The Election season and true campaigning will begin soon.  Next week is the Republican Convention and democrats plan on going to Minnesota and trying to step on republican messages just as republicans have tried to step on democratic messages this week.  But we also need to go after the republicans in other parts of the country also.

Oregon gets it.

While Oregon is a small state, and its delegation gets seated in the nosebleeds behind Puerto Rico at the convention, it is one of the most politically exciting places in the country.

Innovative organizations like the Bus Project and 1000 Friends of Oregon are both putting feet on the street today and crafting progressive leaders and policy ideas for the future. 

But perhaps most significant is the Democratic Party of Oregon, which has been a driving force behind Oregon's wave of new Democratic leaders in the state legislature and the tremendous surge in Democratic voter registration.

The passion and values of Oregon's grassroots party activists are captured well in the DPO's new video "We The People." Video after the jump.

Crossposted at Sandstorm.

So are you ready?  This Thursday evening at Invesco field, the Democratic Party is going to make History.  Oh sure, we're going to make history in all the ways everybody knows about.  We're going to nominate in front of the largest live audience ever.  We're going to nominate an African American for the first time ever for either major party.  But at this point in the game, that kind of history is almost passe.  This is the night we've been waiting for for a LONG time.  The night that the contest between Democrats and Democrats COMPLETELY ends and the contest between AMERICA'S FUTURE and the worst of AMERICAS PAST begins.  So on top of all that other stuff we're going to make history by experiencing our candidate's nomination AS A PARTY.  TOGETHER with the people in OUR COMMUNITIES.  Friends we've known for years and friends we won't meet until Thursday.

Hmm... I can see that many of you don't know what I'm talking about.  Hey, it's no problem!  You've got plenty of time to get informed, and I've got enough time to tell you.  Let's talk ACTUAL VICTORY after the jump.

We have a goal, to beat John McCain and the republicans that stand in our way of moving the country forward.  We need to do our part to elect Barack Obama and democrats to head off to Washington D.C.  To do this, we must band together and use the tools we have been given.

Many people around the internet still don't get it yet.  We have one of the most powerful tool in this election.  Barack has shown us the door, but many still have not completely entered the building.  We have grass roots organization.  We have blogs.  We have UTube.

Just wanted to share some artwork with you. Animated and static. And hope some of you will share some artwork of your own, or some you have found, related to this election or to online discussions.

I made this first one this morning.

You can download a version that will print onto Legal size paper here.

The animated ones below the fold...

On a few occasions over the past couple of weeks, I have mentioned an initiative with respect to going on the attack against John McCain. With that, I have created a Google Group called "Know Your McCain" and we are looking to gather information (old and new), create viral videos, write blog posts and use social networking to spread the message about how dangerous John McCain is.

You can look for diaries with the tag "Know Your McCain", and some diaries will have the "Know Your McCain" in the title as well.  If you are interested in joining the Google Group or helping out with the Facebook group, please send me an email (address is in my profile).

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It is one thing to be passing around information in the progressive blogosphere about McCain (both past and present), as well as using Digg to rate up posts – both of which are excellent.  However, in order to really move beyond this echo chamber and reach more people, we should be thinking of how to reach others.

Hillary Clinton got a lot of flak here (and just about everywhere else) for being an "establishment" candidate.  Well let me tell you something "My Friends," In terms of "Establishment Credentials" John McCain makes Hillary Clinton look like Abbie Hoffman.  For all the hand-wringing we did over how Hillary's win might set back the progressive cause (which I never believed but we're past that now) a McCain victory would have a thousand times the negative impact.  For not only would we be talking about a NEARLY fatal blow to the "people powered politics" that the Obama campaign has come to represent, we'd be talking about THREE STRAIGHT PRESIDENTIAL VICTORIES for the most destructive, deceitful, and frankly "Undemocratic" (small "d" AND big "D") style of campaign this country has ever seen.  Anybody who has EVER spoken out against "Rovian" tactics would be muzzled for 20 or 30 years, and we'd spend a generation in the trenches trying to get people to hate their neighbors just to win elections.

Conservatives are finally voting for the candidate they're being told to! A single Zogby poll has been released! The primaries aren't even over yet, and we're already doomed! DOOOOOMED!

Seriously, people. Breathe into a paper bag or something. All this hand wringing is not only unnecessary, it's completely counterproductive.

The video and story below chronicle a recent Sunday afternoon in Venice, California, when 22 children, ages 5-12, gathered to sing original songs in the belief that their singing would lift up our communities and the Obama campaign for the coming election.  This was a grassroots deal from the start, but thanks to unexpected assistance from parents and then top film production folks in LA, the performances are captured for all time.
 
The video was just finished and uploaded to YouTube earlier this evening, and as one of the video’s two grips-for-the-day, I’m especially proud to present it to Daily Kos first:

Here’s the Sing for Change performance:

http://www.youtube.com/...

I am supporting a number of candidates in my state this year. Not surprisingly, all of their campaigns have websites and links to donate online. (Because, as we all know, the internet a magic money-making machine, where pennie grow on pixels.) I signed up for each campaign's email distribution list. Not surprisingly, all I have received from most of the campaigns are pleas for money.

I would guess that few of these campaigns have a clue about online anything. I thought about sending an email and helpfully trying to explain it all to them, but...been there, done that, not much in the way of results. So I thought about it a bit, and here is what I've decided to do in the future:

I don't think I need to rehash the libelous book of crap that currently tops the NYT best seller list by Jerome Corsi (no link) will be provided.

Obama's camp has released a 41 page point-by-point rebuttal.

(Hat Tip: rapcetera's excellent diary)

Here's what I plan to do with this information and maybe others can as well.

I have always been politically inclined but not always politically involved.  I wrote letters to the editor, I sent money to candidates and issue organizations I believed in.  My friends respected me and would ask my advice on different issues and candidates.  And for a few years, that felt like enough.  In the 2004 primary I "supported" Wes Clark with these methods, then went on to "Support" John Kerry in the general.  And when Kerry lost (which was the actual outcome of that election rather than Bush winning), I said to myself, "Well I did what I could."

But I knew it wasn't true.

During the last six months of our work around the country, it became evident to us that potential activists who lived in cities did not have the opportunity to receive state-of-the-art political training. At 21st Century Democrats we believe that an essential component to Get-Out-the-Vote activities in urban areas is a trained force of people in precincts and Wards who know how to speak to voters in their neighborhoods. We have been fortunate to work in partnership with several Representatives all around the country in launching our Urban Youth Initiative. This weekend, we have a free training in Kansas City, open to anyone who is interested.

Our plans call for training 500 urban activists in field skills such as targeting, door-to-door communications, canvassing, data collection and analysis, message development and other important elements for winning elections. We’re excited about the political potential of all the people who have signed-up for these trainings. We strongly believe that these efforts will make our cities a better place to live in with equality for all.

The introduction video from our political team is below the jump...

I've been doing this newsletter for over 5 years.  It started with DC for Clark and only recently has it become the "DC for Obama" newsletter although I've been on the local Obama grassroots team for a long time.  After the election it will go back to being about progressive events in the DC region.  Anyway, I had stopped posting it to Daily Kos but several people at Netroots Nation asked me to post it here.  

Here's an interesting question for those of you playing along at home. What is Obama's "Local Event Score" in your area? How does it match up to McCain's?

A search of "events" for each campaign within 25 miles of my zip code: 28277

Obama: 16 events, including house parties ("Barack-tails"), canvassing events, concerts, art shows, voter registration drives and phone banking events

McCain: 2 events, both of which are "meetings" happening on John McCain's "first event day"

More after the fold.

I’ve been busy with our county Democratic Party trying to get a grassroots organization going here in Red Texas.  It’s a lot more fun writing and reading here on KOS!  But, I’m slogging through the local politics to try to make a difference because, at least here, the internet world is not enough to make the hope of change a reality.  Below is a worm’s eye view, a local precinct chair’s view, of trying to grow our Blue roots in this tough, Red Texas ground.

We all understand the importance of grass root movement. It is especially more powerful when a presidential campaign rely so heavily on it. The Obama campaign really understand how to fire up its troops on the ground.

That's exactly what Obama did to our group, Ethiopians for Obama, today! I'm quite enthused about what just happened.

We just received a letter from Senator Obama recognizing our effort and encouraging us to push even harder.

Check out the letter: http://ethiopiansforbarackobama.com/...

Our group has been organizing, canvassing, phone banking since the early days of this campaign.