<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/59124558@N06/8164964317/” title=”Ohio GOTV by dengre.bj, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7115/8164964317_709a435d81.jpg” width=”500″ height=”500″ alt=”Ohio GOTV”></a>
After spending five days doing GOTV in Ohio, I’m back in Baltimore.
I knocked on a lot of doors–and some of them almost every day I was there. The voters I talked to were mostly African-Americans. Almost everybody I talked to was engaged in the election. They were serious about supporting President Obama. They had his back, but the Teaparty Attorney General in Ohio was doing everything he could to make voting hard and confusing. Folks needed a bit of help to sort out early voting hours and rules as well as where to vote and what documentation might be required. Our GOTV effort gave them the tools to cut through the bullshit and vote. It was sweet to see the targets of voter suppression efforts fight back and vote.
The GOTV effort boiled down to breaking a voting precinct into 2-4 walk lists. These turfs came with printouts of likely Obama supporters and their addresses. The task was to talk to each of them and get them to go out and vote.
If folks weren’t home we left lit (that would change each day). If they were home, we would confirm their support of President Obama and then ask for their commitment to vote. Sometimes folks already had, sometimes they promised to Early Vote later that day (or the next) or vote on Election Day. Information would be recorded and reported to campaign after each list was walked. The lists would be updated. Then we would go back and walk the precincts again and again and again–always trying to move more voters to the polls. This was the drill from Friday though 7:30 pm on Election Day.
The face to face contact was great. The repeated visits were effective. What we did in our small turf in Columbus was repeated all over the state and the Country. The ground game of the Obama Campaign was awesome. I did GOTV in 2008 and the effort was good, but the 2012 GOTV effort was a quantum leap beyond it. I was honored to be a small part of it.
The effort worked. I know we got people out to vote. I can think of dozens of people that I talked to who wouldn’t have gone and voted without the nudge–and it was great to go back to a house and have somebody show me their “I voted” sticker. We helped folks get their absentee ballots in and gather the right documents to vote. We told them where their polling locations were and even engaged some neighbors to help other neighbors get to the polls.
The final hours were a panic as we made a fourth or fifth walk of the lists to try and get every last possible supporter to vote. As a lifelong Democrat, I was prepared for disappointment. I went to dinner with a couple of other out-of-state volunteers and as returns flashed on the teevees we began to feel better. By the time we got to the Ohio Democratic Party in downtown Columbus we were feeling good. And when MSNBC called it for President Obama we felt great. More than great–I was elated, relieved, thrilled, grateful, proud and happy.
More shit will come down the pike, but we re-elected President Obama. That is a big fucking deal.
Cheers
ps: I tip my hat to all the folks who worked on his campaign. These folks are hands down amazing–and so is the man they worked for…
smith
Who left that sign on the door? Someone pretending to be an Obama supporter?
Anyone who knocked on doors, called people, got people to the polls are all heroes. Obama’s ground game was excellent and I love seeing stories like this from people who were a part of it.
Nellie in NZ
This expat thanks you so very, very much.
Svensker
Thank you for your service. I mean that sincerely.
Baud
As someone who played a small part in the volunteer effort, it really was something to watch. This really was a people-powered campaign. I’m glad we prevailed.
Southern Beale
Speaking of Ohio….
In my dreams we see Husted frog-marched for his felonious shit.
gwangung
I wonder if they’ll ever twig onto the fact that this outright ham handed suppression drove voter participation even higher than what it would have been.
Linda Featheringill
Lots of people worked very, very hard on this campaign. Congratulations to everybody!
There were workers that seemed to perform miracles in getting people out to vote. Sometimes they carried the state and sometimes they didn’t. North Carolina comes to mind of a group of people whose efforts didn’t quite deliver the state’s electoral votes. But they did expand the voting base and increased the amount of basic democracy in their state.
You workers in red states, you done good. I’m proud of you! Keep it up!
Persia
Thank you.
gogol's wife
Thank you so much. This is really inspiring.
Comrade Mary
Way to go, Dennis! Enjoy your rest time at home now.
@Southern Beale: Oh, wow. /fans self
smith
@Southern Beale:
I wish I could have been in court to hear the smackdown. Too bad Husted will get a slap on the wrist at best (if anything).
FlipYrWhig
@Southern Beale: I want to see that too. Like, a lot.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Southern Beale: That’s awesome.
Publius39
Thank you very much. Forward.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
The turf maps, the walk lists, the scripts were identical for us here in PA. I’m pretty amazed at the coordination, but like I told one of my fellow volunteers, “This is what happens when you let a community organizer run a campaign.”
I steered a couple of people to their polling places, including one who’d moved but didn’t know he had to vote back in his old neighborhood. Other than that, not much to report. Everyone was fired up and ready to vote.
Ken
Dennis, I apppreciate all you efforts and your fellow GOTV volunteers. A great service to our country.
James E. Powell
The president’s remark that “By the way, we have to fix that” is a signal that we have to form groups, national and in each state, to reform and repair how we vote.
This is the fourth straight presidential election where I’ve seen amazingly long lines in my home state of Ohio. Back when I lived there, I lived in one of the highest turnout precincts in the city of Cleveland. It never took me more than fifteen minutes to vote. For the last thirteen years, I’ve lived in heavily populated Los Angeles County. It’s never taken me more than 20 minutes to vote. Why shouldn’t it be like that everywhere?
The president has a lot of things to deal with and this is just one of them. It’s really up to us to make sure it becomes a priority.
cinesimon
My instant response to the Ohio/presidential victory was: The GOTV people did this.
You really did, guys – more than any other factor, in my humble opinion.
Therefore on behalf of the entire world, I thank you so much for it.
smith
@smith:
Meant to say – “an Obama supporter?”
That’s what I get for posting on my phone.
PsiFighter37
Good on you, Dennis. I’d like to think that my friends and I knocking on a few hundreds doors this weekend in Dayton helped out as well.
Goddamn it feels good to win. Next up – we have GOT to make sure Harry Reid & Co. do something about reforming the filibuster at the beginning of the next Congress.
Violet
Thank you so much Dennis, and all the GOTV volunteers. Great work.
So how can we build on this level of involvement for the midterms? Or even before? People like being involved–feeling that it’s THEIR country and THEIR government. They just need an avenue to do it. I hope OFA finds ways to keep people involved and that somehow the message gets out in 2014 that “The President needs you to vote for Democrats to help him finish the job you sent him to do. We need you to have his back.” That kind of thing.
lamh35
Um ok…wow!
Romney’s Transition Site
suzanne
@Baud: Word. My husband and I did some canvassing, and it always filled my heart whenever we went to the OFA or Democratic Party offices and they were packed. Even though many of the results in Arizona were disappointing, there was so much passion, and we came pretty close. Some of the results still aren’t certified because the votes aren’t fully counted, and the challengers are still within striking distance.
Libby's Person
@Linda Featheringill:
Thanks. We worked our tails off in Durham NC, doing the stuff Dennis G. describes. We had a system in place to provide rides to people who needed them. I was a driver; it’s my favorite campaign volunteer activity. In addition to appointments, I went with canvassers a couple of times, ready to take people to early vote right there and then. We had people at the downtown bus terminal yesterday with signs saying ‘Need a ride to go vote?” Something like 100 people said yes, and got into a car with a total stranger to go vote. One rider from the bus terminal called three friends, who made appointments to be picked up after work. Many of the people I drove said that they probably would not have voted if a volunteer hadn’t called or knocked and offered them a ride. The best part was seeing how voting made them feel proud and happy; most were pretty quiet on the drive there, then were happy and talkative after.
And the work was worth it, even if NC disappointed us. Durham had 66% turnout, with about 74% voting for Obama, which was an even better result than 4 years ago. We’ll do our best to keep our state government from being too destructive.
garbo
Thank you Dennis, sincerely.
Chyron HR
@lamh35:
Haven’t you heard? It’s T plus 1 days since PRESIDENT-ELECT MITT ROMNEY!
David Koch
just think what you’ll be missing — you wont have Mitt to kick around any more!
dmsilev
@lamh35: Much as I dislike Romney, I can’t blame him and his team for doing some planning in case they won. 2.5 months isn’t all that long to get ready.
Thankfully, none of that will be necessary and we can all now return to that happy time when nobody gave a shit about Mitt Romney.
Violet
@lamh35: Well, it makes sense to have it ready to go. But his slogan: “Smaller, Simpler, Smarter”? Huh? I thought this was America. Bigger, Better, Bolder!
barath
OT: The Guardian has a nice video compilation of world reactions to Obama’s win.
Comrade Mary
Comic Sans! COMIC SANS! I am capping like a madwoman.
rikyrah
thanks for all you and those other canvassers
YellowJournalism
If it weren’t for those who worked on Obama’s campaign, we’d be knock-deep in Mitt right now. Thanks.
barath
@James E. Powell:
I might be a broken record on this, but Debra Bowen, our awesome CA Secretary of State, has already figured it out. She’s a rare public official who knows both the law inside out and technology, and what technology she doesn’t know she’s willing to bring in experts.
She put together a team of computer science and industrial design experts, along with legal and policy experts, and determined that the best modern voting system has:
1. Optical-scan paper ballots that can be filled out using an ordinary black pen. This makes fraud hard, is inexpensive, doesn’t require (limited-in-number) machines that then cause lines to grow long.
2. Mandatory random recount of 1% of ballots, followed by increasing fractions for close races.
3. Optionally, a limited number of electronic voting machines that print optical scan ballots for those who have bad eyesight.
garbo
@Violet:
This times infinity!
I see no reason we should fear the mid-terms with this Lamborghini in the garage!
barath
@barath:
Just wanted to include this link – you can listen to CA Sec. of State Debra Bowen’s talk on how to fix the voting system here – she’s a bit wonky, but great:
https://www.usenix.org/conference/17th-usenix-security-symposium/keynote-address-dr-strangevote-or-how-i-learned-stop
arguingwithsignposts
@Comrade Mary: what the hell?
arguingwithsignposts
@efgoldman:
I thought he was the Weasel?
Baud
@arguingwithsignposts:
Too unfair to weasels.
arguingwithsignposts
I am to assume the Angry Black Lady is still the Hungover Black Lady? Anyone checked on her? Any word on FdB? did he GBCW yet?
Baud
@arguingwithsignposts:
She’s on the Twitter.
arguingwithsignposts
@Baud: and yet we insult turtles? This interspecies injustice will not stand!
WereBear
This is what our local counties in NY have implemented, and I was impressed. Quick, paper trail, yet automated counting for quick response.
Thank you thank you to all the volunteers! EVERYONE, I’m sure, has done something towards this effort, but GOTV is the linchpin.
Baud
@arguingwithsignposts:
Why won’t Obama use the bully pulpit to support turtle equality?
Southern Beale
OMG. We’re big “Survivor” fans. The guy who got voted out tonight is a former pro baseball player. He had such huge sour grapes when he got voted off, he said you don’t even win a million dollars it’s more like $600,000 “because of OBAMA!” What a jerk.
Midnight Marauder
@dmsilev:
Even when they never had a realistic chance of winning? Because then this incident just becomes another episode of Mittens’ delusions of grandeur.
Anoniminous
@arguingwithsignposts:
“Comic Sans” is a type font with a deserved reputation for overuse.
“Capping,” short for capitalizing, is to cuss or scream at someone on a web site.
Kerry Reid
Adding my thanks to you and all the volunteers! I didn’t have as much time to give this election, so I tried to make up for it in donations. But the one weekend I spent canvassing in Dubuque earlier this summer convinced me that the OFA folks know how to do ground game. We just have to make sure that continues when we’re trying to elect people not named Obama.
GxB
@Baud: “Stoat” then? (such an unappreciated mustalid – they’d like the attention)
Violet
@efgoldman:
He looks like a grackle (the bird). And from Wikipedia, this behavior fits him pretty well:
And:
And especially:
He’s The Grackle.
Schlemizel
I have been fascinated by the quotations of William Hazlitt (if they pause it is only to gain time), he was a very interesting guy with a lot of very forward thoughts. I dropped a couple of them in an earlier thread.
But reading. tonight I came across the following quote. I have heard it several times before but did not realize it was form LBJ. Given that he grew up as a poor kid in 19-teens Texas he was a perfect target for the hate but instead he he grew up rejecting it and really dragged this country across the post on civil rights.
“I’ll tell you what’s at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man that he’s better off than the best colored man, he won’t notice you picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
arguingwithsignposts
@Anoniminous: I know all about comic sans. “capping” could be screen-capping. I was just trying to get context.
me too,also
thanks. again and again and again.
I love youse.
artem1s
I was able to take Election Day off and priveledged to see GOTV in action. I am so grateful to all the volunteers who came to OH. I met one kid who flew in from England to help out. I walked my neighborhood with a fellow from Chicago who was so excited and enthusiastic. The ward organizer was a wonderful Latina gal from VA. She is really going somewhere.
That’s the thing that awed me the most. All of these young people have learned this system and have all these tools at their disposal now. They are going to be a formidable force for decades to come. And every single one of them knows what can come of this kind of public service. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit if 15-20 years from now one of these GOTV kids was making an acceptance speech of their own. How can they not believe having seen what they have seen?
This administration has been a game changer in more than policy changes and legislation passed. It has allowed for the possibility that the campaign is as much about the movement as the personality whose name is on the ticket.
Anyway, thanks everyone for helping Ohio over the top and making sure that Husted BS got foiled.
Comrade Mary
@Anoniminous: “Comic Sans” spits in the eye of the great letterers of comicdom.
“Capping” is short for “screen capping”.
“Trolling” is — HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!
Anyway: The Romney cabinet that will never be.
Ash Can
I did much less work than Dennis, but I too can attest to the grass-roots nature of the campaign. With every group I worked with, there was a feeling of camaraderie, appreciation for each other’s work, and strong dedication to the president and to the goal of getting him re-elected. I want to see OfA reappear a year and a half from now in whatever incarnation is needed to get House Dems elected, and again in 2016 to get the Dem presidential candidate elected.
Chyron HR
@Midnight Marauder:
I liked Mittens’ Delusions of Grandeur better when it was called “Soap”.
Baud
Alternative title for this post:
GxB
@arguingwithsignposts: Objection is overruled.
amk
Excellent job, Dennis & Kay & OFA.
Jeep, Jeep, muthafuckahs.
Baud
@Ash Can:
Hell, I want to start canvassing for the mid-terms next week. Who’s with me? ;)
Violet
@Ash Can: I hope the President asks his “troops” to help get him the Congress he needs to do the work they want him to do. If he asks, people will get out and work for him. At least I think they will. If he reminds them it’s about them/us and not just him, that will make it all the more effective.
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh35:
Wow. Hubris. You know, if his team had put a fraction as much effort into GOTV as they did into designing that website, we really might be looking at President-elect Romney.
Or maybe they did it as a kind of visualization-affirmation exercise, for morale and all.
Todd
The awesomest Tumblr EVAR!
http://whitepeoplemourningromney.tumblr.com/
Lots of white tears.
amk
Totally OT.
Is the fucking 15 minutes of the fucking tundra twit is fucking finally over ?
artem1s
@SiubhanDuinne:
Well that’s what happens when you don’t really want get out the vote. When you’re default position on participation is “less is more”, sooner or later you are going to cut into your own base.
Baud
@Todd:
The thumbnail shot of Paul Ryan makes it perfect.
Anoniminous
@Comrade Mary:
So I was half-
wittedright.Looking at the link I see Mr. To B. Announced was going to have a LOT of work to do as well as a LOT of power running all those cabinet positions.
GxB
@Violet: My dad is a big time birder – he hates those things with a passion and has a little battery powered bb-gun to shoo them. Second order of business – let’s see: grackle, tackle, jackal, hackle… oh yes – passes the preliminary limerick test…. we have a contender.
Mark B.
Thank you for your work, Dennis. You and many people like you helped to keep America from sliding back into the morass that we inhabited during the wretched Bush years. You’re a true patriot.
redshirt
My Father cancelled Xmas at his house this morning via mass text. “Doesn’t feel like having it anymore”. I LOL’d – the Colonel has always been Conservative, but just recently became a Wingnut. My Sister took it much worse.
I LOL because I’ve tried and tried to reason with him – and he is smart, and very learned on many matters. And yet! Blammo! Fox talking points falling like shit from ass. So I turned to mocking him. Because that’s the only way left.
But of course, it’s sad, too. Almost like a family member with a serious illness. Foxified. And this has happened all over the country. I hope this election opens a few of their eyes.
Violet
@amk: God, I hope so. When she showed up on Fox News last night, my jaw dropped. She was in split screen with Greta Van S and she looked ten years older than Greta. I know Greta is older than she is, and I remember some interview with the two of them four years ago where Greta looked noticeably older. Now Snowbilly Snooki looks ten years older than Greta.
It has to be drugs of some sort. She doesn’t look well, her mannerisms are jerky and her eyes look wild. Not to mention that pelt she’s wearing on her head. She just looks ill.
I don’t see how anyone other than her most deluded fans can take her seriously. She makes no sense, her looks are gone so she’s not going to be giving anyone starbursts and she’s never been serious about policy. Where can she go from here? Oh yeah, she’s writing a diet and fitness book. Good luck with that.
Anoniminous
@Baud:
Already had a talk with a guy I’d like to see running for State Senator. He looked at me with horror.
Is there an Election Junkie Anonymous?
the Conster
Rachel is really bringing it tonight – she just summed up beautifully all the win last night, and boy, did she just explain how and why the wingnut bubble is so.much.FAIL.
Hill Dweller
@Todd: Captain America FTW.
Gravenstone
@Todd: Gotta love “Captain America” there.
Violet
@GxB: Yeah, grackles are pests. Serious birders don’t like them. They’ve got those beady eyes, just like Cantor. And groups of them are described as plagues. I think it’s a good fit.
Todd
@Baud:
My faves are the crying future pundit, and the one with the saluting Captain America with crying blonde.
the Conster
@redshirt:
Rachel just did a walk through of how last night may have been the reality straw that broke the wingnut back – that none of them saw it coming, and even when it came they didn’t recognize it. The jig is really up over there at Fox.
scav
fan base for captain america grows.
Gravenstone
@the Conster: I think a lot of the political class suspected it was possible, but refused to allow themselves to take it seriously. And then they all got swept up in the waves of epistemic closure. Suddenly, last night happened. SHAZZAM!
SiubhanDuinne
@Todd:
Wing nut tears taste so damn good
Zackly like I knew they would.
GxB
@Violet: I shudder to think of a plague of Cantors (insert clever photoshop of the Romlettes with a strategic substitution of the patriarch.) He is a one man army of bile fueled suck all by his lonesome.
the Conster
@Gravenstone:
Of all the things that media fear, it’s not being wrong, it’s being a punchline. The whole scene there last night was like a comedy skit – someone said one written by Ricky Gervais, which is just about right.
am
I would like to personally thank you for going out there to GOTV, Dennis. My gratitude for making it happen.
redshirt
@the Conster: I’m sure some will “SHAKKA HIS EYES OPEN!” But enough to make a difference? I’m skeptical. I was all hopey and changey in 2008 and look how that turned out, from the Wingnut side – madness.
For every Cole or CJ there’s a newly cloned Buford T. Wingnut registering to vote in Alabamey.
SiubhanDuinne
Oh, meant to tell y’all– I won $75 today in the Electoral Vote pool in my office. Ended up entering three times, one was barely squeaker (Obama 271 or something unrealistic), one was 303 and one was 332. He already has 303, so I win that, but if Florida’s 29 votes come through he’ll have 332. No one else predicted those numbers. Total pool had 15 entries, half goes to charity (the family we’re adopting for the holidays) and other half for the winner. As it happens I’m giving my winnings to the Xmas family anyhow, but OMG, the Glory!! All of you who kindly helped me the other day when I asked for guidance on predicting, thanks so much.
Suffern ACE
@Southern Beale: LOL. Richard Hatch thought he should be keeping more of those earnings, too.
garbo
@Violet: I second The Grackle!
The Fat Kate Middleton
@artem1s:
Exactly what I was thinking tonight. The young organizer I worked with came to our home tonight to pick up the various materials he had brought over last week to turn our place into a “staging location.” He told me he had just been on a conference call where he and his co-workers were told they would all be offered jobs in Washington. He’s pretty excited – and mostly because this could allow him to continue make a real contribution to his country. This bunch of kids I was working with here were the best.
Betsy
Dennis g, thank you for winning this for all of us.
Redshift
@Baud:
We have elections for governor in VA next year, and the likely GOP candidate is AG Ken Cuccinelli. Damn straight we’re starting organizing soon. Anybody who wants to come to Virginia and help would be welcome.
Redshift
I did, I think, seven walk packets in the final GOTV weekend, and my experience was similar (except that VA doesn’t allow as much early voting.) We had higher turnout than 2008 in Fairfax, and in the part of Fairfax that our campaign office handled, Obama won every precinct, even the ones that lean Republican.
It was awesome.
Redshift
Isn’t Eric Cantor’s nickname “Bitch Face”?
kay
It was really emotional here today. We had to break down the office by noon to allow the new tenants in.
I missed most of that because I had to work this morning and then I got pulled over for rolling a stop sign on the way there, but I did get to see them all before they scattered back to their “real lives”, which was a lot of fun.
We all live here, except the OFA staffer, so it’s not like we won’t see each other around, but there was still a LOT of hugging going on :)
It got nuts at about 2 PM and was like that until polls closed, plus I had a sort of crisis around 6 when I decided the OFA people in Toledo knew we were going to lose, based on a telephone conversation (and my imagination) but other than that one hour of delusional despair it went great.
Baud
@kay:
There you are Kay!
Kay!Kay!Kay!Kay!Kay!Kay!Kay!Kay!Kay!Kay!
Yay! Great work in Ohio.
Violet
@kay: Kay! We’ve been waiting to hear from you! Congrats on Ohio! And thanks for all your hard work! How did your candidate do, btw? Would love a recap, at your leisure of course.
kay
@Baud:
I may never forgive Mitt Romney for the “refuse to concede Ohio” hour. I just saw this endless battle over provisional ballots stretching out for months…give me a heart attack, why doesn’t he.
Frankensteinbeck
@lamh35:
Does anyone else look at these pictures and slogans and see The Smiler?
Baud
@kay:
Agree. I’m glad it ended last night for all our sakes.
kay
@Violet:
John lost, but he’s fine. He’s a labor guy, and they worked like dogs for Obama and Sherrod. They were still canvassing here at 7 PM. election night.
It’s a big win for them.
I’m grateful to him for running in such a red district. He brought out union voters.
SBJules
@Todd:
They look like a munch of Mormons.I so appreciate those who helped the Obama campaign. I did a couple of phone banking. The Obama crew are so, so good.
Violet
@kay: Glad it all worked out for him and you. Go put your feet up and rest for awhile. You’ve earned it!
kay
@Violet:
My daughter canvassed in Pittsburgh. She’s not really “political” but she was mad about the WoW (war on women).
Her boyfriend’s father told her “Rose, Pennsylvania is not a swing state”. He’s a Pittsburgh native and he couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about, why they were canvassing.
So funny. She was a little bent out of shape that they called PA so fast. Like she had been denied this big battle in the WoW :)
RK
A heartfelt thank you to all who worked for the Prez’s reelection. Without you folks it wouldn’t have happened.
Linnaeus
Crack open a Natty Bo for yourself, Dennis.
Bubba Dave
Great work Dennis. I drove up from Texas to Ohio in 2008, had planned on doing it again but sick cat kept me home (she’s doing better now, though not out of the woods). It’s like the time I spent with the Red Cross after Katrina– just a couple of weeks, but the feeling of having been a part of something bigger than yourself is great.
“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers…”
Next time you’re in Dallas, first round’s on me.
GxB
@Redshift: Legal rep from the Female Dog Visaged Individuals on line one, sounds pissed…
Dennis G.
@kay: We had that same time of “we’re gonna loose if we don’t get more people to the polls” moment in Columbus. Perhaps it was part staging and partly based on fears that we were not hitting our number. It lit a fire under us and I heard the same from other folks walking lists around the 614.
and then, we did it. Cheers and all the best!
kay
@Dennis G.:
Thanks for coming! I think it’s probably better we convinced ourselves we were losing, rather than what Republicans did: convince themselves they had won.
Later, I was sort of idly wondering what would happen if OH ( and then other states!) kept coming in and they just flat-out wouldn’t concede.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Redshift: I’m in. It’s only 2 hours from PA. And I know a lot of Virginia folks — it’s time to teach them how to canvass.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Linnaeus: What the hell, forget the Boh, go for National Premium!
Joel
Cantor is Iago, for what he’s about to do to Orange Julius.
piratedan
always pictured Cantor as Grima Wormtongue myself….. he just looks like a Grima…..
coredump
Thank you, a ton, for all the volunteers that made this happen. This would not have happened without you – “the boots on the ground”! This is what democracy is all about and you guys proved why this simple idea is so powerful.
I did GOTV in 2008 but did not this year. A heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you and to you Dennis for documenting the effort as well the payoff.
DFH no.6
Put up maybe 60-70 of those very stickers myself.
My wife and I took vacation and went back to our old hometown of Cleveland (where we were both raised) from our current home in AZ specifically to phone bank and canvass.
I’ve done campaign volunteer work in many elections (local and presidential) going back to my first in ’68 (I was a kid then, and “helped” my union worker dad during both Bobby Kennedy’s primary campaign, and during Humphrey’s presidential run, though I suspect I mostly got in the way).
Obama’s campaign this time was the best run outfit I’ve ever seen, a good step up from the previous best-ever (Obama’s in ’08).
At our staging location we had a bunch of kids in from Columbia University, along with a group of (mostly) old-timers like myself (and my sweet wife of lo! these many years). I absolutely love seeing young people getting involved like this. Gives me hope.
The enthusiasm amongst the volunteers calling and knocking on doors was invigorating, and the voter-targeting plans by the professionals running the campaign (including the couple campaign staffers at our location) were outstanding.
The weather sucked hard (cold and lots of rain) for a week and a half right till Election Day itself (especially to someone like myself who’s become soft by living in sunny Joe Arpaio County for over thirty years now).
But it didn’t matter at all because every once in a while I’d get an encouraging response from someone on my contact list like the one from a first-time voter (young white working-class mom, who was in her front yard helping her husband with a Sandy-uprooted tree) who told me of course she was going to vote for Obama cuz “we can’t let Satan get in there!”
Most credit goes to those who had been getting the ground prepared for months prior to the final GOTV operation (particularly the full-time campaign staff). That was a long, tedious slog, very smartly done, and made the work done by us multitude of part-time volunteers both relatively easy and immediately rewarding (by having us contact people who were likely to be supportive, they just needed a reminder).
Damn it felt good to play even a tiny part in helping turn out Ohio for the O-man!
And just because I can be small-minded and mean on occasion, I cheerily say to rightwingers everywhere, “Suck it, fascist motherfuckers!”