What you can do in the next 7 days to create change

by Carmen Van Kerckhove, originally published at Carmen Van Kerckhove.com

Just seven days to go until perhaps the most important election ever.

I urge all of you who are Obama supporters: Do not get complacent now.

Sure, several polls suggest that Obama has a double-digit lead over McCain — but that doesn’t mean we should assume that he’s got it in the bag.

As longtime Republican political operative Bill Greener recently wrote on Salon.com, when undecided voters have to choose between a black candidate and a white candidate, they tend to vote white:

If you’re a black candidate running against a white candidate, what you see is what you get. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re an incumbent or a challenger. If you’re not polling above 50 percent, you should be worried. As of this writing, Barack Obama is not polling consistently above 50 percent in a number of electoral-vote-rich swing states, including Ohio and Florida. He should be worried.

And let’s not discount the huge role that voter suppression will likely play. Jay Smooth from the video blog Ill Doctrine put together this “Poem for the Young Voter” to drive that point home:

So what can you do to help at this historic time?

First of all, make sure you protect your own vote by reading this 12-step checklist of what to do before, on, and after Election Day. And share the list with your family and friends by using this form here.

Then, do one or all of these 3 things:

1. Volunteer for the campaign.
2. Call or visit voters in battleground states.
3. Find and join an event in your local area.

What will you be doing in the next 7 days to work towards change?