Blog For Arizona

Zephyr Touring America... will come to AZ

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 23, 2003
Contact: Press Office, 802-651-3200

Dean For America Calls the Grassroots To Action with a 1978 Airstream

BURLINGTON--Dean for America today announced that it was launching a six-week nationwide call to action. Blogger Zephyr Teachout will take to the roads, traveling in a restored 27-foot, 1978 Airstream bus--organizing, flyering and hearing the incredible stories of Dean supporters across the country.

The journey will take Zephyr, the campaign's director of Internet organizing and outreach, to more than 100 cities in over 20 states as she chronicles the stories of the greatest grassroots campaign presidential politics has ever seen. At each stop, Zephyr will be organizing supporters to travel to Iowa and New Hampshire as part of the campaign's effort to have 5,000 supporters canvas in each state in January.

"For months, we've been telling people to organize and to build their local networks, and now we're going to go out there with them and see the national campaign they've built," Campaign Manager Joe Trippi said.

"Each day, hundreds of Dean supporters across the country are organizing and holding outreach events in their local communities. We're going across America to hear their stories, learn what we can from their on-the-ground efforts, and spread Governor Dean's message far and wide," Teachout said.

At every stop, Zephyr will link up with local supporters to flyer, canvass, register voters, and talk with them about their efforts to build the campaign. She will be blogging constantly from the road on the campaign's official weblog, www.blogforamerica.com. Ryan Davis, who will be accompanying Zephyr on the tour and videotaping the tour's experience, will be blogging on the Generation Dean blog, www.gendeanblog.com.

At each stop, Zephyr will also be urging the campaign's supporters to travel to Iowa and New Hampshire in January to canvass and provide get-out-the-vote.

Only the first week of the tour's itinerary is set; the remainder of the journey will be decided along the way, with input from grassroots supporters. People will be able to track Zephyr's progress-and see the stories it's collecting-on www.deanforamerica.com. The first week's itinerary includes:

September 27: Los Angeles Kickoff

September 28: Santa Barbara

September 29: Salinas, San Jose, and Oakland

September 30: Sacramento

September 31: Davis and San Francisco

Later tour stops will include Reno, Las Vegas, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tucson, Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Roswell, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Crawford, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Little Rock, Jackson (Miss.), Atlanta, Orlando, Raleigh, Richmond, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and dozens of other cities and towns. The tour will conclude in Philadelphia, the nation's cradle of liberty, in mid-December.

posted by Michael Bryan @ 10/23/2003 11:05:00 PM