I think the people behind this money bomb are being overly enthusiastic about the amount of money they can raise. (BTW, I am so annoyed I have to write this whole thing again because the machine ate it). However, the fact that I don't think they can raise $7 Million does not change the fact that once again, this Friday, I will be giving my money to John Edwards for President. Then, on Saturday, I'll be giving him my time.

I know something about John Edwards that not many other people know, I know that his supporters are still 100% behind him, all the way. Since the Iowa caucus I have done about 30 hours of phone banking in one form or another (staffing, working, calling) and I can tell you that phone calls to former donors end up one of three ways.

The supporters give you another donation.
1. The supporters tell you they just gave a donation.
2. The supporters ask for a pledge card to be sent, because they don't like giving their credit card numbers out over the phone.

I can also tell you what DOESN'T happen...

They don't ever say that they have given up on Senator Edwards and are moving on to another candidate. In fact, in all the phone banking I've been associated with that has happened two times. Once a person said they switched to Clinton and they stayed switched. The second person was a man from Michigan that I actually spoke to last Saturday. He started off the conversation by saying that he had lost hope, that John Edwards was too far behind. So, I told him a few facts, a few facts about the race that most people don't know.

1. John Edwards is less than 10 delegates behind Barack and Hillary.
2. The eventual nominee requires 2209 delegates to win the nomination. So far, less than 80 have been assigned.
3. Contrary to popular belief, Presidential elections are generally not decided by Iowa and New Hampshire. The last wide-open election saw Bill Clinton win his first primary in Georgia, on February 5th.

He said "Send me a pledge card." I said, "Love to, but a credit card donation could be used right now in South Carolina." He said, "Here's my information."

This race is not over, we're about to have a caucus in Nevada, where the polls show a statistical dead-heat. But, no matter the outcome there, we are then heading into South Carolina, where Edwards is the native son. I lived there in 2004, I can tell you, he is very popular among the locals. What will the media say if Edwards places 1st or 2nd? Can they continue to ignore him?

You can help make it so they can't ignore them, or so it won't matter. You can help get the message out yourself. You can do three things.

First, no matter where you live, you can give, give, give on Friday, January 18th.

Second, if you are within a two-hour driving distance of Chapel Hill, then you can come to a 6 hour phone bank this Saturday. I no longer have anything to do with organizing these, beyond what you yourself could do, stir up support. However, if you email me I can pass your information along to the campaign, so Send me an email. The phone bank will be a GOTV/informational effort aimed at voters in South Carolina.

Third, if you live in a border state of South Carolina, you can join the road trip and help Senator Edwards directly in South Carolina.

This race is not over, with the Nevada results, South Carolina on the horizon, and two debates coming up, things are still open to Change. Pass on this information to your friends, pass it on to your neighbors, your family, your One Corps. Also, send them links to these new videos up on YouTube.

They are a series of 10 second ads going up in South Carolina. I think they are concise and powerful.

BAN

BEATS

DEAL

DIME