Re: Draft Al Gore New Hempshire Action Call -- SPEAK UP

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Date Posted: 23:38:03 01/22/04 Thu
Author: P. Beard
Author Host/IP: 66-188-134-84.mad.wi.charter.com / 66.188.134.84
Subject: Re: Draft Al Gore New Hempshire Action Call
In reply to: singhtjunior 's message, "Draft Al Gore New Hempshire Action Call" on 10:05:06 12/15/03 Mon

Write in Al Gore ...the People's President!
NH Group Merges with Draft Gore New England and Patriots for Gore
The People Say... VOTE GORE!

If you're a New Hampshire Democrat, you can expect a postcard or phone call this week asking you to write in Al Gore for president on your primary ballot.

A grassroots collaboration of citizens across the country has recently sprouted to urge voters to take a stand and vote for the man they really want to be president�Al Gore. They are calling upon people to bypass the parties and what they call �other people's choices� as to whom they should vote for. Despite Gore's 2002 announcement that he would not be a candidate, and his 2003 endorsement of another candidate, these Gore faithful are not taking �no� for an answer.

Rarely has this country seen such devotion to a candidate borne of its own volition, taking hold and having such lasting power, especially with no driving force from the politician himself. Mr. Gore has neither encouraged nor discouraged this movement, but there remains a need for people to see and hear what this man has to say. Gore supporters wait with great anticipation for any tidbit of news about the man they call �our president.� They clear their slate to sit in on webcast speeches sponsored by groups such as Moveon.org, such as the one given in New York City last week where Gore lambasted the current administration for its environmental policies. They drop everything and travel to locations where Gore will be speaking. It is a movement that has been gaining momentum, and as more people learn of it, more people join.

These Gore supporters are passionate about what happened in the last election and feel people need to stand up and take the process back. Tired of the political parties and a leadership that doesn�t listen to the people or represent their wishes, these Gore folk donate money and long working days they can ill afford to spare. . . all without a candidate motivating them to do so. If people think there is apathy in this country regarding the political process, this group is out to prove them wrong�and they invite you to join them.

�This effort belongs to the people,� says Elayna Bosen, a Portsmouth native and one of the NH organizers. �We are learning about the election process as we go and are getting involved so that what happened to our vote and our voice in 2000 doesn't happen again. This requires passion and involvement from the people. It�s time to breathe life into a people's movement, and we have chosen to do it with NH and its primary.�

So far, three different organizations have joined forces to put Gore in the White House in 2004. One is Draft Gore New England, founded by Mac Hathaway, a NH native and member of the original Draft Gore organization. Draft Gore NE was launched in case the person running the national draft movement decided to fold after Mr. Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean, which is exactly what happened. His initiative and foresight have paid off and he now provides a place for Draft Gore members and others to continue their efforts. Hathaway has organized large phone banks within NH, and volunteers are placing thousands of calls urging NH voters to write in Al Gore on their primary ballots. The phone bank efforts will be stepped up in the next few days leading up to the primary. Draft Gore NE maintains its own website at www.draftgorene.com.

A second organization that has formed and joined forces with Draft Gore NE is Patriots for Gore, which is a fully FEC-registered and -reporting PAC. Founder Jan Moore and a group of fellow Gore supporters felt people who still believed in the draft effort needed a place to call home after the Dean endorsement took the wind out of the sails of the original draft movement. Patriots for Gore's launch of their efforts right before the NH primary is no coincidence. They hope to model the NH primary campaign after the one launched by the people for Henry Cabot Lodge in the1960s. In that historic case, Lodge, who was not running, beat Goldwater and Rockefeller in NH through the sheer will of the people with a write-in vote. Patriots for Gore is working to accomplish the same goal for Al Gore. The group has its own website that will be moved shortly to www.patriotsforgore.com . They use the Al Gore Support Center�AGSC�www.algoresupportcenter.com as its current home and Internet forum board. AGSC was founded by Chris D. Jackson of Loretto, TN, after Gore made his announcement in Dec. 2002 that he would not be a candidate in the 2004 election. Jackson is a young Democratic activist who considers Gore to be his mentor. He continues to work toward a Gore presidency by maintaining the website and helping coordinate efforts within the three-group alliance. Donations for Patriots for Gore can be sent to P.O. Box 201 Auburn, IL 62615.

The third group that has joined with Draft Gore NE and Patriots for Gore is Young America's Voice. Portsmouth native Elayna Bosen launched this organization after the tragic shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. The program won the endorsement of the White House through then Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper. According to Ms. Bosen, the organization has diffused potential school shootings and diminished the number of youth suicides across the country. �Mr. Gore kept a hotline open for myself and these youth through his right-hand aide, who traveled with him. This made such a difference in the lives of these young people and their families. Young America�s Voice gave youth a voice. Al and Tipper Gore listened and that made all the difference in the world for them.� Many of the youth Bosen has worked with have turned their energy toward activism, mostly within the political arena, and some are now working for members of Congress as a result of learning different ways to fight for what they believe to be right.

"Al and Tipper Gore never asked for press on this and never used it or capitalized on it for any political purposes,� says Ms. Bosen. �Mr.Gore has done things like this for other people, such as a couple out in Seattle whose baby was being cut off from life-preserving medical care by their HMO. Gore was able to arrange extension of the coverage for that family through his lobbying them and that baby is alive today because of his efforts. We can't forget him now, and we need him to fight for the rest of us. He has always lived a life of honorable public service and continues to do so. Write in his name when you go to the primary on January 27th and give him the chance to help the American people.�

Patriots for Gore, Draft Gore NE, and Young America's Voice plan to continue their partnership after the NH primary, creating a place for others across the country to work toward their vision of a Gore presidency. The three-group alliance would like to invite anyone interested in helping or in getting more information to contact them by calling 603-430-VOTE (8683) or e-mailing WriteInAlGore04@aol.com.

The movement has gone through many changes since an Arkansas man named James Phillips took a month off from his job running a bus station and invested his own money to set up an operation here in NH to get Gore on the ticket in 2004. At that time, Phillips and Bosen kicked off their effort at The Rusty Hammer restaurant in Portsmouth, where Gore had returned for a lunch visit to thank the local Democratic leaders for their help during the 2000 campaign and to talk to them about a future run. The local Gore faithful were let down when they heard that the party leaders didn't back Gore during that visit. Phillips and Bosen felt that by planning a lunch at the same spot and sitting at the same table, they would somehow start things off the way they should have when Gore had been there. So now, after three years of ups and downs for the draft movement, they find themselves still fighting for the vision they had after the 2000 election. Regular citizens throughout the US have been getting involved to promote Gore with the list growing every day. The states so far include: New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Illinois,Arkansas,Tennessee, Texas,California, Wisconsin,Washington State and more

"There has to be a way to take back our political process,� says Ms. Bosen. �Our country was founded upon those rights and freedoms. Our state motto in NH is �Live Free or Die.� We were the first colony to secede from Great Britain during the American Revolution. Contrary to popular belief, the shot heard �round the world--the first shot fired--was fired right here on the Seacoast in NH.

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Re: Draft Al Gore New Hempshire Action Call -- truth, 12:53:46 09/12/06 Tue