URGENT - PLEASE READ
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Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 3:36 PM
Hello Dan's Delegation Volunteers,

First, we want to apologize for the barrage of emails that have been hitting your inboxes recently -- there has been a lot of hectic communication over the weekend. Thanks for your continued patience and your effort thus far, we really appreciate all of your enthusiasm leading up to now.

Here is a summary of this weekend's events, as our leadership team saw it unfold. On Saturday we were informed that David, the contact in Italy who had been booking plane reservations, had been in a fairly serious car accident and was being hospitalized. We were also informed that he was unreachable by phone. At this time, the plane reservations he had made for us had not yet been ticketed, and could not be finalized without his approval. After some frantic correspondence with the group that David is from, Americans in Italy for Obama, some suspicion arose surrounding the nature of the car accident, David's identity, and his intentions regarding this project. The leaders from all the states held a series of conference calls yesterday to arrive at the best possible course of action, including whether or not it made sense to continue to attempt to fly our incredible group of 700 volunteers to swing states.

After much internal debate over the past several days, and little concrete information as to what went wrong in Italy, it has become evident to us that to continue as planned is not only nearly impossible given the short time period that we have, but it is also potentially unsafe. For this reason, we have chosen to separate ourselves entirely from Dan's Delegation and our donors abroad. The information collected from every volunteer is minimal, including only email address, phone number, and the name of the volunteer. Based on our research since yesterday morning, it is our understanding that this information cannot be mishandled for illegitimate means. As such, the only way to guarantee our safety from this point forward, and to ensure that our efforts for Obama are no longer wasted, the best step forward is a clean break. There was some discussion yesterday of the possibility of attempting to fulfill our volunteer-count commitments that we have made to the Obama campaigns in the states we were planning on going to, but at the present time, the feasibility of pulling off such a large-scale travel operation seems intangible at best.

We have been working hard over the past several days to get facts down on paper; at this point it seems we know as little as everyone else about how we were misled. What we do know, however, is that for the legitimate arm of this effort -- the volunteers -- the enthusiasm was inspiring to witness over the past several weeks. It is possible that some of us may arrange small-scale drive-for-change campaigns to head to nearby swing states in private transportation this weekend, and we encourage you all to do this as well. For those of you who secured your own funding for transportation to your swing state, by all means, please continue on with those plans! The infrastructure is in place for you to make a difference in your original state assignment, and the Obama campaign leaders in those states would greatly appreciate your help.

Just for an example of the extent to which our voices have already been heard, several leaders were lucky enough to participate in a conference call with Barack Obama yesterday. Not wanting to see our effort die, "A" is arranging a chartered bus trip to Las Vegas, Nevada to campaign for Obama for the next several days. An email with more information on this trip is forthcoming, please stay tuned. We still have a chance to make a difference!

At the root of it, the reason this effort was so successful initially stemmed from the fact that young people everywhere have mobilized around this campaign in unprecedented numbers. All of us signed on because of our hope for Obama's presidency, and it would be a shame if that inertia failed now. Therefore, please bear in mind that at the beginning you committed five days to campaign for Barack, something that we hope you will hold yourself to even if you aren't traveling to another state. There are strong Obama field offices and headquarters in every city across the US, and they all need your help.

We could easily back down and give up, but after yesterday's events, we hold a rekindled faith and hope in Obama's campaign because leaders and state coordinaters alike from USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Tufts, Mt. Holyoke, CSU Northridge, UT Austin, and others rallied on in order to complete our mission in the name of democracy and change. When all this started, it was about hope for the future, and the fierce urgency of now. Let's not let the hurdles of the past 24 hours let us forget that.

Here is information about how to contact your local Barack Obama and MoveOn.org headquarters: http://action.barackobama.com/page/s/newvolunteer

Thanks again everyone, for all the excitement and organization. It's been a real pleasure talking to you all on the phone and meeting some of you in person. We can't wait to read the good news on election-day and to know that in a way, we were all part of that.

Best wishes,

A, Former State Director of Indiana
B, Former City Captain of Omaha
C, Former State Director of North Carolina
D, Former State Director of Colorado
E, Former City Captain of Indianapolis
F, Former Team Leader of Missouri
G, Former Team Leader of Indiana
H, Former Team Leader of Greensboro, North Carolina
I, Former Team Leader of Kansas City
J, Former Team Leader of Kansas City
K, Former Team Leader of Indiana