MoveOn.org's Free Barack Obama Pin

MoveOn.org is double-teaming its fans this week with a long-promised Barack Obama pin and an urgent E-mail request from Al Gore to help the Democrats get out the vote on Tuesday. We're on MoveOn's media list, so when the offer for a free pin came in, we clicked "yes" just to see if they would deliver. It came this week, as you can see in the picture.

The pin is kind of ugly, but it's unique. Oddly, it came with no explanation or fundraising info. But that's OK because Al Gore teamed up with the liberal activists in an E-mail urging Democrats to help organize voting groups around the country and not let what happened to him in 2000 happen to Obama. "We know from 2000 that progress is not inevitable. Victory can fall just out of reach. And the difference of a few thousand votes can put our country on a decidedly different path," he writes.

Here's his whole E-mail:

My personal request to you
Oct 28
Dear MoveOn member,

I know something about what can happen in close elections. And we've only got 7 days left to make sure this isn't one of them.

We are witnessing history in the making. Millions of young people are getting involved in politics for the first time. A leader named Barack Obama is rising up to unite America behind his vision of progressive change. Yet we know from 2000 that progress is not inevitable. Victory can fall just out of reach. And the difference of a few thousand votes can put our country on a decidedly different path.

That's why I'm writing to you today to personally ask you to volunteer with the Obama campaign to help get out the vote this week. Click here to sign up:

I know that MoveOn members have the power to swing elections. In 2006, you made over 7 million calls--I made some myself--and together we won back both houses of Congress. And already this year, nearly 120,000 of you have signed up to volunteer for Obama in battleground states.

But the stakes this year are too great for any of us to sit it out.

We're facing two wars and an economic meltdown. The climate crisis, in particular, is worsening more quickly than predicted and without strong leadership from the next president, we could face consequences right out of a science fiction movie.

Barack Obama will provide that leadership. But only if we all make sure he wins. Please sign up to volunteer today.

Yes we can,

Al Gore

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By Paul Bedard