"Blue Revolution" vigils Tuesday night

When the polls close, we urge Democrats across the country to gather outside their County Election Office for a candlelight vigil to Count Every Vote, all wearing the same color: Blue.

Imagine a Blue Revolution, every bit as joyous and historic as the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the Cedar Revolution Lebanon, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, and the other democratic revolutions of recent years - right here in the United States of America.

Help us organize a vigil in your county - just create a new Forum Topic coded "Blue Revolution," select "County," post the location of your County Election Office, and spread the word to your friends. More details below...

Should we start a Blue Revolution across the USA on Election Night to stop Republicans from stealing Election 2006?

This Congressional election has witnessed vastly more local polling than ever before, and every poll points to the same result: Democrats will win more than the 15 seats we need to win the House of Representatives, and we are ahead or tied in the 6 seats we need to win the Senate.

These polls are not isolated local phenomena, but are part of a national tidal wave visible in every national poll.

* Voters prefer "generic" Democrats over Republicans by nearly 20%, which is the largest gap in the history of polling. When Newt Gingrich's Republican Revolutionaries seized 54 seats in 1994, they had a "generic" gap of only 7 points.

* George Bush's approval rating is below 40% in every poll, well below Bill Clinton's mid-40's approval rating in 1994.

* The approval rating for the Republican-run Congress is down to 16%, the lowest in history. Voters - including many Republicans - say they want Democrats to run Congress.

* Every poll shows the dominant issue in this election is the disastrous war in Iraq. Voters blame George Bush and the Republican Party for this disaster and they want to change the course, not stay the course. Bush's claim that he never said "stay the course" is destroying his last shred of credibility.

Yet despite this overwhelming polling evidence, George Bush - along with Dick Cheney and Karl Rove - adamantly insist that Republicans are going to win on November 7.

What do they know that we don't know?

As time runs out for an October Surprise, there's only one possibility: that they have rigged the election process to guarantee Republicans win.

How can they rig the process? We all know they can hack electronic voting machines with a screwdriver, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

They can purge Democrats from the voter rolls (make sure you're still registered at MyDem.com), trash Democratic registrations and absentee ballots, leave Democratic candidates' names off the ballots or make the ballots too confusing to use, stuff Republican absentee ballots at county offices, send too few machines or paper ballots to Democratic precincts, move precincts so voters can't find them, pre-punch paper ballots so they register "overvotes," demand photo ID's at the polls, deny provisional ballots or refuse to count them, rig the vote-counting machines, etc. etc. etc.

This list is not imaginary. Republicans committed these crimes and more in Florida in 2000, in Georgia in 2002, and in Ohio in 2004. They have been thoroughly documented on web sites, in books, and in films. But since George Bush controls the Justice Department, none of these crimes have been investigated or prosecuted. And that means there is nothing to stop Republicans from doing all of these things again this year - in spades. BradBlog has caught them red-handed several times already!

That's why Bush, Cheney, and Rove are so confident. And that's why we must do everything we can to stop them.

Democratic and progressive activists are doing an incredible amount of work to Get Out The Vote and try to ensure a Democratic victory, and we enthusiastically support all of these efforts. We also support the BradBlog/PDA petition urging emergency paper ballots in every state.

But there's one more thing we'd like to ask you to do after all of the votes have been cast.

It's quite simple really. But for it to work, thousands of us would have to participate.

When the polls close, we propose that Democrats across the country gather outside their County Election Office for a candlelight vigil to Count Every Vote, all wearing the same color: Blue.

Imagine a Blue Revolution, every bit as joyous and historic as the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the Cedar Revolution Lebanon, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, and the other democratic revolutions of recent years - right here in the United States of America.

We've done this before with the leadership of Moveon:

Gathering outside County Election Offices is crucial because that's where our votes are counted.

In some counties, they simply tally the results from counts in each precinct. In some counties, they count the absentees at the county office and add them to the precinct tallies. In the remaining counties, they tally all the absentees and ballots at the county office. They also review provisional ballots to determine which will be counted. And if a race is close enough to require a re-canvass or recount, it is done there.

If Republicans plan to steal the November elections, most of their thievery would be at the county level because that's where large numbers of votes can either be shifted from Democrats to Republicans, or Democratic ballots thrown out, or fraudulent Republican ballots manufactured. And it's just as likely to happen in "red" counties where Democratic lawyers aren't watching as in "blue" counties where they are.

A crowd of Democrats outside County Election Offices might not be able to detect or stop a Republican election stealing plan. But at a minimum we would send an extremely powerful message to George Bush, the Republican Party, the corporate media, and the world: that we're watching and prepared to do whatever it takes - peacefully of course - to make sure every vote counts.

If we gathered together on Election Night, we can also do valuable organizing work like collecting a list of Election Day problems (mechanical, administrative, and otherwise) and blogging what we find. We can volunteer if a manual recount is required in close races. We can plan local campaigns to replace electronic machines with hand-counted paper ballots, which might be a very popular idea if your county's election goes badly.

And if our votes are honestly counted and we win, we can have the biggest outdoor party in American history - and start planning to work with Congressional Democrats to restore Democracy, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights in America.

If you like this idea, please vote with your keyboard. Login here (provide your address so we can find your County) and click the "Local" link in the menu to see if someone has already started organizing in your county. If not, then create a new Forum Topic. For "Category," choose "Blue Revolution" in both Democrats.com Forums and Topics. In the "Local" box be sure to click "County." In the subject line, put "Election Night." And in the body post the street address of your County Election Office with a link to your favorite mapping site, the time polls close in your state, and any advice you can offer on public transportation and parking. If you want to share your name and email address or offer a ride, that will help.

After the logistics are established, everyone who wants to participate should post a reply, perhaps with the number of family members and friends you plan to bring, and signs you plan to carry, and the neighborhood you're coming from if you can offer a ride. Extra candles, American flags, posterboard, and magic markers are always welcome.

We'll soon be able to track events across the country through a single link: BlueRevolution.us

As I wrote above, the idea is simple - but it only works if you embrace the idea and make it happen.

Shall we make history on November 7?