Despite a Democratic majority in congress, it often doesn't seem that way. All too often supposedly Democratic congressman vote for something, which goes against the Democratic base, and appeases Bush. Where are their constituents? All too often, their constituents are uninformed or not sufficiently engaged in the electoral process. We must reach these people, and tell them to call their representatives.

I propose we get a list of the constituents in every congressional district in the country. Next, we can set up a phonebanking site like Obama's effort. However, instead of targeting it towards a particular campaign, it should centered around lobbying for important issues.

I posted a version of this about a month ago, but it didn't get much traction. I thought I'd try again tonight, when the primary is really, really over.

Please add a comment letting us know what you did or thanking others you know who worked hard to bring an Obama victory.

Some of my souvenirs from the campaign trail.

Now that the primary campaign is finally winding down, and victory is in our grasp, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the campaign and share some of our personal "feel good" campaign stories before tomorrow’s partying destroys our memory cells.  Many of us have made contributions to the Obama campaign, done phonebanking, participated in registering new voters for State primaries, helped organize caucuses, attended rallys, wore out one or more pairs of shoes going door to door, and so on.   So at this point I’m sure some of you have a campaign story that you would be willing to share with the rest of us.  It can be funny, sentimental, or just something that made you feel like you were making a difference.  

Please consider this a thread you can use to post such stories in the comments.  I, and I’m sure others, would be interested in hearing them.  I only ask that we try to keep it positive and refrain from any "Hillary Bashing" which no longer serves any purpose.  I will start it off by posting my somewhat mundane story after the jump /\

Wow, that was a tussle. I just got off the phone with a voter here in South Dakota, and she threw a lot of objections at me. Let's get to the good stuff, shall we? :-D

UPDATE: Thank you for all the compliments. But please take this to heart and realize you can make a difference too! Get on those phones and get the conversation started with people. THIS is another big difference that Netroots action can make.

I just got an email from an Obama campaign Voter Contact Director.

They want our feedback and have asked us to take a survey.  If you have volunteered for the campaign or have a page on the Obama site you may have gotten one too.  

I'm not sure if they sent it to their whole email list or just sent it to donators, organizers, captains or whatever because I've done all 3.

UPDATE: Based on the comments below it looks like this email is going out to everyone on their list- so please FILL IT OUT!

I do Marketing for a living I know first hand how important it is to have the right intelligence to plan your strategy.

Info. provided below the fold..

I've been calling Kentucky for Barack. At one home, when I asked for the voter, the lady identified herself as his wife and asked if she could take a message. I said I was happy to speak to her and I was calling for Barack Obama and asked the lady if we could count on her support.

She said she was undecided. So I started to explain why I thought Barack Obama would bring the country together blah, blah, blah....

And she took over.

Did that get your attention?  Here's the thing:  now is the perfect time to reach voters to tell them about Barack Obama.

Greetings form the great state of Mississippi and Cotton Mouth blog.  We are hard at it down here, doing everything we can to see Travis Childers get to Washington.  The special election is Tuesday. As of tomorrow morning we will hit the 72 hour countdown until we turn MS-01 blue.  Mississippi has four congressional districts.  Two are represented by Republicans, Chip Pickering (MS-03) and the now vacated seat of Roger Wicker (MS-01).  Two districts are blue with Gene Taylor and Bennie Thompson.  From just a home-state perspective, regardless of the national implications of this race, I want to proudly say Mississippi has 3 Dems and 1 Repug in congress.

We have already won two big special elections this season.  We won IL-14 and LA-06, two runby red districts.  The panic mode has set in big for the GOP.  They have sent Mike Huckabee and now Dick Cheney down to help the GOP candidate Greg Davis campaign.  The NRCC knows how serious this is.  They have already spent close to 20% of their cash on hand in defending MS-01.

All of us who have worked with the Obama campaign know that we would not be where we are now without the help of thousands of dedicated volunteers around the country.

One of the biggest stories of this race is still the least publicized or understood among pundits and old-school politicians. That is the story of the movement Obama has started, and how hard his supporters are willing to work to meet our goals.

Yep, that's right. According to the Poll of Polls Obama is losing ground.

Obama has not played the expectations game well, and his new Indiana superdelegate Joe Andrew didn't help by going on Fox News and saying that Obama was going to win both North Carolina and Indiana.

On Tuesday night, when Indiana breaks for Clinton, imagine all of the news networks proclaiming how big of a loss this was for Obama. Imagine the punditocracy saying that Hillary has the momentum.

Disgusted? Do something about it. MAKE SOME CALLS!

what are you going to do?  I'm not saying this to brag or to embarass others.  I'm sure that many have been more involved.  I just hope that by relating my experiences others will be more likely to get involved, b/c we need to win in Indiana and North Carolina.  So here's my story:

I made fifty calls to Indiana today.  25 to the South Bend area and 25 to the Indianapolis area (I know that you are only provided with the number and the first name, but I like to look up the area codes to know where I am calling).  I unfortunately did not get any Obama voters or talk to too many people, but I did have two very intersting conversations.

...for Obama supporters I've ever seen.

PLEASE UNRECOMMEND THIS DIARY and recommend Seneca Doane's phonebanking diary.  Let's keep the liveblog going.

You sit here and just hit F5, again and again, over and over.  You post a pootie pic, or make a relevant point, or HR someone, and think you've done your part.  You sit on your asses and think that by posting in this big orange echo chamber you've made a difference in this election.*

You know how I know that?  Because I do it too.

I'm committed to change.  Are you?

Anyone can phone bank, yes, even YOU! Take a look at the tips below, and counteract MSM's message by connecting with voters yourself.

Please?

Pretty please?

Pretty please with sugar on top?

Can you please make phone calls for our future today?  

Today I decided to phone bank. I made 40 calls to Indiana, and 30 calls to North Carolina.

I sure hope that I am not the only one spending my Sunday making calls to Indiana. What better way to use up free minutes? We have just 10 days to go and if we win Indiana this damn primary may finally be over. Please folks...hop on those phones!!

Things are going really well, so far. I have been looking up the early voting location for people, although I am really shy about asking for their address, but no one has been weird about it. No one has asked me if Barack is a Muslim. This guy asked me a really indignant question about border security that I managed to answer really, really well (pats self on back). I said, in my best Barack Obama impression "Border security is a goal that all of us can agree on. Where we disagree with is the execution, and we have to bring a common sense approach in order to finally get things done." Anyway, I was quite proud of that one and I think that dude now leans Obama.

I just wanted to ask for other people's experiences in terms of what they usually say. I am curious because I actually wrote myself a little script that I like to follow and I wonder what other people do.

My "script" below the fold.

I'm only a semi-casual Kossack (for example: this is only diary #3), but I distinctly recall seeing the reclist full of "get off your @$$, stop talking about the horse race, and go work the doors and phones!!!" diaries for the early primaries. But I haven't seen that for a long time.

I spent yesterday as I've spent the last four Sundays: phonebanking for Obama in my underwear.

There's something quite satisfying about prying open a closed mind while your boxers gap open, revealing the slightest glimpse of junk, permitting a refreshing breeze to caress one's netherlies.  But I digress.

I want to share one of yesterday's calls with you below the fold.  You can strip down to your skivvies to read it if you want to, but that's optional.