No Regrets
No Regrets -- My Story
Effective Monday, I have taken leave from Rose Tech Ventures and am dedicating my next month to helping Barack Obama win presidential election by winning my home state of Ohio.
On Sunday, I took the 20 hour train ride, from New York to Cincinnati, passing through three critical swing states (PA, VA, & OH) and meeting folks of all walks of life. If you ever get a chance, you should ride The Cardinal and see some of America's best towns.
Monday morning, at 10am, I then reported for duty at the Eastern Cincinnati campaign HQ, and am working with the local Obama Campaign for Change organizers -- taking any and all command -- until election day, knocking on my old neighbors' doors, calling folks across town, and helping organize more volunteers.
I've dropped everything so that come November 5th, I have No Regrets. I'll be blogging my experience here, Tweeting a lot, and doing some live broadcasts from my new Qik account.
What are you doing?
What ever you do, I hope you have No Regrets too.
No Regrets -- The Video
This video is a part of the call for you to have No Regrets too. Helping out in this campaign is easier than you may think. Many of you have great intentions, and would love to help out in this campaign. The only problem: you don't know how damn easy it is.
But easy -- and critical -- it is: Just go to My.BarackObama.com, register your account, and take a look at the Dashboard they create for you. There, you'll find a list of thing that need to be done -- stuff you can do. It may be calling voters (after your first call, it's a breeze) or it may be traveling to a nearby swing state to knock on doors. It could also be something as simple as sending a letter to an editor. Go do this now.
Also, if you're already doing something for the campaign, please head to NoRegrets08.org -- the video's official site -- and record your story.
No Regrets -- The Final Push
For many of you, taking time off work is hard. It's been hard on me too. Very hard. But, to make it easier for you, I'm offering to find you room and board in exchange for you taking a few days off work in early November, traveling to Cincinnati, and helping me get the final vote out. Already I have three folks signed up. I'd like to get a dozen more.
If you're willing to come to Cincinnati from Oct 30th -- November 4th, contact me here and I'll get you hooked up with a place to stay. We need your help!
No Regrets -- Making the Video.
When I started collaborating with Lindsay Campbell, Fred Graver, and Adam Quirk on the No Regrets video (see above), I picked "No Regrets" as a theme, because I feel strongly that it's the perfect measurement of one's involvement in this campaign.
The idea: as long as you call a voter when you have a moment, go knock on doors in a swing state when you have a day, or give a dollar when you have it, you can't -- regardless the outcome of this election -- have any regrets. So, let that be your guide. How much should you contribute? Enough so you won't have Regrets.
The reason I was collaborating with Lindsay and Fred in the first place is because they're such great representatives of this mantra. There are few people busier than Lindsay and Fred. One is a rising star in the emerging space of episodic video and the other has several Emmys under his belt, and is working full time on a new startup. Let's at least assume they tie in business with most of you, my readers. But, Fred's traveled every weekend for the past month to a different swing state, knocking on doors and talking to voters. He chronicles his experiences on his Tumblr and in The Huffington Post. And Lindsay, well, she's been going down to West Philly every weekend for weeks, registering dozens of new voters and talking to uncommitted voters.
So this video is about walking the walk. Adam Quirk, who edited the video and helped write and direct it, chipped in because he wasn't sure if he'd get back to native Indiana or not, so helping with this video would be his part.
Scott Solary can't take time off to knock on doors, so he helped shoot this video and get the word out about how you can have No Regrets in 2008.