Mongomery Angels

Last night, I watched Extreme Makeover. It's not a show I view often, but I was given a tip that the Montgomery Family of Central Illinois would be on this episode.

http://abc.go.com/watch/extreme-makeover-home-edition/92244/239285/montgomery-family

The Montgomeries are truly amazing people. They are a family which could have been well off today if Nathan, the father, had continued working as an engineer. Instead, he and the family believed they had a calling from God to help the poor. So they founded, Salt and Light, which feeds on average 265 families each Wednesday and has a store of recycled clothes for those who cannot afford clothes or food on the table.

The house they lived in outside of Philo (about 10 miles outside of the Champaign-Urbana area) was barely inhabitable. One looks of before and after pictures in the video, and it's mind boggling.

The family got to enjoy a real vacation, their first in years, at Disney World.

I had an employee who witnessed the rebuilding and had a family member volunteer his expertise. Watching the community do this work was inspiring. It reminded me of when JRE's campaign sent care packages to the troops, helped with weather proofing a home during the campaign. I miss the esprit d'corps.

I hope Elizabeth and John Edwards saw this episode. If not, they can watch it here.

http://abc.go.com/watch/extreme-makeover-home-edition/92244/239285/montgomery-family

I confess I was very teary-eyed at the end. Here's our local newspaper's article article that describes my and many folks' emotions in watching this special episode.

This week is National Volunteer week, and I'm very happy for this very deserving family. Looks I need to do my share later in the week.

Hard Out There Petitioning for Dems in A Red District

This is another report about field activities from a volunteer's eyes in IL-15. This is about obtaining signatures for petitions to put candidates on the state ballot.




On Wednesday, I received a note from John Edwards' Midwest OneCorps coordinator that our Champaign-Urbana group would be soliciting petitions in order to properly put John Edwards on the ballot for the Illinois Democratic primary. My understanding is that this is common practice and all candidates, regardless of party, must have the legal number of signatures. Since I'm new to doing real grassroots work, I did ask how many signatures were needed. No one I asked was totally clear about it, but the goal was to get as many as possible.

Today was Dad's Day at the University of Illinois, and the Illini were playing a home game against the number 5 ranked team in the nation, Wisconsin. Big 10 game. OneCorps was meeting in Champaign near Assembly Hall between 8 and 9 this morning, and as I live only 2.5 miles from it, I chose to ride my comfort bike and meet the folks there.



It was the best method of transportation since parking was already beginning to become a premium with big tail gating parties and kickoff was scheduled for a little past 11am.

There were only a handful of us as our OneCorps chapter is very small.

But here's a picture of getting a clipboard with the petitions attached from one of our leaders.

We took our clipboards, and set forth to do some canvassing amongst the big crowds in the nearby parking areas. We were forewarned it would be a tough crowd.

The crowd was full of Red Shirters for Wisconsin and Orange Crush for the Illini. While it was exciting to see such enthusiasm for the football teams, it was clear that either the crowd goers (a) weren't interested in signing petitions or (b) were not registered voters who wanted to get a Democratic candidate on the ballot. My cohorts and I tried to stay within the same area, and they fared better than I did in getting some signatures. Both said they had better luck with women.

Moi? I got zippy-do-dah, and I believed I could obtain more fruitful results at the Urbana Farmer's/Free Market, where the crowd goers are more friendly to Democrats. My team concurred. I left them at the pre-game activities.

I returned to get my bike, kept secure in a vehicle, and the the round-up leader who had it still was around and got it out of the car, ready for me. She had found tickets for any of us who wished to get signatures, and I had one of them. However, I returned the ticket as I knew someone else could enjoy the game better. I wanted instead to stay on task for my candidate. As I told the One Corps leader, I relish a good game of college football, but I wanted to get the job done. She seemed appreciative and wished me luck getting around via bicycle the growing, snarling traffic of game attendees.

It took me almost twice as long to get home because of the traffic and waiting. I took a little time to cool off in my AC'd home as it was already 85 degrees after my arrival. I got to the Urbana Farmer's/FreeMarket by 10:30, later than I expected, but still I made it. The market was not quite as full because of the game, but we had plenty of hard core Dems passing by, and oddly Ron Paul supporters near the space. I'm supplying a pic to give readers a lens of what the farmer's/free market looks like.



I also got to say hello and chat with Tony Fabri, who is the appointed current County Auditor, but running for the election next year, and he is our County Dem chair. He remembered my name, which impressed me since I see him only a few times a year. He's a busy person.

The person of the day was Kai. She got quite a few to register to vote in our County. Of
those, many were students and new to our area. She also reminded other folks if they changed addresses, to re-register as well. Kai is the gal on the right in the picture below.



And in the end, the Illini beat Wisconsin 31-26. Good for the Illini. Not certain how the rest of my OneCorps group did, but I'm betting they were better than I was.

In the end I obtained 13 signatures for my candidate. I'll do better next week.

Canvassing for Dems in Central Illinois

This morning I went to our local Farmer's Market to work at the Democratic Party booth. I had our local volunteer coordinator pencil me in last month, and I'm very glad I went. I only regret that I wish I had brought a camera in which the battery needed to be recharged, so I have no pictures to offer.

For BW readers who are not familiar with the folks in Central Illinois, and in particular, the IL-15 Congressional District, it is very similar to parts of Iowa. The major towns in the district, Bloomington-Normal, Champaign-Urbana, and Charleston are split between Dems and Repugs. But as most of it is rural, it is pretty conservative. Tim Johnson-R has won this seat 3 times and won handily in 2006 over our Dem challenger, David Gill (a very fine candidate who was for universal health care). In 2004, the presidential vote was very close, in which Kerry-Edwards edged out Bush-Cheney by less than 2% in my county, and in my particular precinct, Democratic candidate Carrie Melin won only by %1. That's how divided we are.

This morning was a beautiful day to get out and help out our fellow Democratic candidates as the sun had come out and the skies cleared, so I had to wear sunglasses. I worked between 9:30 and 11:30. The tent had two tables out, one for all of the locals who are running for primaries and voter registration forms, the other table was for all 9 Presidential candidates information on issues as well as buttons, bumper stickers, and a donation can. I brought a homemade sign to tape on the front that had John Edwards stickers and brought some lapel stickers, as well as a few CD's that I was able to take home from volunteering at John Edwards' booth at Yearly Kos.

In front of the "locals" table was a folded poster board in which water bottles (and slots on the screw caps) were under each candidate's name and picture. We had pennies for anyone who wanted to voice their support for any given candidate, and one could use pennies for all if undecided, which I thought was great. What I liked most though was visitors could also donate change or dollar bills to put inside the bottles for the candidate(s) they favored, and some did. It's a variation of a corn kernel poll in Iowa or a straw poll of sorts, except this will be done each week for the next couple of weeks as the booth continues to be there as long as the market is open.

One fellow who is the VP of the Dem County party had 4 or 5 petitions for state and local candidates to be on ballots. He had to be neutral in his stance since his job was to solicit signatures for the petitions, and he did ask for donations occasionally if the visitors wanted to take a bumper sticker or a button for a presidential candidate, in order to have materials pay for themselves. We got more donations than I expected, considering a few weeks ago, hardly anyone was picking up materials when I visited the booth briefly. And that was great because he explained how much it cost to keep the booth open during the year, and we were doing better than break-even.

Not planned at all, three volunteers happened to be Edwards supporters. One of them gave $20 to his campaign last week, knowing it was towards the end of the third quarter, and that's all she had to give, and I said, he appreciates anything we can do for him. Another fellow came by to collect signatures for petition for 4 folks to be DNC delegates for Edwards. He was successful in obtaining the signatures, in which his name was among them. He also mentioned he had seen Edwards recently at a private function in St. Louis last week. I asked why he liked Edwards and he said it was it was Edwards' advocacy for the working poor and poverty. What a surprise to me, as most the corporate media and the mainstream bloggers keep saying poverty is not an issue voters consider. Somehow the conversation turned to Rudy Guiliani and his fundraising and I said something about his going overseas to do it. He informed me that Michelle Obama had done the same in London recently. My jaw dropped.

I also commented to our group that Edwards was the only one with a Rural Recovery agenda, and that he understood our needs best since he was originally from a rural area. The group concurred.

One fellow, who said he voted Bush last time and would vote for a Dem this time, dropped by the booth to get more information on the candidates, and asked us about their positions, especially Edwards. Luckily, because of the blog sphere, I had no trouble answering any questions. He said he liked Edwards the most, but was looking at Dodd and Biden as well and would contact them for additional information.

Another woman dropped by to say that she liked Edwards because he was the most progressive who was electable (otherwise, she liked Kucinich too, but didn't think he could get elected). I asked her what else appealed his candidacy to her. She said he is honest. While she wished he would support gay marriage, he was honest in saying he wasn't ready to go there yet, but he was for civil unions and equal benefits for all same-sex couples. She wanted a woman president, but Clinton was not electable to her, and the election is more about getting our country back on track.

In fairness to the other front runners, one woman said she wanted a woman president no matter what, so she supported Clinton She also said Elizabeth Edwards should shut her mouth to the media. I responded that I was sorry to hear she didn't support Elizabeth speaking her mind, but I did. However, her mind was made up.

Oh, so I bet you are wondering who was faring the best in the "Penny drop" poll. Barack Obama led, but only so slightly, followed by Edwards, then Kucinich, then Richardson. Clinton was 5th, and you can guess the others. But FWIW, quite a few dropped pennies for more than one candidate. There were many undecideds, just as the race is tight in Iowa at the moment. That's cool, I thought. We have a strong slate of candidates, the best ever in my life time.

Andrew Sullivan has Heard of Champaign IL

Andrew Sullivan, a libertarian pundit whose blog I enjoy reading occasionally, has posted one of the "View Outside Your Window" pics. It's from a reader from Champaign, IL. No, it's not my pic, but it's nice to see that Sullivan has an inkling where Champaign is.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/02/the_view_from_y_15.html

Other good news out of Champaign: The Chief is being retired.

American Made: Central Illinois Welcomes John Edwards

See that man on the left? That is John Edwards, and he was in Central Illinois this evening. Two old friends threw a reception for him, and what you see is Presidental candidate Edwards, talking to one of the attendees' relatives at the gig.

This was my first look at John Edwards in a more intimate setting: some one's private home. The Edwards I saw tonight was the politican I saw on TV when he voted against that awful Medicare part D bill, but geniune, warm, and if he had any troubles on his mind, he never showed them. Instead, he graciously talked to all in the room, and anyone who wanted to have a photo made, got one.

Yours truly included. At the time the photographer shot the pic, I asked JRE how the roll out of the health care plan went as I didn't see him today went. He said great. Other than saying hello to him, that was conversation in total with him, other than he recognized me from the Iowa gig on Deember 28th. I didn't mind at all.

I learned a couple of things about Edwards that I didn't know tonight. One is that he only rides in American made cars. And tonight, he was driven to the reception in a red Pontiac Grand Am, and not a brand new one either. I thought that was so cool that his principle to stand tall with the unions transcended into the campaign through and through.

The second, which didn't surprise me, but such a nice touch, was that he said hello to all of the catering people and thanked them for their service. Wow. I wonder how many Presidential candidates do that?

My button that NCDem Amy gave me was a conversation getter. I had forgotten that I was wearing a pin no one else had. And they (hosts and some others) wanted one that said, "One America." Something for the campaign to think about.

Related, his hosts were just as warm and caring as Edwards. Dave, as he is known to his friends, showed me a sign that was from the 2004 DNC in Boston. JRE's signature, along with Senator Dick Durbin's, was on it. Dave was proud and humble at the same time when he introduced JRE (after shaking hands with many) as the man who was the same off the camera as he is when the camera lights were on him. I shared with Dave that I had to give Bush only a tiny bit of credit: I never knew how much I loved my country until Bush got us into so many messes and that only JRE was my trusted choice to give us back our country and fix the problems.

Intrigued by my button, another couple was nice to approach me and start a conversation. They were from a longer distance away. They told me how their son, who is now in law school in Ann Arbor, was an undergrad in the northeast when JRE was first running in 2003. He was interested in Edwards as a candidate after he announced on the Daily Show, and was accepted as an intern until March 2nd, 2004 (and yes, we all still remember that don't we, but I'm not even gonna link there). But between the time he became an intern and the end of the internship, there was a tragic accident that happened at the young man's school. Elizabeth personally e-mailed the young man to give him web sites and other suggestions to pass on to grieving parents. I told them that while this was not in Elizabeth's book, I was not surprised to hear it either. It was really nice to hear their personal stories and why they supported Edwards.

I talked with some Dems from my county. They weren't still completely certain if they would support him or our junior senator. But I reminded them that Senator Obama had a cake walk in the last election, and he would be hit hard this time around. JRE had the experience from the last time, and learned from it.

JRE gave a great speech tonight. It's similar to the ones I've heard before, but he spoke very passionately in stopping the escalation in Iraq. His expressions were so authentic, and from the heart, while giving the best reasons why we needed to get out.

Someone asked him about his interview with Ezra Klein that his father in law, who worked for a prominent MSM, asked him to ask JRE about. JRE replied that he was way ahead of most people in the room, and asked how many people saw that blog (I was one of two who raised my hand). He was quick to say, "this is about Iran", then he said he felt strongly about engagement first and it was "stone stupid" to have a pre-emptive action. He also mentioned that Bush was going to engage everyone else in the Middle East but Syria and Iran, which he believed to be unwise, considering the Sunnis dominate the Muslim world, and the Shias, which are 10% are from Syria and Iran, yet Iraq's government was more Shia. Edwards added that with cooperation with the Europeans, we could offer the Iranians an attractive economic package and work with them on nuclear enrichmnent for civilian purposes.

Some one else asked him about why the folks in the room should support him. More or less, he said that while there were similarities in some political issues, one had to decide if voting for a President included personal character. Do you vote for someone who is strictly careful? For personal or political ambition? Or someone who is working for the country beyond just personal interest?

A short time. He was there only a hour and 15 minutes. But he had to move on.

I want to say something about his advance women tonight. They worked their phones and themselves very hard. I met Nicole, who had worked for JRE before. I met her at the airport and we waited for JRE to greet him. Her phone rang many times. I was amused at keeping a battery charger with her at all times, and her phone was plugged. Nicole ensured that my "Home" books were signed. She was fascinated by my story about chatting with Elizabeth and how she mentioned me at the PDF. I found out that Nicole was originally from Austin, and her mom lived in the town where I used to live: College Station, TX.

Lauren was a kick. She made things happen, including that I got a name tag at the event.

I might add I was the only blogger there. It was so interesting to talk with a crowd in which most still got their news from the TV or newspapers, although some reading a little on the Internet. I was asked what it was like to be a blogger, and it took quick thinking on my part how to answer that since I've been doing this for only 3 years. Scouting and seeing what's being said about the Senator. Reading all kinds of issues, keeping up with the top blogs.

And the only person I sort of knew before the event was JRE. Now I know a few more.

American made, the entire gig. Matches John Edwards, also American made, the guy who remembers where he came from, and very at home with everyone he met.

PS. I'm not certain why my teeth look worse than they are when one clicks on the pic of him and me. I have no cavities, and I brushed well before I saw JRE, other than I had two diet cokes before he got to Central Illinois. One of my teeth looks like if as though I had popcorn put on it, LOL. Oh well. Life in the blogger lane.

Central Illinois Dem Touts Fairness for 2008 Primary

From the Bloomington Pantagraph:

SPRINGFIELD -- A top Illinois fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards says moving the state's 2008 primary election to boost U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's chances is a bad idea.

David Dorris, a trial lawyer from McLean County, said Thursday that a proposal floated Wednesday by House Speaker Michael Madigan "just doesn't sound right to me."

"There's something that just strikes me that it's not right to manipulate the date for one specific candidate," said Dorris, who has hosted a number of big-dollar fundraising events for the senator from North Carolina.

Madigan, who also is chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, suggested that Illinois should bump its 2008 primary date from March 18 to February 5. He said the move would help Obama build momentum if he decides to run for the White House.

The earlier date would put Illinois on track to hold its primary election after Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Otherwise, the winner of presidential primary sweepstakes could be decided by the time Illinois traditionally holds its primary in the latter part of March, Madigan said.

Obama has not formally announced his plans to run for president, but a spokesman said he welcomes a change in Illinois' primary date.

"Obviously, Sen. Obama is working through his decision whether or not to run for president. But he is proud Illinois can play a larger role in determining the nominee in 2008," said spokesman Tommy Vietor.

Dorris and his family have contributed more than $400,000 to state and federal candidates, including Edwards, Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who will have to sign off on the proposal if it is approved in the House and Senate.

Wonder how this will play out.

Folks I talk to down here like Obama or Edwards. HRC isn't even close.