Note: I am the New Media Director for Barack Obama's campaign.

There have been a couple of diaries already about the speech, including one with the full remarks as prepared for delivery, but I wanted to make sure folks saw the full video as well:

A couple of photos from yesterday below the fold.

It's just a few hours until Obama supporters in Iowa head into their local caucuses.

When they do, they will know that a nationwide movement of 500,000 people across the country who have taken ownership of this campaign is behind them.

Just wanted to thank those of you in this community who have taken the leap to be a part of this. This unprecedented number shows just how strong the grassroots support is across the country and how many people are ready to take the political process back. (You can follow the live count on BarackObama.com.)

From the preview article:

Of Obama, the editorial board wrote that his diverse and international life experience was a plus. "The most sobering challenges that face this country — terrorism, climate change, disease pandemics — are global,'' the board wrote. "America needs a president with an intuitive sense of the wider world, with all its perils and opportunities. Barack Obama has this understanding at his core.''

The board, noting that Obama would be the country's first post-Baby Boom president if elected, addressed his relative lack of Washington experience compared to several of his Democratic rivals. ''It is true that all the other Democratic contenders have more conventional resumes, and have spent more time in Washington,'' the board wrote. "But that exposure has tended to give them a sense of government’s constraints. Obama is more open to its possibilities.''

The paper endorsed McCain on the GOP side.

I'm the New Media Director for Barack Obama's campaign.

One great consequence of having Barack Obama as our Democratic nominee will be the continued growth of a grassroots movement that is making an impact in all 50 states on races up and down the ballot.

Every day the energy is growing, and it's an amazing sight to see as folks getting involved in politics for the first time work together with others (like me) who got involved for the first time last cycle.

Add to that mix the seasoned activists who've been involved for decades and those who were involved decades ago but had given up on the political process (one small donor recently wrote that she and her husband, both seniors, were involved 40 years ago and now feel "politically resurrected by Barack's candidacy"), and you've got a diverse movement ready for change.

Building on yesterday's mobilization in OH-05, today's target is next week's special election in VA-01. Message from Barack after the jump.

I'm the New Media Director for Barack Obama's campaign.

Within minutes of the send there was already another diary up with the email that Barack Obama sent to supporters in Ohio today, so I won't paste that here.

But I did want to make a note about why this race is significant, and why Obama supporters (and supporters of the other presidential candidates) should do what they can to help.

I was on the ground for the special election in OH-02 back in 2005, when an unexpectedly strong showing by a Democrat in a deep red district presaged the sweeping Democratic gains the following year.

Hi, I'm Joe Rospars and I'm the New Media Director at Barack Obama's campaign. There have been a lot of questions and comments in this community related to our MySpace profile, and so I wanted to come by and clarify how we got here and answer questions.

Our campaign started quickly. People around here say that this has been like building an airplane in mid-air, having already taken off. This is especially true of the New Media operation. While the campaign in general is going from zero to sixty, our team is at the same time charged with exploring the new ways we can build relationships between Barack and his supporters, and foster relationships among supporters themselves.

When it came to MySpace, we decided to take a leap. We decided to make the attempt to combine the organic support and community-building of a grassroots effort with the official campaign outreach efforts.

I remember back in 2002 and early 2003, as the establishment pundits and Beltway media gatekeepers sized up the Democratic candidates, the blogosphere felt like a much smaller place. From time to time a ragtag group of supporters would generate some emails to a reporter, or a blog post about the coverage would get linked widely, but the larger media zeitgeist was at that time still an exclusive province for traditional reporters and pundits.

This time, it's a whole different story. It's been astonishing to watch the TPM crew, Greenwald, Media Matters and other people and places react quickly on behalf of not only one candidate but all the Democratic candidates as the inside-the-Beltway punditocracy manufactures conventional wisdom. When the insider crew starts parroting narrative threads that are not-factual at best and derived straight from GOP talking points at worst, there's an infrastructure of watchdogs in place to push back.

Just wanted to hop on and give people the direct link to the live video stream of Barack Obama's announcement this morning.

You can also get there from the front page of the brand-new BarackObama.com.

We're all going a million miles a minute right now, but I'll keep an eye (or, more precisely, a browser tab) on this thread to answer any questions and pass along any problems folks report.

Thanks ...

UPDATE: Full transcript below the fold.

Governor Dean will be on CNN at 5:25 PM Eastern (i.e. very, very soon) talking about Tom DeLay's retreat and defeat approach to clearing his name.

He'll also be on Anderson Cooper tonight on the same topic.

I'll update the extended entry in a sec with Dean's message to Democracy Bonds holders today -- want to get this up quick.

UPDATE: Here's Governor Dean's letter on DeLay that went out to Democracy Bond holders today --

Governor Dean posted on the DNC blog a few minutes ago about Paul Hackett's decision to leave the Senate race in Ohio. Here's an excerpt:

As you know, Iraq veteran Paul Hackett left the race for U.S. Senate in Ohio today. In his campaigns, Paul had the courage to stand up and speak out for what he believes in. That is how Democrats will win elections and take this country back for the people who built it. ...

Full post from Dean over at the DNC blog.

Yesterday when Tim posted about the DNC's new personal fundraising tools, we asked for ideas for more mini-campaigns (now, in addition to creating your own personal fundraising homepage, you can create mini-campaigns that will add to your total). A couple of people brought up the old favorite: a bat.

Well, here it is -- you can now create your own bat on Democrats.org and ask all of your contacts to step up to the plate.

UPDATE: 30,000 letters of support for Murtha in 6 hours as the debate on the floor heated up -- keep it going!

A little while ago my friend and new blogger of all things Dean Tim Tagaris posted a diary about Governor Dean's call for support of Rep. Murtha.

Well, here's the result: in the last 90 minutes, over 7,000 Americans have sent letters of encouragement to Congressman John Murtha as he is being attacked by the right-wing smear machine.

A few of the letters after the bump. If you want to send one yourself -- to be delivered by Governor Dean in person, with him own encouragement to stand fast in the face of smear tactics -- you can do it right here: www.democrats.org/shameonthem. I'm headed over with a couple of folks to see if we can get into the gallery for the debate.

Governor Dean posted on the DNC blog today about what yesterday's election means. Here's an excerpt:

Tuesday was a very great day for America and a great day for Democrats. Tim Kaine's win in Virginia and Jon Corzine's in New Jersey show that if you have good candidates and a strong agenda -- and are willing to ask for the vote in Republican-leaning areas, not just Democratic areas -- you can win.

Here is the good news, and there is a lot of it. Voters rejected Republican dirty-tricks politics. They rejected the Republican culture of corruption and incompetence (a real factor in Virginia). And in California they rejected the Bush-like politics of the soon to be one-Term-inator Governor Schwarzenegger by defeating all four of his initiatives.

The rest is over at Democrats.org.

Links from the letter --

To make a special contribution saying you stand with Harry Reid and other Democrats who are tired of business as usual (you'll be prompted to send Harry Reid a note of thanks after contributing, which Dean will deliver to him for you): www.democrats.org/fightback

To take charge in your neighborhood and kick off twelve months of unprecedented organizing that will not only give Harry Reid  a Democratic majority in the Senate, but build the Democratic Party everywhere and for the long term: www.democrats.org/organizingkickoff

Here's the message Dean just sent to Democrats across the country about the bold move by Senator Harry Reid on the Senate floor today:

Powerful statement from Dean on the indictments:

"This is a sad day for America.

"Beyond the evidence that the White House manipulated the intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq, a group of senior White House officials not only orchestrated efforts to smear a critic of the war, but worked to cover up this smear campaign.

Over 250 events have been set up on the night of November 15th for the National Organizing Kickoff -- read about it, plan your own, or find one near you.

It may feel like the bad guys are on the ropes, but there's a ton of work to do in every single neighborhood -- not only to win next year, but to make a truly 50-state party a reality for the long-term.

Governor Dean will be doing a conference call with all of the meetings, and hosts will have an agenda and materials to make presentations. Many state parties are plugged in, and many states will be seeing the new organizers who have hit the ground in the last few months showing up or hosting a few of these meetings.

The email Dean sent kicking the whole thing off after the bump.

Some excerpts from Dean's appearance this morning on ABC News's 'This Week' --

A comment popped up on another thread that is worth highlighting:

When he first started talking about needing to create a staff in all 50 states, I was like "What the hell do you MEAN the DNC didn't already have staff in all 50 states?"

This is a very common response to Gov. Dean's talk about putting organizers on the ground in every state. Here's the real deal --