Showing posts with label Senate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Senate. Show all posts
Meeting with Senator Kerry's Staff to Advocate for Economic Fairness

On Friday, October 28, 2011, members of the Cambridge-Somerville for Change Economic Fairness team met with Senator John Kerry’s Boston policy advisors, Meghan Leahy and Stephen Meunier, in Kerry’s Boston office.

CSfC members discussed Sen. Kerrys role in the Congressional Deficit Super Committee. Sen. Kerry is one of the twelve legislators assigned to the Deficit Super Committee, whose task is to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next ten years.

First Steps - Lobbying Senator Kerry and the Super Committee

CSfC's Economic Fairness Team has been meeting and planning for the past few months and at our September 21st community meeting we unveiled our three initiatives:
  • Join the efforts of the Defend the American Dream campaign 
  • Unelect Senator Scott Brown
  • Lobby Senator Kerry in his role on the Congressional Super Committee
The Super Committee initiative has the shortest time-frame, and one of the Super Committee members represents Massachusetts, so we have a short-term organizing opportunity and we're starting out by focusing our efforts there.

Stopping the Next Brown

This election didn't end up the way I wanted it to, but it's only a small setback in a campaign that started some time in the distant past, and will probably go on forever.

I'm happy today. I'm so proud of all the activists and the great work we did. The Cambridge/Somerville ground campaign that we built over four days was inspiring. We couldn't win the whole state, but we could boost turnout in Cambridge and Somerville for Coakley, and with hundreds of volunteers and dozens of GOTV events, we absolutely did.

We had organizers, volunteers, and local groups working toward one goal. We abandoned factions and borders. We made new alliances, and strengthened old partnerships. Progressive organizers in Massachusetts came together, mostly outside formal organizational structures.

Yes, it was too late to win. But we tested our organizing strategies and tactics. OFA swooped in from every state and provided a massive calls-to-voters operation. It wasn't perfect - there were flaws in everything we did. I'd rather know what those flaws are now, when there's one critical race, than in November when there will be dozens of critical races.

We have so much work to do this year, and we are not yet prepared to win the array of contests coming in November. Democrats across the country should look at this election and learn. We need to commit to preventing the complacency and inertia that allowed this to happen. Every progressive organization in the country should be building their plans for November right now, every day vowing No More Browns. No more unforced errors on Election Day.

As Massachusetts organizers, we are stronger today than we were a week ago. We need to keep exercising those organizing muscles, starting today, to prevail in the 2010 races. It can be done.

If you're not already a member, sign up with CSfC today.


(cross-posted, with edits, from BlueMassGroup)

CSfC Volunteers Are Amazing

At our phone bank for the US Senate race Thursday night our volunteers, along with recruits from CDCC and the Coakley campaign, made 1860 calls to voters. That's an amazing amount for a single phone bank in a 3 hour shift. But that's just the beginning. To win we're going to need a lot more shifts like that. We're setting up new locations, training new phone bank coordinators, and activating all of our resources to send Martha Coakley to the US Senate. Stay tuned.

Organizing for Martha Coakley for Senate - Two Weeks Till Election Day

As you may have heard, Rasmussen released a poll today showing GOP State Senator Scott Brown within 9 points of Attorney General Coakley. That's just too close. If you're reading this blog, I don't have to tell you that we can't afford to lose a US Senate seat.

The CSfC Elections Team has two projects during this brief, wintry campaign to keep that from happening. We're holding phone banks with our old friends the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) at their offices at 15 Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge, between Harvard and Central Squares, every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday night through (Special) Election Day, January 19th.

Sign up here to join us from 6 to 9 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 5:30 to 8:30 PM on Sundays. HUCTW has phones, comfy chairs, the works.

We're also working with the Cambridge Democratic City Committee on an Absentee Voter project to increase voter turnout among local seniors - you can sign up for that project on the same form.

Actions steps for health care reform

It's Game Day. The Senate is expected to unveil their health care bill tonight, and the Congressional Budget Office is expected to release their cost estimates today too. From there, the first Senate vote to proceed with debate on the bill will likely happen Friday or Saturday.

We've gotten further on getting health care reform passed than in the previous decades. The House was a narrow passage. The Senate is expected to be even closer. A couple of senators are threatening to filibuster and prevent the bill from coming to an up or down vote. Compromises on the public option are circulating. Senators need to hear from their constituents that voting for the bill is the right vote. The other side is calling them too. We need our voices to be loud and clear!

Can you step up in 3 ways these next few weeks?


1. Phone Banks
We are hosting phone banks to call voters in other states, asking them to call their Senators and support health reform (the bill, once it is out) and against a filibuster. Currently we are focusing on Maine because our coalition partners believe Sen. Snowe and Sen. Collins can be swung and on Connecticut because Sen. Lieberman is not supportive... yet. Every vote counts.

If you haven't come out to phone bank, please do. The phone bank captain will train you prior to starting. These calls are fun and personally rewarding.

Wednesday November 18
Sunday November 22

Phone banks after Thanksgiving holidays TBD. Stay tuned, but we are aiming to have Sunday evenings and one midweek phone bank.


2. Finish Line Rapid Response
We don't know when the crucial votes are going to be in the Senate. To be most effective, Organizing for America and CSfC need volunteers to be mobilized on a day's notice. We need volunteers who would be interested calling residents in key states and asking them to call their Senators. We may also need volunteers to visit Sen. Kerry or Sen. Kirk's office. We will walk you through any actions and answer all questions you may have.

Please email health.reform@cambridgesomervilleforchange to sign-up. Sign-up if you will have a free half-hour or an hour or more.

3. Call Senators Kerry and Kirk
Please thank them for their continued support of health care reform. They need to hear from us to keep pushing for this real reform as there will be tough votes and potentially tough compromises to try to dilute the bill.

Sen. Kerry: (202) 224-2742
Sen. Kirk: (202) 224-4543

Who is Jim Martin?

Cambridge-Somerville for Change has been making phone calls for Jim Martin who is running against the truly odious Saxby Chambliss in the Georgia Senate Race. Since neither candidate got 50% of the vote on November 4th, there will be a runoff on December 2nd.

Who is Jim Martin? Jim, is a Vietnam Veteran who spent his years in the Georgia Legislature working on health care and children's issues. He was one of the lead developers of "PeachCare" which provides health care to children in working families.

You can read more about Jim Martin here.

Jim Martin also will be a strong supporter of President Obama's agenda in the Senate.



You can sign up for one of our planned upcoming phone banks using the following links. All of the Phone Banks will be held at HUCTW at 15 Mt. Auburn Street in Cambridge.


If you can't make it out to one of these phone banks you can always make calls from home using this link.

About

Cambridge-Somerville for Change is an all-volunteer community group dedicated to harnessing the grassroots energy and spirit of change inspired by the Obama campaign. Our organizing work includes electoral and issue-based campaigns at the local, state, and national level. Our members have chosen to work on promoting economic fairness, comprehensive health care reform, creating policies that conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide for fair and adequate access to public transportation, and promoting in-state tuition for immigrant youth.

This is an organization built by and for you, the community, and we look forward to your participation and feedback. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions about getting involved, please email
info@ cambridgesomervilleforchange.com
or call us at
(617) 302-7324.

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