Here are few of this week’s Recovery Act success stories. At this point, about 40 percent of Recovery Act funds have already been deployed (right on track) and is scheduled to ramp up over the fall. Visit the new Recovery.gov – updated features make it easier to look up projects in your own community and act as a “watchdog” for fraud and abuse.

Virginia

Recovery Act funds will help the Culpeper County Public Schools save 46 existing positions and add 14 new jobs. Those funds are also helping the county integrate technology – like SMART boards – into the classrooms and purchase other essential school supplies. So far, the Department of Education has disbursed about $18 billion, with $67.5 billion in Recovery Act funds remaining to spend.

Arizona

Thanks to Recovery Act funds at least a hundred unemployed people in Arizona will go back to school to get new job training at a local community college. Here’s an excerpt from the article in the Arizona Republic: “'It's an opportunity for our colleges and faculty and staff to help rebuild our community,' said Mary Vanis, director of the colleges' Center for Workforce Development, which will provide the classes in partnership with the workforce-development arms of Maricopa County and Phoenix. The stimulus money will pay for tuition, materials, and licensure and certification testing.” The community college network regularly sees people looking for help finding new jobs – they provide one-on-one counseling, resume building and give job-seekers access to computers to search for jobs.

North Carolina

The Department of Energy awarded North Carolina $20.9 million in Recovery Act funds for energy efficiency and conservation projects. The state is planning to use the funds to ramp up energy efficiency in buildings and invest in technology that will help to recapture methane – a climate change causing greenhouse gas – to generate electricity. Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, which has already proven itself a leader when it comes to renewable energy, will receive approximately $200,000 of the funds to invest in solar thermal systems – technology that could help the public school save on utility costs. Appalachian State just completed a project that will save the university more than $600,000 annually in energy costs.

Defenders of the status quo have launched a massive effort to distort Democrats’ plan to reform our system - use these eight simple points to counter their arguments.

Via the White House's website:

THE SECURITY YOU GET from health insurance reform

1- No Discrimination for Pre-Existing Conditions: Insurance companies will be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history.

2- No Exorbitant Out-of-Pocket Expenses, Deductibles or Co-Pays: Insurance companies will have to abide by yearly caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses.

3- No Cost-Sharing for Preventive Care: Insurance companies must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.

4- No Dropping of Coverage for Seriously Ill: Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become seriously ill.

5- No Gender Discrimination: Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you more because of your gender.

6- No Annual or Lifetime Caps on Coverage: Insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage you receive.

7- Extended Coverage for Young Adults: Children would continue to be eligible for family coverage through the age of 26.

8- Guaranteed Insurance Renewal: Insurance companies will be required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full. Insurance companies won't be allowed to refuse renewal because someone became sick.

UPDATE: An excerpt from the President’s remarks in Raleigh is below.

“…But what a lot of chatter out there hasn't focused on is the fact that if you've got health insurance, then the reform we're proposing will also help you because it will provide you more stability and more security. Because the truth is we have a system today that works well for the insurance industry, but it doesn't always work well for you. So what we need, and what we will have when we pass these reforms, are health insurance consumer protections to make sure that those who have insurance are treated fairly and insurance companies are held accountable.

”Let me be specific. We will stop insurance companies from denying you coverage because of your medical history. I've told this story before -- I will never forget watching my own mother, as she fought cancer in her final days, worrying about whether her insurer would claim her illness was a preexisting condition so they could wiggle out of paying for her coverage. How many of you have worried about the same thing? (Applause.) A lot of people have gone through this. Many of you have been denied insurance or heard of someone who was denied insurance because they got -- had a preexisting condition. That will no longer be allowed with reform. (Applause.) We won't allow that. We won't allow that.

”With reform, insurance companies will have to abide by a yearly cap on how much you can be charged for your out-of-pocket expenses. No one in America should go broke because of an illness.

”We will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies, eye and foot exams for diabetics, so we can avoid chronic illnesses that cost not only lives, but money.

”No longer will insurance companies be allowed to drop or water down coverage for someone who's become seriously ill. That's not right, it's not fair. We will stop insurance companies from placing arbitrary caps on the coverage you can receive in a given year or in a lifetime.

”So my point is, whether or not you have health insurance right now, the reforms we seek will bring stability and security that you don't have today -- reforms that will become more urgent and more urgent with each passing year.

”So, in the end, the debate about reform boils down to a choice between two approaches. The first is projected to double your health care costs over the next decade, make millions more Americans uninsured, bankrupt state and federal governments, and allow insurance companies to run roughshod over consumers. That's one option. That's called the status quo. That's what we have right now.

”I want everybody to understand this. If we do nothing, I can almost guarantee you your premiums will double over the next 10 years because that's what they did over the last 10 years. It will go up three times faster than your wages, so a bigger and bigger chunk of your paycheck will be going into health insurance. It will eat into the possibility of you getting a raise on your job because your employer is going to be looking and saying, I can't afford to give you a raise because my health care costs just went up 10, 20, 30 percent. And Medicare, which seniors rely on, is going to become more and more vulnerable. On current projections, Medicare will be in the red in less than 10 years.”

Deputy Assistant Secretary George Skibine said in March that "there are rare circumstances when Congress should intervene and recognize a tribal group, and the case of the Lumbee Indians is one such rare case."

The Lumbee tribe in particular has generated significant support for their cause and passage of this legislation;

The Lumbees are recognized by the state and were partially recognized by the federal government in 1956, but at the same time Congress denied the Lumbee benefits given to other American Indians.

"What Congress started Congress should finish, that's why we are back here today," said Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., the bill's sponsor. "It's time for discrimination to end and for recognition to begin."

My name is Roy Gross. I’m a proud member of Teamsters Local 299 in Detroit, Michigan.

When I was a young man and wanted to start a family, I went to Detroit and landed a job as an automobile transporter. I delivered new cars from the assembly plants to dealerships around the country.

It was a great job, a Teamsters union job. You worked hard and it paid good wages, plus health care and pension. I worked there for 18 years. Working class families were doing well in Detroit until the Bush Administration took office, then everything changed.

Manufacturing jobs were exported by the hundreds of thousands and replaced with minimum-wage jobs in the so-called “New Economy.” I’m one of the lucky ones; I still have a job. But many of my friends and co-workers have lost their jobs and their homes.

If you ask me, this so-called “New Economy” is not working. We need a renewed economy. That’s why I’m seeing so many of my friends in Michigan - Democrats, Republicans and Independents - putting aside their differences to join this campaign.

Barack Obama will enact fair trade policies and work just as hard for us as we work for America. I will do everything I can, from now until Election Day, to put Michigan in the Obama column.

Monica Early, Ohio

I’m Monica Early from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Last January, someone sent me an e-mail containing so-called “facts” about Senator Obama. The e-mail painted a scary picture, questioning his faith and patriotism. I decided to do some fact-checking on my own and learned the truth.

What I discovered is that Barack Obama is a man of faith, a man of values and a man of action—someone who has shown his love for America by fighting for our people, helping communities left behind on Chicago’s South Side, fighting today for working families and the tax breaks we need to purchase a home, pay for college and save for retirement.

I am grateful for the e-mail that tried to scare me. It brought me here, an ordinary citizen, empowered by a leader who told me I could make a difference. Ohio is home to four of the fastest-dying cities in America. John McCain promises to continue the Bush economic policies that got us there.

Einstein said a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. If we elect John McCain, then, according to Einstein, we surely would be insane.

We need change. We need President Barack Obama!

Wes Moore

Hi, my name is Wes Moore. Twelve years ago, I took an oath on the Bible to defend, support and protect the United States of America. Today, I cannot fathom a more perfect expression of my allegiance as a soldier and citizen than giving my full support for Barack Obama to be my next commander-in-chief.

Before I deployed for Afghanistan, my grandparents gave me a Bible. Inside, they wrote four simple words: have faith, not fear. Those words protected and guided me and the soldiers under my command during some of the most trying days of my life.

I want a president who has a comprehensive strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan, and who can rally young people to serve, both in and out of uniform, and sees these as complementary, not contradictory goals. I want a president who believes in supporting our troops while we are fighting overseas, and supporting us with proper health care and education when we come home.

This election is not about history. Nor is it about making history. It’s about seizing history.

The charge my grandparents gave me—have faith, not fear—is the same challenge I issue tonight. A faith that this nation can rise to meet any challenge.

Tonight, Senator Obama is not asking you to have faith in him. He is asking you to have faith with him. Let’s make Barack Obama our next president.

The Honorable Janet Monacco, Florida

I’m Janet Monaco from Rockledge, Florida, by way of Long Island, New York. Fourteen years ago I moved to Florida to pursue my vision of the American dream. Within five years, I had bought a house and opened two pet stores. I was living well.

Then disaster struck: back-to-back hurricanes, and rising costs of food and gas. Today, I’m a struggling small-business owner who is diabetic and without health insurance. I work 70-hour weeks at the store and more hours in a part-time job and still can’t afford insurance.

I don’t tell this story to get sympathy. Everyone has challenges. But what gets me angry is that George Bush and John McCain have done nothing for people like me—and, in fact, have done plenty of things that make it even harder to get by. Huge tax breaks for those at the top. Looking out for the lobbyists and not the little guy. And billions spent in tax cuts for big corporations, but not enough for small businesses like mine.

I’m supporting Barack Obama, because we can’t afford four more years of the same. Yes, we can make a change!

Nathaniel Fick

Good afternoon. I’m Nathaniel Fick. My Marine platoon landed in Afghanistan on a moonlit night in 2001. A little more than a year later, we rolled into Iraq. I’ll never forget one dawn after a vicious gun battle. We’d just medevaced one of our wounded Marines, and I turned to see a small American flag hanging from a humvee’s antenna. For a second, it reminded me of the line we all know so well: “And our flag was still there.”

I registered as a Republican at 18 and voted for John McCain in 2000. It took seven years of hard experience to get me on this stage. But we cannot afford more of the same. That’s why we need Barack Obama and Joe Biden to lead us beyond the tired divisions of the past. They have the judgment to make the right decisions, leading our military, and uphold our highest ideals.

Everyone who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan has left something: a friend, a limb, a piece of their youth. In those palm groves and on those ridge lines, this is personal for us. I don’t want to retreat; I want to win.

The past seven years have been hard, often heartbreaking. Our flag, however, is still there. Let’s move forward in our quest to live up to the idea of America.

Teresa Brito-Asenap, New Mexico

Buenas noches, good evening.

I am Teresa Brito-Asenap from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The first nine years of my life my grandparents worked with me to study and learn. They always talked about the importance of education. But it was not until third grade that I realized that mi abuelita, my grandmother, could neither read nor write.

But because of them, today I hold a doctorate in education. I owe them and my parents everything. Strong families raise strong students. All they need are world-class schools and dedicated teachers. Yet because of George W. Bush and John McCain, our schools don’t have the resources they need to meet the high standards of No Child Left Behind.

We don’t need four more years of the same. We need to turn the page and put our kids at the head of the class. Barack Obama will invest $10 billion a year in early education funding and give any student who wants to go to college a $4,000 tax credit. That’s the change we need and the change Barack Obama will bring as president of the United States.

Arriba y adelante – si se puede!

Pamela Cash-Roper, North Carolina

I’m Pam from Pittsboro, North Carolina. Wait till you hear what’s happening to me.

You might find my story familiar. Maybe it’s happening to you.

My husband, Keith, and I used to have a modest home we could afford, cars, money in a 401(k) plan, health insurance, and our health. We educated ourselves, got good jobs with benefits, worked night and day, raised four happy children, and saved some money.

It was the American dream. We did everything we thought you were supposed to do to live it. We really felt America was working for us.

Then, eight years ago, our American dream turned into a nightmare. Keith needed open-heart surgery. He lost his job and with it the family’s health insurance. I couldn’t afford to pay for health insurance on my nurse’s income, so we don’t have any.

Having no health insurance works – as long as you stay healthy.

Five years after Keith’s surgery, I had a quadruple bypass, and our medical expenses grew.

I’m a lifelong Republican who voted for Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Bush. But I can’t afford four more years like this.

That’s why I am supporting Barack Obama as my president.

Barney Smith, Indiana

My name is Barney Smith.

For most of my life, I was a proud Republican.

Growing up in the Indiana heartland, America was a place of boundless opportunity. You could go to the town factory and get a job the same day. You could start a family and buy a house with your salary.

My father started at Marion’s RCA plant in 1949, manufacturing picture tubes for TV sets.

I started in 1973. My wife worked in a high school cafeteria. Together, we made a living and raised a family.

Then, in 2004, the plant closed. Today, a foreign worker does my job.

After 31 years, I received 90 days’ severance pay and was unemployed.

Thirteen months later, I got a job at a distribution center.

Republicans talk about putting “country first,” but tell that to Marion, Indiana. They sent my job overseas.

America can’t afford more of the same. We need a president who puts the Barney Smiths before the Smith Barneys.

I’m going to put country first by voting Barack Obama for president.

The heartland needs change. And with Obama, we’re going to get it.

My story is not much different than a lot of other people in this country. I lived in a town built on textiles. Growing up, most of us didn’t have much use for schools, because we didn’t think a diploma meant that much. The important thing was taking care of your family. A lot of people in our area chose work over school.

I worked at the same place—for a company called Pillowtex—for 30 years. In 2003, the plant shut down for a week. The next week, when we were supposed to report back to work, we were told not to come in. A few weeks later, we were told the plant had closed. More than 8,000 people lost their jobs in one day. And that was it, after 30 years: no notice, no “thank you.” For the job he did, our CEO got a bonus of $300,000. Our union, UNITE-HERE, fought for several years to get back our vacation pay.

Overnight, my family and community totally changed. George Bush told us that we should all just go to college. But 65 percent of the people in the mill could barely read or write. We weren’t in a position to go to college, and we couldn’t afford it anyway.

My husband, Jacob, lost his job, too. Now, we live on his Social Security. I used to think I was middle class, but now we are living at the poverty level. I tell my husband how proud I am because even at his age, he’s going back to school. But for a 62-year-old man, who spent his life in the mills, there aren’t many opportunities.

I used trade adjustment assistance to go back to school myself and graduated in 2006. But I had some medical problems. Turns out walking on a concrete floor for 30 years was bad for my health. My husband and I worked hard all our lives. Now, we’re struggling to get by without health insurance and just a little retirement money.

There used to be a time in America when you felt like there were people in government who were looking out for people like me. But not the last eight years. I know I can’t stand another four years of George W. Bush.

But John McCain will be no different. When he said a few months ago that we’ve made great progress economically, it made me wonder: who does he mean by “we?” And then, I read he owns seven houses, and it was clear that “we” didn’t include “me.”

But Barack Obama has made me believe again. I get the feeling he cares about people like me and will create an America where things like hard work and loyalty mean something again.

My hope is that he’ll bring the change so many of us need.

I can’t wait to see Barack Obama in the White House.

The bus tour also builds on the success of the DNC's 50-state strategy and Senator Obama's commitment to running a 50 state campaign, and the belief that if Democrats show up and ask for people's votes, we can win everywhere. Throughout the tour Governor Dean will engage local leaders and grassroots activists in the effort to register new voters and talk about Barack Obama's strong message of change.

Starting Thursday, you can register to vote, find more information on how to register others to vote and follow the bus tour state-by-state at registerforchange.com.

"After eight years of George Bush and with John McCain promising more of the same on everything from the economy to Iraq to Social Security to health care, America is ready to join Barack Obama and Democrats to Register for Change," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "People are really struggling. They want different leadership, not more of the same failed Bush policies that John McCain will continue. So we'll be going neighborhood by neighborhood, door by door to bring more people into the process to elect Barack Obama and Democrats up-and-down the ticket to bring change that all Americans can believe in."

The Register for Change tour kick-offs of Thursday, July 17, in George W. Bush's backyard in Crawford, Texas - a clear reminder of John McCain's promise of a third Bush term on everything from the economy to Iraq to health care. The tour then heads to Austin, Texas for a Register for Change rally at noon before Dean speaks to the Netroots Nation Convention that night.

From Texas, the tour heads to New Orleans - a city that experienced the failings of Republican leadership in Washington firsthand - and then to Shreveport and Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Hattiesburg and Jackson, Mississippi. The second swing, July 25-26, will make stops in North Carolina and Georgia - two untraditional battleground states where voter registration efforts will help lead Barack Obama to victory in November. The tour will hit states in every part of the country, culminating in a swing through the Midwest on its way to the Democratic Convention in Denver.

Chat away...

Stateline columnist Louis Jacobsen writes:

Some Democrats hold out hope that Obama could actually win one of the six Southern states that he won so convincingly during the primary season — Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina — all of which have voted strongly Republican in recent presidential elections .

But while it’s an outside possibility in North Carolina, most analysts believe Obama’s likelihood of picking off any of the other five Southern states is a long shot.

More plausible, though, is a November scenario in which the voters Obama draws to the polls also pull the lever for Democrats up and down the ticket — in statewide posts, congressional seats, state legislative seats and even county positions.

Democrats in the region have been salivating over this possibility for months. Consider Waring Howe, a Democratic National Committeeman from South Carolina and, until recently, chairman of the Charleston County Democratic Party. When Howe first realized that Obama might become the party’s nominee, “I used that as a candidate recruiting tool. But I actually didn’t have to use it much, because a lot of the prospective candidates already felt that way anyway.”

During his last run for the presidency, in 1999, McCain supported the drilling moratorium, and he scolded the “special interests in Washington” that sought offshore drilling leases. Yesterday, he announced that those very same “moratoria should be lifted” and proposed incentives for the states “in the form of tangible financial rewards, if the states decide to lift those moratoriums.”

McCain caves, once again, to the special interest.

I’ll take a different approach. I will reform our tax code so that it’s simple, fair, and advances opportunity instead of distorting the market by advancing the agenda of some lobbyist or oil company. I’ll shut down the corporate loopholes and tax havens, and I’ll use the money to help pay for a middle-class tax cut that will provide $1,000 of relief to 95% of workers and their families. I’ll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we’ll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills. We’ll also eliminate income taxes for any retiree making less than $50,000 per year, because every senior deserves to live out their life in dignity and respect. And while John McCain wants to pick up where George Bush left off by trying again to privatize Social Security, I will never waver in my commitment to protect that basic promise as President. We will not privatize Social Security, we will not raise the retirement age, and we will save Social Security for future generations by asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share.

Read the full prepared remarks as Senator Obama discussed the job market, the national debt, college affordability and bankruptcy laws.

John McCain, meanwhile, vows to continue the same failed economic policies of the Bush administration. In fact, Senator Lindsay Graham (R-South Carolina), a staunch McCain supporter, agrees.

McCain's idea of doing "everything"? Sending an e-mail to the state party's chair.

Chances are, however, John McCain didn't even send the e-mail himself. John McCain told Politico's Mike Allen that he doesn't use a PC or a Mac, and described himself as an "illiterate" when it comes to computers. See below at about 32 seconds in.

John McCain's idea of doing everything he can: asking the intern to send an e-mail.

Updated: MSNBC's First Read has more:

On whether he has the ability to stop the NC GOP from running an ad with clips of Wright, McCain once again said that he had done all he can do, although he did admit that he has not personally tried to contact the state party and he does not plan on punishing the party if they go through with plans to place the ad on TV.

A couple things:

First, if John McCain did not "personally" try to contact the state party, this means he wasn't the one who sent the e-mail to the state party chair after all.

Secondly, apparently doing "all you can do" does not include making any "personal" overtures.

Another sign of the incredible energy expressed by Democrats are the record voter registration numbers.

The past seven states to hold primaries registered more than 1 million new Democratic voters; Republican numbers mainly ebbed or stagnated. North Carolina and Indiana, which will hold their presidential primaries on May 6, are reporting a swell of new Democrats that triples the surge in registrations before the 2004 primary.

"Sending an email will not end the war or provide relief for American families who are struggling to make ends meet," said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney.  "If doing everything he can is sending an email, how can we trust John McCain to do everything he can to tackle the challenges America is facing.  Here's some straight talk: instead of sending emails Senator McCain could take real action to show he's serious by firing the state party chair from her position with the Republican National Convention and kicking the Republican party leaders who helped fund this ad off his campaign steering committees."

McCain Supporters Help Fund North Carolina Ad

Several Prominent McCain Supporters Including the Former Chair of the Party and the Current RNC Committeeperson Have Given Thousands to the North Carolina Republican Party.

In March 2007, Former North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Ferrell Blount and Former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot Joined the McCain North Carolina Steering Committee. A March 2007 McCain press release noted, "Blount and Vinroot will serve as state steering committee members for Senator McCain's presidential campaign in North Carolina. Ferrell Blount served as the North Carolina Republican Party's chairman for over three years. Prior to serving as chairman, Blount also represented the Tar Heel State as national committeeman where he chaired the Republican National Committee's (RNC) Resolutions Committee, as well as the RNC Committee on Call for the 2004 National Republican Convention. Richard Vinroot has an impressive record of public service, most notably serving as the Mayor of Charlotte from 1991 to 1995." [McCain Press Release, 3/8/07]

• Blount Has Contributed Over $22,000 to the North Carolina Republican Executive Committee Including $1,000 in 2008. Blount has contributed $22,562 to the North Carolina Republican Executive Committee. [Political Moneyline, FEC Filings]
• Vinroot Contributed $500 to the North Carolina Republican Executive Committee in February 2008. [Political Moneyline, FEC Filings]
• Blount Gave $2,300 to McCain in March 2007. [Political Moneyline, FEC Filings]
• Vinroot Contributed $1,000 to McCain's Campaign in March 2007. [Political Moneyline, FEC Filings]

State Chair a Member of the Republican National Convention's Arrangement Committee.   "Linda Daves was elected Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party in December of 2006 after being elected Vice Chairman of the Party in May 1999-2005. Prior to serving the North Carolina Republican Party, she served in several positions in the Mecklenburg County Republican Party including serving four years as Chairman after two years as Vice Chairman. Chairman Daves is also a Committee on Arrangements Member, 2008 Republican National Convention.' [NC GOP website, accessed 4/24/08: http://www.ncgop.org/leadership/ncgop.asp]

McCain Supporter, Linda Shaw, an Officer of the North Carolina Republican Party, Is a McCain Supporter and Donated Over $1,300 to the North Carolina Republican Executive Committee.  Linda Shaw, the RNC Committeeperson for North Carolina, has contributed $1,324 to the North Carolina Republican Executive Committee including $250 in October 2007. [McCain for President website, Accessed: 4/23/08; Political Moneyline, FEC Filings]

McCain Supporter Senator Burr Has Given Almost $15,000 to the North Carolina Republican Party. Burr gave $14,570 to the North Carolina Republican Executive Committee in 2004. [McCain for President website, Accessed: 4/23/08; Political Moneyline, FEC Filings]