As we in the States of Oregon and Kentucky vote for Change, I hope all will also keep Senator Ted Kennedy, his family and friends in mind as news of his diagnosis reaches across the nation.
The "Lion of the Senate" was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor today after suffering a siezure that hospitalized him Saturday.
The New York Times reports that a malignant glioma (diagnosed after biopsy) was the cause of the siezure and that treatment options are currently being discussed.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to one of Senator Obama's biggest supporters as well as his friends loved ones.
So, here we are again. Constant phone-calling and wading through emails and blackberries on vibrate as the media, the campaigns and the supporters prepare for another day of speculation and tribulation during a Primary Tuesday. Each contest only gets more interesting as we near the 20th of May.
This one especially so, because of a detail likely ovelooked by the main-stream media: Oregon's Mail-in Only Primary has already begun.
This Saturday, Texas holds its Democratic County Conventions and State Senate District conventions.
If we call the delegates, Senator Obama will gain more delegates and send a message to Senator Clinton that she's not going to win the state at all.
If you cannot go out to canvass Oregon this week, call Texas before Saturday and get Senator Obama some more delegates!
PHONE BANK >>> http://my.barackobama.com/page/contact/splash/calltxdelegates <<< PHONE BANK
The Volunteer Staff list needed to work on Friday in Portland has been filled. Please, consider that campaign staff is very busy preparing for this event. There are no further methods available for people to attend the event and that cannot be changed. Attempting to answer dozens (even hundreds) of emails or calls for further requests to work this event or find some way to attend it, will take up valuable time that must be focused on preparing for the Senator's visit. The Coliseum is at full capacity and that means there no further places for currently unticketed individuals to be seated safely. There are no further methods available to attend the event. All volunteer opportunities that would lead to attending the event have been fulfilled. Thank you for your interest in this event and we hope you will show the same, elevated interest in future events as they are scheduled. The National Staff looks forward to working with local organizations that have laid the groundwork through your amazing Grassroots efforts which will lead to an Obama Victory in late May.
Fund Raisers, Get-Together Groups and Watch Parties are great ways to learn a lot about particular candidates and political issues while focusing our collective energies. This is nothing new and deserves a healthy dose of respect to those that coordinate and organize such events. I have been so impressed with the many events surrounding Senator Obama's campaign since last January in 2007. Back then, only a handful of people gathered and knew anything slightly more that Senator Obama's last name.
Since then -- very recently and more than a few times each week -- I've met with many groups of people that were as literate (and sometimes even more so) as the Wikipedia entry on Senator Obama's biography, campaign messages, political record and public addresses. As much as I've enjoyed them, I have come to sense a desire to do more from the attendees of these events. This is nothing new as I've experienced similar hankerings among activists of all kinds in the last 10 years (the 2006 Kulongoski and Archimedes Campaigns, the 2004 Kerry and Dean campaigns, "No On 9" - twice and "No On 13" once, and many others concerning the Iraq War and the G8 Summits).
What gets things done -- that is not to say that get-togethers do not get things done, but there is a focus on organization more than activity for the most part -- is when people gather and act. When people are actually pounding the pavements in their neighborhoods or making phone calls to friends and neighbor states who are not registered (or registered as non-Democrats) or having a group meet-up at a location just to hold rally signs as cars drive by during their morning or evening commutes, these actions are what will deliver Senator Obama the State of Oregon and the most delegates in May.
For our state, which votes-by-mail only, the big push will be to get as many people as possible registered to vote before the 29 April deadline. For if you are not registered to vote, there's no precinct to attend so that you can vote. This process is done through the mail purposefully and provisional ballots will be treated with great skepticism while not being declared as valid until long after the 20th of May comes and goes.
In keeping with the idea that this blog is about gfripping topics that matter to Obama supporters and specifically those in Oregon, I am bloging directly from the Macadam Grill.
So for your amusement, a night of Oregon Democrats!
It is simply breathtaking what this artist does.
As of today, it's all changing.
National contacts have reached out to Oregon residents, and we heard the call. To their surprise and pleasure, they found that we were ready to get to work, organized in small bands and located in nearly every part of our diverse state.
So we set ourselves to the tasks of preparing for our coming events leading up to, and immediately following, the "March Fourth" primaries.
This is just the start folks... we're on our way to a great month for Senator Obama's campaign. After the 4th, only a couple handfuls of states remain. Let's keep up the momentum and make our voices clear, "We want a Change!"
FIRED UP! READY TO GO!
OREGONIZE FOR OBAMA!
- Patch Adam Perryman
Ralph Nader has chosen San Francisco progressive Matt Gonzalez as his running mate in the 2008 election.
Besides this announcement, Mr. Nader and Mr. Gonzalez continued to expound upon their issues with both the RNC and DNC candidates' positions on health care, rising gas prices, the coming recession, and more including the lack of action on calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
My thoughts: Say what you will of Nader being a "spoiler" in 2000, he's been stalwart in his position of action for the common good. Today he chose a smart, talented and equally progressive running-mate in Mr. Gonzalez. This seems to somewhat legitimize their independent ticket (As a note: They did state that they will not seek the Green Party candidacy).
In it's own way this was a smart move on Mr. Nader's part. By combining his ticket with a well-known Green Party activist, their campaign can build dissent among all the other tickets based on their positions concerning the issues of our country.
Add to this day's announcement of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's decision not to enter the Presidential race, and we have a race that proves to remain very issue-driven long after the DNC and GOP conventions sweep away the confetti.
How to say: "Yes, We Can!" in other languages.
Dutch: Ja kunnen wij!
French: Oui, nous le pouvons!
Greek: ναι μπορούμε!
Italian: Sì, possiamo!
Spanish: ¡Sí, se puede!
Russian: да мы можем!
Yiddish: Ken Anu Y'cholim!
Dear Oregon for Obama supporter,
I am excited and honored to have been named a co-chair of Barack Obamaʼs campaign in Oregon!
It is hard not to be inspired by the amount of grass-roots energy spreading across the state. We have a lot of work to do to make sure that Barack Obama builds momentum in other states as we organize to ensure victory at home in May and in November.
It seems as though there is a general consensus among activists in Oregon that we need to begin to channel our energy into a few concrete things that will yield tangible short term results and set us up to win down the road.
To that end, I am writing to ask you to help put together a Statewide House Party Day, on Sunday, March 2nd at 4:00P.M.
I hope you will join me in inviting your friends, family, and neighbors to have a conversation about why Barack Obama is right for Oregon. Our house parties will be highlighted by a conference call with me and some surprise guests to be announced soon.
We will kick off the Obama campaign in Oregon, continue to engage the kind of new small-dollar donors that give us strength, and commit to use the tools available my.barackobama.com to remind voters to turn out in Texas and Ohio.
If you would like to sign up and be part of this house party day please e-mail adam@earlblumenauer.com. He will send you a host packet and make sure you have the information that you need to help host a successful party.
Also, please send this e-mail to your friends, family, and anyone who might want to join in this effort.
We have some other exciting projects that we are working on and will update you frequently.
Thank you for all the work you have already done and all that you will do in the weeks and months ahead.
Yes We Can!
Congressman Earl Blumenauer, (D-OR; 3rd District)
Co-Chair, Oregon Obama ʽ08
By spending all week hammering away on the speaking others' words, then debating the importance of words and then actions, Hillary set-herself up with the perfect endgame: Self-victimization by saying one thing, then doing the other.
I wish to fully thank one of the Daily Kos diarists, Helenann, who painstakenly researched Senator Obama's Senate record and wrote all of this originally on the Daily Kos.
It has really been bothering me - the charges that Obama is all talk and no action. Those of us who support him and have reviewed his record know there is no basis to this charge, but just to make sure, I went to the Congressional Record (www.thomas.gov) and did a search for bills sponsored or co-sponsored by Senator Obama in his three short years in the US Senate. I searched the 109th and 110th Congresses which cover the years 2005-2007.In a nut shell I found:Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 570 bills in the 109th and 110th Congress.Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 15 bills that have become LAW since he joined the Senate in 2005.Senator Obama has also introduced amendments to 50 bills, of which 16 were adopted by the Senate.His record is in fact quite impressive for a junior Senator from Illinois.
In a nut shell I found:
Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 570 bills in the 109th and 110th Congress.
Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 15 bills that have become LAW since he joined the Senate in 2005.
Senator Obama has also introduced amendments to 50 bills, of which 16 were adopted by the Senate.
His record is in fact quite impressive for a junior Senator from Illinois.
After today, there are 16 contests with 1191 pledged delegates remaining. That's enough delegates for a Republican to win his party's nomination. With the delegate counts so close (even after today's contests), every delegate, endorsement and vote counts. Marginalization messages -- no matter the source, that are based on race, income, religion, voting history, whatever -- will matter for nothing as we go on.
In these coming weeks, I wish to offer all of us some reminders as to how we as supporters of Senator Obama can ride out the potential troubles to come and help deliver the most of these contests and delegates to this campaign:
Within her 25 February editorial, Katrina vanden Heuvel has placed the weight of the 143 year-old newspaper behind Senator Obama.
"... we feel his candidacy, in its demonstrated investment in organizing and grassroots activism as well as his personal appeal, represents the best chance to forge a new progressive majority. For these reasons we support Obama for President."
Other contributors, who may have been more cautious and critical of the Junior Senator's rhetorical approach to progressive politics, have begun to come around in light of his recent string of caucus and primary wins dating back to 9 February.
With The Nation backing Barack (in newspaper title), we can all hope that the United States (as a nation) will follow suit.
Senator Obama deserves complete praise for his efforts today in taking the time while campaigning during the Beltway Primaries to make the roll call vote on the Senate floor for a most crucial vote.
Though the Senate Bill failed to pass and the immunity for telecommunications companies is instilled, Senator Obama voted to remove that immunity along with Senator Dodd (who wrote the amendment).
More proof that Senator Obama can tell when the important issues require his focused attention. Showing up to vote was of foremost importance since all but two Senators made the roll call
The voting record says the whole story as to whom missed the call or voted which way.
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 3907 to S.Amdt. 3911 to S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007)
Statement of Purpose: To strike the provisions providing immunity from civil liability to electronic communication service providers for certain assistance provided to the Government.
He has stayed out of the Primary season while so many others have thrown their might behind one candidate or another. The Kennedy's came out. Schwarzenegger and Shriver have. Oprah and Angelou. Yet, Mr. Gore remains a lone donkey. A Swizerland in the world of the 2008 Election.
A CNN ticker story reports that Former V.P. Al Gore will be staying out of the endorsement arena while the primaries continue. This remains in line with earlier statements by the 2008 Nobel co-Laureate that he had voted in the Tennesse primary, but refused to disclose his choice (as his the right of any American citizen).
This propts two questions:
1) Is the Former V.P. simply saving face by not publicly stating a preference of one candidate over another? If so this would speak even better of Mr. Gore character and add his to a list of future V.P. choices for the Democratic ticket come the General election in November.
- and -
2) By not endorsing, does this leave the DNC field more divided than it could be? If he were to break his silence, would his choice provide the needed boost to solidify the party, and nullify a growing division between supporters of either Senator? Or would it only deepen a split as those who support the lesser choice become spiteful of Mr. Gore's endorsee?
Perhaps a Senator Edwards' endorsement would provide the test for either hypothesis. Time will tell despite.
The Grammy brass is nice and all, but Hillary has one of her own, and Senator Obama won one in the past already. It's all show and no stagehand work. Blah.
The real win is Maine. Coming back from a 15% underdog is NY Giants-worthy. Big points to Barack, the volunteers and staff.
Senator Clinton's removal of Solis Doyle from her team is no small move, and a quasi-smart one. She didn't need two direct advisors at that level. This should streamline her team remarkably. The new messages that the Senator will be crafting will be geared toward the 4 March elections. Better for her too. Watch out for more "change" messages and ridicule toward our movement. It's more of the perverted-Alinsky model she's used for years. Don't buy into it.
The downside fer her is how this firing could be spun by the MSM as the election heads to Texas. Firing a Latina then courting votes from the Latino community is a superficial bias, true; but this is also a very "Beauty Contest" Primary season and she's not scoring points on this level since before South Carolina. Keep the image here clean and good, and we'll come out the better.
Finally, I would not be surprised if the Edwards endorsement holds a powerful sway in the next week. If he goes for Obama, I expect Clinton to call for Federal matching cash. If to Clinton, Obama's got some legwork in Ohio to do. He also better get Richardson to endorse him if Edwards goes to Clinton. If he loses both, then the seesaw has changed heights once again.
Buckle up kids!
Super Tuesday is behind us. The end result is clear. Senator Obama and Senator Clinton are a dead-lock at worst and Senator Obama's movement is on the rise.
We know one more thing: We start anew on Wednesday.
Washington state will need help as they prepare for their first Caucus vote this Saturday on the 9th. Oregonians need to contact their friends in the North and pool their resources to help get the vote out.
If you have time to drive up, find a precinct captain that's looking for help knocking on doors. As we now live in a TiVo-loving, ad-zapping market, ad campaigns are peanuts next to good, old-fashioned door-knock-based canvassing.
Phonebank from home across Washington. Contact the local groups up North. Call friends in Idaho and thank them for their overwhelming support from the East
Dispair is not the basis of this movement. The numbers will clear up in a few days, and matter as much then as they do today: Not a lot.
In this aftermath, after attending two group events across town in a non-Super Tuesday state, I can safely say that this is only just getting started.
We have the best candidate.
We have the best organization.
We have the momentum.
We have the majority of grassroots funding.
We can do this!
YES WE CAN!
