Hello to the DailyKos community. I wrote many diaries back during the 2010 election for Democratic Congressional Candidate Jim Holbert. Now I'm back, still working hard in Southern Kentucky for the Progressive cause. Outside of my work on individual campaigns, I serve as the President of the Pulaski County Young Democrats, in a very Republican area.
Back in the 2010 election, we were on the phones almost every day and knocking on doors trying to turn out the vote for Democrat Jack Conway and Jim Holbert. We didn't too bad actually, with 5,001 votes cast for Mr. Conway in our county. We now have a competitive Governor's race ahead of us and we will do the same things, only better and earlier.
The problem becomes that our county executive committee and Democratic Women's Club organizations are frankly useless. I have gone to both groups multiple times (I even serve on the executive committee) to ask for individual donations, and have gotten little to nothing for the Young Democrats.
We have a current balance of a little over $25 in our checking account right now. We also want to take a delegation to the 2011 Young Democrats of America convention in Louisville this July. That means, if we are going to fund our "GOTV" efforts this fall AND that trip, we need to raise at least $1,000 (probably more).
So, here's what I ask. If you live in Kentucky, please consider making a small contribution to our club of $5 or $10. You can do so at the Pulaski County Democratic Party website, www.pcdems.org. If you don't live in Kentucky, but perhaps have family or friends here, please send this message to them. We've tried conventional ways of raising money (i.e. cookouts, t-shirt sales, etc) but no one shows up to our events. Last year, we had a cookout where more candidates for office came than actual people. This year, we tried to have a cookout where so many things went wrong that we took a net loss of over $40.
I appreciate any and all support you can give (if you have any advice or ideas for fundraising, that's great too!!). If you'd like, you can become a fan of the Pulaski County Young Democrats at www.facebook.com/pulaskiyoungdems