Environmentalism is not an upper-income issue, it's not a white issue, it's not a black issue, it's not a South or a North or an East or a West issue. It's an issue that all of us have a stake in - Barack Obama

Contrary to reports of my untimely demise I am still here I just have been having problems coming up with stuff to write about. I've written a lot of diaries on Obama's platform but there is one issue that I have not written about much. And it's a very, very important issue. A little something called our environment. Barack Obama has been a champion of the environment for a long time. In this diary I will take a look at his background on this issue and plans for moving our country and environment forward.

Because of you, tonight I can stand here and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for the president of the United States of America.

It took 16 months to get there. But last night I was there in St. Paul, Minnesota. I was there when Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for President of the United States of America.

After 16 a long, 16 month journey we have finally made it across the first finish line. To quote Le blogueur Oakland Kid

This moment isn't about Democrats or Independents or Republicans, this is a moment of celebration for all of us, as Americans...

Only in America was this moment possible. Only in America could hundreds of thousands heed the call for Change and find their hard work and their relentless organizing answered by one candidate who rose up above a field of exceptional leaders to secure this victory.

Change is at hand.

No long diary from me tonight. Just a short flashback from the past. Back on December 26th, 2007. Before Iowa. Close your eyes and try to remember back then for a moment.

It's been over a year since I made my first blog and so I've been reading through some of my older blogs and found this video about Marjorie Marsh, a 94 year old precinct captain for Obama in Iowa and I'd thought I'd s hare.

Amitai Etzioni has a interesting post over at TPMCafe today. In it he argues that for a while Obama had only been focused on unity but that in his recent speech to the graduating class of Wesleyan University he got back to the second main theme of his campaign. Service.

Or more specifically the the call for service for the common good. The article is worth a read. But more importantly so is Obama's speech. It wasn't widely covered but in my opinion it is one of his best.

Tonight Barack Obama gave a fantastic speech. But one part really stood out to me.

So don't ever forget that this election is not about me, or any candidate. Don't ever forget that this campaign is about you-- about your hopes, about your dreams, about your struggles, about securing your portion of the American Dream.

In the end that's really what this campaign is about. It's about us. Together. Together over 1,500,000 of us have taken ownership of this campaign and donated. We have made this campaign about us not about the special interests and there same old Washington games. Today the people of North Carolina and Indiana rejected the same old Washington distractions. They rejected the same old Washington gimmicks. They sent a strong message.

Now we need to send another huge message by showing our support by Obama. In other words, DONATING. We can start to wrap this nomination up and give us strong momentum going into the general election. We can send a message.

Ashwin Madia's parents came to America from India with $19 in cash and a dream that America would provide opportunities for their children. Now their child, Ashwin Madia is running for Congress in Minnesota's third congressional district as the Democratic Nominee to replace retiring Republican Jim Ramstad.

He is a Iraq War Vet who ran a grassroots campaign and defeated a better funded establishment candidate for the Democratic nomination. Now he is facing Erik Paulsen a state representative and extreme conservative (for example, he even voted against raising the minimum wage). This will be one of the most contested races in the country. It is targeted by both parties but it is a fantastic opportunity to send a great representative to Washington who will shake things up. That's why I'm proud to announce that Ashwin Madia is the latest Obamajority canidate and that he is joining us shortly (About 1 ET/ 12 CT) for a conversation about his campaign and the future of this country.

Follow me below the fold to learn more about Ashwin.

The results are still trickling in from Pennsylvania. The people have voted. We can't change how they voted.

But what we can do is keep fighting.

We still have Guam, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virgina, Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana. All of them still need to vote and we still need to be working hard to win.

The only way to influence polls is to take action and change minds. Don't you want to see a "OBAMA WINS PA" headline? Don't you want a big swing in the polls towards Obama? The only way to make that happen is to take action. This morning kath25 posted a great action diary that didn't get much attention so I asked if I could repost it. Hopefully this headline will get you to see this and take action. And if your not a phonebanking type you can always donate.

Obsessing over the latest ups and downs doesn't do anything. Taking action does. Read kath's easy ways to take action below the flip and take action. Even if it's just twenty minutes of your time. It makes a difference. It will help bring the 10-Point Swing Towards Obama!

Last night I posted a call to action after one of the most unfair and uninformative debates ever. It got a overwhelming response and tons of donations poured in. But we can't just do that for one night. We have primaries to win still and we need to keep the focus on action up. We still need to be taking action. Calling voters in PA. Traveling to PA for GOTV. Donating to the campaign so they have the resources to win. Doing whatever you can. And so I bring you the third day of Obama Action Week.

Tonight we saw one of the biggest "gotcha politics" debates yet. The moderators seemed set on destroying Obama by using trivial matters to play "gotcha!" Tonight we also saw why Barack Obama is the right canidate for president. Tonight he showed why he is the right canidate to take on John McCain and the right canidate to turn around our country. Because he fought back by talking about what Americans care about. The issues.

It's the economy, stupid. That was the famous banner in Bill Clinton's Little Rock War Room.

Once again the economy is a major issue. So is Iraq. So is health care. So are a whole host of other issues.

But issues only matter if they can be communicated to the American people. And you can't get any kind of message across unless you have campaign funds, unless you have dedicated volunteers that pick up the phone and call voters, that go door to door and do all the other work that needs to be done.

Polls have zero effect on the election. Daily up and downs have almost no effect on the election.

Frankly if you want Barack Obama to win the only thing that matters is action. In other words. It's the action, stupid.

As of 10:09 CT that is how many people have donated to Obama for America.

14,265,507 American citizens have voted Barack Obama for president and many more will.

Back on that cold day, February 10th. Who would have thought that?

Not a whole lot of people. But a army of millions of people worked there tail off and focused on the goal. And that is how we have come so far.

Recently fellow blogger Eddie in ME alerted me to a situation in Maine in which Rita Moran, the Kennebec County Democratic Committee chair, got kicked out of her elected position as DNC Women by establishment trickery.

Here in the netroots we pride our selfs in being part of the people-powered politics movement but this is the time when we need to step it up and take action on behalf of people-powered politics! In this essay I'll try to give a brief of what happened and how we can take action!

Last Monday I launched the Obamajority to give Barack Obama a strong progressive Congress that will enact his bold agenda. I started it out with three canidates, Rick Noriega, Darcy Burner and Patrick Murphy. I also asked for suggestions for who to endorse next.

The canidate that received the most support by far was Tom Perriello. I had already heard about his impressive run for Congress and so I am exited to announce that Tom is the latest canidate to be added to the Obamajority. So go and give him some change for change. In this essay I take a look at Tom and his campaign to bring much needed leadership to Virgina's 5th Congressional District.

Today Tom Hayden, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Barbara Ehrenreich and Danny Glover published aopen letter to American progressives urging them to join them and support Barack Obama. Why? Because Obama's campaign is a movement.

We intend to join and engage with our brothers and sisters in the vast rainbow of social movements to come together in support of Obama's unprecedented campaign and candidacy. Even though it is candidate-centered, there is no doubt that the campaign is a social movement, one greater than the candidate himself ever imagined

I think this is a very important letter and I'll take a deeper look at it in this essay.

There is still a lot more work to do if we want to get Barack Obama elected. But if we want to truly change this country we need to do more then that. We need to build strong Democratic majority in the House and Senate committed to passing Obama's agenda of change. In short we need an Obamajority.

So I e-mailed a few people who had helped out with the Obamathon and came up with the idea for a fundraising drive like the Obamathon but for congressional candidates who will help build a Obamajority. Using the amazing ActBlue we have set up a fundraising page to build The New Obamajority. To start out it features three great candidates. Rick Noriega, Darcy Burner and Patrick Murphy. More will be added as time goes on (suggestions are welcome at obamathon (AT) gmail (DOT) com) but for now let me introduce you to those three great candidates who will help build an Obamajority.  

After Barack Obama graduated from Harvard Law School he could have easily gotten a high paying job as a corporate lawyer or clerk for a federal judge. Instead he returned to Chicago to run the Illinois branch of Project Vote!, a national non-profit group dedicated to increasing voter engagement and participation in low-income and minority communities. Obama proceeded to add over 150,000 low-income and minority voters to the voting rolls.

In this essay I want to focus on a article that appeared in the Chicago Magazine in 1993 entitled "Vote of Confidence" and the need for brining more voices into the process so we can help not only elect Barack Obama but fundamentally alter the electoral landscape.

8 weeks ago today in a blog on DailyKos and many other sites I posted a proposal for a Obamathon fundraising drive to help Barack Obama win in the first Super Tuesday (February 5th). Since then 896 people have donated $48,771 dollars via that page and Obama has gone from a underdog to a clear front runner within reach of the nomination.

But there is still work to do to get there. Obama has to run two campaigns at once. He still has to win the Democratic nomination and also he has to run against Senator McCain. He is facing a two front battle. It is still a uphill fight but it can be won.

So I'm relaunching the Obamathon as the Obamathon 2.0 (real original name I know) and setting a new goal of $100,000 by April 22, the day of the next primary.