Join Rock the Vote's street team

Yesterday was Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's. Ben & Jerry's has given out free ice cream one day a year for like the last 28 years. But this year they did it a little different; they asked us to come to the store and register voters.

Ben & Jerry's has more than 200 stores around the country, so as you can imagine, getting volunteers together and organized for all those stores is a logistical challenge, to say the least. Levin Sy, our field manager, Brandy Chappell and Aaron Teeter did a great job lining it all up.

We're still waiting on the registration numbers, but it looks like we rallied more than 1000 volunteers yesterday!

To get such an incredible number of volunteers, we drew on our street team. These are the folks that are active on the ground in their community, registering voters at concerts and events, cinco de mayo parades, pride marches, anywhere you find young people.

Join our street team today---find the button on our front page and get rolling!

Wack-ass article in Salon.com

Salon.com has an article that criticizes Rock the Vote. Another lesson in how to attack Rock the Vote for fun and profit! Sigh.

The author obviously misunderstands the role of Rock the Vote and similar efforts. That's why we end up with criticism instead of praise.

One of our great strengths is media. We all know that a voter registration and turnout campaign needs both media and grassroots. Its great to see the ADDITION of traditional voter contact programs. They have been missing for too long.

Media accomplishes a lot more than the author, and apparently some individuals quoted in the story, presuming their quotes are not taken out of context, seems to understand.

At Rock the Vote, with our partners, we've driven more than 240,000 people through our voter registration tool since last July. That's based on the strength of our media identity.

I'm going to invite the skeptics and the experts, whose work I admire and agree with as much as anyone else, to come to my office and watch young person number 999,999 go through our voter registration tool. Some of the analysis they are going to do about the effectiveness of turnout efforts is going to come from our list! We're chomping at the bit to work with our partners to turn those people out.

The appeal of Rock the Vote is organic and undeniably relevant at the grassroots level, too. Many of our partners use our identity to enhance their efforts. That's why lending our name is a key part of our strategy. We sustain that appeal through our media campaigns--and celebrity involvement.

In addition to Rock the Vote's own turnout initiatives, we look forward to working with our terrific GOTV partner organizations to provide them as much support as we can!

Its worth noting, by the way, that the reporter credited Howard Dean with the surge in young voter turnout at the polls in Iowa---based on his media and internet success. Apparently those methods only work when you support the person using them?

Photographer fired for pictures of military coffins

A photographer who contracted for the Pentagon has been fired for publishing photographs of coffins coming home from Iraq, according to a Reuters article.

Meanwhile, Senator John McCain, who has spoken out against using the issue of Iraq as a "political weapon," is calling for 10,000 more troops in Iraq while Senator Chuck Hagel is talking about a reinstatement of the draft.

Kerry courts young voters

Senator Kerry has just wrapped up a week long college tour targeting young voters... The AP has a story about it.

Wyclef on politics and voting, censorship, and more

Allhiphop.com has an interview with Wyclef.

It's doesn't matter where you live.

So politics today has Republicans banking on the South, and Democrats banking on the Northeast. But what would happen when partisan support no longer is regionalized, but begins to cross regional lines, with aspects such as age?

In one corner we've got the new school. I'm talking 18-30 years of age.
In the other corner, we've got the old school. 30+ years of age voters.

This is actually happening, not in the United States, but in the Republic of Korea, otherwise known as South Korea.

Check it out...

TAEGU, South Korea, April 10 - In South Korea, regionalism has traditionally been the deciding factor in elections. People here in the southeast, used to sending military and civilian rulers to Seoul, backed the Grand National Party or other conservative parties. Voters in the southwest have supported the opposition parties.

But in the two-week campaign leading up to South Korea's parliamentary elections on April 15, age has replaced regionalism as the single most important factor. There are signs that younger voters here will vote based on the issues important to their generation rather than according to their region.

Read on at the NYTimes

Korn fights back against cultural crackdown, corporate control

Korn has a new video out that raises a lot of controversial issues about the entertainment industry. Billboard.com has the story:

"The Federal Communication Commission's crackdown on indecency hit the fast track following the Super Bowl halftime incident. Davis in part blames the FCC's actions on the religious right and the fact that it's an election year. "People are too uptight," he says. "It's the God squad. They have a chance just to turn the knob off. If it's a radio station, if it's a CD, they don't have to listen to it. It's ridiculous."

Wiretap's guide to "storming the polls"
From our friends at Wiretap, an online magazine:

===

making a connection between youth organizing and
activism and voting?

That's exactly what we've done.

Our new guidebook, "Storming the Polls; How to Vote
Your Views and Change the Rules," is hot off
the presses!

Visit http://www.wiretapmag.org/storming and order
your copy today.

Who should read it?

- Youth who are sick of hearing adults tell them why
they should vote
- Anyone who thinks changing the world (or the
country) can be done w/out voting
- Anyone doing voter registration with 18 to
25-year-olds who knows it helps when people have
something to take home with them, read on the bus, and
look at later.
- Parents, teachers, youth-workers, (although they
might be shocked to see such relevant
information written in language they don't have to
explain).
-Politicians who think that youth issues are not worth
talking about in their speeches or need
to be reminded that youth who vote are a force to be
reckoned with.

"Rock the Vote spurs spirited debate"

A great article about one of our Meetups last night in Michigan... "Liberal, conservative, independent or otherwise, it didn't matter. Everyone had a voice at Tuesday night's Rock the Vote meeting at the Thunderbird Coffeehouse."

You can sign up for our Meetups here, but be sure to sign up to volunteer with our street teams first by going here.

Austrians get their vote on in the air

Reuters reports that Austrian citizens who decide to head out of the country on election day can still vote during flights on the national carrier, Austrain Airlines Group.

Shows how far support for turning out voters can really extend.

MTV show on gay marriage

On Friday, at 8pm, MTV is going to air a news special about gay marriage called "I DO, BUT I CAN'T: GAY MARRIAGE IN AMERICA."

You can provide feedback at the Choose or Lose website here.

This should be interesting. Feedback about the issue on the MTV website has run in favor of gay marriage and, particularly, against the proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage that the President has supported.

Go add your two cents....

Albums That Keep Us Talking

Dr. West, Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Princeton Univeristy, is dropping a follow up album to his critically acclaimed first release, Sketches of my culture.


Talking about the new album, entitled Street Knowledge Executive Producer Clifton West told AllHipHop.com:


"It addresses a myriad of issues that face us as a people, nation and world today. Hopefully, it will serve as a tool of empowerment, through education and entertainment."


Now that's an album that rocks!


For the full story long on to: http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=3000

MTV interviews Kerry

According to press reports, MTV's interview with John Kerry was the most highly rated Choose or Lose special ever. Millions of young people tuned it, demonstrating that they are engaged in the election.

Check it out here.

Hot Pink

Pink, one of Rock the Vote's favorite artists, is speaking out about keeping quiet. MTV has the story.