FireDogLake founder Jane Hamsher is devoting herself to persuading 39 progressive Democrats to oppose the $106 billion 2009 war supplemental bill for the wars in Iraq and Af-Pak and to bailout European banks through the IMF. Arrayed against her, the Obama administration and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are aggressively whipping House Democrats to support the legislation.

The opposition has been successful so far and 35 of the necessary 39 members have already pledged to vote no. Moreover, a number of Blue Dog Democrats have their own reasons for opposing the bill.

Watch Hamsher’s video, produced by the Brave New Foundation, to see why the stakes are so high and what you can do to help.

The pressure on the progressives is fierce. Hamsher rightly calls it thuggery. Rep. Lynn Woolsey of California, a leader of the antiwar Democrats, said the White House and House leadership is threatening to withdraw support from freshmen legislators who oppose the bill, saying “you’ll never hear from us again.” Help support them by calling the numbers on the screen at the end of the video and finding out where your legislators stand at FDL’s Citizen Whip Count.

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