Vote Hope, which officially launches today, is led by a network of activists for social justice in California who want to ensure that the voices of diverse Californians are heard during this critical part of the democratic process.

We are inspired by Barack Obama's life experience, his vision for the country, and his calls for people to self-organize in a new wave of political participation. We are heeding that call and building something ourselves that will be value-added in California -- starting now.

Our strategy: Bank it for Barack

Vote Hope will work over the next seven months to identify 500,000 Barack Obama supporters - online and in communities, through traditional organizing and non-traditional cultural events - who will vote early for Obama, either by mail or at the county registrar's office. Early voting in California will begin Jan. 7, and we will be running a sophisticated, voter-file-driven program to turn out our early votes before the Iowa caucuses even begin.

We know that Barack Obama has deep support in California, much of it from ordinary people in constituencies that have been all but ignored by every major campaign in recent memory, particularly young people and in communities of color. There are millions of people in California who are registered but don't vote regularly, and millions more who are eligible to be registered. We're going to engage them, empower them with tools and data, and we're going to win California for Barack Obama.

And our work won't end at 8 p.m. on February 5, 2008, when the polls close and the early vote by mail results show a beaming Barack Obama sweeping California. We're building for the long term from the ground up, and we want you to get involved.

Why Obama?

Why Obama? In a word: experience. Obama's life and political experience - as a Black man in an America still struggling with racism, as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago who then became a Senator - represents an economic, social and cultural experience unlike any of the other presidential contenders, and unlike anyone who has ever lived in the White House.

Many people may not know what it means to be a community organizer. This kind of work requires self-sacrifice, perseverance, and equal amounts of unwavering idealism and a willingness to confront the cold hard facts of any given situation. It requires coming down from your own perspective, analysis and ideas, and getting very close to the core of what motivates people - and what doesn't. Making these judgments is at the heart of effective politics. It's the kind of experience that reflects the priorities we want to see tackled in this country - the priorities of those people struggling at the margins and outside of the current power structure.

That, combined with his eight years in the Illinois State Senate and four years in the U.S. Senate, has given Obama a very clear understanding of how government really works, inside and out.

We've become accustomed to politicians who use differences of faith, gender, and class to separate the American people. We stand behind Obama because he has established a career and a campaign that leverages the power of our diversity to bring us closer together -- that critical first step in moving us forward as a nation. The next several years of cleaning up the messes that the Bush Administration and Republican Congress have made are going to be incredibly difficult. The work we have to do is going to be impossible without a united country behind the leadership.

We believe Barack Obama's experience also makes him the best candidate to restore and repair the image of the U.S. in the world. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman agreed, in a recent piece titled "Help Wanted":

I think Mr. Obama has the potential to force a new discussion. For now at least, he has a certain moral authority because of his life story, which makes him harder to dismiss. And while he is a good talker, he strikes me as an even better listener. It's amazing what people will let you say to them, if you just listen to them first.

We are standing on the edge of an incredible opportunity in America. Vote Hope is here to ensure that Californians can be actively involved in seizing it.

Obama gives us hope. It's our job to deliver the vote. Are you in?