Sen. Obama’s 46th birthday is August 4, 2007.  To celebrate the event in a tribute to Barack’s community activist roots, grassroots activists have organized a national virtual food drive, "Blow Out Hunger," from now until August 15, 2007.

To contribute, visit: http://help.secondharvest.org/obama

Last night, Sen. Obama visited Dallas, TX, and Molly Hanchey of Obama Dallas reports that the Senator was deeply touched by the hunger drive effort:

"Monday night at Gilley’s in Dallas, he kept looking
at our “Blow Out Hunger” poster and said over and over how much he
liked it – and how creative it was – and then said “This is
EXACTLY the kind of thing I’d love to see all over America…people
getting involved in their communities, working together, changing things…it’s
what this campaign is about.  It’s one of the finest examples I’ve
seen and we need a round of applause for those who made this happen.” 

Later the word was that he was particularly proud of the
national virtual food drive and deeply touched at the personal tribute for his
birthday.   (“Blow Out Hunger” runs through Wednesday,
August 15, 2007.)

Thanks to each of you who have made contributions to “Blow
Out Hunger.”  Your local food banks will benefit and, if you’ve
read any of Senator Obama’s papers on urban revitalization or heard his
speeches about concern for the working poor, you’ll be more motivated
than ever."

- Molly Hanchey

Go after the jump to see the announcement from Obama Dallas regarding the food drive.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Obama’s 46th birthday is August 4, 2007.  To celebrate the event in a tribute to Barack’s community activist roots, grassroots activists have organized a national virtual food drive, "Blow Out Hunger," from now until August 15, 2007.

To contribute, visit: http://help.secondharvest.org/obama

Last night, Sen. Obama visited Dallas, TX, and Molly Hanchey of Obama Dallas reports that the Senator was deeply touched by the hunger drive effort:

"Monday night at Gilley’s in Dallas, he kept looking
at our “Blow Out Hunger” poster and said over and over how much he
liked it – and how creative it was – and then said “This is
EXACTLY the kind of thing I’d love to see all over America…people
getting involved in their communities, working together, changing things…it’s
what this campaign is about.  It’s one of the finest examples I’ve
seen and we need a round of applause for those who made this happen.” 

Later the word was that he was particularly proud of the
national virtual food drive and deeply touched at the personal tribute for his
birthday.   (“Blow Out Hunger” runs through Wednesday,
August 15, 2007.)

Thanks to each of you who have made contributions to “Blow
Out Hunger.”  Your local food banks will benefit and, if you’ve
read any of Senator Obama’s papers on urban revitalization or heard his
speeches about concern for the working poor, you’ll be more motivated
than ever."

- Molly Hanchey

Go after the jump to see the announcement from Obama Dallas regarding the food drive.

Read the rest of this entry »

Great news!  There has been so much demand for another Dinner with Barack event that Sen. Obama has decided to offer another opportunity for supporters to have dinner with him.  Just donate any amount before 11:59 PM EDT on Tuesday, July 31st, and you could be selected along with three other supporters to share an intimate dinner with Barack.

See the message from the campaign after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

The reviews are in, and the people and the pundits agree - Obama rocked the YouTube debate last night.

GOP Boy Wonder and Pollster Savant Frank Luntz said that Obama not only won, but he showed that he has all the goods and picked up a good number of supporters last night.

The campaign shared these reactions from the media and supporters:

This morning’s news coverage declared Barack the clear winner of the debate.  Here’s a sample of what they had to say: 

Time
and time again Obama sought to take specific questions and broaden them
into a conversation over who represented real change in the field. He
castigated lobbyists and special interests in Washington, offering a
sweeping condemnation of business as usual (by both parties) in the
nation’s capital. "We don’t need just a change in political parties,"
said Obama. "We need a change in attitudes of the people representing
Americans."

– Chris Cillizza, Washington Post

We’re
here with 24 Democrats, independents, who thought that Senator Hillary
Clinton would be the best performer here tonight, but the results that
we just got in, this is a focus group; show that Barack Obama got the
most favorable in terms of the best performance from the 24 people who
are here tonight.

— Mary Snow, CNN

Watch Barack’s performance and help build our movement for change:

htttp://my.BarackObama.com/DebateSC

We also heard from hundreds of supporters who shared their reactions via Obama mobile: 

I
loved Obama’s comment that we’re not going to fix anything until ‘we
change how business is done in Washington.’ As usual, he was spot-on. I
have faith that Barack is THE candidate to facilitate these changes. He
has shown commitment time and again that he will work across lines of
party, race, & religion to make progress in America. United, we can
make a difference!

— Lisa in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Once
again Barack applied a common sense approach in his response tonight. I
was also pleased he continued to reinforce his message of unity. O8AMA!!

– Russ in Cary, Illinois

Barack,
you were the best one there and should be the obvious choice for those
of us who want true, real, and honest change. Keep it up!

– Tessa in Rochester, New York

If you’re like me, you were thrilled by the chance to win dinner with Barack and dug deep to give whatever you could to take advantage of the opportunity.  Alas, it was not to be for me (makes me wish I had dropped by his office to chat when he was still teaching at my law school), but now we can get a little look at the dinner Barack had with supporters and learn a little about the lives of the guests - hardworking Americans just like you, hopeful and hungry for not just dinner with an inspiring leader, but for change for the entire country.

From the campaign:

A week ago, four supporters from all over the country were flown to
our nation’s capital to share a meal — and their stories — with
Barack Obama. 

The conversation covered topics ranging from the war in Iraq to student loans to poverty. 

But they also talked about cartoons, YouTube, and teaching kids to ride bikes. 

You’ve got to watch this video: 

These dinner guests were not Washington lobbyists or representatives of special interests.   

They
were small-dollar donors who participated in our Dinner with Barack
campaign — Christina, Haile, Michael, and Margaret each gave between
$5 and $25 and got the kind of personal time with Barack that other
politicians reserve for the wealthy and powerful.

In addition
to the video from the dinner, we have four more short video profiles of
each of the participants. Watch the videos, and let us know what you
would have asked Barack if you’d been there: 

http://my.barackobama.com/dinner 

Thank you so much for your support. 

David 

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

P.S.
– One of the dinner guests, Haile Rivera, works with New York City
food pantries and spoke to Barack about the challenges of the urban
poor. Today, Barack gave a speech outlining his agenda to combat urban
poverty. For more on Barack’s vision and plan to revitalize our urban
centers, click here:

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/fightingpoverty/

Read the rest of this entry »

The war in Iraq should never have been authorized, never have been waged, and it must end now. Take action: BarackObama.com/BushInDenial

Al Qaeda has recovered to its pre-September 11th strength, according to an intelligence community estimate revealed today. 

Think about that. 

Almost
six years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is still alive. His organization
is still training terrorists. And he and his associates still have a
safe haven in the mountains on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. 

Meanwhile,
George Bush released his administration’s report on the "progress" in
Iraq. It’s another example of how deep in denial he is about what’s
really happening. The past three months have been some of the deadliest
since the war began, and things are getting worse — not better.   

The war in Iraq should never have been authorized, never have been waged, and it must end now. 

Al
Qaeda’s resurgence proves that the Iraq war has been a deadly
distraction from the real threats we face — which is why I opposed the
war from the beginning. 

George Bush just finished a press
conference where he tried to tell people that progress is being made in
Iraq and against al Qaeda. The press will report his spin and
obfuscation — but you can have an impact on their coverage.

Write
a letter to the editor of your local paper right now — if you act
quickly, your letter could be printed alongside tomorrow’s coverage. 

Our online letters-to-editors tool makes it simple: 

http://www.BarackObama.com/BushInDenial 

Over 250,000 of us have invested in this campaign because we’re willing to do everything we can to change this country. 

Now is the time to act. 

Millions
of Americans are hungry for a president who will end the war in Iraq
and confront the threats we face with honesty and sound judgment. 

They’re waiting to hear from you. 

Thank you,

Barack Obama

Less than six months ago, the pundits and political insiders questioned
whether a new leader running a new kind of campaign could compete with
the massive operations and big money of establishment candidates. 

You answered with a resounding yes. 

By
joining more than 258,000 supporters, you proved that a presidential
campaign can reject the money-for-influence game and still compete. But
to make this a lasting change, we must keep doing things differently. 

Our
success so far is all thanks to you. However, to take our campaign into
the next phase, we are all going to have to plan carefully. 

Right
now you can do that by making a personal commitment to support Barack
Obama every month until he’s the Democratic nominee. The small group of
people who join you — making an automatic monthly donation of whatever
they can afford — will be a core of supporters providing a foundation
that will sustain this campaign.

Read the rest of this entry »

Grassroots progressive organization Moveon.org has asked all eight of the Democratic presidential candidates to detail their plans to respond to the challenges of global warming.  All the candidates responded, and Moveon.org has posted their responses to their website and invited people to vote for the best one.

I encourage everyone to visit the link below and listen to each of the candidates’ responses and vote for Sen. Obama’s plan.  Sen. Obama’s plan is a smart combination of market incentives through a cap and trade emissions credit system and mobilizing public resources to spur innovation, encourage research, and enlist global support.

Learn more and vote here:
http://pol.moveon.org/townhall/climate/townhall2.html?id=10780-2890842-q_lvmK&t=2

Thanks to everyone who contributed to securing this campaign’s place in history.  We have everyone from the media to the pundits to the grassroots buzzing with excitement about our movement for change across America.

From the campaign:

A lot of people are talking about money today.   

It’s
true — together we raised a significant amount over the past few
months. And your generosity is what will make it possible to mount a
winning campaign. For that, I cannot thank you enough.

But the money isn’t the whole story. 

The
most extraordinary and deeply humbling result is the people — more
than 258,000 of you — who have taken ownership of this campaign. 

A
number that big is a thunderclap over the political process. It means
our campaign has more supporters than any campaign in history at this
point in an election, and it’s a wake-up call to our current politics. 

It means ordinary people are coming together in unprecedented numbers to take back their government. 

It
means you are defying the pundits and Washington insiders, rejecting
their cynicism and negativity, and embracing the hope that we can
change things for the better.   

It means we are building a movement so big, so deep, and so personal that our collective voice is undeniable. 

If
you visited our website over the past week, you saw the thousands of
personal stories our donors have chosen to share — stories that ring
true with passion and a hunger for something new. 

But even though so many of us share a common goal, our success is not inevitable. 

While
everyone is marveling at our numbers and patting us on the back, we
need to focus on the next question, “Where do we go from here?”

The answer is as simple as it is challenging:  We organize. 

As
a community organizer in the South Side of Chicago, I witnessed how
change works from the grassroots up. I saw how people working together
with a common purpose can transform their communities and give them new
life. The same is true for our country. 

We need to start in our
own communities, by reaching out to our friends, family, colleagues,
and neighbors. We need to identify our common ground and work together
for the common good. 

And we have one tremendous advantage that no other campaign has — the solidarity of more than 258,000 people working with us. 

We’ve put together a brief overview of what we’ve accomplished over these past three months:

http://my.barackobama.com/wherewestand 

Thank you for your generosity and support.  It’s impressive and inspiring, but we have a long way to go. 

We’ve
demonstrated that we can defy expectations and turn the political
process on its head. Now it’s time to combine our personal stories,
build on our milestones of success, and take the next step. 

Thank you for being part of this movement for change — this is just the beginning.

Barack Obama