Paxety Pages

Dear Juan,

Here's how the Republicans are trying to win this election:

• President Bush himself is trying to scare voters with ridiculous claims, saying that "terrorists win and America loses" if Democrats were to take control of Congress.
• In Missouri, Michael J. Fox recently appeared in a heartfelt ad for Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill, criticizing the Republican incumbent's opposition to stem cell research. The GOP smear machine immediately attacked Fox and McCaskill, with Rush Limbaugh even suggesting Fox was faking his symptoms of Parkinson's disease in the ad.
• In Tennessee, the Republican Party ran racist ads aimed at dredging up some of the worst racial prejudices imaginable. The ads attacking Democratic Senate candidate Harold Ford, who is African-American, show a scantily clad white woman beckoning to him. The ad is so bad that some TV stations are refusing to run it, and non-political companies have fired the Republican consultants who made it. The RNC refused to denounce the disgusting ad, despite a public outcry.
• In California, one Republican campaign took a page from the national GOP playbook, which calls for suppressing minority voters at every opportunity. The campaign sent a false and deliberately misleading mailing to Hispanics in the district that threatened jail time for any immigrant -- legal or not -- who tried to vote.

What do we have in response? You -- and millions of other people who want change just like you do. We're running the broadest get-out-the-vote operation our party has attempted in a generation. It's called the 50-State Turnout -- and it's working.

Threats, smears and insults from the Republicans are being met with phone calls, person-to-person outreach and an Election Day operation that will bring more people into the political process than ever before.

We have urgent needs for printed materials, rental vans, and all the other things our staff and volunteers are using to get more people participating on Election Day.

If you make a donation right now, it will be matched by a real person -- you'll see that person's name and hometown, and you can exchange messages if you'd like.

Our unprecedented grassroots matching program has brought in over 10,000 new people who now own a piece of the Democratic Party. Will you be a part of it?

http://www.democrats.org/match

Democrats are doing things differently this year -- and we're going to win in places we haven't won in a long time because of it.

In this election environment, the national infrastructure we've built is a Republican strategist's nightmare. The GOP cannot take any race at any level of office for granted anymore.

We've transformed our operation into a 50-State Turnout machine that has made races competitive not just in so-called "swing" states like Ohio or Pennsylvania, but also in states where Republicans haven't had to fight before: Nebraska, Indiana, Virginia.

Across the country, we've funded GOTV programs to counter Republican efforts to keep voters home on Election Day. Literature drops, transportation arrangements, and technological development -- the dollars we raise are fueling these field efforts.

We've put the Democratic Party in a position to succeed everywhere, and it's time to close the deal. We're firing up the Grassroots Match program for the last time this cycle -- I hope you'll be part of it:

http://www.democrats.org/match

We must stay focused and ignore the polls or pundits who tell us we have the election locked up. This election is less than a week away, but there's plenty of time left for a Republican comeback.

The Republican's infamous "72-Hour" operation will crank up in the coming days. Make no mistake -- the Republican operation has endless amounts of money available from shadowy special interest groups determined to do whatever it takes to maintain their grip on power.

The Grassroots Match is a way to connect with another Democrat and bond together for the final stretch. Please participate now if you can:

http://www.democrats.org/match

The future of our country will depend on what you do for the next five days.

Please make them count.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

P.S. - You can always get connected to activities on the ground by calling your local campaign, state party, or by signing up to volunteer at: http://www.democrats.org/volunteer.