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Training Tuesday: The Numbers You Need To Win Your Election – Part 2

originally posted by Mitch Malasky at Sum of Change

This week, we are going to follow up on last week’s post on the numbers you need to win your election.  This week, we’re looking at special circumstances and unique elections and how that may or may not effect how you set your numbers.

[VIDEO] Joe the Nerd Protests Senator Specter at PA Progressive Summit

originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change

The last main event at the PA Progressive Summit this past weekend was a Senatorial Forum with Senator Arlen Specter and Congressman Joe Sestak.

During the Q&A with Sen. Specter, there was one man who spent the entire time standing with his back to the stage. It was rather obvious, one man standing while the rest of the room was seated. We caught up with the protester, Joe Ferraro, better known to the online world as Joe the Nerd, and got a chance to chat with him about what he was doing and why:

Toasters For Congress: A Video Contest

originally posted by Mitch Malasky at Sum of Change

Did you know that about 10 years ago, Ira Shorr of the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) sent a toaster to every member of congress to warm them about the danger of having nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alerts- “In the time that it takes to make toast, we could all be toast”. Mr Shorr has been PSR’s National Field Director for the last 25 years but is retiring this year. To celebrate his decades of activism for peace, our good friend David Hart (also the director of Grow the Hope) is holding a video contest for people to take their own stand on essential issues of our time, such as nuclear weapons and climate change. You can get all the info about the contest by going to www.PSR.org/video

Training Tuesday: The Numbers You Need To Win Your Election – Part 1

originally posted by Mitch Malasky at Sum of Change

This week’s Training Tuesday post revolves around a repeated mantra from Kendra-Sue Derby, this week’s trainer- It’s All About The Numbers.  Before you start worrying about anything else in your campaign, you have to know how many votes you need to win.  This seems relatively self-evident, but it is a number that often goes overlooked.

March for Life: Health Care and Abortion

originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change

Operation Rescue’s President Cannot Explain How Health Care Bill Funds Abortion

(Footage purchased from Sam Sumner, originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change)

As you may be aware, this weekend (tomorrow to be exact) marks the 37th anniversary of the passage of Roe v Wade, the supreme court decision that effectively legalized abortion nationwide. We have been working on a documentary about clinic escorts for some time now (tomorrow we will be making a big announcement about the film, sign up for our emails and you will be one of first to hear about it), so this weekend is a big chance for us to get some footage.

When I got back home from volunteering at the clinic, I saw an email from Operation Rescue announcing a press conference at the White House today. Luckily, I was able to track down a freelance videographer who sold us some great exclusive footage of Operation Rescue’s President, Troy Newman, failing several times to name a single part of the current health care bills that allows for federal funding of abortion (although he knows for a fact it does, he just cannot tell you how):

Training Tuesday: Learning from Obama for Local Campaigns

originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change



Today’s Training Tuesday comes to us from the Organizing 2.0 Conference in New York back in December. During lunch, we were joined by Colin Delaney, of e.politics.com. He and Charles Lenchner, of the Working Families Party, held a conversation about how to translate lessons about new media from the Obama campaign to local campaigns.

(MA-Sen) Teach Your Friends To Make Calls Online For Coakley

originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change

Yesterday, we attended a Grow the Hope (GTH) house meeting with their Rapid Response team, Organizing for America (OFA 2.0), and the Carrots and Sticks Project. After the meeting everyone decided to stick around and make calls into MA to help elect Martha Coakley in the race for Ted Kennedy’s former Senate seat. We took a moment before leaving to talk with Jon Randall, Maryland’s 8th district liaison from OFA 2.0, and we put together this video, quickly detailing how to make phone calls online to support Coakley:

Training Tuesday: GOTV

originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change

This week’s Training Tuesday takes us back to Democracy for America’s Campaign Academy in Gettysburg, PA 2009. For the last couple weeks we brought you lessons from the Organizing 2.0 conference, and we still have plenty more to come.

Anyways, first things first, a little history on the DFA campaign academy:

Green Bank Action Briefing Live Feed, And More

originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change

We have three great events coming up that we will be broadcasting live over at Sum Live Change.

To begin with, The Green Bank Action Briefing on Tuesday, January 12th from 1:00-3:00pm (EST):

Training Tuesday: Translating Community Organizing to Online Space

Originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change

The Restoration of Rights for Former Felons in Virginia

originally posted by Mitch Malasky at Sum of Change

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