Three members of RaisingKaine -- Josh, Lowell and myself -- hit the streets of Washington DC today and handed out copies of this flier. I am happy to report that by the time I left, I had handed out over 360 of my 500 fliers. Of course, not everyone we talked to was interested in Virginia, but many people were enthused about taking out a Bush right winger like Jerry Kilgore. We met a variety of people from mothers (and grandmothers) to young people, veterans and civilians, moderates and leftists, Democrats and Greens, blacks and whites and Latinos, even Brits and Canadians! We talked to folks from Northern Virginia, Richmond, Charlottesville, Roanoke - and a huge number from Pennsylvania, all of whom, not surprisingly, absolutely despise Republican Senator Rick Santorum. We met a number of people who promised to distribute fliers all over the state. In fact, our fliers were so popular, people even took some to hand out for us, and people showed me how they had already gotten fliers from random people (not just Josh, Lowell, and I). Even my own mother handed out some fliers for us. The best feeling was when people walked up to us and REQUESTED our fliers!
Overall, our message appealed to many people because it was far more reasonable than others. We talked to people about how every race matters, and about how Republicans use grassroots organization (e.g., thousands of calls are being made into Virginia today from out-of-state Republicans on behalf of Jerry Kilgore) to win on the Federal, State, and local levels. We stressed to people that Democrats need to do this too. One tag line we used was that Jerry Kilgore is a Bush clone, who will ruin Virginia, the best managed state in the nation, just like Bush ruined America, the greatest nation in the world.
We still have plenty of fliers that can be handed out at various events, and we can print up lots more. We still have 6 weeks to go, which is plenty of time. What we need now is more money (and also more volunteers)! Think about it, folks: at 5 cents per copy we can produce and distribute 1,000 fliers for just $50. If you're kind enough to give us $100, we can reach 2,000 potential voters. If you're really rich and have $500 to spare, we could hand these things out to 10,000 potential voters!! And that's not even mentioning the targeted advertising we could do with donations of $25, $50, $100, whatever. So PLEASE, give generously to the RaisingKaine PAC (see "Click and Pledge," above right) and let us keep up the work we're doing to elect Tim Kaine, Leslie Byrne, Creigh Deeds, and Democratic House of Delegates candidates this November 8. Thanks!
P.S. For out-of-state supporters - YES, you can give money to the RaisingKaine PAC! Many of us give money to other races, such as Paul Hackett in Ohio a few months ago. So, don't be shy, friends from DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania, or wherever. Thanks.