Many progressives (including Cindy Sheehan) are in despair that a minority of Democrats voted to give Bush another blank check for the endless occupation of Iraq.

But that minority is small - just 59 (vs. 169) in the House and 20 (vs. 29) in the Senate. And if we recruit anti-war primary challengers to oppose those Bush Democrats, we can scare them into voting right - just as we did with the 2006 primaries against Jane Harman (CA-36) and Al Wynn (MD-4).

Politico's Josephine Hearn reports the enormous impact we've had on "centrist" Democrats so far this year:

Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher, a prominent moderate Democrat from California, voted against more money for the war in Iraq last week, a move that may help her placate some left-wing critics in the blogosphere.

She also secured a promise that a separate measure she sponsored to deauthorize the use of force in Iraq will get a floor vote in September, when new wartime funding legislation will be considered...

Tauscher introduced the bill March with a quartet of New Democrats: Reps. Harman, Joseph Crowley of New York, Artur Davis of Alabama and Adam Smith of Washington.

All five moderates voted against the Iraq funding bill Thursday, which passed with a majority of Republican votes.

It's no accident that my Congressman, Joe Crowley (NY-7), is on this list - we have met with him repeatedly and protested outside his office for years. At our most recent meeting, Crowley told us he voted for the war because he "trusted" Bush but now deeply regrets it.

Was he speaking from his heart or counting the votes in his district? Who knows - but if it produces a vote against the occupation, who cares?

Tauscher, Harman and many other members of Congress were besieged by anti-war groups in the days leading up to the war vote.

MoveOn.org, a 3 million member group that backed a withdrawal timeline, argued against the bill, denouncing it as a capitulation to the White House.

Still, some Democratic moderates supported it, including House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), a MoveOn target, and Rep. John Tanner of Tennessee, a co-founder of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition.

Obviously Hoyer and Tanner need primary challengers asap. Any nominations?

Both Tauscher and Harman had drawn earlier fire from liberal bloggers for their moderate views. At times, some bloggers even promised to support primary challenges against the two in 2008. Tauscher, for one, made it clear she's representing her district.

"After much thought, deliberation and listening to my constituents, I voted against the supplemental appropriations bill," she said. "I cannot vote to give the president one more blank check."

Tauscher switched because of the mere threat of an anti-war primary challenge from bloggers. Don't you see how much power we have? It's time to threaten all 59 House Democrats who voted against the McGovern bill!