Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland sent this letter out to the JohnKerry.com community.  You can help Democrat Jim Martin win his Senate race against Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss. Election 2008 is not yet over and you help is needed.  

It used to be a dream, a nearly impossible goal: 60 seats on the Senate, a filibuster-proof majority to bring real change, and a resounding, mandate-sized majority in the House.

But now it's possible. And it's possible because of some amazing races in places no one thought possible. We can turn out some Republicans that are directly opposed to our values, and bring in some great Democrats.

Senators Saxby Chambliss, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and arch-conservative Marilyn Musgrave in the House, all can be beaten.

But we won't be able to do it without all of us doing everything we can right now. This is the vital moment, the time for maximum effort to change our country forever.

Right in my home state of Georgia, Jim Martin has put together a campaign that is shocking the political world. No one gave Jim a chance against Saxby Chambliss, but Jim put together a great grassroots campaign and the polls have closed to a virtual tie. But, believe me, I know, Saxby Chambliss will run any smear, stoop to any low attack, in his attempt to win. So we have to give Jim the resources he'll need to fight back.

And in Kentucky, Bruce Lunsford stepped up to take on the challenge that few thought could be met: taking down the chief roadblock in the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. No one in Congress has done more to block the change we need than Mitch McConnell, and Bruce has brought him to the brink of defeat.

And turning to the House, Betsy Markey is running a fantastic campaign against one of the most conservative Republican in the House, Marilyn Musgrave. Musgrave is the original sponsor of the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment, was one of the most vocal Republicans in the Terri Schiavo case, and was ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the 10 Worst Members of Congress. But Betsy Markey, a strong Democrat, has pulled even in the polls and can rid our Congress of Marilyn Musgrave.

But they need your help! Please donate today!

Chances like this come along very rarely, a time when we can completely remake the political map. But we need to seize this moment. We are competing all over the map, and late charges by candidates like these need more help than anyone because they haven't had the national focus for very long. So please do what you can to help us change our country forever.

Thank you,
Max Cleland

The signs and buttons and bumper stickers have been taken down and packed away. The rallies and campaign speeches are now, mostly, over for this election season. Massachusetts voters joined millions of other people from across the nation in pushing for a new direction for this country. Yet, there are a few more things to say before we completely close the books on Election '08 in Massachusetts.

Thank you to everyone who made got involved and made such a huge a difference this year. Thank you to those who made phone calls, knocked on doors, held signs, showed up at rallies and talked to family, friends, co-workers and neighbors about this election. Volunteers are the heart and soul of a campaign. Nothing would happen without these folks who give so generously of their time.

This was Senator Kerry's message on election night in Boston for all the voters in Massachusetts:

"I am humbled to receive the support of voters from Williamstown to Provincetown and every city and town in between, and I promise to continue to prove worthy of your confidence in me over the next six years.

"Yes, we have challenges to tackle in this country and in Massachusetts. But the American people's remarkable reservoir of talent, innovation, resolve and selflessness has triumphed time and time again. Our history is one of not just overcoming challenges but of emerging from difficult times stronger and better prepared to prosper as a nation.

"I have always been honored to represent the people of Massachusetts and I can't wait to return to Washington with my friend Ted Kennedy by my side and continue to deliver for you and your families. I promise to continue the fight to win back our future and honor your faith in me."

Senaotr Kerry wrote this yesterday on www.dailykos.com.  Today is election day and it's definitely time for all hands on deck!

Leave it all on the road. I see that that's the slogan here, and as a competitive cyclist, I know the feeling. You can't hold anything back, and you can't take anything for granted.

The polls look good, but let me tell you, the early exit polls four years ago looked fantastic. But the cliché is true: polls don't matter. Only votes do. And the large majority of those votes will be cast tomorrow. We have to do everything we possibly can to blow the Republican GOTV effort out of the water.

If we're up by 4 in the polls in a state, we can win by 7. If we're tied, we can win by 3. If we all do our best right now, we'll not only win this election, but win the kind of mandate we need to actually change our country.

All of you remember what we went through last year. I'd come here to this community, and we'd talk about what we could do to pressure a few more Republicans to try to see the light and chart a new course on Iraq, or give more kids health care, or anything else that they blocked. That's what a small, unworkable majority can bring.

This next day can change all that. We can have a true Democratic majority, filled with new progressives ready to move this country - finally! - into the 21st century. But we have to get absolutely every vote we can get. So please do what you can to get-out-the-vote. Head over the Barack's website to see what you can do:

Volunteer!

And then email everyone in your address book that address and ask them to do what they can.

I was in New Hampshire this past weekend, and it was incredible. The organization that the Obama campaign has built is enormous, and it's able to put huge numbers of people to work. But that organization depends on those people actually showing up to do that work. And "those people" are YOU. You are the bedrock of the Democratic Party, the activists who make it all work.

And this is a time to make it work. As Barack has said many times, you don't run to the finish line, you run through the finish line.

Because you know whom we know is working hard? John McCain and Sarah Palin are working hard, along with the Republican Party, criss-crossing the country and continuing their misleading attacks on Barack Obama. But we can overwhelm them because we have truth on our side, and we have you. If they drive a voter to the polls, we should drive three, four, five voters to the polls. If they make one call, we should make five.

So check out what you can do by clicking here to volunteer. And you can find your polling place by clicking here:

http://VoteForChange.com

Pass that URL around to everyone you know so they can find their polling place as well.

If we can turn all of our supporters out, if we can all go to the polls and bring people with us, our country will never be the same. We need a victory large enough that the personal attacks of the McCain campaign are discredited, the policies of the Bush-McCain GOP are repudiated, and the ideology of the extreme right is rejected, once and for all.

And then we can work together on how to get this country moving again, instead of just trying to limit the damage of a Republican President and his Roadblock Republican allies.

Tomorrow is election day. This is our time.

Sen. Kerry was on Meet the Press this past Sunday. He appeared after former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson had spoken on behalf of the McCain campaign.  Sen. Thompson was still pushing the Republican line that Barack Obama is too new and too inexperienced  to lead this country.  He said of Sen. Obama , "you have a fellow who is the most inexperienced and least qualified from a national security standpoint of any Democratic candidate I've seen in my lifetime."  The Republican closing argument is still one based on fear and a false argument that equates years in Washington with judgment. 

This election is not about fear; it is about the American people and their desire to move beyond partisanship. Senator Kerry explainedwhat had been left out of the argument by Fred Thompson:

You never heard Fred Thompson mention the word middle class.  You never heard him offer one proposal for John McCain as to how he will deal with this economic crisis.  You know, there've been two real presidential tests during this campaign.  The first was the choice of the vice president, and it is very clear John McCain went back on his own promises in the primaries, on Fred Thompson's own promises in the primaries, and chose somebody who has zero national security experience, who by definition is not ready to be ready to be president immediately, which is the very qualification John McCain set up.

Secondly, the second critical presidential moment was the economic crisis.  On 15 September, John McCain said the fundamentals of our economy are sound. That was his judgment.  Three days later, he suspends his campaign and says it's the greatest economic crisis since World War II.  He lurches erratically from one place to another.  He doesn't offer any constructive suggestion as to what you do about it.  Senator Obama did offer those.  In fact, all four of his fundamental principles were passed by the United States Congress and put into effect.  So I think on the two critical presidential decisions in this campaign, Barack Obama has been calm and steady and John McCain has been sort of erratic and, frankly, impulsive.  Now, come to the security issue.  Barack Obama has more security experience than Bill Clinton had when he became president.  He has more security experience than Ronald Reagan had when he became president.  And the fact is, it's not just time and a place, and I love John McCain.  I--I've worked with him, I know him.

 It is time to turn the page on the the failed policies of the Bush Administration that John McCain advocates. Barack Obama offers renewal and a chance to change direction for the country.  Sen. Kerry spoke to this yesterday:

This is a moment for change, Tom.  And I might add, you know, if, if John McCain were elected--you look around the world--this is a man who was the biggest cheerleader for the war in Iraq.  He was wrong about who's fighting whom, Sunni-Shia violence.  He was wrong about us being liberators.  He was the first to stand on an aircraft carrier and say, "Next up, Baghdad." He cannot break the break we need from the, from the Bush-Cheney years.  We've got to have a fresh start for America.  We need to move in a new direction, and Barack Obama brings us that.

Now it's up to the army of volunteers to bring the politics of hope and reason home to the voters. No one here is coasting on complacency. Everyone on the Democratic side knows that we have to work very hard to bring this victory home for the American people.  As Sen. Kerry said yesterday:

The Obama campaign is practicing a cautionary lesson by working, working, working.  I mean, the bottom line is you take nothing for granted.  And I know that the candidate, every member of the campaign, and all of his supporters are taking nothing for granted.  Presidential races tighten up anyway.  That year we had a particular event that pushed it, but I think everybody has to be very cautious here and simply work as hard as possible right up until 8:00 on Tuesday night.

See you all at the phonebanks, the visibilities, the canvassing stations and the ballot box. Together we will bring about the change America needs.

 

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