Action Alerts for the Masses
Submitted by akreider on Sat, 07/17/2004 - 17:27.If you are an activist who uses email, you are probably overloaded with Action Alerts.
You know you should be calling and writing Congress, but you also have a sneaking doubt that it just isn't worth your time.
I think you are right. I think national action alerts are rapidly losing their effectiveness as people are bombarded by 101 appeals, and email and email petitions are practically useless.
Fortunately, I believe we can resurrect Action Alerts by creating a grassroots system that focuses on local targets. By targeting people who are not used to being targeted, a small number of emails or calls can make a substantial difference in a local campaign.
The Other Election
Submitted by akreider on Sat, 07/17/2004 - 16:35.On June 28, Canada had a federal election and nobody in the US noticed.
The election was the closest race in over twenty years. The Liberals (a centrist party), who have been in power since 1993, were well in the lead in the polls when the called the election. The new Liberal leader, Paul Martin, wanted a mandate to govern and to hold an election before the newly formed Conservative Party (which was a merger of two rightwing parties) had its act together.
Well, just after he called the election the Liberal's support fell about 10 percent. The entire election campaign was a neck-in-neck race between the Liberals and Conservatives - both at about 33%. The (loosely social-democratic) New Democrats (NDP) were hoping to make some gains as they were polling at their highest levels (around 16%) in any national election campaign since 1988. The seperatist (and somewhat progressive) Bloc Quebecois was set to win an overwhelming majority of the seats in Quebec. And the Greens (at 3-5%) actually stood a chance at winning their first ever seat.
My First Blog
Submitted by akreider on Sat, 07/17/2004 - 16:16.Hello Blog World!
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