Real Activism
101 

Are you ready to do more than slap a cheeky bumper sticker on your car and become a Facebook fan for your candidate? Here's how you can stop playing armchair quarterback and actually make a difference this fall.

Become a Polling Monitor

Every election we hear about people being illegally disenfranchised by being turned away from voting booths or removed from the registered voter list. Stand up for everyone's right to vote by volunteering at a polling place, to make sure that everyone gets a chance to pull the lever.

Make Calls for Marriage

* Visit LetCaliforniaRing.org for volunteer events, phone bank opportunities, or to create a "wedding registry."

* E-mail Becky Corran (bcorran@yahoo.com) for a list of Arizona voters to call, then urge them to vote against Arizona's Proposition 102.

* Floridians can go to SayNo2.com to host an event, make calls, or help with mailings.

Campaign in a Swing State

The polls are tight in several states that could make the difference, as Ohio did in 2004 and Florida in 2000. Contact party or campaign headquarters in Virginia, New Hampshire, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Missouri, or Pennsylvania for how you can tip those states in your favor. Visit My.BarackObama.com/StatePages or JohnMcCain.com/SignUp.

House a Volunteer

Exercise your Third Amendment right (sort of) by taking in a hotel-less volunteer while he or she pounds the pavement through the state to recruit undecided voters. You'll save the campaign money by housing a volunteer and make a new friend in the process. Contact your local campaign office to offer up your couch.

Hit the Streets

Request campaign literature from your candidate's nearest office and canvass a high-traffic area or go door-to-door in your neighborhood. Visit my.barackobama.com/modules/votercontact/login_signup.php to join Obama's locally customized campaign, or visit JohnMcCain.com/SignUp for local volunteer opportunities.