Cross-posted at MyDD
I’ve been attending monthly volunteer meetings in our county since April, when I made the decision to get more involved with the campaign to support Hillary Clinton’s historic run for the White House. We got together at a town hall near us yesterday and got an update as to what’s going on and where our help is needed, and it looks like we’re off to a great start in our neck of the woods, with well over 500 people signed up to help with this effort in our county. We’ve set the pace and now the national campaign’s coordinator for our state is working on getting some of the other counties up to speed.
I thought I’d use my diary today to talk a bit about what’s happening in Maryland, and give kudos to "Tillie" and "Diana" – two senior citizens living in a retirement village in our area. These ladies are serious dynamos when it comes to organizing for Hillary – make the jump to hear what this dynamic duo have been up to...
Tillie & Diana have been involved in Democratic campaigns (probably) since before I was born in the early 60s. They know this county inside & out and are by far the most committed political activists that I’ve met in a long time. They live in a retirement village called "Leisure World" and have been busy drumming up support for Hillary amongst their friends & neighbors.
Well they’ve put together a fundraiser / meet & greet in their complex and when Tillie & Diana put out the call for an event – people rush to sign up. Folks understand that these ladies know what they’re talking about and respect their take on things, so if Tillie & Diana are supporting Hillary they want to hear about it.
They booked an all-purpose room in their complex that holds 80 people, and people grabbed up seats for this quickly. They have about 20 other folks on their waiting list.
Now granted not all of their neighbors are convinced - yet. Tillie said they spoke with a couple of elderly gentleman who live near them – and the fellas said, "it’s too soon to elect a woman president." I shook my head and thought – what the feck?
Too soon? We’ve been a nation for 230 years – what exactly are those guys WAITING FOR?
Sigh. I guess Tillie & Diana still have a couple folks to convince yet!
I went to a statewide volunteers meeting in Annapolis in July where our good governor spoke. He got things rolling by asking for a show of hands to see who came from which Maryland county, and as near as I could tell we had someone from each and every county in attendance (even Salisbury, & Ocean City out on the Atlantic coast). Not bad considering our primary isn’t until Feb. 12th.
Events like Tillie & Diana’s are popping up all around the state, with people holding fundraisers in community rooms of their housing development, getting friends & neighbors together to pass out stickers, hold up signs and sign up other volunteers at local parades & festivals, getting together for house parties to make their own Hillary t-shirts, and holding hundreds of house parties around the debates.
As an aside, I also found out that Bill will be signing his new book ( Giving – How Each Of Us Can Change The World ) at a Costcos just over the river in Virginia on Wednesday, September 12th at 1:30 pm (follow link for address etc). So get out your Costco membership cards and head on over. Doors open at 11 am.
Lastly (and I know this isn’t local but what the hey?) I thought it was worth mentioning a new USA Today / Gallup Poll that just came out.
On the Democratic side, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton continues to lead the field, at 45%, over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, at 24%. Former North Carolina senator John Edwards is third at 16%, up 3 points since August.
In a head-to-head race, Democrats favor Clinton over Obama by 31 points, 63%-32%, the biggest margin to date.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen numbers regarding a potential head-to-head race between Hillary & Obama. As someone pointed out on another site, it’s interesting that Hillary picks up 18% when the field is narrowed to just the two of them, where Obama picks up just 8%. So much for the whole "anybody but Hillary" idea. She’s the number one pick for most Democrats, and (apparently) the second choice for most of those supporting other candidates right now.
In closing I’ll just go with my tried & true the-more-you-know-the-better-she-looks set of links regarding Hillary’s voting record etc., cos the more you know – the more likely you are to get through the hype and spin regarding who she is and where she wants to take us as a nation, and realize what I’ve known for ages – that Hillary’s the right person for the job.
HILLARYCLINTON.COM
HILLARYHUB.COM
CLINTON.SENATE.GOV
Research tool - THOMAS or you can search bills / votes from a previous congress by going to the advanced search page HERE.
FLOOR SPEECH PRIOR TO IRAQ VOTE
HILLARY’S VOTING RECORD.
HILLARY / OBAMAS VOTES
HILLARY / EDWARDS VOTES
Hillary / Obama / Lieberman Votes
Media Matters Smacks Down Permanent Bases BS
Liberal rankings sites...
National Journal
Drum Major Institute
GovTrack Political Spectrum
Progressive Punch
Rankings in the 110th Congress
On The Issues – Hillary’s Record For voting record and quotes on various issues.
GlobalTradeWatch’s Diary – Rankings on Trade Issues Hillary voted no on CAFTA twice.
DNC LTE TOOL
Hillary’s Ad in Iowa – Invisable
List of phone numbers & addresses of the campaign offices
HillarysBloggers.com
PLEASE NOTE: I am not now nor have I ever been a paid member of Hillary's campaign staff.
U P D A T E
Someone asked a very good question regarding whether there was a campaign office in their area and I found a very useful page on Hillary's web-site with info on offices in different states around the country.
Click On This Contact Link for phone numbers & addresses of the campaign offices in your area.
So far the campaign has offices in VA (national), CA (2), IA, NV, NH, NY & SC. There's also a link to apply for an internship on this site.
If there's no office yet - you can go to the Groups page on the site and find like-minded supporters in your area - maybe set something up on a more informal basis once you get a bit of an online group together. Just plug in your zip code when you get to the page.
UPDATE 2
Forgot to remind everyone of our new site - HillarysBloggers.com Check it out!
UPDATE 3
Sigh... Can I make a suggestion here to anyone who's even slightly interested in keeping discussion on track?
Look we all know who the punks are on this site. They show up and paste the same tired-ass RW talking points in as a comment with the sole intent of disrupting our conversation here, and (sadly) it looks like it worked here today.
The only way they can accomplish this is if we accept their childish invitation to play their games. If we ignore their sniping attempt to derail things, then they lose interest and go look for another sandbox to play in.
You know who I'm talking about guys - please don't feed the trolls!