Watch the video here:
Grammy Award-winning recording artist and philanthropist Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter, media executive Kevin Liles, and entrepreneur, philanthropist and activist Russell Simmons will headline a “Last Chance for Change” GOTV rally Saturday, November 1 on behalf of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama at Virginia Union University.
Virginia Union University Barco-Stevens Hall (Gymnasium)1500 N. Lombardy StreetRichmond, VARSVP HERE:http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/vajayz
We just sent out this e-mail:
Dear Scott,This is it. Get out the vote -- the final stage of a historic campaign here in Virginia -- has begun. This is when we prove that what we've built is real and can deliver the change America needs.We've talked to thousands of undecided Virginians and formed neighborhood teams to spread our message of change throughout our communities. But all of this work means nothing if we don't get people out to vote.Watch this short video about our strategy to win the commonwealth and sign up for a volunteer shift to get out the vote:We have the chance to make history here in Virginia. This is your chance to be a part of it.This plan won't work without you. What you do or don't do in the next two weeks will decide the outcome of this race.We can't risk waking up on November 5th to four more years of the same failed policies and the same cynical politics.Sign up for a shift and do your part in bringing this campaign across the finish line:http://va.barackobama.com/GOTVThis is our moment. We've worked too hard to let this slip through our hands now.Thanks,MitchMitch StewartVirginia State DirectorObama for AmericaP.S. -- If you will be gone from your locality on Election Day, or will be commuting to work 11 out of the 13 hours on November 4th, you can vote right now. Find out how:http://va.barackobama.com/voteearly
Dear Scott,This is it. Get out the vote -- the final stage of a historic campaign here in Virginia -- has begun. This is when we prove that what we've built is real and can deliver the change America needs.We've talked to thousands of undecided Virginians and formed neighborhood teams to spread our message of change throughout our communities. But all of this work means nothing if we don't get people out to vote.Watch this short video about our strategy to win the commonwealth and sign up for a volunteer shift to get out the vote:
Virginia, we have 13 days. Can you believe it? At the Richmond rally today Senator Obama reminded us that a lot can happen in 13 days and we need all the help we can get!
Thank you Ian Graham for some of these great pictures.
Sign up for Get Out the Vote! Some pictures from today . . .
Well, the most important thing you can do is go door to door this weekend and spread the message that Barack has real solutions to the very real mess the last eight years have gotten us in. You can also speak out by letting your friends and your local paper know what's at stake in this election, and that you're tired of the McCain campaign's petty, personal attacks. You can share this video with your friends or write a letter to the editor HERE.
This proves there are a lot of undecided people out there to reach these last few weeks!
A nice video piece focused on Roanoke, which is a good proxy for a lot of places in VA and NC.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/sep/30/roanoke
Barack Obama is the only candidate who has consistently honored the service of those who wear and wore our nation's uniform.
He's the only candidate who has voted to fully fund the Veteran's Administration time and again, and the only candidate that has been serious about fighting to get our veterans the benefits they deserve.
Watch this video of Virginia veterans and military families discussing why electing Barack Obama is essential for those who care about honoring America's commitment to veterans:
Use our special invite page to send the video to friends and family who care about Veterans' issues.
In Virginia, every Monday night is Military Monday--at Campaign for Change offices across the Commonwealth veterans and and military families come together to make calls, knock on doors, and spread the word that Barack Obama is the candidate for veterans.
To get involved, join the Virginia Veterans and Military Families group today. And you can read the details of Barack's positions on veteran's issues here.
By Peter Dreier
September 15, 2008
Peter Dreier's 11-year-old twin daughters, Amelia and Sarah, are volunteering for the Obama Campaign.
Twenty-year-old Tobin Van Ostern finished his sophomore year last spring at George Washington University, but this fall he's enrolled in the Barack Obama campaign as a full-time organizer. The Richmond, Virginia, native started Students for Obama on his campus last year as a Facebook group. It now has chapters on 800 campuses, Van Ostern said, and the campaign has recruited thousands of college students and recent graduates to work as both paid staffers and unpaid volunteers through the November election.
Democratic Party strategists believe that in key swing states, a dramatic increase in turnout among young voters--and African-Americans--can be the key to victory for both Obama and the party's candidates for Congress. Campus activists, meanwhile, view the Obama campaign as a means to catalyze a new progressive youth movement among the Millennial (18- to 29-year-old) generation that they hope, unlike the political crusades of the 1960s youth rebellion, will be part of a broader, multigenerational coalition.
Ever since 18-year-olds won the right to vote in 1971, their elders have been disappointed by their level of voter turnout, which has typically been about half the rate of other voters. But after steady declines in turnout since 1972, young voters reversed the trend in the 2004 presidential and 2006 mid-term elections. This year, however, is likely to see a particularly significant increase in voting among Millennials.
More
Check back here (va.barackobama.com) tomorrow to get a live stream of Barack's town hall in Lebanon.
In the meantime, be sure to sign up now to receive campaign updates and to find out when Barack will next be in the commonwealth.
Sarah Palin is pleasant-looking and has a compelling backstory. In her first prime-time speech, she described herself as a pitbull with lipstick and I agree with her. Look, she did a great job in rallying support from her party, but the real issues have yet to be tackled. All I heard last night was the typical wrap-yourself-in-the-flag and paint-the-other-side-as-scary-and-dangerous talking points that these folks have been peddling for years. The Republican partisans are eating it up, but it remains to be seen if the general public will. My hope is that people will be smart enough to see through the personalities and the rhetoric. Even McCain's campaign manager has said that this race is about personality, not the issues. All the ridicule and personal attacks are designed to deflect and distract Americans from the economy, our two wars, and health care. Hey, it worked in 2004...It's the Repblican's only hope this election year as well.
We've got work to do...Sarah Palin is no wilting flower. She and McCain will do anything to win this election. I just can't sit on the sidelines without personally doing all that I can to rescue my country from these false patriots. Jon Stewart on the Daily Show said something so funny and sadly true the other night...Republicans love the USA, they just hate half the people living here.
Tonight American’s had a chance to see a bridge to nowhere at the Republican National Convention. American’s had a chance to listen to what Republicans have to offer America’s future. Unfortunately, what us folks at home saw, was just a third rate mockery bent on distracting Americans’ for the truth and the hard earned journey it will take to renew our hope, our dreams and our future. Unfortunately, what we saw was a high school minded obscure barracuda going for a juggler with no grace. Frighteningly enough, what we saw was a dangerous heart murmur one step away from the Presidency.
Sarah Palin may in fact be a genuine individual with a genuine interest in our country’s future. No one could doubt a genuine American except maybe Sarah Palin. Palin may in fact have her heart in the “ring” too but what she displayed tonight at the Republican National Convention is no less a travesty for all of us including her own party. The rigor of presidential grace must have left the building when she let her words rip into the living rooms of all Americans.
Republicans are no doubt running scared in their attempt to recapture four more years of power to pursue failed policies and failed agendas. They have shown us time and again with the likes of Karl Rove that they will steep to no low, lower to the gutter and beyond to win. But, fortunately, Americans are not so blind to the truth after eight years of gimmicks and misguided leadership. Anybody can wave a flag and mock his or her opponent but few true leaders can accept the challenge to lead with grace and build bridges where they are needed for the better of all of us.
Frankly put, maybe George Bush and John McCain are counting on “stupid” but American’s aren’t so stupid. Just ask all those folks at the gas pump how great America is today in the face of Republican leadership, Bush leadership, McCain supported leadership. In the year 2000 we American’s were paying 1.10 a gallon for gas and our economy was strong and we had a balanced budget to boot. Three years later, our nation’s budget was bloated with an ridiculous war to nowhere and every American was paying nearly 3.00 dollars or more for a gallon of gas. Jobs were hemorrhaging American soil and today we’re faced with a major mortgage crisis, a war and other serious economic problems because of GOP leadership and GOP policies. What does McCain offer? He offers a vote with Bush over 90 percent of the time, even more then fellow GOP lawmakers. What’s that say for his agenda for America for the next four years?
Barack Obama may not have the silver bullet to utopia but he is a leader who knows just that. Obama is not going to sell political snake oil for the grace of the Presidency like some in the GOP are willing to do. Obama is a leader who knows we have to come together and “build bridges to somewhere” for the prosperity of all of us Americans. Obama knows it’s not about Republican or Democrat or Christian verses working class or any label at all. Obama knows that the key to success in rebuilding America’s future and promise and place in the world comes from bringing everyone together and taking on the tough job of finding solutions where everybody is at the table, not just special interests or party interests or extreme entities. That’s true leadership.
It’s easy to take the cheap shot. The GOP has been taking the “Cheap shot” for eight years and now our whole country and way of life is at stake because of it. We need to end the days of Karl Rove division and Sarah Palin mockery and find common ground to build a better America for all of us. It’s that plain and simple. We need change we can all believe in –not divisive gimmicky we can all drown in. America deserves better!
Ted Manolatos
This campaign belongs to supporters like you who have built a movement for change across the commonwealth and across the nation. We have an unprecedented opportunity this weekend to capture the interest and momentum from the convention - please join us during our Weekend of Action.
Last night, while Barack was making history, he looked out in the front row and saw not power brokers or Washington insiders, but ordinary Americans who have volunteered and donated to this campaign.
One of those Americans was Richmond native Tranice Johnson, who was chosen to meet Barack backstage at Mile High before his speech, because he wanted to hear her story. Here it is:
Away from the glamour and glitz of the party conventions, a fierce battle for votes is already being waged on doorsteps across America. Thad Williamson reports on Obama efforts to capture the traditional red state of Virginia.
Link
The New Statesman is an English political magazine. Thad Williamson is a political scientist and an assistant professor of leadership studies at the University of Richmond.
Our grassroots supporters have organized over the past 19 months to show that people working from the ground up can bring real change to Washington. In Virginia last night we had 1,000 convention watch parties, demonstrating our incredible grassroots strength and organization. This weekend presents another great opportunity to affect change. Now that Barack has officially claimed the Democratic nomination for president, supporters across the commonwealth will spend the weekend working for change.We'll be spending Labor Day weekend preparing our grassroots organization for the final two months of the campaign. At house parties, picnics, organizational meetings, and local rallies, grassroots supporters will register first-time voters and recruit volunteers by talking to people in their communities about Barack.Hundreds of events in Virginia have already been created on my.barackobama.com for this weekend. Join our supporters today and RSVP for an event or create your own for this weekend.
