The Seacoast Democrats is a regional collaboration of the six town Democratic committees. It sprang from the cooperation of Democrats in these towns in 2004 with the Coalition to Defeat George Bush. This cooperation was carried over to 2006 when we opened a headquarters office in York. After the 2006 elections, we kept our office open to focus on building on this foundation and expanding our efforts as we head into the 2008 elections.

Our strategic goals are clear and imperative. They are:

• To influence the historic election coming up in 2008.  The people we elect in the next two years will shape our future for many years to come.
• To help elect a Democrat as the next President of the United States
• To help Maine change the balance of power in the U.S. Senate by electing Democrat Tom Allen to replace Republican Susan Collins.
• To elect a new and talented leader from District One to replace Tom Allen in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• To work locally to re-elect our current office holders and to win those seats we lost by narrow margins in 2006. Legislative House seats in Eliot, So. Berwick Wells and York are eminently winnable in 2008, if we maintain momentum and recruit more fine candidates.
•To take advantage of the Democrats’ national momentum on important issues such as the War in Iraq. We want to create and participate in the programs that increase awareness of the issues about which people in our towns care.

Key to maintaining our momentum and cohesiveness is keeping our headquarters office open at the Meadowbrook Shopping Center on Route 1 in York.  The office is a base for our new coalition, a great spot for people to meet and talk strategy over coffee and donuts, for candidates to get their volunteers working on all the campaign basics, a place for fundraising events, and for participating in national “virtual town meetings” with presidential candidates via our new 42-inch webcam wall monitor.  A few comfy couches and chairs encourage conversations, and worktables and office equipment support campaign activities.

Will you help? There is a lot of work to do, and volunteers are lining up to do it. Now is the  time to put the office into full operation. Come in, have a seat on that couch, lend a hand, send a check.

We are planning our first Gala auction fundraiser on November 3rd at Jonathan’s Restaurant  but we need to keep the office open and humming now. Neil Rolde has given us a $2,000 challenge grant. Can you help match it? You can do it with $100 a month pledge. If that’s not possible, we would appreciate a contribution of whatever amount is affordable to you, one-time or monthly – whatever you can do. Your time and good ideas are also essential to our success.  And thank you. This is the year!