(This is a continuation of the campaign started by Brainwrap. Prior diaries in the series are here and here).
This Friday, March 26 happens to be Nancy Pelosi's 70th Birthday!
Given how much serious ass she kicked in herding cats, twisting arms and otherwise corralling 219 Democrats into passing the most sweeping (if flawed) overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system in 45 years, I thought it would be a great idea to do a repeat of the famous 2004 Barbara Boxer Rose Campaign to celebrate Speaker Pelosi's 70th birthday.
So, I took the easy route: I simply contacted the same national florist delivery service that was used 6 years ago, got a callback from Tina at Coast to Coast Florist, and lo and behold, we're all set!!
SO, here's the deal:
Coast-to-Coast Florist is gonna give us the same special pricing that they gave for the Boxer campaign: Just $10 to send 3 roses direct to Speaker Pelosi's Washington D.C. office!
To add your order, simply call: 1 866 596 1860. You can send more than 3 roses, but it's a flat $10 per batch of 3. They'll take your name and credit card info, and you'll be all set.
Alternately, you can send your order and credit card email to: tina@coasttocoastflorist.com. I realize that sending cc info in a plain email may make some folks wary, so I'd recommend calling the toll-free number instead.
They can take orders right up through Thursday evening. All roses will be delivered to her D.C. office on Friday, as a combination Thank You/Happy Birthday from those of us who admire her amazing accomplishment in pulling this thing off.
--An amusing update: The florist has even linked back to this diary on their official Facebook page!
I never actually mentioned Daily Kos, so either one of you guys mentioned it or they remembered the connection from the Boxer campaign :)
(or perhaps they're on dKos themselves...)
Coast to Coast now also has a webpage about this campaign. You can't order from it, but you could use it as an alternative link for networking sites if you think someone might be more comfortable with going through there rather than having to go through DK.
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Other ways to say thanks:
Join the facebook group wishing Speaker Pelosi a happy birthday and thanking her for healthcare reform. (Must log in after following link.)
Write her a thank you note.
Donate money to the Speaker.
Donate to other candidates that supported HCR. If you’re not sure who needs support this diary will help.
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FAQs:
How many roses are we up to, and will you keep a tally?
--In a word, yes. For comparison's sake, for the Barbara Boxer campaign, a whopping 4,500 roses were sent! I'm not saying we should try and beat that number, just mentioning it for interests' sake :)
How about the wording of the card, the timing of the delivery to her office and so forth?
--I'm supposed to discuss these things with the florist on Thursday afternoon. They wanted to wait until then to get an idea of how many roses will actually be delivered--if it's a couple hundred, it's one thing; if it's several thousand ala Boxer, it would require more coordination (for instance, we'd almost certainly have to give one of her staffers a heads up before cramming thousands of flowers into the cubicles lol).
Are you gonna notify the press?? This could be a huge P.R. thing for the Speaker!
--On Thursday I'll also discuss the press notification situation with them. If it's only a few dozen, no one (besides her and her staff) will care, but if it's a zillion roses, the local news loves stories like that. It'd be a great P.R. thing for her as well, showing that, contrary to what the press (and GOP) would have you believe, there are plenty of people who want HCR and who support Nancy Pelosi . No doubt the florist will appreciate the free publicity as well!
Can I place my order after hours?
--Yes, Coast to Coast has made arrangements to accept orders 24 hours a day through Thursday evening, so you can call in your order any time between now and then!
Can I use PayPal?
Not for this particular campaign. Again, I'd just call them up at 1 866 596 1860.
What about an order receipt?
From Coast to Coast:
"If they want a receipt they just have to let us know and we can email it right away."
It sounds like they're a fairly small operation, but they're extremely responsive, and they're legit (feel free to check their site; they even still have the "Barbara Boxer" thank-you response page posted.)
Plus, in their "hold" phone ad voiceover, they mention that "Our mission is to say "Yes we can!" to our customers." Draw your own conclusions lol...
Shouldn't we be donating directly to her or another Democrat's campaign instead?
For those who have pointed out that, as nice as roses on her birthday are, donating to her campaign would be a more practical/useful thing to do with our money, I say this: Yes, you're probably correct, and yes, I strongly urge people to also donate to her re-election fund--or to other deserving candidates--but it never hurts to also show a non-financial gesture of thanks to someone who's doing their job well.
Plus, assuming I'm able to get some media coverage of this, how much would the free positive PR worth? That's not why I'm doing this, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. :)
Isn't this a waste of roses?
Not necessarily. Barbara Boxer ended up donating hers to the Walter Reed Medical Center. I presume that the Speaker's staff will do something similar, although I haven't contacted them about that yet.
Will someone be there to receive the flowers?
Yes! At the suggestion of someone in the comments, I checked with her D.C. office to make sure that it'll be open on Friday (you never know...). Yes, it will (I didn't bother asking whether the Speaker will actually be there, since her schedule is probably a bit fluid at the moment, but the office itself will be open).
Given that the Senate is hoping to pass the "sidecar" on Saturday, I think it's likely that she'll be in D.C. this weekend.