The Democratic National Committee is sponsoring a nationwide event this Saturday, and I wanted to make sure that our readers were well aware of it. "The 50 State Turnout" will focus on GOTV efforts in every state in the union — although clearly some states are more organized than others, there should be events going on all over the place on Saturday.
While you are peeking at this, take some time to look around the DNC website, and try out the Partybuilder tool. This has the potential to put the action in your hands in terms of a number of areas that can have an impact on the election cycle this time around and into the next as well: fundraising, issue awareness, community action, you name it.
We've talked in the past quite a bit about getting involved in local Democratic organizations — local party groups or grassroots groups like Democracy for America. If you've been thinking about getting involved, now is a great time. With time ticking away toward the election in November, the work that you do to GOTV could make the difference for your community. I know my local Democratic groups are not as active as I would like them to be — but at the same time, I haven't spent the time the last couple of months pushing things forward because I have been busy blogging.
These groups are only as effective as their membership does the work to make them so — and we are hitting that crunch time period where doing the work can really pay off come November. Please consider getting involved in some GOTV action in your area.
Or volunteering for a candidate that you believe would be great for your community — this is truly a fantastic way to dip your toe in the political water and make a huge difference for yourself, your family and all the people that a great person will represent in elected office. And for the person running, having a committed and enthusiastic volunteer who is willing to make some phone calls or walk a few neighborhoods or do voter registration can make all the difference.
And, if I may suggest, we have some great candidates on our Blue America roster if you are looking for someone to help out. Or pick someone in a local race — school boards and city councils and county commissions and such make a lot of every day decisions for all of us, and some effort on behalf of any progressive candidate can make a difference up and down the ticket. Imagine the amount of change we could push forward if we were all working together for a better political future for America.
Today's action in the DNC's hundred days campaign is to talk with your family and friends about positive things the Democratic party and progressive candidates are doing for America. Some great ideas there. I think we forget sometimes how much of a difference our own, personal discussions can have with the people around us. And browse back through the 100 days ideas — see if there is something else that you could do as well. So many ideas — and only 33 days to go until the election in November. Let's talk about what everyone has been doing – what's working, what isn't, and what problems you are trying to solve in your community. Maybe someone else is doing the very thing that would work best for you.
Just get up and out there and do something! Your nation is depending on you.
(Get out and vote poster from a Nebraska campaign — graphics by a company called Eleven19. Fun way to make voting more interesting for the public, don't you think? Any other GOTV campaigns that you've liked? Discuss in the comments below, please!)
Related posts:
- Capuano to Vote “No” on the Supplemental — 33 Down, 6 to Go
- AFL-CIO Threatens to Cut Aid to ConservaDems Who Don’t Vote for Health Care
- Vote Fraud in Clay County Should be Considered in Hanging of Census Worker
- AL Gov: Rep. Artur Davis Attacked for Health Care Vote by Primary Opponent
- Speak Out: Write Letters To Your Local Papers and Urge Members of Congress to Vote “No” On Supplemental
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no way
wow, way!
That’s a first, I mean a Fitz
Morning, BQ. :)
Yes, voting is sexy but GOP voter supression is reality, I’m afraid:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3573#more-3573
G! O! T! V!
i really enjoyed volunteering for the lamont campaign this summer, in addition to the candidate (what can i say?, ned is great!)… it feels wonderful to be part of something i believe in….
here’s an idea… ask someone you know to do it wiith you. you will have more fun and you will have doubled the impact of your volunteering.
karen jacobs @ 226
I just posted the above at TRex USO Tour, and wonder if it would be appropriate here.
^..^
From prior thread:
GOTV –
I live in a area that is primarily Republican. I canvass, and I have fun!
MI-9
There have been a lot of great points to use as ‘talking points’ (gawd, I hate that phrase). Can FDL help by putting out a list of ideas to help sway long time Repugs?
Don’t get me wrong, I always have a strong argument for change, but with sooooooo many things to remember, it can get tongue twisting.
May I suggest headers and the community can folow with the points.
OVERSIGHT
NATL SECURITY
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
CORRUPTION
You see, the list could get long and knarly.
Moderators, please help!
Community…..start your engines!
is Lamont going to debate Joe “I love torture and don’t care about child molesters” Liarman soon?
mornin’ Christy,
thanks for the hat tip the other morning – I didn’t see it til much later. I feel like I got it under false pretenses, tho. I know I got pointed there from some other site, but I couldn’t find it when I went thru my history. If I ever figure it out, I’ll try to find a way to send them some fdl love.
Could you use some pics of tombstones (given the number of political careers on life support)? I have some nice ones of a pre-Civil War graveyard with wonderful old-growth trees. There’s even one where darkblack could morph the name into Hastert.
Thank you, John Casper, for carrying over our posts.
Oddball, I made up some statements at my sample postcards link –might work as talking points?
^..^
BQ at 12 — you know, I’m always looking for good photos. I’d love to take a peek, if you don’t mind sending them. :)
Morning All.
Just to jazz you all up. I subscribe get a news digest sevice for NYS and this morning it rendered up this little goodie
http://www.politicalgateway.co…..ml?col=668
Evidently, the FBI is looking for local boys in Florida that Foley may have engaged in criminal behavior with.
OfT from Raw Story
Conservative blog posts false information trying to “out” a page
Published: Wednesday October 4, 2006
Bold is mine.
IMHO, Rove is trying to
terrorizeshut the pages up.The House of Rep. GOTV efforts I have participated in have been very methodical and require an army of volunteers. On election day, everyone gets a map of a particular piece of the district and a door hanger for every residence listed on voter registration rolls as being a “D”. Then in pairs, we fan out and knocked on every single door on our list and ask if the habitants have voted yet, and if not, do they need a ride to the polling station? If no one’s home, you leave a door hanger with the candidates name, photo, the address of the polling station and what time it closes. They are urged to call campaign HQ if they need a ride.
No house in the district goes unknocked! You’d be surprised how many little old ladies actually do need a ride.
OT
Did anyone see the Moyers presentation on PBS last night? Despite knowing about how sleazy these guys are in got me quite angry to see how money and politics hace destroyed democracy in America.
How can we ever get the two apart (money and politics) and make democracy about ideas, rights, freedom, choices, inclusion and advancing, the human condition?
surprisingly, george will has a good (and actually readable) column today re Elmer Gantry and Republicans:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01539.html
Christy,
no trouble at all.
I have to go out for a while, but I’ll put together a package later today.
I am of the opinion that the people we need to target are those who ordinarily sit home and don’t bother to vote. These are the people who do not see where their vote matters, who do not bother to educate themselves on the issues, and who may not even know who the candidates are.
These are hard people to reach; postcards and fliers and phone calls are not enough – these people need to engaged, one-on-one – they need a conversation. And they need to be engaged at the level where they have an interest – sometimes that is purely local, and has to be addressed that way. It might be education, or crime, or health care, or development, or consumer rights.
These people need to be called by someone who can say, “I live right around the corner from you,” or “I live on the other side of X Road,” so that the voter knows he or she is talking to someone who lives in the community.
I think that rather than call people with reminders to vote, the calls could actually engage the voter by asking, “What are the issues that concern you most?” When the voter responds, the caller could ask, “Can I tell you something about Candidate X’s position on that issue, or tell you what Candidate X has been doing on that issue?” This would require the callers to have fact sheets that have that information. The next question might be, “Can I tell you what is currently being proposed in Congress on this issue, and what is at stake?”
If you get this far, you have to go for the sale, have to close the deal, and ask the voter to vote. You have to ask, “Is there any way we could make it easier for you to vote? Do you need a ride, or someone to watch your kids?” “Do you know where your polling place is?”
No, you can’t call as many people this way, but those you do call, and who do engage in a conversation on the issues may be more motivated to vote than if all they are getting are robo-calls, and all they are seeing are attack ads.
DefJef @ 18
I saw the last hour. On the discussion ofterwards, they had Norm Ornsietin from AEI (very conservative) and Tom Frank (”What’s the Matter With Kansas?”). They both painted the whole corruption in Congress as a Republican problem, although Norm seemed to go out of his way to say that the Dems are not much better. He was pissed about all the (Reoublican) corruption, though. I’ve never sen him speak, but it was obvious that he was not happy with the Rep congress.
He seems to agree that they’ve taken corruption to a shole new level.
looseheadprop @ 15
Thanks lhp, this is huge. Sex addicts like Foley can be menaces to public health. Morally, Hastert’s, Boehner’s, Reynolds’ ….. criminal negligence put a lot of youth at risk. It sounds from this, as though not all of them were pages.
OT, CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington turned over a bunch of Foley emails to the FBI three months ago. CREW is pissed that the FBI “appears” to have sat on it for three months. That invites speculation that has previously appeared on FDL threads about WH interference.
RevDeb and i are thinking of going to meriden CT to volunteer for ned lamont on saturday. anyone interested in joining us for the day? email me at speakeasy dot net
Rasmussen and Zogby sayin’ that Allen is 10pts ahead of Webb and is predicted to win. Virginia, c’mon, show these pollsters that you really, really don’t want a phony cowboy, spoiled snob, racist for Senator. Prove the poll-men wrong. Vote the bahstahd out!
John Casper,
They knew. They all knew. This from jumped out at me from today’s NYTimes
The bold is mine.
Anne @ 21
Maybe encourage folks to bring their kids to the polls with them. Unless you know them personally, I’m not sure that a stranger offering to watch their kids is the best approach, given Mr. Foley’s prominence in the news.
So pile the whole crew into your vehicle. In addition to helping the voter get out to the polls today, you’re teaching those little ones how important it is when they get to be 18.
GTOV…great idea.
Objectifying a woman’s body and linking voting to sex…disgusting.
Christy, I’m a huge fan of FDL! That’s why I’m so disappointed that you would post this picture.
Is there nothing that can be advertised without featuring women as sex objects?
Whoops, that should have been “GOTV”. Damn typos.
This is no longer about politcal power. This is no longer about standing up for the Constitution, though that should be more than enough.
This is now about protecting our children.
Absolute power has corrupted them absolutley, WE are the party of moral values.
You see we are the party that protects real, living, outside the womb children.
We want them to have proper food AKA aid to families with dependant children), we want them to have proper medical care (universal health care) we want them to have a decent education (head start), we want them to be safe from preadators.
If you won’t do it for yourselves, if you won’t do it for the Constitution, will you get out there and work to defeat the culture of corruption and moral depravity that has become the Republicans on Capital Hill for the sake of you families?
Was it Barbara Boxer who started the “Repubilcan culture of corruption” meme?
I think we might want to change that to ” Capital Hill Republican culture of moral depravity”.
What it lacks in alliteration, it makes up for in chills
Peterr @ 27
The “do you need someone to watch your kids” wasn’t meant to invole the sinister MArk Foley, but to be merely a lead-in to letting people know they can bring the kids with them, or – if this is the case in your precinct – that there is on-site care. Plus, if you are calling people in your area, there should be some level of trust that can be established.
Glorfindel @ 25
Mason-Dixon poll has them dead even 43-43.
NPR ran a story about the Foley scandal this morning and it’s likely effect on ‘values’ voters. They went back to 14 rural voters that they’d been following since the last election that list ‘moral values’ as their top issue and asked them how the Foley disclosures would affect their votes. Every one of these voters said that the scandal would not affect their vote and they would still choose the republican candidate to best protect their values.
We’re up against a huge amount of denial, folks.
Kelley @ 28
christy, where’d you put that PC guidebook?
I agree.
If one Democrat had prototyped a workable plan in a 2004 precinct and it significantly increased Democratic turnout over 2002, I think the party would be interested in looking at the data, costs, and risks.
I enthusiastically applaud the creativity behind the idea, but I just think logistically, it creates a lot more problems than it solves.
gbear @ 34
what you’re describing requires a change in world view so large and so traumatic that to get through it takes time (on the order of a year or two) and a lot of support. i don’t think it can happen in a few days – but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
OT— presser at 1:30 pm by “ethics” committee acc to cnn.
Results in key Senate races: Reuters poll
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats must gain six seats in the November 7 election to recapture U.S. Senate control, and they lead in three of the seven most vulnerable Republican-held states, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Thursday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200…..enate_dc_2
Anne @ 21
You are absolutely right; one-at-a-time persuasion is the best way to GOTV.
GOTV = Get Out The Vote –as a newbie, it took me an embarrassingly long while to figure out what it meant; kept thinking television was involved.
^..^
Seeing a photo of a woman voting in very uncomfortable-looking shoes doesn’t make me think voting is “sexy”–it makes me think that whoever designed the poster is an immature young man.
But, you know, whatever. Oh, and apparently any kind of objection to that kind of childish vulgarity means we’re joyless and ‘PC’ (the 8th Deadly Sin, according to El Rushbo and his ilk)?
Call me a “femiNazi” if you like, but “Voting is Sexy” would have been better illustrated by showing, say, George Clooney or Susan Sarandon or Denzel Washington or whoever looking fabulous on the way into a polling place.
John Casper @ 36
You guys are not getting it.
I did not suggest that a stranger offer to watch someone’s kids; I suggested that the caller ask if the voter needed someone to watch the kids – there’s a big difference.
If the voter says, “yes, I do need day care,” the answer might be, “we wanted to let you know that Girl Scout Troop 12345 has set up a supervised day care room at the school where you vote and you can sign your kids in and out if you don’t want to take them into the voting area with you.” There are any number of ways to do this, especially if you are talking with someone in your own community.
You might as well nix the whole idea of giving people rides, too – what makes you think a “stranger” with a car is safe?
Let’s try to remember that this is a community effort, and what’s important is to make people completely comfortable with voting, so no one is going to do something stupid like offer to send a complete stranger to watch someone’s kids.
John Casper @ 36
This has been brought up before, but bears repeating. For single (mostly women) with children, encourage them to register as permanent absentee voters. That way they can avoid the potential problem of having a baby sitter or trying to take their kids to the polling place.
LHP, it isn’t enough to have universal health care, or preschool funding, Thomas Jefferson thought that we should have *universal education* paid for by a tax that was not just progressive but *geometric*
OT, but perhaps it is time to start talking about policy in the coming months, and what an integrated policy package would look like.
selise @ 37
I agree with your conclusion selise.
I would be interested, however, in how many of those voters have even heard that there are no WMD in Iraq?
IMHO, the producers for Nancy Grace and Rita Cosby don’t agree with NPR’s complete assessment. Grace and Cosby are saying quite clearly that the “rural demographic”
deep red Bushsupporters are VERY interested in Foleygate. It’s a huge improvement for us over the “missing white women” that they normally cover.JupiterPluvius @ 41
how do you know those aren’t Susan Sarandon’s legs?
Thanks sofistic.
Lina, you might call it PC, but as a lawyer and a woman, I’m damn sick and tired of being judged by my body first, and abilities second. I’ve fought too many of these battles to have to, or want to, fight one with another woman.
Voting is way too important to conflate with sex. Perhaps you’ve forgotten we haven’t even had the right to vote for a century.
Mock all you want. It saddens me that you take it so lightly. Maybe you think you don’t need the right to vote.
Good morning folks.
I like Trex’s idea from last night to have a tour of sorts to bring more attention to the blue america candidates.
Here’s my submission for his graphics contest I made last night.
http://home.comcast.net/~dartmonk/trex_uso.jpg
-monk
Monk– that is fantastic! What talent. I love it.
gbear @
34
i do not believe that ‘red’ leaning ‘rural’ voters are going to be unaffected by MasterGate . . . but i do know that NPR has been turned into little more than FAUX radio. sad; pure progaganda.
Kelley @ 47
I don’t associate an illustration depicting a pair of legs with losing the right to vote. Sorry, that’s too much of a stretch for me.
Yay! for the GOTV efforts. The accompanying graphic, I am embarrassed to say, makes me squirm.
1. Sell our product with a naked white woman? Eww. I half expect the “photographer” to pan up and there will be Monica’s thong.
2. There’s a name for those shoes and is that really what we want to have happen to us at the polls?
I greatly respect the FDL community, so I make these comments humbly, and with no wish to rain on the parade. I just happen to fall more at the end of the spectrum that would choose a graphic from the GOTV movements of the 1900s or the 1960s.
Now to put on my black hoodie and GOTV via my favorite volunteer job, envelope-stuffing. An admiring wave to those of you who do the canvassing and the rest of the out-in-public work!
I know what Progressives stand up for. These folks advocate a “Fair Deal”. I know what the traditional Democratic Party stands for. These people have always stood for a “New Deal”. The new deal IS the new way. And the ‘new way’ involves first and foremost being against corruption. And caring for our kids, for the sick, the old and the destitute. It means providing for a living wage and affordable health care. Good schools and the rights of workers to organize are also on the fair deal menu. The new deal means working for world peace, empathy, compassion and sympathy for those needing a hand-up. There is so much more I could list which is on the Democratic plate, but I have to get back to work. But I’m one of the very lucky folks. I’m glad to get back to work. I teach in a rural public school. And most of us who toil here are DEMOCRATS!
selise @ 37
The connection between Republicans and the “values voters” (as distinct from radical religious righties) wasn’t built in a day. It took years to create, and change won’t come easily.
But the winds have shifted. Foley, obviously, is part of that, and the apparent House Republican leadership coverup of or inattentiveness to the problem. But so is Abramoff and the K Street project. So is Irving and outing a CIA agent and lying about it. So is Halliburton and Cheney and war profiteering by his friends. So is Addington and Yoo and justifying/sanctioning torture. So is Rummy and Rice and their monumental screw ups in planning and prosecuting the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. So is Brownie, Chertoff and the DHS gang and the response to Katrina. So is . . .
The list goes on, and each new entry takes down another brick in that wall of denial.
Trust and Accountability. Have the Republicans done ANYTHING to deserve your trust? Have the Republicans done ANYTHING to hold anyone accountable for anything – without someone else pressuring them into action (Jersey girls and 9-11 Commission, ABC News et al. and Foley, etc.)?
Trust and accountability. Lather, rinse, repeat from now until election day. It may not break down the denial this time around with the so-called Republican “values voters,” but it’ll lay the groundwork for 2008.
I apoplogize to no one for my heterosexuality-voting IS sexy, and so is the photo of the woman in the voting booth. I hope she’s voting Democratic.
RW B-Team Scold Alex Witt interviewing on MSNBC and the Repub apologist keeps bringing up Lewinsky and Jefferson’s freezer money. Didn’t catch all of this, but obviously the GOP spin machine is in full blame the Dems mode.
It ain’t gonna sell this time. Because as the outnumbered Dem spokeswoman pointed out this came from Republican disclosures and it’s a moral issue, not a political one.
And note to the Rethugs, hey, go ahead and keep on spinning…your black hole’s just getting deeper and deeper. “Republicans took care of it right away” ain’t gonna sell when the leadership urged Foley to run one more time to protect his REPUBLICAN seat.
GOTDEMV!
Monk – Loved the AOL graphic so much I grabbed it for my blog (and credited you and FDL)
Re: sexy legs – look, can’t we just agree that sexuality is a basic component of our human composition, and occasionally celebrating that fact doesn’t make us all objectifying neanderthals? Is there any situation where we can address this without it becoming a big problem?
And if you want to post a picture of George Clooney, have at it.
Then you’re not stretching far enough. Given your comments, thought, that doesn’t surprise me.
Now, if you had a picture of George Clooney and the tag line, “Voting is Sexy,” I am right there…
Connecticut Bob – didn’t see your comment until I posted mine…too funny!
Connecticut Bob:
If sexuality is such a basic component, why is it that only women are objectified? Sure, sex is fabulous, but the voting booth is not the place for it. There are better ways to encourage voters to return and to encourage new voters than objectifying women’s bodies.
One’s civic duty as a citizen of a democracy is both a privilege and a responsibility. I’m saddened to see both women and the process belittled by advertising such as this.
Glorfindel @ 25
You can’t go wrong running as a racist anti-semite when it comes to voting in the south. Spoiled racists snobs were the bedrock of the confederate aristocracy. Just as they got poor whites, what they called white trash, to die for them in their war to keep their privleged lifestyle of owning land and slaves, they now get that same poll of whites to vote for them to maintain and extend the privledge of the monied elites.
Swordswoman:
Thank you for your comment. I think you put more clearly into words what I have been to angry to articulate. Thanks for the vindication.
Target me! Target me! I’m an overseas voter. I wish I could at least get a ballot. The NY Board of Elections has blamed the postman two elections in a row (2004 and last month’s primary). And I got no response from my senators and congressman. I’m starting to take it personally.
Kelley @ 61
I would say that Foley objectified males as well, for example. So, Kelley, what you are saying is that this does not work for you. Fine.
The whole goal of “advertising the vote” is to reach as many people as possible. This reaches some and not others. From your reaction, however, this does not seem to be so bad that it will stop you from exercising your most valued franchise.
Immanentize:
Then why not choose a medium that reaches the most people possible, rather than marginalizing (and objectifying!) a percentage of the voters who can make a key difference in the mid-term elections?
Kelley @ 61
Kelly, as I said, it’s equally fine and non-offensive to me to see a graphic of a male. Yes, there are other ways to encourage voters, and don’t think for a millisecond that we’re not using them. But does that mean we should have to forego acknowledging the beauty of the human form in every single situation?
If so, we’d have to empty the museums of every instance of art that portrays womanhood in anything other than a pragmatic way.
lina @
45
I don’t think that Susan Sarandon is stupid or self-destructive enough to wear 5″ heels to the polling place, do you?
I see a poster like that, and I think “Wow, incredibly uncomfortable shoes. Nobody even halfway intelligent would wear shoes like that to the polling place.”
And I usually wear 2-3″ heels, by the way. Glamorous, elegant heels. Not bunion-inducing, arch-crippling heels that are the modern-day equivalent of footbinding.
Connecticut Bob @ 57
Jebus. Are people here to help Get Out The F*cking Vote or are they concern trolling?
You want to attack politically incorrect? Take on the Republican Party. Now there’s some objectification of sex; they don’t use it unless it’s illegal and/or it makes votes and/or money.
Free speech is like a free puppy, not free beer; it means you are free to go start your own politcally correct blog if you don’t like the one you are visiting, instead of demanding conformance of others’ speech
Knock yourselves out.
Anne #21 — you are absolutely right, that’s a core part of the 50-State Strategy, getting progressive voters who don’t vote regularly or consistently or at all to get out and vote. The presentation that outlines the 50-State Strategy makes it clear that 5 votes in some precincts, 10 votes in others, would have been enough to win back the White House, and could be enough to win a Congressional majority.
It’s also a key component that we do neighborhood outreach, that we begin to get to know our neighbors and talk about Democratic values (big and little D) and about the issues. The canvassing guidelines from the DNC’s literature center for neighborhood outreach are a great place to start.
If I had one critique about the DNC canvassing guidelines, it’s the introduction. I introduce myself FIRST as a neighbor from within the precinct and county, before I introduce myself any further. Introducing myself as a Democratic Party volunteer is rather impersonal; for all the person answering the door knows, I could be from California or Vermont and not Michigan where we live. They won’t feel as invested emotionally unless I let them know we are damned near family since we share the same space here in my ‘hood. OUR ‘hood.
Kelley at 63: What I desperately want is for someone to post the first verse of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes.” :-)
Late for work! Happy GOTV’ing, y’all….
Kelly,
While your question is directed at Connecticut Bob, I think I may have at least a partial answer to your question regarding disproportionate “objectivication” of women. Visual stimuli figure prominantly in male sexual response. It’s just the way we are wired. So if one is to promote an activity such as voting to be “sexy”, you aren’t going to get much male buy-in without a visual example (such as those great looking legs) accompanying it. I understand it makes you uncomfortable, however, and I completely respect your viewpoint.
Does that mean we have to use sex to glamorize the voting process? Of course not.
I certainly don’t conflate art with the objectification of a woman’s body for advertising purposes. Women’s bodies in art typically celebrate the whole woman, and highlights feminine beauty. That graphic does neither. It’s wholly unnecessary in this context.
Sex, and the beauty of the human body certainly play a prominent role in life (in mine as well), but the voting booth is not the place for it.
Kelley @ 61
Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it…
Voting is Sexy
beats the shit out of
VOTE OR DIE
Remember, folks, this is just one ad.
Maybe a George Clooney “Pull My Lever” ad will throw this whole thing back into balance. Monk?
Re: My 69
Once again I have managed to screw up the tech. That is NOT A QUOTE FROM CONN BOB
That is from me. Originally I was going to quote him, changed my mind and decided to write something else but didn’t relaze that deleting the quote would not stop the quote box from comming up.
So, anybody who does not like 69, be mad at me not Bob.
Bob, sorry for the foulup. I suck at all things tech
Olbermann is doing another Special Commentary tonight .
Here’s my 60 second Vote Clip :
” And You’re Not Voting ? “
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JAtxBLsNHM
Ed*ard Teller @ 74
Ed,
What ARE you trying to tell us? *g*
Kelley @ 66
This has always been an issue in public interest/service announcements. How to sell a product (voting or soap) without being deathly dull to the most people and without offending more.
Take cigarette ads. “Cigarettes are sexy” has been the main message to get teens to smoke. Very effective. Manipulative and exploitative, sure, but young adults bought into the message — and purchased cigaretts by the boat load. If as many 18 year olds voted as smoked, I for one would be happy!
But I would prefer if it could be done without overt objectification.
ET — and folks haven’t been voting progressive up that way in AK??
Maybe you’ve been pulling curtains around that voting booth too tightly…
Kelley @ 73
Hey Kelley . . .
what are you wearing?????
Our last moment to register is Tuesday at 5 PM. I am making some posters for a couple of coffee shops in my n-hood to remind people to register. I am a registrar, so it will have my contact info.
We are having a huge issue about voter ID cards, mailed out but not received by almost 20% of voters statewide. The Republicans are trying to claim that all of these people are dead, illegal, or dishonest and want them disenfranchised.
So this last little registration drive may help get some people up to date on the issue of voting, make sure they have voter registration to match their address.
Then I will switch to finishing the DTD canvass I have been working on in my precinct.
Re: 75 – thanks for clarifying that, LHP.
Rushton,
Don’t even give me that hard-wired biology crap. There comes a time to leave your testosterone at home and think with your brain. What does the male sexual response have to do with getting out the vote? Not one damn thing.
My entire point is that one doesn’t need to objectify women to get out the vote, particularly for the party that at least claims to protect women’s interests. Voting does not need to be sexy!! It’s far to important.
I’m sick and tired of being hit with these images every single day. I’m especially disappointed to see it associated with such a critical issue. I spend a lot of time and effort getting out the vote in my state, and I don’t like seeing women’s bodies objectified to support the process.
Ed*ard Teller @ 74
LOL
Well, let me just weigh in on the graphics choice — the point was, it gets you talking. About voting, about issues, and about reasons and rationales for getting involved. I knew there would be a question or two — it was meant to be provocative. But attacking each other on who is or is not absolutely correct on one side of the line or the other misses the point altogether. People get involved in politics and do this work for different reasons — and what stimulates one group to action clearly doesn’t work for other groups. My questions above still stand — what ideas do you have for graphics representations or campaigns to stimulate voter involvement? What have you seen that worked for you? I’m going back to working on my next article and playing with The Peanut — try to make this a constructive conversation, would you please, because I’m juggling a lot this morning and don’t really feel like wading into a snipe-a-thon among people who are supposed to be working on the same side at the moment.
Kelley – I appreciate your thoughts, and absolutely agree that voting is the responsibility one has for the privilege of living in a free society.
It’s a shame that such a small percentage of those eligible to register do, and that such a large percentage of those registered do not.
It’s an even bigger shame that appealing to one’s patriotism and sense of civic responsibility doesn’t have much effect on voter turnout.
And it’s a shame that marketing for GOTV has to be reduced to the level of advertising one sees for everything else these days.
The point of the poster is: if you can’t think of any other really good reason for voting, then vote because it’s sexy.
Tell you what: you put up a poster of “The Thinker” with the tag line, “Voting is a Intelligent” and have at it (except The Thinker is naked, so that may not work for you, and he is pretty hunky, which may be too objectified for you, but he is thinking…).
gbear @ 34
We had our local Matanuska-Susitna Borough elections here on Tuesday. Our Borough went 67% for Bush in 2000 and 59% Bush in 2004.
For the first time in the 23 years I’ve lived here, progressives and left moderates SWEPT the tickets for mayor, assembly and school board. They beat conservatives and well-funded wackos with fundamentalist church backing by margins which can only be described in Alaskan terms as “avalanches.”
We were outspent in a couple of the races by quite a bit. Some precincts in VERY RED zones (lots of military families, military and government contract families) went narrowly blue and some of the older precincts (30 year-old or older neighborhoods) went from purple to VERY BLUE.
This place is “value voter ground zero,” so I think the NPR piece was more of their National Propaganda Radio fluff…
looseheadprop @ 76
I had no problem, I knew what was you and what was CTBob.
I do the same thing all the time, the cursor defaults above the close blockquote html tag; I miss that and just start typing.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 86
It seems to have worked.
;)
i heart jane @ 50
I’m very much in agreement with you there. Morning Transcription and All Things Conservative have somehow become unquestioning dispensers of administration talking points. When they go to their reporters outside of DC, they can still be pretty good, but the reporting coming out of the DC crew is painful to hear.
OK folks, just to add some humor and show you one of the most effective ads I have seen (speaking as a parent of one fabulous five year old boy)
Zazoo condoms:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdzsEEryGJ0
bg — bravo, thanks for your hard work. Sounds like you’ve quite a bit of work to do yet today.
BTW, FirePups, it would really be a HUGE help if you were able to coach folks on their registration deadline as bg is doing; many people don’t know, and the folks who are least like to vote are the ones that need to know the most.
It’s also an enormous help to know the requirements for absentee voting; there are so many people who are qualified to vote absentee but don’t know how to do it or can’t get around to do it, resulting in failure to vote. Elderly who are housebound, for example, might not have internet access and may also be under the misconception that they don’t qualify. Find a few voters who’ll vote absentee for the first time and you’re already on your way to getting that handful more votes out of your precinct.
Ed*ard Teller @ 88
Wow. Please (God, Jesus, Allah, Vishnu) let it be a trend.
Imm– that is spectacular!
John Casper @ 44
my guess is that mostly these are the same voters who, if they have heard there were no WMD in iraq, they haven’t really heard it… because they don’t (yet) have a world view to incorporate it into.
i have some relatives like this… they see themselves as good people (and mostly i think they are), they are not religous fanatics…. and they proudly have bush/cheney bumper stickers. sigh. as far as i can tell – ALL of there news comes from TV (mostly FOX)…. it might be funny if there weren’t so many lives at stake.
Kelly, obviously you care strongly about this issue. And I do agree with you to some extent. I just don’t think celebrating human sexuality is necessarily a bad thing in every instance.
But I do respect your right to your opinion, and I always will listen to dissenting voices even if I don’t fully agree with them. And good work on your GOTV efforts.
Regardless of our differences, we need to remember we’re all on the same side when it comes to getting good leaders elected.
I wonder why it is that anyone who is annoyed to the objectification of women’s bodies is automatically labeled a prude or “pc”?
Here’s a idea for a graphic: Put up a photo from Abu Ghraib, with the tag line “This is why voting is important.” Or how about “This is what happens when you don’t vote.” That would get my attention a hell of lot faster
If you want to get people talking, that’s a fine way to do it, rather than objectifying women.
That’s great news, ET! Thanks for the adrenaline boost.
OT–boosh stumping for his NCLB failure on cnn.
Connecticut Bob @ 83
I really should not be allowed on the internet without a minder. Between the typos and the tech foulups, I am a menace
Kelley, I didn’t agree with everything you wrote, but I hope you continue to visit and comment at FDL. IMO, based on a too small sampling of your thought, you bring the same core values that I cherish in so many FDLers, who I “know” a lot better.
Part of the resistance you ran into may have been our habit of protecting Jane and Christy. Neither of them needs our help, but some of us tend in that direction anyway, probably as a show of respect and gratitude to them.
Rushton @ 72
My fear is that the “male buy-in” is going to bring the wrong male voters to the booth. Which party thinks women are here to serve men? Which party buries their normal sexual feelings until they resort to something Foley-ish? Generalizations? Yes. Still, just look at our current scandal.
RE: Voting is Sexy –
Two Points — the female form is sexier than the male; and single women are one of the most important Democratic voting blocks.
As for the appropriateness of the image — it was posted by a female lawyer.
John Casper @ 101
Well said.
I was criticizing the criticizer. My bad.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to slip into my G-string and go do some political canvassing.
lina #94: Wow. Please (God, Jesus, Allah, Vishnu) let it be a trend.
Don’t forget FSM (Flying Spaghetti Monster)
:-)
CTbob,
Thanks for at least seeing my point, which was that we can get out the vote without marginalizing the very population that can help swing these elections.
There are better ways to galvanize voters.
The demographics that need the most motivation are those in the 18-30 bracket.
They are most likely to vote Dem right now, by a 2-to-3 margin, but are least likely to turn out.
But they are the least engaged, only 1 in 4 will vote.
Young women are significantly less engaged than young men.
They do NOT respond to the same motivators. It’s going to take a wide variety of messaging to get them out.
What else do you have in your repetoire to get these folks out besides sex and violence? (Yeah, let’s objectify violence while we’re at it, don’t think I didn’t catch that.)
Kelley #106 – Thanks…and I just noticed I’ve been spelling your name wrong; sorry! :)
John,
I recognize you were protecting Jane and Christy, which is why my opening comment complemented their blog and I mentioned that I’m a huge fan. I read FDL first thing every morning.
Just exercising my right to dissent. Appreciation of the female form is fine. Objectification is not.
boosh: “one of the interesting questions I ask” & “we’re living in a global world”
(this speech is really, really bad.)
“how can you solve a problem if you don’t measure the problem.”
“it’s racist not to test”
angie @
99
NCLB failure is a fair chunk of voter concern here. Migration from Anchorage to here in some schools and from Russia and the Ukraine in others has turned outstanding schools into NCLB failures. A new elementary school finished this summer (Shaw) has all signs in English and Russian, and has had to hire numerous dual-language aides and special instructors.
Bush sounds at his absolute worst when describing his vision for the Middle East and when describing education.
Just a reminder for California residents, if you or someone you know wants to register as a permanent absentee, the deadline is 15 days before the election. So, if you know anyone who is a single parent, or a housebound person, let them know that they have to register right away.
We have a self fulling prophesy going on here with the use of sex to sell anything.
First let me back track to comment that in this society – western, industrialized, libral society… the mating game works by women preening themselves as sexually attractive and males use things like power, and money and status as their sex appeal. We don’t make those rules.. but that is pretty much how THIS society works. Some intelligent folks demand things like merit and substance as being the currency of “relationships” but this is a minority approach… and at best you get the smart is sexy and why can’t I have both.. looks and brains. blah blah blah.
But the problem is that these rules seem to be self perpetrating and reinforcing… and there is no end in sight. Sex is used to sell, women seem to want to be sexy to play… and no one seems to be interested in chagning this… The clever ones are more subtle in the use of “sex” to sell… but it’s really the same thing when you think about it.
Would it be wrong to have George Cloney clones, and Pam Andersen look alikes as poll workers to draw people to the polls? Perhaps not if people came, thought about their vote and actually cast it… as opposed to casting sidelong glances at the hot poll workers.
This democracy has gone to hell in a handbasket anyway… so perhaps release 2.0 of the USA might be an improvement. When does that release come out?
Looking at a speech like the one Bush is butchering here, makes you wonder why his %ages aren’t in the mid-20s……..
Peterr @ 54
i’m with you part of the way… it’s not that the Rs can’t be trusted – it’s that one party governement can’t be trusted, regardless of party.
they are already convinced that the Ds can’t be trusted… i think it works better to argue that the Rs can’t be either – and that one party government is always bad (no matter which party) because people will be tempted to corruption. so i make the case that accountibility requires two party government… and a healthy skepticism of both parties.
i don’t want to try to encourage a shift of their blind trust to the Ds – harder to do and makes for a less effective citizen oversight.
i don’t make an appeal to partisan politics – i appeal to responsible citizenship.
Completely UN-sexy, but my best friend in college (way back in 84 when I still thought I was a Gooper) talked me into changing my vote based on student loans.
Kelly,
The problem is the appreciation of the objectification of the female form.
Folks,
New thread upstairs.
Imm
Loved the Zazoo thing.
Laughed very hard
Ed*ard Teller @ 114
yup.
“measuring is the gateway to success”
good grief.
rat bastahd — BINGO!! That is one BIG hot-button topic with the 18-30 age bracket. Folks in this bracket are struggling to go to college and make ends meet, knowing they can’t get a good paying job without a degree, but they also have no assurances of a good paying job when they graduate.
Affordable education is a hot button with their parents in the 40-55 age bracket, too. Parents want their kids to do better than they did, and for the first time in decades, parents can no longer expect that. They want change for their kids — not to mention a secure retirement when they are done helping their kids.
These are things we can talk about across the entire country, with more than half our neighbors.
Target audiences respond to different messages. There’s a problem in this country with turnout. Examining the reasons why people don’t vote, and coming up with targeted messages to change their perception of the voting process becomes the challenge.
Sex sells to a ceratin audience. Turning the percieved idea that voting is perhaps boring or unexciting around requiers a concept/image that is provocative.
The use of a photo from Abui Gharib will not appeal to the same target audience that will respond to this image.
And the bottom line is, if you don’t use the proper messaging to reach certain groups, your message is lost.
New thread.
Kelley @ 109
in support of kelly – i gotta agree with much of what kelly wrote. the graphic made me cringe – and any GOTV effort based on that kind of graphic would have me running the other way. i wouldn’t trust politicians who used it.
My take on the photo as a selling piece:
The most serious problem imo is that it’s unclear whether the model is wearing any clothes. As a symbol, that ambiguity, set in a public place, leaves it in a bucket with a lot of pornography that is frankly misogynist, imo.
If it’s clear that the model is clothed, it becomes less inappropriately provacative imo as a selling piece.
Secondly, and much less importantly, the heels are too long, per others.
I don’t think a photo like that will bring more guys to vote. I also don’t think it’s going to make it easier for a lot of women to vote. Mary force did a great post a while ago on GOTV and, as I understood it, for Dems, that primarily means women. My guess is a lot of the women who don’t vote, are poor, and may have concerns not only about child care, but also about being alone, unescorted, in public. I’m not so much referring to safety issues here, as shame issues and body consciousness. Voting is a public act and if you’ve got bill collectors calling, you might be concerned about a lack of new clothing and general appearance at the precinct. If Maryforce’s analysis was accurate, those maybe the specific obstacles to voting that our GOTV efforts have to hurdle.
I suspect, despite the best intentions, that I did a serious injustice to the depth of Maryforce’s post, that’s on me.
OT Transportation for these voters, to and from the polling station, might be more helpful (and entail less liability) than childcare (if the absentee thing doesn’t work out). Please see sofistic at 7:13 for a really terrific comment on that.
John Casper @ 124
many thanks – excellent comment.
Good morning pupples,
Looks like it took 33 comments before the art in question entered the conversation. I was surprised it took that long. First of all I seriously doubt it’s a photograph and many of us are assuming they are legs of a woman. Does Clooney shave his legs? jus sayin’
I think we need to get everyone down to the voting booth for a personal view and let the voters decide.
Voting is sexy, huh? So is this photo supposed to get young angry white males to vote? Cuz if they vote, they vote for REPUGNANTS!
How about a photo of a MALE for a change? Oops, I forgot….only women are used for their bodies.
Remember folks, unmarried women…when they vote, they vote for DEMOCRATS. But of course the Dems pay little attentiion to them…still fighting over those Angry White Male votes.
I can’t believe I saw this photo on firedoglake…sexism is alive and well. Deja Vu to the battles of the ’60’s and ’70’s.
How about a photo of a man in tight jeans? Oops…forgot again. Men are valued for their power and brains…Women are valued for their looks and their ability to arouse. Thx alot.
More folks than you know have no idea what GOTV means. Wehn I first started seeing it I thought had something to do with GOP TV.
May I suggest droppingit in favor of Get Out the Vote.
karen jacobs @
8
Wonderful idea. I’m sending it on to someone here in Ohio. Thanks!
slade at 127 — considering the variety of pix we’ve used, including my occasional photo of Sting for a post here and there, that is just bunk. And you read here enough to know that. And the point of this pix, as I explained above, was to stimulate some discussion on what does and doesn’t work for this sort of ad work — if it doesn’t work for you, fine, but inaccurate hyperbole about this blog is not appreciated.
Gotta run, and don’t know how to link, but MoveOn.org has a great and simple way couch potatoes can help gotv. Even an idiot like me can understand it and do it. I made 70 gotv calls in an hour (only reached 15 live people). If you’ve got an hour a week, and are interested check it out.
Two statements that I cannot agree with:
lhp:
Can we take a vote on that?
and ck:
Ummm, not so much.
I’m with Slade and Kelly. The legs ad is incredibly stupid, not just objectifying. Getting women to vote Democratic will be a very significant goal of any Democratic success next month. This ad can be read in a number of ways (salacious by those more conservative, torture-by-footbinding by the more liberal) that are counterproductive. But beyond the stupidity is the in-the-face sexism. There’s enough of this crap being broadcast 7×24 by the ad-wielding Republican-funding goose-stepping plutocrats without us adding to it. We’re in the realm of public discourse here, not the private realm of foot fetishism or whatever…
A very late note, mainly to Christy. Can’t please everyone, I suppose… but I (female) liked it a lot. I thought that the legs were really sexy and I quite admired the shoes (I am a sucker for shoes). Since my legs are my only really good feature, I’m always happy when legs are equated with sexiness.
John Casper @
124
Well said. I was trying to find the words to explain why I find this image so upsetting, and you found them for me. Thanks, John.
lol. Last week Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow VOTED FOR the fence and VOTED FOR the torture/revocation of civil liberties bill. I have worked on her behalf for nearly thirty years in her rise from county commissioner to state rep. to state senator to Congress and finally the Senate. I can’t forgive her votes and called her office to register my disgust (i’d called earlier this year to register support for Feingold’s anti-war efforts). For some reason her staff person thought the Senator could write a letter to explain her votes. Egad!!
I’ll be skipping the Senate line on my November ballot; can’t vote Repug and won’t reward inexcusable votes; if I wanted a Bush administration lackey, I’d vote Repug.
Fun way to make voting more interesting for the public, don’t you think?
If someone needs to see a poster like this in order to inspire them to vote, I would aver that the electorate and the commonweal are better off having that individual stay home and not vote at all.
The hard truth of the matter is that voting, and political involvement in general, are often just plain old boring hard work.
Absolutely necessary boring hard work. Critically important boring hard work. Boring hard work without which the nation will ultimately fail and fall.
But if someone isn’t prepared to do the boring hard work of poring through the fine print of ballot measures, and looking at the actual legislative records of candidates, rather than being swayed by expensive staged video commercials and recycled movie one-liners, then they are not prepared to act as a competent voter.
Voting is not a fashion statement. Nor is voting a lifestyle choice. Nor is voting a piece of glossy accessory baggage. Nor is voting a shiny new consumer toy. Voting is a civic duty, with all that implies.
–
Christy @ 130: It’s your blog and you can put whatever pictures you want on it. I just never thought I’d see voting as sexy on firedoglake.
I’ve stopped watching TV because I’m so tired of seeing women portrayed as nothing but eye candy. I thought I had a couple of places to go where I wouldn’t have to be on guard. It just really took me aback. I wasn’t expecting it here.
Older women like me fought hard to have women taken seriously. And it’s difficult to accept that our work isn’t really appreciated…I guess us old women libbers are quaint…just like the Geneva Convention. The Backlash continues.
Sting? Sexy?