Hi, everyone. As you may know, my Dad is
Jack Carter, who's running for US Senate in Nevada. In
yesterday's diary, I told you a little bit about what's been going on in terms of polling (Rasmussen has us down by nine points). I also updated you on the three debates that are coming up beginning on October 15.
Today, I want to tell you about what this week has in store for me, my Dad, and my Grandpa (Jimmy Carter), and also give you my fundraising pitch - September 30 will be the end of the quarter, and we need your help!
This week is going to be huge for the campaign. My grandpa will be in Nevada doing a lot of events with my Dad both in rural Nevada and in the cities, getting lots of free press and increasing support for my Dad's campaign. This is what the schedule will look like:
Wednesday, September 27
10:30 a.m. Speeches to senior citizens at The Terrace senior center, 1795 Ruby View Drive, Elko, Nevada. In the dining hall.
11:00 a.m. News conference at The Terrace. In the same location (the dining hall), with seniors looking on.
12:15 p.m. Speeches to the Elko Rotary Club luncheon at the Stockmen's Hotel, 340 Commercial Street, Elko, Nevada. In the showroom.
3:00 p.m. News conference at VFW Post 1002, 406 South Maine Street, Fallon, Nevada. In the meeting room, with invited veterans looking on.
3:45 p.m. Informal remarks to, and mingle with, members of the public at Sandwinds Sports Bar, 1120 Taylor Place, Fallon, Nevada.
Thursday, September 28
2:00 p.m. Campaign rally at the Manzanita Bowl, on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno. Jack Carter and President Carter will speak around 2:30 p.m.
4:00 p.m. News conference for Spanish-language media, at Circus-Circus Hotel, 500 North Sierra Street, Reno, Nevada. In the Sierra Room. This news conference will follow a private meeting with leaders of the Hispanic community in Northern Nevada.
6:30 p.m. Speech during the Washoe County Democratic Party's Honor Roll Dinner, at Circus-Circus Hotel, 500 North Sierra Street, Reno, Nevada. In the hotel's convention center.
Friday, September 29
4:00 p.m. Campaign rally at Painters Union Hall, 1701 Whitney Mesa, Henderson, Nevada. Jack Carter and President Carter will speak around 4:30 p.m.
7:00 p.m. Speeches during the Clark County Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson Dinner, at the Rio Hotel, 3700 West Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, Nevada.
The events scheduled for Elko and Fallon will be a really big deal. Elko is a rural town that isn't used to finding itself in the spotlight. Also, it's an extremely Republican place (in 2004,
78% of folks in Elko County voted for Bush), and it doesn't get many Democratic visitors. In scheduling this stop, there was TONS of interest. We believe that we can make some serious inroads in places like this, and we're well on our way to doing it.
Many of you may know that my Dad's campaign activities were halted pretty abruptly a couple weeks ago when he was hospitalized with severe colitis. He left the hospital over a week ago and has been recuperating at home, and now, he's ready to get back onto the campaign trail. For this campaign swing, he's going to do most of the events in Elko and Fallon, and the two big rallies in Reno and Henderson. He's going to take it easy and rest as much as he can between events - and he's skipping the two big dinner events so that he can be at home.
Interspersed with these events (along with a couple of fundraisers) will be press events that are not open to the public. For example, on Thursday morning, there will be interviews with David Bender, who does "Politically Direct" for Air America. He wants to do something involving "three generations" of Carters. That means that I will be interviewed as well as my Dad and my Grandpa.
I am currently a graduate student at UCSF in San Francisco. But, beginning Thursday morning, I will be in Nevada full-time, doing whatever I need to be doing to get my Dad elected. The first thing on my schedule is that interview with David Bender for Air America. You should try to listen if you can (it should come on between 8 and 9pm (Eastern) on Thursday). I'm pretty nervous about it, but I'll have to get used to these sorts of things in a hurry - most likely, I'll be doing plenty of little interviews, photo ops, and campaign events over the next six weeks. I'll continue to give you updates throughout.
We're really pumped up. This campaign is now firing on all cylinders. We're doing all we can to win this Senate seat. What we need the most right now is your contributions!
In yesterday's diary, I wrote up several reasons why the Carter for Nevada campaign is a good one to give money to. Here they are:
There are plenty of good reasons to give money to the Carter Campaign. Jack is right on the issues that matter, he's got a good shot at winning, and his race is one where your money can make a HUGE difference. On the issues, there couldn't be bigger differences between him and John Ensign. Read my recent diaries about the Iraq War or Torture. In both of these cases, John Ensign is a puppet of the Bush administration, while Jack Carter stands up for what's right.
I've already written about our chances of winning - we believe that we're in good shape going into October. We're going to do everything we can to make sure that Nevadans know that John Ensign has voted with the Bush administration 96% of the time since he was elected. Bush is extremely unpopular in Nevada - SUSA shows that he has a 34% approval rating in the state (that's well below the national average of 39%). We're going to need money to get that message out.
One great thing about Nevada is that it's relatively cheap. It's population is about 2.5 million people, making it a pretty "small" state. Also, Nevada has two media markets (Reno and Vegas) that reach 97% of the voters. It only costs about $250,000 to run ads in those two markets for a week. So, from that perpective, any dollars you can donate to Nevada can have a big impact.
Please give what you can! We'll make good use of whatever you can spare.
Thanks for reading!
Sarah
(You can always find more at the Carter Blog)