ONLY 130 more days until Democrats control the House, IF...

[Turn CO Blue]

IF we are very busy! IF we donate! IF we ALL show up to vote! IF we volunteer, knock on doors, campaign, observe the count, work the phone banks!

Register ten people to vote. If everyone on DU registered ten people to vote (the earlier, the better), and followed up with those new voters, and 8 of them actually voted, that would be 640,000 extra votes around the country. Perhaps enough to overcome the gerrymander/Diebold edge that the Repubs have in a couple of districts. DU'ers are capable of great influence.

Donate some money. Any money to candidates at this point is called "seed money". When groups see that a candidate is collecting money from individuals at this point in the race, large groups and other individuals are encouraged start donating and to donate more. Money donated earlier is worth "more" than late money. Give a little, give a lot. EVEN FIVE LOUSY BUCKS is really something! I know that you can give up your Liberal Latte' today, and donate $5. (/sarcasm)

Volunteer to work at your precinct. Don't want to work the GOTV phone banks? Be an observer in your precinct and keep them honest. Contact someone today to sign up.

Take those days off. Remember to ask your boss for Monday and Tuesday November 6th-7th OFF from work TODAY!

Count it down. You'll see that November 7th is not that far away. The summer will fly by - soon you'll be getting your kids ready for the new school year. We have to be busy now.


130 more days...

• 18 weeks (rounded down)
• 3,120 hours
• 187,200 minutes
• 11,232,000 seconds

[ixion]

1. if the voting machines aren't rigged

:evilfrown:

[LiberalVoice]

2. Yeah thats one of those important "Ifs" nt

[Turn CO Blue]

3. yeah, well, that's only in some districts.

It's difficult, but their statistical advantage is NOT insurmountable.

That's why we have to register some of those hundreds of thousands of formerly apolitical, yet suddenly quite concerned, citizens to vote, and encourage to actually take off work and vote.

You do realize that people acting LAZY or people (especially single moms) being TOO BUSY and not wanting to take an hour out to vote -- actually hurts us FAR, FAR more than the Diebold machines, right?

We have to learn to use EMOTION to get out the vote -- the Repubs certainly know how.

[Turn CO Blue]

4. Also: Repubs are better at GOTV than we are! Voter Vault

Here's one by Kos that shows that the Repubs have a technological ADVANTAGE over us for GOTV and identifying their core group.


CA-50: the GOP's technology advantage
by kos
Tue Jun 27, 2006 at 10:28:14 AM PDT

There are probably lots of reasons why we didn't win the special election in the California 50th, but one of them is clearly the fact that the GOP runs circles around us in running modern campaigns. While Democrats spent the last weekend running the same, tired, ad-driven campaign, look what Republicans were doing:

FOUR DAYS before this month's special election in San Diego County to replace imprisoned former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Republican strategists back in Washington were worried. In addition to voter discontent with GOP leadership and the looming shadow of scandal dominating the campaign, Democrats appeared to enjoy yet another advantage: More absentee ballots were being submitted by Democratic voters than by Republicans.

The advantage did not last long. Jolted to life, the GOP machinery revved into high gear as activists poured into the district. They scoured the party's computer database for sympathetic voters who had requested absentee ballots but had not yet submitted them, knocked on their doors and called them on the phone. Suddenly, thousands of additional votes had been secured, and by election day, the GOP had turned around a costly deficit -- with 10,000 more Republicans than Democrats voting absentee <...>

The results in the 50th Congressional District did not merely illustrate the potential inadequacy of the Democratic strategy for the November elections; they foreshadowed a much bigger and more startling story line: That even in the face of Republican scandals, sour approval ratings, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and growing public rejection of President Bush's policies in Iraq, the Republican Party still holds the lead in the art and science of obtaining power -- and keeping it.

The fact is that over two or three decades, the GOP has painstakingly built up a series of structural advantages that make the party increasingly difficult to beat. And in the last five years, it has strengthened its hold under President Bush and his political guru, Karl Rove.

What do these structural advantages look like in practice?

Both parties can identify voters by precinct, address, party affiliation and, often, their views on hot-button issues. Democrats also use marketing data, but Voter Vault includes far more information culled from marketing sources -- including retailers, magazine subscription services, even auto dealers -- giving Republicans a high-tech edge in the kind of grass-roots politics that has long been the touchstone of Democratic activists.

<http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/27/132814/755>

[skipos]

5. We did really well in 05 (VA, NJ, CA) and we can do well in 06. nt