I signed up and am now officially an Edwards supporter.

[JDPriestly]

I sent e-mails from Edwards' site to about 14 of my friends and acquaintances announcing my decision.

Now I plan to get down to work.

I am not rich and cannot give a big donation, however, I have given a small one. Others will follow as events are organized that I want to attend.

At this point, I am focusing on preparing materials to hand out in front of the local farmers' markets and to my neighbors.

I will just cut and paste excerpts from Edwards' speeches and press releases on his website. He says it all better than I could. I will take a theme a week, print the page myself and just hand it out to people. I will choose passages that I believe will resonate in my community -- if read and heard. I have a pretty welcoming smile and manner (like Edwards), and people generally converse with me out of nowhere, so I think my project will be effective.

Although I gave a small donation to Edwards, this donation of time and handouts will be my real donation. I can make the time and money I spend on those things count more than the kind of monetary donations I can give. Edwards is not going to get fair coverage on the MSM. So, durst hand contact with voters in my own community will be worth a lot more.

I am in California and campaigned against Schwarzenegger's propositions a couple of years ago. I organized a couple of people to join me registering voters and handing out information in front of the local super markets. I also walked my entire precinct. On the last Saturday before the election, I met several other groups who were canvassing my neighborhood. That taught me that you can't overdo the first hand contact.

I think Edwards is the strongest candidate we have had since Kennedy. He has great ideas and seems really committed to carrying them through. He is persuasive and has a good personality. Not bad looking either. I wish that didn't count but it does. Edwards is a better speaker by far than any candidate we have had in the past. I really think we can win with Edwards.