Grassroots supporters have created an awesome new site to upload and share videos they have created to help campaign for Sen. Obama: YouBama.

The Washington Post blog has more.

An excerpt:

"While Sen. Hillary Clinton has consistently led national polls, she’s
well behind Obama when it comes to online popularity. On Facebook,
Obama has more three times the number of Clinton supporters — 299,000
to 83,000. Obama counts 240,000 MySpace friends to Clinton’s 171,000.
And according to TechPresident,
the bipartisan group that covers online campaigning, Clinton’s videos
have been viewed more than 5 million times, about 8 million behind
Obama’s. He’s become a YouTube sensation. On Monday, Obama’s nearly
5-minute video response to President Bush’s "State of the Union" address became the most viewed video in the world, now seen 600,000 times. Today, his is the most viewed channel on YouTube, ahead of channels that feature Super Mario Bros. games and goth girls.
He’s possibly the first politician to hold that top channel
distinction, Steve Grove, head of news and politics at YouTube, told
The Trail."

Share this site with all your friends, particularly those undecided voter.  And don’t forget to watch and vote for the videos by Asian Americans for Obama’s very own Eric Byler, Annabel Park, and Amyn Kaderali!

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO WIN CALIFORNIA FOR BARACK OBAMA

Please wear
your buttons every day, put up your window signs and bumper stickers,
and "Talk Barack" to your friends, families and even complete strangers.

Email Angelica Jongco (angelica.jongco@gmail.com) with any questions about these activities.

HELP WITH VOTER OUTREACH AT PHONEBANKS THROUGHOUT THE BAY
Wed & Thu, 6-9pm.
Just contact or stop by any of the SF Bay offices:
San Francisco - 1874 Market (at Laguna), 415-626-1108.
Oakland - 14th and Broadway, 510-268-1008
South San Francisco, 435 Grand Ave., Suite A, (650)302-6568
Palo Alto, 650-852-9401
We also have offices in Sausalito, Santa Rosa, and Contra Costa. See california.barackobama.com
OR MAKE CALLS AT HOME: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/actioncenter

API VOTER OUTREACH WITH LINDA LEU, ANGELICA JONGCO, AND JANE KIM - PHONEBANK
Fri, 2/1, 6-9pm
SF Obama HQ, 1874 Market (at Laguna) - We’ll provide the training and the scripts. Please bring your cell phone and charger!
RSVP at http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4rzdh

SF OBAMA RALLY AND CANVASSING THROUGHOUT SAN FRANCISCO
Sat, 2/2, 9:30am
Everett Middle School, 450 Church St, SF 94114
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4rkcg
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4rkc9

APA GET OUT THE VOTE HOUSE PARTIES THROUGHOUT THE BAY
Sat, 2/2
Palo
Alto Party @ 3PM with Terrence Yang (Classmate and ex-co-worker of
Barack and Michelle) at the home of Margaret Chai and Sean Maloney,
head of sales at Intel and the founder of WiFi. All welcome. RSVP here
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4rks2 or email AAPI@ObamaCA.com with the subject "Palo Alto"

ELECTION DAY - GET OUT THE VOTE ACTIVITIES
Tuesday, 2/5
If you’re able to take the day off work on Election Day, 2/5, please contact Linda Leu, lindaleu@gmail.com. We will need all available help.

STAY CONNECTED. Join the following groups:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/AAPISFBayAreaforObama
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/AsianAmericansforObama

DONATE at http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/AsianAmericansforObama

From Keith Kamisugi:

An incredible 300-plus people attended last night’s AAPI for Obama
gathering at Roe Restaurant. On behalf of all the volunteers who put
the event together, I want to express our appreciation to you for
making this event a success!

We have a lot of photos from last night to share with you.  The first set is from Steve Rhodes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ari/sets/72157603825793041/

Special
thanks need to go out to many people:

… To the wonderful Kelly
Hu for driving up from LA to be with us and sharing her enthusiasm and
support for Sen. Obama.  I personally can’t thank Kelly enough for
headlining our event.

* It would be great if you could also express your thanks to Kelly by emailing kelly@apaforobama.com.

…
To San Francisco school board members Eric Mar, Jane Kim and Hydra
Mendoza and Board of Supervisors District 3 candidate David Chiu for
being part of our program.

… To former Assembymember Wilma Chan for joining us in her role as a top AAPI leader in the Obama campaign.

…
To our co-hosts and volunteers who really made the evening possible:
Brian Wang, Catherine Park, Angelica Jongco, Jenn Pae, Tharina
Sookprasert, Stella Ngai, Colbert Tse, Patrick Wong, Riya Angela Kuo,
Thanh Cao, Amy Chen, Holly Lim and Angela Tseng. And to Jimmy Ku from
APA5, Claire Chang from the Asian Business League and Michael Son from
Google for helping us spread the word about the event.

… To Van Tamom, Jeff Kurzon, Erin Callahan, Connie Chan, Debbie Mesloh and all the staffers in the Obama campaign.

… To Jerms Estrada and his crew of photographers, Jay Jao and Steve Rhodes for taking photos of the event.

… And finally special thanks to Ben, Steve and Danny of Roe Restaurant for opening up their establishment for our function.

Obama supporters Angelica Jongco and Amruta Chandra discuss why they support Sen. Obama in two videos posted to the KRON4 website.

Visit http://www.kron4.com/global/Category.asp?c=96323 and watch the videos entitled, "Viewer Video: Amrutha Believes in Barack Obama" and "Viewer Video: Angelica Supports Barack Obama."

I really enjoyed these videos b/c they provided two diverse perspectives from within our very diverse AAPI community.  Angelica is a Filipino American who grew up in the US and Amrutha is a South Asian first generation immigrant.  Amrutha’s video almost moved me to tears, actually.  Check it out.

As stated in the news article below, Palo Alto City Council Members Yoriko Kishimoto and Yiaway Yeh have endorsed Sen. Obama along with 5 of their colleagues.  That means 7 of 9 Council Members have endorsed Obama, and of the two remaining, one has endorsed Clinton and the other apparently is not endorsing.

City council mostly favors Obama
Democratic presidential candidate endorsed by 7 of 9 members
By Kristina Peterson / Daily News Staff Writer
With the Super Tuesday
primary election just around the corner, seven of the Palo Alto City
Council’s nine members announced this week they’re endorsing Sen.
Barack Obama for president.

In a statement released late Monday night by Mayor Larry Klein, the
council members said Obama, D-Ill., offers the best possibility for
transforming "the toxic, partisan bickering in Washington.

"We believe that Barack Obama has the vision, passion and ability to
change this unhealthy Washington atmosphere," said the statement signed
by Klein, Vice Mayor Peter Drekmeier and council members John Barton,
Pat Burt, Yoriko Kishimoto, Greg Schmid and Yiaway Yeh.

Klein said the council members decided to combine their endorsements
after four or five days of casual discussion independent of city
business.

"Most city councils learn to respect people who have differing views
and work together to get things done," Klein said. He noted that while
he respects Obama’s chief rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, he
found that "inevitably, she’s mired in the ’90s."

Council Member Sid Espinosa, who once worked in the Clinton White
House, said Tuesday he is "definitely a strong supporter of Hillary
Clinton."

"I think at some point Barack Obama will make a wonderful candidate for
president, but we need someone with more experience," he said.

Council Member Jack Morton said his constituents are "more than capable of making up their own mind" without his endorsement.

"I’m just not a big fan of bandwagons, and when it comes to politics,
I’m even less of a fan," said Morton, adding that Obama, Clinton and
John Edwards are all strong candidates.

California residents will vote in the primary election on Tuesday.

We’ve just added a link to the "Join Us for Updates" section on the right side of the page to the "United for Obama" YouTube Channel.  Filmmakers and Obama supporters Eric Byler (Tre, Americanese, Charlotte Sometimes), Annabel Park (9500 Liberty), and Amyn Kaderali (Kissing Cousins) have put together several clips focusing on Sen. Obama and why Asian Americans support him.  They are continuing to add new content every few days, so subscribe to the channel to see what’s new!

This is the last week!  7 days until Super Tuesday.  Let’s do this Los Angeles!!!

THURSDAY 1/31
OBAMA RALLY BEFORE THE DEBATE
LOCATION: In front of KODAK THEATRE at Hollywood & Highland.
TIME: 2PM - 5PM

RSVP: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4rk8w

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1st
FIRECRACKER, featuring RHETTMATIC of the World Famous BEAT JUNKIES!!!
LOCATION: The Grand Star, 913 N. Broadway, Chinatown
TIME: 9:30 p.m. - 2 a.m.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2nd
GET OUT THE VOTE RALLY & CANVASSING
CALIFORNIA:  IT’S TIME!!
LOCATION: RANCHO CIENEGA PARK 5001 Rodeo Road (at MLK; east of La Brea)

Rally START TIME: 9AM
*Music, training, GOTV volunteer recruitment, and some special guests
*Canvass in NEIGHBORHOODS across CA after Rally
Go to http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/cacanvassofficial/4rkwx to RSVP.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2nd
PHONEBANKING PARTY
LOCATION: Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, 3800 Wilshire Blvd. (@ Western)
TIME: 2 - 5 p.m.
Contact Jennifer (chung.jennifer@gmail.com) or Oiyan (spamfriedrice@gmail.com) by Friday to let us know you’re coming.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2nd
DINNER and KARAOKE
LOCATION: Hodori/Ding Dong Dang, Southwest corner of Vermont & Olympic, Koreatown
TIME: 6 - 9 p.m.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2nd
PRE-LUNAR NEW YEAR/GOTV PARTY
LOCATION: E. 3rd Lounge, 734  E. 3rd St., Little Tokyo
HOSTS: Ben Tran, Carl Choi, Jason Scott Park, Paul (PK) Kim, Michelle Yuen, Oiyan Poon, and Phil Yu (www.angryasianman.com)
TIME: 10 p.m. start
Jin invites you to the party!

This morning, Phil Yu of Angry  Asian Man endorsed Barack Obama for president. He writes:

I’ll admit it. I’m attracted to Obama’s fundamental message of inclusion, hope and progressive change. He’s built a campaign on cross-cultural, multi-generational grassroots movements and community building, and I believe he reflects what this nation needs—a radical change in direction of this country. It’s a wayward ship, a broken record, a busted machine. I can no longer stand by idly and let the old political guard make the same old wack decisions for me. This election will be about how we will bring change, and for the first time in a long time (ever?), we’re seeing the possibility that this race could be about something other than political dynasties and old white dudes.

Yes, I’ve been swept up by the positive energy of the movement and the true enthusiasm my fellow Asian Americans have dedicated to this campaign. Lately I’ve been hearing a lot of detractors refer to this message of "hope" and "change" as negative buzzwords, like we’ve all been suckered into believing in Obama’s positive jive. If that’s the case, so be it. Call me a sucker. I can’t see what’s the problem in having the audacity to believe that things could be different for a change. This is a time to come together, leave behind the things that divide us, and work towards the true change we wish to see.

The Obama campaign has a great video with two Obama supporters in New Mexico leading their own grassroots organizing efforts for Sen. Obama.  And Brad, Chair of Grassroots New Mexico for Obama, is Asian American!  Thus proving yet again that yes, there are Asian people EVERYWHERE.

The executive committee of the Democratic National Committee has elected several Asian Americans to standing committees at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, convening August 25-28 in Denver, CO.

Sunita Leeds, co-chair
of the Washington, D.C.-based education-oriented Enfranchisement
Foundation, was named one of the three co-chairs of the rules
committee, which proposes convention rules, adopts an agenda and makes
recommendations for permanent convention officers.

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris and Smita Shah,
founder and president of Chicago-based engineering and construction
management company Spaan Technologies, were named to the platform
committee, which drafts the party‘s national platform.

Pakistan-born Iman Malik Mujahid,
founder and president of Chicago-based Islamic teaching materials
distributor Sound Vision Foundation, was named to the credentials
committee, which coordinates selection of convention delegates and
alternates.

California State Controller John
Chiang was elected to the platform committee.

Council Member Evan Low of Campbell, Calif. was elected to the rules committee.

Boston, Mass. City Councilor Sam Yoon was elected to the rules committee.

Kamala Harris, Smita Shah, and Councilor Sam Yoon are Obama supporters.  I don’t know who the other folks are supporting for President, if anyone.