I received the following email from Dodd's campaign this evening and Dodd's team is putting word out that he needs our help in the blogosphere to come up with things to read into the record of the debate so he does not have to yield the floor except for questions from other allied Senators. Here is the email I received earlier:
FDL and Crooks & Liars have posts up about how to get involved with the filibuster:
http://firedoglake.com/2007/12...
http://www.crooksandliars.com/...
Here's Jane Hamsher:
The latest word from the Dodd camp regarding what will happen on the FISA bill is that tomorrow, Dodd will take the floor and not yield.
He can take "questions" from other senators during the filibuster, which can be no more than 20 minutes. We understand that Kennedy and Feingold so far have agreed to do this.
They're asking for people to express their thoughts on the subject and leave them in the comments below. Dodd is going to have plenty of time to read, so if you'd like to have your feelings on the matter read on the Senate floor you can leave your them in the comments below.
Go Dodd.
It looks like it's gonna happen tomorrow. Dodd is going to take the floor and not yield.
1.) Dodd can "take questions" from other Senators during the filibuster. The questions can be no more than 20 minutes. So essentially Feingold, Kennedy and other Senators can give Dodd a break to get a glass of water, a bite to eat or just sit down. He'll come back and be like, "yes," and then take the next question when times get rough. In a case of life imitating art, I present a scene from the West Wing.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CkJ...
That's how people can "support a filibuster" I understand Feingold and Kennedy will be there on that end. We'll see who else shows to help.
2.) Also, what should Dodd read? I mean, we have speeches, he'll have Glenzilla's book, but we want to take comments from your sites that he can read while on the floor. Note: this is NOT some tacky list-building exercise, as we aren't going to take them on our own site, but hopefully, yours.
So, if any of you want to ask people express their thoughts on the issue -- he'll read a bunch of them. And if you're someone building a list, feel free to use this as an idea to do just that. Please tell your audience you'll direct their comments to the appropriate audience. That would be VERY helpful.
The part about reading people's thoughts is a traditional media hook, and the comm. shop believes it will be an effective one. Plus, people will have their thoughts read on the floor, and that's always cool.
3.) We'll have a whole to-do on our site tomorrow about people "standing with dodd while he stands for them" where people can submit comments as the filibuster is happening. We'll scroll their thoughts across the top of our site for the media to see as the filibuster is happening.
So, that's what we got.
4.) Also, Dodd is going to introduce an amendment with Feingold that seeks to strip RI out of the intelligence bill. We'll have a whip count tool on that. Kagro, that will be the only amendment he introduces, although we are really pushing for him to introduce one of the three you have suggested. We'll see where we get with that in the coming hours.
5.) Finally, we'll have a conference call for folks to pop in on tomorrow AM that hopes to explain what to expect.
So, that's what I got.
Thoughts?
So my fellow Bloosiers, here's your chance to support Dodd's filibuster by leaving some comments below. I will be forwarding the link to this thread to the Dodd folks to let them know to check this thread for comments to add to the record and you might have your comments read into the record of the most important debate of our time. If you don't want to live in a police state anymore now is the time to speak up about it!
