This page is for a description and discussions of our strategy and (coming soon) a quick summary of the top priorities. More details on the social networking strategy are here. To help, check the current top priorities at Today's priorities.

If you're blogging or writing an article about this, please be kind enough to include a link back to this page so that people can see the current version and to the group on myBO. Thanks!

Overall strategy: work with other grassroots groups and politicians to put pressure on all 100 Senators for the July 8 vote, while continuing our conversation with Senator Obama

• Work closely with other campaigns like Blue America (phone/whip count), CREDO Action and Democracy for America (online petitions), Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Peoples Campaign for the Constitution, etc.
• Reach out to Libertarians, Greens, Clinton supporters, conservatives, and everybody else who is likely to support the rule of law and civil liberties
• Get organized about media plan and social network outreach campaigns.
• Continue to contact Senator Obama's office and the campaign.

• Use social networks to reach millions of people quickly. There are literally thousands of us involved; we are probably within two degrees of everybody in the US who's on Facebook, MySpace, BlackPlanet, Mi Gente, and most other social network sites.

• Fan the flames of coverage by making the novel outreach approach a story in its own right

• Continue to engage in conversation with Senator Obama and ask for help from him and his campaign; don't rely on it.
  • Schedule floor time to speak during the debate
  • Support from the campaign

Day-by-day

• Over the weekend, build the movement, discuss with friends and family, work on our infrastructure and communications
• Sunday evening, start a massive media and viral outreach campaign to encourage every American to let their Senators know how they feel via a fifty-state strategy

• Monday: launch 50-state strategy, continue outreach campaign, and contact Senators: in person, by phone, FAX, e-mail, via Facebook
• Tuesday: phone, phone, phone! Get the word out on Facebook! and other social networks as well, if we can get critical mass.
• Try to gauge feedback online: ask media outlets, blogs, social networks, to run polls and have discussion threads
• A Night of Facebook action

• Wednesday: fill the gallery for the vote -- and have live discussions online for everybody who can't be there in person (details TBD)

Key assumptions:

• The vast majority of Americans are against Telecom immunity and in favor of the rule of law -- especially once they find out the facts. If this is true, the more people we get to weigh in, the louder the outcry will be. Any Senators who vote for immunity will be on notice that they are going against the will of their constituents.
  • Based on Senator Obama's statement, we can ally with him on fighting Telecom immunity (Article 2) even though we disagree on expansion of warantless wiretapping powers and sufficiency of oversight (Article 1). This maximizes the chance of getting his support.
    
• A majority of Americans are against warantless searches and general warrants. (It's not as overwhelming as the percentage against immunity; most polls show 60%.) If this is true, the more constituents who contact any wavering Senators, the safer they'll feel in defending the Constitution.
• If enough people speak out, perhaps Senator Obama will be persuaded to rethink his position on Article 1 as well.
• With almost 20,000 people in the group, we will have enough critical mass that we can get the word out in multiple ways simultaneously.
• If we're successful, so many people will contact their Senators that phones will back up, voice mail boxes will be filled, FAX lines will be jammed, and so on ... so we need to have other methods as well.

Priorities

Current top priorities at Today's priorities.