MoveOn PAC

[jimshiz]

July 17th, 2004

Dear MoveOn member,

 

Usually we ask you to take an action, but today we’d like to take just a moment to reflect on where we’ve come together, and to take some measure of the impact of our efforts.

 

In just a little over a week, the Democratic convention will begin. The Democratic nominee, John Kerry, will finally get a chance to be heard directly by the American people, and the fight for the future of America will begin in earnest. We knew from the very start that the Bush administration and the right wing would pull out all the stops to discredit the Democratic nominee before he even appeared at the convention. They put everything they had into it, every dollar and every conceivable misleading ad, and they failed, surprising all the pundits and political operators. We now are facing a real contest – a real chance for change. And we should all take a moment to appreciate this victory.

 

With your incredible support, the efforts of the MoveOn.org Voter Fund have been a big part of this victory. This is not a partisan victory. It is a victory for truth and accountability over distortion. We’ve leveled the playing field so that opponents of administration policy have a fair chance in this election. Starting last October, over 160,000 MoveOn members gave more than $10 MILLION (!) to the Voter Fund to develop and run ads in battleground states telling the truth about the Bush administration. We’ve reached millions of people with these messages and helped shift the opinions the hundreds of thousands, on George Bush, and on the key issues we face. Below I’ve attached a report, with some hard figures, that shows how important this continuous drumbeat has been. With ads on health care, the Iraq war and on American priorities – some produced by MoveOn members themselves – we’ve kept the voice of the opposition strong and clear.

 

What’s most exciting about this victory is that it represents a sea change in how politics is done. Who would have guessed that small contributions would become more important than the big ones? Who would have guessed than an organization like the MoveOn.org Voter Fund, driven by 2.4 million MoveOn members, would set the pace in addressing the key issues in this election?

 

Thank you for being a part of changing the way politics is done.

 

Sincerely,

 

--Wes Boyd and the MoveOn Voter Fund team

July 17th, 2004

 

 

August 31, 2004

Dear MoveOn member,

 

After four days of the Republican convention, national polls will likely find President Bush in the lead in the race for the White House. The Bush campaign is banking on using this so-called bounce to claim an early victory.

 

Of course, this bounce business is a mind game. Polls measure how the nation feels at a given time, but they’re terrible at measuring who’s going to actually get out and vote in battleground states. And when you look at those numbers, this is our race to lose.

 

So while Karl Rove tries to psych us out with poll numbers next week, we’re going to maintain a laser focus on one critically important task: getting our people to the polls through our ambitious Leave No Voter Behind field program. And our success in that depends on you.

 

Just because you live outside the battleground states doesn’t mean you have to sit this election out. The best way you can help is by adopting a battleground-state neighborhood as a Precinct Partner. You can call swing state voters to talk about the issues, take day trips there to knock on doors, even spend Election Day in one of the key neighborhoods where the race will be decided, getting Kerry voters to the polls. No matter where you live, you have an important role to play.

 

Here's why the hype that Bush is winning doesn't stand up to scrutiny:

 

Nation-wide polls don't matter. This election will be decided in the 20 or so states that aren't firmly in Bush's camp. So while most national polls--which include voters in Texas and California--show a dead heat between Bush and Kerry, polls of the so-called "battleground states" tell a different story. A bipartisan poll from NPR1 has Kerry leading 52-43% in these states, and Fox News2 reports a 47-37% Kerry lead there.

 

Historically speaking, Bush is in a very weak position. Most experts agree that when a president is seeking re-election, most voters first decide whether he deserves re-election, and then look at the challenger. And most voters aren't liking what they see: Bush's approval rating is very low for an incumbent. Even more importantly, in some recent polls a large portion of voters say the country is on the wrong track, a benchmark that is extremely tough to recover from. Bush is not where he needs to be, and even a significant bounce won’t put him there.

In the swing states, the name of the game is turnout. There are literally millions of people who prefer Kerry to Bush but who are unlikely to vote at all. In fact, there are far more of these folks than there are "swing voters" who haven’t made up their minds yet. Experts on both sides agree that the winner on November 2 will be the candidate who gets his base out in the places where it matters. And it's pretty straightforward to get their attention: we'll call them on the phone, knock on their doors, and invite them to neighborhood house parties. We'll listen to their concerns and talk to them about both candidates' positions on the issues. And we'll remind them repeatedly to show up on Election Day.

 

We've now got 60 paid organizers on this campaign, by next week we'll have more than 100, and two weeks from tomorrow we'll have 400 more. But our ultimate success depends on you: talking to millions of voters takes tens of thousands of volunteers, and we're counting on you to be among them.

 

We must not fool ourselves into thinking this race is all wrapped up. But we also can't believe the hype when the Bush team tries to claim the same. The bottom line: This race is in your hands. We hope you can help. Thank you.

 

Sincerely,

--Adam, Eli, Hannah, James, Laura, and the whole MoveOn PAC Team

August 31, 2004