Obama Banks on the Ground Game

[True_Blue]

Source: Time

With the surge in Republican enthusiasm and John McCain's poll numbers generated by the emergence of Sarah Palin as a GOP superstar, it's no wonder that many Democrats are already hitting the panic button. The Obama campaign, however, isn't sounding any alarms, and it's not just because it believes the post-convention glow will disappear soon enough and voters will get back to focusing on issues more than personality. Much of its confidence stems from a tactical advantage on the ground it showcased to great effect in the primary battle with Hillary Clinton, one which it believes could be the deciding factor in the general election as well.

For the next month, the Obama campaign's ground focus is on finishing up the stunning gains in voter registration that it and the Democratic Party have made. Since January alone more than 3.5 million new voters have been registered in 17 of the 23 states tracked closely by the Obama campaign where information is available. Three states — Florida, Michigan and North Carolina — have seen increases of more than 400,000 new voters and 10 more states have recorded new registrations of more than 100,000. Though these numbers include registrants to all parties, in 14 of the states at least half of the new voters are under 35, a key demographic for Obama.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1840141,00.html

[FrenchieCat]

1. That's what we were lacking in 2000 and 2004......

It will make the difference.

[truthisfreedom]

2. Let's correct that headline: "Obama continues campaiging, while McCain focuses on distraction."

[bluestateguy]

3. I'm taking the 4 days before Election Day off of work to do GOTV

nt

[garthranzz]

4. chunk-whirr-chunk-whirr

That? Oh, that's the sound of 3.5 million new votes being shreded, caged, flipped - disappearing into the ether.

*click* I'm sorry, says the renamed Diebold machine, we don't count the votes of anyone under 35 registered as a Democrat. But we will gladly do a strip search on you, whether you're flying or not.
*click*

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain stealing your election.

[flamingdem]

5. Get involved with EDA: What you can do to Defend Election '08 links

http://electiondefensealliance.org/what_you_can_do_defend_election_08



Examples from EDA's web site:

Sign up for Election Verification Polling (Citizen Exit Polls) in November
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/evp

Sign up with the I-Count Corps to handcount ballots
http://electiondefensealliance.org/count/signup.php

Download, read, and share the Blackboxvoting 2008 Citizens' Toolkit
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.html

Explore the links at the EDA Take Action page
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/takeaction

Write a Letter to the Editor (or your Representative)
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/let_people_count

Find and join a local election integrity group near you
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/Regional_EI_Directory

Join an EDA Working Group on a subject of your interest
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/workinggroups

Subscribe for E-mailed EDA Alerts and Announcements

Donate Financial Support
http://electiondefensealliance.org/Donate

Get involved in any of these EDA projects:

Investigating Election Fraud

The Arizona Transparency Project

Election Integrity Monitoring

Election Forensic Analysis

Universal Ballot Sampling Protocol for Election Verification

Commissioning Polls and Voter Surveys as Checks on Reported Election Results

Conducting Citizens' Election Verification Polls

Training Citizens in Hand-Counted Paper Ballot Elections (HCPB) via The I-Count Corps

Legal Initiatives such as the Save New York Levers Project

Legislative Analysis

Multipartisan Election Reform Advocacy

Election Integrity Broadcasts via California Public News Service

Education and Organizing at Saving America Vote by Vote Screenings

Podcasting on Election Defense Radio

Videocasting on EDA TV

[Rebellious Republican]

9. yeah, and what good is any of that, "when we the people" only

own the machine. However we do not own the rights to look at the code inside the machine. We just have to take some CEO's word that his machines are functioning properly. Yep, we all know CEO's and corporations will always do the right thing and can be trusted. Just ask Jeff Skilling's, Ken Lay, Bernie Ebers, Jack Abramoff.


Proprietary software
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Proprietary software is computer software on which the producer has set restrictions on use, private modification, copying, or republishing. Similar terms include "closed-source software" and "non-free software".

Proprietors may enforce restrictions by technical means, such as by restricting source code access, or by legal means, such as through copyright and patents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary_software

[Ghost Dog]

7. Yup. Cage the Cagers! n/t

[Indi Guy]

6. Debates, debates, debates! - While Barack's ground crew is still deftly ORGANIZING COMMUNITIES...

...Obama is gearing up for the debates!

McCain (not a Community Organizer) doesn't have anything close to Barack's grassroots organization.

Hillary learned the hard way -- never underestimate CO's (Community Organizers).

In the same way, McCain is about to lose on the ground ...and similarly -- lose the dabates.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Unfortunately, the debates are likely to be fixed (like Saddleback), so I wouldn't rely on them. n/t