What would a coming together of Obama volunteers, organizers and other supporters be without some action? This afternoon, the group of hundreds of engaged citizens who attended the Legacy Conference in Chicago this weekend took time out to call over a thousand people who have signed up to host Change Is Coming House Meetings next weekend.
Everyone here was fired up and ready to get back to work. People were anxious to take action after the relative rest since the election. The energy was electric. People were hungry. And the same could be said about the people we spoke to all across America.
If you're hungry to get back to work for the change we need, sign up to host or attend a Change Is Coming House Meeting. Stay involved. This is still our moment. And this is most definitely our time. Let's get to work.
Thank you for all you do.
Last night, Jay-Z joined Sean "Diddy" Combs, Mary J. Blige, Kevin Lyles, and Beyoncé for a rally in Columbus, to Get Out The Vote. A crowd of over 6,000 people came to listen as these Hip Hop and R&B luminaries dropped some serious knowledge about what this election is about.
After Mary J. Blige spoke from the heart about how important she thinks it is for everyone to let their voices be heard, Diddy spoke about what this historic election means to him:
When I was in third grade they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, and I said 'a garbage man.' The truth was that I wanted to be the President, but I was embarassed to admit it because I knew no one would take me seriously. But after tomorrow, my sons won't need to feel embarrassed because they can truly be anything they want, after we elect Barack Obama!
When Jay-Z spoke, he talked about how it was important to him to get deeply involved:
It's not enough for me just to say 'Go vote.' It's too important.
On that note, last week Jay-Z performed a free concert (hosted by Lebron James) for Obama supporters at the Q Center in Cleveland. Here's a short video from that night. He certainly made clear his commitment to fighting for the change we need.
There is less than an hour left to make it to the polls. This is the last call for change. Find your polling place at voteforchange.com. If you've already voted, please volunteer to lend a hand.
Toward the end of October, the Obama campaign surpassed yet another remarkable milestone: the 10 millionth conversation. In Whitehall, Ohio, an active supporter named Johnny knocked on the door of a registered Republican (and Obama supporter) named Jason. It was just one of millions of conversations like it, but we thought it was worth taking note.
It's thanks to the dedication of countless volunteers like Johnny that Barack's message of change has spread so far and wide. This movement has always grown from the ground up, with ordinary Americans working together to do extraordinary things.
After you vote, you too can volunteer to help elect Barack Obama. There is no time to wait. There is one day until the polls close. Take action today.
Wednesday night's program, called "American Stories, American Solutions," introduced viewers to a few citizens of the country with uniquely American personal narratives, and uniquely American struggles. These are the people who make this country great, but also the people who need Barack the most. Eight years has been tough on them.
In Ohio, the campaign recently released a podcast, "Hope in the Heartland," that profiles characters and stories just like these... but straight from the Buckeye State. The first episode is about Jason, whose had his share of struggles too. The son a single mom, family tragedy, and poverty underscore just some of what he's been through. Listen to the podcast below on the page, or download it to listen on your own mp3 player.
For more information, visit the podcast's homepage at http://OH.BarackObama.com/HopePodcast
Download this episode to play it in your iTunes, or any other mp3 player, by clicking the button above, or by RIGHT CLICKING HERE and selecting "Save Link As".
We hope you enjoy, and if you do, please visit the podcast homepage to share it with your friends!
Don't be tricked! Be a treat!
This past Friday, Michelle Obama was here in Ohio. While she was here she took the time to record a special message to all Ohioans about the importance of voting early. Check out the video, then look up your early vote location below.
VOTE TODAY. Then sign up to help GET OUT THE VOTE.
Today in Canton, Barack Obama delivered this landmark speech to nearly 5,000 energized supporters.
Read Barack's full remarks, as prepared for delivery...
Did you attend the speech today? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
Click here to GET TO WORK.
Just an hour after Barack Obama finished making his Closing Argument to a crowd of nearly 5,000 people at the Canton Civic Center, the local Campaign for Change office a mile away was buzzing with volunteers. Many had heeded Barack Obama's advice when he spoke about the work to be done with one week left:
Don’t believe for a second this election is over. Don’t think for a minute that power concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does.
Jeff, an active volunteer wearing a red shirt with YES WE CAN written in big gold letters, talked about what this election means here in Canton.
This area's like Youngstown and a lot of places around here. You could say we're economically depressed... so people here are looking for change.
Jeff has been an active volunteer in Democratic campaigns since Bill Clinton first ran for President.
I volunteered for Clinton and Kerry. (Gore didn't have an office in Stark County.) I haven't seen this kind of excitement about an election since 1992.
Morgan, a local field organizer, had the honor of firing up the crowd today (along with a field organizer named Chris, out of Alliance). Unaccustomed to speaking in front of such a large crowd, she was a little nervous at the beginning.
I've never spoken in front of that many people, and I looked at that big empty room and it was enormous. But then some of my volunteers started to show up. And I saw some of my NTLs. And then local union members and organizers kept filling in and I got less and less nervous. I looked around the room and thought, 'I know most of these people... I've seen them volunteering in our offices, or canvassing.' And then I realized it was just like a really big house meeting. These people were already excited about Barack Obama, and I just needed to ask them to get more involved. And then it was fun.
Morgan has been working here since early August, and been inspired repeatedly seeing volunteers working alongside members of the Canton community who they might not otherwise ever have met.
I was canvassing and I met a young man named Kenny, who lives in Highland Park (a low income housing project), and tried to get him to register to vote. He was extremely resistant because he has been disenfranchised for so long. I talked to him for a half hour before he finally agreed to register just to get me to leave him alone. As he signed up, he said 'you just want to get your fifteen dollars.' And I said 'No, I don't get paid... I'm here because of you. I'm here because of Barack Obama.' I didn't expect to hear from Kenny, but then we had an early vote event and he was the very first person there! And after he voted, he went with us to round up his friends and he made them go vote, too. He's come into the office to canvass several times. He realizes he's being empowered and he's answered the call.
Barack Obama summed up the feeling here in the Canton office very well, as he closed his speech:
That’s what’s at stake. That’s what we’re fighting for. And if in this last week, you will knock on some doors for me, and make some calls for me, and talk to your neighbors, and convince your friends; if you will stand with me, and fight with me, and give me your vote, then I promise you this – we will not just win Ohio, we will not just win this election, but together, we will change this country and we will change the world. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless America. Now let's get to work.
Let's all get to work. There is one week left.
You can:
The air outside is bitter cold today in Canton, but the crowd in line to see Barack Obama give his closing argument is too fired up to notice. The energy is palpable, with supporters breaking into spontaneous song and cheers.
After the invocation, the Pledge of Allegience, and a powerfully beautiful rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner, the crowd took to its feet doing the wave and repeated rounds of "O-H! I-O! Fired up! Ready to go!" Two local Campaign For Change Field Organizers, Morgan and Chris made a passionate pitch reminding everyone that there are only 8 days left to make history in this election.
The live stream of the speech has finished, but stay tuned for the complete speech to be posted on this site.
While you wait, why don't you go VOTE EARLY. Or SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER. Or call five friends and tell them to vote. Like Senator Obama said, it's up to all of us to work in these last days for the change we need.
Here's some of what Senator Obama had to say today:
In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street. In one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor. In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope. In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need. ...At a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. The last thing we can afford is four more years where no one in Washington is watching anyone on Wall Street because politicians and lobbyists killed common-sense regulations. Those are the theories that got us into this mess. They haven’t worked, and it’s time for change. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States. Now, Senator McCain has served this country honorably. And he can point to a few moments over the past eight years where he has broken from George Bush – on torture, for example. He deserves credit for that. But when it comes to the economy – when it comes to the central issue of this election – the plain truth is that John McCain has stood with this President every step of the way. Voting for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed. Voting for the Bush budgets that spent us into debt. Calling for less regulation twenty-one times just this year. Those are the facts. And now, after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Senator McCain says that we can’t spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years. It’s not change when John McCain wants to give a $700,000 tax cut to the average Fortune 500 CEO. It’s not change when he wants to give $200 billion to the biggest corporations or $4 billion to the oil companies or $300 billion to the same Wall Street banks that got us into this mess. It’s not change when he comes up with a tax plan that doesn’t give a penny of relief to more than 100 million middle-class Americans. That’s not change. ...The question in this election is not “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” We know the answer to that. The real question is, “Will this country be better off four years from now?”
A few weeks back, more than fifty members of the Weinland Park community in Columbus came together to paint a mural about hope. This video depicts the painting of that mural, and offers some thoughts from Barack Obama about poverty, urban issues, and American culture.
The quote on the mural is from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and reads:
If you lose hope you lose the vitality that keeps life moving... you lose the courage to be... that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.
Click here to read Barack's Plan to Stimulate Urban Prosperity.
Tonight, Barack Obama will take on John McCain in the third and final Presidential Debate of the campaign. Tune in to watch at 9pm. He spent the last few days in the Toledo area preparing for tonight, and is fired up and ready to go.
Here are some pictures from Barack's debate preparation today.
Afterward-- or even during the debate-- feel free to use the comments section below to tell us what you think about it.
Today Joe Biden wrapped up a tour all across the Buckeye State-- from Warren to St. Clairsville, from Marietta to Athens, and Lancaster to Newark. He's been speaking to Ohioans about the plan he and Barack Obama have to add new jobs across the country, turn the economy around and deliver the real change to Washington that voters want.
Did you attend a rally yesterday or today? Tell us about it in the comments section below, or send us your pictures HERE.
Have you voted yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Find your Early Vote location and VOTE TODAY!
If you've already voted, please make sure all your friends and family have voted, too. Barack Obama is counting on all of us to work for the Change We Need.
You can sign up to attend an event with President Bill Clinton in Cleveland, or with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Youngstown or Delaware. An RSVP is not required, but is strongly encouraged.
Barack Obama's American Jobs Tour has taken him to Dayton and Cincinnati already today, and the night will finish with a rally in Portsmouth. Near the Southern tip of Ohio, Portsmouth is a community looking for exactly the kind of change that Barack Obama and Joe Biden offer.
Watch Barack in Portsmouth, beginning shortly.
Tomorrow, Barack's tour will continue to Chillicothe and Columbus. Click the buttons on the right, to sign up to attend those events.
Did you attend an American Jobs Tour rally today? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
And if you haven't voted yet, what are you waiting for? Vote Early. Click here to find your Early Vote location.
UPDATE: This live stream has finished, but check back tonight between 7:30 and 8 to watch a live stream of Barack's rally in Portsmouth.
***********
Watch Barack, speaking live in Dayton.
Today and tomorrow, Barack is doing an American Jobs Tour through Southern and Central Ohio, with stops in Dayton, Cincinnati, Portsmouth, Chillicothe, and Columbus. Click one of the buttons at the right, to see Barack in person when he comes to a town near you.
Fresh from a resounding victory in last night's second Presidential Debate, Barack Obama will be coming back to the Buckeye State on Thursday and Friday to kick-off a two-day “American Jobs Tour” through Southern and Central Ohio.The bus trip will visit Dayton, Cincinnati and Portsmouth on Thursday and Chillicothe and Columbus on Friday. At each event, Barack will continue to highlight his plan to add new jobs to Ohio and the country and bring the change we need to Washington.
DAYTONFifth Third Field Home of the Dayton Dragons 220 North Patterson Blvd. Dayton, OH Thursday, October 9th Doors Open: 9:00 a.m. Program Begins: 11:20 a.m.To RSVP for Dayton, click HERE CINCINNATI Ault Park Pavilion 5090 Observatory Circle Cincinnati, OHThursday, October 9th Doors Open: 1:00 p.m. Program Begins: 3:00 p.m.To RSVP for Cincinnati, click HERE PORTSMOUTH Alumni Green Shawnee State University 940 Second Street Portsmouth, OH Thursday, October 9th Gates Open: 5:30 p.m. Program Begins: 7:30 p.m. To RSVP for Portsmouth, click HERE. CHILLICOTHE Ross County Courthouse 2 North Paint Street Chillicothe, OH Public entrance: Intersection of Paint Street and 2nd Street Friday, October 10th Doors Open: 8:00 a.m. Program Begins: 10:00 a.m.To RSVP for Chillicothe, click HERE. COLUMBUS Genoa Park 303 West Broad Street Columbus, OH Friday, October 10th Gates Open: 11:00 a.m.To RSVP for Columbus, click HERE.
DAYTON
Fifth Third Field Home of the Dayton Dragons 220 North Patterson Blvd. Dayton, OH
Thursday, October 9th Doors Open: 9:00 a.m. Program Begins: 11:20 a.m.
To RSVP for Dayton, click HERE
CINCINNATI
Ault Park Pavilion 5090 Observatory Circle Cincinnati, OH
Thursday, October 9th Doors Open: 1:00 p.m. Program Begins: 3:00 p.m.
To RSVP for Cincinnati, click HERE
PORTSMOUTH
Alumni Green Shawnee State University 940 Second Street Portsmouth, OH
Thursday, October 9th Gates Open: 5:30 p.m. Program Begins: 7:30 p.m.
To RSVP for Portsmouth, click HERE.
CHILLICOTHE
Ross County Courthouse 2 North Paint Street Chillicothe, OH
Public entrance: Intersection of Paint Street and 2nd Street
Friday, October 10th Doors Open: 8:00 a.m. Program Begins: 10:00 a.m.
To RSVP for Chillicothe, click HERE.
COLUMBUS
Genoa Park 303 West Broad Street Columbus, OH
Friday, October 10th Gates Open: 11:00 a.m.
To RSVP for Columbus, click HERE.
All of these events are free and open to the public. Tickets are not required; however, an RSVP is strongly encouraged.
This past weekend Tod, one of our friends from Appalachia, attended the Sorghum Festival in Scioto County. He sent us this picture and told us all about it.
John Roger Simon's Sorghum Festival must rank as one of the most relaxed and casual annual events held in the state. This was the 27th year that John has hosted this event on his family's century farm just a mile off of SR 73, on the first weekend of October. Local history buffs will recognize the area as the former village of French, Ohio. The main purpose of the Sorghum Festival is to promote the growing of sorghum and its production into molasses. In addition to keeping these traditional farming techniques alive, the festival helps to promote many other Appalachian arts and crafts. Due to John Simon's generous nature, entrance to the festival is free.True to any traditional Appalachian gathering, Old Time and Bluegrass music could be found in many locations around the fair grounds. It is typical for traditional musicians to gather in multiple locations to jam with each other. One group will congregate in the main barn, while another clusters around the soap making booth with yet another under the woodcarvers tent. A number of other vendors could be found in this old fashioned fair with beeswax candles, apple butter or traditional candies. A covered wagon pulled by a team of draft horses gave delighted children rides through the fields.Politicking is as traditional an activity in an old fashioned Appalachian fair as fiddle playing. We are lucky to have a supporter like John, and our booth was right in the middle of the action. The tent was staffed by the hardworking volunteers who keep the Scioto County Democratic Party strong. We were thrilled to have so many supporters who requested yard signs, buttons and bumper stickers. The “Obama – Yeah Buddy!” buttons were naturally a big hit but folks were even purchasing the larger Obama – Biden buttons for $2. Given the current economic situation, a willingness to part with two bucks to show one's support for Senator Obama speaks volumes.
To find other supporters in your area, please visit your local Campaign for Change Field Office.
Today is the last day to register to vote.
Saturday in Free Stamp Park on a crisp fall afternoon in downtown Cleveland, an enormous group of Obama supporters came out to celebrate and register to vote. We put together this video of Russell Simmons and Lebron James telling folks there how they felt about it.
There were a variety of other great speakers at the event, including former Cleveland Brown Pro-Bowler Willie McGinest, and Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones, who said:
This is our time to make history... if you know somebody that's not voting, you've got to take them with you to the polls -- whether it's family, friends, or neighbors... You've heard of No Child Left Behind? Well, this is No Voter Left Behind!
The message was clear to all who attended: REGISTER BY MONDAY. Today is the last day to register. If you don't register, you cannot vote for change.
Register today. We can't afford to be silent. Not this time. This time it's too important.
This video speaks for itself. Or at least actress Kerry Washington, when she was visiting Dayton a few weeks back, spoke very plainly about what she thought we all should do. She was attending the Battle of the Greeks Step Dancing Competition, and her message was very well received.
She told everyone to register to vote.
Register to vote.
You cannot vote in this election if you don't register first. Today is the last day to register. Today you can register and Vote Early for Barack all in one stop. But after today, if you haven't registered you will have missed your chance to let your voice be heard in this historic election.
Don't wait. Kerry Washington is counting on you. And so is America.
