Official Announcement: Jay Bullock is No Longer Running for Congress

by Jay Bullock

Hi. Jay here. I am very sorry to say that I am dropping out of the race against Paul Ryan for Congress. I hate to have to do it, since Paul Ryan really needs to be defeated this fall. But the truth is out there now, and there's no getting around it.

It's true. The rumors are true.

I was born in Canada, and I am not an American citizen, and, therefore, have to withdraw from this race.

Rest assured, I will keep up the good fight against Paul Ryan for as long as I have voice to blog. It is heartening--and, indeed, humbling--to know that so many of you have been so energized by this eighteen-hour campaign, which suggests to me that change is in the air, and Paul Ryan and the GOP ought to be on notice.

Official Statement on Rumors

Now that Jay is off of work and here at the office, we are releasing this official statement from the campaign:

STATEMENT FROM CANDIDATE FOR THE
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JAY BULLOCK on
CITIZENSHIP RUMORS
MILWAUKEE--In a newspaper report and in scurrilous blog postings across the Wisconsin Internet, the accusation has been made that Jay Bullock, who announced this morning that he is running against US Rep. Paul Ryan, is somehow not an American citizen, and was instead born in Canada.

"That's ridiculous," Bullock insisted this afternoon. "I was born in this country, and my opponents are merely trying to colour this race with their accusations and buffoonery."

The candidate continued, "Clearly, Paul Ryan and the GOP are running scared, because their friends and neighbours are onto their scam, and are looking for a legitimate alternative to their anti-middle class platform."

He concluded, "They're merely grasping at straws, like a hoser robbing a Tim Horton's."
# # #

In fact, the campaign is making available this Certificate of Live Birth that Jay Bullock obtained a few years ago from his home state of Ohio (with some personal information blacked out to protect privacy). We hope that this answers any remaining questions and scuttles all lingering rumors and doubts. (Click for larger image.)

Ugh. More SMEARS from the right ...

Apparently, people are still asking about those rumors posted by Dan Bice and his "watchdog" earlier today. Well, Jay will be getting off of work soon, and I am sure that he will be addressing all of the accusations being raised. In the meantime, we're sure that this is just the work of Tea Partiers and GOP minions who a genuinely frightened by a Jay Bullock candidacy.

In the meantime, keep giving!

More positive press on the first day of our campaign!

We're very pleased that so many of Jay's friends around the blogosphere have begun to add their praise to the growing list of people who think that Jay's campaign, despite what you may have heard, is just the thing that the people of Wisconsin need. Here's a sampling of what some bloggers are saying:

• The Blue Badger: I've known Jay since he started blogging back in 2003, and I have to say that this is one of the proudest days of my life. Paul Ryan is wrong for Wisconsin, but Jay Bullock is all right.
  
• The Left Cheddar: Finally, a Democratic candidate the Cheddarsphere can be proud of!
  
• Superior Liberal: It is immensely difficult to involve oneself personally in salient campaigns down in the southern part of the state from one's far northern vantage point, but one feels that vanquishing Paul Ryan is critical for precluding a state-wide Senate run in 2012. Jay Bullock is, without a doubt, the superior candidate to do just that.
  
• Shut the Front Door County: Yes! Finally a progressive that may actually lure me south from my idyllic home during the temperate summer months. God bless that campaign!
  
• Progressive Plymouth: It's about time that Paul Ryan went down. Jay Bullock is the man to do it. My full support, unreserved!
  
• WaukCoDemUnderground: We, like Jay, live just a few miles from Paul Ryan's district, and we have seen first-hand the devastation that Ryan's dedication to Randian principles has wrought. Go Jay!
  
• Where My Honkies At?: Jay Bizzle sho' one fine honky. He gone beat that otha honkey.
  
• Bike Beloit: Finally, someone who understands the needs and wants of green and environmentally-conscious voters. I sincerely look forward to helping Jay defeat Ryan at the polls this fall.
  
• The Ghost of Tommy Bartlett: The Ghost of Tommy Bartlett approves this message: Vote for Jay Bullock. Yeeeeeeearghhh!
  
• The Holstein Enchilada: Undeniably, there is something special about to happen here, and that something is that PAUL RYAN IS GOING DOWN, BABY! Bullock all the way!
  
• Smoortser: A progressive? With a real shot at taking down Paul Ryan? Count me in!
  
• Bong Rec Area Blog: Duuuuuude! This rocks! Jay all the way!
  
• Blue Racine Stripe: I'm gonna get to vote for a real liberal! I'm gonna get to vote for a real liberal! I'm gonna get to vote for a real liberal! I'm gonna get to vote for a real liberal! I'm gonna get to vote for a real liberal! I'm gonna get to vote for a real liberal! I'm gonna get to vote for a real liberal! I'm gonna get to vote for a real liberal!

Keep those posts coming, guys! We love you!

Dan Bice, Leave Jay Bullock Alone!

We would like to state, unequivocally, that the rumors being reported here about Jay Bullock are categorically untrue. Of course, as we noted previously, Jay is hard at work today, because he's not going to walk away from his responsibilities to the people of Milwaukee or the school system that so desperately needs quality teachers like him. He's honest, hard-working, and completely dedicated to the good citizens of Wisconsin's first CD (even if he doesn't live there yet). Please ignore any of those horrible rumors and speculation about things like voting history, and keep giving and sending your friends here to learn about Jay's campaign.

Updated Guitar Graphic

Okay, we've re-jiggered the guitar graphic to reflect the new goal of $10,000 by midnight tonight. Click here to give and push us ever closer to that total!

Update: We're getting reports that sometimes the fundraising page isn't loading properly. Again, we think this is because the response is far greater than what we originally planned for. Keep trying until you get through.

Fundraising Update

Again, this is just fantastic! There are just a few of us right now sitting in Jay's campaign offices (Jay has to work today), and the response to our fundraising call has been nothing short of fantastic. We set a very modest goal of $4,110 (because today is 4/1/10!) and we're already more than 3/4 of the way there.


So we're changing the goal to an even $10,000. It's not too late to give!

You Guys Are Amazing!

Wow! Interest in Jay Bullock's insurgent campaign for Congress against Janesville's earsiest Randian, Paul Ryan, has been amazing! It's still pretty early in day one of the campaign--barely past 10 AM!--and already, more than 1,250 people have signed up for our email list to receive campaign updates and information. (If the link doesn't work for you, it's probably because we're getting far more traffic than we were expecting--keep trying! Please!)

Also, the fundraising is really flying! Thanks to everyone who is giving!

Response from Around Wisconsin and Around America

Reactions are coming in from across the internet to Jay's announcement that he is running for Congress against Paul Ryan (R-TeaPartyHysteria). We got this email here at JBHQ from Mark Teight, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party:

I have known Jay since 2003, and I can state with confidence that he will be a strong candidate against Paul Ryan. I wish him the best of luck and pledge the full support of Wisconsin's Democrats as this campaign progresses.

Also in the inbox this morning, a nice note from Rep. Chester Von Hallen, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee:

We have long sought a credible candidate against Ryan, because we believe that he can be beat. With Jay Bullock in this race, we are certain that this is the year! Red-to-Blue, here we come!

As far as we can tell, there has been no official reaction from the Ryan campaign, although we're hearing rumors that the oppo research is starting hot and heavy from what must be a very, very worried Republican party.

We need your help (read: give!)

As you probably know, Paul Ryan (R-Galt's Gulch) has a bank account right now the size of Montana. Jay is a public school teacher without any of Ryan's corporate benefactors. So we really, really need your help to make the coming fight a little it more fair.

Some of you who have known Jay for a long time probably remember that he got energized into politics by the Howard Dean campaign back in 2003-2004. And if you were around for that, you might remember Howard Dean's baseball bat-style "thermometers" that gauged the giving in real time. We're going to try something similar, but because Jay's a singer-songwriter, we've decided to use a guitar instead of a bat. Check this out:

You'll see that today we are setting a modest goal of just $4,110, because today is April 1, 2010--4/1/10. We think we ought to be able to hit that goal by midnight tonight, but we can only do it with your help. If just 411 of you out there give ten measly dollars, we can hit that goal with no problems at all. So, click on the graphic or click on this link, and using your credit card you can give toward Jay Bullock's campaign against Paul Ryan.

We need all the help we can get, so don't hesitate!

Official Announcement: Jay Bullock for Congress

As most of you know, the few readers I have left anyway, I have spent much of the last year attacking Wisconsin 1st CD Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Ayn Rand). The fact is that Ryan is an incredibly poor representative for his district, and the fact that he has risen to a position of leadership in his party points is a significant danger not just to the good folks of Wisconsin but the nation as a whole.

All along, people have been telling me, "Quit your whining and do something about it."

I haven't always known exactly what they had in mind when they said that--raise money to defeat him? throw a bucket of paint on him while shouting "Meat is murder"?--but their words have been weighing heavily on my mind for some time.

That is why, beginning today, I am doing "something."

Beginning today, I am running for Congress against Paul Ryan, seeking the 1st CD nomination for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

Now, some of you are probably already starting to catalogue the reasons why this is a bad idea, perhaps starting with the fact that I insist on spelling catalogue with the -ue at the end. And it's true that there are a number of seemingly insurmountable barriers to my entry into this race. But let's take a closer look at them, shall we?

For one, I do not presently live in Wisconsin's 1st district. I am only a few miles away, though, and if the Doug Hoffman (I-Teabagger) campaign in upstate New York taught us anything in the past year, it's that out-of-district insurgents can still legitimately run for a seat in Congress. In addition, I spent my college years in Rock County, where Ryan was born and raised, when it was a part of the 1st CD (Beloit has since been re-districted to the 2nd CD). This is only fair, since Ryan spent his college years at Miami of Ohio, which is one county up from where I was born and raised and, ironically, the only other college I applied to besides Beloit College.

For another, I have no elected experience. Oh, come on. You know this one: If every job requires you to have experience, how can you get a job to gain that experience? Consider that Paul Ryan had not been elected to any office before he ran for Congress in 1998. Sure, he slummed around Washington, DC, working for some of the archest of arch-conservative elected officials. How is that different from me, slumming around Milwaukee, working for the Milwaukee Public Schools?

For a third, I have no money. Paul Ryan, as even a cursory glance at his financials will tell you, has more money than any likely opponent. That I have been living on a public servant's salary while Ryan's sugar-daddies in the insurance and pharmaceutical industries fed Ryan's campaign coffers should not disqualify me from running. I am also not intimidated by the fact that Ryan is willing to spend millions--he spent $2.25 million in 2008, outspending his opponent 17-1, because nothing kills like overkill!--in this election. In fact, the more money he spends now, the less he has to run for Senate in 2012.

In all, the reasons for my not running are hardly enough to stop me. That is why, beginning today, I am asking for your support. This goal--sending the GOP's golden boy packing--will not be easy, and it will not be something I can do without you. Here is my simple, five-point platform, and I hope these are all things you can believe in, too:

• No more economic policies based on the fiction of Ayn Rand
  
• No more social policies based on the hypocrisy of Catholic bishops
  
• No more international relations policies based on the movie Red Dawn
  
• No more education policies based on phony "miracles," be they in Houston or in Chicago
  
• No more environmental policies based on the philosophy of C. Montgomery Burns

If these are reforms that you can get behind, sign up today to support me in my quest to take Wisconsin back from the forces of political terpitude and the party of "no."