A few weeks ago I made a high stakes bet with a Republican. The loser has to listen to 90 days of the winner's favorite radio talk show. In my case, I'd have to listen to Rush (EVERY day) and miss Randi Rhodes and Thom Hartmann.  If I win, my Republican friend (yes, friend!) has to listen to Randi and Thomm. If my Obama poster fundraiser fails to get an average of 100 hits per 90 remaining ebay auctions, I lose.

Total hits so far: 874
Average hits per auction: 79
Biggest "hit" auction: 418 - the one auction linked to Kos!

Click here to visit the auction and make a necon squirm!
No bidding necessary, I need page views to win the bet!

My daughter and I will be marching in a local parade this weekend and registering voters afterwards. We were contacted by the Obama campaign and encouraged to make homemade signs. The mantra seems to be "homemade is best!"

It turned out to be lots of fun to create our own posters and I thought I'd share the craft idea with other parents. Pictures below the fold!

- NOVA/DC OBAMA EVENTS UPDATE –
(please forward)

FEATURED EVENTS:
*** 8pm 7/17 "Campaign for Change" Bar Crawl in Clarendon! ***

*** 7/18 Sky Lounge Stoplight Party for Obama in Rockville! ***

*** 7/20 Jews for Obama Dinner and Discussion in Falls Church! ***

*** 7/21 Generation Obama Pre-Auction Flyering @ "The Candidate" for Screen on the Green, Metros, as well as your Office and Neighborhood! ***

*** 7/22 "Unify Your Love!" Date Auction & Mixer for Obama! (w/Open Bar) ***   -  AUCTIONEE BIO & HOST SIGN UPS DUE AT 5PM FRIDAY! -  DOUBLE DATES WILL BE AVAILABLE! -  OPEN BAR NOW STARTS AT 8PM!

*** 7/26 Arlington Platform for Change Café @ Cecilia’s ***

*** 7/28-8/11 Monday Night "Screen on the Green" Visibility ***

LOCAL CAMPAIGN EVENTS:
**7/18-21 ARLINGTON VOTER REG, PHONES & CANVASSING EVENTS**
**7/18-21 FALLS CHURCH VOTER REG & CANVASSING EVENTS**
**7/18-21 ALEXANDRIA VOTER REG, PHONES & CANVASSING EVENTS**
(plus canvassing in Lee and Mt. Vernon Districts)
*** 7/18-21 FAIRFAX PHONES & CANVASSING EVENTS***
*** 7/18-21 FAIRFAX VOTER REGISTRATION EVENTS***

Several days ago Senator Obama called on all of us to take on the task of volunteering in our communities.  Many of us have no idea of how to even get started on this task and what organizations are out there that can help us meet our community service goals.

Like many of you, I am not particularly interested in participating in additional volunteer activities with my church, nor do I particularly want to get involved in working in a service organization who has significant amounts of their expenses going towards administrative costs.

There are organizations out there that can work for you!

One reason I fully support Obama is his Service Plan, which can be found on his website. I specifically like these parts

Expand the Peace Corps: Obama will double the Peace Corps to 16,000 by 2011. He will work with the leaders of other countries to build an international network of overseas volunteers so that Americans work side-by-side with volunteers from other countries.

Show the World the Best Face of America: Obama will set up an America's Voice Initiative to send Americans who are fluent speakers of local languages to expand our public diplomacy.

Expand Service-Learning in Our Nation's Schools: Obama will set a goal that all middle and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year. He will develop national guidelines for service-learning and will give schools better tools both to develop programs and to document student experience. Green Job Corps: Obama will create an energy-focused youth jobs program to provide disadvantaged youth with service opportunities weatherizing buildings and getting practical experience in fast-growing career fields.

More below the fold.

If you'd like to get energized for a volunteer event, help yourself stay motivated, take a break from debates and relax, play some fun background music that might help convince friends/family/roommates, or just admire creative efforts inspired by this global movement, this is the place to go.

I am a Barack Obama supporter who enjoys finding and listening to original music created by other supporters to help spread the enthusiasm. The current version of my lists, with links and details (and statistics!), are included below in this diary. They are also available as playlists on YouTube at www.youtube.com/ObamaSongs, and as I find more songs, I will continue to add them to my playlists.

I have spent more years than I can tell you being an active volunteer.  My folks instilled in us as very young children the need to do for others.  They also instilled in us that no matter how bad you think you've got it that things are worse for someone else.   I'm going to introduce you to my 'journey' through volunteering and tell you some of the wonderful things I have discovered as a volunteer.

Haven't we had enough Ron Kovics, Patrick McCaffrey...? In the 21st century, we need a peaceful productive army that builds not bombs nations.  The organizations named in People's Lobby's non-partisan American World Service Corps Congressional Proposals builds that productive army that has yanks compete on the field of sane, healthy development.  Push your Congressperson to cosponsor the AWSC, so we lose fewer legs and loving hearts.

A week ago, I received a suspension from the moderators on one of the professional sites I frequent.  To be fair, I deserved it.  What happened?  This site has a section for political discussion on their message board, and in a discussion of the Iraq war, one of the other posters pushed many of my buttons.  Their comment was responding to the repetitive deployments and stress that the military was experiencing - this person said "Well, they volunteered for the military, so they knew what they were getting into."  

What got me suspended was my response - I promptly let this person know in no uncertain terms what I thought of that comment, and then digressed into a dissection of their intelligence and ethics.  Which, according to the rules of the board, I shouldn't have done.  

Now that I've had time to calm down and think more about it, I realized that this poster was simply repeating what seems to have become a standard line from the Bush Conservatives - "They volunteered."

If you are familiar with OpenLeft, you are familiar with Chris Bowers, Mike Lux, Matt Stoller, Paul Rosenberg and adamterando.  You know that it is a great blog to read, and that it provides many ways for people to help change the way politics are played.  

Whether you want to help Obama and the Democrats win or you are just plain sick and tired of the way politics are played, I would like to tell you why I think you need to go over there and check this out.  

I joined a bake sale for MoveOn's national fundraising effort today.  It was a great experience, and I'd recommend we do more of this kind of thing in our political activity.

The Candidate-Nominee Crossover
The first article in this series described how some of the most astute political observers were "blindsided by Hope" and Barack Obama’s historic victory, convinced America would continue to be ruled by Freak Show politics.  Eleven organizational principles guided Obama’s campaign for the nomination, which relied heavily on grass roots and community organizing tactics.  The successful "early states" strategy provided enough momentum to carry Obama over the finish line, a race he won by the only measure that counted: delegates.

This article offers a candid assessment of the campaign’s challenges as Obama goes from being a candidate to the nominee.  Obama will adapt his management approach to the general election campaign, internalizing electoral strategy as an important part of the corporate culture.  The internal challenge is melding a grass roots movement with the Democratic Party establishment and limiting expenditures on paid political ads and services.  The external challenge is to avoid inevitable

Today in a coffeeshop in El Cerrito, CA, about 20 locals met in a coffeeshop to devise our GOTV strategy from now until election day.

This isn't going to be much of a diary, but just a little while ago I was woken up by a phone call. The Texas Dallas Obama people seem to be calling up past Captains. That tells me anyone who was a Captain may want to watch for a call soon or check in with their area.

In Texas some of the events I went to just for Garland alone had a lot of people show up. I'm not for sure how many are going to be able to revolunteer, but if Barack Obama can get these people back then we are going to have a large grassroots movement in a lot of states.

While I did tell them I couldn't help this time I do still plan to volunteer when I get up to Indiana. I do not know how much will be needed around that time of volunteers, but as said in a past diary I want to get more invovled locally in Politics helping out.

One night this spring I was volunteering at a Barack Obama fundraiser here in NYC.  I walked around pouring wine for people while everybody talked about the good stuff-- change, hope, making a difference.  Out on the patio, I wound up in conversation with this guy about my age.  He mentioned that he was running for State Assembly.  

"No kidding," I said.  "What district?"

"Sheldon Silver's."

I almost dropped my bottle of wine.

Wherein a late-onset progressive Gen-Xer discovers that he can't do everything, needs to something and has to pick where to put his time and effort...

Specific advice is welcome from the knowledgeable but I'm hoping to provoke a discussion not just about New Hampshire but generally about how to get involved downticket, which is where I'm leaning...now I just have to decide where downticket....

HoyaChris recently posted a diary examining the decision-making factors involved in making party and campaign contributions. This is always tricky business. Should one give:

all at once or a little at a time?
to the Party or a the candidate?
to the DNC, DCCC, DSCC, your state party HQ or your county party HQ?

All very good questions, and there are more. Such as: which is more important: the gift of time and skills or money (answer: both, if possible).

Many Kossacks are no doubt very experienced in this area; for those with less experience, here are some ideas and tools. (more)

When this election first started I thought to myself, America will never let this happen, at the same time, I always kept Nelson Mandela in the back of my mind.  If a man after spending 40 years behind bars under apartheid, then become President.  We can certainly have a man named, Barak Obama become the nominee of the Democratic party, and shoot for the President of the United States of America.

No matter all of the hype and words between supporters of the nominees in this election with Hillary Clinton, we have to give her a hand, for the first time a Woman has run for President of the United States.  We have to give her that.

More over the jump.