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I hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season. As the year draws to a close, I'd like to share some of 2005's successes we should celebrate.


In January, my brother, Howard, announced his candidacy for chair of the Democratic National Committee saying, "The Democratic Party needs a vibrant, forward-thinking, long-term presence in every single state and we must be willing to contest every race at every level. We will only win when we show up and fight for the issues important to all of us."


By February, Howard was in! And the reforms began right away. This year the DNC is raising money faster than ever and putting it to good use hiring grassroots organizers in every state.


In the fight to protect Social Security from privatization, thousands of Democracy for America members told their personal Social Security stories in March. DFA organizers around the country compiled the most compelling stories and delivered them to members of Congress. After over 100 meetings in April, Congress heard your concerns and dropped the President's plan.


By May, the DFA Training Academy was in full swing, bringing some of the best organizing talent in the country to grassroots members in red and blue states across the country. With your help, we're on track to train 25,000 activists by the 2008 presidential election.


In June, you helped expose the Bush administration's rush to war by forcing the Downing Street Memos into the mainstream media. Public support for the war has been on the decline ever since.


When the grassroots discovered Paul Hackett in southern Ohio, he nearly won a congressional seat that hasn't been in Democratic hands in decades. DFA members poured over $100,000 into Maj. Hackett's campaign in July and the OH-2 congressional seat is now "in play' in 2006.


Over 100,000 members of Democracy for America, TrueMajority Action and MoveOn Political Action stood in vigil with Cindy Sheehan in August.


When Hurricane Katrina hit, Democracy for America hired one of the grassroots' key leaders in New Orleans to coordinate our response with the Louisiana NAACP at the Rights, Recovery and Renaissance conference.


Generation DFA spent much of October on the road with the Foo Fighters, registering young people to vote and bridging the gap between community service and political action.


In November, our work bore fruit with big electoral wins. We elected new Democratic governors in Virginia and New Jersey. We beat back Governor Schwarzenegger's power grab in California. And we put DFA-List candidates into office across the country.


Finally, when Dick Cheney traveled to Houston earlier this month to raise money for indicted Congressman Tom DeLay, DFA responded by saying, "enough!" DeLay's political action committee supported 29 Republican candidates in 2005. So, DFA raised over $35,000 for 29 candidates of our own.

I want to thank you for your work on all of these initiatives and more. You are what makes Democracy for America and all our work possible.