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Rapids, MI to Huntington, AL, diverse, articulate groups of MoveOn
members got together to talk to the offices of their Senators and
Representatives.  Local newspapers, TV and radio stations covered the
events, from the Denver Post to Pacifica Radio.

The meetings themselves were simply incredible.  But you don't need to
take our word for it.  Here are a few short samples from the hundreds
of reports that have been pouring in:

"The voices of several veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars, of a
VA doctor, a pediatrician, other doctors, nurses, retirees, teachers,
grandparents, a law student, one after another, built a strong case
for encouraging Kolbe to urge Bush to give stronger support for the
Inspections Process. It was a bit uncanny. Not practiced, nor planned,
but one by one, each person integrated his/her contributions into what
had been said before. This was a very intelligent, well-informed,
professionally-diverse, group of people, speaking in one voice for
winning the peace, without war."
--Martha Warner, Congressman Kolbe meeting, AZ

"I was so proud to be associated with the group that showed up to
Congressman Tancredo's office! They were an eclectic group of
housewives with children, high-powered businessmen, grandmas, artists,
executives, PhD's -- and each spoke with such grace and eloquence. It
was just amazing."
--Carol Grant, Congressman Tancredo meeting, CO

"An interesting and exciting outcome of the event is that the
Congressman agreed to lead a rally on Feb. 17th of many different
coalitions. His feeling is that it's up to the public to voice their
opposition--that's the only thing that will make legislators oppose
the President. I/we will be working with him to make this next event a
success."
--Sheryl Barajas, Congressman Davis meeting, IL

"I was glad I made the drive, it was quite an honor to join with these
good folks. A varied group--three women, four guys...a retired Quaker 
(though Quakers never retire thank god), a Methodist minister & active 
lay person, a retired fighter pilot who is a Republican, a social
scientist, a person who had lived in Kuwait and an anthraxed postal
worker. We were together for just an hour but it was a good gathering
to share & express our concerns."
--Mike DeGregory, Congressman Smith, NJ

"This was my first time ever taking any initiative in political
action, and although it was a little scary, I'm really glad I did it,
as I received nothing but positive feedback and support from everyone.
People really wanted to come out and do this."
--Rachel Smith, Congressman Neal meeting, MA

"Rep. Cummings pledged to sign the Dear Colleague letter and also said
he would speak about the MoveOn statement and visit on the house
floor. He also said he would read comments from the summary of our
petition. "
--Kimberly Nolan, Congressman Cummings meeting, MD

"[Congressman Holt] quoted Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's address at
Riverside Church: We are building a political myth and shoring it up
with new violence. (Dr. King's reference to Vietnam still rings true
today.)"
-- Mara Isaacs, Congressman Holt meeting, NJ

"[Congresswoman] Stephanie Tubbs Jones made a last- minute decision to
meet with us personally, and proceeded to sit and speak for an hour. .
. She was very pleased to receive a copy of the petition with names
and address . . . and VERY excited to hear that ours was one of many
coordinated events nationwide."
--John Sinclair, Congresswoman Jones meeting, OH

"[Rep. Bartlett's aide Mr.] Otis was clearly impressed by the number
of signatories from the Congressman's District, and promised that he
would see the petition and the "Dear Colleague letter." He also
commented "You have represented your cause very well." "
--Gladys Cojocari, Congressman Bartlett meeting, MD

We hope to have a full report on the media coverage for the last week
and these lobbying visits up on our website soon.  We'll let you know
when it's there.

WHAT'S NEXT?

As you can see, we are a force to be reckoned with.  So what are our
next steps?

Over the next few weeks, we'll be offering you all sorts of ways to
continue to engage on this issue.  One way to plug in is coming up
pretty soon.  Win Without War, the coalition of mainstream civic
organizations against the war that we helped to found, is calling for
a day of local action on January 29th.  Members of the coalition 
include American Friends Service Commitee, Business Leaders for 
Sensible Priorities, Conference of Major Superiors of Men, Global 
Exchange, Greenpeace, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, 
NAACP, National Council of Churches, National Organization for Women, 
NETWORK, New England Health Care Employees Union (part of SEIU), 
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club, Sojourners, Tikkun 
Community, TrueMajority, United Methodist Church General Board of 
Church & Society, Us Foundation, Veterans for Common Sense, Women's 
Action for New Directions, and Working Assets.  Look for events
organized by some of these groups in your community on the 29th.
You may find local events listed at http://www.unitedforpeace.org .

THANK YOU

The national meetings project and our work for the last week was made
possible by the exceedingly hard work of hundreds of volunteers and
scores of local and national organizations.  We deeply appreciate the
assistance that we have received -- we couldn't have pulled this off
without help.

Very special thanks goes to the tireless team of volunteer regional
coordinators, who worked around the clock to make the meetings happen.
They are: Caitlin Fitzgerald, Judy Froman, Diane Jones, June Muller,
Jennifer Oatfield, Jesse Rhodes, Henry Snow, and Hedy Trevino.

Thanks also to:
Sarah Allen, Ira Arlook, Parker Blackman, Sarah Buecher, David 
Cortright, Lynn Erskine, Philip Fryers, David Fenton, Trevor 
Fitzgibbon, Patrick Kane, Elinore Klein, Kalee Kreider, Dwight Langham,
Pacy Markman, Brendan McCarthy, Segundo Mercado-Llorens, Christy 
Meiring, Alistair Millar, Nathan Naylor, Lindsay Reinhardt, Dora Rose,
Noah T. Winer, and Bill Zimmerman.

It's usually our practice to credit by name the local leaders whose
incredibly hard work made this all possible.  But in this case, the
list of leaders would double the length of this email.  All the folks
who helped put together local meetings and press conferences have our
gratitude and appreciation -- they're heroes and true patriots.

We also appreciate support for the meetings project from the following 
organizations: Friends Committee on National Legislation, the American 
Friends Service Committee, the National Council of Churches, TrueMajority, 
Peace Action, and Women's Action for New Directions.

The last thank you goes to every one of MoveOn's members.  It is an
honor and an incredible privilege to work with such an amazing group
of people -- a group that is changing the face of this country and
turning the tide against a war.  The Washington Post poll released
today showed support for the war plummeting.  That's because of our
work.

The stakes are high, folks.  This war is a menace to our country and
our world.  But the last week has shown that an enormous group of
Americans are going to do everything in their power to ensure that a
peaceful resolution is reached.  So we really mean this: Thank you.

Sincerely,
--Carrie, Eli, Joan, Peter, Randall, Wes, and Zack
  The MoveOn Team
  January 22, 2002

P.S. MoveOn does all this with only four full-time staff members (Wes
and Joan volunteer).  If you'd like to support our work, you can give
online at:

   http://www.moveon.org/support.html