gearing up for the final four days

The days are getting longer, so these email updates are getting shorter.

Tuesday through Thursday we did 14-hour days helping our full-time organizers (who get in earlier and leave later than we do). But Tom and Judi have keep the fridge full so we can grab breakfast, pack lunches, and eat really yummy leftovers whenever we roll in at 1 am. The coffee shop down the street keeps us all fueled on caffine.

Ahhhh....the life of an organizer. For a week, the last week, it's energizing, but there is a reason most of these organizers are still in their twenties! And the local volunteers are great - retirees who come in the morning, our 17 yr-old high-school student, Jessie, who has missed her curfew two nights in a row because she is staying late to organize all the "door hangers" (a flyer that hangs on the door with the address of the local voting poll) by precinct for four different cities. The college students, like Peter, who only leave when they just can't skip another class. The working folks who come before or after their day job, or the parents who juggle kids between volunteer shifts (or bring them with them--Erin got to help Kiersten, a four year old, find some markers to make Obama signs while her mom stuffed literature packs). Yesterday a new volunteer, Barb, who stayed for more than six hours, said "I've got some bratwurst in the freezer since the summer, do you think there would be a problem if I cooked them and brought them in in?" No problem! I've been trying to convince our organizer from Brooklyn "when in WI, eat like the Wisconsinites do - brats and cheese." (The take-out thai food last night was actually just like bad Chinese food and he wasn't happy.)

Yesterday Erin organized a slew of volunteers, at least 35, many of whom stayed five hours or more, to collate all the literature packets that will get dropped for GOTV (get out the vote) for Sat/Sun for our four cities. I worked with others to collate all the "turf", or packets with neighborhood maps and lists of specific voter households that volunteers will contact as they walk through the assigned neighborhood. Yesterday and today our other huge task is sorting and counting door hangers for Monday and Tuesday. These are pre-printed fliers that say the specific ward, polling place, voting hours, etc. Because they are specific to each polling place - and a different flier on Monday vs Tuesday - they needed to be sorted by specific ward/turf. And, a lot of ours weren't pre-printed, so we are printing mailing labels and sticking them on....

This is not glamorous campaign work, this is spending all day in a dim, cold, musty basement with crap all over the floor and piles of door hangers everywhere. But it is essential work - we want canvassers in every town, in every ward, in every turf hanging this voting information on doors and urging people to vote.

There's fun moments, too--last night was downtown trick or treating and there were HUNDREDS of little kids and their parents coming by...we rushed out and got candy and gave out treats...and Obama stickers! The little kids love Obama, and they always love stickers, so it was really fun...at the same time, we got to say "vote for change" over and over again, and give people info about where and when to vote. We even gave away some posters and signs to happy parents! At 11pm last night our little group for Neenah/Menasha area met to plan our staging for the weekend. We've got some space in the Steelworkers building in Menasha from 9 am Sat through end of election day. It will be cramped, with volunteers coming and going. It will be fun, but today is the last day to get everything organized for GOTV. Here we go!

Oh, one more thing: we got to watch the Obama infomercial on Wed night with the Steelworkers--we were moved by the content of the special program, but more than that, we were moved and inspired by the local Steelworkers organizers who spoke afterwards, explaining to their membership the importance of this election and what a more progressive administration and a new direction in the economy could mean for laborers.

And that night, we met two star volunteers, Kent and Deb, who have been working tirelessly on the campaign. They threw their first houseparty for Obama (and made this video about it), to talk about the election with their friends and neighbors, on the day that the New Page paper plant closed down. They had also lived in CT for a little while, before the Kimberly Clarke plant there, near Danbury, closed down as well. What Obama's video did that night is make stories like Kent's and Deb's real for the larger public.

Working on this campaign, it's clear that it's never been about "empty words", and that "change" is not just a slogan. It's a necessity--we've got to rebuild this economy so it can work for the 21st century, so that working people have a chance to build a solid life for themselves. We forgot to mention just how many "for sale" signs we saw when we canvassed on Sunday--we talked to one realtor we met about that, and she said that a lot of people have had to move because of job loss, and are struggling to sell their homes--especially from out of state... Anyway, enough talk! It's time to go to the office.

There's still time to get involved, and to make this election deliver a resounding, huge, victory for Obama! sign up to volunteer at www.barackobama.com

dispatch from the (corn)field

Hi all!

As many of you know, Anne and I have taken a week of vacation to work on the campaign, and spent a lot of time this September and early October trying to figure out where to go--with friends and family in Florida, Wisconsin, and Indiana, we had our choice of swing states...

Well, we chose Wisconsin, and are staying with her brother Tom and his wife Judi and their son Diego in Neenah. Anne has campaigned in Wisconsin a good deal in the past, and just longed to be in this longitude. She was motivated to get her homeland peeps to vote democratic (and to see our nephew dressed up on Halloween!). Neenah is a pretty conservative area, but it has quite a bit of support for Obama, and we're working to get all those people to the polls in SIX SHORT DAYS (can you believe it!!!).

We got here on Saturday evening, so our first activities were on Sunday, when we went canvassing from 11-5 (with a lunch break). We first stopped by the campaign's temporary space at the Labor Temple at 10 am, to get meet our organizer, Les, who is from Brooklyn! Les has been assigned to Alaska, West Virginia, South Dakota, and maybe more...Anyway, Sunday morning we got oriented to the campaign, the local races, typical responses from people at the door, and so forth. Anne's brother Tom lent us their GPS, which was super helpful in actually getting us to the neighborhood where we canvassed.

I have to admit, we were nervous. There were quite a few McCain signs posted around the neighborhood, and we'd heard from Tom and Judi that a lot of the people they know around here are conservative. So, with a little trepidation, we began knocking on doors. And we found a lot of supporters, and Wisconsinites largely living up to the high standards of "Minnesota Nice".

At this point in the campaign, we're still identifying supporters, by knocking on doors and phonecalling lists of potential supporters. We're also focused on recruiting new volunteers to help us when we switch to Getting Out the Vote (GOTV), which is Sat-Tues. On Sunday we knocked on 59 doors and found 12 supporters--there were a lot of people who weren't home, and a few undecideds. We left pamphlets for everyone who wasn't home and with the undecided voters.

And we found a volunteer! One of our last doors of the day--after it started raining and the wind picked up!!--was a volunteer named Sally, who had volunteered during the primaries and for John Kerry, and she was excited to learn that we'd set up an office down the road from her house. Wisconsin has early voting, so we were encouraging people to go to their city halls this week and vote; the state also has same-day voter registration, so we can still get new registrants on the voter rolls.

Monday we went down to the Oshkosh office, which is a big space with six or seven organizers working from there, including organizers for local races and the actual candidate running for State Assembly, Gordon Hintz. Five organizers are dedicated to the Obama campaign. We'll take some pictures and send them with our next update, but there are lots of posters for Obama and charts for the campaign, a phonebank, a group of computers for data entry, a canvass launch area, and a reception area. It's a good setup. There's a bunch of volunteers coming in to work throughout the day--retirees, students, former college professors, blue collar manual laborers...those who come in two hours a week every week and have been doing so for the last three months, some who just got involved and are coming three or four times a week this week alone, and some who come just once...the whole gamut.

Erin spent most of Monday cleaning up/sorting out after the weekend canvasses and entering volunteer contacts in the database. Anne did a bit of that, and also made calls to identify more volunteers. It was Erin's birthday on Monday, so we took the evening off to have dinner and celebrate with Tom, Judi and Diego. Then, on Tuesday Erin did more data entry, and organized the campaign literature for the all the local districts (about 20 boxes) which is collated into packets so canvassers have the right pamphlets for their area. She also acted as "greeter" to welcome volunteers, make sure they had stuff to do, and answer questions for people who walk in wanting to register to vote, get lawn signs, etc. This was happening a bit before we arrived, but having run campaigns offices in the past and trained lots of volunteers, we knew how important these first impressions were.

So Erin was able to get a good vibe going up front and recruited at least 4 volunteers during the day from those walk-ins. One guy said he had never voted before, wanted to register, and in addition to giving him directions to city hall, Erin signed him up for the Saturday canvass! Also a blogger from the WI Obama website came by and interviewed Erin and another volunteer--we'll send you the link if he posts the interview.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Anne helped Les "pull lists" and "cut turf." Again, a job she used to do as an organizer - before we had Google maps, internet, and really cool computer databases! For everyone canvassing in our four towns on Saturday through Tuesday, we needed to create the list of people and maps of the area. So Anne spent all day looking up people in every ward (precint), and "cutting turfs" the size of about 50 homes each. There is more to do today!

Anne is having a fun time keeping stats (old organizer habits die hard). Here they are:

• Sunday - canvassed: 59 doors, 12 supporters, 1 volunteer
• Monday - phone calls for volunteer recruitment: 96 calls, 14 contacts, 3 volunteers (lots of people not home when calling in the middle of the day....); about 40 pages of data entry
• Tuesday - create walk lists and turf maps for canvassing: 53 lists, 42 turfs; about 40 pages of data entry

It's been a fun couple of day so far, and we're so excited to be here and focused on the campaign! We'll send more updates later this week, with some pics.

We know the polls look like everything is going well for Obama, but we have to win this thing big--which means that there's work for everyone to do.

And we believe that it's not just about Nov 4, it's about activating the public to get involved, and forming a network to keep them involved after election day.

It's like we're coming out of a long sleep, those eight years of Bush/Cheney that made you just want to hibernate and crawl underneath the covers...But it's time to wake everyone up, let them know that they can be involved, that we're all connected to one another...and that we can shape the future.

Please, if you are not already, sign up to volunteer this weekend or on Election Day.
If you've got questions or hesitations about volunteering, let us know, and we'll be happy to talk you through what's involved.

Gobama!

the eyes on the prize edition

I've been meaning to send out a bunch of links for more than a week, since Palin began really hitting out at Obama, and the rallies started to turn ugly...the fact that people were yelling things like "traitor" and worse was making me fearful and angry, and I started realizing just how hard an Obama presidency is going to be for some people. I guess I knew it at one level before, but I started to get a better emotional understanding of how much an Obama presidency was going to upend some people's worlds, and how scared they are of having an African-American in the White House.

And I realized that, although times have changed so much, that this election is partly a continuation of the civil rights battles of the 50s and 60s...that the ugly racism and violent rhetoric about anti-Americanness is a reaction that is threaded through to those struggles, those birthing pains, that deep conflict. I realized that someone might get hurt, someone could even die. And I had a glimpse of how brave those civil rights activists were, and how brave the Obamas are today.

So I've been singing in my head, off and on for the last week or so, that civil rights era song:

Ain't gonna let nobody, Lordy, turn me round,
Turn me round, turn me round,
Ain't gonna let nobody, Lordy, turn me round,
I'm gonna keep on a-walkin', Lord, keep on a-talkin', Lord,
Marching up to freedom land.

I had started collecting stories and links of all the violence and threats, but then switched to collecting links to those stories that showed how many people are ready. I've decided not to focus on the fear and the hatred. It's a good thing, because yesterday brought the news that a plot to kill African-American high schoolers and to assassinate Obama was thwarted. I think Obama's response, yesterday, says it all:

"I think what has been striking in this campaign is the the degree to which these kind of hate groups have been marginalized. That's not who America is. That's not who our future is. What I've found is people here [in w. Pennsylvania] don't care what color you are. What they're trying to figure out is who can deliver. It's just like the Pttisburgh Steelers: they don't care what color you are, they just want to figure out, can you make the plays?"

Obama's right, and this year, I think we've got a good portion of the American people who are willing to stand with him and not be deterred: Responding to Palin's meanness, he said: "We're not going to be distracted. We're not going to be diverted. Not this time. Not this year. Our challenges are too great for a politics that's so small."

Check out this link for inspiring pictures of what this campaign is really about, and a video interview with a 105 year old woman, who's waiting for Obama to be elected...

That's what America looks like. People are coming out and doing the right thing. Just look:

We've got people walking off the job, refusing to participate in McCain's nastiness. Yesterday, around 40 people in Indiana walked off the job--when they were assigned to call people for the McCain campaign, and leave nasty messages. Indiana forbids robocalling with pre-recorded messages, so such messages have to be delivered by people individually.

We've got ex-Dept of Justice officials who are speaking out about the still-existing partisanship within the DOJ

We've got the two Senators from Maine speaking out against McCain's robocalls, asking for them to cease

We've got a GOP official from Wisconsin endorsing Obama, denouncing the robocalls

We've got 5000 lawyers committed to monitor the polls on election day--we still need more!

We've got McCain supporters confronting the ugliness at McCain rallies--challing the anti-Muslim rhetoric

We've got the fact that Obama has historical, record-high favorability ratings for a Presidential candidate. Those who would spew ugliness are the minority.

We've got the fact that at least 26 newspapers that backed Bush have now endorsed Obama--including the Hartford Courant, which has only backed one other democrat in 244 years.

And we've got the fact that 100,000 people turned out in Denver a few days ago, when only 4,000 turned out for McCain; last week, 100,000 in St Louis, and 75000 in Kansas City. The majority enthusiastically supports Obama... now we just have to get everyone to get out there and vote!

The bat signal is on, even in North Carolina.

The people are ready, even the schoolchildren in Nebraska.

Burly NASCAR men in Ohio are being inspired by little old Jewish ladies while waiting in line to vote, and changing their minds to support Obama, because they too want to be part of history.

All we've got to do is keep working and keep our eyes on the prize...

Volunteer. There's seven days left. Help make this historic election happen. If we all stand up, together, we will not be moved...

Yes We Carve!

Great photos and inspiration for making your pumpkin Obamariffic--make it a "Glowbama!"

Yes We Carve!

the "keep your eye on the ball" edition

Hi everyone,

It's going to be a quick one tonight. The final (mercifully) debate is tonight, but first I've got to just get a couple notes to you.

It's Not Voter Fraud:
The right-wing, voiced mostly through Fox, is making a lot of hoopla about "voter fraud."
Check it out: it's a ruse and a distraction, and a way to racialize McCain's seemingly impending loss, should it come to pass just 20 days from now.

What they are so exercised about is "voter registration fraud." There are no cases of people voting illegally in this election (and in the last five years, only a very few)...only of some fake voter registration forms (numbering in the hundreds, at most) being turned in, and then rejected. No "precious right" is at stake here, although lots of Repubs would have you believe that the very health of our democracy is on the line.

Here's how it happens. Some groups, like ACORN (who seem to all of a sudden be the devil, according to Repubs, more on that below), pay people to go out and register voters. To make money, some people have defrauded ACORN by getting paid and turning in phony voter registration forms. ACORN is legally obligated to turn in all forms--only state offices that process voter registration forms are allowed to discard forms. (Because believe it or not, some people actually ARE named Mickey Mouse and Han Solo.) So ACORN sometimes flags forms that look suspicious. These forms are then discarded. There's no way that fake people are actually going to cast ballots. You can disagree with ACORN for paying people to register voters, but this still doesn't add up to voter fraud.

So the Repubs are hoping to stir up a shitstorm and confuse the media and electorate about the legitimacy of this election. Then they can claim that it was stolen from them or that there was massive widespread fraud. And because they steered many states to buy paperless voting machines, there won't be a record to contradict them. What's even richer is that McCain apparently has a bunch of people on his "Clean Elections Committee" who have questionable histories when it comes to voter rights.

Racializing a McCain Loss
More disgustingly, though, this smokescreen is about race. You see, ACORN is a poor-people's organization, one that's been around for 30 years doing the hard work of community organizing--one that McCain, when he was the keynote speaker for them a couple years ago, praised effusively. But this time around, the Repubs are so desperate to tear down Obama, that ACORN is now being used to paint him as a radical, black leftist...What you've got here is the operationalizing of a racially motivated resentment and resistance to a future Obama presidency.

Remember when Sarah Palin started dissing community organizers in her acceptance speech? And remember, just a few weeks ago, when the financial meltdown all of a sudden was being pinned on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac alone, and all the poor minorities who took out loans they couldn't pay back? ACORN was invoked as part of that, as well. I have to imagine that ACORN is now operating as a kind of racial code, to divide the electorate among racial lines.

What the Repubs want to do is say that McCain lost because there was fraud, the socialists took over the ballots, people were duped... They want to be able to contest anyplace where it might be close. Remember, this is the party that tried to get voters kicked off the rolls in Michigan because they were in foreclosure, even though they were still living in their homes. This is the party that in NH jammed all the Democratic office phone lines, basically paralyzing the communications hub for getting out the vote, on Election Day--and were found guilty of it.

The Purge is beginning--they're trying to kick people off the rolls all around the country. The Repubs don't like it when a lot of people vote--and a lot of people are voting this time. We should expect a lot more of this crap from them, and we have to fight it. They also want to distract from the real issues, especially the economy--McCain's own staffers said that "if we keep talking about the economic crisis, we're going to lose"--and by manufacturing a scandal, they can get the media to focus not on the 700 point loss in the stock market today, but on ACORN. Don't believe that it works? Media Matters does the math:

*Number of times CNN has mentioned ACORN since Friday: 67

*Number of times Fox News has mentioned Joe Biden since Friday: 130

*Number of times Fox News has mentioned Sarah Palin since Friday: 541

*Number of times Fox News has mentioned ACORN since Friday: 556

Finally, this issue is classic Karl Rove--hit your opponent on what you are actually weak on. It's kind of jaw-dropping that the Repubs are the ones accusing Dems of voter fraud--take a look at the "US Attorneys Scandal" at the dept of Justice a few years back--remember when all those attorneys were fired without cause? And then it came out that the DOJ had become totally politicized, and attorneys who didn't do the political bidding of the President and Justice Dept were cast out? Guess what...many of those attorneys refused to pursue bogus "voter fraud" cases in close elections where Repubs were trying to keep their seats...

This is a pattern. This is an outrage. And that's why we have to win by a landslide.

We might be up in the polls, and that lead might even last (though it would be very unusual) through Election Day...but we cannot become complacent. We have to win BIG. It has to be a rout. With the way these bozos rig elections, scare off voters, challenge voters at the polls...we have to win bigger than ever just to win at all.

• Sign up to do Voter Protection on Election Day.
  
  
• Volunteer to Get Out the Vote
  
  
• Donate to support that tremendous field operation which is making all of this possible. (Great description of the field operation here).

Thanks!

the defense against the dark arts edition

If you're like me, you might be feeling a little like you're on a rollercoaster(never mind what's going on the markets, I can't even go there), as you look at the great poll numbers in all the swing states, the fact that we're closing in on a number of Senate races (which we need to actually get things done!), the ass-kicking Obama delivered in the last debate, and then look at the crap McCain/Palin is flinging. So I've pulled together a few links to help you focus on the light...and help you defend against the Dark Arts.

Remember: There's solid ground under these poll numbers
1) We've changed the map in terms of party identification in Pennsylvania--look how blue it is!
2) We've made amazing gains in voter registration in the battleground states
3) Early voting shows that new voter and African American turnout might be higher than even expected. Take a look at Georgia~!

Remember: This is not your father's Democratic Party--we're fighting back!
1) We know the Repubs will stoop very, very low to suppress the vote. But so far, we've battled them back in Michigan, and now we just won again in Montana. But today's NYTimes shows there's much more to be done. Want to get involved? Volunteer to be a help out in Obama's Voter Protection Program.
2) Obama and Biden are showing McCain to be a coward, criticizing McCain for talking about Ayers on the stump, but "not saying it to [Obama's] face."
3) No swiftboating here! Robert Gibbs, one of Obama's campaign spokespeople, takes it to Sean Hannity, and show's how ridiculous the whole "association politics" is. Anyone hear Tom Petty? "No, I won't back down..."

Be prepared for stomach-turning sleaze, and know that it's not a winning tactic.
McCain will be snide and mean, and hypocritical, "going along to get along" with the paranoid racist xenophobia of the Republican base, and Palin will incite her crowds (stirring it up til' they yell "treason" and "kill him," and yell racial slurs at African American camera crew staffers). And they're going to do this in a big way--with %100 negative ad buys...not a single positive ad running, at all. But remember that these tactics are just driving independents away, driving McCain and Palin's unfavorables up, and turning off the press and even the conservative commentariat.

The Truth Will Out.

• We're ready to talk about McCain's role as one of the Keating Five--and one of the Keating Five says it's fair game.
• People are pointing out that McCain is linked to an Iran-Contra organization.
• Some have even begun to question the "myth of the maverick".
• And we haven't even started on Troopergate (released on Friday), and Palin's ties to the secessionist Alaska Independence Party.

But until it does, we get grounded, get inspired, and get to work...
Some good advice about getting grounded:

Be like Barack. Brush the bullshit off your shoulder, and soldier on. Be cool. Look like you know something nobody else knows. Don't break your stride. And don't do hysterical stupid shit. That's [the Republican wingnuts'] job.

Some inspirational words: Donna Brazile tells it! "I'm not going to the back of the bus." (Very, very worth a look)

And some words to keep you working hard--it's only 26 more days!

[We need to] deliver a defeat worse than they ever imagined. We do that by winning states that have no business turning Blue -- like North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, and so on -- states that were easy Bush victories in 2004. We do that by electing a 60-seat supermajority in the Senate. We do that by defeating their leadership, like Mitch McConnell in the Senate. We do that by defeating their heroes, like wingnut go-to hero John Shadegg. We do that by making sure a record number of Americans reject conservative ideology, leaving it utterly discredited.

The day after the election, I want to see an electoral battlefield littered with defeated Republicans, their ranks demoralized, their treasury in heavy debt, and no real leadership to take the helm. I want a vacuum so complete, that a bloody leadership battle between the neocons, theocons, and corporate cons shakes the GOP to its core, and leaves it fractured and ill-equipped to stymie the progressive agenda, much less ramp up for an even bleaker (for them) 2010.

...We're not out to win this thing. We're out to crush them. And that's going to require a level of engagement beyond anything you've ever done before. It'll mean more phone banking, more canvassing, more donating.

Phonebank. Canvass. Volunteer to protect the vote. I'm happy to talk with you about what volunteering is like, and what you can expect.

And please, we're almost there...donate, once more.

Let's join hands, take a deep breath, work even harder, and crush them...

the mental health break edition

So, the polls are looking good (*understatement*) and so let's take a breath before McCain/Palin start getting really, really ugly, and have a laugh and a smile.

Feel-good Video:

• The great Tina Fey skewers Sarah Palin a sketch about the VP debate. (Previous sketch with "Katie Couric" here.)

• Sarah Silverman urges all good Jewish grandchildren to make "the great schlep" to Florida to convince their nanas and their bubbies to vote for Obama. It's sweet and funny and a little bit crass, guaranteed for a laugh.

• Homer Simpson tries to vote for Obama--Diebold sounds evil, right?

• David Letterman goes after McCain again, in a new segment: "John McCain, Presidential Material" Hee hee!

• Sarah Palin's "debate flow chart." She her decision making process for yourself.

• A promo for a sure-to-be-a-hit movie: Sarah Palin, a la Disney Studios.

• The pundits are losing their patience: here, on CNN Jeffrey Toobin actually starts correcting his peers about the fact that McCain did not actually do anything to "suspend his campaign."

• Alright, it's not a video, but it's a pretty funny picture.

• And since we're posting picture, check out this one. The campaign's really gone to the dogs.

Stories to make you smile:

• A voter registration story from Carol, my mother-in-law--who rocks!!

As you may know, I have been registering folks to vote. Yesterday, I was at Walmart in Vero Beach, FL. I ask everyone going into the store if they are registered or need to change their address, etc. One man wearing a Marines cap and I assumed a Vietnam vet came out after grocery shopping and stopped by the table. He said "I am 58 years old and I have NEVER voted! Can you believe THAT? I want to vote." He filled out the registration form and checked the Democratic box. He turned around to get his cart with his groceries and it was gone! We looked all around for it and it was nowhere to be found. He talked to the baggers and they had not put it anywhere. Walmart gave him a couple of pizzas, but what a pathetic sign of the times. My heart broke for him. Every day I spend time registering folks, my heart is touched by someone:college students, parents, vets, senior citizens, immigrants, etc. It has really been an education for me and "all" I thought I was doing was volunteering to register folks to vote! There's a BIG difference between hearing the pundits on television talk about the economy and being in the midst of the reality on the street. My resolve has been made even stronger to work harder for Barack Obama!

Carol

P.S. There is no discussion of candidates when registering people.

I encourage you to get into the campaign too!

• Yes, Obama actually is a good person. He doesn't just play one on TV. Here's a heartwarming story about how he helped out a stranded traveler 20 years ago.

• Here's a story about one blogger's grandfather, who lived through the Great Depression and sees Obama for the leader he really is... Readers of the blog sent the old man hundreds of letters and postcards to express their appreciation, and here's the update.

Tools for you to use:

• Make sure you're registered to vote, or request an absentee ballot.
  
• Know your facts. Fight the smears corrects Obama's record against the McCain campaign, and others. And here's thirty refutations of the lies about Obama and William Ayers. There's a lot more crap getting ready to be flung, and we need to be prepared.
• Here's Obama's senate record, again.
• Know the myths. Here's the top five myths about McCain's maverickyness.
• Know the lies. Factcheck looks at the Palin-Biden debate. She lied, a lot. Big surprise. She even lied about calling for Alaska to "divest from Sudan" because of Darfur. In fact, her administration worked to block such divestment.
  
• And know that some Rethugs will do anything to suppress the vote--their leaders, like George Will, don't prefer "quality" over "quantity" when it comes to democracy--so get yourself and your friends prepared to vote, and don't be deterred!
  

Finally: please make a donation, if you can! We will win this by playing a better ground game--which is why McCain is playing defense in Indiana, North Carolina, and Virginia...and the ground game means lots of paid organizers to coordinate the hundreds of thousands of volunteers that we've got working all across the country...So far I've raised $115 for the campaign by writing this news digest--thank you to everyone who's given so far!!