UPDATE: I've been semi-rescued. Head over to NYPopulist's diary and for the full story. And don't forget to hit the recommend button.
I love a good ol’ fashioned snail mail campaign. Email drives are nice, but large volumes of similar emails just become statistics. Mail something unique, mail it in large enough numbers, and mail it in a truck, and your message really starts to stand out.
Here is your chance to be part of a unique snail mail campaign using common goods found in the kitchen. If you eat breakfast, have a pair of scissors, a pen and two stamps, I need your help. More below the fold...
Let me just start off saying that I really like Clinton, Edwards, and Obama (listed alphabetically) and would be perfectly happy with any of them in the President’s office...but I still have some reservations.
I’m looking for a candidate with four key qualities:
- Someone who I trust to clean up the mess Bush and the republicans have left behind.
- Someone who can hit the ground running from day 1.
- Someone who has that fire in the belly. (Someone looking to extract revenge by fixing things property. Someone who can slap down and crush petty attacks and stupid talking points the second they surface. Someone with the desire to show the world how Americans do it right.)
- Someone who can restore our standing with the rest of the world.
I’m looking for 100% on all four points. So far, I’m not convinced that any of the top three are there, which is why I still haven’t settled on a candidate.
The one person I’m confident scores 100% in all four categories is Al Gore. I think he knows what needs to be done and how to do it, and I think he has that fire to make sure it gets done. The only problem is he’s not currently running.
In order to add my voice to those trying to change that, I ask you help me with a fun snail mail campaign. If you eat cereal (or similarly boxed foodstuff) and have two stamps, you can send a message that will be heard TODAY. Just follow these simple steps:
Step 1: Open pantry and select a cereal box.
Don’t eat cereal? Any similarly sized paperboard box will work, or go knock on a neighbor’s door and ask for some Cheerios.
Step 2: Cut off the front panel.
Clean up the edges so that you have a nice straight-edged rectangle.
Step 3: Put the Clear-view box back in the cabinet.
(Don’t tell the spouse you did it. Blame it on the kids. When you finally have to fess up, ask your spouse to follow these instructions using the back panel.)
Step 4: Flip the front panel over and pretend it’s a large post card. Write a short message in the area directly under where your return address goes.
I went with something clever that ties in the breakfast cereal theme ("Every morning I wake up and wish you would run for president.") Feel free to copy or make up your own. For example, if you have a good sugar cereal box, write something like, "My kids really need you to be president," or, "As president, you’d be Greeeeeeeeat!" or "You’d be cuckoo not to run for president" or whatever. I might start a contest for the worst pun...
Step 5: Fill in the Address.
The Honorable Al Gore
2100 West End Ave., Suite 620
Nashville, TN 37203
Make sure your message is along the short side, and the address is parallel to the long side. Otherwise the post office will get upset and shred someone else’s mail out of spite. That’s just bad karma for you.
Step 6: Fill in your return address and apply stamps.
My box panel is 7.5" x 12" and just squeaks in under 1 oz which means it takes two stamps. These are not post cards. They’re classified as oversized envelopes so they require a minimum of two stamps. If you have a larger cereal box it will weigh over 1 oz, so use three stamps. If you’re really not sure, or if you did something dumb like use a square box, did a bad job cutting the edges, or you wrote your address across the short end, use three stamps and just be done with it.
Step 7: Drop it in the mail.
Do it today. Tomorrow at the latest. Or this weekend if you forget. But seriously, do it today.
As you can see, I dropped mine into a rusty old mail box. You can do that too, or you can put it in a nice new mailbox. Or take it into a post office and mail it there. Or put it in your household mailbox and put the little flag up. Do whatever is easiest for you. I’m not picky.
Step 8: Go do it now!
Your kitchen is like 10 feet away, slacker. Why should he run if you can’t be bothered to go cut up a box? It’s not even corrugated for pete’s sake. If you’re still reading this, you should be getting up from your seat and grabbing a cereal box RIGHT NOW! PUSH THE KEYBOARD AWAY AND GET UP!
Step 9: Report back.
If you are a registered user, post a "me too" comment below stating you sent a box panel. Feel free to include your horrible pun for credit.
Some of you will notice that this is my first diary. I’m one of those people who reads Daily Kos daily and does a lot of the call to action stuff, but I rarely log in to respond. If you’re like that, now’s a good time to log in and post your first comment. Try it out. It’s pretty easy.
Step 10: Spread the word.
Go tell everyone to cut up their cereal boxes and then post back here when they do. Or if you’re really pro-active, cut out a box (back panels are ok) address it, stamp it and hand it to a friend. They can fill in their return address, add a short message and drop it in the mail themselves. They’ll probably get a kick out of it, so go make their day by handing them a cereal box panel.
I intend this to be a three part campaign. But to get to the next step, I need some good feedback from people.
PS: please don’t post any BS comments about focusing our attention on the three great candidates we already have. All I’m asking of you is two stamps and less than five minutes of your time. The worst thing that could happen is we get four great candidates to pick from.
Thanks!