Eugene Back from DC
Eugene writes:
I have returned from the DC trip, with what seems like more jet lag than when I travel to Europe! Thanks to your help I was able to deliver $10,300 to Governor Dean's effort for John Kerry!

After speaking to the group there was a brief meet and greet. Gov. Dean saw my nametag and announced that it was because of TruthandHope that he won Vermont! That was such a spectacular moment to remember and you should all know how much that meant to Governor Dean and how deeply he appreciates our efforts. He did not expect to win the state, only to do fairly well, perhaps in the 20 - 30% range. That is something that you and I can take enormous pleasure in, having a hand in the victory and what was our one opportunity to celebrate in the nomination process.

After that he came out with Senator Kerry and the congressional members who supported DFA and formally endorsed him. Kerry spoke briefly, before they headed out to the George Washington University event for the public endorsement. Senator Kerry committed that the first bill he would send to congress would be health care reform. The meeting focused on Dean and Kerry talking about the tough primary season, which focuses on their differences, but how they need to unite and talk about what they have in common.

When Dean and Kerry left for the rally, Senator Harkin spent some time with us. Then we met with Congresswoman Pelosi, Senator Kennedy, Senator Daschle and Terry McAuliffe separately. The gist of these meetings was a reach out to the Dean supporters and review of why this election is so very important. They all emphasized the important contributions we have made to the party and how they needed our help to overcome the Bush campaign.

At the unity dinner the former candidates spoke as people were still filing in. If you did not see a broadcast of the speeches, I encourage you to go to cspan.org and watch. The former candidates including Dean are not included there, but the main program is. Al Gore was particularly forceful, as he is in all of his speeches now. Jimmy Carter gave a moving speech from the point of view of a Grandfather and Bill Clinton was...well Bill Clinton. John Kerry spoke last, as the nominee, but following Clinton is tough to do! Definitely watch the speeches, at least Gore/Carter/Clinton if not Gore through Kerry.

The most important point of these meetings seemed to be the genuine impression that I had of respect and appreciation for Gov. Dean and his supporters. There was an implied understanding that it is thanks to him and his followers and their energies that we have a real chance to defeat Bush in November. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton singled Howard Dean out to thank him for giving the party its voice, rallying new support and being vocally against the war from the beginning. When Clinton mentions the impact Dean has had there was a long standing ovation for Dean.

On Friday we met with some various progressive groups. A couple that stood out to me were 'Ralph don't Run' and the intensified efforts that they plan to undertake to research areas that Nader is strongest in to develop ground support for talking with his supporters about Nader's effect on this election, as well as creating new flash media on this subject. The word needs to get out that the Republicans contributed to his campaign in 2000, and many Republicans are beginning to give financial contributions to both Bush and Nader now. We may work with them to develop some anti-Nader media, because this could end up being the swing vote in November.

Another group that stood out was 21st century Democrats, with which Gov. Dean has mentioned working directly. They have a large organization dedicated to recruiting, training and supporting progressive candidates at all levels of government from school boards through senate and congress. This is a powerful tool and ally. I can see trying to develop a relationship where DFA directly endorses with Dean's name various candidates, 21st century provides ground support and training, and we could lend a hand by running some media in support of these candidates. This is the tactic that the Christian Coalition used to take the country from the ground up, understanding that if you fill the lower levels of government it becomes a training ground for the upper, while their message begins to infiltrate the cities.

I made a presentation about TruthandHope, and there was support for the concept of running anti-Bush media, in particular a concept that Joanie Benoit developed to utilize our conversational format from the radio ads we used in the nomination season, but develop a couple of characters that we will stick with and people can become familiar with. These characters can engage in a water cooler type discussion about any new media the Bush team produces, or any particularly absurd lie or distortion he or one of his surrogates has spoken publicly (obviously a daily event!). There are many heavy ads going out and bio pieces for Kerry, but taking a lighter hearted approach, while slipping in strong messages could have a powerful effect and fill a niche.

Beyond that we are also exploring other partnerships with groups that fill roles other than ours, but where we contribute to each other's goals, as well as sponsoring the efforts of other groups who wish to raise funds to support progressive candidates or causes, but lack the resources to set up a 527 or PAC organization.

There are some more meetings to be had, structure to develop, plus the website design needs to be finished up, but with our previous success, particularly in Vermont we will have some important projects and a role to play. Governor Dean said that he would post a link to our site on the new DFA site, which I am going to remind him of, after I send this out! I will place a reciprocal link and contribution bat as soon as and if it is possible, so we can support his important group through TruthandHope.

On another note, I have been informed of a party on Tuesday at Ron Burkle's house (He owns Ralph’s food stores among other things) in San Diego, CA. It is a fundraiser for John Kerry with James Taylor playing. The price of admission is $1,000, and any of you who gave this amount during our fundraiser are entitled to a ticket. I know that some who did are far from Southern California, but the offer is open. It also entitles you to a ticket to Dean's next event in Southern California, I will see if that can be used toward an event in your home state if you had given that amount to our effort. If anyone would like to attend, please let me know - I can count any contribution you have already made toward that total. I can and still am accepting contributions for Kerry to put through the Dean's List on an ongoing basis, but that will not be our focus at any foreseeable point now, nor will it be on our website. In fact, it would probably be a violation anyway.

I am sure that I have missed some greater details of my trip and such that would be of interest, but for the sake of getting this out without it being too long and adhering to the merciless nature of my jetlag, I will leave it at this for now.

There is so much admiration, thanks and support for what we have done, I have to thank you all again. It would not be possible without you.

Thank you for all that you do,

Eugene Hedlund
Founder
TruthandHope.Org
  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 10:37 PM  PST

  An Email from Eugene
From: "Eugene Hedlund"
Subject: More than half way there?
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 17:17:45 -0800

I have $3,075.44 for Kerry from TruthandHope members for Dean in my possession right now. Beyond that, I have 41 people that have requested Credit Card forms or who are sending checks. So, if the average contribution is $50, we're half way there and if it is $100 we're well over that. I expect that between the mail delivering and people faxing from work tomorrow that number should grow significantly.

I really appreciate your support in this and making it easier to request in the first place with that support. It took me a few hours to get up the nerve to send out the initial request, as it is obviously not something we ever wanted to do when we started this, or during all the time that we have individually supported Governor Dean. I knew we'd even lose a few people, so far only 3, but even that is hard for me. I hate to think that people who support Governor Dean, or support TruthandHope will be so apt to withdraw support over one issue, especially when Dean has always pledged support for the nominee and is so actively supporting Kerry in his interviews and speeches.

I don't feel that I am a leader in this effort. It is my support for Governor Dean and his taking the lead along with the prospect of his gaining credit and higher standing with the nominee for his agenda that makes it not only possible as it was a couple days ago, but something I can now say that I am fully behind. I know that everyone needs their own time to consider supporting someone we so actively tried to defeat, because I have needed my time to get to such a place. My initial thought when Gov. Dean dropped out was that I would vote for him in November anyway. Now I see that whether or not someone commits to help financially, there are ultimately only four options: Vote for Kerry, Vote for Bush, Vote for a 3rd party or don't vote at all. Three of those four help Bush to another term. Aside from Gov. Dean's support of Kerry and if I understand from the Face the Nation show today correctly, an official endorsement this week, when I think of the Patriot Act, War based on lies, NCLB, Medicare reform, job loss, negative perception around the world, FCC attacking free speech and the absurd tax breaks that I get as a corporate business owner and in the "1%" while so many people are working so hard and cannot pay for health or child care, as Gov. Dean puts it any change even "incremental change" is so incredibly desirable, so very necessary that I can easily support Kerry or just about anyone else that had a reasonable chance to end this reign.

A couple people have emailed in the past hour that they are now pledging support, due to what Richard Clarke said on 60 minutes. It has not aired on the west coast yet, but I am looking forward to watching it. Perhaps there is some more (as if we needed it) good material for a Bush ad! Speaking of which, I am sitting on a couple business plans for TruthandHope moving forward and hope to have some positive feedback from Gov. Dean next week, as well as the other Dean's list members who represent large donors. I am excited to get back to airing media in support of progressive candidates, and against those that need to go! In the interim I have been meeting and speaking with other Dean supporters who have spent the months doing rather than saying and we are all on the same page for moving forward with full effort again to oust the current administration. It continues to be the most inspiring thing in my life thus far to be associated with so many people who not only feel so strongly about taking their country back, but are doing so much to make it happen.

Thank you for all that you do,
Eugene Hedlund
Founder
TruthandHope.Org  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 9:43 PM  PST

  New Directions
As you all know, Gov. Dean made his announcement this morning concerning his new organization, Democracy for America. Eugene is considering the various options for truthandhope.org, and I wanted to give all of truthandhope's supporters a chance to express their ideas on this. So comment away!
Stuart (sdf)

  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 12:20 PM  PST

  Organizational Structure and Then Some
Eugene sent out a lengthy update last night, which I am going to divide into a number of posts. Please feel free to comment on whichever of these points you have any thoughts on -- Stuart (sdf)

Important Disclosure Request:
To comply with our reporting requirements as a PAC, if you have contributed $200 or more in total and have not filled this information out in the paypal fields previously, please send Eugene your occupation and employer. These fields were supposed to be required in paypal, but that function has not worked. Our new merchant relationship will alleviate that issue, but it will not be available for a couple days and will not solve the past contribution problem.
  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 11:50 AM  PST

  Possible Organizational Structure
Eugene writes: "A lot of where we may fit in will be clearer on the 18th. Also some of these concepts are already being pursued by other Dean groups, so hopefully we can work with them, as opposed to recreating what has been or is being done. However here are some ideas I have in regards to what I would like to see TruthandHope evolve into over time:

I would like to see the organization have three arms. The first being the central group, which is made up of state and regional leaders. The purpose will be to disseminate the feedback from the various areas in regards to platform, agenda and focus for the whole organization. This group would handle the fundraising and distribution portions, having a greater focus on and understanding of their local areas for the purposes of airing media or other projects, as well as feedback and concerns.

The second arm deals with General Election projects. This term is used by another group, but it fits: I would like a "rapid response media team." If we can utilize volunteer help as much as possible, it saves greatly in costs of production, but we will need to be willing to pay for professional creation to make this work in terms of speed. The Bush campaign, as well as their supportive 527 and PAC groups will air plenty of lies and distortions in their media. The 9/11 ad has been offensive to many already. I would like to have the facility to quickly put together media and run counter ads to what they are airing in targeted markets, predominately in swing states as that is where their media is targeted. It will not take the same budget they have to generate an effect. We will need a PR arm as an aspect to this, to quickly get the word out to the press of what we are doing each time and detail the specific lies and distortions we are countering. This can also be effective to counter any public speeches or comments made that run afoul of the truth. Logistically this would be a challenge, funds wise also, as we would need to be able to move very quickly, but it can be done and it may be our greatest area of influence and effectiveness if we pull it off.

Another aspect of this is to create an archive of raw data, print, web, radio and television that is cataloged and readily accessible to create the media with and directly reference in our counter statements.

The third arm is to have state pages on the TruthandHope website. On each state page the various elections from local to statewide can be listed, with the major candidates, their positions and websites linked. The important aspect will be to note if we have endorsed or are supporting a candidate, or if they have addressed or pledge to address the issues we lay out in the TruthandHope.Org platform. Many local candidates for elections in races where little money is spent would find it a tremendous boon to have support from our organization. An ambitious idea is to facilitate local grassroots (or our own for more prominent races) advertising that can be directly contributed to the airing of for these races. It is a much more intricate version of the concept we use now to allow members to support specific states. A gateway page to the states pages will highlight the most important races and others on a rotating basis. DFA 2.0 may address some or all of this based on the highlights that have been released on their website, so this is a particularly flexible idea.

Another aspect I would like to create is the ability for the members to have user pages where they can put personal information, photos, creative notes or whatever else so that we can get to know each other and work together more, as opposed to just the communication from me to all of you and back.

These are just some outlines of concepts I would like to throw out for discussion. I would love your feedback and ideas as well. It is from your ideas added to a couple of my own that the whole of this concept was put together. It is certainly an ambitious undertaking that could not be done in a few days, but with what has been done in just over a month, I know that we have a nucleus here already that can accomplish amazing things, so why not try?

Thank you all so much for you help!

Eugene Hedlund
Founder
TruthandHope.Org"

  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 11:35 AM  PST

  Business/Affinity Relationships
Eugene writes:
"One of my original concepts was to establish a list of members who have businesses or services to offer and post them on the website. The idea being that we can use our spending power to support each other, rather than other corporations and it would be a way to support TruthandHope other than just contributions from individuals discretionary funds. There are some legal hoops, as an example I am a mortgage banker. I thought of pledging a $1,000 contribution to the group for each closed loan and doing them for something to the effect of Countrywide's posted rate and fees, less $500 so it is clearly a good deal and that I am not simply upping my costs by $1,000 to give the contribution. With this or other relationships the form of contribution would have to be that I or the merchant would give you a credit and then you would have to personally give the money to TruthandHope, since it cannot come from a corporation. If we develop another 527 group to focus on state races or issues only that would no longer be the case. Would something like this from a variety of businesses offering a percentage or fixed amount be of interest? Also, any of you that have businesses or services to promote, please let me know. I have heard from a few people in the past, but could not act until the legal issues were resolved.

Other mortgage professionals are welcome too, I am only licensed in nine states."  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 10:49 AM  PST

  Commissions
Eugene writes:
"I have had questions as to whether or not I receive a commission for this work. I may over discuss this topic, but it is important to me that it is thoroughly answered. Typically one would receive a salary or take the agency split of 15% as payment, that is how campaign staff make a living or other .org or PAC/527 groups. If you think of how much money is raised by some campaigns or organizations, this is quite a significant amount...

That being said, TruthandHope has no paid staff, including myself. However we do have an advertising agency. This was born form the initial buys in Washington. Some stations will allow an organization to self advertise and take 15% off of the gross price, others will not, so we pay full price and the difference goes into the pockets of the station or it's sales agents. It makes no sense to give them the money, when we could use it. On a couple occasions we have used the discount and paid the reduced price directly. In Connecticut we used an agent to get on swiftly, so he earned the 15%. When we run print ads there is no agency discount, so the merchant and attorneys fees for disclosure of the donations were taken from radio monies. As you see we have run media with 100% or more of the money raised. I pay a 2.9% + .35 fee for every transaction to the merchant account, which is a loss. Immediately we are down to 12% of the radio commission, keeping in mind that we have not always taken the commission and that there is none for print.

A corporation cannot contribute to TruthandHope, so the monies cannot be paid back into the organization. On this note, another loss is that I am having to go back through and refund all corporate and foreign contributions. What the advertising agency can do is pay some bills. It has paid for ad creation, $3,600 for radio, $500 for Beta creation and duplication. The UPS bill is just under $1,000. The new merchant account I am setting up was $500. That leaves us with a profit still, save for one large bill - the attorney's fees. I have paid the retainer, but have not received an updated billing and I don't want to! We have to file every donation, every media buy and every expenditure, all billable hours. Also there will be some fines to pay for late filing, as we jumped on the air in Washington and Maine, before the disclosures were properly done. Our attorney has done a magnificent job getting everything caught up quickly as possible, but that is another bill I am awaiting. For those to whom I have expressed that I hope we just break even, that is what I mean. I expected to spend about $15,000 on this endeavor, the time is a pleasure as I can afford it. If I can avoid that expenditure it would be wonderful. In the future it may become necessary to hire a paid staff. Also if it continues to take away from my "real" job, I will need to address that concern. If and/or when those eventualities occur, I will work some figures and either set a fixed cost or a percentage of contributions that will need to be set aside and will propose it to the group.

Before anyone notes the general fund, we did raise just over $4,000, but you'll also note that we overspent in some states especially on Super Tuesday to either complete or pad the buys giving us the best chance for success."  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 10:46 AM  PST

  Website Updates
Eugene writes: "Considering the obvious changes in direction, I removed the anti-Kerry items from the Truth and Hope Homepage. I also updated the media buys and added the Blog and merchandise links. Many more updates to come. I would like it to evolve into posting updates on the site and/or the blog, rather than sending out so many emails and saving email for urgent messages or major updates instead."  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 10:41 AM  PST

  Delegates for Dean
Eugene writes: "I have read reports that in Austin we had some strong caucus wins, but overall no delegates were won. We are still raising funds for the pre-18th states and will run media as the money allows. I believe that with phone banking and targeted media buys we could possibly win some delegates, but am growing concerned that the money may not be best spent here anymore. As always I will do what your fundraising dictates, but after Gov. Dean's meeting [yesterday with John Kerry] and with his impending announcement it may be that he will officially drop out and release his delegates. There have been requests to raise funds for future states, which I am open to, but also somewhat loathe to do. If we raise funds for North Carolina or Alaska for example, and Gov. Dean does pull out completely I do not want to be in a situation where people want refunds, yet would hate to have them feel their money went to waste. I appreciate your feedback on this."  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 10:36 AM  PST

  On in Texas
We're on the air in Texas-KGSR in Austin all day. Texas had raised $1,100, Florida $600 and LA/MS $230 total. I had to adhere to the $1,500 rule and spent $2,000 to run in Austin. General Fund money was spent to make up for shortfalls on Super Tuesday and even add to existing runs. However, as we wait for the 18th and funds are slower in raising, I could not do such this time. The decision to focus on Austin was based on advice from people in Texas, but more so from nationwide groups that had data to show this was our best bet for a limited budget. Also the phone banking is being targeted to Austin, so it makes sense to work together and provide some 'air' support for that effort.

I will be flying back to the US tomorrow and on Wednesday I will send out an outline of how TandH could be structured and where we could be heading, along with greater discussion of anti-Bush ads, which there seemed to be a strong majority in support of. This will be mainly for discussion, as the 18th is not far and direct and/or complementary support of what Gov. Dean does is of the utmost import.

I do not want to get too into this right now, but if there are any questions about what TandH is doing or has done, please feel free to send them to me directly. Unfortunately there is a negative backlash that is beginning due to Howard Dean and Roy Neel's public thanks of TruthandHope.Org - which means all of you are being thanked, definitely not just me. My name may be on some emails or the website, but the membership has made this happen. Anyhow, a particular group's whole intention is to bring about publicity for itself based on harnessing the passion of Dean supporters, so our unintended publicity is causing friction. Unfortunately, attacking TandH is easier than doing something new,creative and effective. Hopefully these issues sort themselves out soon. I have always tried to be an open book, probably disclosing more than many or most groups or organizations you have been a part of, and I will continue to do so. I am here always to speak to or write to directly, and although it is overly busy sometimes, I will get back to you personally as much as possible. This is your group and I need and appreciate your help.

Thank you for all that you do,
Eugene Hedlund
Founder
TruthandHope.Org
  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 9:09 AM  PST

  Totals Update
TX    $815

FL    $570

LA    $120

MS   $110

Eugene notes that if the $1,500 is not met, or is only met in Texas, he will spend what is there in Austin on Monday morning.

-- Stuart (sdf)

[NOTE: It's come to my attention that the pull-down menu for donations here on the blog is visible on some browsers and not on others; I'm working on this, and in the meantime, you can always donate over at the Truth and Hope donation portal]  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 9:05 AM  PST

  Update
Eugene writes:

We have raised $200 for Texas and $320 for Florida, the other states are less than $100.  It is understandable with the delegate results and how much money and effort went into Super Tuesday that things would slow down.  If we do bring in the money to run media, I suggest focusing on these two states, based on the tracking data that we do have.  However, I will run media anywhere the money arrives for, as always.  Getting the message out that a vote of Dean is still possible and why is the key.  There was a phone banking effort for Super Tuesday states to Dean supporters for which the overwhelming result was that those contacted were more than happy to still vote for Dean, they just didn't know they could.  If any of you would like to participate in calling lists of known Dean supporters in the upcoming states, please let me know straight away.

For those of you that participated in the meetups, it seems that part of the agenda was to build a consensus of which issues mattered most to the members and I would speculate to almost rank them & use that list to target candidates for office to support.  That is the idea I had for TruthandHope as well.  I think if the motive is similar to what Dean's new organization is planning that is a good thing, as I assume we are all eager to help with his endeavors, but at the same time their method of support may be different than ours.  We will not know until the 18th, but perhaps the new PAC will focus on ground efforts, in which case we can focus on media - we're pretty good at it after all!  Or their focus may be more state oriented, whereas we can focus on federal elections, or vice-versa.  The point is, I would like to build a similar consensus within T&H & continue to move forward, withholding any major changes in focus until after Howard Dean details his plans, so we can be certain of being complementary. 

Something else I will throw out there is: would there be support to running anti-Bush ads now or very soon?  Certainly we do not have the money to truly compete with the Bush campaign on any actual level, but as a symbol we could begin to send a message exposing his record of "achievement."  There will be many 527 & PAC groups supporting Bush & the other GOP candidates, we can be a strong voice of opposition.  Hopefully one of many, for we will need a concerted effort to counter their attack machine.  They may have the greater fundraising apparatus, but we have truth on our side, getting that message out is the key. 

A last thought regarding the delegates push, I am going to add the state of Kansas & Illinois, but the other votes take place after the 18th.  It is entirely possible that along with the detailing of his plans, Howard Dean may officially end his campaign on the 18th, perhaps even release his delegates.  Having no contact this is pure speculation, but I think it is prudent to be prepared for this.  If anyone wants to give to states that come after the 18th put the contribution into the general fund & note in the comments that you would like it applied to a particular state.  However should Governor Dean end his campaign & quest for delegates officially, we will apply those funds to creating new media for our efforts moving forward.

Lastly, I cannot legally ask you to or post a link to a bat for DFA.  However, they are still trying to pay off the debt from the end of the campaign and I'll just say that I hope that is accomplished soon, it is imperative so they can completely focus on their efforts after March 18, and not have to use new fundraising for old debts.   

I deeply appreciate the vast amounts of positive messages and notes that I have received.  I wish I could answer them all, as it is I have been up since last evening reading them.  I will be flying out this afternoon, but checking emails overnight and ready to buy media if need be tomorrow morning.  Keep in mind that when Howard Dean and Roy Neel graciously thanked TruthandHope.Org for their efforts in Vermont, that is not me that is all of us.  We could only have done it together - we will continue to make history, this truly is just a beginning.

Thank you for all that you do!

Eugene Hedlund
Founder
TruthandHope.Org
  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 9:21 PM  PST

  Eugene on Vermont Win

This has been a banner day. I saw a poll last week that showed Kerry at 60%, Dean at 30% in Vermont (I do not recall which poll). It occurred to me that Vermont must be winnable for Governor Dean, and at the thought I became very excited that he must win a state, must win his home state. It may be little more than a symbol, but we need a positive symbol to set along side those of Iowa, New Hampshire, etc. I talked with people in Vermont and the pervasive theme seemed to be that most simply did not know they could still vote for Dean. Enough media and an incredible ground support would overcome this...maybe. Admittedly I woke up this morning really fearing that he would lose that state as well. Anyhow, once again I am humbled and full of thanks for the efforts of all of you. I wanted so badly for the Governor to win a state, particularly his home state and I know you all felt the same. I don't know how much, if anything we had to do with it, but if we did help it is enough for me personally to give some little bit back for the hope that Governor Dean gave me - a hope I have never had before: that things really could change and that we could really work together to change them.

I have heard that we may have been mentioned on Vermont public radio by Governor Dean. Sadly a side effect of the virus which had overrun my computer systems seems to be that the audio is not functioning, so I could not hear the archive. Also I have heard that we had a "mention" of sorts on CNN? I don't know if Governor Dean is aware of what we are doing and am not worried about his getting our name straight, if what I am told is accurate. I cannot say for certain if he has any awareness, as I cannot and have not had any contact with the campaign or it's employees at any level since we were formed, per FEC guidelines. He has hundreds of thousands of supporters and this has never been about ego or glory for myself or the organization anyway.

What has made this effort work is everyone just doing what they can, whatever form that takes. I just want to do what I can to help him and his message and I know you feel the same. This group is the very essence of what Governor Dean talked about when he said that we have the power. We are proving that daily. The delegates have not come in for the other states, but we have tried where others would not have - that in itself is remarkable.

I have heard (unconfirmed) that this win in Vermont is the first time in history an inactive candidate for President has won a state. If someone could verify or counter this, I would appreciate it. If we have something to do with this - a pure grassroots effort, that is even greater history!

If Governor Dean has bestowed thanks it is to all of us, all of you for making this happen. Without so much tremendous support and help TruthandHope.Org would just be another website floating around irrelevantly.

I would like to hear where you believe we should go from here. Governor Dean is announcing his plans on March 18th. How that will affect us remains to be seen. In the mean time it appears that Edwards has dropped out of the race. There are opposing thoughts as to if this is an open door to win more delegates, or if the point is moot now that a nominee is essentially chosen. Do you feel that we should continue to pursue delegates, given the current situation? We should consider that we apparently failed to win any in states other than Vermont, however the Governor has not stated a position that he would prefer to cease the delegate chase.

We do have media to run, it only takes money to spend and the will to spend it. My will to continue has never changed; then again I will want to fight for Dean delegates even after the convention! Please share your thoughts, so we can determine our next steps together.

This experience keeps getting better - Thank you for sharing in it!

Eugene Hedlund
Founder
TruthandHope.Org


And just an addendum, those of you who received Roy Neel's email this morning know that the campaign is very much aware of Eugene and Truth and Hope's efforts and is quite grateful. What Eugene and all of you have done really is quite remarkable.

Stuart
(sdf)


.
  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 10:24 AM  PST

  Vermont Victory Open Thread
A big yawp out to the state that started it all.

I myself voted for the Governor here in California today, and it felt good, if a bit bittersweet.

What about y'all?

Stuart
(sdf)


  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 11:39 PM  PST

  Super Tuesday Open Thread
What's going on in your state? Have you heard the ads? Get out and vote for Dean delegates!

Eugene writes,
I just want to take a moment to thank everyone.  We have been pointed to Super Tuesday since Feb. 18, and I think it is remarkable what was accomplished in such a short time.  This is even more remarkable when you consider that we are supporting an inactive campaign, and the whole effort from the site here, to the contributions, to the media itself was completely grassroots effort.  A lot of groups are using that term, and some of them validly, but I think what we have done epitomizes the name.  Governor Dean told us that we have the power, and we have heard that message. 

Everyday I receive countless positive messages of support & although I regret not having the time to respond to them all personally, I do read them and am constantly energized & inspired by them.  It is humbling to see so much effort and enthusiasm for making a difference, for effecting real change for our country.  I know that the time put in, the money contributed is not always easy, it is a real testament to the message we fight for & to the good will of so many.  I could not have done this without so much support and help.  I wanted to compile a list of people to thank right now, but I literally have to step out in a few minutes and I know that I will forget too many, so that will have to wait.

There's no telling what will happen tomorrow.  I am going to go vote for Dean, here in California.  Later on there is a gathering I will attend to watch returns with other supporters, because I haven't been able to do such things while working here.  If we win delegates in some states, and win Vermont it will be called a resounding success & quite the worthwhile news story.  If we fall short of that goal, it will be otherwise considered & largely ignored.  Keep in mind that what we are trying has not been done before.  Everything about it, the organization, grassroots PAC, grassroots media & an attempt to win votes & delegates for an inactive candidate is all new.  We may or may not win tomorrow, but we have made history by trying.  I will have no regrets about the time I put in.  We should all feel proud for what was done, and for sticking with our beliefs & showing integrity in the face of such adversity.  Make no mistake, this is not to diminish expectations, just to point out that the outcome is totally unknown, there is no polling that shows where Dean stands, so we may be disappointed or absolutely amazed.  Either way, I am very proud to have & be working with all of you.  It is refreshing, humbling & inspiring to work together with so many people willing to take action, and not be tempted to the comfort zones offered by groups that talk rather than work, or who entice us to leave behind our beliefs for the promise of being on a 'winning' campaign.  Change of this magnitude will take a long time, but we have continued to work based on the inspiration of Howard Dean that with action & focus, we can effect this change.

So, now that the day is upon us to vote & watch returns, the media is all bought & we are even on television, I thank you not as a meaningless term idly thrown out, but truly I am thankful for all that you do.

Eugene Hedlund
Founder
TruthandHope.Org

PS - We will be adding the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas & Florida to the pulldown menu directly, win delegates tomorrow then onward to the next contests!  ¶

Posted by: #sdf / 12:49 AM  PST