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Gotta Vote Bus Tour
  • Debate watch party with Cleveland's Stonewall Democrats

    The Gotta Vote bus tour is in Cleveland tonight, where we're watching the debate with the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats.

    Since he took office, President Obama has been an advocate of LGBT Americans, repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," ordering the Justice Department to no longer enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, and becoming the first sitting president to support marriage equality.

    Dan, who's LGBT, says that the choice in this election is so obvious that it's really not even a choice: "You have a candidate who is about as close to 100 percent behind the LGBT community as we've ever had, and a candidate who's behind us zero percent," he says. "Over the last two years, the progress that's been made when it comes to the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' and the executive orders he's put into place, really shows President Obama is on our side, and he's on the right side of history."

    Follow full debate coverage at barackobama.com/debate.

  • Ohio stands with the candidate who saved the auto industry

    This election is personal for so many families in Ohio. RoseMarie, who lives in Middleburg Heights, tells a story that resonates across the state: ''This year, it's very, very meaningful to me emotionally—because he saved my daughter's job.''

    This election is personal for so many families in Ohio.

    RoseMarie, who lives in Middleburg Heights, tells a story that resonates across the state: "This year, it's very, very meaningful to me emotionally—because he saved my daughter's job." RoseMarie's daughter, a single mother supporting three children, has worked for General Motors for 15 years here in Ohio. Three years ago, when the American auto industry was on the very brink of collapse and Mitt Romney was telling anyone who would listen that we should "let Detroit go bankrupt," President Obama made the tough call to lend Detroit a hand. That decision—politically unpopular at the time—saved nearly 850,000 jobs in Ohio alone.

    "He saved so many jobs here," says RoseMarie. "People don't realize that the auto industry carries so many people. It just domino-effects—to people making gloves or the wax on the factory floor, to people working in the cafeterias and restaurants. So many people in the industry are grateful to be working today, my daughter especially."

    Today, RoseMarie's entire family is campaigning for President Obama—even her seven-year-old grandson, who wears Obama buttons on his UAW T-shirt. If you ask, he will tell you he likes President Obama "because he saved my mom's job."

    So, on behalf of three generations of her family, RoseMarie is committed to doing whatever it takes here in Cuyahoga County to deliver a "strong, strong, strong Ohio" for the President.

    "I think we're going to win this election," she says, "and there's going to be nobody happier than my little family."

  • For all

    Jackie from Lorain, Ohio, voted early—in fact, she was so excited to cast her ballot for President Obama, she arrived before the polls even opened. Pointing to the "for all" button she wore to today's Gotta Vote event, Jackie says she supports the President because he doesn't divide people into 47 percent and the 53 percent.

    Jackie from Lorain, Ohio, voted early—in fact, she was so excited to cast her ballot for President Obama, she arrived before the polls even opened. Pointing to the "for all" button she wore to today's Gotta Vote event, Jackie says she supports the President because he doesn't divide people into 47 percent and the 53 percent.

    "Mitt Romney is just so far away from the people like me. President Obama represents everybody. I was fortunate to be able to see him at Kent State, and I don't think he was politicking when he said, for those people who don't support him, who are against him, 'I'll be your president too.' Not 'their' president, like he's separating people. We're all in this together. He's for everybody, and I just appreciate how hard he works for all of us."

    Gotta Vote

  • Phone banking in Iowa City

    Women's activist Sandra Fluke and actor Tate Donovan popped into an OFA Iowa phone bank in Iowa City tonight and made calls to University of Iowa students, asking them to cast their ballots early. Early voting in Iowa—the first in the country—began last Thursday.

    Women's activist Sandra Fluke and actor Tate Donovan popped into an OFA Iowa phone bank in Iowa City tonight and made calls to University of Iowa students, asking them to cast their ballots early. Early voting in Iowa—the first in the country—began last Thursday.

    Volunteer

  • Sandra Fluke tells Iowa what’s at stake for women

    Sandra Fluke hit the campaign trail with the Gotta Vote bus to spread the message to the women—and men—of Iowa City just how high the stakes are in this election.

    Earlier this year, Sandra Fluke drew the wrath of conservatives when she testified before Congress arguing that her law school's lack of contraception coverage hurt women, who often use birth control for preventive care. Rush Limbaugh led the right-wing charge, verbally attacking her as a "slut" for speaking out on an issue she believed in: access to women's health care.

    Fluke has become an outspoken women's rights advocate, and today, she hit the campaign trail with the Gotta Vote bus to spread the message to the women—and men—of Iowa City just how high the stakes are in this election.

    "This November, we have a real choice between candidates with two visions. There's a lot at stake. Mr. Romney believes that a woman's employer should be the one who decides what kind of health care she should have. President Obama believes that trust belongs in a woman, that she can make that decision with her doctor and family.

    "Mr. Romney has refused to stand up for equal pay. Our generation thought we wouldn't have to keep pushing on this. President Obama has been a clear leader. The Lilly Ledbetter Act was the first bill that he signed, and he's not done yet. He's called for the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act.

    "And when we've needed him most, President Obama has stood with women and defended our access to health care when he defended Planned Parenthood. Mr. Romney, by contrast, has said he wants to defund Planned Parenthood. That means taking away breast cancer screenings, cervical cancer screenings, and care for moms and babies. That's not the leadership or the vision that women deserve.

    "So if you believe in a woman's right to fair pay and her ability to enforce that, you gotta vote. If you believe in an America where a woman can make decisions about her own body—you gotta vote, and you gotta vote for President Obama."

    Gotta Vote

  • Tate Donovan’s fired up

    Actor Tate Donovan's joined us in Iowa for the Gotta Vote bus tour. He's been campaigning for the president since 2007, a labor of love that once took him to Greenville, South Carolina, where he met a legendary figure in the Obama campaign.

    Actor Tate Donovan's joined us in Iowa for the Gotta Vote bus tour. He's been campaigning for the president since 2007, a labor of love that once took him to Greenville, South Carolina, where he met a legendary figure in the Obama campaign.

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  • “Volunteering is a full-time occupation”

    If you live in Dubuque, you've probably gotten a door knock or a phone call from Randy in the past few months. He's collected a whopping 1,388 vote by mail forms from his fellow Iowans, and he's still going. ''I'm not going to pause today until I get an even 1,400. Then I'll start on the next hundred.'' It's no wonder an OFA field organizer calls him the hardest-working volunteer in Iowa.

    Randy first heard President Obama speaking off the back of a pickup truck at Lincoln School in Dubuque in 2007. Since then, he's become a self-professed political junkie.

    "I was not active at all," says Randy, who taught elementary school in Dubuque for 38 years. "I always voted, but I never got involved in a campaign until 2008. Now volunteering is a full-time occupation." If you live in Dubuque, you've probably gotten a door knock or a phone call from Randy in the past few months. He's collected a whopping 1,388 vote by mail forms from his fellow Iowans, and he's still going. "I'm not going to pause today until I get an even 1,400. Then I'll start on the next hundred." It's no wonder an OFA field organizer calls him the hardest-working volunteer in Iowa.

    Since Thursday, Iowa voters have been able to vote early in person and by mail, and Randy has become an early-vote evangelist. "Early voting is really important," says Randy. "I was never aware how important it was until I started working on it. But it's never a good idea to think you're going to have another day to get something done. Getting the absentee or early vote information out there and carefully monitored to make sure ballots are being turned in—that means everything. We need to show we're out there and that there's a big voter interest."

    The reaction across the political spectrum, he says, has been overwhelmingly positive: "People want to talk about the importance of this election. They want to know we're out there and that we're trying to get as many voters as we possibly can."

    Learn more about voting in your state at www.gottavote.com.

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