John,

Asking for autographs is something my team and I are going to do a LOT in the weeks ahead.

No, we’re not heading out to the Bears training camp. We’re Marie’s field organizers responsible for gathering the signatures needed to get her name on the ballot next spring.

I requested a pretty ambitious budget for this effort, because we plan to have organizers talking to voters in every pocket of the Third District. Here’s what Marie told me: If we can raise another $2,949 before tomorrow night, my program will be fully funded.

So that’s why I’m emailing. Will you chip in today to help us reach our budget goal before our monthly deadline?

The truth is we don’t want to leave ballot qualification up to chance. We want to turn in thousands of signatures beyond the requirement, because we know that some old-school machine politicians are experts at pulling all kinds of shenanigans to get challengers kicked off the ballot -- so we can’t afford any slip-ups.

Investing in things like gas cards and clipboards (and, yes, a few pizzas for the folks putting in the work to make this happen) isn’t something most campaigns will send you an email about.

But Marie is adamant that this campaign belongs to the people who are building it from the ground up -- that’s you. She believes that if we’re going to ask you for money, you deserve to know exactly where that money is going.

Chip in whatever you can to help before tomorrow night, and let’s get Marie’s name on the ballot to take on Dan Lipinski!

Thank you -- hope to see you out there soon,

Francisco

Francisco Martinez
Field Director
Marie Newman for Congress