Help Sara Orozco

I an email from her campaign today. It's absolutely endearing, talking about all the many ways leadership matters. Electing Sara Orozco to the State Senate would remove an absolute dead weight from the Senate, replacing it with someone filled with compassion, energy, enthusiasm and a desire to help the working people and middle class of this state. As bad as Senator Brown is, a Senator Sara Orozco would be that good: good for her constituents and good for the entire state. Here's the email:

Dear Friend,

As hard as it is for me to write this note, it would be harder for me to wake up in three days wondering what else I might have done to win my election if I hadn’t let my pride get in the way. I know that so many of you are simply tapped out and I get it. But I am so afraid that I will not take the chance of asking for help in these final days only to find that it would have made all of the difference in the world. If there is any way you can make an online contribution before noon on Monday, I would be so very grateful.

So why is winning this race so important to me? At first, it was because I was personally dissatisfied with the representation I was getting from my opponent and because I knew I could do a better job, offering more thoughtful, compassionate, active leadership. Now that I have met thousands of people in the district, my ambition is to serve their needs. Here’s a snapshot of just four of the people that have touched me already:

1. Recently, I made a ‘cold call’ to a female undecided voter. As it turned out, she had been diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer that very day. She broke down on the phone and was so worried about how she would keep her house and that she would not be able to give her son a better life than she had because her medical bills would prevent her from paying for college or keeping her home.

2. Early in the spring, I met an elderly woman whose husband of over 50 years had died in May. She was embarrassed by the way her yard had become overgrown in his absence and we talked at length about her fear of having to leave the home she raised her family in because the local property taxes were going to make it impossible for her to stay there on a fixed income. I did a lot of research to learn about ways to alleviate property tax burden on the elderly and know I can fight for her on Beacon Hill. I, coincidentally, ran into her outside of a supermarket last week, while shaking hands, and she remembered our first visit and was still so touched by just having someone listen to her and care.

3. A married young father of two small children who became actively involved in my campaign and recently wrote a long opinion piece that he sent to all local papers in which he explained the many ways in which my opponent has used his power to attempt to discriminate against gays and lesbians. This man had the courage to challenge his community to really think hard about what their support for my opponent signified and to reconsider supporting a person who would have made gays and lesbians second-class citizens. He didn’t do this for himself – he did this for all of us and our children and because it was the right thing to do. His public voice lifted me and my family.

4. And, finally, I am doing this for the nine-year-old girl I met while taking my kids trick-or-treating. She was wearing a bejeweled turkey headdress and kept staring at me. I thought, perhaps, she was puzzled by the plastic knife that was going through my head, but when her mother nudged her over to me, she stuck out her hand and told me in a nervous voice that she was my biggest fan. I almost cried. Her mother told me that she has been following the news of my race closely and it seems she wants to be able to do the same thing some day. Maybe to run for office – to do something big for others.

So these are the people whose stories I carry in my heart. They represent so many others and for me, today, they are the reason I must ask for your help one more time. I don’t want to let them down. What began as a terrific leap of faith now feels like a responsibility and a humbling honor. To represent these people and to fight for them and their needs and to – hopefully – make them feel visible, valuable, and heard – would be my proudest accomplishment.

All of the ‘experts” say that I can win this race and that the Obama Blue Wave certainly works in my favor. I cannot leave any stone unturned.

If there is any way you can make an online contribution before noon on Monday, I would be so very grateful. And, if you can forward this desperate appeal to any of your friends, neighbors and relatives who might be sympathetic to an eager Democratic under-dog, please send it along with a personal note.

I still need to raise a few thousand dollars to pay for a ‘robo-call’ and perhaps some newspaper inserts. My opponent has done more than 20,000 of these calls and I have focused on mail pieces and free media, but am now convinced that one friendly call could make all of the difference in the world. If you can make a donation of any amount, please do so online at www.SaraOrozco.com or click the DONATE BUTTON.

If you can make a donation (or another donation), I respectfully ask for your help. And I also ask for your warm thoughts, prayers and good karma to carry me and my team to victory on Tuesday.

Thank you so much.

Sara
www.SaraOrozco.com