"There is nothing I have done in my political life that has meant more to me, that has been more consequential, and that has engaged my passions as deeply as my leadership with the Violence Against Women Act." - Senator Joe Biden

After the last road update following Joe’s economic roundtable event, Joe’s motorcade traveled down a highway dotted with palm trees headed for a town hall meeting in Sarasota, Florida. According to Sgt. Beasley of the Sarasota Sheriff’s Department, 2000 people filled the seats of the Booker High School gymnasium. An American flag hung to the far right of the stage, suspended above the audience.

Shirley Brown, former Chair of the Women’s Legislative Caucus that passed bills that included domestic violence laws, introduced Joe as a leader in supporting and protecting some of our most precious resources — America’s women, children and families.

In addition to discussing the Obama-Biden plans for bettering the economy, providing access to education for more Americans, and creating a new model for energy, Joe spoke about his grandchildren’s slumber party with the Obama daughters, Sasha and Malia, during the Democratic National Convention. He said that the kind of connection the two families have is the same unity that Barack Obama will foster between people in the United States of America.

Please enjoy photographs of the day and the video of Joe’s slumber party story.

Sharon Barnes
En Route to Virginia Beach, VA

Joe Biden returned to his hometown of Scranton this afternoon to visit old friends and family and to lead a discussion on the economic challenges that currently face the country. Joined by his mother, Senator Bob Casey and Governor Ed Rendell in the bright light of his childhood home’s backyard he declared to a sea of beaming faces, "This makes a lie of the saying ‘You can’t go home again.’"

He pored over every detail of the house; whose room was whose, the wooden door frame where the kids would measure their height every year. He challenged old neighbors on their recollections of little league games and climbing trees.

Times are tough in Scranton, and they have been for some time. But with these long-held hardships comes strength. "A promise made is a promise kept. That was real. In economic hard times, your word is all you have." Folks nodded solemnly in agreement.

"A place like this, people like these… nobody backs down. Same thing with Barack Obama. I guarantee it. This guy gets it." Joe made the case for bringing change to the way we approach our economic policy.

And then as he put the microphone down, Joe noticed something new.

"I tell you, that swimming pool sure didn’t used to be here. We would of been in it every day!"

The whole group then went down the street to Bob Casey’s house, as neighbors do.

Enjoy pictures of Joe’s homecoming:

Arun Chaudhary
September 1st, 2008
Scranton, PA

“I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists — and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president.”
— Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA, November 10, 2007

The Republican National Convention’s second day is focused on a theme of “Reform.” Over the past eight years, we’ve learned exactly how our federal government truly needs reform. For eight years, the government has acted under a cloud of secrecy, where our national policies are written by lobbyists and special interests.

Barack began his national campaign calling for strict reforms for our federal government. Barack’s plan calls for new transparency in the federal government and freeing the government from the influence of lobbyists. To do this, Barack has called for the creation of an independent watchdog agency to monitor lobbying laws and ethics rules violations, and a series of national databases where citizens themselves can monitor how much federal contractors spend on lobbying, and what contracts they are getting and how well they complete them. Barack will also end abuse of no-bid contracts, such as those that have cost the American taxpayers billions in Iraq.

Barack’s idea is to create a government for and by the people, so the American people can see at all times what their government is doing. To this end, Obama will amend executive orders to ensure that communications about regulatory policymaking between persons outside government and all White House staff are disclosed to the public, and require that rulemaking agencies and executive branch departments conduct their business in public.

Beyond proposing policy changes, Barack is not only talking about broad ethics reform –he is already doing it. Unlike the McCain campaign, Barack refuses to accept any contributions from Washington lobbyists and political action committees, because he believes true reform starts today.

Learn more about Barack’s plan for reform.

Amanda —

In the next 36 hours, the McCain campaign will be pouring millions of dollars — if not tens of millions — into negative attack ads against Barack Obama.

Before John McCain accepts the Republican nomination on Thursday, his campaign has to spend every last dollar of primary funds they’ve raked in from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs.

Just yesterday, they aired a new negative ad in 14 swing states. His campaign manager even admitted that all McCain has to rely on is attacks, saying that for them, "This election is not about issues."

He doesn’t want Americans to notice that the Republican platform is the most extreme we’ve ever seen — opposing stem cell research, denying a woman’s right to choose no matter what the circumstance, and continuing to spend $10 billion a month in Iraq.

With so much at stake, we can’t allow another election to be determined by petty and divisive political tactics.

Make a donation to fight back against an unprecedented week of negativity from John McCain.

The McCain campaign is trying to distract voters from the real issues — so we’re going to focus on what they’re trying to hide.

They’ve come out against the life-saving possibilities of stem cell research.

They don’t even mention protecting equal pay for equal work.

They support huge tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans.

They’ve almost completely ignored the $10 billion we’re spending every week in Iraq.

And they make zero exceptions for a woman’s right to choose — even in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother.

If that all sounds like more of the same, that’s because it is. John McCain is offering a third term of the disastrous Bush agenda, so it’s no wonder his campaign would choose to focus on attacks instead of issues.

Please make your donation today:

https://donate.barackobama.com/fightback

I know we’ve asked a lot from supporters like you recently, and many of you contributed just last week.

But the stakes are high, and there are less than 9 weeks before Election Day. It’s going to require unprecedented resources to defeat John McCain and bring about the change America so desperately needs.

Thank you for all you do,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

"In times of need, there are no red states and blue states," said Senator Obama.

Yet, Senator Obama explained that this spirit of shared responsibility must also be extended to the "quiet storms" that are taking place in so many struggling households across America…

All across America there are quiet storms taking place. There are lives of quiet desperation. People in need of just a little bit of help. Now, Americans are a self-reliant people, we’re an independent people. We don’t like asking somebody else to do what we can do ourselves, but you know what we understand is that every once in a while somebody’s going to get knocked down. Every once in a while somebody’s going to go through some hard times. When we least expect it tragedy may strike. And what has always made this country great is the understanding that we rise and fall as one nation, that values and family, community and neighborhood, they have to express themselves in our government. Those are national values. Those are values that we all subscribe to. And so, the spirit that we extend today and in the days to come as we monitor what happens on the Gulf, that’s the spirit that we’ve got to carry with us each and every day. That’s the spirit that we need in our own homes and it’s the spirit that we need in the White House. And that’s why I’m running for president of the United States of America. ;

Watch the video and share it with your friends and family…

And please click here to find out what you can do to help those Gulf Coast residents.

John McCain and the Republicans had all week to make their case — and they didn’t do it.

The whole Republican convention went by without offering a single idea about how to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.

People noticed. In the last 24 hours, more people donated to this campaign for the first time than ever before. Thank you for responding so strongly.

Barack is making clear what this election should be about. At a campaign stop in Pennsylvania yesterday, he spoke out about exactly what we didn’t hear at the Republican convention.

You can help make sure Barack’s message of change is heard loud and clear. Will you watch the video and make a donation today?



We learned just this morning that unemployment jumped to its highest rate in five years, and our economy lost 605,000 jobs this year alone — at a time when John McCain believes that the fundamentals of our economy are "strong."

John McCain can talk all he wants about change, but he has voted with George W. Bush more than 90 percent of the time, and Americans aren’t buying it.

Here are a few of the responses we received from voters who watched the Republican convention:

"This is one Republican for Obama that knows 100% now that I made the right choice and will in November vote for Obama-Biden." — Bev from Georgia

"Republicans like Palin, Giuliani, and Romney can engage in red-meat partisan vitriol all they want, right out of the Karl Rove playbook, but this isn’t 2000 or 2004. Americans now have seen the full impact of GOP policies on their pocketbook." — Rick from Colorado

"What the Republicans displayed … is more of the same old thing — unproductive politics. I hope and pray that the American voters will see through this and realize that we need a different mindset and approach if we are ever going to get things done in Washington." — Patricia from Kansas

Watch Barack’s response to the Republican convention, and join these folks in supporting real solutions and making sure Americans far and wide know what’s at stake.

Thanks for everything you’re doing,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

Once again, here is the full video of Barack’s acceptance speech, complete with a behind the scenes look at the final moments before he took the stage as well as shots of the incredible crowd of over 80,000 supporters:

"This is as beautiful a piece of real estate as we have seen anywhere." - Sen. Barack Obama

The ride from New Philadelphia to Dillonvale goes through some pretty country. Horses and cows grazed on gentle rolling hills as the motorcade veered off the highway and onto the country roads. At a barbecue at the Piergallini Farm — Barack’s destination — two emus craned their necks curiously at campaign staff and press alongside more traditional barnyard creatures.

Introducer Gene Miller is ready for a change. As a 60 year old life-long Republican, he has not only decided to support Barack Obama, but he has also been active in the campaign for over a year, making phone calls and knocking on doors every day. Gene, a Marine who served in Vietnam, cites Obama’s willingness to work across party lines to get things done as the greatest expression of patriotism. He wants the same opportunities that he had as a young man for his grandchildren and worries that if we keep doing the same things they could lose their piece of the American dream.

Enjoy the day in pictures from Eastern Ohio,

Arun Chaudhary
September 3, 2008
En Route to Pittsburgh