2012 Presidential Election

Whether or not your mom’s on Twitter, here’s something guaranteed to make her smile on Sunday: getting a personal shout-out from President Obama.

From now until Thursday at midnight, you have a chance to win that for your mom or a special mother in your life—just get five or more donations to your grassroots fundraising page to automatically put yourself in the running. (If you don’t have a page, you can set one up here.)

That’s right: If your name is drawn, the President will send your mom a special Mother’s Day tweet from @BarackObama. With more than 15 million people following him on Twitter, she’ll be honored in front of a pretty wide audience.

Even if your mom doesn’t have an account, she’ll still be getting a personal note from the President of the United States, thanking her for doing all the hard work that goes into being a mother.

I know my mom, Anne, would be thrilled—and it might even inspire her to give the whole Twitter thing a try.

So give it a shot. Tell everyone you know to pitch in and help get your name in the hat.

All you need are five donations by Thursday at midnight to be automatically entered, and it could be your mom who has an extra-special Mother’s Day this year.

Good luck (and hi, Mom)!

Get started

No purchase, payment, or contribution necessary to enter. Contributing will not improve chances of winning. Void where prohibited. Entries must be received by Thursday, May 10th, 2012. You may enter by creating a Grassroots Fundraising Page here and raising contributions from at least 5 unique donors during the Promotion Period or by registering here. Seven winners will each receive a Tweet to their mother or other family member from Barack Obama. Promotion open only to U.S. citizens, or lawful permanent U.S. residents who are legal residents of the 50 United States, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and 18 or older (or of majority under applicable law). Promotion subject to Official Rules and additional restrictions on eligibility. Sponsor: Obama for America, 130 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601.

Last November, we launched a new calendar to keep supporters like you in the loop about important campaign events and milestones.

Six months later, a lot of pages have peeled off that calendar, we’ve made a lot of progress—and we’re just getting warmed up.

As we head into the last six months before Election Day, there are important dates and events coming up that you should know about, and we’re rolling out new features and improved content. You can sync it to your Google or Outlook account to keep it handy—so download the calendar now.

These next six months will bring new challenges and opportunities for this campaign. And with an organization built by thousands of grassroots supporters organizing in local communities, it’s important we’re all on the same page. The updated calendar will bring you the latest info. Here are just a few of the new features we’ve added:

• Updated voter registration and early voting deadlines and reminders, so you can be sure not to miss out

• New milestones and accomplishments from the campaign and the last three years

• Events, volunteer opportunities, and program launches in states across the country

• A brand-new video

Beyond the nitty-gritty details, the calendar will continue to highlight the big picture—where our organizing stands overall, where we are in the campaign, and how all our work ties into the larger whole.

We’re building on our foundation, forming new neighborhood teams and opening new offices. With the general election effectively underway, we’re ramping up our outreach efforts to make sure we keep growing. To win in November, it’s going to take all of us working together.

Download the calendar today and don’t miss a beat of the campaign’s last six months.

Get the calendar

If you missed the livestream of the Ready to Go rally in Ohio, we’ll be replaying all the action at barackobama.com/live.

Watch

I got my start canvassing for Barack Obama in New Hampshire back in October 2007, while I was still a student at Tufts University in Massachusetts. It was my first real political experience, and I remember how empowered and appreciated I felt. The desire to make sure that every volunteer feels that same way motivates me in all that I do as New Hampshire’s training director.

One organizing tip to live by: Be ready to constantly improve.

An organizer should regularly evaluate what is going well and what can be better. While it’s crucial to aim for perfection in all that you do, it’s important to recognize that nothing will ever be perfect—and there will always be things to learn for next time. Be sure to actively think about ways to improve processes, and make sure you have systems in place to evaluate your work and share feedback.

Volunteer

Ohio volunteer Sophie shows off the 74 new volunteer signups she gathered in just two hours.

“I am a dedicated volunteer for President Obama’s campaign because of all that he has done for America in education, civil rights, the economy, the environment, women’s rights, and much more. Obama has led us through over two years of job growth and job creation, he has helped LGBT members of the military see the day where they can serve as the proud Americans they are, he has dramatically increased student financial aid (which is the entire reason I am in college right now), he has made it easier for women in the workplace to fight for their rightful equity with men, and has set us on a path to a much more self-sufficient America in terms of energy.

“I devote every minute I have to this campaign because I am a woman and I need health care that doesn’t punish me for that. I am taking a semester off of school to work for this campaign because I believe that higher education is crucial to our society and that everyone who wants one should be able to have one. President Obama has been leading America in the right direction—the direction of progress—and it is our responsibility to help him. We are greater together!”

—Sophie, Ohio

Attend the Ohio rally

“All we have to do is just open our mouths and ask people, and they’re ready to fill out the information and do what they need to do.” —Charity, after her first time registering a voter

For the first Voter Registration Weekend of Action, Gloria and Charity teamed up to canvass homes in Gary, Indiana. They went door to door registering voters, signing up new volunteers, and making sure folks know how to vote in November.

Click play to hear just how easy it is—then, get involved where you live.

Volunteer

Our in-house style guide says to never use all caps, but sometimes Rufus does his own thing. Check out this email he just sent to supporters:

There are two ways to look at it: This is yet another email from the campaign in your inbox. Or this email is making our organization stronger.

Grassroots support, especially online, is how we compete with our opponents. And we won’t win without it.

If you’ve got a few bucks to spare, mind chipping in before midnight?

THANK YOU.

Rufus

Rufus Gifford
National Finance Director

Donate

As volunteers across the country rest their feet, catch up on entering today’s field data, and begin planning for the week ahead, take a minute to listen to the stories of one Florida team.
Yesterday morning, before heading out to talk to voters, the Pine Hills team spent a few minutes sharing how each of them became involved in this campaign and why they’re giving their time to help re-elect President Obama.

Thanks to everyone who took part this weekend. If you missed out on the action this time around, make sure you’re ready to go next time: sign up to volunteer.

Volunteer

This time last month, we weren’t sure when we’d have an opponent.

Now we’re facing a united group of Republicans and special interests that’s coalescing around Mitt Romney. And one multimillion-dollar donor at a time, they’re planning to buy the keys to the White House:

• $500 million from their highest-dollar donors

• $200 million (at least) from special-interest groups, one of which has already raised more than $80 million from fewer than 100 people

• All in all, they’re ready to spend $1 billion—whatever it takes to defeat President Obama

We’re facing our first fundraising deadline of the general election on Monday—our first chance to show the Republican machine that more than 1.8 million grassroots donors aren’t going to let our opponents buy this election. Chip in $3 or more today.

If you need extra incentive to pitch in today: You’ll be automatically entered for a free trip to Los Angeles to meet President Obama at George Clooney’s house. Not a bad perk for supporting the campaign at a critical deadline.

If the other side succeeds, we may never even know the names of the people who bought this election—many of the outside groups are funded by anonymous sources, including corporations.

Supporters like you, chipping in what you can, when you can, are how we’ll face them down.

Will you make a donation before Monday’s crucial deadline?

Donate

Purchase/Contribution is not necessary and will not increase chances. Void where prohibited. Promotion ends 4/30/12. Approx. value of all prizes: $3200 Subject to Official Rules & restrictions on eligibility. Obama for America, 130 E. Randolph Chicago, IL 60601

Learning the rules and details for registering voters in Massachusetts with @NilssonCarl and @OFA_MA for our #RegToVote Weekend of Action.