Presidential Candidates, Can We Chat?
So by now, most of the blogosphere has heard about our private meeting with Mrs. Edwards. Oh wait, she asked us to call her "Elizabeth"... you know, we are on a first name basis. We had three days to let our 80-plus contributors know that we had a private invitation to meet with Elizabeth Edwards. Three short days to send out the Evite, set up a call-in number for our contributors from Chicago and DC, find child care, beg/demand ask our hubbies or partners to watch the kids, get our hair brushed, put on the makeup, and drive to our meeting spot in San Jose, California.
Somehow, we made it. (Hey, we can move fast when it comes to meeting Elizabeth Edwards, who many of us hope will be the next "First Lady!" And, to be honest, we aren't above dreaming about a future invite to a White House slumber party). We had a little time to kill in the conference room, because a presidential candidate's spouse has even less control of her schedule than we all do, and got to chatting a bit. OK, chatting a lot. OK, she likely heard us from the entrance to the building, as well as our shush-shushes once we got the message that Elizabeth was about to arrive...and then she entered the room. She shook hands with every Silicon Valley Moms Blog contributor. She welcomed the contributors on the phone from DC and Chicago. And she told us she still loved us, even though she hadn't agreed with one of last month's posts on our site—and had told us so almost as soon as it had been posted.
The ground rules: There were none! We could ask Elizabeth Edwards any question we wanted. Sarah Granger live blogged and Beth Blecherman posted choice quotes. We hugged Elizabeth, we laughed, and we sat there in awe as this potential first lady told us, just our little group, how her husband wants to make this world a better and safer place. Many of us were speechless, some of us cried, and I just wanted to continue hugging her and praying that she survives cancer for a long, long time. We then went home, and started to blog...
- Sarah Granger at BlogHer
- Joanne at PunditMom
- Sarah Granger at Sairy.com
- Jessica at Sassafrass
- Stefania at CityMama
- Stepahnie at Lawyer Mama
- Nicole at Not Just A Working Mom
- Dawn at So A Blonde Walks Into A Blog
- Kathy at Barking At Kathy
- Amie at Mammloves put up a bunch of posts on her site!
- Linsey at Whereas
- Kari at Kari's Couch
- Kim Moldofsky at Horemone-Colored Days
- PunditMom at Momocrats
- Stefania at Momocrats
- Ana at Finding Bonggamom
- Lia at Freitas Family Follies
- Alix at Med Nauseum Blog
- Kim at Gratitude 365
- Susan at The Family Room
- Sheila at XiaolinMama
- ... and we will keep updating this list as more posts go up!
And this is where my " gentle plea" begins. If you are working on a presidential campaigns (Democrat or Republican), would you please help us arrange a meeting with your presidential candidate or their spouse? We would love to meet with Barack, Hillary, Rudy, MItt, Chris, John McCain, John
Edwards, Fred Thompson, or their spouses! We would love to bring together our 80 plus contributors from the SV, Chicago and DC Metro Moms Blogs. We want to sit across the table from you, ask our questions, receive candid answers, and then respectfully spread your message across the blogosphere. It's viral, you know! It'll start on our three sites, all our personal blogs, and spread through the momblogosphere; it's a great way to get a message out about the kind of people you really are, a message people will trust more than a slick TV commercial. Kind of ground breaking, if you really think about it.
And, if you think about it, you may realize that we are the people to whom you most need to communicate. We are the moms of the United States. We are the group that is very "undecided". We are the population who cares most about educating our children, saving the environment, caring for our elderly parents, sending our kids to college, and making this world a safer place. We want to hear from you in a safe and open forum.
So what do you say, Hillary, Barack, Mitt, Rudy, and Fred? Let's chat and hang out for an hour in Silicon Valley, Chicago, or the DC Metro area. We have been extending the invites here, and here, and here. Will you accept our offer to meet?
Sincerely,
The mommybloggers of Silicon Valley Moms Blog, Chicago Moms Blog and DC Metro Moms Blog.
