It's Election Weekend--and yes, you can help great progressives today! Here's how.
by David Atkins
Those of us who craft and consume progressive media tend to be news junkies focused on the day-to-day wars of politics. But a great many of us do too little to put our time and effort where our mouths are and help our candidates get elected. Some believe that their own efforts won't make a difference; others grouse that with corporatists seemingly in charge of both national parties, nothing makes a difference, anyway. Both of those views are wrong. Especially in local races, every volunteer can make a huge difference. And the more local the race, the more possibility there is of getting true wins for progressives on the ground.
Obviously, the big fish this Tuesday is in Virginia. While it's true that few Hullabaloo readers are McAuliffe fans, it's also undeniable that Cuccinelli is a raving nut, and Lieutenant Governor candidate E. W. Jackson is a bona fide theocratic fascist. We may not have the most exciting Democratic choices, but routing the Tea Partiers in a bastion of the former Confederacy is certainly its own reward and it's by far the biggest prize this November. If you want to help in Virginia, just click here to start making calls from home.
If the Virginia race understandably isn't your thing, there's a big battle with major progressive implications going on in Seattle, where progressive stalwart and self-style "Most Progressive Mayor in America" Mayor Mike McGinn is in a neck-and-neck battle for re-election against a challenger boosted by corporate forces. Those forces include Comcast, which is spending heavily against McGinn because he dares to offer taxpayer-funded public-private partnership gigabit Internet access to Seattle residents at much lower cost and at greater availability than Comcast would provide. Every person on the phones calling Seattle residents to encourage them to vote to re-elect Mike can do a great deal to push the progressive cause forward and set an example to the rest of America. If you'd like to volunteer some time to help re-elect Mike this weekend--and I strongly encourage that you do--just click here and sign up. This is probably the biggest race in the country outside of Virginia, and it's one where you definitely won't have to choose the lesser of two evils. McGinn is a straight-up, kick-ass progressive who deserves and needs your help.
Finally, there are literally hundreds of local city council and school board races happening all across the country. Just to give an example, here in the city of Ventura, 58th largest city in America and about an hour's drive north of Los Angeles, we have a significant Democratic partisan registration advantage, but our city council is dominated by conservative interests who regularly vote against progressive priorities like smart growth, pedestrian thoroughfares, environmental protections, and affordable housing. Three of the four seats up for grabs on the seven-person council are Republican incumbents, and the Ventura County Democratic Party (of which I'm the Chair) has endorsed and is electioneering for three great Democrats to replace them. We've sent out thousands of mailers and made well over ten thousand phone calls on behalf of our candidates; it's the sort of thing I do for the cause when I'm not writing here at Hullabaloo, and it's really important. (We also have a phonebank-from-home program here, so if you'd like to help us out just shoot me an email at isnospoon-at-gmail-dot-com and I can get you signed up.)
Beyond this, there is almost certainly something important happening in your local area, and there's almost certainly something you can do to help as well. Research the candidates on your ballot if you received one. If you don't have an election, somewhere nearby probably does. Search the web for your local County Democratic Party and see what their endorsements are. Chances are they've made the right decision (local county committees tend to be more progressive than the national party apparatus), but read up on the candidates to make sure. Then contact them and/or the candidate to see what you can do to help make their campaign a success in the final days.
This stuff is important, and strong field efforts make all the difference in off-year low turnout elections like this. Please make your voice heard and help push the envelope forward this year. This weekend is where the rubber hits the road.
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