I am a firm supporter of single payer insurance reform, but I will consider a public option that gives priority to preventive care, among other features. Tragically, the corporate and insurance lobbyists will have killed the public option if we drink the Bipartisan Compromise Kool-Aid. NOW IS THE CRUCIAL TIME TO FIGHT FOR OUR OPTIONS, NOT JUST PRINCIPLES. WE NEED TO BUG EACH SENATOR AND REPRESENTATIVE EVERY DAY IN AUGUST!
Read this article and you will see what I mean:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/the-bipartisan-compromise_b_245991.html
Here's a record that I've keep, not up to date, but a list of some of the things he's done:
Last week, we talked about the privileges bestowed upon the McCain Dynasty from slavery to the present. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has relied upon that since the day he was born. The legacy of his father’s and grandfather’s careers and the personal protection of his father made the many errors and poor judgment exhibited by him to be exempt from accountability.
As a naval pilot he was a disaster. In a very short fashion he lost 23 expensive jet planes; there were 134 accidental deaths and the deactivation of a U.S. aircraft carrier (worst accident in U.S. naval history). His actual amount of combat time can be measured in days and, at best, a few weeks. This is no illustrious military career.
Still, with his shoddy resume, he pursued admission into the Military War College. This is a must for any military officer pursuing the rank of O-7 and above (Admiral or General). This is where you get your “ticket punched.” Getting in is the challenge - everyone graduates. This is where people like Colin Powell and George Patton excelled and went on to become heroes. How does an accident prone guy who has spent more time in a POW camp than combat get admitted? It was simple. He used his father, the Admiral’s, connections.
Retiring Senator John Warner (R-Va.) was Secretary of the Navy at the time, and was a close friend and admirer of McCain’s father, the Admiral. He would later admit to a reporter, “Yes, I pulled some strings for his admission. It wasn’t the first time strings were pulled and it won’t be the last.”
Thus, the “stars” were aligning for this privileged, arrogant guy by virtue of birth. They gave him some token command positions stateside and ignored the lack of adequate combat experience. Plus, he had finished War College. He was eventually assigned to Capitol Hill as a military liaison. It was here that he would learn political finesse and would fall in love with the life of a politician. It was also here that his poor judgment would start to show again.
While his wife and children waited five-and-a half years for him to return from the POW camp, his wife was injured in an auto accident, which left her with a permanent and extreme limp. That physical impairment completely turned off McCain. He began womanizing and keeping mistresses right in the face of his family.
Finally, he hit the “jackpot” with one of his mistresses. She was the daughter of a very rich and powerful family in Arizona. His hustle went into gear. He divorced his wife and moved in (prior to the divorce) with his new mistress. Later, Cindy and John McCain would marry soon after the divorce was final. In Officer Candidate School we were told that such adulterous behavior would kill an officer’s career. Somehow, it didn’t matter for the pampered, privileged McCain.
Just as the stars were about to align, a significant event occurred. McCain’s father died. All of a sudden, his protector, “sugar daddy,” and road to success went away. I guess he picked up a few envious enemies along the way and they took action. McCain’s naval career came to an abrupt end before he could make Admiral. What was he going to do without his daddy?
He started a new hustle. He and Cindy moved to her home in Arizona and he went under the protection and guidance of his new daddy, his father-in-law. His new career would become politics, through the connections, money and power of his in-laws. Congressman Rhodes (R-Ariz.) of Phoenix soon announced his retirement. The next day, John and Cindy McCain bought a house in that congressional district, and then announced his candidacy for the seat. Daddy’s money roared into the coffers and his markers were called in. McCain was going to Congress.
Soon after that, Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) would retire, and McCain would transfer into that prestigious seat. He has been there ever since. It wasn’t long before his poor judgment would re-appear. Sen. McCain became one of the infamous Keating Five – one of five senators accused of providing special favors for John Keating, who would eventually be sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $3 billion for his part in the notorious Savings and Loan Scandal of the 1980s and 1990s.
McCain received over $100,000 in illegal donations and various expense paid junkets to the Caribbean for him, his family and his servants from Keating. He had to pay it all back. It was concluded by a formal Senatorial investigation that McCain exhibited “poor judgment” in this matter. There, it became documented and official.
We have just been confronted with the latest example of his style of judgment: his Vice Presidential nominee, the unvetted Sarah Palin. There seems to be a pattern.
Mr. Alford is the co-founder, president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Web site: www.nationalbcc.org.
He comes from Scotch-Irish roots, and it is believed that an early ancestor served with General George Washington in the Revolutionary War. From the beginning of this nation, the McCain family has lived a very privileged life.
Monday, April 21st, 2008My Vote's for Obama (if I could vote) ...by Michael Moore
Friends,
I don't get to vote for President this primary season. I live in Michigan. The party leaders (both here and in D.C.) couldn't get their act together, and thus our votes will not be counted.
So, if you live in Pennsylvania, can you do me a favor? Will you please cast my vote -- and yours -- on Tuesday for Senator Barack Obama?
I haven't spoken publicly 'til now as to who I would vote for, primarily for two reasons: 1) Who cares?; and 2) I (and most people I know) don't give a rat's ass whose name is on the ballot in November, as long as there's a picture of JFK and FDR riding a donkey at the top of the ballot, and the word "Democratic" next to the candidate's name.
Seriously, I know so many people who don't care if the name under the Big "D" is Dancer, Prancer, Clinton or Blitzen. It can be Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Barry Obama or the Dalai Lama.
Well, that sounded good last year, but over the past two months, the actions and words of Hillary Clinton have gone from being merely disappointing to downright disgusting. I guess the debate last week was the final straw. I've watched Senator Clinton and her husband play this game of appealing to the worst side of white people, but last Wednesday, when she hurled the name "Farrakhan" out of nowhere, well that's when the silly season came to an early end for me. She said the "F" word to scare white people, pure and simple. Of course, Obama has no connection to Farrakhan. But, according to Senator Clinton, Obama's pastor does -- AND the "church bulletin" once included a Los Angeles Times op-ed from some guy with Hamas! No, not the church bulletin!
This sleazy attempt to smear Obama was brilliantly explained the following night by Stephen Colbert. He pointed out that if Obama is supported by Ted Kennedy, who is Catholic, and the Catholic Church is led by a Pope who was in the Hitler Youth, that can mean only one thing: OBAMA LOVES HITLER!
Yes, Senator Clinton, that's how you sounded. Like you were nuts. Like you were a bigot stoking the fires of stupidity. How sad that I would ever have to write those words about you. You have devoted your life to good causes and good deeds. And now to throw it all away for an office you can't win unless you smear the black man so much that the superdelegates cry "Uncle (Tom)" and give it all to you.
But that can't happen. You cast your die when you voted to start this bloody war. When you did that you were like Moses who lost it for a moment and, because of that, was prohibited from entering the Promised Land.
How sad for a country that wanted to see the first woman elected to the White House. That day will come -- but it won't be you. We'll have to wait for the current Democratic governor of Kansas to run in 2016 (you read it here first!).
There are those who say Obama isn't ready, or he's voted wrong on this or that. But that's looking at the trees and not the forest. What we are witnessing is not just a candidate but a profound, massive public movement for change. My endorsement is more for Obama The Movement than it is for Obama the candidate.
That is not to take anything away from this exceptional man. But what's going on is bigger than him at this point, and that's a good thing for the country. Because, when he wins in November, that Obama Movement is going to have to stay alert and active. Corporate America is not going to give up their hold on our government just because we say so. President Obama is going to need a nation of millions to stand behind him.
I know some of you will say, 'Mike, what have the Democrats done to deserve our vote?' That's a damn good question. In November of '06, the country loudly sent a message that we wanted the war to end. Yet the Democrats have done nothing. So why should we be so eager to line up happily behind them?
I'll tell you why. Because I can't stand one more friggin' minute of this administration and the permanent, irreversible damage it has done to our people and to this world. I'm almost at the point where I don't care if the Democrats don't have a backbone or a kneebone or a thought in their dizzy little heads. Just as long as their name ain't "Bush" and the word "Republican" is not beside theirs on the ballot, then that's good enough for me.
I, like the majority of Americans, have been pummeled senseless for 8 long years. That's why I will join millions of citizens and stagger into the voting booth come November, like a boxer in the 12th round, all bloodied and bruised with one eye swollen shut, looking for the only thing that matters -- that big "D" on the ballot.
Don't get me wrong. I lost my rose-colored glasses a long time ago.
It's foolish to see the Democrats as anything but a nicer version of a party that exists to do the bidding of the corporate elite in this country. Any endorsement of a Democrat must be done with this acknowledgement and a hope that one day we will have a party that'll represent the people first, and laws that allow that party an equal voice.
Finally, I want to say a word about the basic decency I have seen in Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton continues to throw the Rev. Wright up in his face as part of her mission to keep stoking the fears of White America. Every time she does this I shout at the TV, "Say it, Obama! Say that when she and her husband were having marital difficulties regarding Monica Lewinsky, who did she and Bill bring to the White House for 'spiritual counseling?' THE REVEREND JEREMIAH WRIGHT!"
But no, Obama won't throw that at her. It wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be decent. She's been through enough hurt. And so he remains silent and takes the mud she throws in his face.
That's why the crowds who come to see him are so large. That's why he'll take us down a more decent path. That's why I would vote for him if Michigan were allowed to have an election.
But the question I keep hearing is... 'can he win? Can he win in November?' In the distance we hear the siren of the death train called the Straight Talk Express. We know it's possible to hear the words "President McCain" on January 20th. We know there are still many Americans who will never vote for a black man. Hillary knows it, too. She's counting on it.
Pennsylvania, the state that gave birth to this great country, has a chance to set things right. It has not had a moment to shine like this since 1787 when our Constitution was written there. In that Constitution, they wrote that a black man or woman was only "three fifths" human. On Tuesday, the good people of Pennsylvania have a chance for redemption.
Yours,Michael MooreMichaelMoore.comMMFlint@aol.com
I, too, just came back from a weekend in Ohio (Dayton) and I can't think of a word superlative to "tremendous" and "amazing" to describe by experience.
I spent the first day canvassing in a satellite office. Indiana people, including many of you guys, came in by the carloads. I walked the republican suburbs with a college student from IUPUI. It was her first time canvassing and she was a natural. The odds were against us, but we got some enthusiastic support mixed in. No one was hostile. One guy said he was a republican but he would vote for Barack in the primary.
That evening I got together with a few CIO folks and we had some lively, wide-ranging, no holds barred discussions about politics and life. It was intellectually stimulating, insightful and invigorating. And for this baby boomer, it was an opportunity to connect with people my kids' age to see where the generation gaps are and are not. I LOVED IT!
The next day I volunteered at headquarters. I met the staff and got their suggestions regarding how to prepare for them when they come here. What was really amazing, though was to see the people who came in wanting to volunteer, bringing cases of water and pop, continuous dishes of delicious food and begging for yard signs. It was like a parade--every few minutes another person or group would come in with an offer or a request for signs. I have never in my life seen anything like it.
I also got to meet an amazing diverse group of people--a 19-year-old college student phone banking for the first time, two octogenarians who were civil rights activists in Ohio from the 50's and 60' (who told me that the civil rights movement paved the way for this), grassroots members like us, people from Maryland, Minnesota, Maine, and a few other places I forgot. And a guy who spent 30 years at a plant that made shock absorbers for all GM cars before it closed shop and moved overseas.
I could go on, but I would like to hear from your trip or phone banking experiences. And if you are from Ohio, I would like your perspective, too.
By Steven Pearlstein washingtonpost.com
Friday, February 22, 2008
During the course of our endless presidential campaigns, lots of silly things are said by the candidates and the press. But few are more ridiculous than the idea that Barack Obama is just an empty suit. We're talking here about a former president of the Harvard Law Review. Have you ever met the people who get i nto Harvard Law School? You might not choose them as friends or lovers or godparents to your children, but -- trust me on this -- there aren't many lightweights there. And Obama was chosen by all the other overachievers as top dog. Compared with the current leader of the free world, this guy is Albert Einstein. Given his youth and relatively short time in government, it's fair to ask if Obama has the wisdom and experience to be president. But it's quite anot her to suggest that he has no vision, no program, no specifics. Let's begin with the fact that he has written two books (all by himself, unlike a certain other candidate). The first offers a compelling personal narrative that, for some reason, is dismissed as puffery by a presumptive Republican nominee who first ran for office on the strength of his compelling personal narrative. The second book is a thoroughly readable, intelligent and well-reasoned discourse on politics and policy that offers a fresh perspective on a wide range of issues. Obama has participated in 18 televised presidential debates in which he has managed to hold his own not only with Hillary the Wonkette, but also with the Senate's leading light on foreign affairs, a former United Nations ambassador and a former vice presidential candidate who was a skilled trial lawyer. I watched most of the debates, and while I didn't agree with everything he said, I don't recall thinking that Obama was in over his head. Now that Obama is sprinting toward the finish line in the Democratic marathon, hi s opponents are suddenly asking, "Where's the beef?" If it's beef you like, all you have to do is go to http://barackobama.com, where you will find a refrigerator case packed with prime policy meat. That may come as something of a surprise to you, considering how utterly lacking in substance the reporting and analysis has been over the last year. But it's all there -- as much as or more than is offered by other candidates and certainly as much as any voter would require. There is, for example, the 11-page, single-spaced energy plan that features a cap-and-trade system that would require businesses to purchase credits for 100 percent of their carbon emissions, along with a requirement that all ele ctric companies produce a quarter of their juice from renewable resources. Obama would also invest $15 billion annually -- a big chunk of change, even by federal standards -- in biofuels and other forms of clean energy. He wants to change the way electricity rates are set to give utilities more incentives to save power rather than produce it. Those aren't uniquely Obama's ideas -- in one form or another, they've been part of the Democratic congressional agenda for years. And considering how fiercely they are opposed by industry and free-market Republicans, they aren't going to produce the kind of across-the-aisle compromise that Obama promises to deliver. But it's hardly like there's nothing there. Or perhaps you'd like to curl up with a copy of Obama's 15-page, single-spaced health-care plan, includ ing 65 footnotes. You'll find a cogent analysis of what ails the health-care system, along with the best thinking of Democratic health-care reformers on how to fix it: disease management, computerized medical records, radical reforms of the insurance market, tax subsidies for low-income families and federal reinsurance for catastrophic illness. There's even a requirement that businesses either offer health insurance to their workers or pay into a universal health-care fund. The plan would be expensive and involve a major federal intrusion into the marketplace, and there is a legitimate question as to whether the plan would work better if everyone were required by law to buy health insurance. But by any measure it is a serious plan that would win the support not only of labor but also of major parts of the business community, including hospitals and health insurers. Finally, there's the 40-plus-page economic agenda that outlines Obama's proposals for avoiding a recession, helping homeowners avoid foreclosure, restoring the rights of workers to form unions, improving public education, combating poverty and shifting the tax burden from the middle class to the upper class. Once again, Obama has borrowed liberally from the standard Democratic policy playbook, adding a few twists of his own. He's willing to gently challenge the teachers' unions on merit pay, the trial lawyers on medical malpractice and liberals on raising Social Security taxes rather than pretending there's no problem with the retirement program. But this is hardly the kind of challenge to Democratic interest-group politics that Obama's "change" rhetoric suggests. Particularly disappointing is his willingness to parrot the labor movement mantra about labor and environmental standards, which is really nothing more than protectionist code. And there's no way Obama can do all that he proposes and get anywhere close to balancing the federal budget. But such shortcomings are hardly unusual for a political campaign; the Clinton economic program is no better. And as we're all about to find out, it's far better than the thin gruel offered so far by John McCain, who, God help us, plans to bone up on economics by reading Alan Greenspan. McCain's economic program consists of extending the Bush tax cuts, cutting corporate tax rates and banning taxes on the Internet and cellphones. His "comprehensive" health-care reform program consists of two pages of platitudes with no specifics and no way to pay for itself. And while he calls for "tough choices" in reining in entitlement spending, he still hasn't found one he's willing to share with us. Barack Obama isn't a saint. He's not a savior. But in substance as well as style, he's the most impressive presidential candidate to come along in quite a while. Steven Pearlstein can be reached atpearlsteins@washpost.com.
Whenever you have an event of any kind, be sure to print out and use the following:
AFTER YOUR EVENT, LET ME latham7997-obama@yahoo.com KNOW AND I WILL GET THEM AND PUT THE INFO IN THE DATABASE. THANKS. GO-BAMA!
PASS IT ON AT THE NEXT OBAMA RALLY! (Courtesy ofMichael Whack mwhack@knology.net Charleston, SC)(NOTE: This is a perfect illustration of what a true leader does. A good leader inspires, through example, people to reach inside themselves and nurture, utilize and grow the leadership qualities they already have. When we talk about change, this is what is meant. I believe the same spirit that inspired the "BAM" will inspire people to work together for quality education, healthcare, economic growth, defense, etc. We will truly feel we ALL have an investment in the success of this country and all of its people. --Pat King)
Having caught "Obama fever" like so many others rallying in support of Barack, I experienced something at a Barack Obama Rally on Thursday, January 10 at the College of Charleston here in Charleston, South Carolina, which I felt was both inspirational and spontaneous! As Barack worked the line following the close of his speech, there was a surge of people moving forward hoping to get close enough to shake Barack's hand. Since I was standing about 20 feet back from center stage in the crowd, I felt the crowd down front tighten as many of us stood on our toes, stretched our bodies forward while reaching out to Barack. I noticed that a six foot tall guy who was standing in front of me had stretched far enough above the crowd and shook hands with Barack. Asthe guy drew back his hand I asked him, "You shook his hand didn't you?" Happily the guy said "Yes." I then said, "give me some of that" and the guy shook my hand with the same hand he had just clasped with Barack's. A woman friend of mine who was standing next to me saw me shake hands with the guy. I turned to her and said "He [the guy] just shook hands with Barack," to which she responded..."Hey, give it up." We then shook hands. She then turned to the person next to her and shook hands. This chain of hand shakes went on for about five or six more persons.I did not know the tall guy in front of me; he is white, I am black. But at the moment we shook hands, I felt some solidarity with this stranger, consummated by a handshake and signifying some unspoken agreement presumably about Barack Obama and his core message of UNITY! I call this hand-shake scenario the "BAM" because, descriptively, it takes a bit of Obama's name and it's the sound of a collision, of People Coming Together!
Note: This is the best piece I have seen that delineates what is really meant by change. It is not just the catchword of the campaign, although the mainstream media and politicians want to make it so. This has always been about his motto from the beginning: "Change we can believe in."
The Meaning of Change
January 6, 2008 in Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Commentary, Did You Know?, Hillary Clinton, Iowa Caucus, Issues, John Edwards, Politics, Polls, The Campaign Trail by bfwo
By Patricia Wilson-Smith
Anyone willing to bet what next year’s ‘word of the year’ will be?
I’m guessing it’ll be ‘change’. Since Senator Obama’s decisive win in the Iowa caucuses this week, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a word uttered so much by so many. The cable news pundits, the candidates themselves, the focus group members, my family members, strangers on the street - all talking about ‘change’ as if it were some sort of new age cure for everything that ails us.
What strikes me as most interesting though, is that the other candidates in the Democratic field, namely Senators Clinton and Edwards, hardly knew how to spell the word before January 3rd, and yet suddenly, they’re both proclaiming themselves as professional change agents, and the only ones who could possibly bring about the transformation that Iowans proved the nation so desperately wants.
There’s only one problem - neither of them seems to understand what real change means to all of us, and unfortunately for them, the concept can only really be defined by the ones for whom change is most important - the American people.
Hillary Clinton in particular has begun to screech about affecting change in a shrill and insistent way that makes her sound like a spoiled teenager trying to convince her parents that she’s ready to date. On several occasions since the Iowa Caucuses, her main battle cry has been “it takes experience to bring about change”, and that she effectively has been ‘making’ change (as if there’s some magic recipe book for it) for the last 35 years. And that’s where she has gone sorely wrong. Or at least where she’s pretended to.
During the ABC News/Facebook debates tonight in New Hampshire, Hillary could be heard at one point impatiently exclaiming (and I’m paraphrasing), “if balancing the budget and improving the economy is not making change, then we all must have some kind of amnesia!” I cringed for her - I literally wanted to hop a plane to Manchester, grab a cab and dash over to St. Anselm College, fight my way past the Secret Service, dive for the stage, drag myself to where she was sitting and give her a hug. It was at that moment in the debate that I realized that when it comes to the subject of change, Senator Clinton is clueless, an unwitting victim of her own denial, backed into a corner with no way out - and what’s worse - she doesn’t even know how she got there.
It’s as if she doesn’t see what’s 100% obvious to everyone else. By handing Senator Obama the decisive victory that they did, Iowans made it patently clear that they wanted to be the ones to usher in a new political reality, one free of the baby-boomer, Vietnam and Watergate era politics that created the divisions that exist between the citizens of this nation today. One that is inclusive of the everyday American, and promises an earnest attempt at unification for the greater good of the people of this nation, rather than more of the same partisan sniping and bad judgment that has left our global reputation in shambles, our military weakened and fighting wars for no reason, and our collective political spirits broken. A new political age that only Senator Barack Obama has been able to convince us is possible, and that only Senator Obama has helped us dare to dream of.
The kind of change Senator Obama can bring about has little to do with pure policy, though heaven knows that for the last eight years we have been saddled with a myriad of policies by the Bush Administration that have been disastrous on every imaginable level. Further, the kind of change Senator Obama can bring to office represents so much more than anything getting in a time machine and heading back to the nineties, or trying to enact the same old failed Clinton initiatives can bring. Senator Clinton rants about the changes she can make because of her perceived breadth of experience, because she doesn’t understand that the change that we long for, the change that Iowans clearly showed they want to see has to do with not what we do as a nation, but how we do it. It runs deeper than either she or Senator Edwards (or even Bill Clinton for that matter), is capable of understanding, as proven by her knee-jerk reaction to her 3rd place showing in Iowa.
The numbers bear it all out - Senator Clinton may have won the majority of votes from older Americans, but in practically every other category that mattered - women, younger voters, independents - she was left in the dust by Senator Obama, sputtering, and wondering what the hell had happened. Fortunately for me, as a loyal Obama supporter from way back, I can tell Ms. Clinton exactly what happened. Senator Obama has somehow single-handedly managed to challenge a new generation of thinkers to imagine what kind of nation we could be if we would be brave enough to shake off the shackles of the past, and abandon the notion that we can’t communicate with enemy nations, or talk to our neighbors who are not of our same political affiliation about the problems that plague us. We’ve all been conditioned to not talk to one another, ever. We’ve been conditioned to believe that real, meaningful discourse is not possible across political aisles, and that no leader could possibly work with members of the opposing party to do what needs to be done to fix our nation’s ills. We’ve been conditioned to view our nation through a murky, dirty glass, that Senator Obama has shown us can be cleaned, and polished, and made bright again, so that we can all collectively begin to see a brighter future for this country. He’s challenged us to imagine real change. And Lady Hillary just doesn’t get it.
It’s probably not her fault. Senator Clinton can only see what she’s been doing for all those 35 years she brags so much about. All she can see is the political maneuvering, and the polls that direct her actions - like the ones that told her that she must talk about change now. It would be nice if someone in her camp could get her to slow down long enough to explain to her what change really means to the brave citizens of Iowa and to the nation. I’m not going to hold my breath though.
It’s best if those of us who get it just remain steadfast, and undaunted by the Clinton’s attempts to yet again scramble for a bandwagon in order to align themselves politically with what the polls say they should. They’ve not fooled anyone so far, certainly not Iowans, and I’m betting that New Hampshire will see right through them as well.
It makes me wanna sing hallelujah - it’s a new day! Hillary and Bill Clinton’s day is over, and our future looks brighter than it has in a very long time. It’s too bad that we’ll have to endure more dry debates, primaries, and stump speeches before we get to that glorious end, but the bottom line is that we’ve come too far to turn back now, and it will be SO worth it. Thank you Iowa, for creating a defining moment in my life, one that I will tell my grandchildren about one day, one that I can proudly say I was a small part of. And thank you for showing that America is still the greatest nation in the world, capable of reinventing itself even during the most difficult of times. Aren’t we lucky to have the architect of that reinvention right here, right now, ready to one day lead us all, black, white, young, old, Democrat, and Republican, by standing on the world stage and proudly proclaiming to all who will listen that “America’s back”?
To read more:
http://www.blackwomenforobama.org
August 19, 2007 - Des Moines, Iowa
September 26, 2007 - Hanover, New Hampshire
October 30, 2007 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
November 15, 2007 - Las Vegas, Nevada
December 10, 2007 - Los Angeles, California
January 6, 2008 - Johnson County, Iowa
January 15, 2008 - Las Vegas, Nevada
January 31, 2008 - California
Volunteer your time and your skills. Help us get Senator Obama elected. He needs your help. If you see a good match for your time or your skills, send an email to the contact person by clicking on their name.
1. Create a profile on my.barackobama.com. The first step to getting involved with the campaign is creating an online presence. Sign up for my.barackobama.com and share information about who you are and why your support this campaign.
2. Invite your friends to join the network. Using the invite tool to get your friends to check out the campaign website is only the first step in getting them involved with the campaign. Send them an invite, but make sure to tell them personally why you think they should sign up. Continue to share news articles, videos, blogs, photos—anything that you find online that you like—with them. Let them know why you support Barack so they can understand the value in his candidacy.
3. Keep a blog. Yes, you can. It’s not just techies who keep blogs, but everyday Americans who care. Your blog can fit your own style. While some people like to write formal, newslike posts, others prefer to just collect all the interesting things they’ve seen that are related to the campaign—links to good videos, news articles, other blogs, photo albums, groups, or events. Still others simply like to share personal experiences or responses to the candidate or campaign. Figure out what fits your style the best and then make sure to share it with the people who might be interested.
4. Create a fundraising goal. You can help the campaign raise money by setting a goal for yourself and then encouraging your friends and family to donate. Keep in mind that a bit more is required than sending out a form email asking for money. Talk about why you support Barack, what you think is unique about him and this campaign, and share content that supports your view.
