I ran phone banks twice a week. I housed 2 people from the Allison Schwartz campaign and the regional director of the NJDC. I debated against members of the RJC at two local synagogues. I canvassed several precincts the week before the election. I drove a van for the campaign. I gave money to the Kerry campaign. I ran a fundraiser at my house (about $3K) and opened my house for several films and debates. I handed out fliers at every occasion the last several months. I hosted the Pennsylvania NJDC website www.panjdc.org. I created my own Kerry website www.loebtree.com/kerry.html. My Kerry page on johnkerry.com was ranked 15th at one point in terms of number of volunteers recruited. Very active email campaign to win over Republican Jews.
Helped distribute hundred of voter registration forms.
Many people spoke to me about my emails, organized debates and flyer distribution. They told me that they felt much more comfortable voting for Kerry after hearing me.
I also helped register new voters and tell people where to vote.
The campaign got organized too late. During the Spring and Summer, many volunteers were ready to help, but there was no direction to tell them what to do.
As the election neared I was called multiple times for volunteer opportunities even when I was already signed up. Clearly you had no central database. Then when I showed up, there was often no one in charge to organize things. Indeed I found that I was most effective when I had an idea and just carried it out with my friends. Or if I just assumed leadership at the campaign office. The night before the election I was in the campaign office while all the staff were in an important meeting. Volunteers kept coming in and needed to be shown what to do, or be debriefed and thanked for the canvassing they had done. For lack of anyone else to take charge, I just did what had to be done.
Then the day of the election people were still drawing maps and "cutting turf". This should have been done far in advance.
Also see my list of upcoming events.
Come on over. We'll participate in the interactive conference with Michael Moore with my large screen projection media center in my basement. After the conference, we'll show political video clips from various sources. Email Fahrenheit911@LoebTree.com for more information.
I just signed up for a phone banking party run by MoveOn PAC. We're going to register voters in one of the important "battleground" states that will decide the election. It'll be fun - and a powerful way to help defeat George W. Bush. Want to come to the party? You can sign up at:
http://action.moveonpac.org/phone/selectmtg.html?event_ids= 151728
Here are the details:
Phone Bank Party at the Loebs
276 Barwynne Lane Wynnewood , PA 19096
Sunday, July 11, 07:00 PM
You can find other parties in your area -- or sign up to host your own -- by going to:
http://action.moveonpac.org/phone/
We'll have a list of unregistered voters to call, and scripts to read when we're on the phone. Afterwards, we'll send a helpful kit to anyone who tells us they'd like to register to vote, and follow up to make sure they do. This has been shown to be a very effective way to register voters - and there's never been a more important time to boost registration than in the lead-up to this November's election!
Since we'll be spending a good deal of the time at the party on the phone, it's important that you bring your own cell phone. But lists of folks to call, scripts of what to say, and good company will be provided.
I hope to see you there!
Showing of the film Outfoxed: Rupert MURDOCH's War on Journalism followed by online conference with Al FRANKEN and Robert GREENWALD.
Fox News star Bill O'Reilly will stop at nothing in acting as a partisan flak for Bush. When the 9/11 Commission reported finding no evidence of a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda, O'Reilly lashed out at the nation's major newspapers for reporting it. In June alone, O'Reilly compared Bush critics Michael Moore and Al Franken to Nazi propagandists and journalist Bill Moyers to Mao Zedong.
Unfortunately, parroting the Republican Party message is common in Fox's regular news reporting as well. Outfoxed features interviews with seven ex-Fox News employees who describe how, every day, highly partisan talking points are drawn up to influence newscasts.
When Michael Moore was asked what surprised him most during the making of Fahrenheit 9/11, he described his discovery of archived news footage the networks had edited or not aired at all in order to protect President Bush's image. His comments highlight the media's recent failure to independently evaluate Bush's claims before the war -- and no network failed more completely than Fox.
In addition to Common Cause, our partners on this campaign include the Center for American Progress, Free Press, Media Matters for America, and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR).
On Sunday, July 18th, we'll get together to see the compelling evidence of Fox's partisanship presented in the Outfoxed film. Then we'll all join an interactive coast-to-coast conference call with Al Franken and director Robert Greenwald, to plan out how we'll take on Fox and take back our media.
We will have a projection of KERRY's acceptance speech and other festivities and participate in a conference call with the KERRY campaign's surprisie guest.
