(Thank YOU Jill, for running and for giving us a voice and a meaningful choice! – promoted by eli_beckerman)

Dear friends,

THANK YOU for standing up, facing the heat, and shining your light in these worrisome times. Without our voices in this race, the governors campaign would have been no more than a choice between two versions of corporate-sponsored business as usual. One is accompanied by crocodile tears and the other by unapologetic crowing. But they lead us to the same place in the end. Amidst this murky false-choice, our campaign was the beacon of integrity, justice and democracy that’s needed to scatter the gathering political thunderclouds.

While the media blackout combined with an intensive spoiler fear campaign to peel innumerable voters away – resulting in 1.4% support overall – we ran as strong as 12% in communities in Western Massachusetts. No small feat in light of the drumbeat to scare progressives into silence.

Still we emerge from this race stronger than ever. Our ranks have swelled with inspired activists prompted by this latest election-charade to leave corporate-sponsored politics for good. Many former Democratic stalwarts have now joined us in building a clean-money politics of integrity in the Green-Rainbow Party.

We are enriched by exciting new alliances with activists in key constituencies leading the struggle for justice, sustainability and human rights:  high school students in communities of color struggling for education justice instead of high stakes testing abuse; college students working to get out from under massive, unconscionable education debt and to make higher ed a top state budget priority; young people pushing for an urgent transition to clean renewable electricity to stave off climate catastrophe; immigrants working to take immigration policy out of the realm of demagoguery and put it into the framework of human rights and economic justice; cannabis reformers working to stop drug violence (and impoverish criminal drug networks) by legalizing and regulating marijuana; and citizens concerned about the economic and social damages that will be inflicted by predatory casino gambling. We look forward to building on these alliances in the coming year.

Our work continues, and we invite you to inform it with your vision and feedback:

1. To help build an independent progressive political force to be reckoned with, register here for the Green-Rainbow Party convention on Sunday, November 14th at Clark University in Worcester. More details at www.green-rainbow.org/2010convention

2. To volunteer for the exciting adventures ahead, please send an email to info@jillstein.org with the subject line “Volunteer” and let us know what your interests and passions are.

3. To weigh in with your thoughts on our campaign, write to feedback@jillstein.org

4. To weigh in with your vision and strategy for the work ahead, add your comments to this post!

Lastly, if you haven’t watched our exciting, hot-off-the-presses campaign video, Follow the Money, please check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v… . And please consider making a final donation to help pay off remaining campaign debts.

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your inspiration and vision that have been the engine of this campaign. I look forward to celebrating and strategizing with you on Nov. 14.

Upward together!

jill

PS. Here are a couple more bright spots in the election. Nat Fortune, the Green-Rainbow candidate for auditor, received 5% vote total in his splendid race (which was also blacked out by big media). This qualifies the Green-Rainbow Party for major party status in Massachusetts, making it easier for us to fundraise in future campaigns. Scott Laugenour and Mark Miller ran two superb campaigns for state representative seats in Berkshire County against entrenched opponents. Scott ended up with 18%, and Mark received an incredible 45% of the vote. Stay tuned for more to come from each of these inspirational candidates.