First diary ever, please be gentle!
When we first started dating, Joe introduced me to Daily Kos. He shared a link with me after telling me about the site many times.
I have always paid attention to politics, but, always felt so removed from it. "I voted, what more can I do?" Well, after getting hooked on this place by that Bill in Portland Maine joker, I started paying closer attention to the other diaries. At first I thought you guys were just preaching to the choir. Then I noticed that you were calling us to action to get out there and make change! I read over and over again to stop bitching and just get out there and do something. Go somewhere and try to get involved. If it doesn't work, go somewhere else. Just get out there and do something!
My thoughts on how I could help change the situation always came back to Getting Out The Vote. Far too many people, in my opinion, bitch too much and don't vote enough! I knew somehow I could change that.
At the beginning of the year, we finally went to our first ever Democratic Executive Committee meeting. I was pretty turned off by the atmosphere there until a guy named Bill got up there and during the "Group" presentations. He talked about the Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas County and what they had going on. My interest was definitely piqued.
We went to the next meeting of the Stonewaller's group to see what they had going on. Nice small group working to get Democrats elected while paying special attention to the GLBT community.
Our first project working with the group was our participation in St. Pete Pride 2006.
That's Joe on the far left and me on the far right! Get it? Joes Steven?
We had a great Pride celebration! We got some exposure for the group and gathered a lot of people's information to follow up with in our efforts to GOTV!
The President of the group, Rick, invited us to attend the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus conference in Tallahassee. He said they were going to devote a portion of the conference sharing their GOTV plan.
Let me put it to you this way - my GOTV plan was to scream, yell and cajole people into voting! After the training session they had that explained the how and the why of the plan, to include signing people up to Absentee Ballot, I was hooked! I can still remember riding home, riding along in the back seat, and thinking "This is going to work!" I had my marching orders and I was on my way!!!
The caucus provided us with a list of precincts in our county, which through census and other data, had a high percentage of GLBT households. Amazingly, when we got home, the targeted precincts did line up to be in the "gay neighborhoods" of St. Pete.
We held several "Shooter Nights" at one of our local bars with the main emphasis being on Voter Registrations and signing people up for Absentee Balloting. We also set our table up at other places that catered to the GLBT community. Our efforts produced over 25 newly registered voters and over 140 Absentee Ballotters.
We kept on with out GOTV efforts, including following up on the acceptance and returning of the Absentee Ballots, but, then the elections were coming and we needed to help our local candidates.
Our targeted precincts from the GLBT Caucus information were split evenly between Florida House District 52 and Florida House District 53. The Democratic Candidates were Bill Heller and Rick Kriseman, respectively.
In October we held a fundraiser for the candidates and managed to raise over $2,000 for the campaigns.
Members of our chapter assisted in canvassing for the candidates every weekend for the three weeks leading up to the election. Candidate Kriseman's district is a solid Democratic House seat. Candidate Heller was in the more challenging of the two races and the Republican Party heavily funded his foe.
Mr. Heller has been in St. Petersburg for many years and was the Dean at the University of South Florida - St. Petersburg. Mr. Heller led the effort to turn what was at one time a satellite campus into the four-year, stand alone campus it is today. Would you be surprised if I told you that the Republican Party referred to him as a "Nutty Professor" in their advertising?
Mr. Heller's Campaign Manager, Cheryl F., sent a note to our chapters President and Vice President for Political Action noting that our group had been more active than any other group helping their campaign and that the money we raised was the most bundled cash they had received, with the exception of money from the Unions.
The GOOD news?
Mr. Kriseman won his race 60% - 40%.
The GREAT news?
Mr. Heller won his race 54% - 46%.
Our candidate's Victory Party was a joint affair and our group was able to share in the revelry! It was a wonderful night and our group was warmly received at the party!
With over 16 members, 9 newly registered voters and 70 Voted Absentee Ballotters in their house districts, we are confident that we can say that we produced close to 100 votes for these candidates.
We WERE part of the campaigns and we DID produce results. We know it, the local DEC knows it, the candidates know it, and the community knows it.
We had over 150 visitors to our Election Results page (www.stonewallpinellas.org) on Tuesday evening, looking to us for information and guidance! We will Change The World, we just happen to be starting in St. Petersburg, Florida!
One last thing. When I mentioned the Vice President for Political Action above? Yeah, that's me. I'm not into titles, I just wanted you all to know "What DKos Turned Me Into!!!"