[Asianj]

To me, help with money and membership are two different issues.

Clearly if the PPA requires additional funding it should be actively requesting assistance from the owners of the largest sites. They are a lot poorer today than last week but logically should if anything be more be willing to invest in good regulation. To me the fault in what has happened lies much less with the PPA and more with the largest sites. Active players were paying them a very healthy amount and more than enough to look after their own interests - and they did not.

As for a membership drive, I think we should all help with that and the idea of state chapters with on the ground motivated teams leading the charge makes a lot of sense to me. It is hard to organize much less operate an organization with hundreds of thousands if not millions of people if it is overly centralized. It is also easier to address a broader spectrum of local issues with less centralized management.

The ironic thing is it appears a lot of great ideas and a sense of activism are being produced by the poker community in reponse to this crisis. I think there is at least a fair chance that poker will be much more of a political force in this country in 1- 2 years than any politican could have ever imagined last week.

The Democrats should take advantage of this opportunityif they have any sense (which historcially they have not).