It is not enough just to beat trump. He must be “annihilated.” That’s according to veteran Democratic strategist James Carville. Why annihilated? Because, Carville says, the Republicans have the judiciary so rigged that if the Biden-Harris ticket wins by a narrow margin, the Republicans will take close races to their politically appointed judges and persist until they can steal the election. We saw this happen when George W. Bush ran against Al Gore, but it could be on a much broader scale this year.
Dear fellow signatory to the Declaration Repudiating Trump and Trumpism, we have 11 days left to make this annihilation happen. We all can – and must – help to make our victory happen. I have prepared the following checklist of what we need to do in these last 11 days. Please check it out right now, share it with others, and do all that you can to get out every possible vote:
1) Have you voted or do you have a plan to vote? If yes, great! If not, please do so today. And be careful that you follow all the instructions for a mail-in or drop-off ballot to make sure your vote gets counted.
2) Check online to see if your ballot has been received or that your voter registration is valid. (If you have not yet registered, get on that now! Different states have different rules. In some states the deadline to register has already long passed. In others it is possible to register on Election Day; I suggest you not wait that long, as there could be a glitch or long lines).
3) Help others to vote. In every election there are millions of potential voters who do not vote because they don’t have a way to get to the polls, they don’t know how to vote, they don’t think they are qualified to vote, they don’t know how to do the paperwork properly, they don’t know how to use a computer or go online, or they just need to reminded or convinced that their votes are truly important. Find these people and give them the assistance they need.
4) Make some calls and write some emails and letters to friends, family members and others who might be convinced to join us in voting for candidates who will oppose trump and the trumpists. And these do not have to be natural Democrats. There are independents who have not yet made up their minds, disaffected 2016 trump voters, Republicans who can be convinced that the best way to save their own party is to join us in supporting Biden. (Hint: In some cases, it might be cumbersome to write an overtly political letter to a friend or family member. No problem. Write a nice general greeting and letter, then work in the political part.)
5) Make one or more final financial campaign contributions. You can contribute to the Biden–Harris campaign and/or to one or more Senate or House campaigns. Retaking the Senate is within our grasp, and there are several key and close Senate races. I have included information about these at the bottom of this message. There are also about 40 key and toss-up House races and those are the ones where your contribution can give the biggest bang for your buck. Here is where to find those key House races at The COOK Political Report: https://cookpolitical.com/ratings/house-race-ratings Especially if you are a Republican, please consider to contribute to The Lincoln Project or to Republican Voters Against Trump.
6) Get a yard sign, bumper sticker or create your own unique public display of who you support and why. The best messages are those that include one or more arguments for why your neighbors and others should support Biden–Harris and other anti-trump candidates.
7) Volunteer! This is key, and we almost all can do it. Contact a local office of the Biden–Harris campaign or another campaign and find out what you can do. People are needed to make phone calls, write letters, distribute campaign materials, in some cases knock on doors, drive people to the voting places, and other necessary activities. Let’s all chip in with our time and energies where and how we can. It’s also a great idea to volunteer to help out at a polling place on Election Day if you are able.
8) Speak up! You only get to vote once, but there are no limits on how much you can talk, write letters, and be active online in social media. This is not a time to remain silent. We all need to take a stand, speak up, and make our arguments in private and in public for why we need to support the Biden–Harris ticket and other anti-trump candidates up and down the ballot. Be brave and bold! Also, make sure you know what you are talking about. If you make good and sound arguments and show that you are a decent person who cares about our country and humanity, people will respect you for speaking up. If you change one person’s mind before Election Day, you just doubled your own vote. If you change two people’s minds, you tripled your vote!
9) Watch out for voter suppression. This can take a lot of forms from pressuring and bullying voters to fraudulent and misleading robocalls and emails to closing down or limiting polling places and ballot drop-off points and more. Watch out for these things, then report them to the local election commission and news media when you see them and then go onto social media to spread the word. If you can document voter suppression with photos, video, or other means, that makes your case even stronger.
We’ve got 11 days left to get this done, folks. I hope that on November 4 I can send you a victory announcement for the Declaration Repudiating Trump and Trumpism Let’s do this. Let’ GET OUT EVERY VOTE!
Gale A. Kirking
Flipping the Senate
Every House and Senate race is important, of course, but if you want to help retake the Senate – which is key to saving our democracy – these toss-up races are the places where your donation of time, money and/or other resources and effort can get you the biggest bang for your buck:
Toss-up senate races
MT: Steve Bullock, https://stevebullock.com
AZ: Mark Kelly, https://markkelly.com/
CO: John Hickenlooper, https://hickenlooper.com/
IA: Theresa Greenfield, https://greenfieldforiowa.com/
GA: Doug Jones, https://dougjones.com
NC: Cal Cunningham, https://www.calfornc.com/
ME: Sara Gideon, https://saragideon.com/
Competitive Senate races
In light of Joe Biden’s strong showing (and trump’s and the GOP’s continuing screw-ups), there are a few other senate races that are closer than one might earlier have expected. Please consider to help out also there:
AK: Al Gross, https://dralgrossak.com/
SC: https: Jaime Harrison, //jaimeharrison.com/
KS: https: Barbara Bollier //bollierforkansas.com/
AL: Rev. Raphael Warnock. https://warnockforgeorgia.com/
TAKING OUT MOSCOW MITCH
There is one more race I’d like to mention. Defeating Moscow Mitch McConnell would be the biggest prize of all after taking the Senate generally and the White House. Amy McGrath is running a good campaign, but she needs all the help she can get: https://amymcgrath.com/