A couple of our jackals requested a daily political “action” thread, so how about if we try it for a bit and see how that goes? If you guys think it’s useful, we can keep it up, and if it ends up being more “seemed like a good idea at the time,” then we can let it go.
The goal is a poll-free, spin-free, prognostication-free, media-free, what’s-wrong-with-the-other-candidate-free-zone – a political thread where the focus is on ACTION: What can be done to help our candidates, and what are we doing to help them, every day?
The hope is that this will help provide inspiration, and encourage action, as an alternative to anger, frustration and despair.
Everyone is free to chime in about what they are doing for their their preferred candidate. What actions are we taking at Balloon Juice, individually or collectively, to help candidates we believe in?
What might you like to do, if you weren’t stuck on not quite knowing how to go from thinking about doing something to actually doing something?
· Making calls?
· Canvassing?
· Writing postcards?
· Donating?
· Registering people to vote?
· Are you an election judge?
· A poll watcher?
· Can you put together a bullet list of what you like about YOUR preferred candidate?
· Are you available to go to a battleground state to work on a campaign, but can’t afford transportation?
· Do you have frequent flyer miles that could buy that person a ticket to a battleground state?
· If you live in a battleground state, could you host a volunteer who could stay at your house?
· Do you have a great informational article about YOUR preferred candidate? Share it!
· If you have campaign connections, can you connect interested jackals with that campaign?
· Are you an organizer of a postcard-writing campaign who could help other BJ peeps get started?
What else are you doing?
Tell us what actions you’ve taken today, whether it’s calling or donating or canvassing or writing postcards or talking to someone about your candidate, or anything else that’s on that list. Or even something that isn’t!
Forget the other candidates. Tell us what you LIKE about your candidate.
Share your worries or concerns about canvassing or other activities. What’s holding you back?
If Playing to Win appeals to you, what else would you want to see in this space?
JPL
Canvassing really helps with local politics. Since most people have disconnected their land line, phone calls aren’t as effective. Several people on the site have helped out in national politics, so it will be interesting to see what they say.
Percysowner
I’m phone banking for Warren this Saturday. I’ll do something next week, although I’m not sure what. I took the canvassing training course, so I’ll try to do that at least once before the polls close in Ohio.
WaterGirl
I’ll start with small things I’ve done today:
I put up this post.
I gave my first donation to Elizabeth Warren, who is currently my first choice. $25
I donated $5 to Joe Biden and $5 to Pete Buttigieg as a show of support for the other two candidates that: a) I believe would make fine presidents and b) I believe could beat Trump.
Sab
I personally hate receiving or making telephone calls, so I don’t phone bank. I think I lose more votes than I get.
On the other hand, I have worked phone banks, and other people in the room were really really good a it. If you have that particular aptitude, go for it.
My thing is door to door canvassing. I think people like to see a ground game, and it’s hard to be annoyed with people who are slogging through snow in support of their candidate even if they did wake up the dog or the baby.
Junk mail is mildly annoying, but individualized post cards not so much. Another sign of a ground game.
Betty Cracker
More than a year ago, I decided to focus my volunteer time on voter enfranchisement rather than candidates. The candidates I support get my money but not my time. I may rethink that this summer, but probably not because there’s so much to do on the voter rights front.
I’m not suited to canvassing or phone-banking, though I’ve done plenty of both (I don’t think I’m bad at it, I just really hate doing it). I like writing postcards. Has anyone ever seen studies that compare the effectiveness of those personal outreach methods? I’d much prefer to get a postcard than a knock on the door or phone call, but maybe that’s just me.
Interested to see what others are doing…
Sab
@Betty Cracker: I pretty much ignore junk mail, but I have received personalized handwritten postcards for local candidates and local bond issues and they certainly did make me sit up and take notice.
bbleh
Donate, always donate. It’s easy.
Postcards are a useful group effort, because (1) they do actually have an effect on the recipients, (2) postcard-writing can be done at almost any time, almost anywhere, and (3) it can be done in a group, which keeps a group organized and reminds people they’re not part of a larger effort — good for the writer and the team.
That said, I also really like Brian Schatz’s recommendation — in addition to a presidential candidate, PICK A SENATE RACE — one of the current vulnerable Reps or Dems, probably not in your state but who cares — and just one, so it’s not overwhelming, and do something for that one as well. Recapturing the Senate is eminently feasible this cycle, if we put the time and energy into it.
RedDirtGirl
I’m not good on the phone either. I did Postcards for Patriots for the 2018 election and really liked doing that. It’s something you can do in a spare moment, but can also be turned into a mini-event, like the recent Seattle meet-up. I would love to get people together in the NYC area for a similar endeavor.
Fleeting Expletive
I’ve been sending a little $$ to my hope-chest candidates all along: Harris, Warren, Amy, some senatorial campaigns. I ordered a Warren yard sign yesterday. Don’t know how that will go over in my neck of the woods, but I have seen signs for local races in yards, and that prompted me to research some races I didn’t know were happening, so I hope my sign will encourage someone else to think about it.
Sab
Ohio jackals: Jennifer Brunner is running for Ohio Supreme Court in the primary. She was the Sec of State who insisted that we must have a paper trail in voting.
Please support her. She’ll be good.
MazeDancer
PostCard Patriots sent over 12,000 postcards, largely via BJ.
We will back in action closer to the election. But turnout is not likely to be the problem it is for midterms. And postcards are an effective turnout tool.
So we will be strategizing best use of postcards.
Redshift
I canvassed for Warren on Saturday, and will be out again this weekend. This primary campaign is… weird. The local campaign office isn’t buzzing with activity like in past campaigns, but I don’t think it’s a general lack of enthusiasm, I think it’s that people are split between multiple candidates, so the volunteer pool is smaller, and few campaigns are on the ground here.
I encountered voters for Warren, Sanders, Biden, and Buttigieg. All were concerned about is all coming together, so for them I ended my pitch with “I look forward to working with you soon!”
We were encouraged to have a personal pitch for Warren, mine was “I think any of our candidates can win. I’m supporting Elizabeth Warren because, because we’re going to need someone who can put our government back together after the way they’re breaking it, and who can get people together to get things done.” (Sincere, and it’s the DC suburbs, so belief in the federal government is strong.)
I’m also a local Dem precinct captain, so I’m organizing people to be at my polling place on primary day to try to recruit volunteers. Unfortunately, I’m terrible at that, but I’ll do my best.
Bruuuuce
I am currently strapped for both time and money, but anticipate being housebound for six to ten weeks starting in mid-March, and am planning to get active with postcard writing during that time. (Phone banking is SO not my strong point.)
WaterGirl
@MazeDancer: Did you see Betty’s comment, wondering if there is research about effectiveness of postcards vs. other methods? I figure if anyone knows, i would be you.
Cheryl Rofer
Putting my Warren bumperstickers on the car today. I still have marks on the bumper from my Obama stickers, so I’ll probably put them inside the windows with tape.
WaterGirl
@Cheryl Rofer: That’s why I get the car magnets.
piratedan
@MazeDancer: I’m sure that you folks have thought of it already, but focus on getting voters to check their registration in the alleged swing states and on those races not just nationally but down ballot as well in those states. If there’s fuckery afoot, I’m guessing that’s where it will be.
kindness
I really like Elizabeth Warren. Unlike every other candidate she has reasonable detailed plans as to how to go about getting the things she is campaigning for. I trust her which is more than I can say about several of the others.
Liz will make Trump cry like the Momma’s Boy he is when he is sitting in Florida not being President any more come next January. That alone would be good enough but to top it off she scares the hell out of the Wall Street mob which is a fine bonus in my book.
Marcopolo
Good morning folks. So far in 2020 I’ve been writing general Missouri GOTV postcards with my local Indivisible group (and cajoling friends to join me). I’ve been to one state house campaign kickoff–I love the candidate, she ran for the first time in 2018 & got 44% of the vote after no D had been on the ballot for 8 years. Her campaign’s first organized door-to-door is this Saturday, and barring unforeseen circumstances I will be there. Off the top of my head I’ve contributed to 6 or 7 campaigns with Warren getting the most, then regular monthlies to Helena Webb, the state house candidate, and one offs to a bunch of folks. I am also giving small monthly donations to a handful of other groups who are involved in elections via ActBlue, including:
VoteRiders
Fair Fight 2020
Run For Something
My general philosophy now is that no single election/candidate is going to fix things (hard to believe I did once think that) and that we are in a long long fight like for civil rights or getting the vote for women so I started doing these monthlies in Jan 2019 and plan to continue them for as long as my finances allow.
Lots of love to all the other blog folks who are getting involved this year, glad to be in the fight with you wherever you are.
Ruckus
@Sab:
I get a lot of “professionally” created political junk mail. I read maybe 10% of it. And throw away all of it. If you are spending your money on stuff that looks like you spent too much on it and had nothing to do with it other than maybe a signature….. OTOH a lot of it is from politicians that I like and will vote for anyway.
But the big thing for the politician is that they are all sent using bulk mailing, so that’s a lot cheaper than a stamp. In CA that’s a significant cost savings. When I worked in pro sports we once had to attend a company seminar where the fella talked about mailing campaigns. Every example they used was exactly the type of mailing that I immediately throw in the trash. Over produced, the production was more important than the message, and the effort was so dated that it’s appeal was zero to the intended recipients. I would think a hand written postcard would be far better received. Unless of course the writing was like mine. My issues make my writing, never all that great, almost useless for more than a phone note and even then can be difficult to read. I know better than to subject that onto a politician that I actually like.
R-Jud
@piratedan: This is also one of the things we’re focusing on with Democrats Abroad: helping people sort out how to contact their voting state to confirm their registration and/or register. I’ve done a very modest amount of phone banking and data cleaning for DA, and hope to do more later in the year when I am slightly less busy.
frosty
I’ve been canvassing since 2004 and will probably do it again this fall, much as I hate it. Never phonebanked for the reasons other commenters have mentioned.
For the primary, so far I’ve donated, mostly to Warren. I sent $50 towards the $7MM she asked for and of course I got even more emails.
We’re on the road so I won’t be around to work the primary. Absentee ballots are being sent to a relative we’re visiting in April.
Jerzy Russian
@Percysowner:
I first read that as barking for Warren. My first thought was “I need glasses, sleep, etc.” My second thought was “maybe when the humans are out supporting Warren, the dogs can get together and join Bailey’s campaign to be First Dog”.
MazeDancer
@WaterGirl:
There is a little bit of research showing postcards do increase turnout. But, again, turnout won’t be the issue.
Unless. heaven forbid, Bernie is the nom. The nom will have an impact on all marketing strategy.
Personalized, hand-written postcards, like satby noted, do get read.
Importantly, they allow meaningful and extensive participation for people who cannot canvas, the number one turnout tool. Which is why PostCard Patriots was created.
It was all day for 5 weeks sending back addresses to people. And I was grateful for the opportunity. We won most of our races.
But if anyone is interested in helping with the email answering, that would be wonderful. You won’t have to do much until October. Then it will be intense.
Also, getting the addresses is by hook or crook. Which is why we may align ourselves with a bunch of House and Senate races, which worked well last time. Though, some states I just plain bought lists. (And some states give ’em away.)
Meanwhile, around May, I’ll start posting postcards people can download and start coloring. But mailing too soon is a waste of effort.
Also, be warned, postcards were so successful, both for the participants and the candidates, there will be people who will send you some addresses, and then start asking you for money. Be not fooled. Join no cults.
WaterGirl
@MazeDancer: Thanks. I hope Betty Cracker will see that, but it’s all good to know in any case.
I thought the idea upthread was a good one – why not postcards now reminding people to check their registration to make sure they haven’t been taken off the rolls?
Marcopolo
@WaterGirl: So there is some research out there. The bad news is most of the evidence indicates that most “persuasion” efforts don’t work all that well (there are caveats to this in regards to ballot issues & special elections). Persuasion efforts that work the best are the ones that are the most personal: hand written postcards, face to face interactions via door knocking, conversations in your social network (for example, all of my close friends are Warren supporters :)).
However, there is real benefit to phone & door to door canvassing in that it helps campaigns to identify supporters so that they know who they have to get to the polls on election day. A successful campaign will run a huge GOTV effort beginning on election weekend & knowing the contact info for your supporters & being able to track and ensure they are voting is the whole shebang. Anyways, I always keep this in mind when knocking doors: I am mostly trying to ID folks who are already supportive and record that info–it’s unlikely I’ll meet someone & convince them to my side.
Marcopolo
@WaterGirl: Those are the postcards we are doing here in MO. The state D party has IDed folks who vote D who have moved & not necessarily reregistered at their new address so our postcards basically say: “Big election year. Please make sure you are registered at your current address. Thanks.”
MazeDancer
@WaterGirl:
Like all things marketing, finding your target is the lynchpin to success. Followed by the expenditure of time and effort versus payoff.
As tempting and logical as it feels encouraging people in high suppression states to check their registrations, weekly, how do you pinpoint those names? Dear Georgia, please send me all the names you expunged? (And Georgia is one of the states that will sell you names. Reluctantly.)
And people who have legitimately changed addresses won’t even get them.
Maybe Stacey Abrams with a few more 5 million dollar grants from Bloomberg could do it. It would be tens of millions of mailings. And what if people don’t check every week? States will act when people aren’t looking.
Maybe local efforts could ferret out the names.
Money better spent on using famous people, encouraging weekly checking, online and urban radio. Different batch of famous people every week.
Marcopolo
@frosty: I’m a repeat Warren donor. I do not get spammed with fundraising emails because I went to the bottom of the first one one I was sent, clicked on the unsubscribe link, and completed the unsubscribe from fund raising emails process. Can’t speak for other campaigns but Warren’s unsubscribe process works like a charm.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@MazeDancer: Thanks. I did postcards in 2018 for Spanberger and really enjoyed it. I hate phonebanking and canvassing is not my style, so postcards work well. Looking forward to it!
As for what I’m doing today? Planning (after balancing the ol’ checkbook) is toss some coin to Warren and Hickenlooper (running for Senate against Cory (spit) Gardner). Going to fill in my Colorado primary ballot and drop it off this weekend.
Erin in Flagstaff
I’ve volunteered my guest room for one of Warren’s organizers. If confirmed, I’ll have someone staying with me for about three weeks leading into the Arizona presidential primary election.
I may do the same for the general election. I imagine that Arizona, as a battleground state, will have lots of out-of-town activists needing a place to stay for GOTV activities.
Doing the above may also get me motivated to canvass or phone bank. Yes, I donate to candidates, but the GOTV activities are so important.
MazeDancer
@Erin in Flagstaff: Wow. That’s a very generous donation.
And anyone in AZ, or other battleground states, who can do same will be full up. Easy houseguests – they will either not be there or passed out from exhaustion.
H.E.Wolf
Thank you, WaterGirl! I love the idea of regular front-page posts on the topic of Action. I’m about to leave for me monthly check-in with the database staff at the State Democrats’ office in town, so this will be a hasty reply. NOTE: These are the things that are working for me. Others’ mileage may vary. That’s OK!
1. Do something – do anything – to help, regardless of how small or insignificant it seems to you. It won’t be insignificant! It will boost your own morale, which is important; and it will add to the (seemingly small) efforts of others.
2. Yes, there are data to support the usefulness of postcards. I haven’t the time to dig up the exact URL (see appt, above), but I know that the website and Facebook feed for http://PostcardsToVoters.org list the numbers for the FL Vote By Mail project: they’re impressive.
3. Things I’m doing, at my own pace, and ONLY projects that fit my temperament and skills (introverts represent!):
a) State Dems’ office: database work, envelope stuffing, putting name tags into badge holders, shredding old canvassing lists from 2014, etc. Background tasks to free up the extrovert work for extroverts. :)
b) Postcards To Voters (link is above). I usually write solo, at home, and I’m slow; but a half-dozen of us jackals met last weekend and successfully combined socializing and activism. NOTE: If there’s interest, I might be persuaded to write a how-to post sometime. MazeDancer would be a wonderful resource, if willing to do the same, as MD has been writing postcards for a goodly stretch of time.
c) Inviting others to join in the work. I’m counting the weeks until the State Dems open their 2020 Coordinated Campaign office locally – that’s when I’ll get in touch with all my introvert acquaintances, and we’ll show up periodically to bundle the flyers that the canvassers take on their walks. It’s a way to listen to all the excitement and bustle, while remaining quietly in a corner doing something useful.
4. Turn off the media (news and social) as much as possible for the rest of the election cycle. Outrage is appropriate but not sufficient; and if it’s producing paralyzing despair, it’s in the way of getting the immediate tasks done.
5. Focus on the congressional and legislative and gubernatorial campaigns, where the Electoral College and the mass media and the ‘bots are not warping the situation as much.
6. Read what lifts your spirits and gives you strength for the long haul. I made it through 2017 with the help of memoirs of the Civil Rights movement; bios of African American leaders of the 20th century; autobiographies of female American political leaders of the 20th/21st century. Also re-read all my favorite novels and some “Calvin and Hobbes.”
7. Remember that there are many other people working alongside us, all across the country. ETA: And lots of them are in this comment thread! My hat’s off to you all! You are phenomenal.
WaterGirl
@Erin in Flagstaff:
I so wish that I could do that, but being in Illinois, there’s not much call for that.
FelonyGovt
I wrote lots of postcards for the last cycle, through Postcard Patriots and Tony the Democrat, and recently I joined a women’s’ Huddle group that gets together for an hour and a half at different peoples’ houses right in my town and writes postcards for House candidates.
I hate making (and receiving) phone calls and knocking on doors isn’t for me.
I feel better when I’m doing something though. Now if I could get my friend to stop emailing me political horror stories multiple times a day…
Ceci7
Canvassing for Warren this Saturday. Checking whether the city still needs poll workers in March. Went to a local Moms Demand Action meeting last week – have some letters to write to local reps in support of gun control bills before the state legislature. Doing some direct giving to funds administered by the activists who run The Gumball Machine – that type of giving doesn’t count as a political donation, but the work being done supports people against whom the sociopolitical odds are always stacked.
John Carter 1966
Simple question.
After last night’s debate, who would you rather see stand up to Putin, Erdogan, Xi, Kim, Boris, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud or Mitch?
It matters.
Another Scott
I did a small stack of postcards with MazeDancer’s PostcardPatriots. I’m glad to hear that it will be back this fall.
I do monthly donations to sites I value – Balloon-Juice, Wonkette, BlueVirginia, Eclectablog, CEPR, etc.
I give regularly to candidates, and the DCCC, DSCC, DLCC groups – we need a strong team fighting for us beyond individual candidates.
I also give regularly to VoteRiders, LWV, and FairFight. Voting is how we win.
I’ve mentioned it before, but everyone who uses Amazon should sign up for smile.amazon.com Use it for non-BJ-related purchases. 0.5% of the purchase goes to the charity of your choice at no cost to you. Take some of Bezos’s money and do some good with it! (Mine is directed to VoteRiders.)
I’m not a calling or walking-the-neighborhood person. I applaud all of you who actually do the work. Kudos!
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott:
I’m not sure what you mean by that. Also, wouldn’t doing Amazon Smile mean we wouldn’t be using the Amazon link that sends money to John for the website?
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: You understand correctly. Visits to Amazon from John’s link get some referral bucks to him. Visits to smile.amazon.com can “stack” on the referral, but I don’t know the details.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/using-amazon-smile-for-charity-and-stacking-it-with-shopping-portal/
I was suggesting that one could use smile.amazon.com for some purchases and John’s affiliate link for others. But maybe they can be combined…
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
MazeDancer
@Another Scott:
FIFY
Badgetoon
Man do I love this site, just reading about all the work is inspiring.
CA Dems (the state party!) has opened an office in downtown Oakland and is opening it to all to use, and their hiring real grass roots organizers! Their doing this across the state and plan 10-15 offices. These are the people that bitched about OFA doing all the work or not enough work or that OFA doesn’t do real politics, so it’s astonishing to have them buy into grassroots work.
Personally Sundays at the office helping on the phone bank or making calls, Weds doing recruiting calls for whatever on the weekend. I do a regular contrib to the DCCC (we need infrastructure) and donate at random moments of anger as triggered, trying not to go broke is the challenge.
Marcopolo
@Badgetoon: Maybe they could send some folks to AZ to help turn their neighbor blue?
Just a thought. Pretty sure Trump loses CA decisively.
AM in NC
I’ve been working on more local politics lately, canvassing and hosting a meet and greet for a county commission candidate. Local politics so often gets overlooked, and it’s where a very few people can make a difference in elections, and many important things get decided.
I also volunteered to be volunteer coordinator for my Dem. precinct, and I sent out an email this morning trying to get volunteers to staff our table at our precinct polling place on voting day. It’s a good place and time to sign up future Dem volunteers.
I’m a Warren supporter, but I haven’t done much for her in the primary other than argue her case to people I know. I just responded to a text from her campaign today to become involved at this late date.
It makes me feel better to be doing something. I can’t do everything, but something is better than nothing.
dimmsdale
Thank you Watergirl for this thread! I’ve been casting around for things to do, and this is really helpful. I’ve recently discovered Timothy Snyder’s YouTube page and have been soaking up long-form talks with him and Masha Gessen, very helpful in developing a sense of urgency about the country’s lurch toward totalitarianism, and about the election and the security thereof.
Query to anyone: in terms of postcard effectiveness, does that depend on what the postcard is exhorting the recipient to DO? (i.e. “vote for MY candidate” versus “VOTE!”) I’d be happy doing postcards that serve a useful purpose and asking recipients to check registration and GOTV efforts would take precedence.
My contributions include Elizabeth Warren, but also a bunch of online subscriptions supporting commentary and information that I value (some of which are ridiculously cheap but demonstrate support for the viewpoints, I think): Charlie Pierce, Booman, Roy Edroso, Judd Legum, Martin Longman, Dan Froomkin’s Presswatch, the WaPo, and (of course) the Ark Valley Voice (where Adam Silverman’s columns show up). (I think it’s important to support local news where it exists, especially in the face of what may well be a coming clampdown, engineered either by Barr or de-facto by hedge fund owners hollowing out media companies).
I’m open to where else to put my efforts, and I appreciate the thread!
Adam Lang
I want to hear about some state house/senate races where the candidate doesn’t have a web site yet. I am going to volunteer to help as many state house/senate candidates with their web presence (site, email lists, VAN, etc) as I can.
Who is out there? Who can I help?
CCL
I am poll worker but more importantly for our donations, my brother and I both adopted Senate and house races in battle ground states – AZ and Alabama. Supporting Kelley and Jones.
MazeDancer
@Adam Lang:
Contact your local Dem Party and Indivisible group.
Call your mayor, village trustee, or state rep and ask who you should call. Keep aiming lower and keep calling, you will eventually get ahold of someone.
Indivisible would know.
Also “Run for Something”.
A lot of local races use template sites that look like garbage. Your help will be welcome.
ETA: Looks like AM in NC at #44 might know a candidate.
H.E.Wolf
I only know about http://PostcardsToVoters.org.
“Tony the Democrat” is the founder/chief organizer. They focus on GOTV efforts, both for individual candidates and more generally.
I prefer non-candidate-specific GOTV projects, so that’s what I sign up for.
You can find lots of info at the FAQ page on their website. Their Facebook feed has excellent, detailed posts on their m.o., as well.
H.E.Wolf
@Marcopolo: I meant to include your name as another Postcard Expert, and in my rush this morning I neglected to do so. My apologies!
(As a Harry Truman fan, I ought to have remembered your efforts in MO without any trouble.)
Karen H
Right now, my efforts are concentrated on voter registration, although I will be doing postcards when the time comes. I’m part of a small group who have permission to set up a table in the Bexar County (San Antonio, TX) Central Jury Room every day that they do jury selection. Approximately 3000 potential jurors come through every week and all of them are qualified to vote. We also help with name and address changes and answer a lot of questions about the registration process and voting in general.
Sab
@MazeDancer: I don’t do Facebook. How do I contact my local indivisible? That has been a dilemma for me for the last three years. I do do Twitter ( not really. I have an account, so I can read as a non-alien. Nobody feeds me anything.)
Sab
@H.E.Wolf: Are you guys planning an update midsummer? I should be taking notes on what to,do when but I am not.
VFX Lurker
As a Californian, I assure you we have state and local issues that will require the best possible outcomes of state and local elections to solve. Homelessness, our housing crisis, and managed retreat from our advancing shoreline are only three of the many problems facing my state. If CA Dems can boost turnout for humble local elections above 20%, I’ll take that as a win.
As for my own efforts, I donate to candidates and participate in Postcards To Voters. I started as a volunteer for MazeDancer’s excellent PostcardPatriots in late 2018, and I have since kept busy with Postcards To Voters. It’s the perfect activity for an introvert like me.
Adam Lang
@MazeDancer: Unfortunately I am in San Francisco. Nobody anywhere near here needs help, and honestly even if I go far afield in California, the state senate and assembly are both supermajority Democratic anyway. Another couple votes make next to no difference here. That’s why I’m asking for stuff farther afield.
I’ll ask AM in NC, thanks, I missed that one too.
Adam Lang
@AM in NC: Hey! If you know of any low-level candidates who need help with web sites (don’t have one at all and are depending entirely on facebook, or have one that is crappy) could you give me a poke? My web site is in the link on my name, either email me at alang@ that domain or just drop a comment in one of the posts if you have any ideas.
ceece
I am doing postcards for several groups:
There is a local office for Democratic volunteers in Los Altos, CA (about 10 miles from me) that has postcarding and phone banking and other events every single day – mostly for non-local candidates, since like Adam Lang said above, we are solid blue here, and for everywhere within about a 3 hour drive. (I did that drive several times in 2018 for TJ Cox and Andrew Janz)
There is also textbanking which is easy to do from home or in a group. Probably will wait until Sept to start that……….
MazeDancer
@Adam Lang: Run for Something has mentorships for which you can volunteer
I will also refer any queries I might run into your way.
Don’t know her, but for roundabout reasons stumbled onto the website of woman, Theresa Greenfield, who likely to beat Joni Ernst. Dreadful work. Why not contact them cold?
GreenfieldforIowa..com
MazeDancer
@Sab: Indivisible website has contact your local group search. For my area, there are towns that use FaceBook and more that use email. Indivisible.org/groups
Maybe you have to start the next town over.
Or start a group for like-minded others who boycott FaceBook.
FaceBook, as we know, is evil. No one should be encouraging its use, even for a worthy cause.
But there is also a “Find an event” map. And you sign up by clicking online to RSVP. Let them contact you.
H.E.Wolf
I apologize for my confusion: were you asking if the Seattle-area folks were going to do another postcard meetup, or was it a question about doing one of your own, and looking for tips?
If you’re willing to be in touch via email, I’d be happy to send you the links that CaseyL and I found helpful. I think we can ask a front-pager to put us in touch. If you see this, let me know. Thanks.
Badgetoon
@Marcopolo:
@Marcopolo: Yup we’re on it, Swing Left is working out of the CADems office, we’ve been calling Arizona for organizing meeting recruitment. And Arizona canvas trips are the new Burning Man for some of the Bay Area. Ca. does have a few R’s left and some of the people that got in 2018 really need support too. I think this kind of export work is Obama’s real legacy.
Badgetoon
@Adam Lang:
Check out here
https://demaction.us/
if you’re looking for SF work almost all of it will be out of state or out of the Bay at least. And I’m sure if you ask around you’ll find people with campaign contacts
JoJo
Here in the Milwaukee area, in my town of Wauwatosa, we’re working on a couple things specifically:
We’re also doing postcards. I just got off the phone with Indivisible’s midwest coordinator. He is going to try to get a list of people who are targets of the attempted voter purge so we can contact them and make sure they are registered. If that comes through, well, there is another opportunity for Milwaukee area jackals!
AM in NC
Thanks for the offer of help. The candidates I know already have pretty decent pages – we’re from an affluent, educated county – as does our county Dem party. I’m wondering of your state Democratic media person might have a list of counties that could use help with web presence? That’s such a valuable talent to volunteer!@Adam Lang: