A message from Rick Jacobs on what each of us can do to stop the Republican attempt to steal the White House in 2008 - Todd

A few weeks ago, a scathing New York Times editorial told you about how Republicans were springing another "elaborate dirty trick" on us — an unbelievable California ballot initiative to steal 20 electoral college votes for the Republican presidential nominee, thus hijacking the White House for four more disastrous years.

You're outraged. And so are we. That's why the Courage Campaign has decided enough is enough. No more dirty tricks. Not in California. Not in America.

Over 7,000 of you signed a pledge to fight this dirty trick. When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger played dumb, saying he hadn’t read the ballot initiative, you sent over 2,000 copies of the initiative to him to read over the Labor Day weekend.

Now, you have a chance to send Arnold and the entire California Republican Party a loud and clear message before their convention starts this Friday: No more excuses. No more dirty tricks. No more partisan power-grabs.

To build our people-powered campaign to kill this dirty trick dead, we need you to support our 20/20 vision by this Friday's convention: Can you contribute $20 to Courage to save 20 California electoral votes right now?

http://www.couragecampaign.org/20for20onActBlue

What will twenty dollars — the price of a movie, popcorn and a soda — get you? A campaign of, by and for the netroots and grassroots.

At the YearlyKos blogger convention last month, I talked with an amazing group of online leaders — including several folks from the Calitics blogging community — about how we could defeat this dirty trick together. I left Chicago inspired and days later, we formed a "No Dirty Tricks" netroots advisory team driven by California online organizers and bloggers like Eden James, Miles Kurland, Julia Rosen, Bob Brigham, Julie Bergman Sender and Todd Beeton. Endorsements came pouring in as well from national leaders like Arianna Huffington, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, Sherry Lansing, Jane Hamsher, Eleanor Smeal and Bradley Whitford (click here to see the powerful lineup of bloggers and leaders endorsing our "No Dirty Tricks" campaign).

Courage Campaign is uniting netroots and grassroots progressives to build a people-powered online infrastructure in California that will defeat this initiative in June even as we build a winning progressive agenda. One way we’re building online infrastructure is by using and supporting ActBlue, an exciting web community tool that empowers anyone — individuals, local groups, and national organizations — to raise funds online for their favorite candidate or cause. ActBlue is campaign finance reform because it empowers each of us to democratize politics from the bottom up.

By helping the Courage Campaign defeat this dirty trick, you can also help ActBlue empower us to change the role of money in American politics. After you contribute $20 to Courage to save 20 California electoral votes, you'll be given an option to add a small "tip" for ActBlue. A few dollars can make a big difference:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/20for20onActBlue

On Wednesday, we'll tell you much more about our plans to use ActBlue to help us build a transformative team that can turn online activism into offline action, kill this dirty trick dead, and take back the White House in 2008.

If you care deeply about building a people-powered movement to end politics as usual, we need your support right now. By contributing "20 for 20" through ActBlue, you can help us build a progressive netroots-driven organization in California that is a model for America. This is your moment.

This is your movement. Please join with us by acting now to support Courage Campaign before Friday's California Republican Party convention.

Rick Jacobs Courage Campaign

P.S. Yes, our team is working on Labor Day. I’m sure you noticed that President Bush is as well, this time in Iraq. That's why we won’t rest until we put an end to the dirty tricks. With that in mind, I recorded this one-minute YouTube video over the weekend to talk with you about how the "Sons of Nixon" dirty tricksters are trying to steal the presidency. I hope you enjoy it.