While Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, along with Rudy Giuliani, openly mocked and derided the job of community organizing at the RNC convention, another 100 people got engaged through UA house meetings during those three days -- and the pace hasn't let up yet. In fact the frequency and level of interest keeps going up.

A packed house: over 50 people came to this house meeting hosted by an Obama supporter and UAPA member. It's easy and fun to host or attend a house meeting.

Ohio Women voted 54% for Al Gore in 2000 but only 50% for John Kerry in 2004. That was the difference in the election.

WOMEN WIN ELECTIONS!

The Ohio Democratic Party is undertaking a targeted postcard initiative to reach at least 118,000 persuadable women voters who are soft-Republican and Independent voters likely to have children. It's up to us to talk to these women about why we are voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden and the rest of the Democratic ticket this year.

Friday, August 22, 2008

By Darrel Rowland and Mark Niquette

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

As Ohio Democrats pack for their national convention in Denver next week, they have quietly rolled up an advantage that almost no one has noticed: nearly a million more registered voters than Republicans.

Almost three times as many Ohio voters have become Democrats as have become Republicans since the summer before the last presidential election.

Read the full story.

Your response to our sign initiative has been outstanding! Over the last several days we distributed hundreds more signs online and at the Labor Day Arts Festival.

Be a part of the movement here in UA. Planting a sign really makes a difference in ways you may not know. Your public show of support impacts people in your neighborhood who trust and value your opinion.

Abraham Lincoln famously said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." That is what John McCain is hoping when he urges Hillary Clinton supporters to switch to the GOP. We cannot let him succeed.

The primaries were exhausting and sometimes acrimonious and divisive. We know and understand the utter disappointment of Hillary Clinton's supporters; many of our group are among that number. But we must look to the future and November.

If you live in neighboring communities (or anywhere in Ohio, for that matter) we have yard signs that you'll love!

Announcing our Ohio for Obama signs! These weatherproof signs will take you through the election and beyond. Display your pride with your new Ohio for Obama sign, and announce to the world that you support Barack Obama and his platform of change we all can believe in!

Want to know the centerpiece for Obama's strategy for winning Ohio? In two words it's:

House Meeting

On-the-ground, good-old-fashioned grassroots field organizing and social networking is the game plan for winning in 2008. Yup, it's that simple.

It's not going to be the usual candidate campaign tactics in which hordes of political types swoop in and knock on thousands of doors without regard to communities, churches, neighborhoods, cultures and existing networks.

This community organizing and house meeting video describes the house meeting concept. It's not too much different than the UAPA house parties you may already be familiar with, but a big difference is emphasis on grassroots social networking compared to other campaigns. Read 'Obama's paid staff dwarfing McCain's'.

Can you host or attend a house meeting? Sign up here.

Not sure what hosting a meeting entails? It's really easy. Check out our House Meeting Frequently Asked Question list.

Sign up to host or attend a house meeting and we'll contact you with details on how to organize your network to help Obama!

Andrew Sullivan nails it [in the Atlantic]:

"What the Obama campaign has lost sight of, I think, and what it needs to regain control of, is the essential message of his candidacy. After the last eight years, we simply cannot risk a continuation of the same reckless, belligerent, argument-losing, ideological and deceptive foreign policy of the current crew.