Face it folks, the Democrats could lose unless...

...we can GET OUT THE VOTE.

I'd like to help with this, and so I'm planning to take three days off in advance of the election in order to do so (not much, I know, but I have my own business that requires huge amounts of my time). Unfortunately, I live in San Francisco and walking precincts for Nancy Pelosi seems, well, a little pointless to say the least.

So if anyone can point me to volunteering opportunities that are available to me in San Francisco, but that will allow me to help the Democrats win marginal seats elsewhere in the country and thus retake the House (and maybe even the Senate), I would really appreciate your help.

Whatever suggestions you all make, I'll also pass on to my friends here. Thanks.

•  My suggestion?

  Change the title of this diary.  

  by BarbinMD on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 10:52:15 PM PDT

  •  I know you're in it for shock value

    but now is the time for solidarity and positive momentum, not fake shock bombs.

    We've got the Republican party for that.

    by StephNW4Clark on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 10:56:22 PM PDT

    •  Yeah, I know. It's pretty trollish...

      ...but unfortunately I think it's going to be completely accurate, unless progressive--but lazy/busy/clueless--slobs like me get off our asses in the immediate run-up to the election and volunteer.

      Tell you what, though: I'll change the title as soon as I get 10 good suggestions.

      by StupidAsshole on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:04:11 PM PDT

      •  We're all going to die today

        ...unless we continue to breathe.  Totally accurate.

        You could have gone with any number of titles.  

        GOTV Vital For Victory On November 7th
        GOTV Key To Victory On November 7th
        We Must GOTV To Win On November 7th
        Working To GOTV On November 7th

        And so on...

        by BarbinMD on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:09:14 PM PDT

        •  Well so far I've gotten three good suggestions:

          1. Work for Pombo or Doolittle.

          2. Join MoveOn's Call for Change program.

          3. Don't neglect bugging apathetic family and friends.

          So, seven more suggestions and I'll change the title to whatever you'd like me to change it to.

          by StupidAsshole on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:19:02 PM PDT

          •  Make a pledge to yourself

            that you will volunteer a certain number of hours per week, or give an equivalent amount of your wages to the candidate or committee of your choice. A few weeks ago I was totally psyched up to go out and volunteer. But then I got swamped with work, and all I've been able to do so far is one precinct walk for McNerney (BTW I think #1 on your list should be "Work for McNerney or Brown"). So this week I gave some money to the DNC instead.

            by monster on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:36:21 PM PDT

          •  3 more

            1. Change your sig line for the Google bomb.

            2. Where are you from originally?  Go to your hometown paper and if they have a blog or comments section, leave a few comments supporting the local Democrats.

            3. Again if you're not originally from SF, find a hometown blog and leave some comments.

            by Webster on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:54:15 PM PDT

      •  Then just add the word Unless

        at the end of the title

        by joynow on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:17:11 PM PDT

      •  Don't vote? Don't cry about the way things are!

        And if we do lose because you stayed home don't come on the KOS pissing down our backs and tell us it's raining!

        by ImpeachKingBushII on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:21:03 PM PDT

      •  here are your 10 suggestions

        1. Give money, even if it is only $5. Pony up to help get voters out.

        2. phone bank. Check out MoveOn's phone bank program where you can call people in important districts from your cell phone.

        3. Go to the local Democratic party office and help answer the phones or make copies. By making things flow easier in one campaign office you make things run a little easier in nearby districts, too (by freeing up volunteers to move on to where they are needed, etc.)

        4. Call every friend you have and everyone in your cell phone around the country and make sure they go vote for their Dem candidates. The one or two votes you shake out this way will matter.

        5. There are districts outside of San Francisco - maybe just a couple of hours away, which isn't much at all, really - that need your help.

        Go volunteer for McNerney http://www.jerrymcnerney.org/...
        Or drive out to Tracy, CA to help this netroots effort:
        http://www.dailykos.com/...

        6. Get involved in calling Democratic officeholders with large warchests and little competition, much discussed on these pages. (I had an interesting conversation with my Congressman's staff on this today)

        7. Go volunteer for Nancy Pelosi. Yes, she will win, but by volunteering you free her up to campaign for other Dems AND you meet some of your local activists.

        8. If nothing else, stand somewhere where drivers leaving the city for suburbs to the north across the GG Bridge can see your hand-made sign reminding them to vote for their Democratic candidates. OR get a preprinted sign from some local candidate or two in Sonoma County and hold it for the suburbanites going home at rush hour to see.

        9. Write letters to ABC, CNN etc telling them to lay off of their support for Republicans in this election. It won't accomplish a lot but it adds to the drip drip drip telling them the tide is turning.

        10. Make sure everyone you know is voting against Arnold. Maybe even create a short list on all of the crazy ballot initiatives CA voters have to wade through explaining the issues from a progressive perspective. Then email it to everyone you know.

        How's that? 10. Now you can change the title of your diary AND do some real good in this election!

        by denniswine on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:21:16 PM PDT

        •  Perfect. Thanks

          I'll go ahead and change the title.

          by StupidAsshole on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:23:36 PM PDT

          •  'GOTV so simple a StupidAsshole can do it. " (?)

            Like the new Geico/Caveman commercials (which crack me up.)

            Your tactics are extortionary.
            

            by cosette on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:32:07 PM PDT

            •  There are new Geico Caveman commercials?

              Haven't seen them yet.

              by StupidAsshole on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:36:43 PM PDT

              •  YOU will Love them!

                God your title is still such a bummerrama.
                 My seratonin is dropping precipitiously while I am in your diary (which has some good tips in it, btw) ...
                AND you are right!!
                But it is like I'm having a flashback to Nov '04 and I'm crashing--- not getting upbeat and motivated.
                We don't all live in progressive enclaves.  Some of us have John Cornyn and Kaye Bailey Hutchinson as Senators and we wake up every morning and our teeth are sore from grinding them all night.....
                and We Need Some Positive Motivation.

                (One Geico ad has just music playing, The caveman is going to his plane gate on vacation and he is on the motorized walkway and he sees his picture on the Geico ad on the wall. ...and he walks backwards to check it out again .....and checks to see if anyone is checking him out  and recognizing his pic.  Then he continues off to gate very pleased with himself.
                The other one he's in a restuarant ....I've only caught tale end but cracked up).   I'm going to try You tube.

                 

                by cosette on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:49:07 PM PDT

                •  The one in the loft is the best still

                  Cave art on the walls.  Priceless.

                  Buck up.  You are the person I support.  I'm in the SF Bay Area too.  You're out there fighting in the trenches.  Do whatever you can and get back here to juice up.  1 of you is better than 5 of us.

                  by Webster on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:59:56 PM PDT

                  •  Kos just posted an SF event.

                    George Lakoff!!
                    Free event!
                    (I like your hometown paper blog post idea. )

                    by cosette on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 12:07:35 AM PDT

                    •  Saw that.

                      You couldn't drag me back into Wheeler hall to see Christ personally kick Bush's ass.  I spent 90 percent of my time at Berkeley there.  Besides, I'll be in my hometown Bakersfield, CA campaigning.  :)

                      by Webster on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 12:27:20 AM PDT

          •  Charlie Brown is just 2 hours away and needs you!

            Here is an 11th suggestion...give a day or two to Charlie Brown, inhttp://www.charliebrown%20for%20cong....  Phone banking, walking precincts, whatever you can do to help unseat the ethically challenged John T Doolittle.

            by donabella on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:33:31 PM PDT

        •  !! Nice list!!

          
          (Not directed at you, dennis)

          Okay, You Stupid Asshole, CHANGE THE TITLE.
          

          by cosette on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:26:27 PM PDT

          •  I did n/t

            by StupidAsshole on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:27:40 PM PDT

            •  Please don't do this

              The title is so depressing and I think there are other readers out here besides me who are starting to burn out.  It isn't motivating at all.  It makes me wish I'd never clicked on dailykos this morning.  (The "unless" doesn't help.)  The best motivators are positive.

              by myrealname on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 03:09:38 AM PDT

  •  yeah, how about something like

    "GOTV! GOTV! Work your butts off!"

    by Nathaniel Ament Stone on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 10:56:50 PM PDT

  •  Unfortunately, the title is 100% accurate

    Whatever the opinion polls say, the Democrats will be defeated unless we can get out the vote.

    Elections are very physical things: they're all about getting people off of their lazy asses and dragging them down to the polls--as I'm sure you're well aware.

    The constant media drumbeat that the Democrats are going to sweep the House and even have a chance of winning back the Senate is worrying me: I suspect it is making people complacent.

    by StupidAsshole on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 10:59:51 PM PDT

    •  No it's not

      It's the tease to your point of getting out the vote.  But you chose to go negative instead of positive.  Tiresome, IMO.  

      by BarbinMD on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:01:53 PM PDT

      •  Barb, you're the one who's going negative

        I asked for suggestions as to ways those of us who live in progressive enclaves can make a difference in this election, and all you've done is complain about the title of my diary.

        Here's the deal: 10 decent, useful suggestions as to where and how I can volunteer, and I'll change the title.

        by StupidAsshole on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:06:30 PM PDT

        •  Bull

          You went negative with your title and that's all I'm seeing.  Your message was lost at the start.

          by BarbinMD on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:10:53 PM PDT

        •  Sorry buddy

          I came across this after you'd changed your title and probably gave some 4's to you before realizing it while you were arguing with those who simply wanted that.   But I also gave some 4's for you actually changing it.

          The problem with your initial title is NOT that it was realistic...it's that it was UNrealistic.   If GOTV stays constant as last election, we'll take the House...that's a victory for the Dems....a very clear victory and a complete roadblock to any bill the Republican Senate, which will stay with the same GOTV as 2004, wants passed.

          If by "Democratic Victory" you're talking about massive gains and/or a taking of the Senate.... you're not talking about a Democratic Victory.... you're talkinga bout a Democratic LANDSLIDE.  THAT will require a massively effective GOTV effort.

          The way you framed your title has little to nothing to do with us winning the house imo.   In fact, polling DOES have something to do with things and framing your diary in such a very extreme way IS going negative....to an extreme.

          The house isn't a sure thing and gotv does matter..... but only a fool would think that if we don't have a gargantuanly successful gotv effort then "the democratic party will lose" as you framed your title and thus your diary initially.

          Get the point?   If you're paying attention and are talking about a huge Democratic victory then you should be framing positively at this point..... scaring people vs. encouraging people is a key framing point..... one works much better than the other in almost everything in life.

          If we gain the house, which all conventional wisdom and common sense right now says will happen, then we'll win this election even if we don't take it by a landslide and even if we don't take the senate.

          We want something more than a mere victory ... let's shoot for victory in hopes of doing well....without framing it in the BushCo way of "omg if you don't do this we're all gonna die!!! aaaggghh!" fearmongering that your title goes hand in hand with.

          :-)

          by tlh lib on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 01:02:02 AM PDT

        •  p.s.

          you shouldn't have needed a person to give you a word for you to change the initial title.   it was good that you kept your word to do so once your quasi-extortion bs was met.....

          however if you are called out on your title by enough people and your demand is something you could have dug up yourself in simply skimming 2 hours of diary summaries on this site?    save it.  

          by tlh lib on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 01:03:31 AM PDT

    •  Can we change the title to

      "If we don't want the Democrats to lose badly on November 7th"?

      I'm sick of these shock diaries, too.

      by admiralh on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:02:44 PM PDT

•  what a stupid asshole

  sorry, I just wanted to type that

  by theyrereal on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 10:58:07 PM PDT

•  here's an easy one...

  1. Go through your Christmas card list, rolodex, cell phone directory, whatever you've got.

  2. Select a dozen or so people who might be fence-sitters or stay-at-homes. Swear to yourself that you'll get them to the polls to pull Democratic levers.

  3. Think about it:

  Your Aunt Maude. Is she getting the picture? Problems getting to the polls?

  Your jaded friend who always says, "Uh, elections are corrupt. My vote doesn't make any difference." Hey, tell him you'll pick him up and buy him a beer afterwards.

  Your hard-scrabble cousin with the flag on his truck.

  Your 19-year-old kid who thinks Bush is a dork but can't find Iraq on a map.

  I dunno. The guy who mows your lawn.

  If you can change the election day behavior of, say, four or five people, you've done one heck of a job. And you will have done that more efficiently than manning a phone line or licking stamps.
   

  by TerribleTom on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:06:13 PM PDT

  •  I think those are great suggestions...

    ...but they'd be more useful if I lived in, say, Ohio. Pretty much everyone I know here is a progressive who is going to vote.

    by StupidAsshole on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:09:54 PM PDT

•  Sign-up for MoveOn's Call for Change program

  This is a great program to participate in for people that live in an uncontested district or state. You will call from your home to get out the vote in key districts. Kos has enthusiastically endorsed it.
  http://pol.moveon.org/...

  by larryca on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:06:15 PM PDT

  •  Thanks. This sounds exactly like the kind...

    ...of thing I'm looking for.

    by StupidAsshole on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:08:04 PM PDT

•  You want to volunteer for CA-11 or CA-04

  Those are two Bay Area races held by Republicans Pombo and Doolittle, repectively.  Democtrats McNerney and Brown are running against them.

  I know that the McNerney effort has SF offices. Check here for a list of ALL volunteer opportunities.

  But you should really also think about helping Angelides.  Remember him?

  You can find your local California Democratic Party campaign headquarters here

  by marchmoon on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:09:30 PM PDT

  •  And check out Kid Oakland's

    great diary for inspiration! There's alot of info there about where you can make a difference.

    by Lisa Lockwood on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:11:28 PM PDT

  •  I'd like to help Angelides, but...

    ...at this stage, it seems too much like a lost cause. I'd rather put my efforts elsewhere.

    Pombo and Doolittle are great ideas though. Thanks.

    by StupidAsshole on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:11:54 PM PDT

•  Go See Martha

  The top recommended diary at the time you posted this is called Martha.  Martha is apparently a lady over in Tracy who can put you to work to defeat Pombo in CA-11.  That would be a worthwhile use of your time.

  by craiger on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:14:00 PM PDT

•  We can be right as rain and still lose: VOTE!

  Don't just sit there on Tuesday November 7th thinking "what's one vote gonna do?" and stay home. Get yer popcorn eatin', beer drinkin' butt outta that recliner and go vote!

  by ImpeachKingBushII on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:16:39 PM PDT

•  work the polls

  Here are a few suggestions to hasten the time it takes you to change your diary title:

  1. work the polls on election day;

  2. write a few letters to the editor to newspapers in the areas of races you care about (here are lots of hints:MMOB);

  3. Join San Francisco for Democracy, a group that can tell you about upcoming volunteer opportunities, and help you take simple, effective action like writing to voters in swing states.

  Good luck!

  by allysonsta on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:37:24 PM PDT

•  Volunteer against Pombo in CA-11

  Pombo's district is a beast of a gerrymander that is San Joaquin County (minus Stockton) plus empty parts of Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara Counties and oddly enough, Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon and Danville, but not Livermore.  I guess that's why it's a gerrymander.

  See what you can GOTV for McNerney.  Dublin/Pleasanton is at the end of the Blue BART line.  Personally, I'm giving money.

  by secret asian man on Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 11:45:23 PM PDT

•  CA-11 is the no-brainer option

  It's a tight race that needs GOTV volunteers and it's a short car or BART ride from SF.

  http://www.jerrymcnerney.org/

  by ortcutt on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 12:05:38 AM PDT

•  Do You Want to Win, or just talk ?

  You don't need suggestions,
  you need action.

  Go out your front door,
  go up to the first person you see,
  and ask him to help win the election for the Democrats.

  Then, go to the next person. It isn't hard.

  This isn't an intellectual exercise.

  Come back tonight and tell us how you did.

  C'mon folks, all we have to do is to save the world.
  Get moving !

  by slowheels on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 04:23:49 AM PDT

•  Get Out the Vote materials

  I diaried about free printable materials here:

  http://www.dailykos.com/...

  I live in a heavy Dem area, and decided that guilting Repubs to the polls would be my mission. So I'm having my son hand out "VOTE" materials.  Given the train wreck that is the USA today, I'm just hoping they'll go the right way once they get in the booth.

  And besides, the lesson he learns from participating is worth the effort.

  by notsilent on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 04:29:15 AM PDT