I volunteered to do phone calls starting in Sept

[karynnj]

NJ has one of the 2 governor races. I had sent my information - to the Kerry email to get involved locally.

The interesting thing is that in talking to the woman trying to coordinate the volunteers I learned that their office has heard a lot of positive comments on Kerry's use of email. She commented that it may help him if he runs again. Any way, it was a pleasant experience to hear this vs all the DU nonsense - and it is nonsense when one poster referred to wanting someone more liberal than Kerry - such as Edwards or Clark. I've seen this claim with Clark and Dean, but now Edwards? Kerry's been a liberal longer than some of these people have been born.

PS: I bet he never voted for Nixon or Reagan

[whometense]

1. Thanks for sharing that.

We can never have enough information from the reality-based world, and it's great to hear people are making positive comments about Kerry.

I've been off DU again largely because of the infestation of freepers, lefty and otherwise, and the way they poison the discussion even when they're not present. I really want to ignore them because they drain energy away from important conversations and because they are a huge psychic drain (which, I guess, is their point...)

[politicasista]

2. That's their goal

They are bored because Congress isn't in session. And we thought the media and Bush was bad at covering the issues that matter.

BTW: Thanks for sharing.

[karynnj]

3. I really do think it will be interesting to hear what's said in my county

We are suburban Northern NJ and in 2004, there was actually a shift in the county towards the Democrats. It has a Republican majority and usually racks up huge Republican margins to balance the urban (newark etc) counties. From the people I met at the local headquarters, there were many socially liberal economically conservative Republicans who liked Kerry once they looked at him.

This was only the comment of one person and I had said I filled out the Kerry email with my zip code to show interest in getting involved locally. She sounded though, from her comments to possibly support Kerry for 2008.

He must be doing something right if he now has 2 million more people than right after the election. (Some may be duplicates as people get new addresses - but it's still impressive.) Also, there were all those DU people who have repeatedly said they took themselves off the list.

I do think his emails have to make some difference - if only a small fraction read them - those people spread across the country will become the more knowledgeable people at lunch tables across the nation. They will know the gist of Kerry's plans, know they have not fundamentally changed since 2004 (no flip-flop) and that he writes in a very direct, action oriented way. No one else is now doing this - there are plenty of letters asking for money, but none that encourage involvement or explain positions as Kerry does.

I have also been trying (not always successfully) to ignore the Ohio fraud garbage. I am totally mystified why they don't understand that Kerry needs PROOF and that it really is too late and it will be too late in 2006 / 2008 if we don't follow those leading to fix these problems. We don't have the luxury of wallowing in our grief over 2004.

[whometense]

4. I know there are

two schools of thought over how to deal with the Kerry bashers - there's a group that wants to fight back and another group that prefers to ignore. Each approach has something to recommend it. It's just that I'm not battle hardened enough to both fight and do positive work at the same time, and I'd rather save my personal resources for 2006 and 2008. Not being psychic, I have no idea what will come of all the scandals swirling around *, but it seems to me that expecting to remove him from office is a pipe dream. And dwelling on 2004 at this point (except for work on election reform) is a waste of energy.

[TayTay]

9. I expect a lot more from that web site as it evolves

Will anyone here shoot me if I put out more 'tea leaf' readings today. (I should have a limit per day, but these have built up over the last two weeks. I need to unload them somewhere.)

Kerry made excellent use of the online petition drive when it was still a fairly new thing on the web. The effectiveness of that device has a rather limited shelf life. Everyone is appealing to exactly the same set of online people. The same folks are signing all the Dem petitions. Sooner or later, someone is going to figure out that this is nice, but rather pointless. All these petitions get people registered onto new database lists, but the petitions themselves get ignored. (Especially by the *ies, because they don't give a shit about what anyone thinks of their actions. At all.)

I think we will continue to see the growth of these petition drives, but the process will also become more interactive. In the long run, it's a lot more valuable to have warm bodies show up at Dem candidate's physical offices in the real world than it is to sign online petitions. (I like online petitions, but really, of what use are they in the long run?) That's where Kerry's evolving and changing site is starting to get real interesting.

Whoever is behind this deserves a lot of kudos for playing with this new form of media. I love the videos, though I would like to see more of them. I love, love, love the individual, state and maybe county based e-mails that have gone out that target specific candidates in specific locations. This is a wonderful use of the web and an incredible way to direct volunteers to a place where they can do some good (and remember to tell who sent them, btw.)

What comes next on the web? How will that site evolve? I just adore the fact that they are playing with this stuff now and looking at the results and then taking actions based on what they got. This is not a static thing, but is evolving all the time. Kerry sent out the appeal earlier this year for military families to send him stories about how difficult their lives are because of unnecessary complications. He got 2,000 letters overnight and used those letters on the Senate floor in a speech the next day. Wow! I cannot tell you how much I loved that. It was a great, innovative and strong use of the interactive possibilities of this media.

Hmmm, what comes next. What is a genuine, interactive, appealing use of this technology that gets voters more involved, helps to spread a targeted message and does a lot of good for both Sen. Kerry and the Dems. Hmmmm, I can see lots of new stuff coming fairly soon.

[Noisy Democrat]

5. How exactly

did you sign up to get involved locally? I think I have too but I'm not sure. And I want to tell other people.

[karynnj]

6. There was an email that

let you put in your name, phone number and zip code. I don't remember if I received it or saw it somewhere and just responded. It might be that as NJ and VA have the only Gov elections this year it was sent only here and there.

I feel dunb that I can't either remember or find it. The email account I signed up with eats things if I don't file them quickly. I looked at johnkerry.com and found nothing.

[Noisy Democrat]

7. Oh, probably

we here in Michigan haven't gotten one -- our governor is up for reelection in 2006, so we'll get one later (if yours is up in 2005).

[ginnyinWI]

8. the very thought of JK voting for Nixon

or Reagan made me smile--thanks! :)