I’ll be on Rachel Maddow tonight at 9pm ET to talk about our whip count and fundraising effort — jh

We went out to the FDL list this morning and together with our partners have raised $67,939 for progressive members of Congress who agree to draw a line in the sand over a public plan.

While the teabaggers got all the media attention, we’ve been working diligently with local bloggers in the districts of progressive members of Congress who were in safe Democratic seats, asking them to vote against any bill that did not have a strong public plan.  No co-ops, no triggers. We wanted 40 of them to stick together and block health care reform from passing until there was a strong public option.

It worked.

If others arrogantly assumed they could give the farm away to the AMA, AHIP, the hospitals and PhRMA and then jam it on progressives at the last minute and call them "fucking stupid" if they resisted, they were wrong.

Now that they have made the commitment in sufficient numbers to stop a bad bill from passing, the challenge is going to be holding progressives while they get strong-armed to vote for a compromised bill.   Promises of district pork, funding for pet project, influence and downright threats are very persuasive.  A fundraising effort like this sends a very clear message that this one matters.   We’re watching, and if somewone says they "support" a public plan, they can’t cast a vote for some crappy Blue Dog/Senate Finance and think they can get away with it.

This one won’t go down the memory hole.  Thanks to everyone who put an exclamation point at the end of that sentiment with their contribution.

UPDATE: Here’s the video of Jane’s Appearance.