John Aravosis has the story. Here’s a leaked e-mail from Andy Tobias, DNC Treasurer, to donors:
1. An email went out asking activists to make calls to New Jersey. It was insensitive not to omit Mainers from that email. I apologize that no one thought to do that. I can’t imagine it could have cost No On One even a dozen votes, but I still wish someone would have thought of this in time to catch it. Mistake noted.
2. A different email went out to Mainers urging them to vote. As the only thing of substance anyone was voting on in Maine was Question One, and as Democratic activists vote our way, this was a small but positive effort to be helpful.
I would have liked to see that email discuss No One One directly, in case there may have been an email-enabled Organizing for America activist someplace in Maine who did NOT know where Maine Democrats stood on this issue. (Out of the country without Internet access until the night before the election?) But I’m told there was concern that advocating specifically for a ballot initiative, whether LGBT or otherwise, would set a precedent for every other ballot initiative. Bureaucracies are nervous about setting precedents.
So a couple of things:
John was in Maine with me the last couple of days, and I spoke with him while all this was going on and he was getting responses from the DNC. We now know that the DNC official either deliberately lied or misled John to squash the story, or the DNC official hastily and stupidly spoke to him without the later facts (that it was a glitch). Either way, it’s fucked up.
I spoke with another DNC official today after my piece on the OFA’s fuckups/refusals to help, and that official told me “Some Mainers inadvertently got the email, but it was not sent to our Maine list.” I was also told that this was a “glitch”, and the quote above confirms that. Okay, one might think, a glitch is your system has a few people with the wrong zip codes in them, so they get a blast meant for someone else. Whoops. Fine. That’s not actually what happened. What happened, per Tobias’ e-mail, is the DNC did a large e-mail blast on this, and wanted to make sure Mainers didn’t get that e-mail, for fear that the gays might find out and ask, how come we didn’t get this kind of help?
It’s kind of like being forwarded a party invite the host doesn’t want you to come to, and when you show up, everyone gets silent and it’s a-w-k-w-a-r-d. The party, in this case, was electoral help, and OFA wanted to make sure people didn’t find out it was being grossly insensitive by not extending an invitation to the gays in Maine. Awesome.
Andy Tobias needs a serious date with electoral organizing reality. He wrote of the insensitivity, “I can’t imagine it could have cost No On One even a dozen votes”. Just like the White House saying “but but but we invite them to conference calls!” over the “internet left fringe” comment, this misses the point by a mile, and belies a misunderstanding of how campaigns work.
The point is that mobilizing Maine OFA members could have done wonders for the campaign. If Maine OFA members had been mobilized to canvass, give, phonebank, and other activities at different points in the campaign, then we absolutely would have picked up well over a dozen votes. I remember going to Arlington, VA to volunteer the weekend before Election Day 2008. They turned me away because they had more volunteers than they needed. In Maine, there were canvass sites on the weekend before Election Day that did not have enough volunteers in them.
I personally know both of the leaders at DriveforEquality and TravelforChange, who worked insane hours to collect donated airline miles, set up ActBlue donation pages, and coordinate logistics of hotel rooms, rides, etc. to get volunteers from other states into Maine. People wouldn’t have had to take time off work and spend money to travel to a corner of the nation if OFA mobilized Mainers to help in their own state. They didn’t.
Andy seems to mock LGBT complaints in his #3 point by saying it would have been nice to ask Mainers to vote No “in case there may have been an email-enabled Organizing for America activist someplace in Maine who did NOT know where Maine Democrats stood on this issue. (Out of the country without Internet access until the night before the election?)”
Again, Andy, you’re missing the point. One of the biggest priorities for this campaign in an off-year election was turning out young voters, and that was no secret. Lots of OFA activists are young people. I’ve organized GOTV for young people in 2004 at my alma mater. Young people don’t vote just because they know where Maine Dems stand on the issue or they get a bland OFA e-mail reminding them to vote. College students vote after you’ve given them 25 reasons to, dorm-stormed, called them, set up voter reg tables in the student union, set up shuttle buses to polling places (which the No On 1 campaign did at UM-Orono), have Dave Matthews Band perform at their campus to encourage voting, and basically drag them kicking and screaming to do it. If you want to win campaigns, you have to mobilize people, not just send them an e-mail and pat yourself on the back.
So rolling your eyes and saying “but OFA activists knew where Maine Dems stood on the issue anyway, and we sent them an e-mail, so what’s all the fuss about” is irresponsible.
The “concern” that getting involved in ballot initiatives would force them to get involved in every initiative is false. As John pointed out, the DNC sent $25,000 to the No On 8 campaign in CA. President Carter came out against the Briggs Initiative in 1978. I’m sure there are more examples of the party getting involved in ballotland. And what’s more, we’re talking about an e-mail here, people. Not multiple campaign stops, which Obama gave Corzine and Deeds. Not vast organizing on a grand scale. E-mails.
It is getting harder and harder to give LGBT people a good reason to actively support this Administration and the DNC. I, for one, would like to see an apology from the DNC over all this.
Since I got back from Maine yesterday, I’ve been thinking about a few topics- tactics for achieving LGBT marriage equality; how progressive allies organize and operated around elections this year; and where we go from here. This is a piece analyzing some of the successes and failures in operations around the election. Part 2 is here.
1. The No On 1 campaign and LGBT allies. I spent several months working with the campaign and their online operation, including the final few weeks on the ground. I thought the campaign’s operations were stellar. The decision-making process was streamlined, our ads were great, the online team and allies who joined us was honed, the fundraising gave us the resources we needed (second-highest total for a ballot initiative in Maine ever), the organizing and donation of resources from allied LGBT organizations was solid, the external organizing of Maine surrogates and supportive religious groups was good.
More than a few people I talked to in or allied with the campaign on the ground expressed problems with the field model- valuing door knocks over contacts; insisting that fundraising as part of a field script continue late in the game despite the fact that we were in amazing shape financially and losing volunteers who were unwilling to fundraise; and a number of other issues. One external allied partner who did field in Prop 8- which, by all accounts, had close to zero effective field operations- were working with the campaign in Maine as well, which may have been a mistake. I was told by one field expert that if turnout is below 45%, we’re screwed; if we break turnout above 45%, we’re in better shape; and if it’s above 55%, they’re screwed. Turnout was at 58.5%– a state record for an odd-year election. And we still lost. In two consecutive ballot elections on marriage we’ve fallen short in part because of field, and that is something serious that needs to be addressed.
2. Undecided voters. I can’t give specific numbers, but there was an expectation on the ground that undecideds, which were a significant chunk in polling, would break our way. They ended up almost all breaking towards the Yes side. Whether it was because of our own version of the “Bradley effect” is unclear, but it was a factor.
3. Tunnel vision by progressive allies. I have to say first that the netroots, including you, were incredibly supportive, and I can never thank you and others around the blogosphere enough. There are too many folks to thank.
That said, working in Portland running on no sleep on Monday, the following infuriated me:
(a) A moneybomb for Alan Grayson was launched on Monday, the day before the election (yes, I’m aware OpenLeft participated). Not only was over $500,000 raised for it at the same time as we were frantically raising to counter an opposition media buy, it took up space on other blogs where others could have urged people to GOTV in Maine, and clogged inboxes while we were trying to ask for GOTV help in Maine. Folks will say that they also posted asks for Maine or other races, but they know full well people do not have time to read every single blog post or devote time or money towards every single e-mail blast, and this was not timed well.
(b) Also on Monday, I got an e-mail from the DSCC asking me to give money to “support our Democratic majority”. Last I checked, our Democratic majority is being voted on in 365 days. My election was the next day. Which is a higher priority?
(c) Also on Monday, Organizing For America clogged my inbox on Monday with an e-mail titled “Remember” asking me to- get this- “share a brief story about your best memory of the final days of the campaign” in some sort of one-year anniversary celebration. This is the best use of activists’ time and attention the day before an election?
I’m not saying these elements would have made the difference between a win and a loss, but online activists do not have a bottomless pit of money and time and attention, and they could have been better used. The “we can walk and chew gum at the same time” only works if there is enough gum to go around. That’s the same stupid rationale that gave us the National Equality March, another suck of people’s time and money in a limited resource environment. There is no reason- none- why any of these e-mails could not have been launched on Wednesday, Nov. 4th. In fact, that might have made for better returns. “Last night, progressives got hammered across the country. Contribute to Grayson/the DSCC/OFA to make sure we don’t lose key races in 2010”.
4. Organizing For America/Obama refusing to help to the point of sucking away resources. In the following ways:
(a) As John Aravosis reported, OFA did a GOTV blast on Monday. Without asking supporters to vote No On 1. But they asked New Jersey voters to support Corzine and Virginia voters to support Deeds. What would a No ask have cost them? Obama already came out against the measure.
(b) Following that, I got back to my supporter housing on Monday night to be told by Alison, who was hosting me, that she received an e-mail asking her to call five voters in not Maine, but New Jersey, which John later reported on AMERICABlog. She’s lived in Maine for 17 years and was a prominent local activist. Another person came forward to say they received the same e-mail. OFA refused to comment.
(c) The DNC contributed $25,000 to No On 8 last year. Stonewall Democrats asked them to contribute to No On 1. They refused. As we were doing a frantic fundraiser to up our media buy on Monday- with a goal of, you guessed it, $25,000- it occurred to me it would have been nice to have had that money from them. Nope. Zero.
(d) When asked its position on the initiative, the White House earlier issued issued a tepid, vanilla, “discrimination always sucks” statement without mentioning the words “Maine” “No” “Question 1” or anything that would, you know, actually influence Obama fans in Maine to vote No or support the campaign in a tangible way. What would such a statement have cost him?
The failure of the OFA and Obama to stand up for LGBT families here is just stunning. No, OFA, I will not be sending in my favorite memory of working my ass off to elect an Administration that barely lays a finger to help us win our own elections one year later. Thanks for nothing.
—
A lot of people are chiding to not do finger-pointing and laying blame. But there is a difference between blame and asking for better performance. This is not a “progressive allies/bad field/OFA/Obama lost the election for us” piece. I don’t believe that they did. But I do think better actions could have been taken. We need to learn from our mistakes, debate strategy in places like OpenLeft, and do better next time in the areas where it’s possible.
I’ve spent the day talking with campaign folks and digesting some of what happened while I was traveling back home. Tonight I’ll be on Live From the Left Coast at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST with Angie Coiro with a short preview of some of the problems that existed, both with the campaign and with problematic electoral organizing I saw in our movement and with the Obama administration. Lengthier piece tomorrow here at OpenLeft.
Update 48: This’ll be the final update for the night. Things are, to put it plainly, looking slim. We are in a deep hole by several points, at close to 90% reporting, and most of the rest of the votes yet to come in are from Yes areas. The yes votes started to report and dragged our totals down.
The campaign will be evaluating the race tomorrow and possibly after the absentee votes come in.
I don’t really have much else to say except this one hurts, in my gut, a lot.
Update 47: The No On 1 campaign manager, Jesse Connolly, just went down with us to the ballroom and announced that the race is too close to call and they are still counting. The counting could continue well into the morning. There will be no concession or declaration of victory, it appears, tonight. Things are extremely tight and no news media so far has called the race either.
I’m going to take a step away from my laptop and will probably post a final update before going to bed tonight.
Update 46: I spoke with Kate Knox, the campaign’s legal counsel. Here is how the recount procedure works:
The campaign has to wait for certification from the Sec of State, which will happen after all absentee ballots come in. In Maine, there is a no-excuse absentee ballot law and she expects there to be a “significant” number of absentees.
The certification takes a maximum of 20 days but is almost always done before then. The campaign has to collect 100 signatures and pay a nominal fee (ranging from a few hundred bucks to $10K but more likely to be a few hundred) depending on how close the vote is.
The recount is statewide, all or nothing. Not challenging individual precincts.
Based on past experience, the recount will take at least a few weeks and likely longer than that.
Update 45: The campaign is now directing staff to call town clerks to get final numbers in and look at our expected numbers there versus what they’re reporting. A lot of this leads up to a potential recount if the numbers are way off, but there are still a lot of numbers waiting to come in.
Update 44: Based on what we have and what other news outlets are reporting, now over 60% of precincts are in, including a lot of more rural places, and it’s looking like 51-49% against us.
Update 43: After talking with some people here, based on projections from the campaign and looking at the rural numbers starting to trickle in, there is a very, very good chance of a recount, and we’re making preparations for that.
Update 42: In Westbrook, a suburb of Portland immediately west, we won 55-45%. It’s a big mill town.
Update 41: Let me emphasize for those who are seeing numbers elsewhere- we’re at 57% after our more base targets that have nearly all come in- not overall. Overall I can’t talk about in detail but they are better for us than 50/50. The rural numbers are starting to come in, though.
Update 40: Places like Brewer went against us, 42-58%- those numbers are starting to come in and pull us down.
Update 39: WMTW-8 TV is reporting 24% of precincts in and deadlocked at 50-50%, 65,452 No, 64,467 Yes. We believe those don’t include the Portland absentees yet though, and they lag behind our reporting numbers.
Update 38: TABOR was also on the ballot, and it went down to defeat. Great news.
Update 37: Lull in reporting. For earlier numbers from the night from my first thread, click here.
Update 36: I now have city of Portland absentee numbers: 6,291 No to 1,762 Yes. That’s 78%-22% for us. That’s freaking incredibly good. That moves the overall city of Portland numbers to 73%-27% for us.
Update 35: We won Auburn 51.5-48.5%! That’s part of the Lewiston-Auburn metro area, heavily Catholic. Vastly different than Lewiston which we lost 60-40%.
Update 34: General update- most of our base vote cities/towns are in, and we’re at 57% overall in our targets. It’s a good number. We’re waiting for more rural parts of the state e.g. Region 4 to come in and a little of 3. See my earlier thread for an explanation of the Regions.
Update 33: OVERALL numbers in so far: 57% No, 43% Yes.
Update 32: Won the town of Waterville 54-46%. It’s 15 minute north of Augusta.
Update 31: York, ME, one of our base vote places, is 63-37%- very good.
Update 30: We won the town of Gorham, 64-36%, which is great news.
Update 29: Some video from the stage at the party downstairs- Jesse Connolly, Rep. Chellie Pingree, Gov. Baldacci, Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree, Senate President Libby Mitchell. Go here to view.
Update 28: Final % in from the city of Portland itself, largest city in the state and a heavy base vote area- No 71%, Yes 29%, without absentees.
Update 27: We lost the state capitol of Augusta, 47-53%. Not good.
Update 26: I can’t write overall aggregate numbers, but we are doing well. There are 82 precincts in overall, and we are looking at key areas to be able to project.
Update 25: We won the city of South Portland 64-36%!
Update 24: I’m going to start a new update thread and put some of the ones from earlier in the night in the extended entry in this thread.
Update 23: We won Bangor, 54-46%, third largest city in Maine.
Update 22: Campaign manager Jesse Connolly is live now on Maddow (9:19 PM).
Update 21: Let me do an overall roundup- we are getting the base vote numbers in that we need from Portland, its suburbs, and the college areas of Orono and Farmington. Bad news so far is losing Lewiston 60-40%, but not horrible. Still waiting on a lot of Region 1 precincts- where our other base votes are- and rural areas.
Update 20: State Representative Mike Casey, who represents downtown Lewiston, just sent me final total numbers- we lost 60-40%. The final reporting turned the tide. Again, that’s a heavily Catholic area, but the percentages aren’t great.
Update 19: Final numbers are in from UM-Orono campus- 81% No, 19% yes. In town of Orono itself, we won 73-27%.
Update 18: We won Kennebunkport, home of the Bushes, 61-39%.
Update 17: We won Bar Harbor, a town in “downeast” Maine- very small coastal town- 71-29%!
Update 16: We won Yarmouth, another suburb north of here, 66-34%.
Update 15: A huge cheer just went up in the room- we won Brunswick, a coastal town 20 minutes north of Portland with Bowdoin College in it, 63-37%. What we’re looking for.
Update 14: Marc Mutty is live on the local news talking about the silent majority coming out. Right.
Update 13: I just took a look at all the final numbers in from every Portland precinct. Portland is the largest city in the state. We’re winning each precinct by a touchdown or two. Portland is the uber-base of base precincts in the state, and we needed to do huge there, and we have. Mid-70s and mid-80s in terms of % No votes which is great in many places.
This is a thread for election results from Maine. I will be updating this thread from the boiler room headquarters as numbers come in. You can also follow updates on my Twitter feed. The earlier updates from the night are in the extended entry.
Update (12:08 PM): I just saw Secretary of State Matt Dunlap go on WCSH-6 in Portland- he said this morning he expects turnout to be about 35%. Now he says (I’m paraphrasing from my notes) that turnout may well exceed 50% and hit our 2003 off-year record of 50.9%, which bodes well for the No On 1 side, as that means a broader demographic including young people are coming out to vote, although it depends on rural turnout. Good news, but we still have work to do.
Woke up with morning GOTV canvassers knocking on the door of the place where I’m staying in Portland. Great start to the day.
Today’s the day we see if it all pays off. We’re 0/30 in statewide marriage votes all-time. The only time we’ve won was Arizona 2006, which was later repealed in 2008. This campaign has been well-executed, and today we leave it all on the field.
Tonight I’ll be live-blogging the results from the boiler room here in Portland. You can also follow results via my Twitter feed.
There is one last thing you can do. GOTV from home. The campaign has a Call for Equality tool for virtual phonebanking. Few hours of your time. They have shifts today from 11-1 AM EST, 1-3, 3-5, and 5-8. Sign up here.
I can’t reiterate enough how razor-tight things are. Even though things feel good, it can all come apart. I was asked about our chances on the radio last night, and I have to repeat one thing: if turnout is like a normal election off-year, we lose. That means if voters age 18-29 turnout drops through the floor as usual in an off-year election (nothing else on the ballot but a few other ballot measures), and everything else remains constant, we’re going down. The Secretary of State today predicted 35% turnout. Weather is clear, low 50s/high 40s all day across the whole state. There’s potential to boost our numbers. We have to execute a flawless field program and boost our overall supporter votes through the frickin’ roof.
So if you have some time today, Call for Equality. It’s the last, and best, thing you can do to win this in Maine.
If we win, Maine will become the first state in the country to pass marriage equality legislation, have it signed by the governor, and then upheld by the people in a vote. It will make history. Help us get our voters to the polls. Let’s go.
So I’ve spent the whole day in the No On 1 campaign boiler room. Today we raised close to $70,000 from 1,200 people. Which is stunning. I asked you guys for help this morning, when we saw our opponents did a big ‘raiser to air their new radio ad and who knows what else. You just absolutely blew away our expectations, and we think based on past fundraising they’ve done online, blew their ‘raiser out of the water.
Jesse Connolly, the No On 1 campaign manager, just walked back in the office on his way back from the bank. He saw the ActBlue total on my screen and literally grabbed my Flipcam.
My sentiments exactly. I’ve been writing about this campaign for months, asked you for a lot, and you’ve given over $7,000 at our OpenLeft/Better Dems page, and now this. I’m a little mentally wiped and don’t have much eloquent to say except thanks. Again.
If you want the latest from on the boiler room here, tonight I’ll be on The Young Turks at 8:40 PM EST (listen on Sirius 109, XM 98) and then on Live From the Left Coast with Angie Coiro (if you’re not on the left coast, click here to listen).
Looking forward to bringing home a win tomorrow for you guys.
Update: We broke through $50,000. Amazing. THANK YOU! Can you help get to $70K?
So I’m back on the ground in Maine helping the online team. Things are a little intense, so a few quick bullet points:
The latest polling from Public Policy Polling came out at midnight, showing us down 51-47%. Their methodology has a few problems with it, but they’ve consistently shown our opponents trending upward.
The field team is firing on all cylinders. Biggest concern is youth turnout in off-year. In 2005, an anti-discrimination ballot initiative went our way and we had one campus field organizer for the whole state. This year we have nine. But the numbers are tight as hell, and if turnout is like a normal election year, we’ll lose. Everyone is saying we have to execute a flawless program.
A fun chunk of the progressive and LGBT blogosphere has come to Maine for the final push. John and Joe from AMERICABlog are both here, Julia Rosen from Courage/Calitics/C&L;, Jeremy Hooper from Good As You, a number of others. We’re all spread out in field, online, video.
Our opponents just pushed out a $25,000 fundraising push yesterday and used it to buy this radio ad that just came out:
They also jumped their online ad buy (it’s really fun being here in Maine and now ads are geo-targeted to me, so I see them a lot more).
The campaign needs to increase its own buy to respond, but we need to raise to do it– we’ve put a lot of money into field. We put up a red alert this morning. $15,000 has come in the last hour. The campaign is calling it a “red alert” because we literally could be swamped on radio, online, and TV today and tomorrow- and as I wrote here, their last two ads are the most effective of the cycle. $25,000 buys a LOT of time in Maine.
If you could give just one more time for the campaign, it would go a very, very long way. Tomorrow is the big day. Thanks for this one last bit of help.
Fresh off yesterday’s positive ad, here’s today’s fear-mongering, with the homophobes Stand for Marriage Maine campaign returning to the schools theme:
I have to honestly say that this ad and yesterday’s are two of the strongest, if not the strongest, ads I’ve seen yet from our opponents. And the fact that they’re coming just a few days away from Tuesday, Election Day, really scares me. The opposition is pouring it on- they also went to the statehouse yesterday to hold a presser with groups like Americans for Truth that made its way into the local media.
I’m going back up myself on Saturday and will be there for the duration for GOTV. I just got off the phone with campaign folks, who shared this ad and said there is still a major need for calls and volunteers. The campaign is even providing free housing if you sign up to drive to Maine. If you can’t drive, you can call from home.
I am not exaggerating when I say that after watching this entire thing, between yesterday’s and today’s ads, and the presser, this is the strongest I’ve seen our opposition play ball in the entire campaign. Please help out.
In Kalamazoo, where Karl-Thomas from Burnt Orange Report is on the ground, he just told me their opposition is going back on the air this weekend. Inspired by yesterday’s 3-2-1 Countdown for Equality push around the blogosphere, they have a donor match of up to $5,000. Chip in to see our side’s response and help get it on the air. And in Washington State, where there’s also a very tough race, they also need help making phone calls to voters.
Six days left. Let’s pour it on.
Update: The new DailyKos poll out today has No on 1 at 48%, our opponents at 47%. To quote Phish fans, this thing is tighter than a mosquito’s ass.
It occurred to me yesterday as I glanced up at the calendar. Election Day. It’s now under a week away. It’s easy for me to sometimes forget that there’s an Election Day every year, especially with so much going on re health care and other issues, but there it is.
The reason I’m working so hard on Maine is because I remember last year when Obama and Democrats up and down the ballot were winning nationwide, we suffered a defeat in California. In the largest state in the union, people got to vote on other people’s marriages, and stripped them of their rights. It was completely stunning, and generated a lot of the pushback via protests and online organizing in the weeks to follow. Now organizers in California are struggling to decide whether to go back to the ballot in 2010 or 2012, which is a heartwrenching decision. How do you tell people they have to wait to get married while you figure out a political strategy to accomplish that? And if you don’t, and lose a second time, what will that mean?
This is why I’m so concerned about losing in Maine, as well as New Jersey, where a Corzine loss could mean no marriage equality in the state. While health care is raging, there’s a deadline coming up in those states, and in Washington State and Michigan. I previously wrote about Referendum 71 in WA here. In Michigan, the Kalamazoo City Commission twice approved an ordinance protecting LGBT individuals from discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations. It’s on the ballot for repeal too.
The other reason that I’m concerned is that these votes affect our movement- grassroots enthusiasm, funding, media memes about setbacks. If you don’t believe me, consider how many people you’ve heard haven’t voted for President since Kennedy in ’80, or McGovern in ’72, until Obama. All of these votes matter, and they’re all coming up in less than a week. And if LGBT activists like myself, who also care about health care, suffer defeat on all these fronts on Election Day 2009, I guarantee we will have less energy and resources to win that battle. Our movement is inter-connected.
If you haven’t found the time to pitch in yet, myself and other activists in the netroots have put together an action page here for who these campaigns are, what they need, and how to do it. All it takes is a few hours or a few dollars. You can travel to these states or you can call voters from home. Every little bit helps. While the battle on health care is raging in the Senate, we’ve got six days left to pick up victories on other parts of the playing field.
Click here to go to the action page, see what you can do, and help make sure 2009 isn’t a bittersweet year. Maine, Washington and Kalamazoo’s biggest needs are in the graphics below, and you can click on those.
Hark! A Stand for Marriage Maine ad that doesn’t completely suck! And after weeks of fearmongering, a positive one to boot!
This seems like their closing argument to me, and is a strong one at that: “we can protect traditional marriage while preserving the rights of gay couples.”
But it rings false on the merits. Even in their own ad the language is highlighted: “Under the law, registered domestic partners are accorded a legal status similar to that of a married person”. Not the same. And Gerald over at Dirigo Blue points out that on the State of Maine’s own website, the state clearly prints “it is important to remember that a registered domestic partnership is NOT the same as a marriage”. On top of that, when DOMA is repealed, domestic partners will not get the over-1,000 federal benefits of marriage. Nor will they get the respect and dignity of marriage.
Put more simply, as Nick McCoy, an organizer with HRC, said at yesterday’s DC Council hearing on marriage equality legislation, “You don’t say ‘will you domestic partner me’ to the person you love.”
At OpenLeft, we sent out an e-mail blast today (if you’re not on our list, sign up here) promoting the No On 1/Protect Maine Equality’s Call for Equality program. When I was up in Maine, I discovered how much of the state is actually very rural- too remote for effective canvassing. We have to reach those voters, and our urban/suburban supporters, by phone using Call for Equality.
It’ll take just a few hours to ensure we win this thing. No experience required, all you need is an evening, a phone and an internet connection, and the campaign even provides training.
This thing isn’t over, and the other side just made a strong closing argument. Please sign up to Call for Equality and help win this.
I just got back from Maine, where I was blogging on the ground with the No On 1 campaign, and exploring some of the contours around marriage equality in the state. It was an extremely interesting experience, and we also got a lot done on the ground. Thanks again to those of you who contributed to send me to Maine, and I hope you liked the coverage. If you missed my posts on the ground, you can find them all by clicking here.
Today’s my first day back in DC, and it’s also the first day of the DC Council hearings on the legislation to legalize marriage equality. For a little background on the legislation and its chances, click here. I’ll be testifying this afternoon (you can watch it starting at 3:30 PM EST live streaming here, and follow #DC4M on Twitter for updates from myself and others).
I talked a lot with key players in Maine around the legislative push in their own state (I’ll be writing more on that soon). One of the biggest moments was their own public hearing. Expected attendance grew so large that they had to move it to the convention center in Augusta. 4,000 people ultimately attended- an incredible number. Our side outnumbered opponents 3-1, and we asked supporters to wear red to be easily identifiable. It was cited by many I spoke to as a big moment in helping wavering legislators see the outpouring of support throughout the state- particularly when moving testimony came out, like that of Phillip Spooner, whose video now has over 500,000 views on YouTube.
Here in DC, we’ve turned out a record 269 people to give supportive testimony as well (we expect, as in Maine, the overwhelming majority to be in support), and will also be wearing red. I’ll be talking about some of the striking similarities of Maine to DC, as well. We’re applying a lot of the lessons that were learned up there to our legislative situation down here, and hopefully we’ll be equally successful. More to come.
This is part of a series of on-the-ground coverage with the No On 1 campaign in Maine, generously funded in part by you and with the support of the New Organizing Institute’s National LGBT Blogger and Citizen Journalist Initiative. For other posts in this series, click here.
Since I’ve arrived in Maine, I’ve spent a good deal of time exploring people of faith, their reaction to same-sex marriage, and involvement in the No on 1 campaign. I wrote previously about Bishop Gene Robinson and his framing of religion and same-sex marriage here, and about supportive religious communities here.
Today I want to talk about the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese here, his involvement in the issue- which has become something of a flashpoint here in Maine- and the backlash and response to it in the grassroots.
This is part of a series of on-the-ground coverage with the No On 1 campaign in Maine, generously funded in part by you and with the support of the New Organizing Institute’s National LGBT Blogger and Citizen Journalist Initiative. For other posts in this series, click here.
Back in college, I did a lot of organizing around the 2004 Presidential election. In particular, I organized large out-of-state canvass trips to Pennsylvania and Ohio for America Coming Together. The logistical barriers were enormous in terms of cars, class schedules, and so forth, but none as large as money.
At the University of Rochester, like many colleges, everything revolved around “Flex” money, which was money you or your parents/guardians put on your ID card. Flex purchased you anything from textbooks to food to concert tickets on campus. It was frequently the only kind of currency any student had. We set up tables to sell anti-Bush merchandise to raise money for our trips, and the first question out of students’ mouths were whether we accepted Flex or not. If not, the population to which we could sell literally plummeted.
Because political travel out of state wasn’t a U of R-sanctioned activity, we could not raise money for our trips via Flex. Students did not have checkbooks, many did not have credit cards. Many had parents willing to donate online, but we had no place to accept such a donation. Sending checks in the mail took time. I’m not even sure if PayPal was around then, but it was unheard of. Fundraising was an enormous barrier.
I’m writing about all of this because ActBlue, partnering with TravelForChange.org (the organization that helped Obama volunteers travel to swing states last year), has a new tool that allows you to create a personal fundraising page to cover your travel expenses to Maine. This may seem simple, but I actually consider it an amazing leap forward. Much of the population willing to travel are young people, particularly college students willing to miss a week of class, and more spontaneous (no children, fewer hard commitments, etc.) In my organizing experience, young people have the most willingness to go, but the fewest resources in terms of finances to support travel. This helps break down that barrier. And it’s not just for young people. You can set up a page and blast it around to friends, family, etc, utilizing Facebook and other means we didn’t have five years ago. TFC.org cuts you a check, and that’s that. No questions asked. Spend it on gas, food, interstate tolls, any other travel expenses. You can also do a joint page with friends if you want to carpool.
Here’s Shai Sachs (of MyDD fame) and Ben Gonzalez, both of whom came up to volunteer. Ben explains how he used TFC/ActBlue to raise money to support his travel here from Southern California.
Talking with campaign staff here, the biggest need we have for the remainder of the campaign is volunteers. The polls are still tight. We’re two weeks out today. If you’re up for coming to Maine, but need a little financial help, get in touch with either myself (adambink at gmail dot com) or fill out the form here to get started.
Update: Marc Mutty, who runs the Stand For Marriage Maine campaign (our opponents), said today on Maine Public Broadcasting Network “We’ve never said that schools will be mandated- or, actually, perhaps we did in one ad, or certainly led people to believe that, inadvertently.” Wow.
This is part of a series of on-the-ground coverage with the No On 1 campaign in Maine, generously funded in part by you and with the support of the New Organizing Institute’s National LGBT Blogger and Citizen Journalist Initiative. For other posts in this series, click here.
The Yes On 1 campaign has gone more or less all on one message: that a change in Maine law would force local schools to teach marriage equality. It’s been the focus of their last three advertisements and mentioned in a fourth. It’s been debunked by all of the state’s largest newspapers, the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, the Maine Department of Education, a coalition of former attorneys general and law experts, and most recently by the current Maine Attorney General. 61.6% of likely voters in last week’s poll said they didn’t believe the line.
Today I went to a press conference where Speaker of the House Hannah Pingree (the daughter of Rep. Chellie Pingree) and former Attorney General Jim Tierney spoke about the lies in the ads and Yes On 1’s attacks on the current Maine Attorney General for her opinion.
It will be interesting to see if our opponents concentrate everything on this message through election day. Our side is hitting them senseless on the issue, and the over $1.15 million you chipped in last week helped put this ad on the air.
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