The Executive Committee of the 10th Congressional District and its county chairs invite you to a district rally that will include food, live music, as well as a “Straw Poll” on April 12, 2008 at 11am at the Newton-Conover Civic and Performance Place in Catawba County.

The purpose of this event is to highlight the candidacy of all Democrats running for statewide office as well as the activism of Democrats across the 10th district. We expect attendance to be very impressive and hail from every county in the 10th district along with Democrats from surrounding areas. This,above all else, will be an extraordinary opportunity for the candidates to help party activists get to know them and make up their minds.

The straw poll will be the highlight of the event and will measure the strength and potential success of our statewide candidates, in their respective primaries. All Democratic statewide office seekers will be allowed an equal amount of time to speak to the audience, in order to make the case for supporting their candidacy.

While surrogates will be allowed to speak on a candidate’s behalf, we hope that each candidate will take this opportunity to personally appear before a district wide audience. There will be a fee of $10 to attend the rally and vote in the straw poll, which will pay for food, music, and serve as a fundraiser for each county in the 10th Congressional district.

Voting is not limited to residents of the 10th district and we certainly encourage you to invite supporters to attend and vote, as we will be inviting activists from outside the district to attend. The event will culminate with the announcement of the straw poll results and their release to the various media outlets, locally and statewide.

The 10th Congressional District is comprised of Catawba, Cleveland, Burke, Lincoln, Iredell, Caldwell, Rutherford, Avery, Mitchell, and Gaston.