I just sent this e-mail out to my personal circle of friends and family using the fundraising tool on my.barackobama.com. But I also wanted to post it here as well because I feel like DKos really is a community that I belong to, and one that I should be turning to help for with this project.
I know straight up blatant asks for money are taboo (remember, I've been here since before Paul Hackett, good times), but if you take the time to read the e-mail you'll see my story, and why it is that I support Senator Obama.
I hope you take the time to read the lengthy message, and feel free to leave tips for future e-mails I write.
-Nate
As you probably already know, I like politics, a lot. In fact I have dedicated my life to improving the world and our country through the use of politics. To that effect, I can honestly tell you that I have never been more inspired by or had more confidence in the ability to improve the lives of all Americans as well as the lives of those abroad, than I have in Senator Barack Obama.
I first heard about him like so many others during the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston. I was lucky enough to get credentials to sit with the Ohio delegation, so I was very close to the stage when Senator Obama gave his ground breaking speech "The Audacity of Hope". He was different than the speakers, I honestly think that 95% of politicians believe what they are saying, but Senator Obama much like myself feels it in his core and it's not about power, its about using your god given talents and intelligence and using them in the most effective way possible to assist those that need assistance, inspire the apathetic, feed the hungry and provide medical assistance to the sick. For the Senator that meant running for President and creating a national movement, for me that meant helping him get elected.
I started out with Students for Barack Obama as the Virginia State Director helping start chapters at different Virginia Universities and teaching fellow students how to organize their friends and colleagues into action. I was then asked, and very happily accepted, to move over to the blogging team and be a voice for all students that support this movement of hope that is already changing the way business is done in Washington. The blog is at students.barackobama.com and is set to go live any moment now (just waiting on the tech guys in Chicago to finish up some stuff), if the blog isn't live by the time you get this, you can cheat and at least read my articles by reading my personal blog (it feeds into the Official Students for Barack Obama blog).
So now you know a little bit about why I am supporting Senator Barack Obama for President, and I hope that you will join the over 150,000 individuals that have stood up and said "Count me". (click here to contribute)
It has become cliche to use term "people powered politics", but that is truly what this campaign represents. Not just in the way that we are raising money, but in the way the campaign is organized. When Senator Obama came to George Mason University (where I am currently studying) for his first major rally on the East Coast (and he chose to have his first rally at a University, not a coincidence) he let the students organize it. The event was fully organized by Students for Barack Obama and the George Mason University Democrats. The staff told us what time restrictions we had regarding the Senator's schedule, and the rest of the event was planned entirely by students, with no oversight from Chicago, they trusted us. We filled the event with close to 10,000 students from schools all around the country getting the word out using facebook, we made the calls to get the national media there and then Senator Barack Obama gave one hell of a speech and brought down the house.
So again I ask you to join me in being counted, stand up and tell the world you are tired of consultants and lobbyists running your country, that you think it's wrong for a child in Africa to die of AIDS because our government didn't give his mother a drug that costs 43 cents to prevent the transfer of the disease during pregnancy, tell them it's wrong to send the National Gaurd to Iraq at a time that they are so thinly spread out we can't even handle natural disasters here at home.
Tell them your ready for that progressive change that you always knew was coming you just weren't sure from where
(psst, you have to click on this link to tell them)
As I enter this new chapter as one of the national voices for Students for Barack Obama, I wanted to do my personal part to help build the campaign. I still try to live by the rule of not asking others to do what I won't do myself, and I will ask others to fund raise for our campaign. So I am personally trying to find 25 friends and family members (except that none of my family members are Americans so they can't chip in) to contribute to the campaign. If I reach my goal, I will feel comfortable asking other students to reach out to their personal circles and fund raise. If you happen to be on multiple e-mail lists of mine, and are only able to give to one candidate, try to make it Senator Obama this is the campaign that means the most to me out of all the campaigns I have done. in fact, I have turned down paid campaign jobs so that I may be free to volunteer for this.
Its Important. It Matters. Stay Classy
In Solidarity,
Nate de la Piedra
PS: I just want to add that I have set my goal not in number of dollars raised, but in number of contributors (whether or not they have already given) that donate through my personal fundraising page.
Please be one of those 25 friends that helps me reach my goal (OK, 24, I gave again)(oh here's that link again)