Last month, I got the idea to start a PAC that would help young people get involved in the political process.
It was a basic idea. But, since I am 17 years old, I knew it would be pretty difficult to get the thing off the ground.
When I told Stephen Yellin (who used to write for DailyKos as "MrLiberal") about my idea, he suggested the name for it: Generation Election.
In the three weeks or so since I first talked to Stephen, a lot has happened. Generation Election (GEPAC) has turned from an idea into a real organization (thought not yet officially a PAC ... we still need a treasurer), with real volunteers, a real website (its getting there ...) and real goals for the future.
If you are not yet familiar with GEPAC, here is our Mission Statement:
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The mission of Generation Election is simple: to get younger Americans involved in the political process. Its financial mission will be to devote resources towards supporting young candidates for political office in the United States. Students and young people interested in the political process will be able to sign up for GEPAC and then be paired with a GEPAC sponsored candidate in their area. GEPAC sponsored candidates, ideally, will be found from candidates for the United States Senate all the way down to your local school board. To take back this country, we have to start at the grassroots. We have to "build our bench": get young, capable candidates in political office where they can gain valuable experience, while at the same time building a vast grassroots organization of young people, who will gain experiences that will help them take this country back.
Like many young people, Stephen and I are not patient enough to wait until the 2006 elections for Generation Election to help take our country back.
That's why we have already contacted four candidates for state delegate or state assembly in Virginia and New Jersey, where elections will be held in November of 2005.
All the candidates we have spoken with, including DailyKos member Matt Hupp, have been very friendly and very interested in what Generation Election can do for them.
DailyKos member Matt Hupp, who is running for state delegate in Virginia, has spoken with us and we will likely be working with him this fall.
In the last few weeks, during which we have not had a website up and running until today, we have accumulated almost 100 volunteers.
The majority of them are high school or college students (though there is no age limit to volunteer for GEPAC), and they are all motivated to, when they are called upon, to help the GEPAC-sponsored candidate in their area.
When someone volunteers for us, we ask them the following information: name, city/state, county, phone #, state rep district, state senate district, congressional district and issues most important to you.
This information will make it easier to know where GEPAC is strongest and will make us able to target races in areas where we know we can make a true impact.
Our website went up today (thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Justin, a high school senior in New York who volunteered for GEPAC just last week), and, to pay homage to Howard Dean, we started our first fundraising drive with what is an effect a "poor man's" Dean/DFA bat. It is a (poorly made) graphic that says "Fill our logo green with money!" We are aiming to raise $200 in the next few weeks. If you care to, you can contribute here.
If you are interested, there are many ways you can help the Generation Election PAC.
The first is that you can volunteer by e-mailing me here. We need volunteers - no matter your age - all across the country. Soon, our website will have a field to put your e-mail address into to volunteer but for now, just e-mail to dwm1209@yahoo.com.
Second, you can visit our webite (which is still under construction) at www.generationelection.org.
Third, you can look at the Generation Election PAC Store. We are currently selling a shirt for $9.49 (just 50 cents over the CafePress price) with our new logo (courtesty of Superman of the Indy Observer). To see the shirt, scroll down the page. It is the blue, red and white logo.
You can also help by suggesting candidates you think might fit the mold to be GEPAC-sponsored. E-mail your suggestions to dwm1209@yahoo.com.
Lastly, if you are able to, you can contribute a little money. So far, all our contributions have been under $10, and every penny truly counts.
This is what your contributions to GEPAC will be going towards:
$3.00: Buys Google AdWords so we can start advertisings.
$3.95: Buys one month's worth of hosting.
$8.95: Buys one year of our domain name.
$15: Allows us to begin to buy BlogAds on liberal blogs.
$19: Buys six months of a P.O. Box we are required to have by law.
$38: Buys a year of a P.O. Box we are required to have by law.
$45: Buys one year's worth of web hosting.
$65: Buys us a half page advertisement in a college newspaper.
$200: Helps one of our potential GEPAC-sponsored candidates in Virginia and New Jersey get their campaigns off the ground.
Contribute Here.
I wrote this diary to share the story of how three weeks ago I had an idea, and now, we have a PAC. I truly believe GEPAC has the ability to be part of the movement that will take our country back.
But we need your help to do it. I have seen the dKos community be extremely generous before. I would really appreciate if you could do whatever you can: volunteer, go to the website, contribute ... anything and everything helps.
Thanks for taking the time to read this diary. I speak for all the volunteers across the country of Generation Election when I say we would appreciate a recommendation to spread the word about our new organization.