"What am I doing?"

It started with an email to friends and family about actions that people, especially those of us who live in blue states, can take to help elect Obama. (It's never lonely or quiet being an Obama supporter in New York City. It is hard to know what to do that will actually make a difference, and the past few weeks have not been pretty or pleasant.) Twelve hours later, I was getting emails from strangers around the country about the amazing work they are doing to support the Obama campaign. At the urging of and with technical support from a friend (thank you, WALK THE TALK), Walk the Talk '08 was born to share this information and to cheerlead people who are getting involved in a campaign for a first time. I will post everything I've received so far (by Sunday, promise), and will keep doing so as new opportunities emerge. You all inspire me, and I hope you inspire each other.

Here's the email, now 24 hours old.

Dear friends who either a) I know or b) I assume are Obama supporters (ignore this email if neither applies):

Like many of you, I've been walking around completely freaking out since the Republican Convention and Palin, muttering to myself and anyone who will listen "What is the Obama campaign doing?" "What is Obama doing?" Last week I realized I was asking the wrong question for me - my question now is "what am I doing?"

I am now trying to put myself on a "diet" of sorts: for every two hours I spend obsessively reading political blogs, I will try to spend one hour taking action. I'm trying not to have any more handwringing conversations unless they end with someone (myself included) agreeing to do something, anything, to help Obama/Biden beat McCain/Palin. I know many of you are already doing things to support Obama. Here's a list I came up with - it's by no means exhaustive, please let me know if you have other ideas - that provides blue staters with some concrete ideas of actions we can take. The Obama website (www.barackobama.com) is an amazing resource for local opportunities to take action in all of these areas and more. Many of you have new jobs, new babies, writing deadlines, lives, endless apartment renovations, etc. I hope there is something that will work for each situation, please share any other ideas.

1. Give Money

Give the maximum $2,300 if you can afford it (I'm putting off buying a new laptop until next year so I can give this amount). If you can't do the maximum, please give whatever you can, and encourage everyone you know who can give $2,300 to do so. If you've already donated the maximum and can afford to give more, you can give to:

• Democratic senate challengers in swing states and/or of people who need not to be senators any longer. The two who are under my skin today are Oklahoma's State Senator Andrew Rice (http://www.andrewforoklahoma.com/index.asp) who is running against Jim Inhofe (I will implode if I try to write anything about him) and former NH Governor Jeanne Shaheen (http://www.jeanneshaheen.org/) who is challenging John Sununu (with NH in play, let's increase Democratic turnout). Your friends in swing and red states may have other Democratic candidates they like, please let me know, and I'll add them to the list.
• 527s (for better or worse, they're with us, so let's use them the best we can). Here are a few options, with samples of the types of ads they are funding, as listed in the attached Daily Kos link. These are just ideas of ways to give, I'm not giving a blanket endorsement. (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/13/12029/3292/616/597390).

2. Register New Voters

Here is the link to Real Clear Politics' electoral college map, updated daily: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/ This map chills me to my bone - Minnesota flipped from leaning Obama to toss-up last weekend, Florida flipped from toss-up to leaning McCain a few days ago. The Siena College poll released this week shows the Obama lead in NY down to 5%. Don't panic, mobilize instead.

• If your state is not dark blue, call your local Obama office to see how you can help register new voters, or go to the Obama website. If you are a blue stater, register voters in the closest state that is not dark blue.
• New Yorkers, there are lots of easy ways to do day trips to PA before voter registration closes on October 6th. There are also events in NYC that attract out of state visitors e.g. Madonna concerts (see #8 Join Me) where you and a clipboard can move mountains. NJ is not going to be a slam dunk, but it is an easy train or bus trip away. Today the NY Obama people sent a huge list of opportunities to register people here and in PA. I will forward this if you ask.
• Make sure everyone you know is registered. The last day to register in NY is October 10, in PA it's October 6.
  

3. Phone Bank

• The Obama website has set up a "Neighbor to Neighbor" section where you can call voters in swing states/recruit volunteers from home. Go to my.barackobama.com, and either sign up or register for an account. Once you're logged in, you'll see a list of "Neighbor to Neighbor" campaigns on the left hand side of your screen; click one of them, and the website will take you through the necessary next steps. At the end of the day, you get a list of people who the campaign needs to contact - either prospective volunteers who you could bring on board to increase capacity, or voters who you could convince to vote for Obama. You also get a script to use when you're making calls. When you're done with the calls, you record the results of each call (Was the person home? Will he or she volunteer / vote for Obama? etc.).
• The previously mentioned Obama email has a slew of local phone banking opportunities, and I've listed a few that I'm doing in #8.

4. Door Knock/canvas

We need to make our case on the ground, door to door. The Obama website will have volunteer opportunities listed and/or you can sign up for email alerts of how you can help.

5. Help Get Out the Vote on Election Day

It doesn't matter how many people we convince or register, if people don't show up to vote. Again, the Obama website will have volunteer opportunities listed and/or you can sign up for email alerts of how you can help. On election day, I'm going to vote when the polls open and get on a 7 a.m. bus for PA.

6. Talk to your friends in non-solidly blue states

Find out where/how they need help and round up people to do it. Create an event on the Obama website, there are literally millions of us who will pitch in.

7. Help me figure out who is doing the on the ground work in these areas:

• The Republican voter list challenges are in full swing in Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan among other states (in Michigan, Republicans are challenging the residency/registrations of people who've lost their homes to foreclosure). I want to identify groups on the ground working on this issue that need either money or bodies, in the flesh or over the phone.
• Current or former New York Jews: if anyone knows of any efforts to do phone outreach to Florida retirement communities with large numbers of Jews, please let me know. My leads from 2004 dried up.
  

8. Join me (and/or create a list like this and send it to your people)

New Yorkers, please let me know if you want to join me at any of the following:

• Voter registration in NYC: because they will draw tri-state and PA crowds, I'm doing voter registration at the Alanis Morissette concert at Radio City on Friday 9/26 6-8 p.m, and the Madonna concert at MSG on 10/7. 6-8 p.m.
• Voter registration in Philly: I'm going to Philly on Sunday October 5th. I have 2 spots held for 10/5, and a tentative yes from a partner in crime. If you want to be "waitlisted" for the spot, let me know. It's $20, we'll leave at 10 am and return around 8. PA voter registration ends October 6th, so this is the last gasp to register people. I am planning to go several more times in October/first weekend in November dates TBD, please join me.
• Voter registration in NJ: I'm going to the Hoboken Arts Festival on Sunday 9/28 12-2. It's 2 blocks from the PATH train.
• Phone banking:
• As part of a whole weekend of women's outreach activities, I'm calling PA women this Saturday 12-3.
• One of the union halls is holding phone banking Tuesday nights to reach out to Philadelphia voters. You need to bring your own cell phone. I'm planning on doing 9/30 and 10/14. I have a call into the organizer to see if we can just show up. It's listed in the "New Yorkers for Philly" group on the Obama website.

• And on a more delicious note, there's Dinners for Obama (www.dinnersforobama.com), a weekly Sunday dinner party in Soho. I went to the first one last weekend and the food, company and conversation were all excellent. I highly recommend going, especially as a free dinner+cocktail/wine can make donating the minimum $150 seem less daunting if you are operating on a lean budget. They are trying to raise at least $10,000, and are off to a good start with $2,000 raised at the first dinner. Menus are posted on the site, and I will be donating dessert to future dinners (dates TBD).
• If you have a female dog who has strong feelings about this election, let me know and I can hook her up with a special campaign button for her leash/collar/harness.

Thanks for reading this far. Keep me posted on what you are doing. I'll be your biggest cheerleader and will bake if you are hosting an event - there's too much at stake not to go full tilt in whatever ways we can for the next 7 weeks.