Hello New Mexicans for Obama,
I hope you are still as fired up as I am after last fall’s campaign, and after the incredible start the Obama administration has had, and that you are still motivated to organize for change.
I wanted to introduce myself to those of you I don’t know. My name is Eric Hilberg and I worked as a volunteer grass roots organizer on the Obama campaign in Southern New Mexico. Just like many of you, I knocked on lots of doors, made phone calls, led a neighborhood team of volunteers, and prepared walk lists and call lists for dozens of other teams here in Las Cruces. Together we won this election.
I am excited to serve as New Mexico’s Volunteer Liaison to Organizing for America, and I’m excited to tell you that Organizing for America is up and running. OFA’s mission is to mobilize our grassroots movement in support of President Obama’s policies for change and to build on and strengthen that grassroots organization we have all built together. I am an unpaid volunteer (not an official OFA staffer) who has been asked to help coordinate our efforts here in New Mexico with OFA’s national office.
I know that many of you are already utilizing the Obama network to organize in your communities. Your efforts holding house parties and collecting stories about the impact of the current economic crisis on New Mexicans helped pass the Economic Recovery and Stimulus Act, and your involvement will be critical to its success.
You can act today to support our economic recovery. Take a minute to thank the Senators and Representatives in New Mexico who supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and encourage them to continue working with President Obama to lift America out of the economic crisis. When you’re done, report back to us about the calls you made.
Throughout the next weeks and months, I look forward to working with all of you to ensure that Organizing for America is successful here in New Mexico. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or ideas as we continue to organize for change.
Thanks so much,
Eric Hilberg (erichilberg@gmail.com)
New Mexico Volunteer Liaison, Organizing for America
From the Obama Cruces Connection occ209@gmail.com
Welcome Obama Volunteers—past & present:We need your input... moving ahead for Obama Cruces Connection (OCC)activities and Organizing For America (OFA)Here are some important dates in the month ahead:
Tue., Feb. 17- 6pm, Environment & Energy (Green Team)Thur., Feb. 19: 6:30pm, Global Challenge (Yellow Team)Tue., Feb. 26, March 11, March 25- 6:30pm, Education & Training (Blue Team)--- Soon: Bill McCamley leads the next planning session for theAlice King Food Pantry & other Non-Profit Support Service (Purple Team)---Tue., March 3: 6pm, HealthCare Group--(Red Team) Issue Groups will meet at 1400 S. Solano (Dem HQ)
To begin receiving our monthly notices on upcoming eventsand how to keep the Obama Change momentum going with directNational OFA guidance and interaction---Email us atOCC209@gmail.com and let us know (in your email subject line)"Yes" and include a color tag to indicate the issue group(s) with which you wish participate.
Following are minutes of the last OFA/Cruces group meeting of Feb. 7th. Our next OCC meeting is Sat., March 14 at 11am. With your help, we'll keep things movingtoward making So. NM part of the Obama movement for Change.Thanks….Email us at OCC209@gmail.com....Thanks
Thanks for your participation!
Committee chairs Bill McCamley (Community Service--like food drives f/b/o Jardin de los Ninos); Evelyn Erhard (Education and Job Training); Gil Sorg (Energy, Environment, Infrastructure & Transportation); Bryan Chasko (Global Challenges); Meade Kemrer & Neil Holtzman (Universal Health Care); and Lloyd Covens, Eric Hilberg, Ernest Flores, Sharion Glazier, Francene Foster, Maria Flores and Judy Benson (who is maintaining a master email list of volunteers for mailings).
All of the hard work and the long days come down to today.
It's up to us to finish what we've started.
CHANGE comes today!
But first, we need everyone to VOTE, and then we need everyone to VOLUNTEER.
YES WE CAN!!
Here are some tips to help you make sure Election Day goes smoothly:
* The polls are open from 7:00AM to 7:00PM. If you are in line by 7:00PM, it's your right to vote.
* If you have not received your absentee ballot, you can get another ballot at your polling place on Tuesday, November 4th.
* If you registered to vote by mail for the first time and didn't include ID, you must bring ID with you to the polls. The address on your ID does not need to match your registration address.
* You may be asked to remove or cover any campaign gear (Obama T-shirts, buttons, etc.) that you wear to the polls. As long as you comply, you still have the right to vote.
I continue to be deeply moved by the enormity of the possibility of an Obama Presidency. Even before watching Barack’s infomercial I was in tears off and on yesterday. I am here in Alamogordo, NM from San Francisco. By the end of the election I will have been here for 3 weeks. In the heart of a very red county, I am blown away at the commitment of local people and other out of state volunteers.
Two days ago I called back a woman who wanted a ride to early vote. I asked her how she was. She said: “ Not too good. My cancer is back and my lungs are filling up. I just want to go vote.” Within the hour she had voted.
This week we had the privilege of hosting Retired Brigadier General Tom Daniels. Tom took the train from Fort Worth, TX to El Paso and then drove to Alamogordo. He has been supporting Barack since day one, is part of the National Security Advisory group and couldn’t just stay at home any more. Eight months ago, Tom had a double lung transplant. This trip was not easy for him yet he was here talking to everybody he met. Not once did he complain. Several other vets came into town, one made it his responsibility to make sure that all of Tom’s needs were met. Yesterday, in dealing with a family death, Tom found the loving support from a group of strangers he had just come to know.
Yesterday, I was privileged to be part of the Northern California Finance Committee Conference Call, our last call before the election. The stories everyone told, from their travels across this incredible country, had all of us in tears.
Last night, we had a local event, for Vets and Military folks at the home of Janie and Dal Ellington. The Brigadier General was there, local people, out of state volunteers, and even people from other countries were there. We were a diverse group and we watched Barack’s infomercial together. We cried together. We laughed together. And yes, we loved together.
This is the possibility of a Barack Presidency!
YES WE CAN!
NOW let's go out and knock on some more doors and make some more phone calls!
My heart weeps with joy with the soothing voice and promise of a hopeful future with President Obama. My heart weeps with sadness for all those, too many, among us who reject this hope based upon racism, ignorance, hate, indifference and misinformation.
I feel deep sadness at their lost opportunity to participate in this historic chain of events, and feel pity for all those distracters who will be remembered only for trying to stand in the way of millions of enlightened citizens who where not afraid, not divided by hate, but joined together in a powerful belief of better day’s ahead, ready to shoulder their share of responsibility.
Responsibility for our country, our family, and our neighbor, including the neighbor outside our borders. Globalization involves taking responsibility not only to your next door neighbor, but also to the neighbor across the political chasm and across the geographical chasm. Global issues will hit home sooner or later as we all know, and we need to be proactive, not reactive on those issues. Isolationism and protectionism is outdated and dangerous to any democratic nation, or any nation.
How the outcome of this election can even be questioned is tragic in it itself. The disgraceful campaign suffered upon us by McCain, and the national and international embarrassment served upon this great Nation by the Palin selection is nearly unbearable. But we prevail, and truth will prevail, and what is good and decent in our Nation will prevail, and on November 4th 2008 the good citizens of the United (not the divided) States of America will speak their mind and join with President Obama in leading this Nation out of the darkness, away from fear mongering, hate and prejudice.
Nobody has claimed it will be easy, President Obama is warning us daily of the difficulties ahead. We have accepted the slick wickedness for too long. We needed a wake up call, and it has been received. We have received it in our pocket books certainly.
The hateful will continue spewing their hate propaganda and attack every effort put forth, in particular there can never be a true victory in Iraq, no matter the actions. Mark my words, over the next 4 years we will hear nothing but criticism of how President Obama “lost” the war, “ruined” the victory, etc nonsense.
You know I’m right. Sigh. But as I said, we will prevail and forge ahead into a brighter future; it will get worse first, because we now have to deal with the stark reality of just how much the last many miserable years actually cost us as a Nation. But we must work hard, tighten our belts and not give up the fight. President Obama will stand with us every step of the way.
Here are a couple of points to remember....
* If you have not received your absentee ballot, go to your County Clerk's office on Mon, Nov 3 or your polling place on Tues, Nov 4 to get another ballot.
* If this is your first time voting and you registered by mail without including ID, you must bring ID. The ID address does not need to match your registration address.
* If asked by an election official to remove your Obama gear, remove it (or cover it up) and then VOTE. It's your right to vote!
ATF disrupts skinhead plot to assassinate Obama WASHINGTON (AP)—Federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree, the ATF said Monday. In court records unsealed Monday, federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school by two neo-Nazi skinheads. Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.
No need to spell it out any further....... I place this at the feet of mainly Palin, but McCain is not far behind.
Of course..... when you think about it, he is far behind.... behind OBAMA but also behind Palin who is out for herself now, I shudder at the thought. She is a National Embarrassemnt.
Remember, you can visit www.voteforchange.com to find the closest Early Vote location to you.
Check out some pictures from the event...
http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/10/22/catholic-groups-launches-pro-obama-web-site/
Catholic groups launches pro-Obama web site
DALLAS - Catholics for Obama has just launched a web site as the Nov. 4 White House race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain enters its final laps.
Catholics, who account for close to a quarter of the U.S. adult population, comprise a key religious group that both sides have tried to woo. In closely contested swing states such as Ohio or Florida the Catholic vote could make a difference.
The web site is sure to stoke controversy in Catholic circles with this statement: “Is Barack Obama really pro-life? The answer is ‘yes.’ Looking through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching, Senator Obama has spent his entire career striving for the common good. He supports health care programs that will cover all Americans, a living wage for working families, and solutions that allow distressed families to stay in their homes.”
It goes on to say that Obama, a strong advocate like his party of abortion rights, will reduce the number of abortions by promoting health care for pregnant women and infant care.
PARIS, Texas — In a gruesome case with powerful echoes of the dragging death of James Byrd a decade ago, a black man was killed underneath a pickup truck in East Texas and two white men have been charged with murder.
McClelland died after going with two white friends on a late-night beer run across the state line to Oklahoma, investigators said. Authorities said he was run over and dragged as far as 70 feet beneath the truck. His torn-apart body was discovered along a bloodstained rural road on Sept. 16. His mother said pieces of his skull could still be found three days later.
We all have an incredible responsibility to CHANGE !!
Not ONLY do we need to vote OBAMA for change, for our own private benfit, but we all also have to CHANGE our ways. We MUST all of us, STAND UP once and for all, and absolutely DEMAND CHANGE, DEMAND EQUALITY FOR ALL, DEMAND EQUALITY NO MATTER YOUR RACE, SEX OR RELIGION.
ISN'T THAT WHAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS SUPPOSED TO BE ALL ABOUT !?!?!
Remember, in New Mexico, today is Election Day. You can Early Vote at any location in your County. Visit www.voteforchange.com to the find the Early Vote location closest to you. Early Voting is just like voting on November 4th, and by voting now, you can help us Get Out the Vote the last 4 days of the campaign and help us win this election.
Thank you to everyone who attended an Early Vote Rally, and to everyone who has already VOTED!
And a special thank you to the following people who spoke at our events.
* Senator Jeff Bingaman* Senator Ken Salazar (CO)* Governor Bill Richardson* Lt. Governor Diane Denish* Attorney General Gary King* State Treasurer James Lewis* Catholic Advocate Ron Cruz* Albuquerque City Councilor Mike Cadigan* Albuquerque City Councilor Debbie O'Malley* State Senator Howie Morales* State Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colon* State Representative Al Park* State Representative Candidate Tim Keller* Native American Affairs Secretary Alvin Warren* Mayor of Espanola Joe Maestas
