Valli's Blog

South Carolina Watch Party

Valli — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:43:40 EST

Fundraiser at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe. What an incredible night!!!

2008 Kick Off Meeting

Valli — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:30:25 EST

Please join us for a 2008 kick-off meeting this coming Wednesday, January 16th at 6 pm for people interested in volunteering for Senator Obama's presidential campaign . At the meeting, we will give updates about important upcoming opportunities to volunteer and to contribute to the campaign in Ohio.

Mayor Michael Coleman and Councilman Kevin Boyce are scheduled to speak, as well as some of the grassroots organizers for the campaign in Central Ohio. We will be meeting on OSU's campus. To sign up:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/organizing/4vdw4

New Hampshire Primary Party

Valli — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:15:41 EST

We came so close.... Never-the-less, we had a great time and had a tremendous showing of new supporters ready to buckle down and help us get the job done in Ohio.

This good looking group (below) spearheaded the drive in Central Ohio to get Senator Obama on the Ohio ballot. To stay informed and get involved in the Central Ohio area, join "Central Ohioans for Obama" on this site and be sure to sign up to receive emails from our group.

Ohio Rally!

Valli — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:10:11 EST

Senator Obama made it a point to have pictures taken with the two groups that helped with the event: Central Ohioans for Obama and Buckeyes for Obama (students). Some but not all of the groups are shown below.

Pre-Rally Happy Hour

Valli — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:28:57 EST

Let's show Senator Obama what the Ohio Grassroots Can Do!

Valli — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:37:58 EDT

Hi Everyone,

We, here in Columbus, are holding our first big grassroots-generated fundraiser. It's being hosted by Buckeyes for Obama and we need help promoting it. If you know anyone that might be interested, please copy this post and email it to them. LET'S WIN OHIO FOR SENATOR OBAMA!

House Party

Valli — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 10:20:50 EDT

Well, I forgot to take pictures once the party started but have some of our group and the food. Gita, our host had an amazing party with the most wonderful lunch. If you are interested in having a house party and would like some help, contact us at centralohioansforobama@gmail.com.

Gita, our house party hostess.

Amy. She is our extraordinary tabling coordinator so it was only natural that she sit at the welcome table.

Great food!

Jill sent over some cookies.

We need your help Monday Night

Valli — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 09:17:08 EDT

Our Obama group is lending it's support to the Franklin County Democratic Party as a way of supporting Mayor Coleman in his reelection bid. This is an important way for our group to begin a relationship with The Franklin County Democratic Party and also to inform Mayor Coleman of our support for Senator Obama. We need your help! Please consider coming to the Monday Kickoff night (free food) and participating on as many days as you are able. RSVP to Valli Frausto at valli17@gmail.com as we will be RSVPing as a group.Thanks so much!- Hide quoted text -

We need your help now! The party will kick off our Early Vote Program starting Monday night. The programs success will determine what funding we are able to receive for next year's presidential race.

How badly do you want to replace Dubya with a Democratic president?

The first segment of the program will involve making phone calls to Democratic households to identify our supporters. These should be very easy phone calls since almost everyone will be a Democrat. Also, we need drivers interested in driving materials and absentee ballot request forms to interested voters.

Please call 614-224-1193 or email zachmanifold@fcdp.org if you are ready to help.

Kickoff Night

Monday, September 17, 2007

5:30 to 8:00 PM (or whatever you can give us)

Franklin County Democratic Party

271 East State Street, Columbus, OH 43215

Free food to those in attendance for the kickoff. Please RSVP!

We will be making calls every Monday and Wednesday until the end of the Early Vote Program.

Democratically yours,

Zach Manifold
Executive Director
Franklin County Democratic Party

What happens at a Happy Hour?

Valli — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:37:32 EDT

What can you expect at a Central Ohio Happy Hour for Obama?

FUN. This optional icebreaker gives each person a paper with the following traits (Thanks, Brian Fulcher, for putting this together. This will change for each event.) The goal is to get signatures from people with each trait. The person with the most signatures wins something...anyone want to donate a prize? This is fun for everyone and you will get to know a lot of people that are dedicated to our Ohio effort.

find someone who...
1. voted for John Kerry in 2004
2. voted for George W. Bush in 2004 or 2000 (maybe?)
3. has campaigned in Iowa or New Hampshire
4. can name the last 5 presidents and the years they held office
5. was a Dean supporter in 2004
6. has been to camp obama
7. has donated to the Barack Obama campaign
8. can name the five freedoms in the first amendment of the bill of rights
9. has seen Sicko
10. has read an Al Franken book
11. knows Mitt Romney's religion
12. knows on which tv program Rudy Giuliani appeared in drag
13. has dated a Republican
14. was against the Iraq war from the start
15. is from Chicago
16. has ever voted for Dennis Kucinich
17. knows which state Mike Gravel is from
18. has ever been to Hawaii
19. can name 5 supreme court justices
20. knows how much John Edwards paid for a haircut

Tables. You can browse tables to see what we are up to, meet committee chairs and talk about our latest initatives. Want to take a road trip to Iowa? Are you ready to do a tabling event? Are you interested in ethnic outreach? Find out about all that and more. You can also buy bumper stickers, buttons and signs.

Food. Some people like to have dinner. Servers will be circulating to take your order from their regular menu. We'll have a really yummy Obama cake...chocolate.

Meeting. Do you just want to hear the basics? Come to the meeting at 7 PM. Find out what our plans are for the future. And...we expect to know more about Senator Obama's expected visit to Ohio by then and will fill you in on that as well.

The next Happy Hour is Wed Sept 26th at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe (1421 Olentangy River Rd). To sign up: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4vddq

Come on out...we'd love to meet you...and we can use all the help we can get. Let's win Ohio for Senator Obama!

August Happy Hour

Valli — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:31:53 EDT

Pictures from our last Happy Hour (sorry they are so dark.) This is a very active, fun group of people. Our Happy Hours are a great first step to get to know other Obama supporters and find out what's going on in the area. Join us for our next Happy Hour on Sept 26th at 5:30 PM with a short meeting at 7. It's at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe. There will be get acquainted activities as our group is growing fast and we want to get to know you.Sign up here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4vddq For more information, email centralohioansforobama@gmail.com

Tabling at the Gallery Hop

Valli — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 11:36:33 EDT

We has a very busy very successful tabling event in early August. We are gearing up to do more tabling events in this fall. If you are interested in helping out (we can use all the help we can get), you can email us at centralohioansforobama@gmail.com.

September HAPPY HOUR / MEETING to be held at Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe

Valli — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 07:22:04 EDT

Join us for a Happy Hour that is for people in Columbus, the Central Ohio area and Buckeyes for Obama throughout the state. The Happy Hour is being held on Wed. September 26 and is for those that are for Barack Obama for President and would like to meet other supporters and learn about volunteer activites. It is being held at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe. 1421 Olentangy River Road (near OSU) from 5:30 to 8:30 PM with a short presentation at 7.

If you would like to know what's going on in with the grassroots campaign in Central Ohio, this is the place to be. To register for the August Happy Hour click http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4vddq For more information or to receive email updates for future Happy Hours: email centralohioansforobama@gmail.com. Here are some pictures from the June Happy Hour:

Thanks to everyone who participated and attended!! We had a great event attended by over 60 people including many new and first time volunteers. It was a night of excitement, fun and unity. Thanks to Jennifer for the pictures!

Com Fest Table

Valli — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 21:57:30 EDT

Our Columbus for Obama group had a table at Comfest Saturday afternoon and it was a blast! We enlisted many new volunteers and also signed up people to come to our Happy Hour on Wednesday. To learn more about the Happy Hour: Search 43215 under My Events.

Rich and Jennifer. Like the hat.

Chad's our youngest member at 14 and he's already had the opportunity to meet Barack. How about that! His Mom, Victoria is with him in this picture.

What Ten People Can Do!

Valli — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 15:41:58 EDT

I just returned from a community picnic at Linden Park put on by Michelle Dolgos and our group of about ten or so dedicated volunteers. (I'm not sure how many people were involved but the core group was around 10.) The group first held a garage sale to fund the picnic and then canvassed the neighborhood last week. Today we held a Walk for Change event in the area around the park. The picnic followed the Walk for Change canvas and was attended by about 75-100 people (it seemed like more to me- no one counted). Obama books and audiotapes were raffled off. The books and tapes were to be read and passed on. It looks like a book club is going to be started as well. Not only that, but we now have many new friends who want to help us work to get Barack elected!

A group from "Black Box". These guys have a phenomenally strong committment to Barack. Watch for more from them!

Cops love us!

Honk for Obama

Valli — Mon, 28 May 2007 10:10:08 EDT

Honk for Obama pics

Valli — Fri, 25 May 2007 12:44:50 EDT

I found a post from CrazyinOhio and have copied it here.

Honk and Wave for Obama Last weekend was the OSU spring game and all the crazos were out. Our grassroots group made signs and went and stood on one of the busy corners near the stadium. At first I didn't think this event was really my kind of thing, but I actually had a great time. It was a fun people watching experience and most of the responses were positive. Overall, it was a beautiful day out and we all had a great time!

From the Main Campaign Blog

Valli — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 10:08:57 EDT

Keep It ComingBy Sam Graham-Felsen - Mar 26th, 2007 at 7:57 pm EDT

We're hoping you're as psyched as we are for the nationwide Hope Action Change kickoff events coming up on March 31st. So far, hundreds of community get-togethers, big and small, have been planned in forty-nine states. I'm going to be previewing some of these events soon on the blog.But even before the nationwide kickoff events have taken place, people are already actively involved all over the country. Take this past weekend, where folks from four different states (at least!) planned coordinated Honk for Obama events.

Here are some pics from the Ohio event via organizer Valli Frausto of Columbus:

More details from an email Valli sent to me:The Gahanna News came to our event, interviewed us, and took pictures. We are going to be in a number of Suburban News Papers and if we are lucky, all of them. The thing that excites me about Honk for Obama is that it's such an easy event to organize (show up), only takes a few people to be a success (there were 10 in our group), and reaches a large audience. (The intersection we were at has a traffic flow of over 2,000 cars per hour.) We are serious about increasing visibility for Senator Obama. This event was fun for everyone and we are all excited about doing it again. We had honks, waves, thumbs up and cheers. One person (from a car passing by) went to our group website and blogged about seeing the event. If you'd like to plan a Honk for Obama event in your community, check out the Honk for Obama group. This is the kind of creative energy from the grassroots the campaign needs to really take off. Keep it coming-- it's your campaign.

From the Seattle blog

Valli — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 09:48:03 EDT

Seattle Gains Momentum With Two Events In One Day

By Kurt Peppard - Mar 27th, 2007 at 1:31 am EDT Seattle supporters of Presidential Barack Obama held two successful events on Saturday, March 24. Both the Honk For Obama and Bowling For Obama events were well attended, and increased awareness, support and contributions for the national campaign.

The Honk For Obama event was part of the nationwide grassroots campaign to increase the visibility of Senator Obama's campaign. The 15-20 participants were located at three strategic intersections around Seattle - the University District, Capitol Hill and Westlake Center.

Marj Raunig definitely won the trooper of the day award. She was the team leader at Westlake Center, and no one else was able to join her. Despite the rain (which often blows sideways in that part of the city), Marj remained undaunted and "spread the Gospel of Obama" all alone for two-hours.

"Many of our passers-by were young teens, but most of our interest came from people who appeared to be between 30 & 60. I had lots of people give a thumbs-up, a number said 'thanks for doing this', and there were lots of smiles," said Marj in her report.

Meanwhile, up on Capitol Hill the crew covered three of the four street corners. One person came by and purchased a yard sign, then stood on the unoccupied corner and waved his sign as well. A couple of passing bus drivers honked their horns in support, and one even held his copy of "Audacity Of Hope" against the windshield for all to see.

"A group of teenagers asked to have their photo taken with a yard sign. A mailman wanted a button, but didn't want to be seen wearing it while on duty (appearance of neutrality didn't stop the metro bus driver(s) from honking and/or waiving for Obama). A store keeper walked up, said she supported what we were doing, so I asked her to put a yardsign in her store window. (She agreed.) At least one dog barked for Obama, " according to Daewoo Kim, who led the Capitol Hill group and organized the event.

The University District also occupied three of the four street corners. One of the volunteers purchased all of the yard signs, bumper stickers and buttons. This allowed us to hand them out for free to all who were interested. It was quite the hoot when someone would ask "How much for a yard sign?"

They were quite amazed when we handed them the sign out of our hands and replied "It's yours!"

"My overall feeling about yesterday is very positive. Lots of people wanting yard signs,
buttons, bumper stickers, etc.... Most comments were very pro-Obama, from a very diverse crowd in the U-District. It was definitely worth the drive from Everett!!!! Hopefully we can get some people organized for similar dates in Snohomish County," said Brenda Felder.

After the Honk For Obama event had concluded, several of the participants went to The Garage on Broadway to join the Bowling For Obama event. It was a wonderful opportunity to socialize with fellow Obama supporters, while contributing financially to the national campaign.

"At Bowling for Obama, we had great turnout (it was just about the perfect # of people!!!). Between all of the donations, we raised $1075.10. Everyone had a great time!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!" Reported event organizer Shanna Sawatzki. " Thanks to Boruck Printing for the great deals on the shirts and the hat! And last, but certainly not least, thank you to the Garage, who were great hosts and donated shoe rentals for all attendees!!!!"

The event was attended not only by many "hard-core" Obama supporters, but also by people who came by to learn more about the Senator and his campaign. By any given measure, the event was a total success.