An Amazing Number of Volunteers for Barack! Not only do we have hundreds coming out to support our campain, but look at the polling numbers this early in 2007:
The Washington PostTuesday, Feb. 27, 2007
This Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted by telephone February 22-25, 2007, among a random national sample of 1082 adults, including an oversample of 86 black respondents. The results have a three-point error margin. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by TNS of Horsham, PA.
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of (NAME)? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?
Breakdown:
Barack Obama
Polling data shows a slow but gradual gaining in polling, and on 14% strong negative with the rest being approachable in their thinking. Compare this to Hillary's figures:
Hillary Clinton:
------ Favorable ------ ----- Unfavorable ----- No NET Strongly Somewhat NET Somewhat Strongly opinion2/25/07 49 25 24 48 13 35 3 1/19/07 54 31 23 44 14 30 3 12/11/06 56 27 29 40 11 29 4 5/15/06 54 29 25 42 11 31 4 3/5/06 52 27 25 46 12 33 26/5/05 51 NA NA 46 NA NA 36/1/03 44 15 29 48 16 32 89/2/99 49 NA NA 44 NA NA 76/6/99 59 35 63/14/99 60 36 42/14/99&nbs p; 63 31 6 11/1/98 64 31 58/21/98 64 28 88/19/98 64 32 ; 4 4/4/98 58 33 10 1/30/98 60 30 10 1/19/98 52 39 &n bsp; 9 3/9/97 47 44 9 9/4/96 RV 47 42 12 6/30/96 44 47 & nbsp; 9 1/21/96 28 36 36 1/19/96 32 34 34 10/31/94 47 44 8 5/15/94 54 41 5 3/27/94 53 39 8 1/23/94 55 34 &nb sp; 11 11/14/93 58 33 9 8/8/93 59 33 8 4/26/93 54 26 &nb sp; 20 2/23/93 59 24 18 1/17/93 51 20 297/8/92 30 26 &nb sp; 43 3/28/92 28 22 51
While Barack Obama shows a gaining in strength, and a lesser absolute negative of only 14% compared to Hillary's negative polls are gaining and are almost now even with her positive rating.
The Washngton Post goes on to report the following:
Clinton continues to lead Obama and other rivals in the Democratic nominating contest, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. But her once-sizeable margin over the freshman senator from Illinois was sliced in half during the past month largely because of Obama's growing support among black voters.
By the way: Late breaking news on the wires: The Washington Post broke a story of the failure of Hillary Clinton to report for 5 years her family formed charity and her tax breaks of 5 million dollars while only giving 1 million to charity,$100,000 of that to her old buddy in Arkansas who was involved in her famous "I don't remember" responses to Whitewater allowing her husband to take the heat. When reached for comment, a Clinton Campaign staff member immediately in the late hours of yesterday afternoon filed the required papers with the Senate Ethics Committee yet she speaks on the road of the need for Ethics Reform? By the way, the only officers listed for this charity are Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton.
I do a lot of research, so please don't yell at me for sharing important information as to how Senator Obama is doing in important polls. Also I did not want to try to post the information on the Wire news re the Washington Post investigation into the Clinton Charity on Senator Obama's website ( MSNBC was the first I noticed).(link to story provided)
Hey Everybody!
Last night's Brooklyn for Barack meeting was incredibly valuable!
After hearing Chuck articulate so passionately how important it is that we all educate ourselves so we'll be armed with answers when asked why we support Senator Obama, I decided to put up a very simple page on my very simple site that is printer friendly & hopefully useful.
The url is www.atthatdrop.com/whybarack
If you have any suggestions or want to add some reasons to the list, shoot an email over to whybarack@atthatdrop.com.
THANKS!
Akin
www.atthatdrop.com/akin
WASHINGTON - Leah Hanes had never been much into politics until she ended up at a Barack Obama rally this week in Los Angeles, wearing a campaign T-shirt that she bought onsite like a concertgoer who found a new favorite band.
Hanes, a Canadian who lives in Los Angeles, said she is going to push to get her U.S. citizenship in time for the 2008 election so she can vote for the Democratic presidential candidate. The 52-year-old producer said Obama's challenges growing up of mixed race had given him a depth of understanding she didn't see in other candidates and she thinks he can make a difference.
"He is a combination of both sides of the country," said Hanes, one of thousands who turned up to hear the Illinois senator at a Los Angeles park, sprawling 360 degrees around the stage. "He's been through his own struggle. (It's) given him a center."
Hanes is among the throngs of people who have turned out to hear Obama speak during the two weeks since the Illinois senator formally entered the race. Obama is drawing eye-popping crowds in an unusual campaign swing that is taking him to large urban areas outside of the early voting states where presidential candidates typically stump for votes.
The people Obama is attracting in those cities won't be able to cast votes in states like Iowa and New Hampshire that are so critical to deciding who makes it to the White House. But his tour is designed to build his reputation among voters nationwide who still don't know much about him and to create an army of small-dollar donors who are invested in his success.
Obama is expecting huge turnout for rallies Friday in Austin, Texas, and Monday in Cleveland. More than 10,000 people have signed up on Obama's Web site for free tickets to each event, according to the campaign.
That's a larger turnout than President Bush usually gets and certainly more than Obama's rivals in the 2008 campaign are pulling in.
"I think the crowds are indicative of people wanting a fresh face and wanting a leader who can bring America forward," said Trav Robertson, an experienced South Carolina Democratic campaign operative who attended events for Obama and rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in the past week and hasn't settled on a candidate to support.
Robertson said both Clinton and Obama brought out packed and excited crowds, although Obama held his event in a larger setting and seemed to bring out more people he hadn't seen around in politics before.
Obama's challenge is twofold - to maintain his popularity for the next 11 months until primary voting gets under way, and to turn the curious into devoted followers who will give money and time.
Tickets to the rallies are free, but the campaign requires attendees to register with a name, phone number and street and e-mail addresses.
"Our biggest challenge is to take this energy and focus it on building a strong, lasting organization," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. He declined to say exactly how many people have signed up with the campaign so far at the events because it's strategic information, but he said it's in the tens of thousands.
Burton says the campaign is using the Internet to keep the attendees informed and organized and asks them to donate and attend campaign meetings.
Obama is also routinely selling out his fundraising events. His Los Angeles rally was paired with a star-studded Hollywood fundraiser that had to be moved from a 400-seat restaurant to a hotel ballroom that fit 600 because of the demand for tickets that required a $2,300 donation. When the Obama campaign announced a $25-a-ticket fundraiser in Louisville, Ky., Sunday evening, 2,500 of the 3,000 tickets were sold in 12 hours.
His draw was also strong in the early nominating states on his announcement tour earlier this month. The campaign moved a free event at Iowa State University from a recreation hall that could hold 1,500 to a coliseum where the more than 5,000 who showed up were able to fit comfortably, although some of the curious were from out-of-state and can't vote in the Iowa caucus. All 2,300 tickets for a free town hall meeting in Durham, N.H. - the largest 2008 presidential campaign event yet in the state - were snatched up within six hours of the event being announced, Burton said.
The same day, Obama tried an old-fashion campaign stroll down the street in Concord, N.H. Campaign volunteers were prepared to keep reporters at bay with yellow ropes and directed curious pedestrians onto the street to avoid crowding the scene.
The crowds are reminiscent of those that turned out across the country to hear Howard Dean in the 2004 primary race on his "Sleepless Summer" tour across the United States. Dean had been in the race for months at that point versus the few weeks that Obama has been running, but former Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi sees similarities in how both candidates were able to motivate supporters on the Internet with a message of change.
Obama needs to avoid Dean's pitfall of peaking too early, only to be brought down by gaffes and criticism from rivals.
"You can still make a mistake and take your own candidacy down, or the other candidates can start attacking you," Trippi said. "There are all kinds of things that happen in politics that blunt this advantage.
"In the end, you still have to get by Iowa and New Hampshire and the other campaigns," Trippi said.
---
Associated Press writers Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles and Philip Elliott in Concord, N.H., contributed to this report.
On the Net:
Link
Hi,
I wanted to tell you about something pretty outrageous.
Fox News convinced the Democratic Party to let Fox host a nationally-televised Democratic presidential primary debate this summer in Nevada!
But Fox isn't even a legitimate news channel! It's a right-wing mouthpiece like Rush Limbaugh—dedicated to smearing Democrats. (Recently, Fox falsely claimed Sen. Barack Obama attended a terrorist school!)
There's a growing backlash of people demanding that Democrats drop Fox. Can you help out by signing this petition to the Democratic Party of Nevada? It's really easy—just click this link:
In answer to some of my critics who complain I am looking for this campaign to do too much too quickly. My response is NONSENSE. Two important points 1) Hillary has been running for President for SIX years and we have a lot of catching up to do, and 2) anyone who thinks Barack is assured the nomination is a FOOL there are all kinds of challenges between now and August 2008. And I will also repeat for all the neophytes in this effort YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW VICIOUS THE CLINTONS AND THEIR OPERATIVES CAN BE. They will attempt to destroy Obama by any means necessary.
More importantly showing our strength, building momentum and constantly organizing should be our mandates. There are enough of us already that I RECOMMEND A NATIONAL "MEETING" OF OBAMA SUPPORTERS as early as Saturday March 31st. Or soon thereafter. Here is my specific suggestion. On Saturday mornings movie theatres all over country are dark and many are also increasingly set up for broadcast ( such as the Metropolitan Opera live ).
The Obama campaign should organize a LIVE broadcast in theatres in major cities throughout the country featuring Barack Obama most of all speaking at length and informally just as if he was at a private meeting with his supporters PLUS other key individual maybe even some live entertainment broadcast most likely from Chicago that will assemble thousands of Obama supporters in dozens of movie theatres from coast to coast for a 2-3 hour LIVE broadcast which can prove an important milestone in the development of the campaign, And display to the media and the other candidates the strength of the Obama campaign. I think it is more than reasonable for each attendee at each theatre to contribute just $10 to cover the cost of the event.
NO CANDIDATE IN HISTORY has ever done anything comparable. It will be one more example of this innovative campaign, And i believe the success of the first event can result in this format working for the campaign on a regular basis solidifying its support and bringing together supporters in large numbers making it dramatically clear we are all part of a unified NATIONAL campaign effort. Keeping and building MOMENTUM is all important. Momentum is a precious priceless resource and if it lost it is almost impossible to revive in my experience. This campaign needs to a a blazing "engine" of momentum all the way to August 2008 if need be and the convention in Denver.
According to Yahoo News, all of the 2008 hopefuls are tossing this word around like confetti. On a more serious note, I really appreciated this citation:
"Presidential historian James MacGregor Burns, whose 1978 book 'Leadership' is widely admired and studied, wrote that a 'transformational leader stands on the shoulders of his followers, expressing coherently those ideas which lie inchoate in the hearts of the followers — and in the process makes his followers into new leaders.'"
I think that's exactly to sort of leader Obama is.
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - Checks from Hollywood's A-list stars such as George Clooney, Eddie Murphy and Barbra Streisand added up to an expected, one-night take of $1 million for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (news">Link, bio">Link, voting">Link record).
Three of the entertainment industry's biggest names — DreamWorks studio founders Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen — planned a private, Beverly Hills fundraiser for the freshman senator from Illinois.
The lineup of celebrities writing checks read like a red carpet's who's who — Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and Ben Stiller among others.
Tickets to the fundraiser are $2,300, the maximum individual donation to a federal campaign, or $4,600 for a couple. A later, private dinner at Geffen's home is being held for fundraisers who brought in at least $46,000 for the evening.
The fundraiser underscored the intense competition among the party's leading 2008 candidates for Hollywood dollars and endorsements. The entertainment industry is a perennial source of cash for Democrats, with big names often donating to multiple campaigns while withholding formal endorsements until later.
Spielberg, for example, is a host of the event but has not made an endorsement. Katzenberg and Geffen are backing Obama.
The movie, television and recording industries gave $33.1 million to federal candidates and parties in 2004, with much of that coming from Hollywood, according to the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics.
Obama's display of celebrity sizzle and campaign dollars challenges any assumptions that Hollywood dollars would default to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., who has longstanding ties to the industry, along with her husband, former President Clinton.
"I think this guy is for real," said longtime Democratic consultant Garry South, who is unaligned in the 2008 race. "I was skeptical at first, but something is going on here. ... Whether it can sustain itself remains to be seen."
Before the closed-door fundraiser, the Illinois senator was scheduled to speak to a crowd, potentially numbering in the thousands, at a public rally in Los Angeles.
Clinton will be pulling in Hollywood dollars next month, when a fundraiser is scheduled at the home of supermarket tycoon Ronald Burkle, a longtime friend and fundraiser for her husband.
In addition to money, the state has taken on new importance in presidential politics with lawmakers poised to move its primary to Feb. 5 from June.
Among other candidates, Republican Rudy Giuliani was in the state earlier this month. Sen. John McCain (news">Link, bio">Link, voting">Link record), R-Ariz., is planning to appear Wednesday with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Los Angeles area to discuss climate change.
Obama was on a three-day swing through California, his first since announcing his candidacy. He also held a fundraiser in La Jolla, near San Diego,
Beside the celebrity giving, checks have come in from studio bosses, including Paramount Pictures studio chief Brad Grey; Richard Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, and Ron Meyer of Universal Studios.
Wow!! What a response I have received since creating this group!! Obviously there so many of you that know "The Secret" and will apply all of it's principles for the election of President Obama. I visualize everday President Obama taking the Oath of Office, hand on the Bible, First Lady Michelle smiling next him on a beautiful, crisp clear day, and I feel a complete, sense of pride, peace and hope. Truly a powerful image and thought!! Now imagine millions of people seeing this same image daily and how powerful that Law of Attraction is!!! There is no doubt in my mind that day absolutely will come!!
Today is the followup show on Oprah for "The Secret" and I know all your Tivo's are set to record. I encourage those of you who have not yet seen "The Secret" to watch it!! Tonight!! It will change your life. It has mine in a very short period of time!
For those of you that have a visualization board, make sure you put a picture of Barack Obama as President on it. Look at it everyday and believe with all your deepest faith that this man Is the President of the United States. I will be referring to him as President Obama during the entire campaign because that is who he is!!
I encourage you all to invite all your friends and family to join this group and introduce them to "The Secret" !! The Law of Attraction is amazing and this will grow so strong, so fast!! Imagine what our lives will be when President Obama is elected! How fantastic is that!!!
I am so excited to get to know all of you and seeing how phenomenal our lives are going to become as a result of knowing "The Secret"!!
