<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8117022696/” title=”Ohio by dengre.bj, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8329/8117022696_8a6df4d19a_n.jpg” width=”320″ height=”316″ alt=”Ohio”></a>
I’ve many loose ends at work and in life that will need to wait until Wednesday to be tied. It is GOTV time and I have an early plane for Columbus, Ohio. I’ll be there through Election Day and I’m pretty damn fired up and ready to go.
Here are the links where you can connect with the Obama Campaign in the swing States:
Iowa • New Hampshire • Colorado • Nevada • Ohio
Virginia • Florida • Wisconsin • North Carolina
And here is the GOTV link for the rest: vote.barackobama.com.
Also, too, Daily Kos and Worker’s Voice have a GOTV effort that you can plug into at this link.
I plan to work as long as there is something to do while I’m in Ohio and I have no idea if I’ll have internet access and if I do, if I’ll have any time to use it. I’ll try to put up an update in a post or as a comment when I can.
Have you voted yet? (I did in Maryland and early voting is pretty damn great). Best thing is that is frees you on Election Day to help with the GOTV effort.
So, what are your GOTV plans?
Cheers
amk
WTG Dennis. Here is to a crushing win in OH.
Baud
Already voted. Felt good. Will be doing data and manning voting areas on election day.
Let’s win this thing.
Cermet
If you can’t donate time, donate money – I have every month; final push and President Obama can fix a lot of the damage the cheney presidency did to the u.s.
Dream On
Previous poster from a different thread:
Agreed and then some. I did it!
I voted by mail in Washington State, in an Emerald City. I voted for Jay Inslee (D) for governor in a tight race – although frankly, he is so vague and marginal he seems almost the Democratic version of George W. Bush. Good luck to him. I voted against initiative-pimp Tim Eyman’s California-style 2/3rds majority requirement for any tax increases, against marijuana legalization (I hate stoners and really hate marijuana apostles – it’s a psychoactive drug, folks – though no one should serve serious time for it), for gay marriage rights, against the city’s proposed new seawall as I want to keep downtown grungy, and any tsunami will wash it away in any case. I voted for myself as a write-in candidate in all races where the incumbent was running unopposed. ( hope I win something in my collective races for Sheriff, Superior and Municipal Court Judge, an educational post of some kind, etc.)
And the Greens for President. Whoever the hell Jill Stein is. What can I say – I’m a progressive, I agree with most of their platform, and the race won’t be close in this state. Obama is too conservative and I’m “throwing my vote away.” It’s fun too!
I do hope the Mittster goes down, however. And I will bet good money he will. My GOTV plans are to watch Mitt go and lose on live TV Tuesday. And if I lived in Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Iowa or Colorado – I’d definitely throw my idealism vote away by voting for Obama. It would have to be done.
Good luck to him on Tueday.
Applejinx
Nope. I’m gonna go out and bundle up flyers for hours etc. again because NOPE.
Popular vote counts!
There is NO PLACE that another vote for Obama is not useful.
Especially in states where you’re pretty sure that the election officials will not throw your vote away or use it as part of the 10-20% they’ll cheat by!
If your state is ‘safe’ we need your vote MORE because it’s probably not going to be Diebolded! We need a stupidly huge popular vote edge. Do not listen to these people who are acting like you can just go make a vote and try to build a case for a leftwing alternative to Obama NOW- and then go away and do nothing for four freaking years.
We have to break the hard right extremists to make space for the hard left extremists you want to see validated…
If you want to see progressive positions, vote Obama and establish that there is a HUGE popular vote swing against the Republicans’ positions. And THEN argue that it is evidence the real action is on the left wing.
Presidential elections carry symbolic weight and to so many Americans Obama does represent the ‘progressive’ and they need to see HIM overwhelmingly prevail and that includes YOUR vote in your ‘safe’ state, running up the popular vote margin.
This is politics. Nail down the Presidency as the centrist Obama is, and use that as leverage to push farther left. We don’t have nearly enough of a conventional wisdom that Obama’s the center. There is far too much appearance that Romney could also represent the center. Make Obama be the ‘mandate’ and argue from there that momentum is hugely left wing.
Quit with this firebaggy bullshit. Except for those of you who are actually Republicans busily ratfucking. You guys, please continue making your arguments for voting third party! Unlike recent trolls at least you guys are hardcore and kind of dangerous! :)
zzyzx
@Dream On:
Against the sea wall to keep downtown grungy. Wow, you really stuck it to The Man there. I’m glad to have canceled out your vote.
TR
@Dream On:
“And the Greens for President. Whoever the hell Jill Stein is. ”
Wow, that’s just breathtakingly stupid. “I know nothing about this candidate but I’ll vote for her to show my purity. And then brag about my act of ignorance.” Jesus.
geg6
@zzyzx:
Yeah, that was big pile of stupid there. A big one.
I’ll be on the streets of Western PA with you, Dennis. GOTV!
Dream On
@zzyzx:
Hope the viaductbuild doesn’t clash with your seawall construction. Keep Seattle shiny and new. Scarily, my equally shallow spouse voted the same.
We must truly hate America.
amk
Let’s ignore the trolls (rwnj’s, firebaggers, pretendleft, dougj) for next 4 days, shall we ?
Baud
@amk:
Sound advice.
hildebrand
I voted yesterday. I have been nagging my students all semester about making sure that they registered and that they voted (Texas does make this pretty easy for early voting – our polling place is at the Student Union, so, no excuses). As I stood in line to vote, I saw many of my students and their friends and talked a good number of them into getting in line with me.
I feel good about Tuesday, but my wife keeps muttering about her feeling that the big money folks are going to steal this one for Romney. “It’s my irrational fear for this election cycle.”
Oh, and Dream On, you are a fool. Not a holy one, just a fool.
Dream On
@TR: @Dream On:
Nope – I know the Green Party platform. It is progressive, and I know Jill Stein represents those principals. And again, I vote in a ‘safe’ state. Ignorant indeed!
Can you enlighten me what the progressive platform of the national Democratic Party is? Obama flat out said in his first debate that Romney’s Social Security ideas were virtually the same as his. Yikes! Watch out for ‘entitlement reform’ in Obama’s second term. Only Nixon could go to China, only a Democrat could end our safety nets… Plus I think the Afghanistan escalation feels so much more righteous when a (D) is promoting it.
I do hope every voter in ‘close’ states votes for Obama however. Mitt would be worse, I’m sure. And Paul Ryan really is a Zombie of a Horrific Future. Call somebody and get them to vote with you as well.
By the way, when Jay Inslee (D) wins for governor by 1000 votes, you can write to me then and blame me for ‘throwing my vote away’ through ignorance. Because I voted for him.
lojasmo
@Dream On:
Stupid vote against the MJ initiative. How the fuck will that do anything about stoners? The only effect losing the initiative will have is keeping it illegal.
Napoleon
@Dream On:
Moron alert
Anya
Hey Dennis G., I am heading to Cleveland as we speak! Initially we were supposed to go to Pennsylvania but OFA decided that we were needed more in Cleveland. I’ve never been to Ohio but I am really excited.
TR
@Dream On:
If you’re trying to prove you’re not ignorant, you might look up the difference between “principals” and “principles.”
And then you might realize that voting Green will do nothing to make those principles manifest. The Glorious Nader Revolution of 2000 didn’t bring them about. If anything, they enabled their demise by empowering Dubya.
No, you don’t hate America. You just love yourself and your sense of how wonderful you are above all else. Congrats.
Chyron HR
@Dream On:
You guys are going to be a hoot when you’re still peddling this Social Security cuts nonsense in December 2016.
Dream On
@lojasmo: Federal law already says that it is illegal – are you pleased with all of the bogus “medicinal marijuana” shops that are popping up all along Aurora Ave. like porn shops? @TR:
Yes, a typo indeed.
I repeat: I live in Washington State – Obama leads by 10% here, and we are already voting, by mail. If you feel my actions will single-handedly hand the White House and the Supreme Court (an area where Obama has done very well, in my opinion) to Mitt Romney’s shoulder-pad suits and Paul Ryan’s dead eyes, well. And you’re quite welcome for me towing the line and voting Democratic in every close race. If you don’t see the humor or point – or principle in me voting for myself in uncontested races, well. If you don’t see the point in me voting for liberals who I agree with, well again. Elections do whip us all up, don’t they.
I know it’s 5 days ’till the election, but Jesus some people need to as they say “Chill The Fuck Out.”
Because Obama does have this. And in my state, he doesn’t need my help.
amk
The nut mitt. Jaybus. adelson should watch this.
Applejinx
Funny, Dream On reads a lot like Polit*cal Obs*rver and is suddenly here with lots of posting and reasons not to vote for Obama and run up the popular vote, saying ‘he doesn’t need my help’.
New marching orders?
I guess it was inevitable that SOME of the clever Rovian types would turn up at an influential place like this. Go on- tell us some more about how many of us should go out and not vote for Barack Obama, because the race isn’t close and closeness doesn’t matter anyway.
I’d be really mad if not for the grudging respect. BraVO, seriously. Where the hell have you been? Are you DougJ deciding that it’s looking like such a blowout that he can have some fun? Not a great time for foolishness. This is a time to run up the score like we’ve not seen in living memory…
MomSense
I’m GOTVing in NH. GrandMomSense is GOTV in OH. Not sure where you will be Dennis G but she is in the Akron office. If you hear a phonebanker with an outrageous laugh that is my Mom.
Napoleon
@Anya:
Do you know what office in Clev? Have fun, we may get some sun this weekend.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Napoleon:
They sure know how to put the dumb in dumbfucker. One great example; against marijuana and thinks that people shouldn’t do time for it?
They will keep doing time as long as assholes like this think they are doing the right thing.
What a fucking idiot.
TR
@Dream On:
When the GOP us claiming that America doesn’t really want Obama’s agenda because he “only” won the electoral college and didn’t get a mandate in the popular vote — thanks to your self righteousness and the depressed turnout in the east, congratulate yourself for helping to make that happen.
Halcyan
@Dream On:
I am in Washington State as well. I know that Obama will handily win this state. But I think that the last minute push for “voting Green” came from the Republicans. If they can’t win the electoral college, which of course they will, they want the popular vote to split, or at least not give the President any kind of perceived mandate.
My vote for Obama was heartfelt, but it also was a repudication of the Republican (cough..) principles and their tactics.
And I voted for legalizing marijuana just becuase it was dumb to have it be criminalized.
My divergence from a “straight ticket” were as follows: I vote FOR charter schools. Because the mainstream public schools have to teach the middle, and not all students are in the middle. I have 4 kids and my youngest struggled with public schools. She did slightly better in a charter school. Turns out that for her, school generally was just way too stressful. But because I have had a good experience with charter schools, I think they deserve a chance.
And I did not vote for Brad Owen, the D for Lt Gov. I voted for his much more progressive Finkbeiner.
I was put off by the “vote by mail” here in Washington, but have since decided it is a really good way to do it. Lots of time to look at the ballot, to look things up. Take your time. It’s great!
ExurbanMom
@TR: THIS. Along with the idiot from Wash State who did the same thing last night, and had the audacity to put a =) in their posting, the Jill Stein voters can go to hell.
ohsuzanna
I’m sitting in a parking lot outside the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections waiting to cast my early ballot. Hooray!
amk
Come on peeps. Stop indulging the pos/rc/ef sock puppet. The nym is a give away.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Dream On: I used to feel that voting 3rd Party from a “safe” state made sense, too. Back in my more “idealistic” days.
It doesn’t these days, no matter what Chomsky says.
The way to get more progressive policies is to make the Democratic majority larger. That means running up the score where you can. If you want more liberal candidates, work to choose them in the primaries.
Ted Kennedy wasn’t able to push progressive policies because he was a liberal. He was able to push progressive policies because he had a large enough majority in Massachusetts to be able to stick his neck out and lead the country where he thought it should go. The voters come before the legislation.
Like it or not, and I don’t, liberals are not a majority in the country. The “burn it all down and start over” crowd isn’t going to accomplish their purported goals. You have to work within the party system we have.
My first presidential vote was for John Anderson. I also voted for Nader in 2000 because I live in VA and “my vote won’t change anything but will send a message…” It didn’t. Nobody cares how many votes Nader got in VA in 2000.
It was kind of appealing to not have to commit to one side or the other. To not have to take a stand that really matters. To say, “they’re both the same and not good enough for my vote”. To not have to decide which party I would stand with. Never again – I woke up and made my choice.
The parties aren’t “the same”.
Life isn’t black and white. We have to recognize that the choice in national politics is incremental progress or rushing backward. If you care about progress, don’t enable the reactionaries.
In the general election for federal offices in our system we have 2 choices. Support the Democratic party or support the Republican party. Your vote for Jill Stein was a vote for the Republicans.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Schlemizel
@Dream On:
But you know what moran? If Obama takes WA and all the states he is going to win anyway thereby have the EC win complete but finishes second in the popular vote the screaming of the wingnuts combined with the fear induced in already wobbly Dems will sufficiently hamper the administration and embolden the wingnuts to do more damage to the coutry.
Like the brain dead assholes who voted Nader in 00 you will have managed to aid the forces of darkness without doing a single fucking thing for your professed values. FODIAF
amk
punk murdock trailing by 11 points.
Dream On
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Thoughtful, and you didn’t tell me to FODIAF. I respect your point.
Elizabelle
Senate Republicans screamed and got the Congressional Research Office to pull down their September 14 report on tax cuts and the economy, per NYTimes.
However, bless the NYTimes for putting a PDF of the report on the web, and here’s the crucial paragraph from its summary, which blows the GOP contention that tax cuts grow the economy out of the water.
Cassidy
@Dream On: Yeah. You came to the wrong place if you’re expecting to someone to wash your dick for you because of how you voted. I can see you’re feeling smug and happy with yourself, but I think you’re more suited for a private conversation with kitchen implement or FDL.
Ohio Mom
Dennis, if you’re looking for something to eat in Columbus, I recommend Katzinger’s Deli in German Village.
Good luck and thanks for your hard work.
Schlemizel
@Dream On:
So thats your other sock puppet? FODIAF
Kirbster
I plan to vote straight “D’ on my ballot. There are a couple of Republicans running unopposed as incumbents for county positions. I will abstain on those. I’ve come to despise Republicans that much.
If the Green Party ever wants to be taken seriously in the US, it has to start at a local level, with candidates for school boards and city councils and work its way up the political ladder. That’s how the right wingers built their power base over the decades. The Greens haven’t earned the right to start at the top with a symbolic presidential candidate who at best can’t win and at worst can be an unwitting ally to the ‘wingers.
Cassidy
@Kirbster: The local Republicans ratfucked the primaries so that only Republicans ended up on the ballot for Superintendent and County Clerk. I’m hoping something involving a flaming car wreck happens soon.
debbie
I assumed this was covered here last night:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/republican-battleground-map-14332384
I listened to Glenn Beck for a few minutes while driving to work yesterday. He’s predicting a 50-state sweep for Romney and 300+ electoral votes, based on what the folks at FreedomWorks told him (“they’re like ACORN, but honest”).
I never last more than a few minutes listening to Beck, but this is the first time I’ve changed the dial while laughing. It felt good.
PsiFighter37
I’m flying to Dayton with a few friends tonight. That said, I have both emailed and called the OFA office there an have gotten no response – a bit annoying…I figure if I just show up with manpower, it should be okay. That said, I wish the field office had okay’d everything before I spent a pretty penny booking all my travel.
Princess
@Dream On: In other countries, the Green Party is actually a party, that is to say, it tries to get people elected so that it can change policy, building from the grassroots in local elections so it can gain credibility in regional and national races. I’d vote for that kind of Green party too here, if it existed. It doesn’t. Here it is just a top of the ticket spoiler party and anyone who calls themselves a progressive and votes for them is an idiot. Frankly, I have less respect for Green voters here than for Republicans — at least they are voting what they perceive are their interests. I’d love to see a kind of Green tea Party on the left of the Democratic party,pushing it further left in the same way the tea party has pushed the GOP left, but no, y’all are too pure for that.
Vote however you like, but don’t expect to come in here and impress people.
TS
@Anya:
So OFA realizes that Romney looking fo spend money in Pennsylvania will have the same result at McCain’s late spend in Pennsylvania in 2008. Good to hear.
Elizabelle
@PsiFighter37:
It’s great you’re working Ohio. Call that office again! Sounds like someone dropped the ball.
Foregone Conclusion
@Kirbster:
This. A thousand times this.
MikeBoyScout
GOTV-ing in Denver.
Staying with friends and seeing people from all over the nation and north america coming to Denver OBA.
Won’t you join us?
WereBear
Likewise.
We have been giving all over the place this year; I was going to phonebank, but my voice went out on me twice this fall, and I just finished another round of medicine.
However, the info here has been a great boon to our Facebook politics page.
arguingwithsignposts
LIke others, I voted straight D and skipped any unopposed R races. Fuck them, they want my vote join a party with at least half a brain.
cmorenc
@Dream On: Unless and until the US changes to either an instant-runoff type voting system where you can safely vote for *both* the Green Party candidate as your first choice and Obama as your second choice, or else changes to a Parliamentary system where no party claims a large or lasting enough majority to avoid the need for forming coalitions with smaller secondary parties, you ARE pissing away a vote, at least at the Presidential level, voting “green”. I wish it wasn’t that way, it sure isn’t the way George Washington wanted the US to turn out, but unfortunately there have only been a relatively few periods in US History where the parties have momentarily fragmented into more than two (one of which was in the immediate runup to the US Civil War).
Dennis G.
@Ohio Mom: I will check it out. The campaign arranged some housing for me and the folks I’m staying with mentioned it.
The train broke down on the way to BWI from Baltimore this morning, so I missed the early flight and will be on the next one. I’m hanging out at the airport. Should be in Columbus by noon.
fuddmain
I voted here in Orlando on Tuesday. Dad voted Wednesday and Mom yesterday. My cousin voted absentee. So, 4 votes banked for Obama.
Will see how I can help out over the next few days (if I could get my wife to vote it would be a triumph). My Dad is even thinking about getting involved. He’s talked about driving people to the polls. I’m not sure that’s a good idea. He’s 81 now and I get scared riding with him. I can just see Obama losing Florida by the number of people killed in a flaming car accident.
In other news, the League of Women Voters of Florida sent a letter (no word if it was in a binder) to Gov. Rick “Medicare Fraud” Scott asking him to extend early voting through Sunday. There’s a better chance of Chris Christie running the NY marathon under 3 hours, but it’s worth a shot.
Dennis G.
@PsiFighter37: I emailed [email protected] and somebody was back in touch with me within 24 hours. Same response to a phone call to 614-636-2262.
Good luck
geg6
Dream On has to be a troll. Coming here and crowing about voting Green because he’s so principled and liberal. But has no problem with continuing the War on Some Drugs and no concern for the effects on people that the sea wall is meant to forestall.
Sounds like a perfect IGMFY person. I detest these people even more than GOPers, if that is possible.
Halcyan
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
If we as a country really want to enable third parties, the place to start is at the local level. If we as a country can make the system “multi party” locally, we will be ready to do it on a national level. Until then, I agree. A vote for a third party is a vote for the opposition.
scav
@geg6: Double meaning of the name seemed to me the biggest tell. Well, that and the posting in two threads shit and the studied air of faux politeness. You ain’t from these parts, now, are ya?
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Kirbster:
I’ve voted straight D on my Oregon ballot and so has my wife and daughter. We will from now on too.
Republicans need to be punished, for a long time.
PsiFighter37
@Dennis G.: I contacted both and never heard back. I just sent them another email.
MomSense
In Maine we are suffering the consequences of third party candidates as LePage and our tea party legislature have done significant damage.
My feeling is that the place to start is not with additional party candidates but with instituting ranked and/or run-off elections. My preference is for ranked elections as run-off elections are expensive and time consuming.
The idea for ranked elections is quite simple. You get to vote for your first, second (perhaps third) choice. Then if your first choice is not viable, your vote automatically goes to your second choice. It allows you to vote for your preferred candidate without the consequence of electing an ass like LePage with only 38% of the vote.
MomSense
In Maine we are suffering the consequences of third party candidates as LePage and our tea party legislature have done significant damage.
My feeling is that the place to start is not with additional party candidates but with instituting ranked and/or run-off elections. My preference is for ranked elections as run-off elections are expensive and time consuming.
The idea for ranked elections is quite simple. You get to vote for your first, second (perhaps third) choice. Then if your first choice is not viable, your vote automatically goes to your second choice. It allows you to vote for your preferred candidate without the consequence of electing an ass like LePage with only 38% of the vote.
Dennis G.
@PsiFighter37: I will ask when I get to the Columbus office. Send me an email and I’ll make sure that somebody gets up with you.
Cheers
SuzieC
@Dennis G.:
Welcome to Columbus! It’s a great food town. Post something if you want restuarant recommendations.
gwangung
Pretty much.
That’s…um….grassroots power building.
Speculum Spatula
@TR:
Well…if that’s what happens, then what they say will have the aspect of being…you know, true. I like reality. Don’t you?
Also too, I am certain under your scenario the Dems will have no problem seizing the office regardless of the numbers and using it aggressively to further their agenda just like the repulicans did under the Bush child.
Oh, wait…
Speculum Spatula
@ExurbanMom:
Doesn’t your mother suck cocks there?
Mary
@SuzieC:
I second the fact that Columbus is a great food town. And have to suggest that if Dennis G gets a break he run straight to Jeni’s!
Cmm
@Applejinx:
What Applejinx said. Gotta run up the score, gotta show,a clear, unalterable, unDieboldable MANDATE and start moving that Overton Window back to the left. Obama is closer to Reagan than Kennedy and yet people get away with the socialist bull all the time. “centrist” has been dragged far to the right because the actual far right is in looney land at this point and is still treated respectfully by the press because they have clout. We need to start moving some of that leftward, at the very least reestablish what the actual center looks like.
Fuck Jill Stein and fuck the Greens. The Republicans would LOVE for you to vote for them. This is not the year for that.
Speculum Spatula
@Cmm:
Thank you for telling us how to use our votes. Now piss off.
Dream On
@Cassidy:
Way to assume my gender, you piece of shit. You (and several others) have such selective reading skills that I pray you will be able to read your ballot with all its Fancy Words.
a) I LIVE AND VOTE IN A SAFE STATE. Can you read – Obama will win here. Washington State is not Colorado or Virginia.
b) You assume that a vote for Obama will push the national Democrats to the left. You obviously haven’t been paying attention, unless you like a continuation of the Patriot Act, more wars, more sucking up to bankers, Simpson-Bowles, more oil spill coverups, a health-care plan so money-driven and lazy that corporatiist John Roberts could accept it, need I go on? Yeah, your votes for Obama and any kind of Blue Dog Democrat have really helped progressives.
c) You all assume I don’t dance with the national Ds. I voted in order for Dukakis, Clinton, the Greens in ’96 and 2000, John Kerry, Obama in 2008. So I think I’ve met some of your own Purity Rules.
d) I voted Democratic right down the state line. even for the loathsome crook Delbene versus the disgusting John “the rape thing” Koster. So I think the pot initiative is poorly written – a whole new subset of DUI drivers busted for high THC in their system, whether they have been smoking pot that day or not.
e) I vote how I like, because some Constitution told me I could. If all you care about is more popular votes, more, ever more – go to Russia. Putin likes those sorts of people just fine. You will always be voting for Kodos – how is that for the whole democracy thing. Is this all a sports game to you?
f) Again, go fuck yourself. And as for the people here have respectfully and thoughtfully disagreed with me – you are not on my insult list.