally offer a three-part program over two days that teaches candidates how to build bottom-up grassroots campaigns, how to frame progressive issues and target voters, and how to raise and spend money effectively in their campaigns. To get truly progressive representation in Congress, we must prepare candidates by giving them information that helps them avoid some of the most common pitfalls that derail well-intended grassroots candidates.