Steven Herr received a major endorsement from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for the 5-way Democratic primary next Tuesday:

It's probably a testament to Rep. Paul Ryan's strength in the 1st Congressional District that no Democrat elected official or major player opted to challenge the Republican congressman. But voters will still be able to make a solid choice in the Democratic primary when they go to the polls on Tuesday: Five concerned citizens took up the challenge dropped by their party leaders and are vying for the Democratic nomination to face Ryan in the November general election.

Of those five, and in a very close call, Kenosha businessman Steven Herr, 49, offers voters a good mix of real-world experience and support for Democratic values and positions. He supports a national health care system; a 24-month timeline for withdrawal from Iraq; higher vehicle fuel efficiency standards and public financing of elections. Herr runs a road-salt business in Kenosha and has an apartment there but lives weekends on his family's hobby farm in Brodhead. He told us he would move into the district on a permanent basis if elected.

Cross-posted on DailyKos

In Wisconsin's 1st District, in the southeast part of the state, there is a 5-way Democratic primary on September 12th.  Everyone (except for those 5) is intimidated by Bush rubberstamper Paul Ryan's warchest, and there is no Party anointed candidate, so this primary race is being run on ideas and old fashioned shoe leather.  The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel profiles the race:

All of the five candidates say they believe they have the ability to unseat the four-term Wisconsin Republican.

Certainly none of them has even close to the kind of money that Ryan has in his coffers, an amount approaching $2 million. Nor do they have the name recognition - all are first-time candidates except Jeffrey Thomas, who has made six unsuccessful runs for the job.

More on the candidates below the fold...

NH hopefuls probably can expect alot of PAC visits and contributions if these are close come the Fall primary, Jerome

An independent poll was conducted by the University of New Hampshire with relatively good news for Democrats as we try to knock out incumbent Republicans: (likely voters, MOE 6%)

NH-01
Jeb Bradley (R) 49%
Jim Craig (D) 33%
undecided 18%

Jeb Bradley (R) 52%
Gary Dodds (D) 29%
undecided 20%

NH-02
Charlie Bass (R) 42%
Paul Hodes (D) 35%
undecided 22%

Neither of these seats has been in the top tier, but it looks like NH-02 should be, especially since only 20% of likely voters are familiar with Paul Hodes.

Steven Herr, candidate for Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District, is introducing himself to the netroots at DailyKos.  Stop by, check out his campaign, and ask him some questions.  This is a race on nobody's list of competitive districts, even though Bush only got 51% in 2000.  Let's bring one more district into play!

 I'm almost famous - my brother let me know today he is running for Congress.  Until he files his papers to make it official, I won't mention his name or district, but I would like the advice of the MyDD community to help him out.  

The district is competitive on the presidential level, a blend of suburban, working class, and rural.  My brother is a small business owner and a long-time Democrat and political activist.  This is his first run for office, but he has alot of political wisdom and he knows what he is up against.  His opponent is a well-funded Republican incumbent.  The DCCC is happy to have him run, and thinks he is a good fit for the district, but it isn't a top tier race for them, at least not yet.  Still, we need to win some races like this if we are to take back the House.

The filing deadline for the State of Texas passed yesterday.  Those of us who back the 100% strategy of contesting every race were stressing over the multiple Congressional races which appeared to have no Democratic candidate.  The Texas Democratic Party has a list of all Democratic candidates who filed in Texas.  31 of 32 Congressional districts have a Democrat running, an improvement over the 4 uncontested GOP seats in 2004.  Only Mike Conaway (TX-11) is getting a free ride.  Considering that alot of those Democratic challengers are running against overwhelming odds, I think we ought to be very happy to see Democrats in the game almost everywhere.

For state districts, it doesn't look as good: about 39 out of 150 State House races and 6 out of 16 State Senate races have no Democrat.