Tobin's Blog

15 Days From Change: An Update From the National Student Co-Director

Tobin Van Ostern — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:59:52 EDT

Things have been pretty busy lately (needless to say) but I wanted to take a quick moment to give you an update about some interesting facts and stories from the past week or so.

Voter Registration:

The Obama-Biden campaign is committed to enabling as many people as possible to exercise their fundamental right to vote. But you have to registered in order to vote, and the campaign has been very successful in ensuring that every eligible voter is on the rolls.

Taking Virginia as an example, just a week ago a group of committed HS students travelled down to Virginia from Maryland where they knocked on an astounding 12,000 doors in a single weekend.

It's this kind of hard work that has resulted in the numbers described below.

Virginia now has more than five million registered voters, a new record, as of the deadline for registration for the fall election closed on Oct. 6th, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections.
The total number of registered voters in Virginia is now 5,021,933.
Since January, Virginia, a swing state this cycle, has experienced a net gain of 436,000 new voters, including what they call an "onslaught" of new voters in the last week of registration.
Nearly 40 percent of the newly registered voters across the state are under the age of 25. Trends show that, regardless of age, females represent the majority of new registered voters.
Source: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/15/1549807.aspx

VoteforChange.com

One of the key components of our voter registration efforts has been www.voteforchange.com

This website is a one-stop shop for voter registration.

This website also will allow you to request an absentee ballot, check your registration status, and even find your polling location for election day.

You can check it out on Facebook as well at http://apps.facebook.com/obama/

Debate

Near the very end of the final presidential debate last Wednesday night, Obama stated:

"I also have to disagree on Sen. McCain's record when it comes to college accessibility and affordability.
"Recently his key economic adviser was asked about why he didn't seem to have some specific programs to help young people go to college and the response was, well, you know, we can't give money to every interest group that comes along.
"I don't think America's youth are interest groups, I think they're our future."

From Day 1 through the present, Senator Obama has understood that investing in young people is an investment in our future. As President, he will follow through on his promises to make college accessible and affordable to all Americans.

Campaign Is Putting Their Money Where Their Mouths Are

In addition to our strong field outreach, our campaign has been doing a variety of innovative advertising designed to reach out to younger voters and make sure we don't leave anyone out. We're continuing this commitment through the end, and are excited to see the initial result of our efforts both on the ground and on the air on Election Day. You may have read recently that the Obama-Biden campaign is the first presidential campaign to take out virtual advertisements in video games.

The Talk

The campaign recently unveiled this website about having "The Talk" with your parents and grandparents. This may not be "The Talk" you're thinking about though...instead it's about talking to your parents and grandparents about supporting Senator Obama. While intimidating for many young people to initiate, I think we've already seen the impact of these cross-generational conversations. You can check out the whole website here at: my.barackobama.com/thetalk

Blog

Finally, I'm very proud of the blog we have up and running at students.barackobama.com, it's being constantly updated with stories and anecdotes relevant to youth on the campaign trail, I hope all of you continue to regularly check it out.

Historical Low-Dollar Support

Tobin Van Ostern — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:49:23 EDT

Our latest fundraising numbers have astounded people all across America. The $58 million raised is unprecedented for a Democrat at this point in the cycle. However, equally impressive to the total amount raised is how we got to that number -through 258,000 different donors. These donors come from every walk of life in America. From the maximum $2,300 donations to people giving $5 or $10, it has all added up in a tremendous show of support.

Students everywhere are doing their part of the low-dollar grassroots fundraising. As Famid Sinha put it, "Senator Obama is unabashedly refusing donations from PACs and lobbyists, yet another reflection of his desire to empower average Americans. This has inspired scores of students to take the largely unprecedented action of donating their money to a political campaign."

Our University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign chapter is certainly doing their part by raising $1,300 from 45 students (an average donation of about $30) already. These numbers add up in a big way though. We threw a campaign rally with a special student discount rate in Boston a few months ago with thousands of attendees and those small donations added up in a big way to $100,000 from students alone.

Though in college and high school, students are donating what they can to Senator Obama. This is not merely a donation to the campaign; it is an investment in our future. From education to health care, the issues students everywhere recognize that their donation to Senator Obama will provide a reward many times over under an Obama Presidency.

Check out the UIUC Chapter on My.BarackObama.com (http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/UIUCStudentsforObama) and Facebook (http://uillinois.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2322714176)

Take Barack's Message With You

Tobin Van Ostern — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:08:54 EDT

A few days ago we launched a mobile text messaging program. Not only can you sign up for texts, you can also download wallpaper and ringtones for your cellphone (try texting ringtone1 to OBAMA).

The ringtones are an innovative way to get Senator Obama’s message out there. As John Della Volpe, director of polling at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics and founder of SocialSphere Strategies, puts it the ringtone is “going to create conversations.” When it plays while you are out in public and someone asks you about it, just ask them to text GO to OBAMA and they will get more information about Senator Obama.

We hope you will find these ringtones fun and enjoyable. For those times when your cell might ring out at an inopportune moment, such as class, I suspect that teachers might be a bit more lenient when they realize that its public policy and civic participation coming out of your cellphone.

Jon Stewart has gotten the Obama ringtone fever ( Daily Show clip). Shortly after our launch he did a hilarious segment highlighting the new ringtones in a variety of means from referencing a bus equipped with spinning rims adorned with Obama logos to Stewart himself dancing to the beats. Stewart’s glowstick dance moves paired with Obama’s ringtones must have been a hit –downloads of the ringtones doubled following the show’s airing.

Music for Obama

Tobin Van Ostern — Mon, 14 May 2007 13:52:09 EDT

The excitement out there for Senator Obama is tremendous. Particularly amongst the youth and students, people that have never closely followed politics or supported a candidate are instead pouring their time and energy into this campaign. Personally, I particularly am impressed whenever anyone takes a particular talent they have, and use it to creatively demonstrate their support.

One of my friends came across this song while checking out the music of one of his favorite artists: Asian-American rapper Jin. Jin took his musical talent and wrote a song, which you can check out on his MySpace, called “Open Letter 2 Obama.” The song is pretty cool, so check it out and let me know what you think.

I am sure all of you out there have skills and talents of your own, and I would love to hear or see some of the creative ways that you are using those talents to show your support for Senator Obama. Feel free to also encourage those people that you know with talents to take part. From music superstars to local bands, the support for Senator Obama is there, you might be surprised who is receptive to doing something unique to show their support. Just shoot me an email with the link so I can check it out.

Keep the energy and excitement going. Feel free to check out Senator Obama’s Facebook and MySpace as well.

-Tobin
Deputy Director, Students for Barack Obama