Phone bank to push health reform

With the Senate debate on health care reaching a critical juncture, supporters of President Barack Obama's health care proposal plan a phone bank Sunday, Oct. 11 in Raleigh.

The phone bank is being held at the Raleigh headquarters of Organizing for America, the arm of the Democratic National Committee, that is designed to generate support for the president's agenda, Rob Christensen reports.

Those making the calls will receive a pep talk by phone from Jeremy Bird, the national deputy director for Organizing for America.

Earlier this week, Organizing for America held a rally in Harnett County, the home of Congressman Bob Etheridge, a Democratic moderate who is being lobbied by both sides of the health care debate.

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At the same time, a coalition of African-American and Latino groups are running TV ads across North Carolina, but mainly in the Triangle, urging Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan to support a health care plan that includes a public option.

Hagan is one of four senators who are being targeted in the campaign along with Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, George LeMieux of Florida and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.

The ads are being sponsored by the NAACP National Voter Fund, the National Council of La Raza, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Campaign for Community Change, the United States Student Association and PowerPAC.org.

Hagan, a Democratic moderate, has supported health major changes in health care, but has not committed to a public option.

Steve Phillips, chairman of PowerPAC.org, said the coalition was running ads "where there is a large concentration of people of color where there is a seeming disconnect between the posture of the congress person and the needs and sentiments of their constituents."

PowerPAC.org is a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization whose mission is to increase electoral participation of people of color.

The coalition says it plans to spend about $250,000 in the four states on an advertising lasting at least a week.