Moveon blows people's minds with clever GOTV video

The funniest, most innovative use of GOTV technology I've ever seen! Check out this brilliant effort by Move On and send it to a hundred friends -- that will be very entertained!

"Some of your friends won't get around to actually voting because they haven't been reminded vividly enough.That's why we developed this funny, scary video. It shows people what it might look like if we lose the election by a single vote: theirs. Here's a version we prepared for you. You're in it -- seriously, you, Don. Check it out -- and if you like it, send it to your friends."

Click here to watch it!

Twelve Days Out: What are we to think?

What are we to think? It is pretty unnerving-- all signs point to success, and perhaps big success on November 4th. Thursday's Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll has Obama moving up to a 12 point lead nationally.

There were eight polls of Midwestern states produced by the Big Ten Battleground Poll group. Obama not only leads in all eight states by hefty margins but has improved his standing since the last time the group surveyed these states.

The numbers are startling. Obama leads by 12 points in Ohio, by 11 points in Pennsylvania and by 13 points in Wisconsin. In Michigan, where McCain's campaign has pulled out, the lead is 22 points. In Indiana, a strong red state, the Obama lead is 10 points, which is larger than in other recent polls.

Quinnipiac University released polls of three battlegrounds that it has been surveying regularly this cycle: Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. Obama leads in all three. In these surveys, Obama's lead in Pennsylvania is 13 points. In Ohio, which is a must-win for McCain, the lead is a whopping 14 points.

McCain and Palin get bad press every day -- Palin's $150k apparel shopping spree is just the latest of a dozen negative press stories percolating. (Click here to read some of Palin's most notorious gaffes)

None of the McCain- Palin tactics seem to be working. They have played just about every card, like the ACORN/poor-people-will-steal-the-election card and the Obama-hangs-with-terrorist-Bill-Ayers card, just to name a few. Now they warn that Obama is a "socialist," who will redistribute the wealth, even as the current Republican administration redistributes nearly a trillion in taxpayer money to Wall Street and banking firms. Do they not see the contradictions? Obama has an easy answer." If I'm a socialist, why did Warren Buffet endorse me." Apparently the McCain campaign thinks most Americans want the rich to stay very rich, and not get their fair share.

Now coming from me, it would be better if Obama were more of a socialist, but no one really knows what that means. Let's hope he redistributes some of that wealth beyond Wall Street.

Eternally Vigilant

Despite all the good news, we all must remain vigilant because we do not exactly know what is below the surface in America. There have been racist incidents, but perhaps not as many as some thought. Here is a video of McCain supporters letting it all out at a rally, if you want to be reminded of what lurks in the hearts of some fearful and angry conservatives.

AlterNet ran this summary of many of the sleaziest of the McCain campaign ads and messages here.

Voter Help of all Sorts

On the constructive side, there are a number of amazing voter resources this November. Voting early, if feasibile for you, is clearly the preferred way to vote this time around.

CREDO Mobile and the New Organizing Institute have created GoVote.org is a national site where anyone can enter their zip code and find:

• A Google map showing where and when to vote early * A polling place locator for their state/county, with Google maps coming in key states
• A list of ID to take to the polls * Spanish-language translations for all key information
• Student specific information searchable by campus in key states * An invitation to add even more information through crowdsourcing and wiki-like approach to data gathering, GoVote.org is the only national site with searchable early voting information.

Here is Steve Rosenfeld , AlterNet's Senior Election Fellow & voter protection expert, on the very same topic.

Palin as President

On the humor front, check out this flash animation- "Palin as President". Click on virtually everything in the tableau and it will speak to you.<

Campaign Strategy: Inciting Hate

If you have any doubt about what the attacks are about or how frequently they are being repeated, watch this video produced by Brave New Films. If you have colleagues and friends who dismiss or fail to take seriously the nature of the fear appeal, forward them the video link, so they can be motivated and prepared to add their calming, reassuring voices to the national dialogue whenever they hear the doubt from friends family, colleagues etc.

The theme is the fear of terrorism: On the campaign trail, Sarah Palin repeatedly uses "domestic terrorism" to describe Obama's association with former '60s radical Bill Ayers and makes the ludicrous statement that Obama's campaign was hatched in Bill Ayers living room. McCain plays with the crowd's fears by asking the open-ended question, "Who is the real Obama?" -- encouraging the audience to project their worst fears onto Obama, the candidate.

For a meaty description of the hate on the campaign trail, read about Palin "unhinged" in Florida last week: "This is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America," she told the Clearwater crowd. "I'm afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country.

Things have gotten so out of hand that a number of Republicans are denouncing the McCain campaign strategy. Here is the transcript of Amy Goodman interviewing Lifelong Republican Frank Schaeffer who says McCain is "deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate."

People can go here and sign a letter to help fight the hate campaign

Fighting the Effort to Slander ACORN

A parallel tactic of the McCain campaign is to attack the venerable grassroots advocacy group ACORN (and their voter registration arm, Project Vote). The goal here is to scare people into thinking that massive fraud is being perpetuated and hordes of poor voters will overrun the polls. No doubt, in ACORN's huge operation, there have been sloppy efforts to sign up voters and instances of forms accidentally being filled out more than once. But this isn't voter fraud. And claims that say otherwise are just silliness.

Many have come to the defense of ACORN, including Think Progress, which just published a report on controversy. And ACORN has provided fundamental answers to the array of questions raised. Read this article to be prepared to defend ACORN.

Beware of Media Bias Trying To Keep the Race Close

It is standard operating procedure for the corporate media to bend over backwards to tighten the presidential race -- closer races keep more media attention -- to keep one candidate from getting an advantage, or simply succumb to pressure from very aggressive campaign tactics. I noticed a piece of bias in a New York Times on Saturday: "McCain Lauds and Attacks Obama in Same Day" By Elisabeth Bumiller. The teaser read, "As the polls have shown Barack Obama gaining ground, John McCain has been veering from message to message."

Obama leads in all national polls, in some cases by more than 10 points, but the NY Times editor uses the term "gaining ground," as if Obama has been far behind and is perhaps catching up on McCain; to say "forging ahead" or "taking the lead," would be far more accurate.

But that is nothing compared to the bias Chris Bowers documents about the Washington Post, where, according to its editors, a 2.2 percent McCain lead is greater than a 13.8 percent Obama lead.

In the Post's system, any state where McCain leads, no matter his margin, is defined as "leaning Republican." States where Obama leads by 7.3 percent-13.8 percent are defined as "battleground states," while states where McCain leads by 2.2 percent-6.8 percent are defined as "leaning Republican." Bowers asks: "Does the uneven math in this strike anyone as problematic? The Washington Post claims that a 2.2 percent lead for McCain is larger than a 13.8 percent lead for Obama. That is objectively wrong and quantifiably unfair. This is as blatantly imbalanced as election reporting can possibly get."

In Bowers' related post, he also documents how big media sites can't admit what is patently obvious to even Republican poll watchers right now: Obama is over 270 outside the margin of error. Says Bowers, "Maybe they are afraid of being accused of pro-Obama bias (probably). Maybe they are just biased toward McCain (possibly). Maybe they just suck at electoral forecasting (definitely). Maybe they are invested in a close campaign (absolutely)."

Useful Daily Kos Political Race Calculator

Check out this colorful and helpful map of the U.S., brimming with useful information, especially helpful for election night.

All the Rage: McCain in Action

A key element of the McCain unfitness critique is his temper, or explosive rage as some describe it. It is a key reason why many fear the idea of waking up McCain to take that 3 a.m. phone call. Here he is in his own words: "I have a temper, to state the obvious, which I have tried to control with varying degrees of success because it does not always serve my interest or the public's." -- John McCain

As many know, Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films operation -- in this case Brave New PAC -- has been hitting it out of the park with a long string of short videos that have exposed many alarming truths about McCain, totally destroying the notion of the " straight talk express." These videos have spread like prairie fire and been huge hits on YouTube, dwarfing the traffic to many of McCain's videos.

The latest video is about McCain as a loose cannon: During the debate, John McCain said we need "a cool hand at the tiller," but McCain has proven to be a loose cannon. He has accosted his Congressional colleagues on both sides of the aisle on everything from the federal budget to diplomatic relations. He is known for hurling profanities rather than settling disagreements calmly. His belligerence is legendary. Even conservative Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi has said, "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."

From Greenwald: How to Take Concrete Action

1. Alert your friends to McCain's rage. Send them this video and ask them to pass it on


2. Post this video on all your blogs and networking sites like Digg -- critical tools for reaching those outside the choir. Make sure it gets viewed so many times it ends up on YouTube's home page, so undecided swing state voters can see it easily.


3. Get the latest on McCain with a free video subscription from Brave New PAC, and encourage others to sign up too.


4. Go and watch this very disturbing video

Another Take on McCain's Rage

A new revelation about McCain's temper -- and his possible addiction to gambling, or at least to the large amount of gambling money given to his campaign -- is just out: Writing for the Daily Beast, Michael Kinsley relays a disturbing story about John McCain from Jeff Dearth, former publisher of the New Republic, when Dearth and McCain attended a magazine industry conference at a casino hotel in Puerto Rico in 2005.

Bright Lights on Palin: Media Ignore Rape Kit Story

As Eric Boehlert of Media Matters reports, Few Palin issues have "produced the type of visceral response ignited by the revelation that while she was mayor of Wasilla, the town began charging rape victims or their insurance companies for costly emergency-room rape kits and post-assault examinations. The story remains woefully under-covered by the mainstream media, where most outlets have shied away from tackling the touchy topic ..."

Check out Erik Johnson and Paul Lundahl's high-quality video telling the rape kit story. (These guys are fundraising to help defray their costs.)

Gay Marriage in Big Trouble in California -- Time to Act

Flash: A new poll just released by KPIX, San Francisco's CBS television affiliate, reveals a shocking shift in support for Proposition 8. According to the poll, likely California voters now favor passage of Prop 8 by a five-point margin, 47 percent to 42 percent, following a recent blitz of advertising by supporters of the initiative. Meanwhile, an internal poll just released by the "No on 8" campaign confirms the KPIX poll numbers, showing Prop 8 winning 47 to 43 percent.

With a Wink: California's Courage Campaign leader Rick Jacobs has not lost his sense of humor in the face of the bad news on Prop 8.

Watch "Gender Auditors," the campaign's satirical new YouTube video, and pledge to vote "NO on 8" today. For those who live in the Golden State, it's up to all of us to spread the word to our friends, family and neighbors that Prop 8 is a fundamental invasion of our privacy.

What About that Bradley Effect?

The two biggest unknowns heading in to the home stretch will be race and how the voting system will perform. Daniel Okrent gives us a little history about the phenomenon named after Tom Bradley and argues that what happened in 1982 in California is not going to happen in 2008. He adds: "... I'm looking for the debut of the Obama Effect -- a level of increased participation among black voters that may change the electoral map for years to come.

Today's Fun: An animation from the always brilliant Matt Wuerker.

Think you can shoot down those Soviet missiles headed for Alaska , like Sarah Palin?

Getting Out the Vote -- Millennial Style

Check out this powerful, disturbing video designed to get out the vote using an interesting take on fear and regret.

Tackling Racism - one brilliant inspiring speech (and no, not Obama's)

We are too aware of the unknown quantity of racial voting in this election. It is the biggest question mark, and difficult to calculate. It is probably the biggest challenge to all of us working for Obama's election, and will be a regular focus of my email list.

For a moment of inspiration, if you haven't seen it, watch Richard Trumka address the Steelworkers, and tackle head on, potential racism among union members:

Click here to watch.

Schleppers for Obama - Sarah Silverman in Top Form

Florida is in play, with Obama nosing ahead recently in the polls, after two heartbreaking losses (make that one cheated win) for the Dems in the Sunshine State in '00 and '04 The brilliant and potty-mouthed comedian Sarah Silverman has a wonderful routine pointing out that here are a lot of conservative -- and perhaps racist - Jews hiding in those myriad retirement communities. She stirringly recruits their more liberal sons and daughters, nieces and nephews to schlep down to Floridato flush out the hidden resisters and recruit and convince them to vote for Obama. Very funny !

Watch The Great Schlepp.

Making Sure We Keep Voter Repression From Rearing Its Ugly Head.

Another fear factor in this electon is the integrity of the vote on November 4th. As the Obama campaign registers large numbers of voters, and moves ahead in the polls, there is a sense from some that a large turnout will over ride the inevitable shenanigans at the polls and with the machines. This may be a mistake.

AlterNet's veteran elections writer, Steve Rosenfeld, not an alarmist, is very concerned that the Obama campaign has given voter protection over to the DNC, and perhaps may be over confident in this area, and the DNC is not yet ready to deal with what will come down on election day.

Here is Rosenfeld:

"In just the past two weeks, Republican officeholders, party officials or their allies in swing states such as Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado, Indiana and Montana have sought to present hurdles to likely new Democratic voters…"

"The question one month before Election Day is whether the Obama campaign and Democratic National Committee have an election protection strategy that not only deals with more overt forms of voter suppression, but also with ensuring the accuracy of the vote count.The answer is not yet on electronic vote counts, according to dozens of background conversations with Democratic Party lawyers, donors, state party staffers and others working with the DNC since the Democratic Convention in Denver."

Read the whole article here.

And those of you who have influence within the DNC and the Obama campaign, now is the time to press people to make sure there is no stone unturned in seeking this victory, and for many voting corruption is a very big boulder.

And for today's big laugh -- The new method of financial planning:

If you had purchased $1,000 of Lehman Bros. stock one year ago, you would have $49 left. With Wachovia, you would have $16.50 left. With AIG, you would have less than $5 left.

But if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the alu minum recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It's called the 401-Keg plan.

Election Confidential

Greetings,

We are at an extraordinary moment in this election, when so much is riding on the next weeks and days. I'm sending this e mail and the emails that will follow through November 4th, because by dint of my seat as Executive Editor of AlterNet.org, I see a tremendous amount of material every day online and in my inbox that is incredibly germane to the last stage of this election. But because AlterNet is a 501(c) (3), some of the material I see can't be posted there, and there's also only so much we can publish.

Like many people, not officially involved in the Obama campaign -- we are all doing people-to-people politics, with creativity, energy and power and we need to have the best material, ideas, tactics, and facts at our finger tips. The material I will send you will also be available right here at ElectionConfidential.com.

The content I'm sending will be mostly links to the best material and analysis focused on the essentials of the last days -- grappling with issues of race, of "terrorism" attacks by McCain and Palin, of voter repression, balanced by examples of regular people doing extraordinary things that will give us all inspiration (and hopefully a few funny items to help us maintain our sense of humor).

Those of you who have received this e mail are in my personal e mail data base for one reason or another. I think I know virtually each of you. I apologize for any imposition. And by all means, go to the unsubscribe link below, if you have too much information, or this is not what you need.

I've tried to use personal e mail addresses, but if I have sent to an address that shouldn't be receiving partisan political communiques, please send me another address if you want me to mail to you, and unsubscribe the non profit e mail. And again, my apologies. And please, if you have information, experiences, strategies, ideas, etc. pass them onto me, and I will work to include them.

Best,

Don Hazen