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.
One amazing thing about that race was how grassroots activism on the ground in the district combined with online energy from across the country to take the fight to the Republicans in a way they didn't expect and weren't prepared to deal with.
Meeting folks on the ground there was a close-up case study in what a 50-state strategy looks like, as volunteers and voters came out of the woodwork because, for the first time in a long time, Democrats decided to take a stand and ask for their votes.
That energy helped galvanize Democrats across Ohio and set the stage for big gains in the next general election.
Today we have a similar opportunity in a similar opportunity in OH-05, where an unexpected fight is emerging deep in so-called "Republican" territory.
Markos and others have been beating the drum for Robin Weirauch, so if you haven't been following this race, please get informed and get involved.
One of the things I love about my boss and this campaign is that we are everywhere. This campaign has been an exciting mash-up of overwhelming grassroots energy and empowerment and a substantial field organization gearing up across the country. As one commenter mentioned on the other diary, we're up and running with offices in places like Alaska, Kansas and Idaho (don't forget the three offices in Alabama, too).
But more importantly the grassroots support network has organized itself everywhere, including Ohio. (By the way, if you're in Ohio and have a My.BarackObama.com account, you'll be able to make phone calls to folks in the district on our site. Click here to get started.)
We hope you'll take the time to help out in OH-05 and whatever your local races are, because when you're building the movement, helping candidates up and down the ballot in every part of the country is the fun part!
On the web:
Robin Weirauch for Congress
Blue Majority ActBlue Page
Virtual phone banking help needed