Subject: How Does It Work
From: Denise Cardinal <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:00:38 -0500 (CDT)

::: ProgressNow - Advancing Progressive Agendas, State by State ::: 

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I'm often asked "How Does It Work?," when our entities do
something in a state that gets attention. I have a great example
below, from Progress Michigan, in a timeline form that illustrates why
it's so important to have a healthy ProgressNow entity in a
state.

As always, let me know what you think, or even better, contribute to
us here.

Best,
Denise Cardinal
Executive Director
ProgressNow
ProgressNow Education

Michigan RNC Committeeman Dave Agema's Anti-Gay Comments

Right Wing Watch posted RNC Committeeman Dave Agema's interview
from

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=6f0idBUcVmZvI7ZZg73mpg

Washington Watch at 11:40 am on Thursday, April 11th, kicking off a
series of events that Progress Michigan jumped on quickly -
garnering national attention.

In this interview Committeeman Agema made extremely offensive comments
about gays. He said that being gay "gets you into drugs",
is comparable to alcoholism, and that "LGBT-inclusive curriculum
in school may eventually turn kids gay and make parents and churches
victims of hate crime laws." Just two minutes after the
interview was posted, Progress Michigan responded with this tweet
shining light on the outrageous comments.
http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=odqBdibUMEPym-SJ4tvDUw

At 2:30pm, just a few hours following Progress Michigan's tweet
and pitch, statewide news site MLive picks up the story reaching a
wider audience.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=uMpjSutUjnDGC2cKexmKkQ

Then Progress Michigan immediately tweets about the coverage by MLive,
ensuring that everyone following them is aware of Amega's
comments. The story goes national at 3:30pm when Political Wire picks
up on it bringing the story to a national audience.
http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=UWiEwRvVcCka7J9RfHx6Dw

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=fhnXGv5KOysMch2AHt-i6Q

After Political Wire and @LOLGOP posted the story, the Washington Post
picked it up at 3:50pm that afternoon.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=oQP1IRngEwt-f9VDcWoGHw

On Rachael Maddow's show that evening, she did an entire segment on
Agema's comments and the RNC resolution he sponsored to re-affirmed
the party's support for "traditional marriage."
http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=D12F7eP0zv3fFBq15y3-JA

Agema said he was done commenting about gay marriage. Agema told MIRS
News, "(Social conservatives) have won the battle, and I will have
nothing more to say on this matter."

This is a story that was driven from local, to state, to national
coverage through social media by Progress Michigan in a matter of
hours. Over the last two weeks, we forced Gov. Snyder, Speaker Jase
Bolger, and Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville to publicly
distance themselves from the state's RNC Committeeman.

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