Obama is now saying that he will only participate in the three CPD debates; presumably, then, he won't be in the Google / YouTube debate. That could be good news, though. Whereas it looked like Nader might be shut out of the New Orleans Debate, now perhaps it could be a showcase for Nader. If Google / YouTube go on with the show, and make it a Nader vs. Barr debate, that will give Nader twice as much time to speak his message. Please contact the organizers of the event at:

www.neworleansdebate.org

and encourage them to invite Nader and Bob Barr to participate in the debate--with or without Obama (and/or McCain).

Nader is at 6% in CNN's poll released today, but you won't find that information on the CNN website--they're only reporting the Obama and McCain numbers. They're censoring their own polling data!

Write to Gallup and Rasmussen and ask them to include Nader in their daily tracking polls:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/contactUs.aspx

info@rasmussenreports.com

You can see the data from today's CNN poll here:

http://www.pollster.com/polls/us/08-us-pres-ge-mv...

If you haven't already done so, go to www.kucinich.us to sign the petition to demand impeachment hearings. Kucinich will be delivering the petition tomorrow, 7/31.

I am so pleased to see the Nader campaign pushing for impeachment, too. I know Kucinich is running for re-election and so needs the Democratic Party's support, but, honestly he's so much closer to Nader than to Dems in general and Obama in particular, that there really should be a Nader-Kucinich alliance of some sort.

Someone who is Wikipedia savvy should go to the entry for the National Initiative for Democracy and add the information that Nader/Gonzalez advocates it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Initiative

As of now, only Mike Gravel is mentioned as a supporter of the NI4D.

The IPNY has not yet announced a nominee. Their convention isn't until September 21. However, it may be that they have already effectively made their decision. Thanks for looking into this!

How actively and with how much hope for success is the Nader/Gonzalez campaign pursuing the nomination of the Independence Party of New York? Of the candidates running, Nader seems to represent best their interests as described in their platform:

http://www.ipny.org/

Not only would this get Nader ballot access in NY, it could also lead to some helpful connections. Mike Bloomberg recently donated $150K to IPNY:

http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/07/14/mayor-blo...

Would Bloomberg ever consider supporting Nader/Gonzalez? Also Dean Barkley (independent candidate for Governor of MN) is cozy with the Independence Party of America (of which IPNY is an affiliate); both on his own and as a close political ally of Jesse Ventura, he could also be very helpful to the Nader campaign.

On a different note, but staying with the theme of political networking, now that Nader / Gonzalez has added the National Initiative for Democracy to their "on the table" issues, what will it take to get Senator Mike Gravel's support/endorsement? He endorsed Jesse Johnson previously, but Johnson did not get the GP nomination. Let's reach out to Gravel, too!

I know we are going to see the donations in this fundraising drive go up quite a bit during the next few days. At the house party I attended last Friday, another attendee pledged to donate $2300! During the conference call, if I heard right, a few others pledged to donate $1500. Please help, please donate.

Here are a few other things we can do to support the campaign, too.

Write to the organizers of the Google / YouTube debate and tell them you want to see Nader in the debate. Go to their site and click on the “Contact Us” link at the bottom:

www.neworleansdebate.org

Write to the cable news outlets and ask them to give the candidates proportional representation. With Nader at 5% in national polls, they should be giving him no less than 10% of the time and attention they are giving to McCain or Obama—neither of whom is above 50% in the polls. That means they really need to ramp up their Nader coverage! Here are some addresses for contacting them:

letters@msnbc.com
Nightly@NBC.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6872152/

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77538,00.html...
foxnewsonline@foxnews.com

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/hdlns/

Larry King has an address where they accept suggestions for guests. Every day they collect the emails and produce a report--if they get a bunch of emails tomorrow, it WILL register with the decision-makers on the show. Tell them to invite Ralph Nader! The address is:

larrykingguests@cnn.com

Note the article in the NY Times by Kate Zernike (linked below). A number of veterans groups called the Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall Consortium are organizing a town hall meeting and inviting the presidential candidates. McCain has accepted but so far Obama has not. According to the article, “CBS has agreed to broadcast the meeting live from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Aug. 11. The candidates would face questions directly from an audience of 6,000 people, made up of veterans, service members and military families from the base.” This would be a great event for Nader and Barr to participate in—irrespective of whether Obama participates. Below is the list of organizers along with their respective websites. I encourage you to contact all of them, in addition to CBS, and to encourage them to invite Nader and Barr to participate in the town hall meeting, too. I have received very receptive replies from some of the organizers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/us/politics/12o...

American Veterans: http://www.amvets.org/
Disabled American Veterans: http://www.dav.org/
Military Order of the Purple Heart: http://www.purpleheart.org/
Veterans for Common Sense: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/
Military Spouse Corporate Career Network: http://www.msccn.org/

On August 16, Obama and McCain will share the stage at the Saddleback Civil Forum on Compassion and Leadership in Lake Forest, California. The event is being held at Saddleback Church and moderated by Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Drive Life. It is also being co-organized by Faith in Public Life. I am sending emails to the following addresses to encourage them to invite Ralph Nader and Bob Barr to participate in this forum as well.

admin@faithinpubliclife.org
support@faithinpubliclife.org

info@saddleback.com

info@purposedrivenlife.com

Well maybe after the matching period ends (when the "primary season" ends), they could open up PayPal donations.

CNN is interviewing McCain tomorrow and accepting video questions from viewers. I posted a question asking him if he will debate Ralph Nader and Bob Barr. Please go push up the rating of the video to help it make it onto the air.

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-49879

We Nader/Gonzalez supporters have made every benchmark that Nader has set for us so far. Let’s all donate what we can and raise $100K+ in the next 15 days.

Here are a few other things we can do to support the campaign, too.

Write to the organizers of the Google / YouTube debate and tell them you want to see Nader in the debate. Go to their site and click on the “Contact Us” link at the bottom:

www.neworleansdebate.org

Write to the cable news outlets and ask them to give the candidates proportional representation. With Nader at 5% in national polls, they should be giving him no less than 10% of the time and attention they are giving to McCain or Obama—neither of whom are above 50% in the polls. That means they really need to ramp up their Nader coverage! Here are some addresses for contacting them:

letters@msnbc.com
Nightly@NBC.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6872152/

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77538,00.html...
foxnewsonline@foxnews.com

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/hdlns/

Larry King has an address where they accept suggestions for guests. Tell them to invite Ralph Nader! The address is:

larrykingguests@cnn.com

Note the article in the NY Times by Kate Zernike (linked below). A number of veterans groups called the Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall Consortium are organizing a town hall meeting and inviting the presidential candidates. McCain has accepted but so far Obama has not. According to the article, “CBS has agreed to broadcast the meeting live from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Aug. 11. The candidates would face questions directly from an audience of 6,000 people, made up of veterans, service members and military families from the base.” This would be a great event for Nader and Barr to participate in—irrespective of whether Obama participates. Below is the list of organizers along with their respective websites. I encourage you to contact all of them, in addition to CBS, and to encourage them to invite Nader and Barr to participate in the town hall meeting, too. I have received very receptive replies from some of the organizers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/us/politics/12o...

American Veterans: http://www.amvets.org/
Disabled American Veterans: http://www.dav.org/
Military Order of the Purple Heart: http://www.purpleheart.org/
Veterans for Common Sense: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/
Military Spouse Corporate Career Network: http://www.msccn.org/

On August 16, Obama and McCain will share the stage at the Saddleback Civil Forum on Compassion and Leadership in Lake Forest, California. The event is being held at Saddleback Church and moderated by Pastor Rick Warren, author of A Purpose Drive Life. It is also being co-organized by Faith in Public Life. I am sending emails to the following addresses to encourage them to invite Ralph Nader and Bob Barr to participate in this forum as well.

admin@faithinpubliclife.org
support@faithinpubliclife.org

info@saddleback.com

info@purposedrivenlife.com