Optimism On Ohio

[bigtree]

from Salon: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/31/ohio/index.html?source=rss&aim=/news/feature


How Obama might just win Ohio

In the state that broke Democratic hearts in 2004, favorable poll numbers and a wave of early voters could point to victory.

Oct. 31, 2008 | COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Buckeye stops here. Ohio is where Democratic dreams died four years ago as John Kerry came up 120,000 votes short of winning the state's 20 electoral votes and the White House.

But this year all the signs and portents are pointing in the opposite direction. Barack Obama has led in the last 11 published statewide polls, breaking the 50 percent threshold in the most recent survey released Thursday. Unlike 2004, the Democrats control the levers of state government, with Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner now portrayed by the Republicans as being as overtly partisan as her notorious GOP predecessor Ken Blackwell.

With all this good fortune, no wonder prominent Democrats are nervous. "This is not over until 7:30 on the night of Nov. 4 when the polls close," said Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, an early and avid supporter of Obama. "I know the other side will do all they can -- say anything -- to discourage the vote and to sway voters and persuade them. I hope it doesn't get any nastier from the other side. And we have to turn out our vote. Voter turnout is the key."

An examination of the party identifications of the 30,000 Franklin County early voters through last weekend by the Columbus Dispatch found that roughly 50 percent were registered Democrats, 45 percent were unaffiliated with any party and just 5 percent were registered Republicans. Even when absentee ballot requests (a GOP specialty) were included in the Dispatch's calculations, registered Democrats still dominated the pre-election balloting by a 2-to-1 margin over registered Republicans.

This is the first year that in-person early voting has been permitted in Ohio, so there are no easy comparisons of turnout figures. Due to a shortage of voting machines in Franklin County in 2004, Election Day waits of as long as four hours were common; anecdotal evidence suggested that thousands of potential Kerry voters went home without casting a ballot. This time around, not only is the Obama campaign encouraging early voting, but Democrats are apt to be motivated on their own to come down to the Veterans Memorial to beat the Election Day traffic.

read more: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/31/ohio/index.html?source=rss&aim=/news/feature

[livetohike]

1. My Ohio miracle......by brother in law went to see Pres. Clinton

speak yesterday and even shook his hand! My b-i-l is a lifelong Republican who will be voting for Obama this time!

[bigtree]

3. I think many folks underestimate the appeal of Bill Clinton

I heard a lusty, l long cheer for Bill when Barack mentioned him in a speech yesterday.

[Enthusiast]

5. Wonderful! Now if we could only convince more.

Great to hear it.

[livetohike]

7. My b-i-l is a young retiree (57), but they made him hold up

a "Seniors for Obama" sign. His hair is mostly gray. We got a good laugh out of that when he called us last night :-).

What turned him to Obama is he lost a nephew last year due to suicide. His nephew was an Ohio National Guardsman who served two tours in Iraq.....

[ellie]

2. I am getting

ready to GOTV. I go in at 12:30 today.

[bigtree]

4. fantastic, ellie

We're going to see what our party is made of in Ohio, this time around. Thanks for your work!

[Enthusiast]

6. Thanks, bigtree! nt