John Kerry waves to a crowd of 12,000 attending a rally at Dragon Stadium, home of minor league baseball's Dayton Dragons, in Ohio. October 19, 2004.

Photo courtesy Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc. from Sharon Farmer

We have millions of new voters; we have an ever-growing list of supporters. The energy is building for November 2nd, and together we will do what it takes to decide the outcome of this election. The name of the game is: Get out the vote.

With just a little more than a week to go, let's roll up our sleeves with all the countless Kerry volunteers across our country. This week:

• Finalize travel plans to the Swing States. (Go now! Only one more weekend to go!)
• Call the Swing States. Let's challenge ourselves to better the wonderful work we've already done.
• October 30 through November 2 is IT! The time to focus all our energies on that last, get-out-the-vote effort that stands between us and the White House.

This is the time to go all out: give of your energy, your time, your money. And you can have fun while you're doing it!

And a thank you to all who have been, and still are, working so hard to help John Kerry win this November.

Also in this issue: News from the Campaign

The Swing States are now in play more than ever, and our help is more urgently needed than ever. We have registered amazing numbers of new voters in the Swing States. The New York Times reports that in Democratic areas of Ohio—primarily low-income and minority neighborhoods—new registrations since January have risen 250 percent over the same period in 2000. In comparison, new registrations have increased just 25 percent in Republican areas. A similar pattern is apparent in Florida: in the strongest Democratic areas, the pace of new registration is 60 percent higher than in 2000, while it has risen just 12 percent in the heaviest Republican areas.

The Republicans are counting on newly registered Democratic voters not going to the polls. If they go, we win. If they stay home, who knows? Local staffers need all the help they can get to canvass, contact their local volunteers, and get out the vote.

To arrange Swing State travel, please email Tina Valkanoff, Road Trip to Victory Coordinator for Northern California, at TinaValkanoff@aol.com or contact her by phone at 415-896-2681 ext. 6. She will make sure that all Swing State travel (excepting to Reno) is coordinated with the right people on the ground. For trips to Reno, Nevada, please contact our Reno coordinators at belle@ednbelle.com and marleo@pacbell.net.

The New York Times reports that the pace of voter registration, high across the U.S. this year, was particularly high in urban areas of Swing States, where independent Democratic groups and community organizations ran a huge voter registration campaign for just over a year. Will the newly registered Democrats vote?

The Swing State staffers will need all the volunteers they can get to maximize voter turnout on November 2. When we call the Swing States, we help local staffers identify volunteers and get them out working. We called Colorado, and we called Colorado, and we called Colorado. And now, with 300,000 new voters—more than a third of the 883,748 votes Bush got in 2000—Colorado has become a key battleground state. Let's keep up the good work.

Making phone calls to Swing States has gotten even easier. Options to choose from:

• Phone banking events (see the links listed on the right for information on local phone banks)
  Please note that we have several new phone banking locations in the San Jose and the Sunnyvale areas—you don't need to do a lot of driving to participate in a phone bank. Check the list of links on the right for Otto Lee's office (where some land lines are available if you do not have a cell phone) and a number of private homes.
• Call from home using lists provided when you register at calls.JohnKerry.com. Join the Kerry-Edwards Phone Corps!

"Get-out-the-vote will decide the outcome of the election," says Karen Hicks, the national field director of the Democratic National Committee. "We knocked on over a million targeted doors last Saturday and are making record numbers of phone calls and visits every day."

The New York Times reports that Republican operatives say they can do just as well. ''We're very confident that we have a ground game that's as good as the Democrats', and better,'' said Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee. But we can prove them wrong about this as about so many other things (Iraq, the economy, health care, and the list goes on and on).

From October 30 through November 2, we will gear up for a GOTV effort so effective, so energetic, so grass-roots, that it will be discussed for years to come:

• Travelers will help on the ground in the Swing States.
• Phone banks will be going 16 hours a day in every county.
• Volunteers will be walking precincts and getting out the vote.

Don't miss out on the feeling of personal triumph when the results are all in and John Kerry is our President Elect: work all weekend, take November 2 off work, make phone calls before or after work, whatever works for you. Just do it! Click here for a list of election day activities.

Joss Whedon, Creator and Executive Producer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly will participate in a national House Party day this Sunday, and will talk about why John Kerry should be the Chosen One (for President, of course). Some local fans are spearheading (pun regretted) the effort and questions will be taken from parties around the nation. The local party is being held in Saratoga and starts at 1:00pm. Favorite episodes will be shown, and at 2:00pm Joss will join a conference call. It is a fundraiser, and the minimum donation is at $35 (more if you can afford it). Visit www.highstakes2004.com for the national party details and click here to RSVP for the party.

Our Kerry troops on the ground in Swing States have done an absolutely amazing job of getting people registered. Registrars are swamped with record numbers of new voters. And the dramatic increase of voters favors Kerry and Democrats.

Many polls still show a statistical tie, while some show an edge for Bush. What's really interesting about these polls are the trends they reflect—which reveal the key to the election:

• Bush's margin goes up in the poll when "likely voters" are polled (rather than all registered voters). The message: turn out more registered voters and we will win the popular vote. Democrats are historically harder to get to the polls in large numbers; but when they do get to the polls in large numbers, they change the elections. It's up to us to encourage all Democrats to come out and vote.
• We are seeing some Kerry advantage in the key Swing States—precisely the places we are calling. The message: get them out to vote and we will win in the electoral college.

But there is challenging news too: Republicans have also completed a strong drive to register voters. We have the edge, but many of the new voters are Bush supporters. And Republicans have a well-organized effort to get out the vote (managed from the White House).

We all know we are up against a tough team. But there are more of us than of them—more volunteers and more voters. We simply need to keep working harder and harder until victory in this election. Let's go!

Dear Kerry volunteer,

This is just a note of thanks for all your wonderful work on the Swing States for Kerry project. We have produced a phenomenal number of phone calls and letters to voters in Ohio, Arizona, Missouri, and Nevada. Your commitment of time and energy and sometimes hard cash outflow could well make the difference in these closely divided states.

John Soper and I, as coordinators for the Kerry campaign in our county, and others like Otto Lee, Swing State Chair, and Geoff Bough, Swing State Coordinator, are volunteers just like you. We have no paid Kerry workers in our county. The coming together of all of us who are incensed at what President Bush and his administration are doing to our beloved country is in the best tradition of citizen movements throughout America's history.

We wanted to tell you how grateful we are to each and every one of you and to pledge that we'll continue to do our best to keep this program organized and rolling ahead. Thank you for everything!

With warm regards from the Kerry team in Santa Clara County,
Emy Thurber

Friends of the Kerry/Edwards Campaign in San Francisco created a very positive, well done Flash animation entitled "Visualize Winning" that is inspiring and has a touch of humor. It was not created by or for the Kerry campaign, but because their servers are stressing under the load, we’re hosting a copy for our visitors to view (no waiting!) So please click here to watch and prepare to be fired up!