In the wake of a new poll showing that campaign finance reform is driving many voters’ decisions about which presidential candidate to support, the NH Rebellion convenes the second day of its We the People Convention to #FightBigMoney.

Hundreds of New Hampshire voters are gathering this weekend at the three-day Convention, being held in a huge heated tent in Veterans Park, directly across the street from the Manchester Radisson hotel.

The poll, released yesterday by Convention cosponsor Every Voice, found that 64% of Iowa Democratic caucus-goers ranked Money In Politics among their top three issues.  One in four of them ranked Money In Politics as the top issue when making up their minds who to vote for.  The poll is available at http://everyvoice.org/press-release/new-poll-explains-debate-conflicts-money-politics.

Today’s We the People Convention schedule includes:

• a Debate Watch Party (starting at 8:00 pm tonight), which is open to the media;
• Law & Order actor Sam Waterston, who kicked off the day with an 8:00 am breakfast and will be on hand through the morning;
• a panel discussion “Big Money and the Environment” featuring former Ambassador Dick Swett, Dave Molone of NH Pipeline Awareness, Jim Dannis of Responsible Energy Action, and Concord City Councilor Rob Werner (starting at 9:00 am);
• a panel discussion “Building the National Movement to #FightBigMoney” featuring John Rauh of Issue One, Nick Nyhart of Every Voice, Karen Hobert-Flynn of Common Cause, Jeff Clements of Free Speech for People and Mansur Gidfar of Represent.US (at 11:00 am);
• remarks by NH gubernatorial candidates Mark Connelly (at 10:00 am) and Colin Van Ostern (at 10:30 am);
• a panel discussion “Congressional Leaders #FightBigMoney” featuring Rep. John Sarbanes, Rep. Ann McLane Kuster and former Rep. Carol Shea Porter (at 4:00 pm);
• remarks by NH First Congressional District candidate Shawn O’Connor (at 2:15 pm);
• “Lunchtime Conversation” between radio host Arnie Arnesen and Pulitzer Prize-winner Hedrick Smith (at 12:15 pm);
• a signature NH Rebellion “Walk” to the GOP candidates’ debate(Walk leaves the Convention at 3:00 pm);
• a panel discussion “New Hampshire State Solutions to #FightBigMoney” with state Sen.  Martha Fuller Clark, state Sen.Dan Feltes and state Rep. Wayne Burton (at 1:00 pm);
• sessions of “Voices from the Field” featuring Hector Salamanca Arroyo of American Friends Service Committee (at 9:45 am);Jacqueline Salit, President of IndependentVoting.org (at noon); Ben Cohen, Founder of Ben & Jerry’s and Stamp Stampede (at 3:15 pm); and Ella McGrail, NH Rebel and High School Student (at 5:15 pm); and a
• a dinner keynote address by former presidential candidate Larry Lessig (at 6:00 pm), followed by the Granny D Tribute and Awards Presentation (at 7:00 pm).

 
Full Convention schedule for today available at http://www.nhrebellion.org/saturday_schedule.  As-updated schedule for tomorrow is available through the links at  http://www.nhrebellion.org/convention.

National groups cosponsoring the Convention include: Avaaz, Common Cause, Every Voice, Franciscan Action Network, Free Speech for People, Issue One, People for the American Way, Public Citizen, Represent.US, the Stamp Stampede and Take Back Our Republic.

The NH Rebellion is best-known for its cold-weather “Walks for Democracy.” To date, more than 2,000 activists have walked a total of 30,000 miles to bring attention to the corrupting influence of large campaign contributions.  The movement was inspired by the efforts of the legendary New Hampshire reformer Doris “Granny D” Haddock, who walked across America beginning in 1999 in support of campaign finance reform.

“Our members have been working for two years to make campaign finance reform the number one issue in our presidential primary,” said NH Rebellion Executive Director Dan Weeks.  “The more money that has been poured into this election cycle, the stronger our grassroots movement has grown.  People are sick and tired of thinking that our politicians only represent the big donors, and that our government doesn’t belong to the people anymore.”