Stupak Lives! Help Us Kill It Dead

Remember how Congressional Democrats assured us that the horrific Stupak amendment would not survive in the final health care reform bill?

Eh, not so much. But Firedoglake is on it, and already has a plan of action:

Ever since Stupak hijacked the health care bill, we’ve been watching. So far, nothing looks like it has any chance of success of beating the Stupak amendment back. And Nancy Pelosi is quietly telling people she can’t pass the health care bill without it.

We can’t just sit back and let that happen without a fight.

Today we’re announcing “One Voice for Choice,” a national phone bank that will launch calls into the districts of the Representatives who voted for Stupak. We’ll be targeting likely Democratic voters who are pro-choice. We’ll be letting them know that Stupak goes WAY past Hyde. And we’ll be asking them to sign their names to a letter to their member of Congress, demanding that they not make Stupak the litmus test for their vote.

We hope that by reaching out to educate likely voters in their districts to the far-reaching implications of the Stupak language, we can help these wayward Democrats understand that having the Hyde language in the bill is sufficient to their needs.
One Voice for Choice is a targeted effort that doesn’t need big numbers to be successful. In 2008 for instance, Tom Perriello won his district by less than a thousand votes. Bobby Bright won by a margin of 1700 votes.

Making a few, carefully targeted people aware of what’s happening can have a big impact.

We actually think we’re doing these members a big favor in the process. Democratic turnout in Virginia was terribly depressed when Creigh Deeds started running from the right, and a Daily Kos poll indicates that there is a 3:1 “enthusiasm gap” in favor of Republicans for 2010. These members need reliable Democratic voters to turn out for them next fall. They need to start paying attention to them now.

We are asking people to host phone banks, or volunteer to take part in one, at One Voice For Choice. The program is being run by Marta Evry of Venice for Change, who ran phone banks in California for the Obama campaign in 2008. You can sign up here and Marta will get you everything you need.

This is an important step forward for FDL Action PAC and for our online activism.

Just as we did during the public option whip count effort, we looked at the landscape, we analyzed what needed to be done, and isolated the way we could use the resources we were capable of leveraging in the most closely targeted and specific way to have the biggest impact. Mike Allen was on Morning Joe this morning talking about it, and I think you can tell from his response — it’s a big move. A real game changer.

But we can’t do it without your help. It will be pro-choice supporters working together who will make it happen. We’re simply giving women — and those who care about the rights of women — efficient tools to use to raise their voices and defend themselves from the Stupak pack who would hold health care hostage and take women’s rights away.

Sign up to volunteer here. And you can donate to help us keep this program going here.

Working together, we can raise our voices — in One Voice For Choice.