CRASHING THE STATES is off to a great start!
From Lamont to Tester to Courage to Webb, we're raring to go.
Already, we've been contacted by a number of campaigns and candidates eager to work with us and bloggers willing to help in a myriad of capacities. Thank you all so much for the donations many of you have already sent. They have enabled us to arrange some basic pre-production, as well as retain legal counsel to help guide us through a 'series of tubes' known as FEC regulations we'd like to follow so we don't get run over by the 'dump truck' of election law--and the best part is, our lawyer is a fellow Kossack! You've enabled us to get a GREAT start for this project, and we wouldn't be nearly where we are without your initial support.
So what the heck you guys want from me now? We'll tell ya...
If a diary falls in the forest and no one's around to comment on it, does it make the rec list? No!
We need YOU! We need
YOU to volunteer with us. We need
YOU to interview with us. We need
YOU to tell us your stories (
preferably the ones relevant to the project and suitable for a general audience). And you, hiding your browser behind your game of solitaire behind that report you're supposed to be working on,
please consider throwing this a recommend so that we can let as many bloggers know about this project as possible. We won't tell your Cheney-idolizing boss.
This is more than a film project. There are in fact 3 separate components to CRASHING THE STATES...
FIRST and foremost is the journey itself. Fellow Kossack hekebolos and I will be traveling to 20 campaigns that have captured the attention of the netroots. But more than that, we will be bringing you there into the mix, interviewing candidates, webcasting answers, asking the questions you want asked, meeting campaigners, Kossacks, local bloggers, and of course blogging each day as we show great people busting their asses to get other great people into office.
SECOND, we want to capture as many fellow bloggers in the act as we possibly can. You, sitting there in your underwear at 3AM munching on a box of cereal (myself included) - let's give the keys a days rest and pound the pavement to save the Constitution! Only if we match our literary energy with physical action can we defeat the "misunderstimated evildoers." Come and meet the candidates, ask them questions that matter, knock on doors, rally, register voters, and heckle George Allen! But most of all, show up and be heard.
THIRD, we will be filming it all: the bloggers, the candidates, the situation on the ground, and hekebolos writhing in agony from blogging-induced carpal tunnel syndrome. We are going to capture this movement (with you in it) from the inside out, learn where it's working, how it's changing modern campaign dynamics, and see the real impact of the netroots from one side of the country to the other. And then we're going to show it to you... oh, at some random yearly blogger event thing we heard about.
We're gathering the gear, raising the funds, planning, scheduling, calling, cracking our knuckles, but most of all - not sleeping. Who has time to sleep before November 7?!
We're also developing a Drupal site that should be up and running by the end of the week thanks to our savvy friend Art. In the mean time, put down that mochachino latte, your spicy tuna roll, and your New York Times and SIGN UP TO JOIN US! If you've already sent us a past email, please go ahead and use this sign up form so we can get you in the database. You can blog with us, you can pound the pavement for the candidates, you can participate in candidate/blogger meetings we're arranging, help us shoot an interview, or you can act as a human sandbag steadying the camera as we traverse tornado alley from TX-21 to CO-06. Even if you can't do any of that, you can recommend this diary so anyone who can will be able to participate.
Here is our candidate list and tentative schedule:
NC-08 Larry Kissell September 16 - September 17
VA-Sen Jim Webb September 18 - September 20
PA-07 Joe Sestak September 21 - September 23
PA-08 Patrick Murphy September 23 - September 24
NJ-07 Linda Stender September 24 - September 25
NY-State-41 Brian Keeler September 27 - September 28
CT-Sen Ned Lamont September 28 - September 30
NH-02 Paul Hodes October 1 - October 2
NY-29 Eric Massa October 2 - October 3
IN-06 Barry Welsh October 4 - October 6
IL-10 Dan Seals October 7 - October 8
IL-14 John Laesch October 9 - October 10
TX-21 John Courage October 13 - October 15
CO-05 Jay Fawcett October 16 - October 17
CO-06 Bill Winter October 17 - October 18
MT-Sen Jon Tester October 19 - October 21
WA-08 Darcy Burner October 22 - October 23
CA-11 Jerry McNerney October 25 - October 26
NV-Sen Jack Carter October 28 - October 30
CA-50 Francine Busby October 30 - October 31
We would love to visit as many campaigns as our funding, time, and national highway system will allow (not to mention some well known rabid lambs). So if there are other NETROOTS candidates we can squeeze in, we'll do our best, but what you see before you is already 8,000 miles of driving (all by hekebolos on coffee) and one heck of a lot of logistics. And on that note:
You too can make a HUGE impact on this project. We are looking for a few good bloggers and networkers to be Netroots Coordinators for the Crashing the States project. If you would like to be a significant part of making this experience possible, please sign up at our site and then email us at crashingthestates.com with the subject "Netroots Coordinator".
As a Netroots Coordinator, you will help plan Crashing the States by coordinating the project with campaigns and local bloggers. You will also receive front page access to the Crashing the States blog, credit for the project, and a film credit on the documentary feature.
One final note. We know that some of you out there would love to be a part of this but would like to maintain your anonymity. This entire project is being structured around that. Just look at our sign-up form. We only ask for what we need to contact you - nothing else. When filming, we will be very conscious of those of you who do not want to be on camera. While we want you to participate in Crashing the State events, we will make sure that everyone knows where we are filming and we will give you stickers so our crew members and editors know that you want to remain anonymous.
And a final, final note: this is a project of the netroots, for the netroots and by the netroots. As the originators and organizers, this is our way of trying to give back to a community that has done so much for our country - a movement we're proud to be part of. We sincerely hope you will join us, and we'd love to have your support.
Sincerely,
Reality Bites Back & hekebolos
(Hekebolos approves of various parts this message.)