Because of you, there is hope.

Dear MoveOn member,

We'll admit to being heartbroken by the outcome of yesterday's election. It's a dark day.

But this afternoon, we received this email:

Subject: Running for Congress

Eli,

In light of what happened yesterday, my friend and I have decided to get personally involved. He wants to run for Congress in 2006, and I'm his campaign manager at this point. Do you know of a good information source for how we handle the legalities of forming a campaign, opening bank accounts, registering with the FEC, etc?

Thanks,
Chris

We have suffered a defeat, but we are not defeated.

And our heartache does not diminish our pride in what you've done. We're proud about Wisconsin, where MoveOn volunteers turned out over 27,000 voters and Kerry won by only 11,813 votes. And New Hampshire, a former Bush state where we turned out 9,820 of the people on our list and Kerry won by 9,171 votes. Other groups were working with us in both states, but it's clear volunteers were at least partly responsible for the margin of victory.

We're proud about Ken Salazar, the newest Senator from Colorado, whose campaign was fueled by the donations of thousands of MoveOn members. We're proud that before he conceded this morning, John Kerry called to thank all of you for what we did to help his campaign.

Most of all, we are so proud of all of you, the MoveOn members who worked so hard and gave so much to take back America.

Yesterday, over 70,000 of us worked from before 5am Eastern to 8pm Pacific, getting voters to the polls. At 4:50am in Florida, we heard from our lead organizers that hundreds of precinct leaders had checked in and were on their way to the polls. In Columbus, with three hours to go, we sent out a final message saying "It's not too late! Help volunteer." Within minutes, two dozen people came running up the stairs in the rain, wanting to know, "What can we do? Put us to work!" One volunteer whose car broke down ran home, grabbed her bike, and biked from house to house in the thunderstorm, knocking on doors and reminding people to vote.

That you put so much into this effort makes the loss more painful in some ways. But the fact that so many of us were involved offers true hope for the future of democracy. In the campaign to defeat George Bush, you have proven that real Americans can have a voice in American politics. In the months and years to come, that revelation will change everything.

Although George Bush won by 3% nationally, we must remember that 55.4 million Americans stood with you and with John Kerry. You are certainly not alone. And a healthy environment, a strong and fair economy, good schools, domestic safety and the end of the war in Iraq are goals we all share -- red states and blue states alike.

Our journey toward a progressive America has always been bigger than George Bush. The current leg is just beginning -- we're still learning how to build a citizen-based politics together. But it's a journey our nation has been on for a long time. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice."

Today, we'll take a breath. Tomorrow, we'll keep moving toward the America we know is possible.

Sincerely,
--Adam, Ben, Carrie, Diane, Eli, Hannah, James, Joan, Justin, Laura, Lee, Marika, Mat, Meighan, Micayla, Nepunnee, Noah H., Noah W., Paul, Peter, Rosalyn, Wes, the team at We Also Walk Dogs, the team at Fenton Communications, and all 500 members of the Leave No Voter Behind staff.
November 3rd, 2004