Vote Hope PAC to positively support Obama

One of the first independent political organizations (PAC) supporting a presidential candidate opened in California with the goal of banking 500,000 mail votes before the Iowa caucuses in January 2008.

The Vote Hope PAC and its website votehope2008.com was started by San Francisco lawyer and activist Steve Philipps, his wife Susan Sandler and other activists in the Bay Area.

The group plans to raise about $3 million for a statewide vote-by-mail effort in support of Barack Obama particularly among groups with low voting turnout like young people and minorities. The plan is not only to swing California toward Barack but to increase the state's influence in the early voting process.

California voters can register their votes for Barack at:

http://votehope2008.com/addmyvote.php

Group takes early hit

I was alerted by Justin Cole of Media Matters that the mud started flying toward Vote Hope ride out of the starting gates.

Amy Robach of MSNBC compared the political action committee to the "swift-boat" groups of the last presidential election, even though Vote Hope's effort is not geared toward negative campaigning. Vote Hope and Media Matters both printed articles clarifying the situation.

Obama spokesperson Bill Burton responding to the report said "it is our hope that anyone who supports Obama does so directly through the campaign and not an outside group."

However, wealthy individuals and groups that have maxed out on direct contributions to Obama for America may be looking for other independent committees like Vote Hope to support their candidate.

Individuals may contribute up to $5,000 to a PAC outside of their direct contributions to the Obama campaign. Individuals may also spend their own money without limit in supporting a candidate independently.

Wealthy individuals are known to have mounted expensive independent television ad campaigns in support of political candidates.

Obama reveals sweeping ethics reform plan

Presidential candidate Barack Obama unveiled the strongest ethics reform package yet during speech today at Manchester, New Hamphire.

When I am President, I will make it absolutely clear that working in an Obama Administration is not about serving your former employer, your future employer, or your bank account – it’s about serving your country, and that’s what comes first. When you walk into my administration, you will not be able to work on regulations or contracts directly related to your former employer for two years. And when you leave, you will not be able to lobby the Administration throughout the remainder of my term in office.

A lot of people have told me this is pretty tough, but I refuse to accept the Washington logic that you cannot find thousands of talented, patriotic Americans willing to devote a few years to their country without the promise of a lucrative lobbying job after they’re done. I know we can find them, and in my administration, we will.

When there is a bill that ends up on my desk as President, you will have five days to look online and find out what’s in it before I sign it. When there are meetings between lobbyists and a government agency, we won’t be going to the Supreme Court to keep it secret like Dick Cheney and his energy task force, we’ll be putting them up on the Internet for every American to watch. And instead of allowing lobbyists to slip big corporate tax breaks into bills during the dead of night, we will make sure every single tax break and earmark is available to every American online. This builds on the “Google for Government” law I passed in Congress, which already allows you to see every contract, every grant, every dime of federal spending online.

Barack Obama as 'hope-mongerer'

In his speech at Take Back America, Barack Obama said that he has been called a 'peddler of hope' and a 'hope-mongerer.'

The characteristic of hope is the element that defines Obama's efforts to create a people's movement rather than a simple campaign to get himself elected as president.

Obama's idea, clearly stated in numerous speeches and outlined in his writings, is that real change in the country is not accomplished simply by electing a leader. Citizens must get involved in the process at all levels.

Electing a president is only the beginning, only part of the process. People must make government accountable from the local level to the highest office. They must bring about change from the bottom up.

Remember that the government at all levels charges you for everything you do. They tax you for the food you eat, for the land you live on, for the gas you need to power your vehicle. They tax your parents when you are born, and your descendants when you die.

The government also regulates what you can and cannot do in almost every detail.

So you have every reason to make sure the government is run the way you desire, and by people you support.

The government is in no position to tell you to pull yourselves up by your bootstraps when misfortune strikes you or your community. You own the government. You pay the salaries of elected officials and bureaucrats. You purchase all government infrastructure.

Barack has asked his supporters of all ages to get involved in their communities and in the democratic process and not simply to vote for him as president. He' s made it clear that getting his programs through will not be easy.

Getting elected to the Oval Office is just the first step.

In order to mobilize his backers, Obama must convey the message of hope. Because people must believe change is possible. Without hope people become cynical, they stop caring and stop paying attention to the government that charges them for every move they make. When people have hope, they will continue to persevere even when things look bleak because they can visualize the possibility of a different tomorrow.

Obama link with scattering students

With the summer now fully upon us, college students have scattered to the four corners. They've gone backpacking, to summer jobs or internships, back to their folk's, etc. Some have graduated and have relocated to new jobs.

For a campaign so strongly driven by young people, it will be important for the Obama campaign to stay connected to their student supporters.

The Obama Mobile service offering cellphone updates, alerts, wallpaper and ringtones is part of this effort.

When school reopens in the fall, Students for Obama will be tasked with regrouping and reaching out to new and transfer students.


Obama releases info on earmarks

Barack Obama became the only presidential candidate to release information on his earmark requests today.

"On Wednesday morning Obama released a list of roughly 100 proposed earmarks that he had submitted to the Appropriations Committee this year. As would be expected, the requests are for largely benign items, ranging from funding for AIDS programs to Army Corps of Engineers projects in the Chicagoland area."

Free Mobile Wallpapers: Txt "image1" to OBAMA Txt "image2" to OBAMA Txt "image3" to OBAMA Txt "image4" to OBAMA