Today across Austin, precinct chairs held house parties and gatherings with neighbors to talk about why this election cycle is so important. I was lucky enough to attend two of them. First, my precinct held an event with four other neighboring events, and threw a huge party in a local park. We called it "Democrats in the Park." It was great! We had food, live music, several candidates, and fantastic turn-out. Next, I headed to another one a few miles south. Best of all, at both parties we signed folks up to volunteer to help get out the vote this November!
Pictures and all sorts of fun stuff on the flip.
It’s really neat to see all of these folks come out to talk about the issues and why they’re excited to vote for every Democrat on the ballot this November. While many of us are steeped in this day-in, day-out, it’s great to see how many "regular" people really do care. They brought their kids and their dogs, and they stayed to discuss the importance of this election.
My precinct chair Marti worked really hard to organize this – she convened a planning meeting, organized with other precinct chairs, and got us together to put flyers for the party on every door in the neighborhood. There were tons of volunteers who helped put this on, and their effort was well worth it! We had great turnout--over 100 folks came out to join us.
Some of our guests are on the ballot this November, including one of my favorite candidates, Woodie Jones. He’s running for Chief Justice of the Third Court of Appeals. Yup, here in Texas we elect our judges in partisan races. If that scares you, it should! His opponent, an incumbent Republican, has been rated worst judge by a jury of his peers--other judges! Woody has been a judge before, and was rated the best judge by his peers, but was voted out in 2000 thanks to increased Republican turnout for George W. Bush. Yuck. Woodie’s race is one of name recognition--folks tend not to research these races much, and folks who don’t vote Straight Ticket often vote for the person they’ve heard of. Woodie has signs all over town to help drive up that name ID. If you’re so inclined to help elect a strong Democratic judge who will uphold the law and hear cases that help the Little Guy, consider dropping Woodie some coin. I promise to plant some of the signs it buys myself!
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There’s Woodie meeting a voter, and then telling another party this afternoon why his race matters so much. He can even name all 24 Texas counties encapsulated in his district!
Best of all, we had plenty of fun stuff to engage the citizenry. Some folks wore their Old School buttons – our neighborhood has a tradition of being one of the most Democratic-leaning, with some of the highest turnout, in all of Austin. We’ve got a lot of folks here who worked for great Democratic heroes over the past few decades. Others picked up new "Texans for Obama" shirts and gear. We also moved dozens of Obama/Biden bumper stickers.
At both of these events, my favorite law enforcement officer, Constable Bruce Elfant, deputized those in attendance. They’ll be part of our army of volunteers who will help lead the largest voter registration effort in Texas history on the deadline day, October 6th. Here they are on the left taking their oath! On the right, just one of the many voters we registered or updated addresses for at these events.
For anyone who's frustrated with polling or worried we can't win, here's some advice--go register more voters. Change the electorate. Make the "likely voter" screen wrong by registering first-time voters. Don't sit on your hands! Use them to hold a clipboard and a pen and a sign that says "Register to Vote Here!"
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No party is complete without music, so I need to give a shout-out to Tribella, the fantastic band that performed at our party. You can check their musical stylings out on MySpace. Here’s a photo of them rockin’ out. Tribella’s great – an all-girl band that strongly supports our Democratic candidates! Check them out. They were really good!
So that’s what’s going on in my neck of the woods. Regular people are organizing in their neighborhoods to maximize our Democratic turnout this November. What’s going in on yours?
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On to the Top Comments!
From mem from somerville:
Despite being a total and complete atheist, I am touched to my core as gchaucer2 describes the real crux of our community here.
From Crashing Vor:
From spedwybabs' diary, Swatmacher offers a rather novel weight-loss program.
From ASiegel:
Responding to my diary Whitehouse Drills Drilling, global citizen comments on the absence of the nation's top energy experts from a major Hill hearing.
And from yesterday, Roxtar captures a blind Friedman and words we should all know: "Energy from heaven - wind, solar; Energy from hell - oil, coal." Simple but effective and easy to communicate.
From sardonyx:
In nathguy's diary Breaking: Merrill Lynch and Lehman just Failed, there are comments deserving of praise: rasbobbo asks a simple financial question, and DEQ54 makes a simple observation.
From EquationDoc:
In the diary about multiple bank failures, Bensdad had a great comment.
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Top Mojo provided by brillig! Thanks, brillig!
Top 30 Comments excluding search-identifiable tip jars and first comments:
1) No problem... by hishighness — 260
2) thanks back! by benvautier — 236
3) PLEASE ALSO MENTION that by MAORCA — 191
4) Welcome back!!! by Moxie Gurl — 160
5) The Palin impersonation is dead on by glory789 — 156
6) essential in any case, but critical with by dotster — 151
7) Tonight we're going to party like by pontificator — 150
8) Yes. A cookie would be nice. by Lying eyes — 138
9) They're addicted to hate. by kissmygrits — 128
10) Fey is unbelievable... by proseandpromise — 119
11) I was worried by albrt — 111
12) "Here's what I learned so far" by psilocynic — 104
13) Muy Bien Hecho, Deo--Obamanos!!! by serrano — 103
14) Yes we shall by lepermessiah — 100
15) truly amazing impersonation by davefromqueens — 88
16) Might as well face it. by AdmiralNaismith — 88
17) i think she made her look a little smarter than by robertacker13 — 87
18) Best line of the skit... by MoronMike — 86
19) I would agree that McCain has put himself by Berliner2 — 82
20) awesome - thanks!!!! by the3Cs — 79
21) Phil Gramm (McCain's guy) helped make this happen by enthusiast — 77
22) Damn Sarah Palin does a mean Tina Fey impression by Frozen Democrat — 76
23) they were saying DRILL?? I thought they were by KnotIookin — 72
24) Fey nailed it, ya, dontcha know? by wingsnight — 71
25) Yes! Yes! Yes! by yaddab — 70
26) YUP, that will COST most middle class people by msdrown — 69
27) I think a lot of us have evolved as well by Night Runner — 68
28) :-) by Trix — 67
29) tell them to 'grow a pair' ;) by byteb — 67
30) as we know it by the disinfector — 65
Top 30 comments with no exclusions:
1) Tip Jar by frsbdg — 861
2) we all need a pep talk from time to time by Jeffrey Feldman — 563
3) tips to good health nt by Taz Man — 538
4) Obamanos - Si se Puede! by Deoliver47 — 537
5) Tips by Muzikal203 — 536
6) Heh by david mizner — 503
7) Congratulations. Welcome back. by Arken — 355
8) Tip Jar by Oli — 337
9) I hope this diary serves a useful purpose by teacherken — 311
10) Tip Jar here. by JeffLieber — 263
11) No problem... by hishighness — 260
12) thanks back! by benvautier — 236
13) tips: It's the end of the financial universe by nathguy — 227
14) yes, enough of the Palin diaries by statsone — 197
15) Tip Jar - 14 September by Jerome a Paris — 195
16) PLEASE ALSO MENTION that by MAORCA — 191
17) Wow that was fast by Holly J — 176
18) Welcome back!!! by Moxie Gurl — 160
19) The Palin impersonation is dead on by glory789 — 156
20) essential in any case, but critical with by dotster — 151
21) Tonight we're going to party like by pontificator — 150
22) Yes. A cookie would be nice. by Lying eyes — 138
23) They're addicted to hate. by kissmygrits — 128
24) Fey is unbelievable... by proseandpromise — 119
25) I was worried by albrt — 111
26) "Here's what I learned so far" by psilocynic — 104
27) Muy Bien Hecho, Deo--Obamanos!!! by serrano — 103
28) Tips for an ex leper by Capostrophe — 103
29) Tip Jar - for the ladies by Sam Loomis — 102
30) Yes we shall by lepermessiah — 100
Send your Top Comments to topcomments (at) gmail (dot) com or the Democrats will lose this November. Seriously.