Please check out my YouTube video on Bill Clinton's assertion that the Obama campaign is a "fairy tale." Feel free to rate it up and/or favorite it if you like.
Fairytale?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCDU6S-qi7A
Here is a video I made for Filipino Americans for Barack Obama. It features the late Nat King Cole singing the Filipino classic song "Dahil Sa Iyo." Barack is a cosponsor and advocate of the Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2007 ( HR-760, and S.1315 ).
Please forward it around.
Barack Obama: Dahil Sa Iyohttp://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1344637923 (good quality)YouTube Versionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlYNxOGZBuUGoogle Videohttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4854327522068094858&hl=en
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
You can influence what headlines the major news services display online by rating them up on CNN, Yahoo, Google, etc.
For example, here is the Most Popular News page for Yahoo News:
Most Popular News on Yahoo
Notice that there are also categories for Most Emailed, Most Viewed and Most Recommended news.
Rated news of this type also appears on Yahoo News front page at news.yahoo.com about a quarter way down the page in the "More News" section.
Obviously by simply clicking on a news story you rate it up in the "Most Viewed" category.
And the end of each story in Yahoo News, you will see these options:
Recommend It:
Average (393 votes)
By emailing and recommending stories you feel would favor Barack Obama you push them up in the ratings.
You can do nearly the same thing on CNN.com by going to their "Hot Topics" page:
CNN Hot Topics
Use the search engine to find a story you know about that is favorable to Obama, then click on it and email it to friends to push it up in the most popular and most emailed categories.
The most popular user rated news also appears on the CNN.com front page right under "Latest News."
You can do the same thing with Google News at their most popular news page:
Google Most Popular News
Many other publications have similar news rating systems, here's one for the New York Times:
NY Times Most Popular
By spreading favorable news stories about Barack Obama, you can help drive up their ratings.
Be careful with negative Obama stories though when conducting rapid response. Otherwise you will end up unintentionally rating up these stories.
Here's a video of the walk in the capital of California:
Sacramento Walk for Change
Leadership QuotesThe ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. -- Martin Luther King Jr.A leader is a dealer in hope.-- Napoleon BonaparteRule a kingdom as though you were cooking a small fish - don't overdo it-- Lao Tzu But of the best rulers when their task is accomplished, Their work done, The people all remark, “We have done it ourselves.”-- Lao TzuI must follow the people. Am I not their leader?-- Benjamin DisraeliLead by example, with actions, not words.-- Sun Tzu
Obama Blog
Here's a YouTube video of Sacramento for Obama's preparation for Walk for Change with a little musical slide show thrown in at the end.
Sacramento Walks for Change
Strong organization requires esprit de corps.
Some of the important aspects of esprit de corps as recognized by the military include:
Well-being
* Food and Drink. An army fights with its belly. Include breakfast, lunch and dinner in your scheduling. Make bottled water available. Don't schedule a meeting at dinner time without making food available or people will leave early, and might not come back or will come late after eating. Provide food if possible rather than requiring people to bring potluck. Get food and drink donors/sponsors. Some business owners might be willing to donate to build up goodwill and for marketing.* Rest. Don't work volunteers too hard. Save pushing them only when necessary. Schedule in rest and restroom breaks.* Socializing/Fun. Make volunteering fun. Allow time for socializing and promote socializing. * Recognition/belonging. Thank, list, recognize, award volunteers. Be politically-correct and make sure leadership and committees are fully diverse. The military was way ahead of the corporate world and politics in promoting diversity because esprit de corps is essential to survival. * Love your volunteers, love your group leaders. Share what you got.
* Food and Drink. An army fights with its belly. Include breakfast, lunch and dinner in your scheduling. Make bottled water available. Don't schedule a meeting at dinner time without making food available or people will leave early, and might not come back or will come late after eating. Provide food if possible rather than requiring people to bring potluck. Get food and drink donors/sponsors. Some business owners might be willing to donate to build up goodwill and for marketing.
* Rest. Don't work volunteers too hard. Save pushing them only when necessary. Schedule in rest and restroom breaks.
* Socializing/Fun. Make volunteering fun. Allow time for socializing and promote socializing.
* Recognition/belonging. Thank, list, recognize, award volunteers. Be politically-correct and make sure leadership and committees are fully diverse. The military was way ahead of the corporate world and politics in promoting diversity because esprit de corps is essential to survival.
* Love your volunteers, love your group leaders. Share what you got.
Unit cohesion
* Create a group identity and ensignia.* Establish a working relationship depending on the individuals involved. A military-type hierarchy won't work with volunteers.* Show respect, consideration, etc. for fellow group members Watch each other's back.* Practice working together often.
* Create a group identity and ensignia.
* Establish a working relationship depending on the individuals involved. A military-type hierarchy won't work with volunteers.
* Show respect, consideration, etc. for fellow group members Watch each other's back.
* Practice working together often.
Pride
* Develop a unique Obama culture.* Produce good work, the best work.* Record your accomplishments. Display your stuff.
* Develop a unique Obama culture.
* Produce good work, the best work.
* Record your accomplishments. Display your stuff.
Teamwork
* Create an environment of trust and predictablity.* Work out a routine and practice.* Set reasonable goals that challenge (but don't push too hard) * Be dependable. Only agree to tasks you can handle and then complete them fully.
* Create an environment of trust and predictablity.
* Work out a routine and practice.
* Set reasonable goals that challenge (but don't push too hard)
* Be dependable. Only agree to tasks you can handle and then complete them fully.
Purpose
* Of course, the idea is to get Barack Obama elected, but in order to bring about meaningful change. It's a longer term commitment than just Nov. 2008.
Check out these videos:
When Barack was Barry Obama ABC News via Yahoo! News - Apr 27 4:33 PM
Before He Was Barack ABC News via Yahoo! News - Apr 26 2:04 PM
Can we push the number of donors on the homepage counter to 40,000 by debate time tomorrow?
The classic method of getting out the vote involves calling up and reminding supporters at their homes in the last few days of the election.
Students though are pretty notorious for changing their home phone numbers as they move away during the summer break, transfer to new schools, graduation, etc.
I have come up with a few ideas, some which may already be implemented, to allowing chasing down Barack Obama's student supporters when it comes time to vote:
* Student groups should update contact information once every quarter/semester or at least at the end of the 2006-2007 school year.
* If the students will be moving away to new jobs, schools, etc. remind them to update you or the campaign office once they have settled down. Also remind them to register to vote at their new location, or encourage them to sign up for vote-by-mail.
* Get complete contact info especially "mobile" info like cellphone number, non-school email address, IM username, text messaging number, website, etc. Get permission to contact the supporter to remind them to vote.
* At election time, send out reminders using these various media until you have confirmed a contact. Ideally, you should keep contacting until the supporter confirms they have voted.
Comments are welcome.
Democrat Barack Obama holds the upper hand against three prospective Republican presidential nominees in the United States, according to a poll by Bloomberg and the Los Angeles Times. 46 per cent of respondents would support the Illinois senator in 2008, while 42 per cent would vote for former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.
"Obama also holds an eight-point advantage over Arizona senator John McCain, and a 19-point advantage over Massachusetts senator Mitt Romney.
"In other contests, New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton leads McCain by three points and Romney by seven points, but trails Giuliani by six points. Former North Carolina senator John Edwards also holds advantages over McCain and Romney, but trails Giuliani by two points."
Rudy Giuliani (R) 42% - 46% Barack Obama (D)John McCain (R) 40% - 48% Barack Obama (D)Mitt Romney (R) 31% - 50% Barack Obama (D)
Rudy Giuliani (R) 48% - 42% Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)John McCain (R) 42% - 45% Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)Mitt Romney (R) 37% - 44% Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)
Rudy Giuliani (R) 45% - 43% John Edwards (D)John McCain (R) 40% - 44% John Edwards (D)Mitt Romney (R) 30% - 50% John Edwards (D)
Obama is the best-rated Democrat in 2008
How to target young voters or potential young voters -- Starbucks, Jamba Juice?
Shop At Target? You're A Swing Voter
Political campaigns are using consumer preferences to predict voting patterns
If you drive a Chevrolet Suburban, Dick DeVos wants to sell you something. But the longtime Amway Corp. executive isn't hawking tires or sound systems. He's selling himself. DeVos is a conservative Republican running for governor in Michigan, and he figures that if you're the typical Chevy Suburban driver -- a middle-income parent who lives outside the city -- you might just be his kind of voter. DeVos is using some of the same marketing and persuasion techniques used for decades by American businesses in an attempt to locate potential customers for his political campaign.
In the new world of "corporate affinity" politics, more and more campaigns are working with commercial data-mining firms to build databases of voters' consumer preferences, hobbies, and media viewing habits. When cross-indexed against publicly available voter information, campaigns can target, with astonishing reliability, both potential supporters and key swing-voter blocs. Candidates then reach out to the voters they have identified via personal contacts, phone calls, direct mail, e-mail, or Internet ads that pop up when the voter visits certain Web sites. This fall, DeVos, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and about half a dozen other statewide candidates hope to benefit from the lessons learned by American companies. Consumer data allow political campaigns to identify "the political and social DNA of a person," says Ron Fournier, editor-in-chief of Hotsoup.com, a bipartisan political Web site, and co-author of the book Applebee's America: How Successful Political, Business, and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community. The sliced-and-diced data allow campaigns "to control the message and identify which issue is most likely to be the most compelling for each household at every life stage," says Josh Herman, director of product innovation at Arkansas-based Acxiom Corp. (ACXM ), the data company used most often by campaigns from both parties. For the DeVos campaign, the result is "a matrix to hit our most likely voters," says Communications Director John Truscott. Matthew Dowd, chief strategist for President George W. Bush's 2004 campaign, says the ascendancy of corporate-affinity politics is the culmination of a profound change in the way people reach political decisions. Party loyalties are waning. Voters are more likely to share "gut values" that result in product loyalty. "Today, you have to understand the lifestyle choices they make, what products they buy, where they choose to live," Dowd says, "or you're going to miss the boat." Consumer data and political polling offer a glimpse into consumers' psyches. Applebee's restaurant patrons tend to be middle class residents of the heartland who value family, community, and consistency. A Wal-Mart Stores (WMT ) shopper is likely to be socially conservative, pro-gun, and exurban or rural, while a Bloomingdale's (FD ) or Neiman Marcus customer is probably upscale, urban, and socially liberal. A Target (TGT ) regular is an independent-minded, style-conscious, cost-conscious suburbanite. That makes Target customers "the sort of voters who are at play in swing states," says Steven E. Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College. KNITTERS LIKE BILL Bush adviser Dowd says lifestyle targeting allows campaigns to identify supporters with 90% reliability, compared with under 60% for old-style targeting based on factors such as geography or ethnicity. That's why campaigns will sometimes pay more than $100,000 for that kind of information and tens of thousands more to massage and update the data. Rounding out the hefty budget is a million dollars or more to reach the micro-targeted audience. Companies have used data mining for years to study the personal traits of their most loyal customers and to develop strategies to expand their reach. But it's relatively new to politics. In 1996 President Bill Clinton's reelection strategists noticed that basketball fans, knitters, and daytime talk-show viewers were supporters, while fans of country music, college football, and the TV comedy hit Friends favored Republican Bob Dole. But the campaign did little with the data other than target TV programs for ad buys. In the intervening years, Republicans recognized the benefits of adapting costly business models, while "Democrats have been behind the curve," says former Clinton political director Douglas B. Sosnik. In 2004, the Bush campaign used consumer data to target both core supporters and swing voters with a higher degree of accuracy than had ever been achieved. Dowd's plan helped Bush turn out the Republican base in record numbers while besting Democrat John Kerry among coveted swing blocs such as blue-collar men and suburban women. Just last year, Governor Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) used consumer data to identify key swing voters and tailor his faith-and-family message to attract suburban Starbucks (SBUX ) customers and exurban Wal-Mart shoppers alike. Many of those voters lived in the state's rapidly growing exurbs. In 2004, George Bush outpolled Kerry by nearly 2 to 1 among white, suburban, churchgoing mothers in Virginia. But Democrat Kaine, a former missionary, targeted those voters with a values-laden message that also emphasized education and transportation. That helped him win not only the Target swing voters but also many socially conservative customers of Applebee's and Wal-Mart. On Election Day, Kaine swept the suburbs, edged Republican Jerry W. Kilgore on the home turf of religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, and captured an unprecedented 47% of the votes of white, churchgoing mothers -- normally a very Republican voting bloc. Campaign manager Mike Henry says the consumer data allowed the Virginian "to be very efficient with time and resources. It allowed us with pinpoint accuracy to reach out and touch people." Henry says Kaine crafted a platform that appealed to these persuadable voters and allowed him to communicate with individual voters about issues that concern them, such as suburban sprawl. Already, potential 2008 Presidential candidates like Democrats Mark Warner and Wesley K. Clark and Republican John McCain are studying the technique. Pete Brodnitz, campaign pollster for Kaine, said the Virginian's use of consumer data was "version 1.0" for the political world. By 2008, "I assume every [Presidential] campaign will have some kind of modeling. It has matured that much." One businessman wonders what has taken so long. "It's much the same thing, whether you're looking to influence a person to come to Applebee's or to vote," says Lloyd L. Hill, board chairman of Applebee's. "I don't know how anybody's going to be successful in the future without using data mining."
Link
Here are some expert pdf guides on reaching young voters.
I would condense these works into four "E's":
Excite young people to the possibility that they can bring about change.
Engage them so they become active in the process.
Elect the leaders that will bring about this change.
Expect those elected leaders to deliver the goods.
YVS Publications
Young Voter Mobilization TacticsYVS compilation of the best research on young voter turnout techiniques, from phone calls and door knocks to direct m
Read it here.
Winning Young VotersA guide for campaigns and candidates on the best ways to�reach out to young voters as a way to win elections. Read it her
Independent expenditures are ads or other "communications" asking voters to vote or not to vote for a specific candidate or party. These expenditures can include everything from flyers to TV ads but differ from campaign contributions in that they are made without authorization or coordination of an official campaign. So if a person independently prints window signs urging a vote for Barack Obama without authorization from the campaign, it is an independent expenditure. If a person makes $250 or more in independent expenditures a year, they must file a statement with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).
Any group that raises or spends more than $1,000 in a calendar year must register as an independent committee and file campaign statements with the FEC. Soft money Big money donors get around campaign contribution limits by either spending their own money independently or by contributing to independent committees. There is a limit to the amount they can contribute to such committees, but not on the amount of personal money they spend. All they have to do is place a disclaimer on the communication or ad stating that it was not authorized by the official candidate's campaign, and listing some contact information (street address, telephone number or website address). Of course, grassroots supporters and organizations can also make independent expenditures if they have reached their donation limits.
Even if they don't max, but are unable to make further monetary donations to the campaign, they can independently use their own printers, paper and other materials to print flyers, signs, buttons, etc. Independent committees like the well-known "Swift Boat" group that targeted John Kerry's campaign can often have a significant impact on the election outcome. MoveOn.org and Democracy for America are examples of more progressive independent multi-candidate committees. Smaller grassroots organizations can also tap into this money source by soliticing local donors who have reached their limits with the official campaign but are still looking for other ways to contribute.
Here are some resources to publicize your Mar. 31 kickoff event or other events beyond this website: Eventful.com (regist. required)
Upcoming.org (regist. required) Yahoo's event calendar
Craigslist -- find your city and go to "Community" then "Events"
Google Calendar -- add event to your google calendar (helpful if you have a public calendar)
The first poem written below comes from Obama's high school in Hawai'i. The other two are from the Occidental Weekly, a publication of Occidental College in Los Angeles, which he attended before transferring to Columbia.OLD MANI saw an old forgotten manOn an old, forgotten roadstaggering and numbpulls out forgotten dignity from under his flaking coat,And walks a straight line along the crooked world.POP
Sitting in his seat, a seat broad and brokenIn, sprinkled with ashes,Pop switches channels, takes anotherShot of Seagrams, neat, and asksWhat to do with me, a green young manWho fails to consider theFlim and flam of the world, sinceThings have been easy for me;I stare hard at his face, a stareThat deflects off his brow;I'm sure he's unaware of hisDark, watery eyes, thatGlance in different directions,And his slow, unwelcome twitches,Fail to pass.I listen, nod,Listen, open, till I cling to his pale,Beige T-shirt, yelling,Yelling in his ears, that hangWith heavy lobes, but he's still tellingHis joke, so I ask whyHe's so unhappy, to which he replies...But I don't care anymore, causeHe took too damn long, and fromUnder my seat, I pull out theMirror I've been saving; I'm laughing,Laughing loud, the blood rushing from his faceTo mine, as he grows small,A spot in my brain, somethingThat may be squeezed out, like aWatermelon seed betweenTwo fingers.Pop takes another shot, neat,Points out the same amberStain on his shorts that I've got on mine, andMakes me smell his smell, comingFrom me; he switches channels, recites an old poemHe wrote before his mother died,Stands, shouts, and asksFor a hug, as I shink, myArms barely reaching aroundHis thick, oily neck, and his broad back; 'causeI see my face, framed withinPop's black-framed glassesAnd know he's laughing too.
UNDERGROUND
Under water grottos, cavernsFilled with apesThat eat figs.Stepping on the figsThat the apesEat, they crunch.The apes howl, bareTheir fangs, dance,Tumble in theRushing water,Musty, wet peltsGlistening in the blue.
