New One Corps Chapters Added

Thanks to a request for chapter additions, we've added two new chapters to the north of Milwaukee. We'll have Northern Milwaukee Suburbs for Edwards to organize locally in Germantown, Menomonee Falls, Brown Deer, Mequon, and Thiensville, as well as the surrounding communities. And, we'll have Washington County for Edwards to organize locally in West Bend, Kewaskum, Hartford, and surrounding communities. Keep the requests for new chapters coming!

Wisconsin for Edwards - The Campaign is Live!

Wisconsin has a storied tradition of Democratic primaries, often playing a key role in choosing who will be the nominees at the top of the ticket. Just in 2004, it was John Edwards' very strong statewide performance, even beating John Kerry in some Congressional districts, that solidified his place as the consensus pick to be the vice presidential nominee. In 2008, it is likely that Wisconsin could have a similar role - except this time, we'll work to make John the nominee for president.

John Edwards is a Democrat's Democrat. His vision for One America reads and feels like a reclamation of what the Democratic Party stands for. No more triangulation, no more mushy politics of splitting the difference with the conservative right, no more piecemeal incrementalism. The times call for something different. They call for boldness, transformational change, and a little bit more of the backbone we here in Wisconsin appreciate.

From now until the Iowa caucuses and the Wisconsin primary, on January 14th and February 19th, respectively, we need to get organized, get activated, and build our campaign for transformational change in America. Tomorrow begins today, as the campaign says; and it begins with each of us. We can't wait until 2008 for the kinds of changes we need to see - and we can't let one election let us rest on our laurels for four years. We need to actualize John's vision for One America and we can do that through One Corps, the grassroots citizens' arm of the campaign, working through community service and political activism.

But the most important thing is that people get active, and that they get active locally. So, we have One Corps chapters throughout the state in which to get involved. They exist from my hometown of Neenah all the way up to Superior to Milwaukee's East Side to my favorite river town of La Crosse and everywhere in between (with more coming down the pipe), including our flagship chapter of Madison - the largest and currently most active.

Our challenge right now is to get everyone who supports John Edwards and wants to help elect him president active within One Corps. Between now and Labor Day, the unofficial start of the real campaign season, we need to build our network of supporters, activists, and leaders. Can we count you in that bunch? We certainly hope we can count on you to get active locally and work with the campaign to build One America and to elect John Edwards as our next president!

How the Iowa Caucuses Work

Thanks to intrepid Iowa native and Milwaukee area One Corps leader Kelly, we have this succinct and clear summary of how caucuses work, as an FYI:

"1. Everyone who wishes to caucus must have arrived and registered to caucus by 7:00 p.m. Iowans are allowed to change party affliated registration when they register to caucus.

2. At 7:00, the individual who is running for the caucus at the site reads directions as to how things work. Using the formula to determine viability, this individual informs everyone how many supporters are necessary in order for a candidate to earn one delegate, thus be viable. Caucus goers then break into groups based on the candidates they support.

3. I believe by 7:30, the first round is finished. The candidates that are viable remain in place, and are each awarded 1 delegate. Then, caucus goers for candidates who were not viable can either leave, stand back in watch the rest of the caucus, or choose to throw their support behind another viable candidate, or they can join forces with another non-viable candidate and try to earn a delegate. Debate and discussion can take place at this time, so the caucsu goers of viable candidates can try to persue caucus goers on non-vaible candidate to throw their support behind the viable candidate. Deals regarding giving the non-viable candidate a delegate or two to the county and state convention are usually brokered during this time.

4. I believe around 7:45, another count is conducted to determine if any candidates earned more delegates. The process explained under #3 takes place if necessary.

5. After all of the delegates have been distributed to viable candidates based on the number of people who caucused for them, the discussion then moves to discuss what items should be on the party platform. Simple majority votes of yeh or ney is conducted."

Wisconsin For Edwards Chapters

Below is a list of official One Corps chapters in Wisconsin affiliated with the John Edwards for President campaign in our state. Find the one closest to you, and if there isn't one close to you, let me know about it and where would be good place to create an official chapter in your neck of the woods. We're not quite through creating all the chapters, so yours might be next. Just to be sure - it's easy to drop me an email to give me a head's up.

Join a One Corps chapter in your area to get involved with the campaign in working for John's vision of One America through political activism and community service. This is a people-powered campaign run at the grassroots for our supporters to make the change happen that we need now, through the election in 2008, and beyond. As the campaign says, "Tomorrow Begins Today."

Madison
Jefferson County
Western Dane County
Eastern Dane County
Columbia-Sauk Counties
Janesville-Beloit
East Side-Riverwest
Wauwatosa
North Shore Milwaukee
South Milwaukee
Waukesha
Oconomowoc
Racine
Kenosha
La Crosse
Stevens Point
Green Bay
Appleton
Fox River Valley
Neenah
Menasha
Oshkosh
Fond du Lac
Marshfield
Sheboygan
Langlade County
Wausau
Wisconsin Rapids
Lake Geneva
Whitewater
Eau Claire
River Falls
Door County
Platteville
Beaver Dam
Menomonie
Superior
Ashland
Rhinelander
Marinette
Iowa County

We'll see you out on the campaign trail!

On the Road to One America: "Make Work Pay"

Kicked off last night, the JRE tour around states that do not include any early primary voting to highlight poverty issues and shadow Robert F. Kennedy's similar tour, 40 years ago in 1968 began in NOLA, offering "more than talking points". Just like John Edwards is the only one with a plan for rural America, he's the only one who has an actual single page devoted to rebuilding New Orleans on his webpage. Check out JRE on Good Morning America, cutting through the morning show vapidity...


If he had to pick just one solution to end poverty...?

"Make work pay."

Sounds alright by me. So why not release a plan on how to do that? One step ahead of all you - that's the John Edwards way. Don't just spout off some empty rhetoric, back it up. Here's the actual plan.

And with that, the Road to One America tour rolls on...next up Canton, MS and then Marks, MS before heading to Arkansas and then into Tennessee before the end of the day. This man is working on the campaign trail. There aint no high-dollar fundraisers in these places either. Stay tuned for more on the Road to One America