Warner Putting His Cell Phone Knowledge to Work

At Concord High School in New Hampshire on Friday, Governor Warner announced the launch of a nationwide voter registration contest using cell phone text messaging.

The TxtVoter contest is a flagship initiative of Forward Together’s YouthRoots program, a Web-driven youth outreach effort to encourage young Americans to engage and participate in the November 2006 mid-term elections.

TxtVoter, is a technology organization which utilizes cell phone communications to begin the voter registration process via text messaging. TxtVoter sends a text message with instructions customized for the state in which the person would like to register to vote. For the New Hampshire students, they will receive text message instructions on where their polling place is located and that they can register to vote there on Election Day.

In addition to the TxtVoter contest, the YouthRoots site features testimonials from young activists, links to more information about Forward Together and Governor Warner, including videos of Mark Warner on YouTube, and even the ability to add him as a friend on Facebook. Click here to visit the YouthRoots site.

» More

Hoboken Music & Arts Festival-Hudson County, NJ

We have completed another great Street Fair event in new Jersey. Many thanks to Bernie and Josh for being the driving forces behind the event.

The Draft Mark Warner team had a booth at the Hoboken Music and Arts Festival in Hudson County. This gave Mark Warner exposure to a large audience in a largely democratic county in New Jersey. Besides getting more voters to sign up for our state wide mailing list, a large number of voters took information about Mark Warner. Name recognition will be a key in any election, and these early efforts will go a long way in getting Mark Warner's name out to the voting public. Pictures will be following soon.

In addition to organizing our participation in the Street Fair, Bernie and Josh have been very involved in spreading the Mark Warner name among local democrats. Josh has recently spoken to a young democrats club meeting in New York, and Bernie is working on talking to local democratic clubs in Hudson County.

Also, Josh has started his own supporting web page:

http://www.markwarnerisgood.com/

I urge everyone to visit it. Josh has a running blog there, and is also selling a "Mark Warner is Good" T-shirt. This shirt is very popular, and gives us all an easy way to spread the word about Mark Warner.

Finally, Hoboken was our last Street Fair for the season. We had street fairs in Hudson, Bergen, and Monmouth Counties this year, and participated in two conventions in Atlantic County. We are looking to expand this greatly next year to include almost every county in New Jersey. County Coordinators are working now to identify those towns that have street fairs that we would like to participate in next year. For the remainder of this year, as the weather turns colder, the effort in New Jersey will focus on giving talks to local democratic clubs.

I thank everyone for the effort they have expended so far and look forward to a growing movement of Mark Warner supporters in New Jersey.

Tom Wolfe
NJ Director

Warner Has Great Showing at Ohio Convention

For Immmediate Release
Contact: Hon. Andrew C.M. Mizsak
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Phone: (440) 550-9620
E-Mail: AndrewM@DraftMarkWarner.com

PARMA (Cuyahoga County, Ohio) - - Saturday, September 16, 2006 - - In the heart of the battleground of American Politics, the Draft Mark Warner team in Ohio has beaten every other potential 2008 Presidential Contender to the punch.

With a strong showing at the Ohio Democratic Party State Convention, the efforts to draft former Virginia Governor Mark Warner are on in the Buckeye State. Led by Ohio YAFW Co-Chairs Aryeh Alex (Chairman of the Cincinnati Democratic Party) and Andrew Mizsak (Member of the Bedford Board of Education and Assistant Democratic Leader for Bedford and Walton Hills), the DMW Ohio Team distributed several hundred informational flyers and dozens of bumper stickers and buttons to the Ohio Democratic faithful.

In attendance were individuals in support of other possible Presidential candidates former Senator John Edwards and New York Senator Hillary Clinton, but it was Team Warner that had the only organized table, literature, campaign materials and advertisement in the convention souvenir program.

Warner, who is familiar to Ohio's stalwart Democrats because of his recent visit to Cleveland to fundraise for gubernatorial candidate Congressman Ted Strickland and Lieutenant Governor Candidate and former Ohio Attorney General Lee Fisher, was well-received at the convention.

“Governor Warner was able to turn a red state blue in Virginia, and can do it here in Ohio, too,” Mizsak said. “The people of Ohio and the people of Virginia share similar values and beliefs, and I believe Governor Warner will be able to bridge people from Cleveland to Cincinnati and points in between.”

In addition to Mizsak and Alex at the State Convention was the new College Coordinator for Young Americans for Warner – Ohio, Mike Matosky. Matosky, who serves with Mizsak as part of the leadership of the Bedford/Walton Hills Democratic Party, is a student at Cuyahoga Community College, and the youngest sitting Central Committee Member in Cuyahoga County.

“We are fortunate to be able to start having people in place in each of our eighty-eight counties and on our over 100 college campuses. We would like to have a majority of these point people in place by the beginning of the new year,” Mizsak continued.

Anyone wishing to join Team Warner – Ohio is asked to contact YAFW-Ohio Co-Chairman Andrew Mizsak at (440) 550-9620 or via e-mail at amizsak@sbcglobal.net or AndrewM@DraftMarkWarner.com.

Team Warner – Ohio is looking for county and college campus coordinators, as well as coordinators for the 8 largest cities in Ohio.

2,000 Democrats-WV Jefferson-Jackson Dinner

A record crowd of over 2,000 Democrats gathered in Charleston, WV Saturday night, September 23rd, for the 2006 Jefferson Jackson Dinner. DMW was there to campaign for Gov. Mark Warner. We were also there last year when Gov. Warner was the keynote speaker. This year the speaker was U.S. Senator Barack Obama.

The Convention Center was filling up by 4:30 pm. From the moment we set up in a prime location in the lobby, Warner suporters swarmed the table.

Dama Nestor, WV State Director, was on hand. Paul Jacoby who worked the College Dems National Convention in St. Lewis, MO earlier this year was also there to lend a hand.

Senator Byrd was wound up like a top. Senator Obama roused the crowd by drawing dinstinctions between the GOP approach and the Democratic approach to governing. He noted that Republicans talk a lot about reducing government which in essence means...."you're on your own." Democrats on the other hand, believe we are all our brother's keeper and those of us who are more fortunate, have an obligation to help those who have no health care or whose parents may not have had the money to send them to college. He also touched on the fact that it's pretty easy to send someone else's kids off to war and an entirely different story if that kid is your own. There is no doubt Barack Obama has a bright future in American politics.

As the crowd dispersed, we handed hundreds of fliers out to a very receptive crowd. Many of them were smiling and affirming Mark Warner as their favorite candidate for 2008!

DMW was the only 2008 presidential candidate group with an organized presence at the WV JJ Dinner.

Mark Warner-"Jim Webb is an American Hero."

Following Don Beyer and Harris Miller at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria last night, Mark Warner gave a strong speech in support of Jim Webb for US Senate. After praising his friends Don Beyer and Harris Miller, Governor Warner declared that, "at the end of the day, this is about getting our country and the US Senate back."

Warner related how, in late 2005, people were telling him, "no way you're going to have a credible candidate against George Allen." Well, now we've got one in Jim Webb. More broadly, "Democrats are gaining" because, today, people want "elected officials who will get the job done."

Today, "we're talking about the direction of our country," which is "at one of those historical inflection points." "America's stature is at a low point," to the point that we're "borrow[ing] money from China to buy oil from countries that don't like us!" We've got an Administration that is pursuing an unsound fiscal policy and that is acting like we don't have "three coequal branches of government." Which is why one of those coequal branches, namely Congress, "must stand up and say, 'enough's enough.'" But sadly, George Allen simply "marches in partisan lockstep with the President." It's because of people like George Allen that, today, "we need a new course."

According to Governor Warner, "Virginians are a pretty independent lot." They want leaders who will "put the interests of the people first." Leaders like Jim Webb, who Mark Warner praised as "an American hero" who was "born fighting" for what's right, who has the ability to "acknowledge when he's made a mistake," and who will "stand up and do what's right." For instance, Webb realized that the Republican Party had left HIM, so he did what was right and moved to the Democratic Party.

In Warner's view, Jim Webb has the "energy," "ideas," and the "real sense of vision about where the country should head." That's a big part of why "people are energized about this campaign." And that's why, on November 7, Governor Warner believes "we are going to surprise the whole rest of the United States" by electing Jim Webb to the US Senate. You tell 'em, Governor! :)

Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.

Honorary Chairs Named for DMW-Virginia

Draft Mark Warner is pleased to annouce that Virginia State Senators Richard Saslaw (D-35th District) and Mary Margaret Whipple (D-31st District) have been named Honorary Co-Chairs of DMW, Northern Virginia.

R.S. (Major) Reynolds III and State Senator Henry L. Marsh III (D-16th District) have been named Honorary Co-Chairs for the Richmond area.

Look for an announcement about future events where each of these distinquished leaders will be present to talk about why they support Gov. Mark Warner for President in 2008.

These appointments follow a July announcement that former Virginia State Senator Madison Mayre, a 30-year veteran of the Virginia Legislature, was named Honorary Chair for Southwest Virginia.

Yours,
The Draft Team

DMW at NJ Democratic Party Convention

Last weekend Matt and Adam were at the Democratic State Conference in Atlantic City. We talked to a number of people about the Warner movement and made a number of good contacts. the team handed out flyers and talked about Warner's accomplishments in Virginia. By the end of the conference, a number of important democrats and the ones who will be driving the next primary season learned about Mark Warner. It was also an important event because key democrats in the state are seeing the Warner campaign at keys events over and over again, so they know we are here to stay.

Along with a presence at the event, we also added a number of names to our mailing and contact list. In New Jersey, we now have contacts in 15 out of the states 21 counties. We have also been talking to a number of democrats who get involved in campaigning, and appear to have county chairs ready to step into a campaign in 7 counties in New Jersey. our goal is to have chairs in 15 counties by the end of the year.

In addition to the Democratic Conference, we also ran another street fair. This time in Red Bank New Jersey in Monmouth County. Monmouth County tends to lean republican, but it has a large population and we wanted to have a presence there. A number of people took information about Warner, and we grew our mailing list in Monmouth County

Finally, remember that Bernie and Josh have been organizing an event in Hoboken on September 24th. This is another major street fair with a large turn out expected. If anyone is interested in helping, please let us know. W can always use more volunteers at these events to help us work the crowds.

Tom Wolfe
State Director
NJ for Warner

Catch the Latest Fashion Fad

From 'out of this world'--
Underground New Orleans artist Dustin Abadco created "Super Mark" to celebrate the launch of "Mark Warner is Good!" Check out the chest logo. Click on "Super Mark" to see the full-size image.



to fun--

Bridget Hatty, a Southern Belle, sports her MWIG! shirt in Baton Rouge. The good word about Mark Warner is sweeping the nation!



Get your MWIG shirt





to serious--

Sandra Jackson's portrait of Governor Warner-Now that is one presidential looking governor! (click photo for larger version)

DMW is Getting Around the Country

Draft Mark Warner has conducted on-the-ground operations in almost half the United States. Each week, we step up the level of campaign activity. States in blue are ones DMW has already held events in. States in gray are states where events are scheduled in the near future.

» Click here or on the photo to enlarge

New Jersey for Warner

Left to Right:
Tom Wolfe, NJ DMW State Director
Evan Levine
Governor Mark Warner
Marshall Spevak, Chairman - Young Americans for Warner

Boston Launches Warner MeetUp

September 14, 2006 -- Last night, in downtown Boston, more than a dozen active Democrats convened the first Massachusetts Draft Mark Warner MeetUp. They discussed Governor Warner’s successful record in Virginia, shared ideas about how to promote Governor Warner’s candidacy among Massachusetts voters, and planned future events. The meeting was led by Jon Berkon and Jake Lambert, co-coordinators of Young Americans for Warner, the youth-arm of the Draft movement.

“The fact that Boston-area Warner supporters are gathering sixteen months before the first primary is an indication of the Governor’s strength here in the heart of New England,” said Lambert.

Added Berkon, “We’ve been surprised and encouraged by the heavy response to this MeetUp.”

The MeetUp included both veterans of prior Draft movements and political newcomers excited about Gov. Warner's ability to sell the progressive message in all 50 states. The meeting also spanned generations, with high school students, college students, grad students, and young professionals all represented.

The group plans on handing out flyers promoting Gov. Warner to primary voters next Tuesday, as part of its aggressive effort to introduce Massachusetts Democrats to Gov. Warner this fall.

The Draft Warner movement was born in the fall of 2004, when Virginia Democratic activist Eddie Ratliff—frustrated by two consecutive Democratic presidential candidates who targeted only one-third of the country—decided that his successful Governor, Mark Warner, was the one Democrat who could return his party to the White House. The Draft Warner movement has spread rapidly from its Virginia base and now has directors in more than 30 states, reflecting Gov. Warner's broad geographic appeal.

The Boston MeetUp group plans on meeting the second Tuesday of every month. More Massachusetts groups are expected to form in the next two months as well. For more information, please e-mail Jon Berkon (jon.berkon@yafw.com) or visit the MA for Warner web site (http://massachusettsforwarner.com/).

###

DMW Hosts Reception for PA Committee Members

Draft Mark Warner hosted a reception on Friday night, September 8th for members of the PA Democratic Party State Committee in Harrisburg. Prior to the event, we obtained the list of committee members and emailed several hundred inviting them to stop in and learn more about Gov. Warner.

Perhaps it was the Free Pennsylvania Yuengling Draft Beer and Hors d'Oeuvres that brought so many people in. We were delighted with the turnout. People started arriving before 6 pm and the room was filled until 9:30 pm. By 8 pm we had already counted over 120 visitors.

Mike Hillman, one of our PA Young Americans for Warner coordinators was there to assist and did a fantastic job networking with the crowd. He also helped keep the Warner video playing throughout the evening.

We learned Gov. Warner already has a sizeable following among College & Young Democrats. This will serve him well when a campaign begins to take shape. We also met several people who are already working for Gov. Warner in the state.

Many of those attending the reception were not familiar with Gov. Warner. Some said "Wow" when they read the literature and vowed "This is the kind of candidate that will play extremely well in PA, particularly in rural regions of the state which tend to lean Republican."

On Saturday morning, the Lt. Governor addressed committee members at a breakfast. Several members that attended said the reception the night before was the big topic of discussion.

We also set up a table in the lobby Saturday. Many thanks to Don Richards and Steven Wheeler for working the table. Some of the folks we introduced Gov. Warner to on Saturday were not at the reception so sticking around paid off and we were able to network with another 50-60 committee members.

A number of members took Mark Warner fliers back to their local county committees.

There is no doubt DMW planted a seed that will begin to grow and bare fruit in the future when Gov. Warner announces he is indeed running. Until that time, you can count on DMW supporters to be there campaigning hard, wherever there are opportunities.

This weekend, we're headed to Ohio to the Democratic Party State Convention, followed by the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Charleston, WV the next weekend.

Gov. Warner on Making Americans Safer at Home

MARK WARNER OUTLINES NEXT STEPS TO MAKE AMERICA SAFER AT HOME

~And Five Years after 9/11 Attacks, a Call to Renew Citizen Engagement~

ARLINGTON, Virginia—Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner today outlined a series of immediate actions that would make Americans safer at home, five years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As the governor of a state attacked on 9/11, Governor Warner also called for a different type of leadership—one that rekindles the spirit of civic engagement that many Americans felt in the wake of 9/11, and involves more than just our military and first responders in the effort to defeat terrorism.

“Americans can and should be safer today than we are,” said Governor Warner. “And we should not be more divided today than we were on September 10, 2001. We can do a better job of making Washington work, setting priorities for protection and policing, and tapping the American people’s will to come together in defense of our homeland. It will take an approach that favors competence over ideology and leadership that brings us together over the politics of division.”

In Virginia, since the Pentagon was struck on 9/11, Governor Warner led efforts to establish the Virginia Fusion Center to serve as a focal point for intelligence gathering and information sharing - among local, state, and federal agencies, and with the private sector. Virginia built a new, state-of-the-art Virginia Emergency Operations Center to more effectively coordinate the response to any major disaster. Governor Warner and the legislature mandated and funded an interoperable radio system to better links police, fire, and emergency medical personnel during a crisis. The Department of Homeland Security cited the system as a best practices model for the nation. Governor Warner launched Virginia Corps, a statewide volunteerism coordinating entity and citizen emergency response program at the first anniversary after 9/11. And in 2005, Trust for America’s Health recognized Virginia and two other states as the most prepared in the nation to respond to a bio-terror attack or mass outbreak of disease.

At the national level, Governor Warner outlined these next steps in the effort to make America safer.

A New Focus for Homeland Security: The Metropolitan Area

Empower Metropolitan Areas: Governor Warner supports the recent Century Foundation Task Force recommendation to make the nation’s 150 largest metropolitan areas the primary units for planning, funding, and training for homeland security.

Establish Priorities: Each metropolitan area must develop a “Protection and Response Plan” that delineates roles for disaster operations, eliminates redundancies, and increases efficiency through integration. In cooperation with local and state-level stakeholders as well as security experts, the DHS must determine and prioritize “minimum essential capabilities” that each metropolitan area would be required to fulfill before using federal funds on other needs.

More First Preventers: Our country’s police officers are not only the first to respond to attacks, they are also the best placed to prevent them if given the requisite training and better integrated into a wider intelligence-sharing system. Governor Warner supports a renewed federal effort to put more police on the beat, like the successful COPS program. The new officers will be trained to help spot terrorist activity in the course of their duties.

Making Washington Work

Create a Director of Homeland Security Intelligence: One individual should oversee and hold responsibility for the integration of domestic intelligence on homeland security threats.

Make FEMA Independent: FEMA must be the lead federal agency for disaster crisis management, with the authority to mobilize and coordinate the federal response to disasters.

Protect Civil Liberties: Domestic intelligence efforts should be subject to oversight by a board comprised of citizens chosen to receive the security clearances needed for this oversight.

Closing the Glaring Gaps in Infrastructure and Transportation Security

Screening Cargo: Through adoption of new standards and technologies, we must move toward 100 percent shipping container screening and air cargo screening.

Get the Lines Moving: Expand access to “smart card” programs that enhance security and make travel more efficient.

Secure Our Chemical Facilities: Create a priority list of vulnerable sites; issue new federal guidelines to reduce hazards, introduce safer chemicals; and institute hazard-reduction and target-hardening measures.

Protect Trains and Subways: Carry out vulnerability assessments made for all rail and mass transit systems.
We must improve training for transit personnel, increase the number of cameras on board transit vehicles and in transit stations, and improve fencing to better control access to transit facilities.

Medical Surge Capability: No state has yet completed a medical surge plan to adequately deal with disaster or an attack, and while $500 million has been dedicated to meeting federal medical preparedness goals, these funds should be doubled.

A Call for Civilian Service

A Real Commitment to Citizen Corps: Federal funding for Citizen Corps and real promotion of the program is needed. A national structure to train and coordinate volunteers in preparedness and response efforts could be dramatically ramped up.

Civilian Medical & Emergency Reserve Corps: Highly skilled citizens can be invaluable during crises if their skills can be matched to the right tasks, and equipment to perform these tasks is made available. Citizens should be encouraged to register as volunteers if they have held licensed positions or worked in heavily regulated industries—such as nuclear power and water treatment—in which it would be difficult to quickly replace workers who are unable to work after a catastrophic attack, disaster, or pandemic.

A Corporate Reserve: America’s businesses can and wish to do their part. Corporations have developed assets in areas valuable to disaster response, such as logistics and deployment of redundant communications. Washington should form and encourage businesses, non-profits and unions to join an all-volunteer Reserve to provide logistics, supplies, and manpower.

Governor Warner delivered remarks on this today as part of National Preparedness Month activities at the Critical Infrastructure Protection Program at the George Mason University School of Law. Click here to link to the text of his remarks. on the Forward Together PAC Web site. Click here to see more detail on these ideas.

The Rebirth of New Orleans

When Forward Together launched its podcast featuring Governor Warner, they promised to use the medium to answer your questions. In the anniversay week of Hurricane Katrina, Forward Together is releasing a new online video of the Governor discussing what he and a team of Virginians saw in a trip to New Orleans this summer and his ideas on what we as Americans can do to help.

According to Ellen Qualls, Communications Director for Forward Together, the video was produced in response to a question from Kelly of San Antonio, who is a subscriber to the Forward Together podcast.

Click here to watch the video

The Governor also published his thoughts on rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf region in an op-ed in the Virginian-Pilot.

No Shift in Warner Iraq Stance

In an August 29th Des Moines (IA) Register article, writer Thomas Beaumont asserts that Gov. Warner's latest statements on Iraq represent a reversal of his previous position.

"Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner said in Iowa Monday that the United States should begin to withdraw troops from Iraq, which represents a shift for the Democrat who is taking steps toward a run for president in 2008."

To the contrary, Gov. Warner is spelling out what he said earlier this year in an April NPR interview in which he stated "I'm not one that believes we can set an arbitrary deadline. But I think if we don't see the Iraqis themselves come together in weeks, not months, in terms of forming this unity government and then if we don't see measurable progress in months, not years, after this government is formed, then I think we have to look at a way to get out. We don't need American troops simply playing referee inside a civil war in Iraq."

Writers, political pundits, and activists can agree or disagree on the significance of these two statements but they appear to be consistent. The facts on the ground are ever-changing. President Bush has made it clear he intends to leave this mess for the next president to clean up. I don't envy for a moment, the task ahead for the next president, whether it is President Mark Warner or another Democrat.

While a reasonable reaction for some who are disgusted with this mess may be a call for an immediate withdrawal, Steve Gorelick makes the case as to why we, as Democrats, should not become so impatient we inadvertently make the situation worse:

From Steve:

I live in a town almost perfectly split between Republicans and Democrats. We live in the kind of compassionate bi-partisan style that characterized Mark Warner's term as Governor.

And nobody I know wishes we had entered this morass without broad support and collaboration with allies. None of my friends -- Republican or Democrat -- feel we now live in a safer world after four years of spending more resources igniting a civil war than fighting Al Qaeda. And nobody I know is anything but disgusted that virtually our entire international structure of alliances is now in tatters, destroyed by the triumph of macho tough talk over the much harder and nuanced work of humane diplomacy.

Oh, and how could I forget that I now have to explain to my kids that they will come of age in an America more loathed around the world than at any time since World War II? Thank you President Bush. I really don't think you meant to do this, but--frankly-I'm not sure you have the kind of nuanced world view that would enable you to understand the implications of your tragic mistakes. As scary as it is to admit, I think you have done your best. Really, God help us, your best.

But having said all that, I have been haunted by the words of Colin Powell since the moment he uttered them: "You break, you own it."

Well we do own it. And while we didn't voluntarily buy a Baghdad time share in perpetuity, and while many of us would like to wish it away, we have insinuated ourselves so completely into the disaster that is Iraq that our humane obligations now outweigh our wishes. People -- good people--in Iraq have relied on the Bush administration's blustery promises and false assurances. And, as we carefully and compassionately plan how to extricate ourselves, those decent people deserve our best effort to end this in a manner that does everything possible to protect innocent civilians.

No it wasn't our mess. The mess was the creation of a President infused with arrogance and the belief that God can be invoked to make policy and justify the death of civilians. And no, we don't have to live with the aftermath of this tragic mistake forever. To continue a catastrophic failure that has been responsible for the death of thousands of civilians would be an even greater failure.

But to set a rigid timetable for exit, however desperately we might wish we could end it that abruptly, is now a vanished option. It vanished when our President brazenly unleashed forces of sectarian violence that placed hundreds of thousands of innocent lives literally in the line of fire.

To give a drop-dead date for withdrawal is not, as Vice President Cheney has said, cutting and running. It is limiting our options and tipping our hand at just the moment when President Warner (or whomever) must plan how we will leave expeditiously, yet in a way that doesn't bring even more horrors to the innocent. A specific withdrawal date may express our frustrations with a failed policy, but it does not help those who will really have to do the hard work of planning an end to this tragedy.

And that's how democracy works: An inept President may have broken it, but now we all own it. It's like when your family opens up the will and discovers that Uncle Joe left you the weed-filled vacant lot rather than the house at the lake. You own it, and you must dispose of it prudently, whether you like it or not.

And what of Cheney and Bush's whole "cutting and running" argument? Here the answer is pretty pathetic, given that we are talking about the President and Vice President of the United States. But I would suggest that they no longer even deserve a place at the debate. Their tendency to impugn the patriotism and personal character of anyone who disagrees with them is like breaking the prohibition in Robert's Rules of Order on ad hominem attacks. That's right, they are out of order. And-if we can survive the next couple years--out of office.

END------

Commentaries on this blog are the opinions of the authors and are not meant to signify Gov. Warner's position on issues.

Running for president -- in a parallel universe

Mark Warner is a very real contender for the world's biggest job, but part of his campaign is in virtual reality, as Lance Crossley reports.

Lance Crossley, The Ottawa CitizenPublished: Friday, September 01, 2006

Presidential hopeful Mark Warner used an animated version of himself to answer questions about his political ideas online yesterday.

Members of the public could log on, and, like Mr. Warner, were represented by "avatars" -- animated figures -- while a moderator-avatar asked questions about issues ranging from abortion to Iraq.

It all took place online in the hugely popular parallel universe, Second Life.

Mr. Warner, expected to give Hillary Clinton a run for her money in a bid to become the Democratic candidate, has become the first big-name politician to exploit the possibilities of a virtual campaign.


»Read the Complete Article
Gov. Warner is breaking new ground by flying onto the stage and into the world of virtual reality.

»» Read how the "Second Life" interview came about

»»Read the "Second Life" Interview:















What exactly is "Second Life?"
According to CAMILLE DODERO, a writer on The Phoenix--it is "a three-dimensional virtual environment created by Linden Lab, a seven-year-old San Francisco–based company. In this pixelated alternate world — a mainland surrounded by islands that spans more than 42,000 acres in real-world scale, bigger than metropolitan Boston — account holders aren’t users, they’re “residents.” In this world, you can fly. You can “teleport.” You can’t drown. You do not age. You can have an awkward version of cyber-sex. You can tailor your “avatar,” an endlessly customizable 3-D representation of your Second Life self, in any imaginable shape. You can be an emerald dragon, a horned devil baby, a furry fox, or a lumbering gingerbread man. But most avatars you’ll encounter are idealized human shapes. And in this world, real people spend real money (yes, actual US dollars) on make-believe skate boards, T-shirts, and islands like Zephyr Heights, which cost $1250 US Dollars to purchase from Linden Lab with a USD $195 monthly maintenance fee — possessions that can’t be ridden, worn, or visited outside a computer screen. "