There’s a great video on the Obama website of Kal Penn (Van Wilder, Harold & Kumar, Superman Returns, House) campaigning for Sen. Obama along with Olivia Wilde (House) and Megalyn Echikunwoke (The 4400).  They’re really quite impressive and articulate about their reasons for supporting Barack.

Kal’s a man after my own heart - he registered to vote the day he turned 18 and cast his first vote in a school board election.  We need more Asian Americans like him!

The campaign’s LA office will be conducting a door-to-door canvass walk
targeting the Korean American community in Los Angeles this Saturday,
Dec. 29 from 9:30AM to 1:30PM.

Dec. 29, 2007 — Saturday

9:30AM - Meet at Los Angeles office at 3333 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 950 (Wilshire & Catalina)
9:30AM - 10:00AM Quick precinct walk training
10:00AM - Go to precinct walk site (likely in South Koreatown)
10:00AM - 1:00PM Conduct precinct walk
1:00PM - 1:30PM Regroup at another site, lunch is on me!

We
really need your help! Korean speakers would be great but we have
Korean translations of fliers so don’t be worried if you do not speak
Korean. Please let me know if you think you can make the canvassing so
we can plan the efforts accordingly.

To volunteer or for more information, contact Frank Aum at faum@obamaca.com.

Two terrific op-eds about Sen. Obama were published recently in AsianWeek and the Indian American:

http://www.asianweek.com/2007/12/15/the-man-and-the-moment/

http://www.safo2008.com/Media/Guest_Column-Indian_American.pdf

Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), who is part Filipino, part African American, and part Caucasian, endorses Sen. Barack Obama.  Congressman Scott is the first person of Filipino descent elected to Congress, and the first African American elected to Congress from Virginia since Reconstruction.

From the press release:

Congressman Robert "Bobby" Scott Announces Support for Barack Obama

Chicago,
IL – Virginia Congressman Robert "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) announced his
support for Senator Barack Obama today, citing his sound judgment on
the Iraq war and leadership on critical issues such as health care and
crime policy.

"America is at a crossroad. We can either remain
mired in the politics of the past, or press forward and elect a
President who can unite us around the sobering challenges we face.
Senator Barack Obama offers change we can believe in and that is why I
support his candidacy for President," said Congressman Scott.

Read more here.

Outside groups are in the process of pouring more than $3.2 million into Iowa to support Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.

A new group, run by John Edwards’ former campaign manager, is spending
nearly a million dollars of unregulated money to run a so-called
"issue" ad in Iowa this week. The ad touts "the Edwards plan" and
prominently features a smiling John Edwards — but the group claims it
isn’t meant to promote one candidate or another.

Meanwhile,
Hillary Clinton’s friends from Washington are spending millions on
attacks, including a mailing that misleads voters by falsely
disparaging Barack’s universal health care plan. The mailing carefully
uses a quote from another candidate and mimics the design of that
candidate’s mailings — apparently with the hope that Iowans offended
by the negativity will think it came from someone else.

   The case has never been clearer — this kind of politics needs to end.  And you have the power to end it.

Instead of benefiting from $3.2 million from big interests over the
next week, we’re asking 32,000 supporters like you to give whatever you
can afford. That will put us past our goal of 500,000 people owning a
piece of this campaign before the Iowa caucuses.

Be part of this
historic movement by making a donation of $100. If you donate now, your
impact will be doubled by matching a gift from a first time donor.

https://donate.barackobama.com/promise

With just one week to go before the caucuses, our opponents have
revealed their commitment to politics-as-usual. Money is pouring in
from outside groups to fund negative mailings, TV ads, phone calls, and
attack websites.

Barack has repeatedly spoken out against the
work of these outside groups, and this campaign does not accept any
money from Washington lobbyists or PACs.

Instead, we put our
faith in you. From the beginning, this campaign has been funded by a
grassroots movement of ordinary people giving only what they can
afford.

And your commitment to real change has gotten us pretty far.

The most recent polls show Barack ahead in Iowa and New Hampshire, and
we’re building an unparalleled operation in the 22 states with
primaries and caucuses on February 5th.

Thanks to your past
generosity, we are in a position to win this nomination. But we need to
start strong in Iowa and keep the momentum building.

Make a donation of $100 today, and you can bring in a new donor by matching their gift:

https://donate.barackobama.com/promise

We’ve set a historic goal of 500,000 people owning a piece of this
campaign by the Iowa caucuses on January 3rd. That’s more people than
have ever donated to a presidential campaign before voting started.

It’s not an easy goal to achieve, but it will send a powerful message to the entrenched special interests.

Let them know that their outside money can’t compete with a grassroots
movement that’s committed to a new kind of politics. And let them know
that the days of big, unregulated Washington money are numbered.

The time for real change is now.  Make a matched donation of $100 today:

https://donate.barackobama.com/promise

Thank you for your support,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

Rave Reviews for AAA-Fund’s L.A. Prez Forum

Chu, Chan, Sidarth Win Support for Presidential Candidates; Sen. Obama Wins Presidential Forum Straw Poll

Los Angeles, CA, Dec. 6, 2007 - An all-star cast of Asian American leaders energized the audience at the AAA-Fund’s Presidential Candidates Forum.  Afterwards, Sen. Barack Obama won the Forum’s Presidential Straw Poll.

AAA-Fund - which will not make a pre-primary endorsement - invited every Democratic Presidential campaign to the Forum.  Three candidates responded: Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, and Gov. Bill Richardson.  In addition, Eric Bauman, Chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, delivered opening remarks.

Following the Forum, guests participated in the AAA-Fund’s Presidential Straw Poll, in which voters ranked their first, second, and third choices.  Sen. Obama won the Straw Poll, with 71 percent of first-choice votes.  Sen. Clinton finished second, with 23 percent of first-choice votes. (Clinton and Gov. Richardson led the field in second-choice votes, with 34 percent and 24 percent, respectively.)

The Forum and Straw Poll were held at the acclaimed East West Players Theater in Los Angeles’ historic Little Tokyo.  The AAA-Fund thanks the following friends and sponsors:  Korean American Democratic Committee, Edwin Chau, Daniel M. Mayeda, Dan and Jay Kim, Amy Ghosh, Kumar Jawa, Mark Nguyen, Michael Lew, Bakul and Niru Parmar, Ron Wong, Gautam Dutta, Marybelle C. Ang, and East West Players Theater.

More:  http://www.aaa-fund.org/press/2007dec06.asp

Rekha Basu writes in the Des Moines Register why she feels this is Obama’s moment:

Basu: Obama can heal divisions, win hearts and minds

I remember wishing Hillary Clinton would run. Not last January, when
she announced, but before the 2004 election, when someone with her
intellectual heft and stature was needed to stand up to the Bush/Rove/
Rumsfeld cabal and dismantle its agenda.

But Clinton didn’t run
then, and when she jumped into this year’s race, days after Barack
Obama, it was a different field and a different moment.

This moment belongs to Obama.

Read the rest of the article here.

December 17th, 2007

web:
            http://www.democracyfortexas.org
email:           info@democracyfortexas.org
       

As you may have read here before, Frank Luntz, GOP pollster boy wonder and highly prescient campaign forecaster, has run focus groups for each of the presidential debates (for both parties).  Before the latest Obama surge, Luntz was already noting Obama’s underlying strengths and his potential to win this contest in the end.

Here are some clips from the post-debate analysis following the recent debate in Des Moines on Dec. 10:

From the Iowa campaign:

I have an unusual request for you.

I’ve
written a few times before — my name is Paul Tewes, and I’m the state
director for the Obama campaign in Iowa.  I’m sure you’ve already heard
about what’s happening here, from the tightening poll numbers to the
growing energy on the ground.

Our campaign has tremendous momentum, but there’s a lot to do before the January 3rd caucuses.

Here’s the challenge…

Our
ground operation is in full swing, and we’re well on our way to
recruiting Precinct Captains in all of Iowa’s 1,781 precincts.

Each
Precinct Captain is a volunteer who has taken on a serious
responsibility in their local community. They are the backbone of our
campaign in Iowa. Barack could not do this without them.

Our
success depends on the motivation and dedication of these everyday
people. They have their own families, their own jobs, and all the other
responsibilities of their lives, but they have volunteered to take on
this important role in our campaign because, like you, they believe in
Barack Obama.

Please take the time to share with them a word of
encouragement. Share with them the common bond that binds us — belief
in each other, belief in this campaign, and belief in this country.

There are two ways you can get in touch — send an online note or send an old fashioned letter in the mail, care of one of our 37 offices here in Iowa.

Read the rest of this entry »