Welcome to Austin!

After months and months of planning, we've finally arrived in Texas' bluest city and we are thrilled to be here with so many friends.

There is a lot on the agenda, and no doubt you'll be surrounded by options when you get to the convention center - including a huge array of caucuses to choose from.

Today John Edwards stood with his family in the place his campaign began and reminded us all why we have been so proud to support him.

I wanted to take a moment and thank the many supporters here at DailyKos and across the blogosphere who have taken up the cause of this campaign, who have championed the issues John and Elizabeth Edwards care so deeply about, and who have done the extraordinary work of getting involved in the political process.

Throughout this campaign, the community of John Edwards supporters has repeatedly stepped up, spoken out and taken action. Across the country, local chapters of One Corps have organized food drives and park clean ups.  They've attended rallies and collected food for the hungry. Supporters have traveled hundreds of miles to knock on doors in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina and have reached out to thousands and thousands of voters.  

On a daily basis, the John Edwards blog has hummed with news alerts, opinion pieces and opportunities to engage other citizens.  Right here on DailyKos, the community has organized a daily series called the "Edwards Evening News Roundup" and every day for over 200 days, they've posted the latest and greatest news about our campaign on a variety of blogs.  Citizen vloggers have gone into the field, and brought back video to the masses, taking the responsibility of telling the story of this campaign into their own hands.  

Tell the FEC: Grassroots Donors Count!

Our campaign recently asked the Federal Election Commission if those who contributed to the campaign through Act Blue could have their grassroots contributions matched through public funding. It makes sense to us. Act Blue is at the cutting-edge of grassroots fundraising -- and these individual contributions through Act Blue are exactly the type of contributions the matching funds system is designed to encourage.

But now we've heard there is a possibility the FEC will turn its back on grassroots donors. It looks as though they are going to take the position that it's OK to raise millions of dollars from special interests and lobbyists -- but the money raised in small amounts from thousands of hard working Americans who care about their country -- that doesn't count.

Today in New Hampshire, Senator Edwards is delivering a major speech - in fact - it's a speech he considers the most important he's given to date, a speech that defines the moral test of our generation and the choice we have before us.

Rather than let you read the news coverage of the speech, I wanted to give the DailyKos community the opportunity to read it, in its entirety, for themselves.

The full text is below.  I hope you take a moment to read it.

Cross-posted here because the many people don't realize just how wonderful the mommy bloggers are, and I think they deserve wider recognition.

This weekend, while campaigning in California, Elizabeth sat down with 22 writers from the Silicon  Valley Moms blog, plus another dozen or so moms  joined in via conference call from sister sites Chicago Moms blog and DC Metro  Moms blog.  Elizabeth sat down with the Silicon Valley moms last year, before John announced his intention  to run, so this meeting was both a reunion and a  serious discussion of the issues.  

If you thought these bloggers would be pitching softballs - think again.  The moms came prepared to  ask tough questions about John's positions on everything from universal health care to education to tax policy.

Tonight, Senator John Edwards addressed the nation in a televised response to President Bush's speech on Iraq.  In his address, which aired on MSNBC after President Bush's remarks, Edwards reminded the American people that Congress can - and must - force an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq. Edwards' comments marked the first time any presidential candidate has used a national televised address to speak to the American people about President Bush's refusal to change course in Iraq.

Watch it here:

Today John, Elizabeth, Cate, Emma Claire and Jack Edwards arrived in New Hampshire to begin the Granite State "Fighting for One America" bus tour.

All week long, John and Elizabeth Edwards have been on the "Fighting for One America" Iowa bus tour.  The schedule will take them to 31 Iowa counties over the course of 7 days and we've been blogging the trip from day 1 over on the John Edwards for President blog.  We've got photos galore, but we've also got a ton of video, which I wanted to share.  Check it out!

You can also follow along with us over on johnedwards.com/iowa - which is Iowa Information Central!  We've still got 2 days in Iowa, then next week the bus tour turns east and heads into the Granite State!

Cross-posted at the JEFP Blog

John Edwards is in New Orleans where he will kick off his "Road to One America" Tour tomorrow morning.  On the Road to One America Tour, John Edwards will visit 11 cities in 8 different states to shine a light on the problem of poverty in America, and highlight solutions to restore economic fairness.

This is something we can do if we work together.  We can create opportunity and reward work to end this injustice.  But we have to face the hard truth that one in 8 of our fellow citizens live in poverty - that's 37 million Americans - and it's a disgrace.  We know that America is better than that, and we know we have a responsibility to each other to do something about this problem.  John Edwards has offered a plan to end poverty in America in 30 years and his travels on the Road to One America will focus on some of the steps that will get us there.

As I write this we have about 12 hours until the second quarter fundraising deadline.  

Here at Edwards headquarters folks are working the phones bringing in the last donations of the quarter.  The staff is having a contest - trying to out raise each other and the summer interns, who have proven remarkably good at "dialing for dollars".  

The internet team is working to make sure everything is following smoothly, we just sent out our last e-mail of the quarter, a message from campaign manager, Congressman David Bonior, (which you can read below) who just stopped over to make sure it had been sent on time.  

We're all working towards our goal - 9 million by midnight - and refreshing the website to check our progress.  Every donation takes us just a bit closer.

So, you know I'm going to have to say it: if you haven't given yet, or you have given but you can give again, please do so.  Every little bit helps.  Over 60,000 individuals have helped us get to this point, I don't know what could be better proof of the fact that this campaign can't succeed with out you.

Please Give What You Can Now!

Cross-posted at JEFP Blog.

[Update]:  More info: Edwards Outlines Plan To Fight Terrorism

[Update]: Transcript below.

Senator Edwards is in New York City today where he will expand on his mission-focused plan for fighting terrorism.

Cross-posted at the JEFP Blog

Last week, over on The John Edwards blog I kicked off "The Friday Five" by giving you five reasons to give five dollars and ask five friends to do the same. We raised more than three times our initial goal, which was awesome.

This week we all watched as the President vetoed a bill that supported the troops and provided a plan to bring them home. Now it's up to all of us to make sure that Congress doesn't back down. So this week, I decided to give you 5 reasons why John Edwards is the best candidate for those of us committed to ending the war and bringing our troops home.

Today we're setting our sights higher with a goal of raising $1000, five dollars at a time.

The fun starts below the flip!

(And make sure you check out Tom P's diary too!)

Cross-posted at the John Edwards blog

You did it! Yesterday we made our goal of raising $100,000 to put our "We the People" ad on the air in Washington, DC urging Congress to stand up to President Bush and end the Iraq War.

We also asked you to become a part of this ad, and add your voice to the call for Congress to stand firm.

Last night we created the first remix version of "We the People" , and you can watch that video above.  But we aren't backing down - we still want your voice.  

John Edwards has called on Congress to stand firm in response to Bush's veto.  Moments ago, Edwards released a statement saying (in part):

"Four years ago [the president] flew onto the deck of the U.S.S. Lincoln under a 'Mission Accomplished' banner to declare victory in Iraq. Today, all the photo ops in the world can't hide the truth - the war is still raging, and the president's mismanagement of Iraq is still dead wrong. Our troops have done everything they were asked and deserve a hero's welcome. Instead, they remain in harm's way; Iraq has become a breeding ground for terrorists; and we're no closer to a permanent political solution than we were four years ago.

   "But one thing has changed: The American people have given Congress a mission to end the war - but that mission hasn't been accomplished yet.

   "Congress needs to stand firm and strong. Congress should answer the president's veto by sending him another bill with a timetable for withdrawal. And if he vetoes that one, Congress should send him another and another until we end this war and bring our troops home.  

Below the flip - the full statement and read some steps you can take immediately.

My favorite tool on Democrats.org is the Events widget in PartyBuilder.  It's available 365 days a year, 24/7.  You can use the Event tool to promote your events or to find something to do with fellow Democrats in your community.

Every Friday we'll be highlighting five events happening around the country that we've found in PartyBuilder's Eventssystem.

The Scooter Libby trial and verdict confirmed what most of us already knew - instead of focusing on a strategy to win the war in Iraq, the Bush administration was busy focusing on a strategy to discredit their critics.

Yesterday, as the news broke, Governor Dean did several interviews on TV and radio where he discussed the verdict, its implications and the parallels to another developing story, that of the firing of U.S. Attorneys without cause.  Then, this morning, the Governor recorded a video message that I wanted to make sure you had a chance to watch.

Click here to watch the video!

Click here to watch the video!

Digg This!

Today the House begins to debate a resolution disapproving of the President's decision to escalate the war in Iraq.  

A clear majority of the American people disapprove of the President, his handling of the war and his plan to send more troops over to Iraq.  And although a number of Republicans are expected to vote with the House Democrats to send a message to the President, the Republican leadership in the House is still acting as a rubberstamp for the White House and trying to prevent their members from voting with House Democrats.