Reply #49: THANK YOU for the invite!

[nashville_brook]

More than anything, we just need the opportunity to get out there and meet people. please let me know who i can contact now, over the summer, b/c i'm unemployed and can volunteer. I'm going down to the Orange County Supervisor of Elections office this week and getting this straightened out in person.

I have a camcorder (i'm a designer/marketing schmoe) and have taken video at polling places in TN when I lived there. It is dicey taking footage on election day even under the friendliest circumstances, but I would feel quite comfortable with "counsel" present. I would like to network with his larger social circle of legal professionals to get "counsel" out in numbers. We have a very good friend who was in the prosecutor's office and is now a defense atty, who i'd like to specifically speak with b/c he'd have insight into the psychology/sociology of Orlando's "finest."

We are totally lost in terms of finding affinity-peeps here in Orlando. I'm a native Floridian, but spent the last 20+ years in middle and east tennessee where i had a wonderful social network. My family and ex's family were both very active Dems -- my fiancé's family is not. My childhood friends/network are all in Brevard County. Orlando is a complete cipher to me.

There's a Meetup-in-the-making of DU'ers that i've signed up for. 22 people in the Orlando area have signed up to start a DU meet-up. One person has offered a room to meet at. Maybe we could organize election "watch" with fellow DU'ers? Here's the link to Orlando DU'ers-in-waiting for a meet-up -- as someone who has organized groups in the past, i can say with certainty, that having a goal/activity in mind will greatly increase a group's success:
http://du.meetup.com/cities/us/fl/orlando/?list=1&ic=en23

Just a thought vis a vis the crappy experience you had with local Dem leadership. The Nashville/Davidson County Dems used Meet-ups to GREAT success starting in 2004 when Dean encouraged using the meet-up format. the new blood really invigorated the existing structure.

Please keep in touch.