Hello blog kiddies!

This is your old friend Robert Wilkinson. I was dispatched by some politicos to come back to Eugene from my re-enforced bunker somewhere in north-north Dakota to cover the local elections. Due to my lack of a Garman I was diverted to San Louis Obispo where I was privy to a great election results party held on a small private beach filled with fire dancers, chainsaw jugglers, and one strip dancer who seemed far out of place.

After all that commotion I needed to get back to my assignment in the Emerald City we all know and love. I hopped a train and found my way to The Davis on Broadway. There I encountered a large group of what I assume were vehement supporters and constant volunteers, people who sacrificed their personal lives daily to make sure their candidate was the one waving the flag of victory. Of course I don’t know if any of this was true, they like me may have been freelance journalists who were lured here by the promise of free food and a large selection of beers on tap. Speaking of which somewhere in the middle of all the speeches, patting each other on the back and celebrating I developed a longing for a smoke break.
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The Lane Bus was honored to back Kitty Piercy as mayor and put our resources behind helping get her elected. Hours of phone-banking and canvassing proved that a movement can overcome a heavily financed campaign. We were thrilled to get the thank you note from Mayor Piercy and we can all agree it was all well worth the effort!

Dear all,
The Bus Project was an amazing partner in winning my re-election as Mayor. Thank each of you and all those bus canvassers who knocked on so many doors – truly democracy in action! And you had fun doing it.

Just a couple thoughts to share with you. Prior to the beginning of the election cycle, my public approval rating was around 60%. The huge and heavily funded negative ad campaign took it’s toll and eroded my support to a point where JT could have won the race. Without you, I doubt that we would have made it all the way back from that point. It took a tremendous effort.

So it’s good for us all to remember after a full year of attacks, smearing and misinformation, I have my work cut out for me. I think it is all worthwhile so that we can keep Eugene a great place to live. Times are tough and many are struggling. It will take us all working together from the national level on down to the local to get through this period, rebuilding our economy, ensuring people’s human and civil rights, protecting our natural resources, ensuring our education system is supported and that we finally move toward meeting the health care needs of the people of this country.

Thank you Bus Project for being so committed to getting people to vote for a better future for us all. Keep on going. I am with you.

Kitty

We now know that the election, both local and national, tipped strongly towards the progressive side of the scale. Counting up the votes tells one story, but what happened on the front lines to make those numbers happen.

* We know that our volunteers have been absolutely priceless this year. Definition of priceless? Worth a lot, and not for sale. An example of their dedication - check out the “glowstick phone bank” (maybe you missed it on the 10 o’clock news last night). When a power outage shut off the lights and the phones at Bus Central last night, 35 phone bankers found cell phones and leftover Halloween glowsticks, and kept right on calling to get out the vote.

* We know the Bus Project Foundation registered 23,000 new young voters this year, increasing the Oregon youth electorate by 7 percent.

* We know that Bus Project volunteers have changed the face of Oregon politics. 9 of the 10 races the Bus worked on in the 2002/2004 cycles won their seats and helped turn the Oregon Senate to a progressive majority. In 2006, the Bus won 9 of 10 races, helping to turn the Oregon Legislature to a progressive majority.
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Pretty quiet around here after a stunning and thorough sweep for progressive politics in Oregon and Lane County!

Share your thoughts, share your stories, share your hopes for change!

The end of a campaign brings new beginnings. This birth of hope will redefine and redesign the systems that were built for a past era. With what is today, how would we build those systems for tomorrow? The systems that we choose to construct will be the backbone of the United States in the 22nd century but the difficulty in sketching tomorrow’s government pales in comparison with the challenge of uprooting what lies beneath. Powerful views of groups and groups of views bind status-quo and blind the potential of change’s influence. The web of context frames our system as a series of battles that led to its current being, and frame change as deconstruction. And that fear of deconstruction prevents the reconstruction we need.

This newly awakened hope untangles the context of the past allowing a united focus. And this focus requires a genuine cooperation and acceptance of opposition, a true curiosity of disagreement’s origins and a solution of compromises; all without principles compromised. The love of thy enemy is not enough. We have no enemies. We have those in our world with different values and disparate beliefs on how best to achieve those values. Simply put, that credo provides better results.

It truly is, the dawn of a new era.

Or at least the impatience of a two and a half month wait.

Speechless. Enjoy the day and hopefully have a VERY happy tomorrow!