CAMPAIGNS

Candidate Selection:
Iraq Veterans for Progress works to support federal candidates who share our goals of restoring accountability, bringing the troops home and making America safer through a sound foreign policy. The candidates we support have all been carefully screened and were chosen because of their commitment to furthering our policy objectives and ability to win in their competitive districts.

Methods of Support:
Once we have decided to support a candidate, we will use three primary methods to ensure their election to office:

Making a financial contribution to the campaign
We will make a financial contribution if for some reason we are not able to put a veteran to work on a particular campaign or are able to contribute more within campaign finance limits.

Iraq Veterans for Progress will strive to support our candidates in every way possible by using the most creative, advanced, and efficient means available.

ENDORSED CANDIDATES

Bruce Braley (IA-1) WIN! 55% of the vote www.brucebraley.com Bruce Braley is running for election in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District. Bruce recognizes that our foreign policy in Iraq is headed in the wrong direction and is in need of change. He also realizes the need for accountability and understands the need for Congress to use its investigative powers to look at the no-bid contracts for Halliburton, how $9 billion in US government cash went missing in Iraq while our troops went without the body armor they need to do their jobs safely, and what role oil companies are playing in Iraq. In addition, Bruce knows that our troops have done an outstanding job and it is time to turn the fighting over to the Iraqis. To bring our troops home, he supports developing an exit strategy that includes a timetable for the return of our brave men and women in the military. OUR CONTRIBUTION: Michael Blake Michael Blake is working for Iraq Veterans for Progress on the Bruce Braley campaign. Michael joined the Army straight out of High School in July 2001 because he wanted to serve his country and earn money for college. Michael watched the invasion of Iraq from his base in the U.S., but was then sent to Kuwait and subsequently crossed into Iraq in April of 2003. During his year tour in Iraq, Michael was a Humvee driver and a supply truck driver. While there, his base came under regular mortar fire. Upon returning home, Michael felt that he had seen enough of the war in Iraq to know that it was wrong and decided to do something about it. Feeling that political action is the best avenue to effect change in our society, Michael decided to work for Iraq Veterans for Progress on the Bruce Braley campaign and looks forward to an election victory in November.

Sherrod Brown (OH- Senate) WIN! 56% of the vote www.sherrodbrown.com Sherrod Brown serves as a congressman in Ohio and is now running for a Senate seat. Sherrod opposed the War on Iraq from Day One and read letters from veterans and their families against the war on the House floor. He also drafted a letter signed by 130 representatives to demand the President respect the UN process and let the inspectors work. When the time came, Sherrod voted against the war’s authorization. Since the invasion, Sherrod has successfully lobbied to get body armor for soldiers and held the Administration accountable for the $8 billion it spends on Iraq every month. He has been calling for an exit strategy to be developed since last year and under Sherrod’s plan, the troops would already be on their way home. OUR CONTRIBUTION: Charlie Anderson Charlie Anderson is working for Iraq Veterans for Progress on the Sherrod Brown campaign. An Ohio native, Charlie served in the United States Navy as a Hospital Corpsman from 1996-2005. He was deployed to Kuwait in February 2003 with the Marine Corps’ Second Tank Battalion and “crossed the line” into Iraq on March 20th, 2003 as part of the first wave of the war. Like 30% of Iraq War veterans he returned to the United States with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for which he was discharged in March 2005. Since being medically discharged, Charlie has been a strong advocate for bringing the troops home from Iraq and caring for our troops when they return.

Patrick Murphy (PA-06) WIN! 50% of the vote (1,521 vote margin- we really made a difference here!) www.murphy06.com We can’t afford to “stay the course” in Iraq any longer. That’s why, last December Patrick Murphy, former Captain in the U.S. Army, Iraq war veteran, and Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District released “A Soldier’s Promise” which outlined a phased withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. If his plan had been implemented last December, 50,000 troops would be home with their families, and another 50,000 scheduled to come home by this Christmas. It's time to change course in Iraq, because 'stay the course' is no longer a strategy for success. Our troops in Iraq deserve a real plan. We need a change in direction in Iraq and Congressman Fitzpatrick has shown he's not going to bring about that change. That’s why Patrick Murphy, former U.S. Army Captain, Iraq war veteran, and Democratic Nominee for Pennsylvania’s 8th congressional district, released a plan to start bringing our troops home. OUR CONTRIBUTION: Chad Hetman Chad Hetman is working for Iraq Veterans for Progress on the Patrick Murphy campaign. Chad entered the Army through the ROTC program at Rutgers University in 1993 and joined the New Jersey National Guard in 1994. Upon graduation, he transferred to active duty service where he became a 2nd lieutenant in the infantry. Stationed in Korea, Chad trained soldiers in counter-guerilla warfare. Chad left active duty as a captain in 2002 and still holds that rank in the Individual Ready Reserve. Since then, he has done humanitarian work with the non profit organization No More Victims. Chad recently traveled to Jordan where he helped bring an Iraqi boy injured in the war to the United States to receive medical attention. Chad lives in Philadelphia, PA.

Jerry McNerney (CA-11) WIN! 53% of the vote www.jerrymcnerney.org Jerry McNerney is running against Richard Pombo in California's 11th Congressional District. While promoting Bush's foreign policy disaster in Iraq, Pombo voted to cut $1.8 billion in benefits to veterans. He also cast the deciding vote in the House against funding for prosthetics for wounded veterans -- including soldiers coming home from Iraq who have lost limbs caused by roadside bombs. With a son in the military, Jerry McNerney knows what veterans need. He also knows that we need to change the course in Iraq and start bringing our troops home. OUR CONTRIBUTION: Iraq Veterans for Progress supported Jerry McNerney by filming a commercial for him and paying for its airtime. Click here to see the commercial.

Victoria Wulsin (OH) Loss- 49% of the vote www.wulsinforcongress.com Victoria Wulsin has been opposed to the Iraq war since it began. She believes that "staying the course" is not a viable option -- we cannot continue to lose 60 American lives a month indefinitely. The generals on the ground have told us that the current course is unsustainable, and a vast majority of Iraqis do want the American forces to remain. We must begin a redeployment of troops out of Iraq -- the Iraqi people must be responsible for solving their differences through a political process without foreign occupation. Victoria is running against Jean Schmidt, who gained infamy by calling decorated former marine and fellow congressman John Murtha a coward for advocating redeployment. Schmidt has repeatedly voted against veterans health care and reductions in the military families tax. Victoria will bring a different set of priorities to Washington. OUR CONTRIBUTION: Thomas Cassidy Thomas Cassidy is working for Iraq Veterans for Progress on the Victoria Wulsin campaign. Thomas was born and raised in rural southern Ohio and joined the military on a whim to escape the boredom young people face in small towns. He served in the Army's 1st Infantry Division from July 2001 to July 2005. Cassidy's first deployment was for Kosovo for Operation Joint Guardian in 2002. Later, he was sent to Iraq in 2004, where he did a one year tour. While in Iraq, he was stationed at FOB Scunion, near Ba'Qubah and in the Sunni Triangle.