Voting While Trans*

These are the things I wind up wondering about when I have not had my coffee. How would a trans* person vote in a state with strict voter ID and also anti-trans laws? (And no surprise those seem to go hand in hand). Thanks to my amazing LGBT Facebook network, I got an answer pretty quick! It's not a perfect solution but it's good to know there are resources out there. If you or someone you know is in need of this information, visit votingwhiletrans.org .

Let's Get Deep (Canvass)

(Note: This video was part of a different, similar experiment from the Los Angeles LGBT Center)

This is MUCH appreciated guest post from Amanda McLain-Snipes, an LGBTQ movement operative working at the Equality Federation, providing direct support to our members in creating successful, targeted issue education campaigns. She is based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The history of studying this kind of canvass is a little fraught, but results could have great implications for how we do field.

We all know the drill. Knock all the doors. Make all the phone calls. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. What if I told you that each of your conversations with a voter would take about 12 minutes?

Yep. 12 minutes.

Let’s dive in and talk about deep canvassing. This summer the Equality Federation, Freedom for All Americans, and the Movement Advancement Project partnered on a research project to decrease bias toward the transgender community, particularly in restrooms. You read that correctly. We spent our summer researching why people are uncomfortable going to the same potty as transgender folks. And let me tell you, what we found was very interesting. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s start from the beginning. At the end of May this year, about 30 operatives gathered at the Rush Center in Atlanta, GA hosted by the Georgia Equality team (thanks for all the snacks!) to train on the latest messaging best practices, volunteer recruitment tactics, and field strategies to kick off our Summer of Action. The project brought in teams from Atlanta, GA, Jacksonville, FL, Scottsdale, AZ, and Cleveland, OH. We were nothing if not ambitious.

One month later our “Summer of Action” teams on-site would be doing their first practice canvass. That means from our time in Atlanta to the week of June 20th, they had exactly four weeks to recruit and train volunteers to knock on doors in the communities they call home and discuss the experience of transgender people. Why? We want to know which methods have the best impact - long or short conversations? Over the phone or at the door?

Wait, what is this about phones? After practicing and recruiting for a few more weeks, our teams went live and started collecting door data across all 4 sites in the middle of July. Then, in August, we ran the experiment again, but this time on the phone. Yep, long form conversations sharing our stories over the phone with voters.

So let’s dive into what these conversations looked like 1 on 1. Right out of the gate, we would get a person’s rating on the issue, after getting an initial ranking and establishing a rapport, our canvasser would show a video - one that our opponents used in a previous campaign. The intention is to trigger the worst of the voter’s potential concerns. We would then have an in-depth conversation, probing fears, asking questions to explore their thoughts and fears. By actively listening and engaging with the voters, we would get to the heart of what was driving their concerns. This is where deep canvassing breaks from traditional outreach. We asked lots of questions and spent a substantial part of the conversation listening to the voter. After exploring any concerns, the canvasser directly addressed their worries, showed a video from our side, and asked for a reaction. Finally, we wrapped up the conversation with one more rating and ended the interaction.

That’s a lot to digest and we’re still combing through our findings. Clearly, the potential implications are high - we will learn how to target our conversations to have maximum impact on the people we need to reach to protect our transgender friends and neighbors from prejudice. Beyond the scientific findings of this project, there are immense implications for the organizing community. You do not build a deep canvass project overnight. We essentially built a small congressional scale campaign across 4 states (no director lived in the same state as a site) and had “election day” within 90 days. Programs like this require rigorous trainings (an avg. training was 1.5 hours), extensive actions (a shift was about 5 hours), and substantial volunteer recruitment efforts (our teams did VRPBs at least 3 nights a week) --- plus a leadership development program to put volunteers in positions to train and run actions as the scale increases (we would often tack a leadership development training onto a phone bank). Keep in mind - there was no proposition on the ballot in any of the places we did this work. That means our teams felt the urgency of the work and our volunteers were motivated by the desire to make every day life better for trans and gender nonconforming folks --- not by a call to action using election day as the prime motivator. By including folks on the ground to the research work undertaken by our movement, our communities are informing the national strategy to win equality in the communities we call home.

The juice of a deep canvass project is to move the voter to a vulnerable place where they can critically reflect on their own views and experiences of the issue --- without feeling personally judged by the canvasser. That’s a hard needle to thread. But our preliminary findings show that once we get someone to come with us who is affected by the conversation, they stay with us in the face of our opposition's strongest messages. Their support is durable. This opens up a world of whole new timelines and tactics for issue campaigns. While many groups from racial justice to gun safety to reproductive rights are working on policy change - effectiveness of the deep canvassing tactic was only publically shown for the LGBTQ movement - from reducing prejudice toward the transgender community to opening minds about the freedom to marry.

Too Late to Rand Paulogize

Rand Paul just launched his presidential campaign and it is already a laugh outloud shitshow.

As the National Journal's Matt Berman points out there are a few issues with Paul's "Show Your Support" page.

By far the crowning achievement has to be the inclusion of "Jew for Rand." To quote Louis CK, "Jew is a funny word because Jew is the only word that is the polite thing to call a group of people and the slur for the same group." "Jews for Rand," would have been more acceptable, but as a colleague pointed out, why bother making it plural when there is no indication that it will apply to two or more people? Neither the liberal nor the conservative Jewish political base is fond of Paul, albeit for different reasons, so maybe this was made for one specific Jewish person.

Apparently the graphic has since been changed to "Jewish for Rand which also sounds ridiculous. ("Oh man you donated to Rand Paul? You're totally Jewish for him.") For the curious, since "Jew" is both a religious and an ethnic identity, the best bet would have been "Jewish American" for Rand. (because you wouldn't say "Black for Rand" or "Mexican for Rand"...for, well a variety of reasons.)

In fairness, the lack of consistency extends itself to other constituency groups as well. There are Iowan, South Carolinians and Nevadans, but simply "New Hampshire" for Rand.

More telling are the constituency groups that are absent from the selection including Women, Muslims and the LGBT community, presumably because he has no intention of appealing to them. He did find time to include "musicians" though. Thankfully the good folks at Americans United for Change decided to help him out on that front.

(You know because of how he is always shushing lady reporters or as I call them, reporters.)

Also it is not very intersectional of him. I mean, what if you are an Italian American, Catholic Fisherman? How do you decide?

This is going to be one hell of a primary.

What I Wish I Had Known At 30 With Michael McCall

Michael McCall, 36, Director of Campaign Services at Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund

As you may remember these were supposed to be posts leading up to my 30th birthday in November and I promise you I asked Michael to do one well in advance (I think he was actually the first person I asked), but it is a testament to how much I value his advice that Mike officially finished this post yesterday and I was willing to wait. Michael "Chris Traeger" McCall is my fellow redhead, Scorpio and Edwards alum. He is one of the most positive people I know and displays more charity and patience in a typical work day than I do in an entire financial quarter, which I know because is also my current boss. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Michael McCall.

1) Tell us a little about your career path.
I think my path was a little different than most, in that I wasn’t very politically involved when I was younger. I would’ve characterized my high school and college self to be straddling the line between “libertarian” and “anarchist”. But while earning my Economics degree at Ohio State (go Buckeyes!), I spent a lot of time analyzing budgets and realized that I was a lot more liberal than I thought. So there I was, a graduating senior who really didn’t want to work at a bank, and I saw an ad in the school paper that said “Get rid of George Bush. Make $10/hr.” And I thought, “I like both of those things!” I worked 9 months in the 2004 cycle as a paid canvasser, hitting doors 4-5 hours a day, 5-6 days a week. I had hundreds of doors slammed in my face. I lost 50 lbs because I was eating a pair of Power Bars for dinner every night. By most measurements, it was a miserable job. But for the first time, I felt like I was doing something that mattered. It took me another year or so to decide to jump into campaign work full-time, but then I had a great opportunity in 2006. Mary Jo Kilroy in Columbus gave me an amazing opportunity on her first Congressional run and I served as her Field Director. After that race, I basically moved from state to state, campaign to campaign, until I walked into a Democratic trivia night in Loudoun County and met my future wife. After that, I started looking for something that would still allow me to work in progressive politics, without the all-consuming campaign lifestyle that seems to preclude the possibility
of grown-up relationships.

2) What are you most proud of?
I was a pack-a-day smoker for a decade, so completing Tough Mudder a couple of years ago was a big deal personally. Professionally, it was pretty cool when my friend Mary Gonzalez was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2012. It was one of the first races I worked on at Victory, and when I see what she’s accomplished and the lives she’s changed, it gives me a thrill to have been a part of that. 

3) What is the best advice you've received?
My dad always used to say, “There aren’t enough good listeners in the world. People liked to be listened to.” Like most kids, I was kind of an idiot and didn’t listen to him as much as I should. But as I’ve grown older (if not up), I think about this more and more. This is a business of talkers, and conversations can often feel like a competition to make the incisive statement, or witty bon mot. When you’re busy talking, or waiting to talk, you miss out on so much. Even if you think the person you’re speaking with doesn’t know as much as you do, or is wrong, you do yourself a disservice to shut them out.

4) What is the worst advice you've received?
Bad advice is not usually worth remembering, so I don't. I will say that I used to have this perception that to be taken seriously you had to be mean. You had to harden yourself, be sarcastic and cutthroat. A college roommate of mine showed me the power of kindness, how being accepting and kind to someone is a sign of strength because that generosity just highlights how much you have to give. I have really learned the power of being kind and that is something I didn't inherently understand. (Editor's Note: This is something Michael is SUPER good at that I strive to be.)

5) What are you still trying to learn?
Patience. Empathy. How to take the work we do seriously without taking myself too seriously.

6) What was the best thing about being in your 20s?
Everything I owned fit into the trunk of a Honda Civic. And ... that's about it. I've enjoyed my 30s way more than my 20s. I didn't start to figure out what I wanted to do with my life until my mid-twenties and I probably wasn't all that good at it until my late twenties. I look better, feel better and do better now.

7) What one thing should I absolutely do before I turn 30?
30 is not the be all and end all of anything! Age ain't nothin' but a number. I will say this – many very intelligent people grow up thinking of themselves as, essentially, brains that are supported by an unimportant meat sack. It leads to a lot of poor health habits that take a toll on anyone, but become bigger issues the older you get. My advice? Take care of yourself, physically. Find some kind of exercise that you enjoy. Learn to cook. Floss.

8) What's the best thing about being 36?
I feel like I have a good mix of childishness and adulthood. I’m a homeowner, I’m getting married in a couple of months, but I don't feel old. I always made it a point to remember what childhood is like – the wonder, the fear, the sense of possibility. I never wanted to be the guy that let that go. And now I feel like I’m in this zone where there’s still a world of possibility, and I have the freedom and financial wherewithal to actually do stuff. 

9) What are you most looking forward to?
Kids. Learning new things.

10) What else?
One thing that frankly shocks me is the number of people in our industry who treat people badly. It offends me on a moral and ideological level, but it's also a massive strategic failure. Try to treat people well - everyone has something to teach you if you're not too stubborn or stupid. Other than that? Learn to play chess. And if a consultant is taking you out for dinner, order the steak.

5 (Well-Intentioned?) Faux Feminist Mistakes That Need To Stop Now

Is it me or is feminism being discussed more than usual these days? Everyone wants to know which celebrities do and don't identify as feminists and there's no consensus as to what feminism really even means. It should come as no surprise then that even among self-proclaimed feminists the standards for and definition of feminism remain unclear. While this post is neither explicitly about campaigns nor elections it is on a topic we discuss with great frequency and that is integral to our work. Far be it for me to tell you you're feministing wrong, but I'm going to. Here are five behaviors masquerading as feminism (fauxmenisms) that we need to stop in order for us to truly move forward.

1) Father of Daughters. The Toast really nails this one. Father of daughters feminism is the cliche that as a father you become protective of your daughters and it causes you to see women differently. It's that old adage that you should "treat every woman as if she were your wife or your mother." It's sweet, and well-meaning and couched in old school family values. It's also super problematic. (Oh yes, I'm breaking out the P word.)

First, you shouldn't need to have a female child to know not to treat women like objects. I don't need to push out a black baby to know not to be racist. Second, it reinforces the idea that women only deserve respect because of their relationships to men. As tumblr has pointed out, "Male privilege is “I have a boyfriend” being the only thing that can actually stop someone from hitting on you because they respect another male-bodied person more than they respect your rejection/lack of interest." You should respect me because all people deserve basic respect, not because I am another man's girlfriend/sister/wife/daughter/mother.

2) I'm Not Like Other Girls (aka internalized misogyny). This is a mistake of which I have been cringe-inducingly guilty. Many was the time in my early 20's that because of my sense of humor, my ambition or my majority male group of friends I proclaimed that I was "not like most girls." Again, the Hairpin nails it. The problem with "not like most girls" is that it almost always implies that other girls are trivial, superficial, insecure or just plain stupid, that being 'like a girl' is negative. It reinforces the myth that being "like a girl" means being any one thing in particular and that that thing is less than. In reality, you are both like and not like "most girls" because each woman is an individual, which is one thing we definitely have in common.

3) Being All About That Bass (aka fake size acceptance). Megan Trainor's All About That Bass, while being a fun catchy pop anthem highlights (at least) two fauxmenist problems. Warning: only read this article if you want that song ruined for you forever. First, the song fires shots in the imaginary war between "skinny" and "curvy" women. Let's look at the line, "I'm bringing booty back, go ahead and tell those skinny bitches that." As a woman who definitely falls closer to the curvy side of this spectrum, I think body acceptance, especially in popular culture is a great thing, but body acceptance means acceptance of ALL bodies. It is an absolute farce to imply that for me to be attractive or acceptable someone who looks different has to not be. The internal struggle between skinny and curvy women is entirely constructed by society to oppress women and sell things. Body autonomy is a tenets of any modern feminism and means, among other things, that my body is no one's business but my own.

This brings me to point number two. "My mama she told me don't worry about your size. She said 'boys like a little more booty to hold at night.'" My body is okay because I say so, not because "despite" its shape and size it is sexually attractive to men.

4) Intersectional Feminist "Experiments" (aka fat suit feminism). Recently a skinny woman posted pictures of herself on Tinder and then went on the real life dates wearing a fat suit. Unsurprisingly, people were outraged and not just the French showers of men whom she met up with. First of all, no one needs a social "experiment" to prove that society is cruel to fat women. We have that experiment. It's called society. This was basically an experiment in cruelty porn. Second, pulling the ol' pictoral bait and switch subtly pokes at the notion that women who don't conform to a particular standard are somehow inauthentic or not real women.

Finally, and here is the rub, SHE GETS TO TAKE IT OFF. I had the same problem reading Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed where the author goes "undercover" as a minimum wage worker in America. Integral to the experience of being fat, or black, or poor, or trans* is that the end of the day, you're still that way.You probably always have been/will always be that way. For this reason no experiment can ever even come close to replicating these kinds of lived experiences because privilege is not a fat suit you can take on and off. Laura Beck puts it perfectly in her article for Cosmopolitan.

"No matter how many times Tyra Banks puts on a fat suit and walks through public to prove ... I'm not sure what she's trying to prove ... she'll never understand the issues of being a Real Life Fat Woman. When you present yourself as a caricature of a fat woman, you don't bring yourself — or any non-fat people — any closer to understanding another woman's life, and you perpetuate plenty of gross myths and half truths about what it's like to be fat. The main one being, that fat people lie about their bodies to get dates."

5)Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism (aka being an asshole). I've unintentionally listed these in order of the level of rage they produce in me, so please give me a moment to compose myself. Of all the fauxmenisms mentioned here, TERFism is the most difficult to write about because it is so particularly hate soaked and dangerous. Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists basically deny the existence of (and often persecute) trans* people because TERFs believe that gender is socially constructed and sex is the only real difference between women and men. The idea is that you can't be a woman if you were born with a penis, because not being born with a penis is what makes you a woman.

First, this brand of fauxmenism is particularly deplorable because it leads to harassment of trans* people. We can argue all day about the extent to which gender is nature or nurture or performance or something in between but that's really beside the point. This goes back to body autonomy. I alone own myself body and soul and I choose how I am defined, not you. Making yourself the arbiter of who is and isn't a "real" woman is a slippery and counterproductive slope. Finally, feminism should not produce discrimination on the basis of traditional expectations of sex and gender. In fact, that's the opposite of what feminism is supposed to do.

If these fauxmenisms have one thing in common, it's that they qualify the conditions under which women deserve respect. Newsflash: All women deserve respect and opportunity, because all people deserve respect and opportunity, and women and girls are half of people. For me, that's what feminism comes down to and if you've got that down then chances are you're doing it mostly right.

Until next time.

Feminist Campaign Love and Mine,
Nancy

Happy National Voter Registration Day From George Takei

Adventures in Mississippi

Many of you know I work at the wonderful Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund in Washington, DC. Last week I was in Mississippi building the groundwork to elect LGBT candidates in 2015 and 2017. For this reason it may seem like I fell behind on my blogging mission to write 31 posts in 31 days. In fact, I was blogging every day, it just wasn't here. I won't try to be sneaky and count all my work blog posts toward my CampaignSick goal, but I met some REALLY amazing people and came back really excited to share. *This would be a good time to remind you that the views expressed on CampaignSick are mine and not those of my employer or candidates, except in this case when they are.

Click here to be directed to the Victory Fund Adventures in Mississippi Blog!

Campaign Love and Mine,

Nancy

Michele Bachmann Hints At A Run (For Worst Person)

As far as I can tell, Michele Bachmann was reading my blog and about Ron Knecht wanting to cut rape prevention and Renee Ellmers basically calling women stupid and she was like, "I gotta get in on this too."

People think her latest hate-spout is a hint at running for President, but it makes waaaay more sense that it's a hint at running for worst person in the world. Think about it. Why would we want a President who fear mongers about pedophilia? But worst person? She's up there with the greatest. This time she accused the LGBT community of working to "abolish age of consent laws, which means we will do away with statutory rape laws so that adults will be able to freely prey on little children sexually. That's the deviance that we're seeing embraced in our culture today."

When asked about a possible repeat Presidential run Bachmann said, “I think if a person has gone through the process — for instance, I had gone through 15 presidential debates — it’s easy to see a person’s improvement going through that.” Oh boy! In fairness, who can really blame Bachmann for her homophobia? The last time she ran for president she was attacked by a gay robot.

Great Ad from a Great Candidate

It's my policy not to comment on our candidates' campaigns, but let me just say this ad is different and adorable. Am I excited about Brett Smiley? Yes.

Free Advice for Potential Candidates: Don't Be A Gross Weirdo

I offer you guys a lot of free campaign advice, but here's one I never thought I'd have to share: When running for office don't pick your eye boogers and eat them on camera.

"What a strange thing to mention, Nancy" you might say. I bring it up because that's exactly what Oklahoma State Rep, marriage bigot, and Congressional hopeful Mike Turner did earlier this year. Or at least I assume so. I can't actually watch the video because the idea of watching someone eat their own eye crust makes feel the way Mike Turner feels about consensual, loving same-sex relationships. I did however listen to it and I can't help but wonder if the speaker thinks the word "mandate" means being forced to go on a date with a man. So to recap: Gay people getting married soooo disgusting that we should legally abolish all marriage. Treating your body like a booger buffet, totally legit.

Stay Classy, Oklahoma Republicans.

On Mixed Relationships, Campaigners and Non-Campaigners (Or Part I of How to Date a Campaign Boy, if You Must)

Campaignsicles, meet Laura and Adam! Adam is a career organizer and Friend of Campaign Sick (FOCS) who was kind enough to let me stay with him and introduce me to his wonderful wife, Laura, when I was interviewing for jobs. I’d been looking for a non-campaign person to write about what it’s like to be in a long term campaign relationship (most of the campaign couples I know are both in politics) and Laura generously agreed to share her perspective below. Laura and Adam met at DragonCon in college (ask them about the story of how Laura proposed, it’s adorable) and she stuck with him not only through his stint in the Peace Corps but through several candidate and marriage equality campaigns!

After reading Laura’s advice, do yourself a flavor and check out the Briskin-Limehouses' amazing cooking blog, the Kitchen Chemist and the Cook! I can tell you from experience that Adam makes a mean pumpkin pie and that their collective bag of cooking tricks is continuously growing. You could learn a thing or two! Enjoy! Here's Laura:

Mixed-Relationships - Campaigners and Non-Campaigners

So, what’s it like being married to and having dated a political campaigner, when you yourself are not one? Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes it’s great. Just like any relationship.

Little bit of background on me: I believe in my partner’s causes, if not as fervently. I’d volunteer/be a politico myself, but down that path leads to ulcers – I care enough to get angry which makes my stomach churn, and thus too much acid. Yeah, ulcers or actually learning to divorce my emotions from getting the work done. But I’m also fairly low energy and really like my sleep, so political activism is not the best career path for me. I like to say that keeping Campaigner fed, in clean clothes, and keeping the house reasonably clean (clean sheets are wonderful to sleep on) is my contribution to the cause(s). My campaigner is my contribution to the movement.

My relationship with a campaigner is really feast or famine, both in time and finances. While on a campaign, he brings in the finances but has little time. Off a campaign, he has a lot of time, but is not bringing in the finances. Part of why this works for us is that he is really good about doing the majority of keeping the household going chore-wise while off campaigns (which I become the primary on while he’s on campaign), as well as being good about hearing ‘I love you and need introvert time’, even while on a campaign and when we haven’t really interacted in 3 days. Meanwhile, I am okay with making sure that introvert time is limited to about 15 really restorative minutes. He’s good about me not coming to every. single. f’ing. fundraiser or networking event and sometimes I suck it up and come to more than I have the energy I think I have for.

Look. Here is how I look at being a campaigner and dating – you’re a niche group in the dating world. You don’t fit some mold of “normality”, “mainstream”, or what dating ‘should' look like. Which, just to be clear, is FINE.

Fuck normativity.

And gender roles. This will screen out people who want you to fit that mold rather than wanting you for yourself. Probably saving you a few bad first dates over your lifetime. It does mean that you will have to look longer and harder for someone you’re compatible with, while having less time to do so.

Here are some things I think are necessary in a partner, especially so between a campaigner and non-campaigner:
1) Independence – neither of you can allow your ‘whole world’ to revolve around each other. There will be periods when you won’t be available because Campaign. There will be periods when they will suddenly be crazy busy with their own thing while you’re not on a campaign. Deal.

2) Flexibility – see the feast or famine thing. You need the ability to make the most out of opportunities, especially unexpected ones. Adhering to a rigid plan doesn’t work when an invite to an awesome event can happen the day of, or you could have an evening together because something got canceled. Who does what around the apartment/house (assuming y’all live together) should change and change again as who has time changes.

3) USE YOUR WORDS! – seriously, if y’all don’t communicate, including about emotions, ambitions, needs, and boundaries, DOOOOOOOOM - fastest way for miscues or expectations of what’s happening to spiral out of control. Eventually, that ends up with y’all in parallel but different relationships. Campaigners are already ‘off script’ of our culture’s dating script and assumptions/expectations bad™.

So, yeah, that’s my perspective on what it’s like married to a campaigner, why it works for us, and hopefully some helpful things to think about/look for in a partner.

Or you know, you could go for casual sex, if that’s your thing. Nothing wrong with safely blowing off some steam doing something fun. Just, you know, be kind, clear, and not an asshole.

Don’t be an asshole should just be a general rule of life. Now, get back to work and make more calls.

Amazing advice! If only "don't be an asshole" were an actual rule. One caveat I did want to add (and maybe this is just me trying to make myself feel better) I think you can prefer your romantic relationships fairly gender normative and be extroverted and still have these work. At least I hope so for my sake!

What I’ve learned from my own romantic misadventures is that communication, having your own life, and having the confidence not to need constant reassurance are all KEY. Big, big thank you to Laura and Adam for sharing their story. You can check out their wonderful cooking blog here.

Campaign Luuuuv and Mine,

Nancy

I've Been Meaning to Talk to You About That

My Quick and Dirty Thoughts on What's Been Happening in Election and Advocacy News

Oh my God you guys, I miss you so much! I seriously think about blogging the way you think about cupcakes when you're on a diet: I can't have it and I want it all the more!!! The good news is operation no-blogging-until-I-finish-finals is working. I have one paper (on the definition of women's political participation as a human right) left, plus a whole bunch of editing. However, the list of things I want to blog about has been stock piling out of control and before they become irrelevant and/or consume me, I wanted to share them with you. Below are some articles and issues I've been collecting along with one or two of my witty and incisive comments each. Hopefully this will tide us all over for the next couple of days. Here we go!

Obama-rama:
Marshal Ganz from the "too good to accept Nancy" Harvard Kennedy school talking about values vs. issues for FOCS the New Organizing Institute. I'm not always a fan of the hippie-dippier aspects of the Obama campaign, but I love this because it highlights the impact and importance of empowering volunteers to take agency not just in the context of the campaign but in their own lives.
DNC Director of technology, Bryan Whitaker, on the role of technology in President Obama's election. I love this article because it gives credence to contributions and advances made from 2004 to 2008 that made the historic use of technology on the 2012 Obama campaign possible.
Jim Messina on what's next. My favorite part of this interview is that he distinguishes between what is an isn't transferable from OFA 2012.
Speaking of technology...my friend posted the Dole Kemp website on his facebook wall recently. I'm sure the Clinton '96 site was equally visually appealing. I believe the term the kids use is LMFAO.

Today in Voter Suppression:
Voter ID bill passes North Carolina house. Booooo!
Nebraska decreases in-person early voting by five days.
Conservative Colorado Group Photoshops Out Minorities In Mailer Opposing Pro-Voting Legislation Wow. Tell me that part again about voter ID laws not being racist?
Trevor Potter of Stephen Colbert/John McCain fame makes the case for electronic voter registration. Yes!
Oregon Secretary of State pushes for automatic voter registration. A thousand times yes!
Florida bill lowers the mandated number of early voting days and hours, expands the number of early voting sights Oh, Florida...
Special interests and conservative Democrats are going after fusion voting and the New York State Working Families party, again. Fusion voting is such a good idea. You know you're doing it right when the real estate lobby hates you. For more info on why I love Fusion Voting and the Working Families Party and what those things are, click here.
And....This.

Women:
People keep asking me what I think of those new Dove commercials. Here is what I think.
Women and organizers are both socialized to say "yes" when someone asks us for something, even at the expense of our own professional priorities. Great piece by friend Cole on the right way to say "no" when someone asks you for a favor.
Lindy West's response to men asking for 'the rules' after President Obama called Kamala Harris a hottie. Is it possible to get naked and roll around in a blog post? Because that's how much I loved this. For the record, I don't think what President Obama did was that bad, but I do understand where the people who do are coming from. It's all about privilege, a topic I've thought a lot about in grad school and intend to explore on this blog going forward. Seriously, read this piece. Lindy West NAILS IT.

Candidates:
Super PAC, Ready for Hillary started galvanizing support and heavily hinting at a Clinton 2016 run. People ask me if I think she'll run all the time and I always say I hope so, but after the way the media treated her in 2008, we sure as s**t don't deserve her.
In a case of art imitating life, the Onion agrees. I thought they were supposed to do satire...
Anthony Weiner is considering a run for mayor. He acted like an idiot, but I still don't think he should have resigned. I also don't think he should run for mayor.
Roll Call reports that the Hawaii Senate race is split along Clinton/Obama lines. It's called a primary, you assholes, it happened in 2008. Find something else real and not baselessly damaging to the Democratic party to report on.
Speaking of Fusion Voting and Working Families Party, did I mention I'm going down to South Carolina to volunteer for Colbert-Busch? I am.
Because her opponent does crazy things like debate cardboard cutouts of Nancy Pelosi.
Oh, and posts the phone numbers of voters who call his office. I'm not gonna say I've never fantasized about doing this, but that's what a GFY list is for.

Advocate from Where You Stand:
Ignore the tone of this article by John Hawkins who once asked me if I was going to "accuse him of patriarchy" after he pointed out that I was the only woman a panel we both sat on. (Well, now I am...) Kid wears shirt with pro-gun slogan on it to school. Kid gets in trouble. Hundreds of classmates wear shirts with pro-gun slogans on them the next day. Good for them. If anything we should be encouraging kids to engage in the process. I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Momsdemandaction.org came up with these moving and provocative ads in response to the absolutely insane failure of the gun control last week. Well, damn.
Everyday Sexism Project launches in the USA. The project gives women a space and a voice to identify the myriad ways that male privilege impacts our lives on a daily basis. I'm already blowing up their twitter feed.

Republican Operatives:
Gingrich campaign worker charged with blackmailing women, dressing up as an elephant. Argh! You're making us look bad!
Former Pawlenty aid supports equal marriage. My friend who tweeted this article editorialized, "If I had a dollar for every Republican staffer or former elected who supports gay marriage..." So, true! It's clear the direction we're going on this issue...now can we just get there?
Because speaking of which...The FEC ruled that same-sex couples can't give to campaigns like straight couples. The FEC's hands were tied. They were just interpreting a shitty, discriminatory law.

And that, my friends, is what I have to say about that. As I signed my email to my volunteers the night before the Iowa caucus, see you in victory!

(Hopefully this goes better...)

Campaign Love And Mine,

Nancy

My Favorite Mistake- Why I am Way More Excited to Vote for Barack Obama in 2012 than I Was in 2008

I want to share you guys on a little secret: I actively disliked Barack Obama when he ran for President in 2008. As a Democratic operative for a Senate candidate in a swing state, I even turned out voters for him, but I didn't like the guy. Don't get me wrong, I still voted for him. I'm not a self/poor/gay-hating feminist. But unlike the vast majority of my contemporaries, I was the proverbial voter holding her nose in the voting booth.

I'll be the first to admit, some of my reasons for disliking now President Obama were petty. I had spent 11 months in Iowa working for his opponent (John Edwards) in the caucuses. To work those kind of hours in that kind of climate (particularly for that kind of candidate) you have to believe that anyone else securing the nomination is tantamount to armageddon. In part because of the attitude and inexperience of certain staff members with whom I interacted, and in part because of my lingering sadness and confusion over John Edwards losing the primary and the subsequent scandal, I found his campaign condescending and difficult to work with.

Even after Obama's inauguration, I remained skeptical of his liberal credentials and his penchant for compromise. I was worried that he was more smoke than substance. I’ve always been more of an LBJ than JFK kinda girl.

But there was another reason I was wary of Obama’s 2008 campaign, and the candidate himself: Hope. The fervor and enthusiasm that accompanied Obama’s 2008 campaign is the stuff of legends. Hordes of activists my age and younger knocked doors, made phone calls and attended rock concert-esque rallies with the belief that this man could single-handedly change the way we do business. As a career Democratic operative, I worried that Obama could not live up to this promise and that the result would be a generation of disappointed and disenfranchised voters.

Despite having missed out on the fun (and career opportunities) of supporting the President in 2008, I view my former skepticism as a tremendous gift. I can look with clear eyes (and full heart) over the past four years and say this President has met and exceeded my wildest expectations.

I could talk about 800,000 jobs created and 32 consecutive months of private sector job growth, and all of that would be true. But I don’t really work in the private sector, and by dint of what I do, any Democratic nominee would contribute to my job opportunities. Let’s talk about what matters to me, as a voter.

1) Health Care. Devotees will remember that I’ve had a rare life threatening illness since I was 17. Had I not been on my parents’ insurance when I started feeling symptoms, I very easily could have died. Without quick diagnosis and access to specialists, I could have lost my vision, had a stroke or needed to have a limb amputated by the time they figured out what was wrong with me. I know this because there are people in my Takayasu’s Arteritis facebook group who were diagnosed too late because they couldn’t afford to go to the doctor or their HMOs didn’t provide them access to tests and doctors familiar with my disease, knowledge that is never far from my mind. Needless to say, this is an intensely personal issue for me. My President has successfully passed the first meaningful health care legislation in my lifetime, ensuring that no little Nancy is afraid to go to the doctor because her family won’t be able to afford ensuing health care costs.

2) Equal Rights. My first internship in politics was at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, an AIDS advocacy organization in New York City. It was the summer after John Kerry lost the 2004 election and spirits were extremely low. Every day I would go up to the lunch line (we served free lunch to clients who could not afford both food and the rising costs of medication) and try to get our clients to call the Speaker of the New York State Senate asking him to block a bill that cut funding for Medicare, a program on which many of our clients relied. Every day my requests were met with the same responses. “I'm sick and I'm gay. The government doesn't care about me.” or “It won't make a difference. There's nothing I can do.” It was there that I first fell in love with organizing. When I finally convinced a client to make a phone call, a light went off in my mind. He would not have made that call without me. I wasn't just giving him the opportunity to speak out on one issue, I was showing him that there was someone listening on the other end of the phone. I thought about my clients when Barack Obama made history by coming out in support of equal marriage. I thought, “See? Your President sees you, he cares about you.” I wept. It wasn’t just because some of the most important people in my world are gay and I want them to be able to get married (although they are and I do.) This could be any group. Gay marriage is a civil rights issue and my President is on the right side of it. I feel safer and prouder to be an American knowing I have a President who takes the concepts of equality, liberty and the pursuit of happiness seriously.

3) Meritocracy. There’s this myth that liberals want to move toward a socialist society where everyone’s the same and makes the same amount of money. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am a huge advocate for personal responsibility and frankly,a snob. I firmly believe that there are people who are smarter, more talented and more driven than most of society and they deserve to have more, better stuff. What I don’t believe is that all of these people are magically rich, white, cis-gendered men. Meritocracy means equality of opportunity, not equality of result. My President passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, doubled funding for pell grants and established a college tax credit to ensure that the true cream rises to the top and our country can continue to lead and innovate.

4) 9/11. I didn’t realize how much September 11th had affected to me until I spent a September across the country from New York. While seeing a plane crash into the twin towers was shocking and terrifying to anyone watching, New Yorkers experienced the immediate fear that we knew someone who was down there. I was a Senior at High School at the time and I remember comforting a girl I had never met before who was sobbing hysterically because her father worked downtown and cell phone towers were down so she couldn’t get in touch with him. Where were our parents and grandparents? My father, who grew up in the city, couldn’t bear to hear it discussed in public for weeks afterwards. While I found it crass to celebrate Osama Bin Laden’s assassination, especially with the knowledge that it could never bring people back who had died, his death settled something in me that I hadn’t even know was unsettled. It reaffirmed American supremacy in a way I found deeply comforting. My President shot the boogy man and signed the First Responders bill.

5) The war in Iraq. Have we all forgotten that this President ended the war in Iraq? A war that should never have been started in the first place? A war that was an international embarrassment? My President followed through on his commitment to end the war, saving countless lives to say nothing of money that could be spent on education and health care.

As you can imagine, its very difficult for me to relate to someone who is not excited about voting, and this year in particular. If you are one of those people who was fired up about the President in 2008 and isn't feeling it this year, I urge you to show up at a campaign office and see if you don't get inspired. I could scare you by asking you to consider what a President Romney would mean for women, gay people, and the working class, but the truth is I shouldn't have to. Our President has done so much in these past 4 years to move our country forward that his record stands on it's own even without comparison.

If after all that you still resent our President for not living up to whatever ill defined expectations you may have set for him 4 years ago, I'll make you a deal: I voted for him when you were guzzling kool aid, even though I was dragging my heels to the voting booth and the sounds of the man's voice made me viscerally nauseous- so please return the favor. I'm confident that gamble will work out just as satisfyingly for you as it has for me.

Fired Up and Ready to Go,

Nancy

President Obama 'Comes Out'...for Equal Marriage

This is awesome. And historic. Today President Obama became the first sitting President to unequivocally voice his support for equal marriage. I'd like to include the video but it's soooo new you'll have to watch and read about it here.

Not only is this HUGE NEWS for our country and for LGBT rights, it's also great news for critics who have been wondering if a second term would mean a more aggressive and liberal Obama unhampered by worries of re-election. The fact that he came out with this and other baller news (like the fight for contraception coverage) during his re-election campaign really says something. Sure it is a savvy move to reinvigorate his base, but also the right thing to do.

I have sincerely never been prouder to support this President. Thanks to Marianne for being the first one to send this to me.

Taking Back Religion: How did Mitt Romney Get on the Non-Crazy Side of Gay Rights?

Brought to my attention by JoeMyGod. Crazy ultra conservative rabbis denounce Mitt Romney a "homosexualist.*" There's really no reason to watch this video unless you have a soft-spot for hate speech.

That's right. This Mitt Romney:



I shudder to think what that would make me!

I'm pretty sure being the most pro-gay in the Republican primary is like being the slowest qualifier on the Olympic team. You still beat the pants off a normal person. In case anyone else is confused, neither religion nor political office entitles one to be a bigot.

For my friends in the sane community, I enjoyed Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism's Jewish Voter Guide. He does not advocate for a particular candidate or party, but rather a thoughtful political process.

"Jewish tradition offers us an ethical framework to guide our political thinking. And the values it teaches are clear: dignity of the individual, mentschlikeit (acting with integrity), and, above all, rachmanut (compassion). God is addressed as El Male Rachamim (God who is full of compassion). Compassion is what enables us to go beyond ourselves to the beating pulse of the rest of the world, to feel the pain that is not our own."

Whatever your religion, I think we could all benefit from a little more integrity and compassion in our political process.

Happy Chanukah!

Love,
Nancy

*PS. "Gomosexualist" is the actual word for a gay person in Russian. That's not super related.I just think its funny.

Michele Bachmann Attacked by Gay Robot

From the Iowa City Patch:

"On Thursday afternoon in Iowa City, Michele Bachmann encountered a man dressed in a robot suit, who shouted her down with the aid of a built-in megaphone. He called himself, "roboprof," and was booed and quickly asked to leave Hamburg Inn No. 2, where Bachmann made the campaign stop.

'I am a gay robot. I oppose Bachmann's position on gays, whether they are human or robot,' said the man, who declined to give his name, although he admitted to being the same robot who heckled Bill Clinton at the University of Iowa in 2007."

This, my friends, is why they call it "The People's Republic of Johnson County." It is where I spent my Iowa experience, including more than one coffee at the iconic Hamburg Inn where the incident transpired. (The Hamburg Inn is famous for being a campaign stop for every Presidential contender including Jed Bartlet. ) Oh, Johnson County activists! It's kind of funny when it's not happening to you.

You Better Work!

I've heard worse ideas. Thank you people of New Hampshire, for having too much time on your hands.

Taking Back Religion- IN OUR OWN BACKYARD

Church sign in MEDFORD MASSACHUSETTS, displayed during Boston Pride.

Okay I assure you, I am not in some sort of weird Dan Savage cult. In fact, I made myself a promise after I posted that petition to lay off the slog-overs for a while. But this was SO relevant and in my own backyard. Maybe it's none of my Jewy,Jewy business, but I don't like the message this sign is sending about Medford or about organized religion.

I like this sign:

Feel free to include it in the email if you contact them which I encourage any and all Massachusetts Christians to do.

Click here for the link to Dan Savage's blog on the issue.

And now back to your regularly scheduled CampaignSickness...

Advocate from Where You Stand-Petition Edition

Click here redirect to the petition saying you don't date men who don't support equal marriage!

So, you know how I've mentioned Dan Savage in two of my last eight posts? Well I'm a big fan, almost as big a fan as I am of gay rights and creative advocacy. I was listening to this podcast and well...I'm just going to do some copy and pasting:

On his April 26th podcast, activist, author and sex columnist, Dan Savage said the following in response to a female caller who had refused to sleep with a potential partner because he opposed equal marriage:

“Wouldn’t it be great if this spread… just this meme that women don’t sleep with men who oppose marriage equality? Because homophobia, ladies, again, it is misogyny’s younger brother. And a guy who hates gays or is afraid of gays on some level hates and fears women too.”

In response to that call to arms, we have created this petition:

Because the same outdated thinking and bigoted attitudes cause opposition to and legislation against both LGBT and Women's Rights,

Because while questions should be addressed and ignorance should be educated, true hatred and bigotry have no place is our society,

Because we refuse to bring sexual and emotional gratification to those who would deny it to our friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers,

We pledge to abstain from sexual or romantic relationships with anyone who actively opposes equal marriage or promotes violence or bigotry against the LGBT community.

Homophobia is taboo, abhorrent behavior and should be treated as such.

If he can't fuck him, you can't fuck me.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Please Click Here to Sign! (Redirects to the Petition) (And please forward to your friends!!!)

Love,
Nancy

Transgender Day of Rememberence is Nov 20th

Click here to find an event in your area