East Bay Kerry

How to Become a Political Teenager…and still have free time.

An article by Kelly Rubert for Sprawl Magazine.

06/01 - Rock The Vote Meetup

What: National MTV and Rock the Vote Meetup Day. RTV is a non-partisan effort to register, educate, and involve young voters in the electoral process.

When: 7:00 PM

Where: Multiple locations

Contact: http://rtv.meetup.com

MTV's Choose or Lose and Rock the Vote urge young people everywhere -- decided and undecided -- to Meetup in their neighborhood, discuss candidates and issues, and rock the 2004 presidential election. Get your ideas on MTV, get active with Rock the Vote, get exclusive access to MTV and Rock the Vote stuff, and tell us who YOU think should be President.

16% of Americans who vote are under 30. That's enough to sway an election or two.

This is a chance to support RTV volunteers with Kerry information and literature, and to invite young citizens to participate in the Kerry campaign.

John Kerry: The Choose or Loose Interview

The Choose or Lose interview with John Kerry. Straight talk from The Real Deal with the twenty million young people who will decide the election.

Would the vote help children?

I've always thought that kids should be able to vote. They have the least control over policies that affect them directly.

We say we care about kids. As a culture, as a body politic, we don't act that way.

We know electoral power helps senior citizens. They use the ballot box to affect investment in public health programs, medicare, retirement, crime, and other issues close to their hearts.

Much of this has come at the expense of children. According to Children Now "One of every four youngsters under six lives in poverty and statistics on child abuse, addiction, teen pregnancy and violence numb the consciousness." We don't assure that every child has health care, food, warm clothes, safe living conditions, a pre-collegiate education. What can we do about this?

What happens if we give every citizen the right to vote starting at birth? Parents holding it in trust for minors, casting it as proxy for their kids?

Would candidates more actively solicit votes from parents to get their children's votes?

Would our elected officials be younger?

Would we invest our public funds differently? Would we build fewer prisions? More schools?

Would our foreign policy be affected? More money for child health care and less for weapons?

Children are disenfranchised; their have no vote, no say in the workings of government. Perhaps they should.

For example, I'd gladly give the vote to our Ilana Wexler, webmaster of KidsForKerry.org. She wrote:

We cannot vote yet, but we should have a voice today. That is why we have created KidsForKerry.org. We have learned our ABCs and we believe that John Kerry represents our best hope for a peaceful and hopeful future. Our Future.

We support John Kerry because he knows his ABCs:

• America — We believe in an America with hope, with a great future and with PEACE. We believe that John Kerry, a REAL HERO, can lead AMERICA to a peaceful and safe future. A future we can be proud of. That the whole world can be proud of!! THIS IS OUR FUTURE!! We should do all we can now for our future.
• Better Education — We believe that John Kerry cares about us getting a better education. He will fight for smaller class sizes and support for teachers so that they don't have to buy their own supplies. And he will make sure that ALL kids have a safe place to go after school. Right now there are over 7 Million of us kids who return home with nobody there to be with us after school. John Kerry will provide us with great choices to help our future by participating in after school programs to help us in school, music and the arts!! He cares about us!!!
• Compassion to all Children — We believe that ALL children should be given a chance in this world. Right now there are MILLIONS of kids in AMERICA without health insurance. These kids often cannot go to the Doctor when they are sick. John Kerry believes that every child in America should have health insurance. He also believes that no child should ever go hungry. Right now there are Millions of us kids who do not get enough to eat.

Never too soon to be an activist.

East Bay Kerry Organization

Yes, Victoria. There is an organization.

Updated: 7 February 2004.

East Bay Kerry Committee Chairs

Voter & Volunteer Services
Membership	Matt Gabriele, 510-684-8326
	Rachel Gabriele, 510-684-8326
Contra Costa County Liason	Nancy Painter, 925-935-6950 (h), 510-305-2886 (c)
Tabling/Visibility/GOTV	Heather Pegas, 510-531-6075
	Michael Briggin, 510.849.0542
House Parties	Laurel Halsey
	Gretchen Adelson, 510-823-5321
Phone Banking	Emily Weinstein, 510-435-8248 (c)
Communications
Writer's Bureau	Michael Lysobey, 510.644.0897
	James (Jim) Stack, 510-883-1723
Speaker's Bureau	Karen Park, 650-248-8141 The Speakers Bureau spreads the good word on John Kerry by sending representatives on behalf of the campaign to speak at political clubs and community organizations throughout Northern California.
Media Relations	Patrick Galvin, 510-527-2200
	Jeremy Pyle, 415-713-6272 (c)
Liason to Students	Gretchen Adelson, 510-823-5321
Liason to Veterans/ Firefighters	John Bagby, 650-218-2801
EB4Kerry Liason	Gregory Lamboy,
Campaign Support
Supplies/ Materials	Kristin Ruff, 510.338.0385
	Laurel Halsey
KerryTech	Phil Wolff, 510-444-8234 KerryTech volunteers help each of the teams communicate, organize, and collaborate. We're rapidly designing and building and rolling out web applications in advance of the March 2nd primary and the November election. Buzzwords: eDemocracy, PHP, ASP.

Effective 29 January 2004.

Kerry remains the underdog.

John Kerry's still Dean's underdog. Dean has more money, convention delegates, and organization.

Last year (do you remember 28 days ago?), Dean raised about $40 million and . Kerry raised about $20 without taking PAC money, and loaned the campaign about $7. To Bush's $200 million. Advantage: Dean.

Despite winning in Iowa and New Hampshire, Dean has 113 delegates to Kerry's 94. How? Unpledged delegates made their preferences public. Advantage: Dean.

Dean's had organization on the ground and TV ads running across the country for six months. Dean's web sites and digital media teams are the highest tech and most productive of all the campaigns, outstaffing some of the campaigns 100-to-1. Advantage: Dean.

So what does the win in New Hampshire mean?

• Electability matters. 36% of those who voted for Kerry feel "can defeat Bush" is the most important characteristic in a candidate.
• Character matters. "Let Kerry Be Kerry" changed the game. The relaxed, confident, plainspoken, veteran reached people. Likable.   
• General election issues matter. Health care, jobs, Iraq, education.

John Kerry remains the underdog. The Scrum: "Survey USA polls released in the last couple of days for South Carolina and Oklahoma show Kerry trailing badly, and in a tight race in Arizona." 

So what can you do to help Comeback Kerry win the primary and depose George Bush?

1. Call the San Francisco office and volunteer.
• 415-896-6840
• What kinds of things do you like to do?  
• We have teams throughout Northern California that will put you to work.
2. Join the California for Kerry mailing list. The insiders' guide.
3. Join two of your local Kerry mailing lists or start one.   
• Bay Area Kerry
• San Francisco for JFK
• East Bay for Kerry
• Peninsulans For Kerry and Mid Peninsula for Kerry
• Santa Cruz for John Kerry
• University of California for Kerry
• Cal State Hayward for Kerry
4. Join the Kerry Travelers. Hit the campaign trail for Kerry. All you need is one weekend and lots of energy.
5. Vote early.
6. Inform yourself. Knowing the issues makes you look smart at Superbowl parties.
7. Wear a Kerry button. Strike up conversations, make friends.
8. Give to the national campaign. Our team has one of the lowest costs per vote in the race.
9. Wear a Teresa scarf. Be fashionably continental.
10. Reach out across the nation. Write letters, call undecideds, campaign online.
11. Reach out in your community. Put up posters, table the streets of your neighborhood, host house parties, speak to clubs and schools, make funny hats. We can set you up with all of this, except the funny hats.

Earnest and dogged campaigns earned us Iowa and New Hampshire. Now it's your time to pitch in and help the Senator become California's choice, and America's.

Berkeley students receiving cease-desists from Diebold

Do you trust your voting machine? Joe Hall doesn't. A Cal grad student, Joe is part of a multi-campus civil disobedience effort to keep memos by Diebold Election Systems available for public review.

If you live in Alameda County like I do, you voted on Diebold voting machines. Even if you don't live near me, you have every reason to be concerned. You should know that they are insecure, run secret software that we, as citizens, are not allowed to see (imagine not being able to see the laws that run our country!) and do not currently provide an audit trail necessary for a recount of votes. Learn more here and here.

Buying the systems is a local matter, although Federally funded. What should Congress or the White House do?