Fiscal year 2006 is drawing to a close, and it's election season. It's a big mid-term year here, with a real chance for the Democratic Party to pick up seats in the House, make Bush a lame duck, and start shifting the national focus away from more war and towards a better tomorrow health care, energy independence, and an end to the occupation of Iraq.

I've probably got some expertise volunteering to do at some point, but the most basic action in supporting a campaign is throwing them cash, so as the fundraising quarter runs out, I decided to crack open my wallet.

Here's the list of people I looked at to pick from. You might want to first check and see if there's anything going on in your home district worth getting involved in. NorCal is pretty sleepy as far as the national picture is concerned, so I looked to the NetRoots list for inspiration.

My Contributions:
I split up $100 for four folks:

Eric Massa (NY-29) 	$25.00
Jerry McNerney (CA-11)  $25.00
Larry Grant (ID-01) 	$25.00
Gary Trauner (WY-01) 	$25.00
ActBlue Tipjar		$5.00

Eric Massa is an ex Navy Officer running in a close race against a weak GOP rubberstamper in upstate NY. I met him at the yearly Kos and he gives a good big-hearted progressive navy guy/catholic speech. I also met the young woman -- Samara Barend -- who ran for this seat in 2004. She lost, but her effort as a 28-year-old 26-year-old (thanks Frank) opened the door here I think, so I feel a little connection to the district.

Jerry McNerney is a PhD in Math and an expert in wind power. He's running in part because after 9/11 his kid joined the Air Force. He's already beat out establishment candidates in the Democratic party primary and is now running against the odious Richard Pombo, a GOP party-line stooge deep in the oil-industry's pockets. 'Nuff said.

My last two picks are a nod to the 50-state-strategy, people who are running deep in GOP territory: my boys Larry and Gary.

Larry Grant is running in Idaho, and seems to have an improbably good chance due to the incumbent's personal abrasiveness and unpopularity even among Republicans.

Gary Trauner is running quite well for the single "at large" congressional seat in Wyoming. He's looking good so far, and if we can win in Wyoming, Montana, and Indiana, that's enough of an edge to run the table in '08.

I also tipped ActBlue 5% because they're doing a bang-up job as honest brokers and red-tape cutters on this stuff.

So these are my horses. I'll follow them down the stretch. Pick some of your own?