This morning I was privileged to address the Connecticut State Convention of Missionary Baptists.  There, in a room of about 200 people, I was the lone white person - talking to a huge crowd who came to the convention to discuss their religion, praise God, and commune with fellow Baptists.  I was nervous beforehand.  Would these good people really want to listen to a white activist talking about something that had nothing to do with their convention or mission?  I had confidence that I would be politely received, but was unsure whether I could generate any enthusiasm for the program.

So now that the Citizens' Election Program is available in Connecticut, we are on the road to creating a level playing field in Connecticut politics.  Hopefully more and more candidates will run under the CEP program, following the great state of Maine where about 84% of candidates now  run "clean".  But in order to get to that point, there is work to be done. Most of you have read blog entries about Clean Elections, and probably feel familiar with the program at this point.  But there is a large proportion of the citizens at large who (shockingly!) don't hang here on the blogs or who are not part of CT politics inner circles.  As well, even people who know about the program have lots of questions and concerns.  So our task over the next six months is to SPREAD THE WORD.  

What can you do?  Help us!  First of all, know that Common Cause organizers are available to come speak about the Citizens' Election Program to whatever group invites us.  We never say no to an invitation to speak!  Do you know of any groups that would benefit from this?  Tell them to give us a call and invite us to speak.  In order for the CEP program to be really useful, people from all walks of life need to learn about it.  In order to cut down on the number of uncontested races in the state, people need to find out that the playing field has been leveled, and anyone can run.

You're busy you say?  I know - me too.  Work, kids, spouse, etc , etc .  Plus, this is a Presidential year, so everyone is out stumping for his or her  favorite - and of course that is a very good thing.