By Otto Lee, Swing State Chair for Silicon Valley for Kerry

Those of you who have been watching the polls and seeing how Bush has come out ahead of Kerry after the Republican Convention: stop worrying and come help out with our Swing State Efforts to identify and persuade undecided or leaning voters to vote for Kerry.

Although the Newsweek/Time poll showed a substantial lead for Bush over Kerry immediately after the convention, the good news is that all the other polls, including Rasmussenreports.com, Zogby, and USA Today, all showed a Bush lead that was within the margin of error. (See "Those Bouncing Polls" for more information about recent polls.)

Furthermore, remember that under the electoral college voting system, the popular vote really does not determine the outcome - it's the total electoral college vote that counts. Therefore, the most important thing you can do to help the Kerry campaign is to persuade undecided voters in the battleground/swing states to vote for John Kerry and help ensure our victory in as many of those states as possible.

You can help in a number of ways:

1. Phone Polling - we have been calling swing states for the past few weeks, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and more. We have had on average 4 events per week for the past few weeks and will need your help to call and take the poll. Please see events listed on the right.
2. Letter Writing - we have been sending handwritten letters to undecided voters in Missouri and in other states. Please see events listed on the right.
3. Travel to the Swing States - we have traveled to Reno, NV, with East Bay For Kerry and will be organizing more trips between now and November 2. If you are interested in going to other states, become a KERRY TRAVELER and go to the battleground states. Email us here for more information on travelling.
4. Donation - we need to have television advertisements in order to get out the Kerry message, especially in the battleground states; we need to counter the misinformation and disparagement of Kerry's illustrious military and political records. To make this happen, we will need tremendous financial resources. You can donate online to the DNC. Please see the list of fundraising events on the right.

Visit the Silicon Valley for Kerry website for more information about swing state activities.

I would like to end this article with some good news that has developed since the Republican Convention. Despite the Republicans' disingenuous efforts to get Ralph Nader on many state ballots, it has just been declared that Nader will not be on the Oregon ballot because many invalid signatures were disqualified. (As you may recall, Nader was quite popular in 2000 and had about 5% of the popular votes). Two other key battleground states, Michigan and Pennsylvania, will also not see Nader's name on their ballots. For those of you who are still disappointed with Senator Zell Miller's speech, I would like to point out a far less publicized but far more important and accurate statement by a retiring Congressman, Doug Bereuter (R- Neb), the Vice Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and senior member of the House International Relations Committee. The 13-term Congressman broke ranks with his Republican colleagues and openly stated that he believed the U.S. military assault on Iraq was unjustified, and that the situation there has deteriorated into "a dangerous, costly mess." "Left unresolved for now is whether intelligence was intentionally misconstrued to justify military action," Congressman Bereuter stated in a recent letter to his constituents.

By John Soper, Co-coordinator, Silicon Valley for Kerry

Many of the people working hard on the Kerry/Edwards campaign are asking what's up with all those polls. They're all over the map.

Of the major polls taken with the Republican Convention clearly behind us, 2 show Bush up by 2% (Fox/Opinion Dynamics) and 1% (Rasmussen); 2 others show Bush up by 7% (CNN/USA Today/Gallup) and 8% (CBS News). The 2 initial polls taken during or right after the convention, showing 10% and 11% leads for Bush (by Time and Newsweek), we regard as erratic.

So why all the fluctuation, and what's happening? Polls can vary widely based on their samples (e.g., likely versus registered voters), how the questions are asked, and other methodological differences. Further, this is a volatile time, with opinions fluctuating more than usual. After the Republican Convention, we should wait at least another week to let things settle down.

What is clear is the trend. Bush clearly gained an advantage from his convention. Playing 9/11 to the hilt was the expected strategy, with the expected effect, coupled, moreover, with negative campaigning. It appears that Bush went from a few points behind to a few points ahead. Probably nothing more. Similar trends are seen in some of the swing states.

What should we do? First, do not get upset or discouraged. This was expected. Second, do work even harder for John Kerry and John Edwards. What everyone predicted looks like it is coming to pass - this will be a very close election, and may come down to pulling over a few undecideds to our camp, and getting more of our voters out. We all need to help John Kerry push this in the other direction, and over the top on November 2! Then we can all say, "Help Is On The Way!"

Do you wish that the Kerry campaign would run some hard hitting television ads? Well, don't expect to see them in California, or for that matter in Wyoming.

Both campaigns are spending their money in the swing states, where they hope to gain Electoral College votes. Voter registration in California favors Democrats by 5 to 10 percentage points. So the Kerry campaign is counting on good Democratic voter turnout to carry the state for John Kerry. Voter turnout will depend on grassroots organizations to register voters, encourage people to vote by absentee ballot, and get people to their polling place on Election Day.

Organized precinct work generates voter turnout.

Walker:

• Assemble your materials with the help of your captain or coordinator: voter list, water, literature, and so on.
• Use the voter list to walk to the appropriate homes and talk to Democrat and independent voters.
• Encourage Democrats to complete the permanent absentee voting form.
• Gather requests, interests, voting intentions, and possibly contributions.
• Return the information you gather to your captain or coordinator for processing.

The following roles support and coordinate the activities of walkers.

• Block Captain: Helps walkers on one or more blocks.
• Precinct Captain: Helps walkers and block captains in a precinct.
• Precinct Coordinator: Helps precinct captains for five to ten precincts.
• City Lead: Helps everyone involved in precinct walking in the city, or in San Jose within a city council district.

How To Contact Us
Charlie Ahern, our Volunteers Chair, is also our primary contact with the SCCDCC's city and precinct activity. Please contact him at Volunteers@santaclaracountyforkerry.com or call (650) 996-0370.

Precinct activity is organized by the Santa Clara County Democratic Party. For more details, see either the SCCDP website, or visit Silicon Valley for Kerry's precinct information page at http://www.siliconvalleyforkerry.com/precinct.html.

Are you a scientist, engineer, or physician? Here's a discussion that may be of particular interest to you: a garden party and discussion forum featuring Dr. Tom Novotny, former Assistant Surgeon General, who will talk about the Politicization of Science; Dr. Andy Calman, founder of Physicians for a Democratic Majority, who will speak about Empowering Progressive Physicians and the Roadtrip for Democracy; and Catherine Dodd, RN, former Regional Director of HHS, who will discuss Affordable Healthcare for the Middle Class and the Uninsured.

The event will take place on Saturday, September 18, at 2:00 pm, at the home of Gregory Loew in Atherton. Please bring a contribution that is significant for you (Check or Credit Card). Suggested minimum: $250 for practicing physicians, $150 for scientists and others, $10 for students. Contributions may be made to "Kerry-Edwards Victory 2004" fund and/or to "Physicians for a Democratic Majority." There will also be a silent auction including original art and photography.

Click here to request an invitation. RSVPs are requested by September 16; you can RSVP to Greg Loew at 650-325-1774.

We apologize that many of you received three copies of our last newsletter.

We work hard to be especially careful about the emails from the Kerry volunteer campaign. In fact, our email service provider scans for duplicates when it sends out emails. This time we got tripped up, and the technology failed us as we were kicking off the critical next phase of the election.

What we are really pleased with is the number of people who wrote us politely to inform us, for the sake of the Kerry campaign. We are glad you understand. And we are heartened that so many people just want to fix any problems in this campaign and put John Kerry in the White House.

We can't promise to be perfect, but we are trying our best, like all of you. If you have issues in the future, please feel free to write. As John Kerry says, "We are all in the same boat."

We respect your right to control what email you receive. To unsubscribe from our mailing list and/or activites, please visit http://www.santaclaracountyforkerry.com/unsubscribe.html and enter your email adddress. You will receive a reply with instructions on how to permanently remove yourself from activities or newsletters.

Again, our apologies. We know that multiple emails are annoying in this world of spam. Please know that we'll strive to ensure this doesn't happen again.