Sad but true--it's money time.

It's sad but true: It's money time now for the fall campaigns. A key reporting deadline is this Monday, June 30.

Contributions received as of that date will have a disproportionate influence on the shape of the campaign coverage for the next three months. Candidates with depleted bank accounts won't receive the attention and respect they need and deserve from reporters or endorsing groups. I was hammered with that lesson the hard way this year. My own fundraising efforts were not well-designed or effective last fall--and the fault for that was entirely my own, by the way--and as a result I was operating under an insurmountable handicap with contributors, endorsers, and the press all spring.

This is explanatory prologue to the pitch I'm about to make: As progressive Democrats, this is our time to help score a point for the viability of our favored canidates, by making our contributions before the June 30 reporting deadline.

I have just today made (large for me) contributions to three campaigns:
Roy Carter for Congress (5th District)
Mary Fant Donnan for Labor Commissioner
Bev Perdue for Governor

Roy Carter: He's running a well-conceived, active, organized campaign against one of our delegation's most regressive incumbents. It's admittedly in a very tough district, but if there is any year when we have a chance in this district (my home district), it's this one. His campaign has the word from national sources that they'll pitch in, but he has to show some additional home-grown dollars first. Let's help. www.RoyCarterForCongress.com

Mary Fant Donnan: She's a strong candidate for a post (Labor Commissioner) that Democrats really need to take back. Lassez faire Republicans are just not giving workplace safety and health enforcement the attention that workers in places like the meat processing industry badly need. Donnan has just gone through a money-depleting second primary and won big--but she needs some quick help to rebuild her resources for the fall campaign. www.maryfantdonnan.com

Bev Perdue: OK, I don't always agree with Bev. She's a down-the-middle Dem without doubt. But did you see her quick stomp on the offshore drilling call? She did that in spite of poll numbers suggesting that McBush's call to pander to the oil profiteers on drilling would be the popular thing to do. I suggest that kind of unequivocal right action should be recognized, reinforced, and rewarded. Meanwhile, Pat McCrory was in Raleigh this week kissing up to the "Americans for Prosperity" crowd. Go Bev. www.bevperdue.com

Those are my picks of the week before June 30. You may have others to recommend. My point is that the next three days are the time to act on our convictions. I don't like the money chase, at all, but I like the kinds of policies we get when we ignore it even less.