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During the recently completed statewide campaign, Family Foundation Action, our sister organization, conducted its largest ever voter education and mobilization effort — Winning Matters 2009. We know those efforts were not in vain as a record percentage of values voters voted in the November 3 election. Our work, though, is not through, and your financial support is needed.

In November, Virginians — to the great consternation of hyper liberals — resoundingly  chose Senator Ken Cuccinelli, with 58 percent of the vote, as their next Attorney General. However, his election created a vacancy in the Virginia Senate. Now, there will be a special election in the 37th Senate district (Fairfax County) on January 12, 2010, to fill out the remainder of the term. Because this seat is critical to advancing our pro-family agenda, we are planning to continue our Winning Matters efforts for the duration of this campaign. Our project manager and two area coordinators will continue their work on focusing, educating and mobilizing values voters for this upcoming special election.

Senator Cuccinelli has been a champion for issues that are important to the family and to Christians. He has been a leader in the fight to defund Planned Parenthood, protect property rights, bring transparency to government spending and strengthen marriage. In 2006, he was the only elected official who actively campaigned for the Marriage Amendment in Fairfax County. This year, he successfully shepherded the “Choose Life” license plate bill through both houses of the General Assembly.

It is vitally important that his seat be filled by another pro-family conservative. Senator Cuccinelli’s senatorial district has become very competitive. The last Senate race there was decided by only 92 votes. In a special election, the turnout is typically very low and every vote carries an even greater importance.

The Family Foundation plans to educate pro-family voters on the contrasting views of the two candidates and needs your gift to do so. Please donate today.

The Republican candidate for the seat is Steve Hunt, a long time conservative activist, and a former elected at-large member of the Fairfax County School Board. The Democrat candidate is Delegate Dave Marsden (D-41, Burke). Delegate Marsden did not live in the 37th Senate district but “moved” into a friend’s house in the district to be eligible to run for the seat. He earned a 20 percent score on The Family Foundation Action’s 2008-09 General Assembly Report Card.

We believe it is every Christian’s sacred duty as a citizen to participate in the electoral process and vote their Biblical values. Our Winning Matters staff is dedicated to making sure that happens on January 12. To ensure that voters are educated about where the candidates for this Senate seat stand, we are producing a Special Election Voter Guide for the 37th Senate seat. This guide will not only educate voters, but also remind them of this special election — less than one month away.

But to do all that we have planned we need your support. We spent nearly all of the funds raised for Winning Matters during the general election. So, to support Winning Matters’ efforts in this very important election, we hope that you will click here and send a special “Win the 37th!” Winning Matters contribution.

TFF Action, our sister organization, has published its 2009 Voter Guides, which list the positions of the candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general on crucial issues facing all Virginians, as well as those running for certain seats in the House of Delegates. You can read them online here, as well as print and distribute or forward them electronically. You can also get hard copies by calling John Smith at 804-343-0010 or by e-mailing him at john@familyfoundation.org.

While it compiled the Voter Guides, TFF Action also launched our latest Internet site — its own YouTube channel — and its first hit is this video voter guide:

The candidates and the issues: Who supports and opposes what?

The issues facing Virginia this year are monumental. The election may be a turning point not only for Virginia, but the nation. The eyes of the country are on us — and the message Virginia sends in two weeks will either validate the efforts of those in power in Washington, D.C., or send them a message and prepare the way for a reversal of trends in 2010. Inform yourself. Inform others. Share this information and this link with those on your e-mail lists, post it on social networking sites, and consider ordering the Voter Guides for distribution to your church.

Last week, Family Foundation of Virginia President Victoria Cobb previewed our Annual Gala on American Family Radio’s Richmond affiliate, with host JimmyG. The Gala features as its keynote speaker former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who currently stars on the Fox News Channel show Huckabee. In the nine minute interview, Victoria covers a lot of ground: The Gala (click here for more information), The Family Foundation’s mission, the upcoming Virginia statewide elections, and issues important to Christians and values voters. 

To listen to the interview (8:50) with Victoria Cobb on AFR Richmond’s JimmyG Show, click here.

Here is a new television ad running in parts of Virginia, done by the Virginia Values Voter PAC:

The two sides of Creigh Deeds.

Our Winning Matters campaign — the voter identification, registration, education and mobilization projectof both The Family Foundation and The Family Foundation Action — is in full gear. It has been, actually, for some time, and a great deal already has been accomplished.

We have nearly a dozen full- and part-time staff hard at work across Virginia. With the help of pastors and other committed Christians, they are  identifying, informing and mobilizing pro-family, values voters to cast values-driven votes on Election Day.  

The first phase of Winning Matters is identifying eligible voters in Virginia according to their values and making sure they are registered to vote. Sadly, statistics tell us that nearly half of self-proclaimed evangelicals are not even registered. Thus, they ignore a critical responsibility and minimize the effectiveness of pro-family citizens in the political process.

While it may sound over-used and outdated, one of the best methods for identifying and registering like-minded individuals is through churches. Every day our field staff meets with pastors from some of the more than 5,000 churches we have identified across the Commonwealth, and encourages them to conduct voter registration drives prior to the October 5th registration deadline.

Many pastors still do not practice this basic civic process in their churches. Some pastors still do not understand that it is not a political activity — in fact in Virginia, voters cannot even register by political party.

Therefore, Winning Matters encourages all churches to host a voter registration drive either on Sunday, September 13, 20 or 27.

Beyond churches, the process of voter identification has become an incredibly precise science in recent years, especially with the Internet. Anytime you visit a Web site to shop, read political news or participate in other special interests, you leave a fingerprint. These consumer behaviors can be predictive of one’s potential vote. This type of “micro targeting” was extremely effective in the California marriage amendment campaign. Our Winning Matters campaign is capitalizing on all of these established practices to do our part to find conservatives who might not be registered to vote.

In a less high-tech way of demonstrating this, believe it or not, we have individuals who support us or who have signed an issue petition who are not registered to vote. As part of Winning Matters, we will cross check our entire list with registration rolls and will send a letter and a voter registration form to any who need them.

After all the identification and registration is completed, Winning Matters will move into phase two — education. We will provide an update on that portion of the campaign after the October 5 voter registration deadline. In the meantime, if your pastor is not familiar with Winning Matters, or you know of other people who maybe instrumental in activating your church into this civic action, or even know individuals who are not registered to vote, forward them this link so they can learn more about Winning Matters.

Yesterday was one of the busiest summer days ever at The Family Foundation, but an incredible one at that, and one worth having. If all days were as busy as yesterday . . . .

It began when our church outreach, Pastors For Family Values, hosted a pastors breakfast in Richmond, one of a series we’ve hosted around the state. Close to 60 pastors attended. Bishop Harry Jackson, Pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md., delivered the keynote address. Bishop Jackson is the author of Personal Faith, Public Policy, as well as The Truth in Black and White.

Bishop Jackson challenged pastors to make a difference as few can. As a result, pastors took thousands of General Assembly Report Cards, requested voter guides to distribute to their congregations in October, were given kits to effectively run voter registration drives, and most every pastor committed to preaching a sermon on civic responsibility.

Much of the rest of the day was devoted to strategizing with more than 10 influential national and state organizations on how to educate and mobilize voters to turn out on election day this November. Making sure that pro-family organizations are unified and working together will be key to success, and it was instructive to hear everyone’s plans. The assembled groups then interviewed several candidates for the House of Delegates so we could get to know them better and learn their positions on the issues pro-family, traditional values voters care about.

There was more, still. In the evening we hosted a special reception for supporters of Winning Matters ‘09. More than 100 people jammed into the home of our board chairman and were treated to brief remarks from special guest, former attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell. {Note to IRS: Senator Creigh Deeds (D-25, Bath), the other candidate, was invited but refused citing scheduling conflicts}. Senator and candidate for attorney general Ken Cuccinelli (R-37, Fairfax) also joined the overflow crowd. There was a sensory feel of high voltage excitement and energy, as if attendees wanted to get right to work. It is very clear that pro-family voters understand that to pass pro-life and pro-family legislation, Winning Matters in November.

Most amazingly, we are more than 75 percent of the way toward our goal of raising $150,000 for Winning Matters! Through what has already been raised, field staff have been on the ground for more than a month.

If you have yet to give toward Winning Matters, you can so by calling Vice President of Advancement, Dan Thompson, at 804-343-0010. Because every donation is tripled through a special matching grant, your gift is tripled in value.

It is indeed an exciting and busy time at The Family Foundation. Thank you for being a part of our team! The next few months are going to be crucial to ensuring voters who share our values are identified, informed and mobilized. Yesterday proved that, together, we are going to make that happen.

Last week we, and our sister organization, Family Foundation Action announced the “Winning Matters” campaign that will register to vote people who believe in Biblical and traditional values. Since Virginia is one of only two states holding statewide elections this year, our decisions will be intently watched across the country. So voting with an informed conscience is especially inportant. The four point Winning Matters plan includes:

1. Identifying more Virginians who share our values;

2. Turning concerned citizens into values voting Virginians by registering them to vote;

3. Educating newly and previously registered voters on the differences between candidates on matters of life, marriage, parental authority, religious liberty and constitutional government; and

4. Motivating and mobilizing these informed voters to make a wise choice and to vote on election day.

In addition, Pastors For Family Values has launched its own Winning Matters 2009 Campaign. PFFV is not interested in which party wins, but rather that Biblical values are victorious when people make their way to the polls this November. So, Pastors For Family Values will travel the Commonwealth this summer holding various pastors events designed to educate, empower and encourage pastors to use the influence they have to continue to hold up Biblical values in their congregations and communities.

These events will feature outstanding, nationally known speakers and provide real tools, such as voter registration kits, TFF Action General Assembly Report Cards and voter guides. All events are free of charge.

Pastors For Family Values Winning Matters 2009 Pastors Events

» Roanoke: June 26, Golden Corral, 8-10:00 a.m.

Speakers: Pastor Rick Scarborough, Ph.D., of Vision America; and Mat Staver, Dean, Liberty University School of Law

* * * * *

» Harrisonburg: July 7, Shoney’s, 8-9:30 a.m.

Speakers: Local pastors reporting on the recent Watchman on the Wall Conference; and Mickey Mixon, Area Coordinator Winning Matters 2009 Campaign

* * * * *

» Fredericksburg: August 4, Fredericksburg Expo and Convention Center (tentative), 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Speakers: Jonathan Falwell, Pastor, Thomas Road Baptist Church; and Bishop Harry Jackson, Pastor, Hope Christian Church, Washington, D.C.

* * * * *

» Richmond: July 23, Wyndham Hotel, 7:30-9:30 a.m.

Speaker: Bishop Harry Jackson

* * * * *

» Norfolk: August 20, Spring Hill Suites by Marriott, 7:30-9:30 a.m.

Speaker: Pastor Rick Scarborough

If you are a pastor, please mark your calendar and be sure to make it to at least one of these great events. You won’t be disappointed. If you are not a pastor, please bring this schedule of events to your pastor’s attention and encourage him to attend. To RSVP for any of these events, or for more information, call (804) 343-0010.

This November, Virginians will be one of only two states in the nation with statewide elections. There is much anticipation nationally, as well as in the Commonwealth, as both parties will make Virginia a battleground to prove or disprove President Barack Obama’s popularity and build momentum for the national mid-term Congressional elections in 2010.

What will our voting say about the approval or disapproval of President Obama’s policy agenda? Having voted for the first time in decades for a Democrat president, will Virginia remain blue? Do the traditional values most Virginians share matter in elections anymore?

Two weeks ago, Republicans chose their nominees for statewide office (McDonnell, Bolling, Cuccinelli) and, on Tuesday, Democrats chose their ticket (Deeds, Wagner, Shannon). But it’s not just the offices of Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General that will chart the course of our Commonwealth. All 100 House of Delegates seats are up for election in November and, at this point, it appears that up to two-thirds of those may be contested. 

With such high stakes, and perhaps a historic level of national interest in an off-off-year election, many have inquired as to the involvement of The Family Foundation to ensure that our values and our pro-family agenda is endorsed through representative candidates in November.

Someone actually asked if we were we were engaging in an ”ACORN-esque” program for the upcoming election. Since we intentionally do not follow ACORN’s illegal and unethical activities — nor partake in the “stimulus” gifts it receives — the individual referred to ensuring that citizens who agree with Virginia values are legally identified, registered, educated on candidates and mobilized to vote. 

With that in mind, today, we formally announced “Winning Matters” — a 2009 election project of The Family Foundation and The Family Foundation Action. Winning Matters is a four-step action plan encompassing: 

1. Identifying more Virginians who share our values;

2. Turning concerned citizens into values voting Virginians by registering them to vote.

3. Educating newly and previously registered voters on the differences between candidates on matters of life, marriage, parental authority, religious liberty and constitutional government.

4. Motivating and mobilizing these informed voters to make a wise choice and to vote on election day.

This voter identification and mobilization plan is the largest in our history — potentially larger than the 2006 Marriage Amendment campaign. In the weeks to come, we will tell you more about this project and how you can, and must, be a part of the work we are doing with (and for) pro-family Virginians for the future of our Commonwealth.

Below is the statement given by Family Foundation Action President Victoria Cobb at a recently completed news conference releasing the organization’s 2008-09 General Assembly Report Card. The Report Card is available at www.tffaction.org.

TFF ACTION PRESIDENT VICTORIA COBB ON THE RELEASE OF ITS 2008-09 GENERAL ASSEMBLY REPORT CARD

Good afternoon, I’m Victoria Cobb, President of The Family Foundation Action. The Family Foundation Action is a non-partisan and non-tax deductible organization whose mission is to protect families and promote responsible citizenship by giving Virginians the tools they need to hold their elected officials accountable. While The Family Foundation’s primary role is education and Advocacy, The Family Foundation Action’s primary role is Accountability. Both organizations engage in issue advocacy, citizen education and grassroots organization and mobilization. 

The Family Foundation Action is not a PAC and cannot endorse candidates. It can distribute voter educational on materials and direct mail pieces that inform citizens about the position candidates take on important issues. Along with today’s Report Card, this organization will be producing and distributing voter guides for the statewide campaigns and select House Of Delegate races in the fall. 

Since 1991, this biennial Report Card has been one of the most anticipated documents in Virginia politics, setting the stage for a meaningful dialogue about issues and elected officials. It is my pleasure today to unveil this important piece.

This pro-family Report Card has become a tradition of Virginia politics. This document reveals to citizens where their representatives stand on key issues based on their actual votes in the General Assembly. The Report Card cuts through the rhetoric of campaigns and the warm and fuzzy pictures of political Websites straight to the votes legislators actually took. Legislators have come to expect that they will be held accountable to for their votes on matters important to Virginia families.

As with each Report Card distributed over the years, we reviewed hundreds of votes taken by our legislature during the past two sessions. You can read on the first page the criteria we used in determining which votes to include in the Report Card. Non-partisan and broadbased, this report card seeks not to benefit one party or one candidate over the other, but to arm voting Virginians with the information they need to make an informed choice when they go to the ballot box.

In addition, you can see analysis of voting patterns for recent General Assemblies on the inside cover page. Here you can see voting records of the Senate and House. 

Some interesting things to note in this year’s Report Card: In the House of Delegates, two-thirds of members voted in favor of The Family Foundation legislative agenda more than half the time, indicating a broadbased, bipartisan support for The Family Foundation’s commonsense proposals. Interestingly, the Democrat Minority Leader, Ward Armstrong, scored a very high 81 percent, illustrating that The Family Foundation agenda has broad bipartisan appeal. Another note of interest: Several Family Foundation priorities received unanimous or nearly unanimous votes in both the House and Senate during the past two sessions, again, showing an agenda that is very mainstream.

This year, there are 42 House members that scored 100 percent, an increase of seven over the previous report card. There are, however, only four 100- percenters in the Senate; yet that is twice as many as 2007. On the flip side, there are no zeroes in the House or the Senate.

You can see on the analysis page the continued disparity on values issues between the House and the Senate. While those elected every two years, and thus are closer to the people, continue to shift back toward traditional values, the State Senate continues to distance itself from the people.

It is our hope that Virginians will use the Report Card, along with voter guides that Family Foundation Action will distribute in the fall, to educate themselves about sitting legislators as they begin their comparisons and make their choices about who better represents their values. These resources give citizens the confidence to make knowledgeable choices. We encourage Virginians to review this Report Card, compare legislator votes with their campaign promises of the past and present. We encourage them to personally contact those running for office and ask them specific questions regarding specific proposals and then, when possible, compare their responses to their actual votes. The more information a voter has the more likely they will choose a candidate that best fits their values. 

It is vitally important that pro-family citizens get involved, stay involved and continue to hold their elected officials accountable. This Report Card is intended to help citizens fulfill that civic obligation. Toward that end, The Family Foundation Action plans to give out more Report Cards than ever before — in fact, 100,000 Report Cards distributed throughout Virginia.  This doubles our distribution from the last edition, which was the highest distribution in our history.

Earlier this week we posted a letter from Planned Parenthood (click here) so you could read for yourself the delightfulness it takes in its extremist positions. Today, we came across a blast e-mail from another notoriously radical, big money, Angry Left organization — MoveOn.org — announcing to its millions of members plans to overturn the hard-fought and legally won Marriage Amendment in California (”Prop 8″) and in every state that has passed one, including Virginia (protests are scheduled in seven Virginia cities tomorrow. Click here).

This is what we are up against in the culture war (click here for one way to fight back). By the way, in MoveOn’s e-mail, posted below, notice the words “agents of intolerance” and “fear-mongering” to describe values voters, while MoveOn admits it is “angry” and that its supporters “took to the streets” after the Marriage Amendment passed. Boy, did they ever: View, if you haven’t, the KPSP television report from Palm Springs, California, where a true mob of leftists and homosexual activitists surrounded and threatened an elderly lady who supported the Marriage Amendment (click here). The MoveOn.org e-mail is printed below verbatim and in its entirety.

E-Mail From Moveon.org To Its Members Regarding Actions To Repeal California’s Recently Passed Marriage Amendment

subject line: “Overturn Prop 8″

  Dear MoveOn member,

Along with our tremendous excitement over Barack Obama’s victory, a lot of us are sad and angry about a different election result-the passage of California Proposition 8, which reversed marriage equality and wrote discrimination into the California Constitution.

Many people worked hard to defeat this measure-including MoveOn members, who contributed over $300,000 to defeat it. But agents of intolerance used fear-mongering to eke out a win.

After the election, people across California immediately took to the streets, vowing to put the state on the right side of history by overturning Prop 8.

Now folks everywhere are coming together to add their voices. Tomorrow (Saturday) there will be rallies in support of marriage equality in every single state. If you want to attend an event in your state, go to this page and click on your state name — you’ll see the location of any rallies planned:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51025&id=15118-9623350-OcY3OPx&t=1

These rallies will send a strong signal that depriving people of rights is no longer acceptable in America — and it will also be a first step in ongoing activism across the nation.

There’s one other thing you can do to support the fight for marriage equality.

The Courage Campaign (which does MoveOn-style organizing in California) is working with other groups on a two-year grassroots plan to overturn Prop 8 in the 2010 election. The first step is for folks to speak out together with one voice right away by signing a pledge to help overturn Prop 8.

Over 100,000 people have already signed the pledge-and thousands more are signing every day. Even non-Californians are signing the pledge in solidarity. If you’d like to sign, click here:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51024&id=15118-9623350-OcY3OPx&t=2

Thanks for all you do.

-Wes, Joan, Carrie, Mari, and the rest of the team