How I got my @johnedwards.com account.

I'm enjoying life.

NOTE: I started this diary back in December. As you will read below, I was volunteering full-time with the Edwards campaign. However, unless you've worked with a Presidential campaign, you really don't know what "full-time" means. It means that there really isn't an extra hour or two laying around to write a blog post if that isn't your job. It means two or three hours of sleep a night. It means...the best time of my life!!!!

Many of you might have seen my pro-JRE diaries at Daily Kos. "The year we stole a Christmas Tree" was popular recently. Maybe some of my John Edwards Mashup diaries from earlier in the year. Or, maybe some of you might know me from the things I focused on before the 2008 election, like MRDD, the original Scientist Registry at Daily Kos, or health care. In fact, after 2004 I really thought my entire focus would be on North Carolina issues and North Carolina races. Not the Senate or Congress, I was diving into the weeds of the legislative races. I even wrote a series of diaries about it at BlueNC. But, along the way something happened.

Join me for a two-part story. First, how I came to be volunteering for the Edwards campaign, which I will present as a general interest story that supporters of any candidate can back. Second, I want to let you know what I'm doing now and how you can help me prove that bloggers do more than sit on their butts writing emails.

Part One - Happenstance and Chance

In 2004, like all right-thinking people, I supported John Edwards from the get-go. I lived in South Carolina, with a new baby and a 2-year old son, and I didn't feel like there was much I could do to help out the campaign. We won South Carolina, and by "we" I mean THEY, but I knew there was no hope in the general election of carrying SC. Little did I know that on election day I wouldn't even have a Democratic candidate to VOTE FOR in most of the races, only Republicans.

Well, South Carolina wore on us, and family issues led us back to The Old North State. A series of fortunate incidents led us to the new urban neighborhood of Southern Village in Chapel Hill. We bought it. I sold my car, took the bus to work, bought nearly everything from local merchants, walked, biked, played sports - all in the neighborhood. Low impact on the environment, lots of friends, it's great. It also lead me into local politics. A county board, Health Care for All NC, County, District, and State Delegate - the whole ball of wax. I was destined to focus on NC politics. To dig into the muck of all 100 Counties.

But, a funny thing happened on the way to the local elections. I saw this video.

This video said everything that I was feeling, but was afraid to say. I was listening to Lakoff talk about "framing" and I think he has some great points, but at the same time I wanted to stand up and say "We're right, you're wrong, YOU ARE immoral." John Edwards gave me that voice. So, I jumped on the bandwagon.

Then, something else happened. My blogging got noticed and, since I was local, I was asked if I wanted to volunteer at a couple Edward events, before the campaign. So, I signed folks in at a ritzy event in Raleigh and managed to mumble something to Senator Edwards like "It's nice to walk past you." After that, I volunteered at a book signing for "Home" in Raleigh. It was here that I met Elizabeth and asked if she would like to live-blog on BlueNC. "Sure." she said. And, she did.

I guess it was that connection that got me a seat on the plane to New Orleans and from there to Iowa (damn you charter company for not having a larger plane and making me miss the rest of the tour!!!). But, I came home to another surprise. A friend of mine emailed me and asked if I had heard rumors that JRE was renting office space in Chapel Hill, in Southern Village, where I lived. I went up to the square, looked up through the windows and lo and behold, there was the ONE person I knew from the JRE camapign sitting in the fishbowl. So, I snuck in and told them I would love to volunteer as much as possible. I got my wish, I almost immediately spent a day "Captaining" at the John Edwards Homecoming. I managed a group of volunteers who were tasked with amassing signatures of the gathered crowd. It was nuts, it was awesome. Then, we had another baby. We have a habit of doing that. And, the volunteering went out the window.

Sure, I did what I could, I spread the good word on the intertubes. I put out some decent diaries that a few people noticed. But, I wasn't doing anything on the ground. Well, okay, I was making phone calls once a month. But, dangit, this was my chance and I was letting it slip away. Family is the most important thing...but here I had my chance to live the dream and I wasn't doing it. Until, one night that became an option.

I was at the campaign office making small-donor fundraising calls, this was the night a few weeks ago that a new poll came out showing Edwards in the lead in Iowa. Folks were excited, the bell was ringing, dollars were pouring in to the campaign. Throughout the night i was speaking with a guy I had become close to in the campaign, Pauly Rodney. You can find out more about him here, here, here, and here. Anyway, I was talking with Pauly and I mentioned that maybe since some of the permanent staff had moved out to Iowa, and I really, really, really, really wanted to do Iowa but couldn't (6 year old, 4 year old, 6 month old...Christmas...New Year's...wasn't happening) ---- maybe I could volunteer in the office. Pauly jumped at the opportunity, said he was sure there was someone who had left that I could fill in for, let him think about it and get back to me.

About an hour later, he got called "in" and told to pack for New Hampshire. I got the email from him, "Want to fill in for me?" So, here I am, at the campaign headquarters (actually I'm writing this at home : )) with my shiny new @johnedwards.com email address and a stack of To-Do notes as big as your frickin' head.

: )

So far it has been an experience I'll never forget, right down to the lack of sleep that my 1/8th time position is leaving me (along with job #1 that I have been keeping up with as well....did I mention the 3 kids : ) ). I've met some great people, I've spoken to incredible volunteers, I've been motivated, frustrated, and excited all at the same time. I'm here baby, even if it is just for a week. Living the dream, before I head back to 9/5ing it in the real world.

Part II - Wherein I ask you to make my part-time volunteer position a success.

What am I doing? Well, I'll tell you. One of the things I'm doing is sending out meeting/rally material like posters, bumper stickers, and photos. If you've gotten any of these things since December, I'm probably your guy. If you haven't....well, probably my fault too! Another thing I'm involved in is phone banking. I've put together phone banks in Seattle, San Antonio, and several in Chapel Hill - including a 14 hour phone bank one Saturday.

Finally, I'm recruiting people to volunteer, for all kinds of things. That is what I need from you, today, now. Aren't you sick and tired of hearing how bloggers do nothing but sit on their ass in their parents' basement? You're an activist!

Or, maybe you WERE an activist. Trust me, I know. The demographic here has a lot of older, professional, parents in it. I know how you feel, me too. But, this is your chance. This is your chance to live the dream, and I need you to do your part, to help me to do my part, to put John Edwards in the White House.

First, if there is any way you can road trip, I need you to travel to South Carolina. We have hundreds of volunteers traveling into South Carolina from all over the country and we need you to be the next person to sign up. I can tell you, because I LIVED IN SOUTH CAROLINA, that John Edwards is very popular there. The people who were born and raised in South Carolina love the idea of their native son becoming the President of the United States.

If you agree, if you want John Edwards in the White House next year, then you need to follow this link and sign up. There is no tomorrow. Tomorrow Begins Today has never been more true, sign up, travel, help. Win.

If you live in North Carolina, then you can help me in another way. By phone banking. Send me an email, we have phone banks happening all the time at the Chapel Hill office. We've had people travel from as far as Wilmington and Charlotte to participate. Your help will be appreciated.

Thank you for supporting John Edwards! Now, let's get up and do something!!!