The latest Republican Dirty Trick is dead... thanks to you.


And now, we need to get ready for the next Dirty Trick. Five hundred of you have already donated to the Courage Campaign Issues Committee. Donate what you can to help us get to our goal of 1000 donors. Together, we can keep the right wing from even thinking about using another dirty trick in California.

Here's the latest from Rick Jacobs.

I am speechless.

Six weeks of people-powered activism has produced a thrilling victory:

You killed the "dirty trick" by the Republicans to steal the White House.

As we reported to you on Friday, the shady campaign by the Republicans to pass the so-called "Presidential Election Reform Act:" -- a partisan power-grab to steal 20 Electoral College votes for the GOP's presidential nominee -- has collapsed under intense pressure.

Intense pressure created by your support for a new kind of organization, waging a new kind of campaign, practicing a new kind of politics.

You helped us kill this dangerous dirty trick, whether it was signing our "No Dirty Tricks" pledge on our NoDirtyTricks web site, participating in conference calls with bloggers and pollsters, forwarding our YouTube videos by concerned citizens like Bradley Whitford, spreading the word to family and friends, or contributing whatever you could afford.

Now it is time to build sustainable progressive infrastructure so that we can go on offense instead of defense.

Will you join over 500 donors across ActBlue who are contributing to our "No Dirty Tricks" campaign to help us pay off our campaign expenses and build our people-powered organization?

http://www.actblue.com/page/couragecampaign

You are on the ground floor of a new movement in California -- a movement led by the Courage Campaign to synergize the netroots with the grassroots to realize a progressive vision for California. It all started two months ago when I talked with several online organizers and bloggers at the YearlyKos convention for progressive activists in Chicago. Those conversations catalyzed and hastened much of the work we are doing now in California.

Instead of depending on highly-paid insider political consultants, the Courage Campaign relies on grassroots and netroots activists. Instead of depending on top-down campaigning via TV and radio ads, the Courage Campaign relies on bottom-up organizing via the internet and friend-to-friend communication. Instead of depending on major donors writing huge checks, the Courage Campaign relies on small donors contributing whatever they can afford.

Now it's time to build a new kind of organization and, in that spirit, we are setting a new kind of goal -- donors instead of dollars.

Over 500 of you have already donated to the Courage Campaign Issues Committee in the last month across ActBlue. Can you help us reach 1,000 total donors on ActBlue by making a donation in any amount you can afford (even $10) today?

http://www.actblue.com/page/couragecampaign

Although there are rumors of the right-wing resurrecting it, the specific dirty trick we rose up to kill is now dead.

Gov. Howard Dean, Chair of the Democratic National Committee, wrote to congratulate everyone in California:

"Thousands of you took action and sent a strong message that we won't stand for Republican dirty tricks any longer. The California Democratic Party and groups like Courage Campaign and Californians for Fair Election Reform were also heavily involved and deserve a tremendous amount of credit for slowing this to a halt. Working together, the power of ordinary Americans speaking out couldn't be ignored."

Gov. Dean, whose campaign I chaired in California in 2003, believes deeply in empowerment politics. Your work to defeat this initiative over the last six weeks reflects his philosophy of change emanating the bottom-up -- the only kind of change that works.

Show us your people power right now by helping us reach 1,000 donors across ActBlue before Halloween -- the time to celebrate fun tricks, not the dirty ones. Just one donation, no matter the amount, can make a big difference:

http://www.actblue.com/page/couragecampaign

Paul Kumar, Vice President of SEIU's 140,000-strong United Healthcare Workers West, was equally amazed by your activism with the Courage Campaign over the last six weeks:

"Your work made it too hot for Schwarzenegger and other leading Republicans to handle... The netroots was way out in front of the party regulars and big institutional players on this one and you deserve the credit for it."

Paul is talking about you -- the people that make our work possible -- and everyone who rallied to support the "No Dirty Tricks"campaign behind Courage. Now that we've killed this dirty trick, we need you to help the Courage Campaign build progressive infrastructure.

By clicking on the "combined" ActBlue fundraising page below, you can see just a few of the online organizers and bloggers who have built their own ActBlue pages supporting the Courage Campaign Issues Committee. Can you donate to any of their ActBlue pages and help us reach 1,000 donors by Halloween?

http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18377

In the coming weeks, we will solicit your ideas and report back to you about our plans to build on what you have created with the Courage Campaign.

Until then, thank you for everything you are doing to build our movement for real change in California and the country.

Rick Jacobs
Chair
Courage Campaign

P.S. There's a special YouTube treat from Bradley Whitford on our ActBlue page that you might not have seen before. It's a reminder of what we did together in six short weeks. Click the link below to watch it.


http://www.actblue.com/page/couragecampaign

Meanwhile, can you help us build our movement by forwarding this email to two friends? Getting two more friends involved will help us put an end to politics as usual in California. Thank you so much.