The cavalry, in white coats and scrubs

Jason --

The cavalry is here -- and they're in white coats and scrubs: More than a half a million doctors and millions of nurses are joining forces to help pass real health reform.

Americans listen to their nurses and doctors when it comes to health reform -- and for good reason. If we can help them amplify their voices, it'll be a huge boost to our campaign for change.

So we're working on a new television ad featuring their voices explaining why doctors and nurses so strongly support President Obama's plan -- and asking Congress to pass it. We'll run the ad in key states and districts all around the country to show folks where health professionals stand, cut through the spin, and build even greater support for reform.

But to produce and air the new ad before the Senate starts debating a final bill, we'll need to raise $300,000 by Thursday. Please donate $5 right away.

The American Medical Association, Doctors for America, and a dozen other physicians groups representing 500,000 doctors are endorsing reform. So are the American Nurses Association and other organizations representing millions of nurses.

They're speaking out because they see the shortcomings of our health care system firsthand, every day: patients denied the care they prescribe, families losing access to their doctors, and a system that forces them to spend more time with paperwork and less time with patients.

These voices need to be heard -- with so much deception out there clouding the debate, it's critical that medical professionals are able to focus the country on the simple fact that health reform is good medicine.

But the final congressional committee could vote on their reform bill as early as Wednesday -- and debate on final legislation could start by the end of the week. So if we're going to help make these doctors and nurses' voices heard, we'll need to do it right now. Can you chip in $5 or more to help get our ad on the air?

https://donate.barackobama.com/HealthAd

Thanks,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

Now, it's our turn

Jason --

Last Wednesday, President Obama called on our representatives to pass health reform that brings stability and security to Americans who have insurance, affordable coverage to those who don't, and reins in the cost of care.

Now, it's our turn. After last week's speech, members of Congress have no doubt about where the President stands. But to win this fight, we must show that Americans from every state and every background support his plan -- and we need Congress to do the same.

Click here to call your representatives, and then tell us how it went. According to our records, you live in North Carolina's 11th congressional district. Please call:

Sen. Richard Burr's Asheville office at (828) 350-2437
Sen. Kay Hagan's Greensboro office at (336) 333-5311
Rep. Heath Shuler's Asheville office at (828) 252-1651

(Not your representatives? Click here to look yours up.)

Call your representatives, and tell whoever answers where you are from and that you watched the President's address.

Then tell them that you want your representatives to support the President's plan, ask them where they stand -- and thank them if they already clearly support it.

Don't forget to click here to let us know what they said.

Hundreds of thousands of folks will be calling, so please try again if you get a busy signal.

This movement has brought us to a historic moment where reform is within reach. Now your energy and commitment are needed to get us the rest of the way.

Please call today:

http://my.barackobama.com/CongressCall

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

Not the first, but the last

Jason --

I just finished laying out my plan for health reform at a joint session of Congress. Now, I'm writing directly to you because what happens next is critical -- and I need your help.

Change this big will not happen because I ask for it. It can only come when the nation demands it. Congress knows where I stand. Now they need to hear from you.

Add your voice: Ask your representatives to support my plan for real health reform in 2009.

The heart of my plan is simple: bring stability and security to Americans who already have health insurance, guarantee affordable coverage for those who don't, and rein in the cost of health care.

Tonight, I offered a specific plan for how to make it happen. I incorporated the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans to create a plan that's bold, practical, and represents the broad consensus of the American people.

We've come closer to real health reform in the last few months than we have in the last 60 years. But those who profit from the status quo -- and those who put partisan advantage above all else -- will fight us every inch of the way.

We do not seek that fight, but we will not shrink from it. The stakes are too high to let scare tactics cloud the debate, or to allow partisan bickering to block the path. Your voice, right now, is essential.

See my full plan and call on your representatives to support it:

http://my.barackobama.com/SupportReform

Ours is not the first generation to understand the dire need for health reform. And I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

The real story of August

Jason -- At the beginning of August, President Obama wrote to the OFA community to challenge us to work hard, break through the noise and give the American people a voice in the fight for health insurance reform. It wasn't easy: With Congress back home, special interests and partisan attack groups went into overdrive spreading lies, and the media seemed to broadcast any story of conflict or division they could find. But you accepted the President's challenge -- and delivered. See it for yourself: Check out the latest photos and stories from around the country. Our strategy for the month was simple: engage the millions of individuals who know we need change to fight the lies and tell the truth, build support for reform, and ensure that support is highly visible while members of Congress are home gauging public opinion. We continued our methodical, battle-tested approach of volunteers reaching out online and offline in every part of the country. We offered the facts, answered questions and engaged those who were ready to get involved. And the results were extraordinary. OFA supporters like you came together in an unprecedented way over the past four weeks -- and it couldn't have happened without the individual volunteers who make it all possible: Folks like Rebecca E. in Santa Fe, New Mexico, who voted for the first time last year -- and collected more than 1,800 health care declarations this summer. Across the country, we've collected more than 1 million signatures in support of the President's core principles for health insurance reform. Supporters like Nita L. in Longmont, Colorado, who organized hundreds of supporters in her town to come with her to talk with their member of Congress about how much this fight means to them. They were among the more than 70,000 folks who showed up at 350 town halls -- where supporters of reform at times outnumbered opponents by 10-1 -- and volunteers who made 65,000 trips to local congressional offices. It's the people who made more than 100,000 calls to Congress to thank representatives fighting for change -- like Nancy T. in Hendersonville, North Carolina, who hosted a health care phone booth because, after her heart transplant, she knows that no American should have to choose between financial ruin and getting the care they need. It's the 1,500 supporters who filled a local recreation center in Kansas City, Missouri, at a town hall meeting with Senator Claire McCaskill, and the 2,500 people who jammed the streets to hear from Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio -- just two of the more than 4,000 events where folks gathered to show their support across all 50 states in August. All of these signatures, calls, office drop-bys, conversations, gatherings, and town hall meetings, all of the late nights, homemade signs, long hours in the sun, and tireless volunteers who make it happen -- totaling more than 1.5 million people who've taken part in this campaign for real reform -- it all adds up to one incredible movement for change. Check out the latest photos and stories from the field to see this movement in action: http://my.barackobama.com/ontheground As Congress returns to D.C. and we roll up our sleeves for the final push toward reform, we know the hardest work may yet lie ahead. The special interests and those in Congress who have pledged to oppose the President no matter what will stoop even lower in the weeks ahead. But you should never doubt that we face the coming challenges together, as part of something far larger than any of us alone -- and far stronger than the old broken politics that have preserved the status quo for long enough. Our strategy is working. We are going to win this thing. Americans will finally get the health insurance reform we all need. Thank you for making it possible, Mitch Mitch Stewart Director Organizing for America