Dean Nation joins the Iowa Perfect Storm
The link above goes to the signup page for the upcoming Iowa caucus. If you can take next weekend off, please get there. Now is the time. Three of our contributors will be in Iowa beginning next week: Heath of DeanTV, Amanda of MassForDean, and myself (I'll also be blogging at my site, annatopia.com). For months we've corresponded, volunteered, and blogged together, and I feel a comraderie with them even though we've never met face to face. We are lucky enough to be able to get time off and travel to Iowa, and I know that thousands more Dean volunteers and bloggers will be joining us to canvass door to door, phone bank, poll-watch, transport volunteers and sign up caucus goers. I am grateful and blessed to be in a position to do this.
I also realise there are some who aren't so lucky. Some of you might not be able to get the time off or you might not have the means to travel to Iowa or New Hampshire (link goes to informational and sign up page). That's fine, because there are many other things you can do to help out right now. Obviously, you can swing our bat. We'd love to hit $35K before the three of us arrive in Iowa. *smile* But if you're maxed out or short on funds right now, here are some other suggestions on how you can help right now.
If you haven't done so already, join Meetup. Tomorrow's meetup is the last one before the first votes are cast, and it's an important opportunity to recruit more volunteers for your local efforts. And considering we are going to have a snowball effect after the first round of primaries, local volunteers will be needed to coordinate all the new supporters and help win your local caucuses.
If you've got decent penmanship and some stamps and envelopes lying around, write some letters. There are two letter writing efforts currently in progress that need your time and energy. The first is, of course, rural Iowa. The cities have been pretty well covered, and the letter focus right now is on rural Iowans. Remember that the Iowa caucus is in 13 days, and the weather in the midwest is spotty. If you decide to do this, please mail your letters by next Wednesday, January 14, so that they will arrive before the caucus.
Looking ahead to February 3, there is another letter writing effort underway in South Carolina. Dean National JenInSC has sprearheaded the effort along with a trusty team of dedicated volunteers. They've created SC Volunteers for Dean, an all-purpose site where you can sign up to receive addresses of South Carolina voters to write or call. You can also volunteer to canvass door to door in South Carolina or sign up to work and intern for the campaign. If you write letters to South Carolina, please mail them by Saturday January 31 so that they arrive by the February 3 vote. That means we have about three weeks to flood South Carolina with letters.
If you'd rather be a media watchdog and help defend Gov Dean against the disgusting tactics employed by the punditry against President Gore, then pop over to the DDF - Dean Defense Forces and the Dean Rapid Response Network. Media watchdogs are needed now as the primary season heats up. We've already witnessed some gross transgressions on the part of the AP and some anonymous PACs which are getting some coverage. Now more than ever the DDF and DRR are needed, and now more than ever you are needed to help with this effort.
So... you can travel, write letters, phone bank, pundit watch, attend meetup and recruit volunteers, or swing the bat. But above all, don't wait to take action. The time to win the nomination is now. The time to focus and redouble our efforts is now. Not tomorrow, not next week. NOW. I believe in us. We have the power. It's time to wield it.
I also realise there are some who aren't so lucky. Some of you might not be able to get the time off or you might not have the means to travel to Iowa or New Hampshire (link goes to informational and sign up page). That's fine, because there are many other things you can do to help out right now. Obviously, you can swing our bat. We'd love to hit $35K before the three of us arrive in Iowa. *smile* But if you're maxed out or short on funds right now, here are some other suggestions on how you can help right now.
If you haven't done so already, join Meetup. Tomorrow's meetup is the last one before the first votes are cast, and it's an important opportunity to recruit more volunteers for your local efforts. And considering we are going to have a snowball effect after the first round of primaries, local volunteers will be needed to coordinate all the new supporters and help win your local caucuses.
If you've got decent penmanship and some stamps and envelopes lying around, write some letters. There are two letter writing efforts currently in progress that need your time and energy. The first is, of course, rural Iowa. The cities have been pretty well covered, and the letter focus right now is on rural Iowans. Remember that the Iowa caucus is in 13 days, and the weather in the midwest is spotty. If you decide to do this, please mail your letters by next Wednesday, January 14, so that they will arrive before the caucus.
Looking ahead to February 3, there is another letter writing effort underway in South Carolina. Dean National JenInSC has sprearheaded the effort along with a trusty team of dedicated volunteers. They've created SC Volunteers for Dean, an all-purpose site where you can sign up to receive addresses of South Carolina voters to write or call. You can also volunteer to canvass door to door in South Carolina or sign up to work and intern for the campaign. If you write letters to South Carolina, please mail them by Saturday January 31 so that they arrive by the February 3 vote. That means we have about three weeks to flood South Carolina with letters.
If you'd rather be a media watchdog and help defend Gov Dean against the disgusting tactics employed by the punditry against President Gore, then pop over to the DDF - Dean Defense Forces and the Dean Rapid Response Network. Media watchdogs are needed now as the primary season heats up. We've already witnessed some gross transgressions on the part of the AP and some anonymous PACs which are getting some coverage. Now more than ever the DDF and DRR are needed, and now more than ever you are needed to help with this effort.
So... you can travel, write letters, phone bank, pundit watch, attend meetup and recruit volunteers, or swing the bat. But above all, don't wait to take action. The time to win the nomination is now. The time to focus and redouble our efforts is now. Not tomorrow, not next week. NOW. I believe in us. We have the power. It's time to wield it.
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