I've donated a bunch of times this season to the Kerry campaign and the DNC. Now that it's coming down to the wire, and the outcome of the election is increasingly in the hands of Get Out The Vote organizations working on the ground, I've been thinking about the Congress.

Think about where we'll be on November 3 (assuming, perhaps foolishly, that a winner in the presidential election will have been declared). Either Bush or Kerry will be in the White House for the next four years. Now assume both houses of Congress remain in Republican hands. If Bush is president, this will mean at least 2 years of rubber stampism--they'll let the psychopath get away with murder. If Kerry is president, a GOP Congress will mean relentless and irrational obstructionism, the immediate launching of witchhunt investigations...if you think Clinton got screwed in 1994, you have not seen the wrath of a Party twice scorned.

Imagine how much it would suck for President Kerry to have to contend with a 51-49 Republican Senate. A shudder just went through me.

It's an uphill battle for both the Senate and the House, but we're doing a hell of a lot better than anyone had thought. We've got literally margin-of-error Senate races in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Colorado, Alaska, South Dakota, and now (and quite unexpectedly) Kentucky. House races across the country are neck and neck.

I've been listening to many of the House candidates appearing as guests on Air America Radio, and I really sympathize with these folks. A little money can go a long way in the small races. Donating to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is the best way to get your money to the people who can get it to the candidates who need it the most, fast.

So if you haven't yet given out your last-minute dough, I encourage you to keep the Congress in mind.

Contribute to the Senate Dems. (click "Contribute")

(By the way, when you donate to the DSCC your money gets matched dollar for dollar until Octover 28.)

Contribute to the House Dems.

Another way to help elect congressional Dems. Two of the Big Bloggers, Atrios and Kos, have set up special pages where you can donate to a group of House and Senate candidates in close races whom the bloggers have chosen to support.

Donate to Atrios' candidates.

Donate to Kos' candidates.

And for godsake if anyone out there STILL hasn't ante'd up for Kerry (via the DNC) do it NOW.