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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest
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The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
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| JANUARY
28, 1999 4:55 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Censure and Move On Joan Blades 510-701-0078 e-mail: joan@moveon.org |
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| Continuing Impeachment Trial Spurs Thousands to Work in Year 2000 Election Campaigns | ||||
| SAN
FRANCISCO - January 28 - In the past 24 hours, thousands of concerned citizens have taken MoveOn's
"We will act" pledge: "In the 2000 election, I will work to
elect candidates who courageously address key national issues and who reject
the politics of division and personal destruction." Together, citizens
have pledged more than 500,000 volunteer hours to congressional campaigns in the year 2000.
MoveOn.org, a grassroots, Internet campaign to end the impeachment frenzy in Washington, today publicly announced it has begun an ambitious effort to spur anti-impeachment members of the Internet community to volunteer their time for like-minded candidates in the 2000 election. The move comes only weeks after the organization began a similar effort to raise monetary pledges for 2000, the "We will remember" campaign, which has thus far raised more than $13 million in pledges. Yesterday, one minute after the Senate voted along party lines to extend the impeachment trial to include witnesses, MoveOn.org had received more than 5,000 pledges adding up to more than 500,000 volunteer hours. Pledges have come in from every state in the union. The "We will act" pledge can be found at http://www.moveon.org. "It's clear that we need a change in Congress," said Wes Boyd, co-founder of MoveOn.org. "Citizens want to act, but aren't quite sure how. With the power of the Internet, we will make it easy for volunteers to connect with campaigns in their area. Some may even do their volunteer work by modem." MoveOn.org is recording pledges of individuals to donate dollars and time directly to election campaigns. With this database, MoveOn.org will remind signers of their pledges as the 2000 campaign season approaches, and will make selecting candidates and contacting campaigns as simple as a few mouse clicks. "The good news is that citizens now understand they can't leave politics to the politicians," said Joan Blades, co-founder of MoveOn. org. "It's our duty to give our time and energy to candidates that share our values. Participation is the only cure for this disease." About MoveOn.org: Just three months old, MoveOn.org has more than 5,500 volunteers
across
the country and 475,000 online supporters. On Oct. 29, thousands of
volunteers personally presented printed-out e-mail petitions to
congressional offices in 44 states. On election day last November, MoveOn
also coordinated a massive, e-mail-driven "get-out-the-vote"
effort. Targeted e-mails reached more than 300,000 supporters directly, and
millions more were reached indirectly through e-mail forwarding. After the
House of Representatives voted to impeach, MoveOn.org collected more than
20,000 pledges totaling more than $13 million in value, for congressional
races in the year 2000. -0- |
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