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Edited on Sun Oct-22-06 03:50 PM by Dems Will Win
Just went canvassing yesterday and had a GREAT TIME walking for Kirsten Gillibrand in NY-20. Got a Republican lady to vote for her by explaining that NCLB Act had CUT funding for Hyde Park schools and that's why her property tax has soared. So if she just votes Democratic just this one time for Gillibrand and Spitzer, there will be more State and Federeal funding for the Hyde Park schools and her school tax will go down.
She said she would vote for Gillibrand. Totalled about 15 votes either persuaded undecideds or reminded Dems to vote. There were 20 teams so that was about 300 to 400 voters reached and benefited by the 3 hours.
The top 5 talking points that worked for me besides that local property tax issue:
1. The War in Iraq. Laid on the facts that 776 US soldiers were wounded in September, that shocked people, and that the Iraqi Parliament just passed 200 laws to split Iraq in 3. All were aghast at Iraq except one anyhow. All agreed with re-deploying over the horizon to Kuwait and Qatar or jsut wanted to get all out of the Middle East.
2. The GOP Spending. The budget deficit is not just the official $248 billion. Add in the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund for 2006 for another $177 bil and the War in Iraq and Afghanistan for $101 bil and the real budget deficit is $526 billion for 2006. By the way, that FICA tax you and your employer pay every 2 weeks is TOTALLY STOLEN. It's supposed to go in a Trust Fund, Gore's Lockbox, but instead it goes to Treasury and goes right out to pay bills. Bonds are issued which may someday never be paid. Interest payments are now soaring and are $430 billion per year! The interest payments on the national debt went from $5.8 bil to $9 bil in just 6 years of Bush! The CBO projected a $305 billion surplus for 2006 in 2001, btw, before the Paris Hilton tax cuts.
3. They are all crooks, voters exclaimed. I replied: but only the Republicans tried to change the Ethics Rules so Tom Delay could stay in the leadership even after he was indicted. And only the Republicans are involved in the huge Jack Abramoff Scandal, the humongous Duke Cunningham Scandal, the horrifying Mark Foley Scandal and the infuriating Iraq War Fraud and Profiteering Rip-Off. Only the Republicans.
4. Price of Gas and Outsourcing were easy to pin on the GOP, that's already perceived out there.
5. GOP War on the Middle Class. Pell Grants cut dramatically. Dems will roll back tax cuts ONLY for those making over $250,000 per year. Everyone lower than that gets to keep their Bush tax cuts, I said. That always got a big smile and then kind of a look, like why then should I vote for the GOP, I already got my tax cut. The conversation always went easier after I dropped that one on 'em.
Please rec to get this out there to the boots on the ground to help out.
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