041125 Posting

I’ll begin with a John Kerry update and end with a Progressives update.

Recount status—I continue to recommend the following two sites to monitor the status of the 11/2/2004 presidential election recounts-- http://www.verifiedvoting.org and

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/ .

Kennett Celebration—If you helped campaign with the Kennett Square folks, they you are invited to join the annual holiday celebration [*T*H*I*S*] Thursday December 2^nd at 7pm at the Kendal Farmhouse. They will celebrate our accomplishments, and also preview the 2005 plans. Please RSVP by [*T*H*I*S*] Monday the 29^th by emailing Mark Girardot at Ixtla_i@hotmail.com .

Framing—A common theme of Monday morning quarterbacks is that the Kerry campaign and DNC failed to effectively ‘frame’ our candidate. There is some VERY interesting articles at http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/projects/strategic/ . The Framing The Dems article is particularly insightful (disturbing).

Progressives Update—There are three local organizations designed to further the progressive agenda in the Delaware region. Two of them use Yahoo Groups, which are an alternative to email lists, and are far easier to administer. You can go to http://groups.yahoo.com to find out more. You will need to have (or obtain a free) Yahoo signon to access these groups. I choose the Daily Digest form of getting updates, to limit the number of emails I receive. Yahoo Groups offer very useful functions such as uploaded files, and calendars.

Progressive Democrats for Delaware, at http://www.progressivedemsdel.com is a well organized group with a very clear charter. Check out their list of What Do We Believe? at http://www.progressivedemsdel.com/believe/ . I think that you will find kindred spirits there. If possible, join their Yahoo Group ‘ProgressiveDemsDel’. They do not appear at this time to be updating their Yahoo Group. Their next meeting is [*T*H*I*S*] Wednesday December 1^st at 7pm at the HQ of the Delaware Democratic Party, behind the News Journal building off Basin Road. For more information, contact Rebecca Young at createrhy@aol.com .

[I am correcting my description of this group, using more information shared by Phil Pollner.] A new, nationwide organization has been launched as a result of the last election, comprised of the organizers of the Dean and Kucinich camps and other progressive organizers. They have called on grassroots progressives in some 38 states to begin to cooperate by working together to represent all of the issues and values and resolve the injustices that confront us as a nation. Organizing by states, we can build a grassroots movement able to unite progressives both inside and outside the Democratic Party. Their next meeting will be on December 11^th at 11am at 234 Cheltenham Road, Newark, Delaware. If you plan to attend, please email Phil Pollner at leadcoal@aol.com.

The 48% Club is looking for a permanent name, and for kindred spirits. They are a group of folks who “did NOT give a ‘mandate’ to Bush in 2004”. For a few months they had been meeting regularly at First Unitarian on Concord Pike. They, too, have a Yahoo Group, at 48_Percent_Club. You can also contact Mickey Kelley for more information at mkelley@versalign.com . Minutes from last Thursday’s meeting (attended by Delaware Treasurer Jack Markell and over forty other folks) are on the Yahoo Group, under Files. Their next meeting is Thursday 12/16/04 at First Unitarian at 7pm (go to http://www.firstu.org/ for directions).

As pointed out on the X-Files --- YOU ARE NOT ALONE!