Show of hands. How many of you have forwarded a text message on your cell phone? Ever? Not the kind of text message that will curse you if you don't forward it to 12 of your closest friends in the next 12 seconds but, the kind of message that generally informs or entertains. Is your hand up?
Ok. Imagine it was election day in Indiana. You were registered with the Obama campaign online as a supporter. They had your cell phone number. And, still there was no text message that day urging you to support Barack Obama today at the polls. Imagine that you could forward this message, if in fact you had received it, to other voters in your state. Imagine if that text message was even biggied up a bit and it had a sound bite of Barack Obama and a video or photo of him from the huge get out the vote rally the nite before.
Yea. That would be good. It's time to turn our dreams into reality. Do what I did on election day. Make up your own text message and send it to everyone you know. Surprisingly, I got several back from (Yikes) Republicans saying that for the first time in their lives they had requested a Democrat ballot so that they could support Barack Obama. Hopefully the campaign has or will have a text message program running in the upcoming primaries and in the general election. Campaigning and elections are changing in America and it's time we take the message to where the people are and utilize the communications device we all touch the most...cell phones.
Text your support America...FWD...
Most political advisors will tell you that in an election, yard signs don't matter. They are WRONG. Yard Signs matter. Yard signs are the testimony or statement made by the individual that they support a candidate. To not have yard signs available sends a message that a supporter's individual public commitment to a candidate is not important.
Yes they are bulky. Yes they are a pain to distribute. Yes they cost money. But, at the polling place on election day, they matter. In your yard, leading up to the election, yard signs matter. Yard signs represent you...the individual voter...and your right to express your choice.
In election after election, I have heard the relentless statement, "We have no yard signs available." I have had to deliver that statement to county chairs who were begging for signs on behalf of their constituents. I have had to give that statement to people who wanted to make their choice known to their neighbors and friends through a yard sign and believe that their individual support matters. I was given this comment at the Obama headquarters in Indiana the day before our primary and consequently voted at a polling place with a Hillary sign but none for Obama.
I urge this campaign to recognize in the months leading up to the general election that yard signs do and will matter. Ask anyone who has been on the ground running a political campaign what they get the most requests and phone calls for and the answer will be yard signs. Ask anyone who has been on the ground running a political campaign what requested item never seems to be available and you will get the same answer - yard signs.
Admit it. You've thought about it. What would happen if we locked Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton in a room for 24 hours? Would we get enough meeting of the minds to lock in our presidential candidate Barack Obama and our vice-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2008? I believe that we would. And, I believe the brightest opportunities for America depend on them doing just that.
The election numbers are telling us two things. First they are telling us that Americans want Barack Obama as President. But, they are also telling us that they believe that Hillary Clinton has work to do on their behalf as well. American people, in election after election, are demanding that they consider joining forces. So please, Senator Obama, don't start cutting your losses now. Dare to believe. Don't send out media statements like, "At Obama's Chicago headquarters, advisers said there was no reason to worry — West Virginia was demographically suited to Clinton and won't be part of their general election plans."
Do not begin now to count out people, states or this country in its desires to join you in believing we can change this country. This is bad political strategy and it is bad people strategy. Never forget that the politics of exclusion equals the politics of defeat. You, your campaign, and the people across America who believe, some of whom are in states like West Virginia, deserve a chance to unite this country as never before.
I urge you, on behalf of us and our children and our world, to stop for a moment, consider what the American people are really saying in this election, and lead us to a better future. Be our next American President. Seek Senator Hillary Clinton's candidacy as your Vice President, and begin the work that both of you can, should and must do. America is saying they want you both...with sleeves rolled up....making our country, again, what it was conceived to be. I and America believe in you. Now, it is your chance, to believe in the wisdom of America and to listen and act on what she is saying. Consider your chances...together.
Peace to you and you have our support as the next president of the United States of America.
