Party for Kucinich and Peace!

FROM JEFF COHEN, Campaign Communications Director

IOWA!
Before I tell you about the partying we have planned this month, here's what I saw Monday and Tuesday in Iowa, the crucial first voting state in the country. As mainstream journalists acknowledged, no one had more supporters in the Des Moines Labor Day parade than Dennis, whose talk at the end of the parade was carried by C-SPAN. On Labor Day, our campaign announced the "Rank and File Labor for Kucinich" steering committee, 32 Iowa labor leaders and activists from 15 unions reaching out to other union folks to get them to vote for Kucinich in the January caucuses.

Tuesday, Sept. 2nd, the leading peace group in Iowa, STAR*PAC, resoundingly endorsed Kucinich as "the first president of the new millennium to stand for peace." Citing his antiwar leadership in Congress and his campaign positions, (including cuts in Pentagon spending), STAR*PAC threw its weight 100% behind Kucinich. If you believe the corporate media, Dean is the "antiwar candidate" with all the student support. Wrong on both counts. The Kucinich rally at the University of Iowa Monday night was electric with hundreds of students ready to work for Kucinich from now until January...and beyond


TIME TO PARTY (2 ways)
MEETUP! Join your like-minded neighbors tonight (Thursday, Sep. 4th) at one of hundreds of MeetUps across the country. It's fun and easy. Go to www.kucinich2004.meetup.com and RSVP. You may just meet progressive neighbors for the first time. There are new tips and materials available at http://www.kucinich.us/meetup.htm to help you make the most of your MeetUp. (Don't forget to set your VCR to record tonight's presidential debate and ask others at MeetUp about getting together at a later date to watch it.)

"PEACE DAY" HOUSE PARTIES -- Sunday, Sept. 21 will be a day of house parties across America to raise funds and spirits for the Kucinich campaign. The U.N. has designated Sept. 21 as the International Day of Peace which the U.N. hopes will be a day of ceasefires and nonviolence; the Kucinich Dept. of Peace bill includes the promotion of Peace Day. Some folks will start organizing their Peace Day Parties at tonight's MeetUp, so don't miss that (see above). To learn more about House Partying for Peace and Kucinich on Sept. 21, see http://www.kucinich.us/houseparty.htm


PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE ON TV
Dennis and all other Democrats will debate tonight in Albuquerque. It will be televised on PBS stations Thursday night (check local listings), and on Univision in Spanish on Saturday. Don't be a lonely couch potato -- get active, get social, set your VCR to tape it so you can attend your local MeetUp tonight:
http://www.kucinich2004.meetup.com


CAMPAIGN EXPANDING, NEEDS FUNDS
Please donate at https://www.kucinich.us/contribute.php

:kick:

I posted about this at the Kucinich volunteer board as well, under this topic.

Don't necessarily think small and intimate. You can have 5-10 people order the Peace Party supply package and have enough campaign items for 50-100 ppl. Check local community centers and other free activity centers to see if you can get space for free or for a small fee. If there is a fee you can always do a small local donation request for that specific project, 5$ here and 10$ there.

Make the party an organized donation thing, pot-luck style, putting out a call for what things you need.

Basically follow the suggestions, but think bigger if you can and want to! It's really not that hard to invite a ton of people and look for a good number of responses, especially if you have a large group effort. Go big, folks! That's the way to spread the Kucinich message and platform! Just go with your instincts and if they say go bigger, then DO so!

Who is ready for fundamental change? I am, how about you all?:thumbsup: :toast:

Just got back from tonight's meetup.

And will probably attend a party on the 21st. Because Dennis will be there on the 21st in Studio City!!!! We aren't having our own regional parties on that day; we're bringing people to the one we know he'll be at, since he's due in town that day. But, since my meetup group is involved in the houseparty, I really want to be there. I'm going, and I'll round up as many people as I can find to go with me.

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

:bounce: :silly: :grr:

Dammitall, this is too much for me! I am so beyond green!

S'ok, I still lubs ya.

If I just show up, then Dennis is preaching to the choir. My goal is to find 2 interested people to go with me.

I know one man who would love Dennis, and he lives right there in Studio City. But...he's a Canadian national and can't vote. He has plenty of friends, though!

I know a few other people near me I'm planning to approach. In this town, politics are hidden, or treated very gingerly by everybody except the right-wing hard cores who hold power here. They'd have to be really interested to travel the distance and make time in a tight schedule. We'll see.

I got to talk to two colleagues in the bathroom today, of all places. They can't stand *, but didn't know anything about any of the dem candidates. They asked why I looked so tired this morning, and I told them I'd driven an hour to a political meeting after an 11 hour work day. They were salivating, wanting to know all about it. I was very matter-of-fact, and let Dennis' name drop. At which point, one of them started screeching and jumping up and down...she used to live in Ohio, knew about Dennis, and thought he "rocked." But she didn't know he was running. The bell rang, we rushed to class, and I dropped a mention of his visit in a couple of weeks. Here's hoping I can get them to go with me.

:toast:

BTW have you heard Cass(Tiniore)'s story about getting 3 republicans to join us. Day by day we make gains in this great crusade the eyes of the world are on us, now tell me teach who did I paraphrase. Ok I will tell you, thats from in a way Eisenhower's memo to the troops on D-Day. Let us seek the beseechings of almighty god in this great and noble undertaking.

Where is it???

I'm hopping in and out of DU quickly these days, trying to keep up with work and the campaign tasks I've volunteered for. So I miss a lot of threads.

Here's a quote from the teach for you, John. It's long, but especially appropriate:

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended. Its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war . . . and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

I'll be back with the author this evening, if you or someone else doesn't beat me to it!

- James Madison, April 20, 1795

relocated Ohioan already if she was that excited about it. :D With her excitement and yours I bet you have a few extras too.

I'm not very experienced at campaigning...an understatement. This is the first time I've ever registered with a party and the first candidate I ever officially supported. I don't know about large group kinds of activities. But one person at a time I can do. Like a ripple in the pond, each one person I can find will extend to others in their lives.

At the labor rally in Wilmington,CA on Labor Day, there was a tremendous amount of support for Dennis. He had a ton of supporters there. There were two lonely Dean people sitting on a hill watching the festivities.

Does anybody here on DU have any contact with Tracy Chapman, by any chance? Or know how to contact her?

I've been hunting all over the place for something and all I can come up with is Elektra Records.*sigh* I so want to make something happen in the way of an endorsement and theme here.

"Tracy Chapman was born March 20, 1964, in Cleveland, Ohio. In her childhood, Tracy learned to play the ukulele, the piano, and eventually the guitar and started writing her own songs.
<snip>
While studying African culture and anthropology at Tufts, Tracy began performing her folk sound at local coffeehouses on the streets of Harvard Square.

<snip>Tracy has a knack for singing about a disenfranchised environment with an overtone of ultimate optimism for change."

Do a Google and see if any of the sites have contact info....

She'd be awesome...BTW tomorow Dennis is with Willie at FarmAid on Ohio!!!!

Peace
DR

About Farmaid that is. The holiday threw my pay all off and I can't go!;(

I ran one search but I don't remember what engine I used. I'll have to try Google. I did not know she was born in Cleveland, but as I recall she moved to the Northeast when she was just a little girl, so I doubt she even remembers Dennis.

Anyway, I have her "New Beginnings" CD and the title-track is a perfect song for this campaign. Hit my reviveddemocrat blog link and check out the lyrics if you like.