Thanks, League of Conservation Voters

I received this email today from the League of Conservation Voters. Way to go LCV!

Nicole, 

Last night was simply amazing. Thanks to you, Barack Obama is on his way to a second term. Thanks to you, we’re sending seven new environmental champions to the U.S. Senate. And thanks to you, we appear to be on our way to defeating 11 of the Dirty Dozen, including as many as four of the climate-denying House incumbents we targeted as part of our new Flat Earth Five campaign. 

Again, thank you. No two words could better express how grateful we are that you – and tens of thousands of friends like you – took the time to invest in our work this year. Your commitment was the critical piece that helped us win so many important races. And as we move past the 2012 election, your partnership with LCV will help us advance strong climate policies in 2013 and beyond. 

The bulk of our focus this election cycle was on the Senate. We spent more than $8 million in eight Senate races and I’m thrilled to tell you that we won seven of them – Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wisconsin. In each of these races, there was a clear choice between a clean energy champion committed to tackling global warming and an outright climate denier or fierce opponent of climate policies. 

In the Massachusetts Senate race, for example, when the “People’s Pledge” essentially barred groups like LCV from running a paid media campaign, we launched a major door-to-door canvass operation. We knocked on 400,000 doors in the state. In Virginia, we ran the largest mail program in the race – sending as many as 7 pieces of mail to more than 500,000 households, targeting 1 out of 7 voters in the state. 

In addition to our work in the Senate, we launched a new program—The Flat Earth Five -- targeting five House incumbents specifically because they are climate deniers. We spent more than $3 million on the program with three of the Flat Earth Five – Francisco Canseco (TX-23), Joe Walsh (IL-8) and Ann Marie Buerkle (NY-24) losing their bids for re-election. And climate denier Dan Lungren (CA-7) is trailing, though the race hasn’t been called yet. 

In the presidential race, where we knew our resources would be dwarfed, we focused almost exclusively on Colorado. We spent more than $2 million in the state. Additionally, we mobilized thousands of LCV members to volunteer with the Obama campaign in Colorado and other battleground states. 

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, we also elevated the issue of climate change in the Presidential race, releasing a closing ad that highlighted the stark differences between President Obama and Mitt Romney, who mocked the threat of rising sea levels. 

In all, we spent nearly $14 million this cycle—more than we spent the last three cycles combined—to defend clean energy and climate champions. We also raised or contributed more than $2 million to pro-environment candidates via LCV Action Fund’s GiveGreen, a new record for the program. Environmental donors like you were the biggest contributors to Senate candidates like Sherrod Brown, Jon Tester, Tim Kaine and Martin Heinrich. 

Your investment and partnership was absolutely critical this year. And even though we feel terrific about the outcome of this election, there are still challenges ahead. The leadership of the House of Representative is still deeply committed to pushing the same anti-environmental policies that you helped us halt at every turn in 2012. We expect that we’ll see a new wave of attacks as soon as the 113th Congress is sworn in. 

With your continuing partnership, we’ll defend the environmental progress we have made and continue to advance policies to confront the climate crisis. We have proven this election that Americans want leaders willing to invest in clean energy solutions and tackle the growing threat of global warming. With the election behind us, now is the time to move forward and advance sound environmental policies in Washington and across the country. 

Thank you – again – for your tremendous partnership this year. 

Best 
– Steve