On the Ground

Black Swan

Just got through meeting with a financial consultant about taxes, being from one country and living in another. Ug! But afterwords we got to chatting, and the campaign came up. Found out that they had just gotten back from spending a few days in Nevada going from door-to-door encouraging people to vote, fielding questions, and generally advocating Obama-Biden as the solution to the financial mess. Their whole family went, and claimed that there were hundreds of Southern Californian Democrats that drove their own cars or were bused to and from Nevada.

Their goal was to deliver Nevada (an early leaning McCain state) to Obama on 4 November 2008. Apparently this is not an isolated example, but there are other Obama secure states like California that are crossing state lines and targeting a specific McCain state door-to-door. The overall strategy is not merely to win the presidential by a few electoral college votes, but to have a landslide victory to serve as a mandate to support change from the Bush era. They called this tactic "on the ground" campaigning, as opposed to relying on debates or candidate stops or advertising.

Has anyone else heard about or encountered this? It appears to be a subtle, yet massive effort on a national scale. Are the Republicans doing this also, and to the same extent as the Democrats?

EDIT: Oh, I just may have found sources for this:http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/on-road-st-louis-county-missouri.html

http://www.englandforobama.com/why-the-obama-campaign-has-worked-on-the-ground

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/obama-campaign-on-the-ground/

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1849422,00.html

Overheal

Well theres ACORN, but you also have College students registering in Droves in the states where they attend, and not their home states. Cant recall the specific numbers but about 40,000 new republican registrations and 130,000 new democratic registrations have happened in Colorado from 2004. Huge Numbers.

Black Swan

Nevada 2008 presidential poll history:

InAdv/PollPosition 10/13 Obama 49 McCain 46 (Obama +3)
LVRJ/Mason-Dixon 10/09 Obama 47 McCain 45 (Obama +2)
Reno Gazette-Journal 10/06 Obama 50 McCain 43 (Obama +7)
Rasmussen 10/02 Obama 51 McCain 47 (Obama +4)
CNN/Time 09/30 Obama 51 McCain 47 (Obama +4)
ARG 09/29 Obama 47 McCain 49 (McCain +2)

Is "on the ground" working for one party or the other? It's really difficult with so many variables that may be affecting the different polls in Nevada to identify what factors may be contributing to the poll spread. There is also the problem of the plus or minus confidence interval for each poll, which could throw a single digit poll in the opposite direction for the other candidate. Just eyeballing the above polls, it does appear that Obama has the majority of polls spreading in his direction? This should be troubling for McCain.

Pocono Joe

Yeah, I’ve also heard reports that in some states where a candidate has the vote sewn up, some people from both sides are traveling to other battleground states to try and influence the election.

One thing I’ve discovered though... There’s nothing wrong with California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure. :rolleyes:

Manic Moran

Works for her, she lives on a boat. My Bradley doesn't float.

NTM

Trojan

It's a very big deal from what I can see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zack-exley/the-new-organizers-part-1_b_132782.html

Trojan

Pocono Joe wrote: »

One thing I’ve discovered though... There’s nothing wrong with California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure. :rolleyes:

Joe, raise the bar, that's lame. The rolleyes don't justify that kinda remark.

FatherTed

Also, there's the Great Schlep:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgHHX9R4Qtk

Overheal

Ah, the Schlep.

GuanYin

Pocono Joe wrote: »

One thing I’ve discovered though... There’s nothing wrong with California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure. :rolleyes:

I'm from California, I find that remark totally unacceptable. I expect a response.

Trojan

Just to repeat this, I think this is a really big deal:

Trojan wrote: »

It's a very big deal from what I can see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zack-exley/the-new-organizers-part-1_b_132782.html

From a geek software engineer perspective, I love it. They're engineering a solution to the issue, instead of fixing with a quick hack like last time.

Overheal

GuanYin wrote: »

I'm from California, I find that remark totally unacceptable. I expect a response.

Wildfires? Im going with wildfires.

Just to repeat this, I think this is a really big deal:

Big article I will give it due diligence in the morrow.

Black Swan

Pocono Joe wrote: »

One thing I’ve discovered though... There’s nothing wrong with California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure. :rolleyes:

Is this comment appropriate for the US Election 2008 forum? How does it contribute to the discussion of the issues? It's not even funny. Good call Trojan and GuanYin.

Manic Moran

Jesus, has nobody a sense of humour any more?

Next you'll be telling me I can't say I live in the PRK.

Wildfires? Im going with wildfires.

Good call. After my last wildfire mobilisation I'm not on great terms with the things.

NTM

Pocono Joe

Trojan wrote: »

Joe, raise the bar, that's lame. The rolleyes don't justify that kinda remark.

I guess I raised the bar too high for some. "Nothing is wrong with California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure," is a famous quote from American writer Ross MacDonald (1915-1983). The humorous quote has been used, and also has come to symbolize satire about many of the odd political occurrences that come out of California (see link below as an example). It also has been used, along with other humorous quotes from other areas in the country, in referring to legislation that come out of California which affect other states negatively. (The use of lead in fishing tackle, like sinkers, is just one example that comes to mind. All fishing tackle that contains lead must now contain a special warning just for California, and in turn an extra cost to everyone else in the nation. Even if a manufacturer doesn’t ship to California, they are still liable if anyone they sell to, resells to California. And California law allows private citizens to sue, on behalf of the state, manufacturers that “break” their laws. So anyone in California with some extra money and a “cause” has now increased the cost of products to the rest of us, in both added product costs and extra costs to provide for litigation.)

http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_print.php?cdate=2003-09-09

Also, the comment was directed at Blue Lagoon who somewhat claims to be both a political authority and literary authority. If anybody would have gotten the connection, it should have been her. Also, she never seems to have any qualms going after me, so why would she take offense?

So going forward, do I act in kind at every questionable comment... complaining and taking offense to the many nasty things directed at me or my country? Or do I take the high road and not take everything to heart, laugh at myself and have a sense of humor about it all? Or realize this whole business just isn’t worth the aggravation?

Trojan

Pocono Joe wrote: »

I guess I raised the bar too high for some. "Nothing is wrong with California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure," is a famous quote from American writer Ross MacDonald (1915-1983). The humorous quote has been used, and also has come to symbolize satire about many of the odd political occurrences that come out of California (see link below as an example).

I must admit that I am unfamiliar with the quote. However, in context, I was wrong in what I said above - apologies!

I do recommend putting future quotes in context

Hobbes

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

Found out that they had just gotten back from spending a few days in Nevada going from door-to-door encouraging people to vote, fielding questions, and generally advocating Obama-Biden as the solution to the financial mess.

I don't see how this is an issue tbh. You have people working for the campaign, it is what they do. I am sure McCains camp are doing the same.

Now if they started doing to that when voting I would have an issue with it.

Trojan

Hobbes wrote: »

I don't see how this is an issue tbh. You have people working for the campaign, it is what they do. I am sure McCains camp are doing the same.

Now if they started doing to that when voting I would have an issue with it.

I thought it was normal practice.