The Very Latest

  • The dreams of our daughters

    By Lauren Peterson on

    Erin, a mother of two young girls, thanks President Obama for standing up for women's health—and explains why, this November, "the dreams of all our daughters are at stake, and they're counting on us to fight for them."

    Hear why protecting a woman's right to choose is so important to Erin and her family—then, let us know what supporting women's health means to you.

    Share your story

  • Faces of the campaign: Robert Diamond

    By Laura Wilson on

    Name: Robert Diamond
    Job Title: National Veterans and Military Families Vote Director; New York State Director
    Hometown: Staten Island, New York
    Based in: New York, New York

    Q1. What does a day at work look like to you?
    They are long! My days are a combination of running the campaign's national Veterans and Military Families program and managing our campaign activities on the ground across New York state. I spend most of my day in meetings and on conference calls with headquarters in Chicago, with my staff in New York, and with elected officials and supporters across the state and country. I am often on the road traveling around New York to meet with our amazing volunteers, and at least one week a month I’m in Chicago to work in person with our national team at the campaign HQ. And somewhere around 11:00 p.m. each day, I settle in to read and answer all the emails I manage to never get to during the day.

    Q2. How did you first come to the campaign?
    I served as an officer in the United States Navy for seven years, and I am a veteran of the war in Iraq. The issues facing our nation's veterans and their families are something I care deeply about. President Obama has made these issues a centerpiece of his administration and he has accomplished more for veterans and military families than anyone in nearly 40 years. It is because of his commitment to our returning servicemembers that I am fighting every day to re-elect him. We still have so much work to do for the veteran and military communities, and President Obama is the right person to lead those efforts.

    Q3. What's your favorite part of your job?
    Meeting with our volunteers. The best part of my job is to get out of the office often and hit the road. Whether it’s speaking at a house party in Binghamton, New York, or meeting with veterans in Virginia, I am refreshed and energized every time I have the privilege to spend time and speak with our volunteer supporters. The energy and passion they bring to this campaign is palpable. We are building the largest grassroots political campaign in American political history, and being out there with those supporters is what it’s all about.

    Q4. What's the most unexpected part of your job?
    Again, it’s the volunteers. I am astonished on a daily basis with the level of time, energy, and effort our volunteers pour into this campaign. From our neighborhood teams to our interns at the New York headquarters, we have the most loyal, dedicated, and talented group of volunteers anyone could ask for. They step up and work hard every day to re-elect President Obama. They are out every day on the streets, registering voters, making phone calls, and organizing in their communities, because they demand a say in the future direction of this country. I am humbled by them, and they motivate me to work harder each and every hour of this campaign.

    Q5. Tell us a fun fact about yourself:
    I am about to become a dad. My beautiful wife Tory and I are expecting a baby girl this May. I am fighting every day in this campaign to build a better future for our daughter. And, at 6'6", I am also the tallest staff member on the campaign!

  • See your grassroots match

    By Melanie Garunay on

    Supporters are pitching in right now to help reach a major milestone for this campaign: 2 million grassroots donors.

    If you make a contribution today, it will be matched by another supporter like you—and we’re keeping track of all the action with a real-time map showing the grassroots matches happening across the country.

    So join in the push to 2 million, and you might just see your name on the map.

    Donate

  • “President Obama stands with women like my mom.”

    By Mary Naset on

    “My mom was like a lot of women in America … she worked hard.

    “She pulled herself and her family out of poverty by going back to school. She raised two boys into adulthood. She helped pay the bills as a full-time special education teacher.

    “And, during the course of her decade-long battle with cancer, she suffered indignities at the hands of a health care system where too often the question was 'How are you paying?' rather than 'How can I help you?'

    “For me, this election is about women like my mom—women who fight hard and give back to their families, their workplaces and their communities.

    “There is no doubt in my mind: President Obama stands with women like my mom.

    “He’s fought hard for equal pay for equal work. He’s worked to expand access to free preventative care and screenings that could have helped save the lives of women like my mom. He’s taken on the tough job of improving the public schools that my mom dedicated her career to. And he’s stood steadfast against attacks on the rights of women to make their own health decisions.

    “With a record like this, I know my mom would be proud of my work to re-elect the President. I also know she’d be honored that President Obama is standing up for women like her.”

    Chris, New Mexico

  • Faces of Romney economics: Joe Soptic, American steelworker

    By Grant Fuller on

    Joe Soptic worked at GST Steel in Kansas City for nearly 30 years. He earned a good salary, bought a house and a car, sent his daughter to college—his family felt secure in the middle class. Joe and his coworkers made high-quality American steel, and they were proud of it.

    “There was a real sense of community among the workers. We watched out for one another, we enjoyed coming to work every day, our jobs were good jobs.”

    But their hard work and responsibility never fully paid off. In 1993, Mitt Romney led a group of investors who took control of GST Steel. They cut costs, began extracting big profits in the form of dividends, and heaped debt on what had been a successful company. By 1995, the company's total debt had grown to $378 million, and there were mounting concerns that the employee pensions were being dangerously underfunded.

    By 2001, the company's debt had grown to $500 million, and GST Steel was forced into bankruptcy.

    Joe lost his job and only received a portion of the pension he had earned. Luckily, Joe found a new job as a school custodian, but it paid one-third of his previous salary and his wife was no longer covered by his health insurance plan.

    Mitt Romney and his partners, on the other hand, walked away with more than $12 million in profit.

    “It’s upsetting what Mitt Romney and his partners did to us here in Kansas City. They came in, they bought the plant and then made as much money off it as they could. Once there wasn’t any more money they thought they could make, they closed it down and filed for bankruptcy—with no concern for the folks who worked there.”

    Joe’s not the only one: More than 750 workers lost their jobs when GST Steel closed. Learn the full story, and find out the truth behind Mitt Romney’s business experience—visit romneyeconomics.com today.

  • Team Lansing: “It’s a real personal thing”

    By Melanie Garunay on

    Edwina and her husband James, who lead Team Lansing together, sat down to talk about what drives their team to be out registering voters week after week—and why they’ll be out for the next weekend of action.

    James: When [our team] first started, I said, ‘For each member on the team, we want to have five one-on-one meetings to recruit other supporters.’ Let me tell you—they looked at me like I was crazy. But we ended up being champions for the number of one-on-ones in our area. And we did the same thing with phonebanking, and we even exceeded our goals so we helped out other teams with their goals. Now our team is pumped up, and we’ve got that teamwork mentality, and we’re going to get out there and do voter registration.

    Edwina: By being out there [registering voters], whether we’re at the church or at the barbershop or wherever, the community knows us and trusts us. We’d say, ‘Don’t just bring yourself; you go and get the rest of your family, and we’ll teach them about their voting rights.’ Then, they would bring their cousins and their friends.

    James: It’s a real personal thing; just a really gratifying thing. It’s about building those relationships.

    Edwina: In this area, high school graduates celebrate by having open houses, where they invite all their friends and the whole neighborhood. So what we’re going to do this May and June is talk to the parents and give them a clipboard with a laminated sample of the voter registration form. If you take one of the packets to an open house, and get someone there who’s familiar with those kids, you’ll register all of those kids. It makes it easy for them. They get what registering to vote is and why it matters—it’s just a matter of showing them how to do it.

    While the South Lansing team is out in their community, they’re not only registering voters—they’re also encouraging other supporters to get involved.

    Edwina: We went over to the University of Michigan to talk to some of the student groups affiliated with the black alumni organization. And my husband talked to [the students] about getting involved—and they just didn’t know they could get involved like that! They all said, “We can do this? We want to do voter reg!” You know, with a lot of these kids, there’s so much frustration in their lives, it’s tough. But by giving them this information, you’re showing them that they’re valuable: that they can do something in their community.

    If you’re ready to register voters in your community, sign up now for a weekend of action event coming up this Saturday and Sunday.

    Find an event near you

  • Ed: One in two million

    By Mary Hough on


    Four years ago, Ed Prouty owned his own HVAC business in New Hampshire. It was tough going, business had dropped away as the economic downturn hit.

    “We’re just hanging on,” Ed said back then. “This is the worst we’ve ever seen in the 25 years I’ve been in business.”

    With the presidential election heating up that summer, Ed made a small donation to Barack Obama. He didn’t know it at the time, but that donation made Ed the 2 millionth donor to the 2008 campaign. A few weeks later, he got a phone call from the candidate himself.


    Four years later, things have changed for Ed.

    “My business improved as the economy improved, so much so that I was able to retire five months ago,” Ed explains. “I turned 66 and just knew it was time.

    “But if it wasn’t for the upturn in the economy, Social Security, and Medicare, I wouldn’t have been able to retire, and neither would any of my friends.”

    Ed now splits his time between Maine and his retirement home in Florida, where he’s enjoying the sunshine and some relaxation after running his own business for 29 years:

    “It’s a wonderful, wonderful, place.”

    Ed is clear about who he'll be voting for this November:

    “When I think about where we were four years ago and where we are now, there’s no choice. Everyone knows that there’s more to improve, but if it hadn’t been for the decisions President Obama made, saving the autoworkers, rescuing the industry, we’d have ended up in the second Great Depression.

    “He’s done a great job and we need to let him keep on that path.”

    Four years ago, Ed stepped up and pitched in what he could afford, helping to elect Barack Obama. Now, you could be the 2 millionth donor to this campaign: make a donation of $3 or whatever you can afford today.

    Donate

  • Keeping his word: Women's health

    By Lauren Peterson on

    "I won't back down when it comes to defending the freedom of women. Change is a president who will stand up for choice."
    —Barack Obama, September 20th, 2008

    Four years ago, Barack Obama promised to stand up for women's health. Take a look at how he's followed through—then share this video with your friends and family.

Women For Obama

Women For Obama

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