What a roller coaster of a week! I spent a couple of days in New York this week meeting with board members, supporters and potential donors. The turmoil in the financial markets and the uncertainty about what kind of plan will come out of Washington contributed to some tension in the air. But I found that people were also focused on the bigger picture, what is at stake in this year’s elections and on the importance of the work we’re doing.

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain was on a rollercoaster of his own: pretending to suspend his campaign to rush to Washington, then sitting quietly through a White House meeting; getting caught red-handed lying to David Letterman; calling for tonight’s presidential debate and next week’s vice presidential debate to be postponed, then backing down today when it became clear that the American public wasn’t buying it.

I’m proud that you came through for us this week. In just a few hours, more than 30,000 people signed our petition urging the presidential debate commission not to get pulled into McCain’s political charade. We have more reason, not less, to take stock of our would-be leaders at a time of crisis. Earlier today People For joined forces with other organizations mobilizing to keep the debates on schedule and together we presented more than 170,000 petition signers to the commission office in Washington, DC.

Your activism is energizing to all of us at People For. One of the most heartening things that came across my desk this week was a note from Vicki Ryder, a People For member in Rochester, New York. Hundreds of you (thank you!) have posted “Sarah Palin Doesn’t Speak for Me” photographs to our website. Vicki took it a step further, organizing a gathering of 300 women in a downtown square. “The organizing was easy,” Vicki told us, “since so many of us who cherish true democracy are horrified by the thought of what a McCain-Palin administration would do to further erode our fast-disappearing rights. All I did was send out an invitation to some women I know, and the word spread quickly.”

Vicki got some great media coverage of the event, making sure that a lot of people heard her message about McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin:

“We don’t like the idea that she doesn’t support the Constitution. We think that the vice president of the United States, who’s a heartbeat away from the presidency, should support the Constitution. She believes in banning books; she believes in imposing religion in the public schools, there are a lot of things we find totally objectionable.”

Thanks and congratulations to Vicki for going the extra mile — and giving hundreds of her friends and neighbors a way to get involved. And thanks to all of you who wrote me after last week’s note to tell me how you’re getting engaged in this year’s important elections.

One thing everyone can do is host a house party for next Thursday’s vice presidential debate — and raise a little money to support our “Sarah Palin Doesn’t Speak For Me” campaign. Gather with friends, old and new. And before we all start hollering at the TV set, join me on a nationwide conference call to get an inside look at what People For the American Way is doing between now and November 4. We have a nerve-wracking few weeks ahead of us, so let’s join together for Debate Watch Parties next Thursday, and let’s have fun while we’re working to change the world.