Kay Hagen

I have been pushing phone banking efforts that anyone can do from their home. In some cases I am pushing efforts for key House or Senate races because getting the vote out there will also help Obama. Let me reiterate some of these.

NORTH CAROLINA:

First off, on Daily Kos there is an effort to do virtual phone banks to voters in North Carolina on behalf of the Obama campaign. Virtual phone banking can be done by anyone in any place from their own home and was an extremely successful strategy in winning Congressional races in 2006. This strategy basically brings Americans together one-on-one by phone. To join in, please email kim (dot) yaman (at) gmail (dot) com and ask how. You can also read about it here. North Carolina could well be the decisive state this year.

North Carolina is another key battle ground this year with Obama neck and neck with Bush-Republican McCain for President and Kay Hagen neck and neck with Bush-Republican Elizabeth Dole for Senate. Kay Hagen has picked up some very key endorsements, as highlighted in her latest ad:

And here is a rundown of some of those endorsements:

Charlotte Observer: Hagan better choice for U.S. Senate seat

Asheville Citizen-Times Editorial Endorsement: Hagan will give N.C. a better voice in the Senate

North Carolina Association of Educators Endorses Kay Hagen

Greensboro News and Record Editorial: Hagan’s track record recommends election

When the Republicans sent our soldiers into Iraq without the proper equipment, they made a strategic error that undoubtedly led to higher casualty rates than were necessary. But they also made a political error because our soldiers aren't dumb. They quickly realized that the Republicans bungled the war from the start and that the soldiers and veterans of that war would be the ones to suffer because of Republican incompetence.

This has led to quite a few pissed off veterans getting involved politically, like 1st Lieutenant Paul Rieckhoff of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and Jon Soltz of VoteVets.org.

VoteVets in particular has put our some devastatingly effective ads taking Republicans to task for failing to provide our soldiers with the equipment they needed...like body armor. The latest such ad targets Republican Elizabeth Dole, locked in a very tight race for the North Carolina Senate:

Many of us do not have any competitive races in their districts. Yet, particularly with the Iraq Quagmire, the Banking Fiasco and the Wall Street meltdown hitting us all hard, we want to help defeat Bush and the Republicans. What can you do? I want to present several things you can do either as a weekend day trip or right from your home. These actions focus on Pennsylvania (a day trip for voter outreach in what I believe is a must-win state for Obama), North Carolina (virtual phone banking to help Obama and an excellent Senate candidate whose chances of winning are about 50/50 right now) and Nevada (virtual phone banking to help an excellent Congressional candidate in a Presidential swing state).

NORTH CAROLINA: There are two actions in North Carolina you can do right from your own home, one helping Obama and one helping Kay Hagen, Democratic candidate for North Carolina Senate. This Senate race is currently a real nailbiter with Hagen tied with Dole 35%/35%...with lots of undecideds...that makes your efforts all the more important! Obama is behind in North Carolina by only 6%. With some real effort, North Carolina could join Virginia in going for Obama.