Dear Judy Feder

I hope you won't give up. I hope you'll try again. I hope you run against the impermanent Frank Wolfe. You’ve got the spunk, the dynamo, the personality, the smarts to do it. We need you as our representative! Don’t give up! We are proud of you.

Here are some suggestions to put to work in two years:

When you came to the Sierra Club meeting in McLean on October 2 and your aide passed around a “sign up” sheet, no one ever contacted me about coming in to help you. Was the McLean office location announced?

When I visited your campaign office in McLean one Sunday to canvass for you, the staff told me all the walk sheets were gone. How can that be? With so many homes to visit, why were there none? No one asked for my name or contact information.

I took off for the Obama field office on Kennedy Drive to pick up walk sheets and wound up canvassing not only for Obama and Mark Warner, but for Jim Moran who did not need my help.

The week before the election I came by your office on two nights to do whatever I could to help, and no one asked me to sign a sheet or for contact information. The second night someone did ask my name. I assembled walk packets on both nights.

If my contact information was not sought, was it sought from other volunteers?

We all know the incredible organization Barack Obama’s team practiced. Lessons to be learned!

Within 30 minutes on November 2, I received three telephone calls from Barack’s Falls Church office following up my promise to drop lit on Monday night and to work at the polls on Tuesday. These were in addition to all the many telephone calls I received throughout the campaign from Falls Church asking me to help, to call, to canvass, to come to meetings, to blog, to vote, to cook, to whatever! Just come and do it, they implored. In the early stages someone called me weekly, then the calls became more frequent. They were never irritating, just friendly reminders to a political activist who welcomed the calls, that I agreed to help and when could I get there?

We know follow-up and organization are critical and that money talks!

I hope you accept these recommendations in the spirit in which they are sent for I want you to win, and I know you can do it! We need you in D.C.

Sincerely,
Patriciadc