As President Obama noted before the vote, Republicans had blocked unemployment benefits, small business tax credits—and now legislation to ensure regular people’s voices aren’t drowned out by special interests trying to influence elections. “On issue after issue, we are trying to move America forward,” the President said. “They keep on trying to take us back.”

The Boston Globe reported on yesterday’s Republican obstruction on one of the President’s top priorities:

Senate Republicans defeated legislation yesterday to require more disclosure in campaign spending, ending Democrats’ quest for stronger rules after a Supreme Court ruling this year allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums to influence elections.

The bill had been a high priority for President Obama, who denounced the Supreme Court ruling during his State of the Union address in January, as justices sat silently in the House chamber.

On a party-line, 57-to-41 vote after a heated debate, an effort by Democrats to fight off a Republican filibuster fell short of the 60 votes required. All 40 Republicans in attendance, including Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts, voted against it….

The legislation was the congressional response to a 5-to-4 Supreme Court ruling in January that struck down limits on corporate and union spending in elections. In the legal case — Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission — the court ruled that corporations and unions must be treated the same as individuals in campaign spending, recognizing a right to bankroll election activities as an exercise of the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court simultaneously upheld spending disclosure requirements, which Democrats tried to expand with the legislation. The House of Representatives passed a version of the bill last month.

The law would have required corporations and unions to reveal how much they spent on broadcast advertising in federal elections. And corporate CEOs or union heads would have to appear in their ads to take responsibility for the message.

The LA Times highlighted one of the personal interactions between an OFA volunteer and a first time ‘08 voter—the type of conversation that will happen time and time again leading up to this fall’s elections:

Jordan Love, 22, was standing outside his home with his pit bull Duke when he was approached the other day by a Democratic volunteer canvassing his Carson neighborhood. Love had voted for the first time in 2008, inspired by Barack Obama’s campaign, and that has made him a target in 2010.

Lori Noflin, the volunteer, urged him to cast a ballot again this fall and would only walk away after Love signed a card pledging to vote in November.

Voters like Love — first-time and sometimes voters — are a vital voting bloc for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown and incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer in their election bids, according to political observers in both parties. Both candidates are in dead-heat races, and their fates could rest on these voters, a mercurial bunch whose turnout potential is unpredictable….

Organizing For America, the Democrats’ national get-out-the-vote apparatus, has made the president the centerpiece of its message to voters. On a recent Saturday, organizers told volunteers to make Obama and his agenda central to their pitch as they reached out to 2008’s first-time voters in their homes and on the phone. More than 330 volunteers sought out 6,000 first-time voters in California that day, and talked to 900 of them.

"We are obviously focusing on first-time 2008 voters… making sure these people are as fired up and ready to go, and get to the polls in 2010," Phil Gaskin, a regional field director, told a handful of volunteers gathered at Lori Noflin’s airy Carson home, preparing to canvas neighborhoods and make calls from a phone bank. "It’s a whole campaign to keep the president linked to these voters, even though he’s not running this year. It’s a very, very cool strategy."

Check out the whole article.

Every year, our family tries to come up with a fun way to wish Barack a happy birthday.

And this August 4th, when he turns 49, I have something new in mind.

This has been a big — and hectic — year for him. After signing the Affordable Care Act and Wall Street reform into law — and completing his first year as president — I think it’s safe to say we will remember it for a long time.

And I know full well how much he credits this movement, and the work of supporters like you, for the change that we’ve accomplished.

So I’m putting together a birthday card that I would like you to sign. Together with other Organizing for America supporters — and me, Malia, Sasha, and Bo — we’ll wish him a happy birthday and let him know that we’re ready to take on the year ahead alongside him.

Will you wish Barack a happy birthday with me?

This year also brought a lot of surprises — some good and some bad.

Supporters like you have helped him make the best of it — by contacting Congress to help push stalled legislation forward, by re-engaging supporters in the political process, by giving back with service projects across the country, and so much more.

And while we can’t know what the coming year will bring, all of us, working together, will continue pushing forward for change.

Will you help make this a memorable birthday for Barack and wish him a happy 49th?

http://my.barackobama.com/birthday

Thanks so much,

Michelle Obama

With an important vote expected today on the DISCLOSE Act, President Obama urged the Senate to pass the bill that would require corporate political advertisers to reveal who’s funding their election-related activities.

The DISCLOSE Act undoes some of the damage from the Citizens United Supreme Court case, which ruled that big corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money influencing our elections, without having to reveal that they’re doing so.

Unfortunately, as they have done on unemployment benefits and tax credits, Republicans in the Senate are doing everything they can to block this bill from moving forward.

President Obama:

Now, you’d think that making these reforms would be a matter of common sense, particularly since they primarily involve just making sure that folks who are financing these ads are disclosed so that the American people can make up their own minds.  Nobody is saying you can’t run the ads — just make sure that people know who in fact is behind financing these ads.  And you’d think that reducing corporate and even foreign influence over our elections would not be a partisan issue.  But of course, this is Washington in 2010.  And the Republican leadership in the Senate is once again using every tactic and every maneuver they can to prevent the DISCLOSE Act from even coming up for an up or down vote.  Just like they did with unemployment insurance for Americans who’d lost their jobs in this recession.  Just like they’re doing by blocking tax credits and lending assistance for small business owners.  On issue after issue, we are trying to move America forward, and they keep on trying to take us back.

At a time of such challenge for America, we can’t afford these political games.  Millions of Americans are struggling to get by, and their voices shouldn’t be drowned out by millions of dollars in secret, special interest advertising.  The American people’s voices should be heard.

With OFA’s Vote 2010 strategy underway all across the country, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe stopped by two of Organizing for America’s California offices to fire up volunteers and lay out OFA’s plan for this year’s elections.

Plouffe told volunteers that they are the most effective messengers in making the case to friends and neighbors about the importance of November’s elections. OFA California shared more from Plouffe’s visits to OFA in Oakland and Los Angeles:

"The most important thing in 2010 is you talking to these voters, human being to human being, and getting them to say, ‘Alright, I’ll vote,’" Plouffe told volunteers in the Northern and Southern California OFA offices.

Plouffe explained that the President needs you to reach out to first-time ‘08 voters and tell them in your own words why this election matters.

Plouffe’s honest and candid speech to the Oakland office on the magnitude of the 2010 midterm election spoke volumes about his belief in OFA volunteers’ ability to affect lasting positive change. Plouffe made it clear to those in the room in Los Angeles and Oakland that by turning out the same first-time voters who carried President Obama to a historic 2008 victory, and turning out new first-time voters for 2010, OFA can once again make history in the upcoming midterm elections.

"It was those 15 million first-time voters that allowed us to win in 2008. We have to go out there and tell them that this election matters," Plouffe passionately implored the Oakland group to a round of applause. "We have to go out there and make sure that all those first-time voters go to the polls in 2010."

Plouffe was excited about the growth that OFA has seen ever since the 2008 elections. He pointed our that the organization’s ability to affect policy in the last two years is remarkable, and is breaking new ground in citizens’ ability to access their government….

Plouffe pointed out that although no one has ever tried to rely so heavily on volunteers and grassroots organizing for a midterm election before, no one else has the level of grassroots support and dedication that OFA does. After letting those words sink and pausing to survey the crowd of volunteers hanging on his every word, Plouffe said frankly, "This year, my money is on you guys."

Last week the Republican leader in the House offered his own jobs plan—a plan Talking Points Memo described as "Do Nothing":

House Minority Leader John Boehner outlined the top three measures he’d pursue if he becomes Speaker of the House next Congress to create new jobs. But, those who thought he’d outline specific programs and how they would create jobs were disappointed with a familiar litany of wish-list items: repeal health care reform, eschew climate legislation, and renew the Bush tax cuts.

In other words, repeal a program that largely hasn’t yet taken effect; prevent new legislation that is also not in effect; and keep a current tax structure in place.

In this week’s address, President Obama challenged Republicans to embrace new ideas to create jobs instead of bringing back the failed policies of the past:

“These are not new ideas.  They are the same policies that led us into this recession.  They will not create jobs, they will kill them.  They will not reduce our deficit, they will add trillion to our deficit.  They will take us backward at a time when we need to keep America moving forward.

“I know times are tough.  I know that the progress we’ve made isn’t good enough for the millions of Americans who are still out of work or struggling to pay the bills.  But I also know the character of this nation.  I know that in times of great challenge and difficulty, we don’t fear the future – we shape the future.  We harness the skills and ingenuity of the most dynamic country on Earth to reach a better day.  We do it with optimism, and we do it with confidence.  That’s the spirit we need right now, and that’s the future I know we can build together.”

The President emphasized that while for many—himself included—change hasn’t come fast enough, we have made great progress amidst challenging times. From passing health reform and Wall Street reform to working to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and wind down the war in Iraq, these are changes that are making our country into the kind of place we want it to be.

And with November’s elections only a few months away, the President asked everyone to keep up the fight so that we can continue to move forward:

“We’ve begun to deliver on the change you fought for — and we’re not done….

We’re moving America forward, and when we’ve come so far, we can’t afford to slide backward. That’s the choice America faces this November. Going back to failed policies that got us into this mess, or moving forward with policies that are leading us out….

“Keep making your voices heard, keep holding me accountable, keep up the fight. Change is hard. But if we’ve learned anything these past eighteen months, change is possible.”

OFA Pennsylvania held more than 30 events across the state as part of the recent national Vote 2010 Day of Action. As we wrote last week, Congressional candidate Dr. Manan Trivedi joined OFA volunteers at a canvass in Phoenixville, and state Representative Bryan Lentz stopped by an event in Upper Darby to talk with volunteers as they registered voters in the area.

The Phoenix:

Organizing for America — Pennsylvania (OFA-PA) volunteers held voter registration drives across Pennsylvania on Saturday as part of the Democratic Party’s ‘VOTE 2010′ campaign for the elections this fall. OFA-PA supporters registered voters at more than 30 events on Saturday, which included phone banks, door-to-door canvasses and tables set up at high traffic festivals and farmers markets.

The voter registration drives were part of the ongoing grassroots organizing efforts by OFA to engage new voters and reconnect with 2008 first time voters, Independents, and the core of the Democratic Party. They were held in conjunction with OFA’s national voter registration "Day of Action," with more than 600 events nationally. In Pennsylvania, Dr. Manan Trivedi and State Representative Bryan Lentz joined OFA volunteers at the Phoenixville and Upper Darby events respectively.

"This November the American people face a clear choice. It is a choice between President Obama and Democrats in Congress who have worked tirelessly to create jobs and pull our economy back from the brink of disaster, or the Republicans who have decided to sit on the sidelines and play politics with peoples’ lives," said OFA-PA Communications Director Kerri Axelrod. "This weekend’s events highlight the grassroots work OFA volunteers are doing on a daily basis to make sure voters understand how important the elections are this fall."

Read the whole article.

As President Obama recently said in a message to OFA supporters, following the passage of Wall Street reform:

"We did not come together to pass one single piece of legislation. We are fighting for nothing less than a new foundation for our country — and that work is not complete."

In 2008, grassroots supporters helped build the largest volunteer field organization in American politics, and in key states across the country, they defied the odds and helped make history. Two years later, the challenge is just a great.

For many volunteers and organizers, the work never stopped. First there was the long fight for health reform, then the shorter but just as important campaign for Wall Street reform. Now supporters are back at work registering new voters, reconnecting with 2008’s voters, and building volunteer teams for the fall.

This year, the work of volunteers on the ground could be the difference in dozens of close races, and the outcome of those races could determine whether we continue moving forward, or begin to slip backward.

There are 100 days left before the November elections — 100 days to make calls, to canvass, to talk to voters, to organize. One hundred days to make a difference.