<div dir="ltr"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Andrew Maxwell</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:maxwell@poeticresearch.com">maxwell@poeticresearch.com</a>></span><br>
FYI...<br><br><br>Date: Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 11:45 PM<br>Subject: Poets for Obama: Seeking volunteers for weekly phonebanks at the PRB.<br>To: <a href="mailto:directors@poeticresearch.com">directors@poeticresearch.com</a><br>
<br><div dir="ltr">In 1999, John McCain was only 16 senators to vote for the <a href="http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/1999/08/18/25830.html" target="_blank">Smith-Ashcroft amendment</a> to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts. In explanation of his vote, he claimed that Americans were outraged at the "obscene and inappropriate projects this organization has supported." Sarah Palin, in her first gig as Wasilla mayor, sought to have creationism taught in science classes, and hounded the local librarian to resign because, among other things, she would <a href="http://news.bostonherald.com/news/2008/view.bg?articleid=1117009&srvc=2008campaign&position=15" target="_blank">purge the library of books with "offensive" language</a> in them. She also canned the city museum and public works directors. <br>
<br>The stakes simply could not be higher for poets, writers and educators in this election.<br><br>So it shouldn't surprise you that a few of us are going all in for the next two months at the PRB: <i>Poets for Obama, 2008</i>. <br>
<br>It's a very competitive race, and Ara and I have been discussing getting interested poets and artists together to do some weekly phonebanking for Obama out of the Bureau offices in Atwater. This is likely to be a very sour week for Obama in the polls, as the week after the GOP convention traditionally results in a 5-10 point bump for the nominee. The bounce can often be felt through to the first television debate, but the best way to counter it is with voter outreach and education.<br>
<br>I was a precinct captain for CD31 in the Atwater and Echo Park neighborhoods during the Democratic primary, and have access to voter lists, phone scripts and Obama policy papers. The targets for California phone banking efforts for the general election are Nevada and Colorado residents, and phone banking can be done from personal cellphones.<br>
<br>If you are interested in helping, please respond to this email and let us know.
We're exploring Saturdays in the 12 to 3pm range and Monday evenings
from 6 to 9pm as initial phonebanking times, and we'll open up the Bureau and provide resources from Obama headquarters. If there's a lot of interest, we'll likely begin this Saturday.<br><br>If you're not interested in election-year politics, or Obama isn't your candidate, just ignore this email. After getting initial responses, we'll put together a separate email list for those interested in election work, and use that going forward next week.<br>
<br>Thanks for your time,<br>Andrew (co-director, PRB)<br><br></div>
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