What are YOU doing on the ground this week?

Have you checked in with your local democratic party? With the Obama organization in your area?

In my area, we have a Democratic party organizational meeting tonight, and the Obama people have a voter Registration drive Saturday. Looking over SE Pennsylvania events, I even saw an Irish Music Fundraiser for Obama next week -- truly something for everyone!

As Thom Hartmann says "tag, you're it"

Note: an answer to "what do I want to do with the information? :tinfoilhat:" -- I'd like to inspire people to GET OUT THERE.
It feels SO MUCH BETTER to win an election you worked on than one where you were a bystander.

tomorrow. It's a 30 mile drive, but I'll be going and signing up to volunteer. We're in rural northwestern PA.

My dad is from north-central PA - coal country.

I know from experience -- when you WIN an election you've actually WORKED on - it feels much better than just winning as a bystander.

that kind of strategic information and:

#2 Wondering what they would be doing with it were I to do so.

Like "I'll be working at the Victorian Festival from 9-3 on 9/20, registering voters" - I'm want to know in general what DU folks are doing,

It helps keep us focused to remember that there is actual STUFF TO DO vs. bitching and moaning.

:tinfoilhat:

In the last two weeks, me and friends are going to PA and VA for GOTV efforts.

You or one of your ilk.

Twice I've had the privlege of knocking on doors in my swing state with good people from solid blue areas -- one woman from DC, and one from NY. I "had" to get up and drive a whole 10 minutes to the local launching point for canvassing - they were willing to take ad LONG bus ride and come up here and eat stale sandwiches and go door to door in the cold, asking for votes for Gore or Kerry.

And in both cases, we won this swing state. Good luck in Virginia this year!!

I am physically limited right now and breastfeeding twins, so I'm doing as much as I can from home- LTTE, commenting on stories and blogs, and phone banking.

vs. just the general bitching and complaining we (that we includes me) do here at DU.

I walked with another Obama supporter and knocked on 40 doors.

I will be canvassing again this coming weekend.

Get Active!!!!

new voters, discussing our candidates, raising money and selling Obama stuff. I did office work also on Sunday afternoon doing the same thing, signing up volunteers and inbetween phonebanking for our local Congressional candidate while 6 others phonebanked for Obama. I will probably go to the office on Weds. (depending on my work schedule) and phonebank for whoever needs it. We are handling three candidates from our local Dem office. People are signing up to volunteer in droves. And this is in a very red district. We got more newly registered voters at the fair in one shift (4 hrs) than we did the entire 3 days of it last year. Our Dem chair said we have registered more Dems this year than the past five years put together! Things look good on the ground.

Couldn't you squeeze in something more, though - you know, maybe between 10:00 and 10:05 on Tuesday ;-)

I can't take any credit for this, but PA has registered 250,000 new Dems (with a corresponding 250,000 decrease in Republican), so I'm feeling optimistic that our formerly "swing" state will be more like your deep blue one in coming years.

Registering new voters rocks.

3 weeks in October right before election day and I plan to do something every day for the Dems. Yeah, I'm a rabid dem, what can I say? It's a tough district. We are the east Texas of California, it's that red.

I've been a total slacker, rationalizing that I travel too much for work.

But I managed to watch a whole season of "Last Comic Standing", and the past two weeks we've been having a "Bones" marathon in my house.

Imagine the time we all would have if we just turned off the TV and time-shifted our DU use.

Thanks for the inspiration, TC - if you can do that out in your area, we can all do it.

I haven't committed to a slot staffing the booth, but I plan on stopping by and asking if they need help. I didn't want to commit in case I wasn't able to meet the commitment. Fingers crossed I'll be able to help in some way.

I was going to try and start a thread like this today..good job!

Where I put in my zip code and found out what was going on in SE PA (proud to sound like an ad for BarackObama.com!!!)

Then, instead of ignoring the huge number of emails I get because I'm a committeewoman, I actually clicked on them and found out where my local meetings were. I've been traveling for work and haven't been able to attend them since the primaries, but I'll be there tonight.

I'm hope all this inspires lots of people to get that shoeleather out and canvass, canvass (or, like the breast-feeding mom in the previous post, call, call, call)

...getting others involved...

write 10 posts to the already converted about how cruel and mean the media is to Obama.

There's your answer, fishbulb (<-Simpsons reference)

Brave you, speaking at a house party.

I guess I shold just sit at my computer & wring my hands over the bad ol' media

that'll doit, YEAH!

which I took most of the day off from my own work to do. That and the occasional knocking on doors I do with other volunteers.

I will be handing out Obama signs in my precinct as soon as I have some free time.

Eleven.

Out of a district with a population of about 250,000.

Eleven.

So those 5 your registered make a difference, and who knows who they might bring to the polls with them - an awful lot of the folks I see at the polls come in GROUPS.

I used to attend local meetings of Dem committeefolks, and I'll be honest, it was generally boring, unorganized, and somewhat dull.

Finally had time this Spring to make another meeting, and DAMN!!!! these people had their act together: a full agenda which moved right along, an energized guest speaker who explained how to GOTV, zip, bang, boom - not a dull moment or wasted minute.

I left and told my S.O.: "I think I stumbled into the wrong meetingroom!!!"

Very impressive, very professional, and won't waste your time. Not the sleepy, disorganized group I joined up with about 20 years ago, that's for sure!!!

This is my first time volunteering. I hope it goes well. I'm shy, and the thought of talking to strangers makes me a little queasy, but I've decided to suck it up.

Pretty non-confrontational.

Welcome to activism, EB! :hi:

or maybe even canvas.

People tend to be more civil face-to-face, although YMMV

Plus you're generally canvassing with someone else, and it's a way to get to know other Dems. It can be a workout, though. I always volunteer to do town vs 'burbs if there's a choice - rowhouses are SO much easier and more efficient than big-lawned McMansions!!

It's preaching to the choir around here.

I think those in blue states should spend time vetting Palin... digging up old quotes from McCain that show him in line with Bush, etc.

I have not seen ONE McCain bumper sticker. Not ONE. The parking structure of my office building is a sea of Obama stickers. This is the sort of town where you can throw out anti-Bush or anti-McCain speak and 98 times out of 100, someone will ask to shake your hand.

or "light" blue or "light" red states.

CA is a different beast, but MidAtlantic population is clustered, so it's a reasonable bus or car trip to another state for those who live in areas like NYC or DC which are also deep blue. I've had the privilege of canvassing with volunteers from both those areas who had bussed in to help us out, and help PA go for Gore and Kerry back when the Philadelphia suburbs were almost exactly 50/50 D/R (these days, we Dems have a slim leg up)

So dig away out there, and we'll marshall the troops out here. This is one we HAVE to win.

Saturday I registered 13 voters (one re-registered from Republican to Democrat!) and will be volunteering at the campaign office when it opens in the next town.

Including 6 cases of Red Bull!

What if all of us that could afford to to that DID do that?

Maybe I'll bring food/drink when I stop in at my local HQ on Saturday before the registration drive!

...and whatever else they need.

up on Obama's website to participate in the neighbor to neighbor program, I decided to sign up myself. I have all my flyers printed out, my questionnaire is ready, and I will be hitting the street this week. I think I may also sign up for a meeting at my house to brainstorm about what else we can do in my town.

Illinois is already going to go blue again, but I want to go hands on this election instead of just sending in a few donations online.

I'm INSPIRED!

Thanks for your post!

:)

I may get some sleep after Nov. 4th. :donut:

Now if I could just quit fixating on national politics that would free up at least an hour a day.

Ha! /tweety

I signed up and I am psyched!

If you just enter your zip code, you can see a whole list. How very convenient.

(thanks for the chance to plug the openings, SC47!)

and none that have volunteer work on a regular basis. I like the idea of having a weekly schedule. Phone calls just don't do it for me.

It's crunch time folks - especially here in Ohio.

We should leave no stone unturned.

All the best.

OHT

GOBAMA!

working for Jeff Merkley, Senate candidate here in Oregon, who is trailing Gordon Smith. McCain has stopped buying ads in Oregon, apparently conceding the state to Obama.

women about the issue of choice and McCain and Palin's ultra right stand on Roe v. Wade. Many women don't know about it and when they do they don't like it. I may get some votes for Obama there. I hope so!

CT is strongly blue. New Hampshire isn't a strong for us yet. Usually I don't like carpetbagging into other states to lecture anybody about how they should vote. This will be strictly informational.

women about the issue of choice and McCain and Palin's ultra right stand on Roe v. Wade. Many women don't know about it and when they do they don't like it. I may get some votes for Obama there. I hope so!

CT is strongly blue. New Hampshire isn't a strong for us yet. Usually I don't like carpetbagging into other states to lecture anybody about how they should vote. This will be strictly informational.

I can't canvass because of my messed up ankle, but I'm more than happy to make phone calls.