I think that clears that up. Never in a million years would I have said it that well. That’s the direct, matter of fact reason why you should care. A deeper, and personal reason why you should care is spelled out here by Dr. William Ferguson Reid Sr. In an interview for the oral History Archives of the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries, he says “Well, first of all, freedom is not free, and freedom is not eternal. What you are given one day can be taken away from you the next day.” The whole interview (must see TV) and transcript here

http://dig.library.vcu.edu/...

Ok, it’s possible I could have given you a rousing reason of my own for a call to arms. I could have quoted the Mayor of Who-ville who rallies his town in the classic “Horton Hears a Who” by Dr. Seuss.



"This”, cried the Mayor, “is your towns darkest hour! The time for all Who’s that have blood that is red to come to the aid of their country!” he said. “We’ve Got to make noises in greater amounts! So, open your mouth, lad! For every voice counts!”

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy,

not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

Socrates.

Or if you have no respect for my guru Dr. Seuss (blasphemy) here is another dude that is well respected.Or maybe you are moved more by influential people closer to home. We have some of those here on Daily Kos who know Dr. Reid, know what he’s done and continues to do, and they support him.

Denise Oliver-Velez – http://www.dailykos.com/...

Meteor Blades - http://www.dailykos.com/...

Randallt - http://www.dailykos.com/...

Our own candidate in WA – Angela Marx

WHAT IF... Candidates and Activists got together to change a State?

VetWife - http://www.dailykos.com/...

Lowkell - http://www.dailykos.com/...

And of course I’ve written a few.

http://www.dailykos.com/...

http://www.dailykos.com/...

http://www.dailykos.com/...

http://www.dailykos.com/...

http://www.dailykos.com/...

I think we here at Daily Kos could have a huge effect on this election in VA. Then we could do it again, state by state, until….we have a country.

I talked to Dr. Reid Sr. about this recently. I was impatient with our local DNC. He told me that whenever he has a problem fighting the establishment he just goes around them. He said he would approach a group that would have all the machinery in place to implement a plan and they would just blow him off with “Yeah, yeah, we’ll get right on that” but never do it. He said, (and I love this part) “I just drop down and go around”. He doesn’t deal with the hierarchy; he goes to the people, the foundation of the political pyramid. Precincts are where the action is, the energy is with the base and they don’t live at the DNC.

I also asked him how he thought a blog like Daily Kos could help change the direction of politics. I meant this kind of as a general, what can internet blogs do? But let’s face it; Daily Kos is the biggest and best political blog around.

Dr. Reid surprised me with his answer. He said that if he were running Daily Kos he would list all the members by congressional districts. If you divide 1 million users by the 435 districts you could almost control districts. That, he said would be a formidable force. Then he lost me with talk of Excel and spreadsheets, it was a very nice song with a good beat but I couldn’t dance to it. For detailed information on that check with Dog Dawg, he heard the same song and boy he could really dance to it.

I did get his point, though I miss the days when information was written on 3x5 note cards. I think Daily Kos can be a formidable force which is why I’m putting out this call to arms.

We really can rock this election in VA and here are some of the methods we can use without leaving our chairs. I’m going to give you a list of candidates. Most of them are not being backed by the Democratic Party so I’m going to suggest that we just “drop down and go around”.

All of the VA candidates are members of 90for90 which just means they support voter registration. Seems like a no brainer right? But, you’ll notice there are no Republican supporters of voters registration signed on. Possibly they have their own Voter Suppression group called 0for0. So let’s support these VA candidates support of voter registration.

~Add any group you are a member of to the Daily Kos section of 90for90. Yes, we have our own section there; we are a formidable force.

~If you have a business, add it to the business supporter’s page of 90for90. (Nice free advertising.)

PM me for the email to send your URL and logo to.

~“Like” the 90for90 Face book page.

~Republish any and all of Gordon20024’s diaries to any groups you belong to. I know that republish doesn’t really mean anything to us here on DKos. Does anyone really read the home page of the groups they belong to? But republish them anyway if you will please. It does look impressive to have a lot of orange group names at the bottom of an article.

Here is a short list of some of my favorite candidates. You can check Gordon 20024’s diaries for others or the candidate page at 90for90. These are just my faves and a little bit of what I know about them.

Jill McCabe actually has a chance of winning in a district that is a strong area for Dems in Presidential election years, not so much in off years. McCabe is a pediatrician not a politician but has enough administrative experience to know how to run the show. Her opponent Dick Black has this going for him:

*On the subject of sexual assault in the military he called military rape “as predictable as human nature”. He doesn’t think spousal rape should be a crime. While promoting a bill to force abortion providers to tell women that at 20 weeks a fetus can feel pain (NOT a medically supported claim), he sent little plastic fetus’s to all the Senators. Where do you even buy those? Don’t get me started on his views on the LGBTQ community. The guy is a loon.

Even if Jill McCabe was not a good candidate, and I think she’s a great one, I would still urge you to help her get elected to keep this asshole, Dick Black out of office.

Her website is here - http://www.drjillmccabe.com/

Gary McCullom Gordon 20024's diary here http://www.dailykos.com/... was out raising the incumbent and then got swift boated. Attacked in a way that I’ve come to believe is a “political tazing”. We need a Shaun King on a political beat to cover that. Gary McCullom is a black life that matters.

His web site is here: http://www.gmccollum.com/



John Edwards is an incumbent who needs to keep his seat. Gordon 20024's diary here http://www.dailykos.com/... Republicans flipped a Dem to run against him as an Independent to split the Dem vote and they’re also running a Republican woman against him to try to get the women’s vote. Edward’s website page here http://www.johnedwardsva.com/



Hugo Reyes – one of the things I like about him is that he says this” The legislature is here to serve citizens; the citizens are not here to serve the legislature.”

He’s running against the most powerful Republican Senator (and the way they are acting I would swear the Democratic Party is backing the Republican!!!!)

When elected, Hugo Reyes will become the first Hispanic to serve on the Senate of Virginia.

Gordon 20024's article here http://www.dailykos.com/...

Wesite here http://reyesforvirginia.com/



Lynwood Lewis is the incumbent. He won in a special election by 15 votes. He needs to hold this seat so the Dems can flip the Senate

Gordon 20024's article here http://www.dailykos.com/...

Website here: http://www.lynwoodlewis.com/



Dave Belote is one hot shit, hot shot military dude. How could you not vote for him?

Gordon20024’s diary here http://www.dailykos.com/...

Website - http://www.votebelote.com/

Wayne Powell is one of my faves. Gordon20024 hasn’t diaried him yet, when he does I’ll link it. Powell ran against Eric Cantor and without any party support got 40% of the vote. When women were protesting the mandated transvaginal ultrasounds (state sponsored rape) Powell went down and represented the women being arrested – pro bono.

His website it http://www.powellforsenate.com/



April Moore is an underdog, running in a terrible (for Dems) district. She is running against a guy who introduced a bill that all miscarriages needed to be reported to the police within 24 hours or they the woman would risk facing a 1 year jail sentence.

Gordon20024's diary http://www.dailykos.com/...

Here website is http://aprilmoorestatesenate.com/

And there are tons more, just check Gordon20024’s diaries. Pick your own faves. What can you do to help them, besides supporting 90for 90?

Well you could:

~Send an email blast to all of your friends to remind them of the election in VA and ask them to remind their friends. (We should have a contest to see who has the most 3rd degree of separation connections in VA)

~Put the link to 90 for 90 on your Facebook page with a note reminding folks there is an election in VA.

~contact candidates at their websites, ask what you can do to help them

– like their Facebook pages, etc. Maybe even phone bank for them.

~If you have it, send $5 or $10 to the candidate of your choice in VA. Many of these guys are sacrificial lambs being sent to the slaughter. Help them out. If you have it in mass quantities send $50 or $100, it might not be a lot to you but it’s a lot to them.



I want to suggest that whatever we send we add 90 cents to. I’m sending $10.90. Just to show them that we support 90 for 90.

We have 2 weeks to help these guys win. To wield the power of this formidable force we are part of so let’s do it.

And what will we do the day after election? Dr. Reid says “Voters registration year round! Each election is a dress rehearsal for the next, as soon as this election is over, start again."