invisible text

Hey sorry the text is invisible in post below.  I'm not sure what's wrong and I'm not sure how to fix it and I don't really have the time to figure it out.  When I get free time either late tonight or tomorrow I'll fiddle with it.  In the meantime, just attempt to highlight the text and it'll appear.  Thanks for your patience.  

Quick Notes

Hey all! If I thought the campaign was picking up steam before, then it really is now. GOTV starts on wednesday and we're got so much to do to prepare! So my posts will be slightly more intermittent than usual. Thank you all so much for the support and positive feedback; it means a lot to me.


Quickly:


My fellow campaigner Conor Boylan was interviewed by the local NBC affiliate and they ran a segment on him. Conor is one of the 2 people I've been working most closely with the past 3 weeks and is a good friend of mine. Unfortunately I don't make an appearance in the segment, but you can check it out here:


http://www.wkyc.com/news/politics_govt/politics_article.aspx?storyid=99433&catid=130



Additionally, I saw John McCain's appearance on Meet the Press yesterday morning wanted to make a quick point. Early in the interview, Tom Brokaw asked McCain about his statement that" he "is not George Bush," and later about the relation between his tax plan and the Bush tax cuts. Brokaw played a couple clips that show McCain completely contradicting his current campaign positions. I thought it was awesome. Here's an excerpt from the transcript:


Resemblance to Bush:

MR. BROKAW: Senator, in the last of the presidential debates moderated by Bob Schieffer, you drew greater distinction between yourself and George Bush. You said, "I am not George Bush." And then this past week in The Washington Times, a newspaper in Washington, this was the account, "Senator John McCain blasted President Bush for building a mountain of debt for future generations, failing to pay for expanding Medicare, and abusing executive powers, leveling his strongest criticism to date of the administration whose unpopularity may be dragging the Republican Party to the brink of a massive electoral defeat."`We just let things get completely out of hand,' he said of his own party's rule in the last eight years." But then we have an account of you on MEET THE PRESS going back to June 2005.

SEN. McCAIN: Yes.

MR. BROKAW: And this is what you had to say about your relationship with President Bush at that time.

(Videotape, June 19, 2005):

SEN. McCAIN: The fact is that I'm different, but the fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed. And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I have been totally in agreement and support of President Bush. So I strongly disagree with any assertion that I've been more at odds with the president of the United States than I have been in agreement with.

(End videotape)

(Videotape, March 5, 2008):

SEN. McCAIN: Well, I'm very honored and humbled to have the opportunity to receive the endorsement of the president of the United States, a man who I have great admiration, respect and affection. I intend to have as much possible campaigning events and--together as--in keeping with the president's heavy schedule, and I look forward to that opportunity

(End videotape)

And the tax plan:

SEN. McCAIN: I believe the worst thing you can do is raise taxes.

MR. BROKAW: Can we share with the audience, then, a couple of...

SEN. McCAIN: Sure. Sure.

MR. BROKAW: ...your comments about taxing wealthy Americans?

SEN. McCAIN: Sure.MR. BROKAW:

This is from April 11th, 2004. It's MEET THE PRESS...

SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.

MR. BROKAW: ...and this is what you had to say about wealthy Americans and taxes at that time.

(Videotape)

SEN. McCAIN: I voted against the tax cuts because of the disproportional amount that went to the wealthiest Americans.

(End videotape)

MR. BROKAW: And then this is what you had to say on "Hardball" back in 2000 to Chris Matthews.

(Videotape, October 12, 2000)

SEN. McCAIN: Here's what I, I, I really believe, that when you are--reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more.

(End videotape)

Here's a link to the full transcript of the show:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27388251/



Thanks again to everyone for the support. Stay vigilant! We must win!

Story of the Day

Here's a cool little story I found.  Couldn't find the actual link, so I'll just paste it in here:

 Story of the day -- "History, Dale Earnhardt Jacket and little old Jewish Ladies for Obama"

 

 

From Politico:

Upon arriving at the Hamilton County Board of Elections in Cincinnati to vote early today I happened upon some friends of my mother's — three small, elderly Jewish women. They were quite upset as they were being refused admittance to the polling location due to their Obama T-Shirts, hats and buttons. Apparently you cannot wear Obama/McCain gear into polling locations here in Ohio.... They were practically on the verge of tears.

After a minute or two of this a huge man (6'5", 300 lbs easy) wearing a Dale Earnhardt jacket and Bengal's baseball cap left the voting line, came up to us and introduced himself as Mike. He told us he had overheard our conversation and asked if the ladies would like to borrow his jacket to put over their t-shirts so they could go in and vote. The ladies quickly agreed. As long as I live I will never forget the image of these 80-plus-year-old Jewish ladies walking into the polling location wearing a huge Dale Earnhardt racing jacket that came over their hands and down to their knees!

Mike patiently waited for each woman to cast their vote, accepted their many thanks and then got back in line (I saved him a place while he was helping out the ladies). When Mike got back in line I asked him if he was an Obama supporter. He said that he was not, but that he couldn't stand to see those ladies so upset. I thanked him for being a gentleman in a time of bitter partisanship and wished him well.

After I voted I walked out to the street to find my mother's friends surrounding our new friend Mike — they were laughing and having a great time. I joined them and soon learned that Mike had changed his mind in the polling booth and ended up voting for Obama. When I asked him why he changed his mind at the last minute, he explained that while he was waiting for his jacket he got into a conversation with one of the ladies who had explained how the Jewish community, and she, had worked side by side with the black community during the civil rights movements of the '60s, and that this vote was the culmination of those personal and community efforts so many years ago. That this election for her was more than just a vote ... but a chance at history.

Mike looked at me and said, "Obama's going to win, and I didn't want to tell my grandchildren some day that I had an opportunity to vote for the first black president, but I missed my chance at history and voted for the other guy."

Local Voices for Obama

Here's a cool link curtesy once again from Michael Katz.  Called "Local Voices for Obama" the site is a project to show local support for Obama in battleground states but running ads showing their local stories.  Read more here!

http://truthandhope.org/localvoices/

Thanks Mike

Title Undecided

I'm sorry if my last post wasn't as coherent as I'd hope.  When I try and write like a journalist would, I tend to wax poetic skip logical steps.  So to remedy that, here's the last post in review:

"McCain seemed to get a sympathy bounce.  Then endorsements came from Powell and several prominent local newspapers and people came to their senses.  We're trying hard to not be complacent.  Go Obama!"

In other news, I feel like I'm hitting my stride at the office now.  We're getting good work done.  Brian and Andy just drove in from SF to help for the rest of the campaign and I'm stoked.

On a more substantive matter, check out EPI's latest Snapshot on economic stimulus packages written by our very own Ethan Pollack.  Good work Ethan.  

http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_20081022

Be one of the cool kids and sign up for the free email updates like me.  :-)

Momentum and Complacency

After the 3rd debate, when Obama once again beat McCain with both substance AND style, I think many Americans felt a sense of inevitability that Obama would become President.  McCain's Joe the Plumber attack feels analogous to the Battle of the Bulge, his last attempt to stop Obama's momentum.  Initially it gave the Republicans a legitimate issue to talk about, the a recession is not the right time to raise taxes.  In fact, I met some undecided voters who used that argument against me when I came to their doors.

But just as the Battle of the Bulge was only a temporary hiccup before an Allied victory, Joe the Plumber is falling flat.  The Plain Dealer, an influential right-leaning Ohio newspaper, endorsed Obama yesterday and made the point as well and as simple as anyone could; "tax cuts and deregulation alone do not make for an economic strategy."  Obama's tax plan is in essence a rollback of the Bush tax cuts which worked so well to maintain our previously humming economy.  Only an idiot will keep trying the same strategy and expect a different result.  

While McCain keeps pushing the Joe the Plumber line (I heard McCain give a speech this morning where he suggested that there were 3 Presidential candidates at the debate last week; him, Obama, and Joe the Plumber) most people have already made up their minds and they see the writing on the wall.  Most polling sites I've seen agree that Obama has about 264 solid electoral votes, needing to win only one of the contested swing states to take the Presidency.  Our "flake rate" of volunteers promising to come canvass and then not showing has started to  accordingly.

Here we're continually reminded that no lead is safe, and complacency will not lead to the White House.  We're reminded of the New Hampshire primary, when Obama lead significantly in the polls only to lose by about 8 points.  We all know of the Bradley Effect, and how close the polls in Ohio still are. Just this morning an office email went out where we all pledged to not go to blogs, YouTube, facebook, or otherwise get distracted until the election (this will be difficult for me, since this is the only place I can get my computer online).

Obama himself address this issue (I read about it on fivethirtyeight.com) reminding us that he's been campaigning longer any of us, and he's also older that most of us.  With that in mind I'm going to stop blogging and only post when I get home each night.

But first a quick shoutout to my good friends Brian Pastore and Andy Morrisson, who are currently somewhere between Denver and St. Louis on there was to campaign with me in Cleveland.  Three cheers for Brian and Andy!

Lets not get ahead of ourselves...

Here's an interesting tidbit about Irish bookies taking bets on the Presidential election from my fellow volunteer Conor Boylan.  Apparently the bookies' are paying out early on Obama bets.  Thanks Conor.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081016/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_bookmaker_obama_odd_3

Joe the Plumber

Joe the Plumber, Joe the Plumber, Joe the Plumber is friends with Joe Six-Pack.  When Joe the Plumber and Joe Six-Pack hang out, the essence of the America spirit becomes so rich and intense that a bright light actually descends from the heavens to bless Joe and Joe as they drink beer and fix leaky sinks.  In conclusion, Joe the Plumber, Joe the Plumber, Joe the Plumber wants you to vote McCain.

In all seriousness, did anyone see "Joe the Plumber" coming?  Apparently he's topping all search engines, there's already Joe the Plumber T-shirts and merchandise, and he's already trying find a way to use his new found fame to help his plumbing business.  McCain was hoping to resonate with the small business owner worried about taxes, but from what I've heard it hasn't worked that well.  To me it seemed like another campaign stunt, or simply one more in a long line of different campaign messages.  Regardless of who won the debate and people's perception of that, it seemed pretty clear to me that McCain didn't have the clear victory he needed to stop Obama's momentum.  

I also find it interesting that "Joe" has 3 major problems:  he owes back taxes, he's not a licensed plumber, and he would recieve a tax cut under Obama's plan.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14652.html

Great Lakes Brewery

On a non-political point, my host family took me and a couple other volunteers to their restaurant and brewery last night.  They own the Great Lakes Brewing Co, which is a prominent micro-brewery in the Midwest, similar in stature to Anchor Steam as far as I can tell.

They took us on a tour of the brewery before dinner and wow, I was impressed.  Not only was it really cool to see the inside of a brewery where the beer was brewed, fermented, treated, and bottled, but I was so impressed by how ecologically friendly the plant is.  They recycle almost everything that is used in the brewing process, either by straight recycling or deals with other local businesses.  The cloth bags used to carry the barley are turned into grocery bags; all wooden and paper products are broken down and recycled; the used barley after brewing is broken down into fertilizer mulch and used at a local farm where they grow the vegetables used at the restaurant; and (this is the coolest one) the leftover fat/grease used to make the french fries is refined into fuel that can run a diesel engine!!  There are a lot more cool eco-friendly aspects to the brewery (and restaurant) that I don't remember.

Anyway, on top of that the beer was amazingly good.  We had a sampler of all 12 of their varieties and every single one was above average if not outright terrific.   We even got to try their famous seasonal Christmas Ale that hasn't be released to the pubic yet (Pat pulled one off the line just after it had been bottled).  The beer had been hyped to me previously, and it certainly didn't disappoint.  A Belgian barley wine aroma but with a crisper ale texture, mixes with various spices of cinnamon, honey, and another I can't remember.  All the flavors were very well balanced so none of them overpowered the others.  I know I'm gushing a bit, but it seriously was an unexpectedly impressive brewery experience.

On a more political note, my good friend Ethan Pollack found a really good article about Obama's "ground game" in the state of Ohio.  The article (from the Huffington Post) doesn't discuss Cleveland, but should give you a better sense of the details of what I'm doing.  Thanks Ethan.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zack-exley/the-new-organizers-part-1_b_132782.html

GOTV Volunteer Call

Hey all,  I'd like to urge all of you to consider coming to Ohio to volunteer for the final push to election day, Nov 1-4.  While we all feel good about the poll results, all that really matters is our supporters showing up on election day and actually voting for Obama.  If this race gets as close as it did in 2000 or 2004, than Ohio will be a crucial swing state we have to win.  Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) will be a critical part of turning out as many Obama votes as possible.

I know Ohio is a long way from California, but every volunteer on the ground is worth about 10 votes in the polls, at least.  And I know you'll all be impressed by our ground game out here, which I'd love to share with you now but I know you all understand why I can't.  If nothing else we can all go to the watch party together!

If your interested, send me an email or give me a call and we can talk specifics.  We can be flexible to accommodate whatever your schedule allows.

On an unrelated note, here's a link to a TIME article about what the Troopergate report really says about Palin:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1849399-1,00.html

Here's a comparison between Obama and McCain's tax plans, scaled to the number of Americans in each bracket (curtesy of Michael Katz.  Thanks Mike):

http://chartjunk.karmanaut.com/taxplans/

And I took a picture of a pro-McCain yardsign that I wanted to share with you, but I can't figure out how to get pictures off my iPhone.  It has a picture of Obama's horizon logo with a circle and line thru it and then says, "No thanks, but I've already got a Messiah."  Amusing, disturbing, saddening...  oi.  I'll post the pic once I figure out this phone

Link Dump

Joe's pointed me to another good polling site. 

It's www.electoral-vote.com/  

Very cool stuff Joe

GOTV

So we've started talking about our strategy for our Get Out The Vote drive in the days preceding the election. I really have to be vague when talking about what we're doin, but suffice to say we'll be working hard doing some exciting stuff. After the election I'll be able to give you all the rundown, once I sleep for a week straight. Rest assured we won't leave a stoned unturned or a door unknocked by election day. Ah! I wish I could say more!

Obama and the military

I've noticed an interesting trend with certain voters and their views on Obama and the war on Terrorism.  They seem to have radically different views on whether he would be good for the military or bad, and that it is the deciding factor of their vote.

One guy I met liked Obama on all of his domestic policy (healthcare, economy, etc...) but was voting McCain because he thought that the idea of a timeline to withdraw from Iraq was dangerously bad.  He had friends and family over there, so I can understand why he's touchy over the subject, but I couldn't seem to convince him that the idea of a timetable was so inherently bad that it overrid all of the other good thing about an Obama presidency.

On the other side, I met a guy who wasn't convinced Obama was ready for the job until he picked Biden as a running mate.  Apparently Biden would have the foriegn policy experience to help Obama, and then we would stop "pussy footing around" and use nukes to scare the Arab countries into not fighting us.  He had a military background, and saw no reason why we had to send troops to the middle east to fight terror when we could just call them up and threaten nuclear attacks.

I find it strage that there are such completely contrasting views of Obama and how we think he'll approach the war on terror.  These are just examples, but there are plenty of others that alternatively think he'll be too weak or too strong on terror.  What do you all think?  Any advice on what to say to these people?

Supporter Housing

Here's a shouout to my wonderful host family, who have been gracious enough to open there home to me (plus another guy who should arrive tonight), Pat and Jeanne Conway.  They've been incredibly supportive in rides, food, and freindly conversation in the time I've been here.  They also own their own micro-brewing company, Great Lakes Brewery.  They only operate in the midwest not going farther west than Colorado, but if you happen to be out this way try some of their beer, its fantastic!

Sorry about the long post...

Sorry about the long first post. Here are a couple links that I like visiting for good political info:

factcheck.org
fivethirtyeight.com (uber polling site)

Inaugural post - 1 week in

Welcome to the inaugural post of Ben's Ohio Campaign Blog about my experiences coming to Cleveland to volunteer on the Obama campaign! This is not only the first post for this blog, but also my first blog post of any kind, so here we go.

First I'd just like to thank anyone who spends the time to read my blog, and I fully encourage you to post you comments, questions, or requests for future posts. This will likely be a work in progress throughout the campaign, so I'll try my best to be as informative and insightful as possible. I will try to explain my ideas and observations as eloquently as possible, but there will probably be times when I'm not being as clear as I think I am. If you want to discuss further any point I make, I'll be happy to discuss more.

Why I'm in Cleveland

So some basics of my trip: after taking the Bar this summer (thank god that's over with) I found myself with a window of open time before my results come in and no particularly compelling path for me to follow. So I started paying more and more attention to this historic race for the Whitehouse and became increasingly inspired by Obama and the certainty that not only could we not afford another 4 years of a Republican President, but that Obama was a different breed of politician. Like many Californian Democrats, I no longer wanted to sit on the sidelines and cross my fingers that the rest of the country sees everything the way that we do.

So I started emailing to find some contacts on how to get involved (a special thanks to Steve and Sam Hirsch for helping me get the ball rolling). After talking to at least 4 different coordinators I wound up heading to Cleveland to "campaign," without any instructions more specific than that. I arrived in Cleveland on October 1st, just shy of 5 weeks until election day. I've been here about a week now and its been quite an experience so far. I'll be here through election day, so I'll get to see all the craziness mount as it approaches.

The City of Cleveland

For those of you who've never been to the Midwest or Cleveland before (like me), we really don't know anything about this region other than its a "swing state." Cleveland is in Cuyahoga County right on Lake Erie, with a population of around 2 million people. This is the staunchest democratic county in Ohio, with most of the red regions in the southern part of the state. the weather here is all over the map, from cold an windy my first day, to rainy yesterday, to a sunny summery day today. The locals tell me to expect snow by the end of the month, and enjoy the leaves turning until then.

The people here seem to have wildly different opinions of the city. The ones born and bred here have a very negative opinion, citing the lack of progressives, the undercurrent of corruption and sluggishness of local politics, crappy weather and long standing economic downturn. My favorite quote was one guy who said that only thing the politicians got right was to have a lot of street cleaning.

Those that have moved here to become permanent resides have a much higher opinion, pointing to the proximity of beautiful Lake Erie, a good city park system, numerous renowned orchestras and music, good city planning (although a lack of a subway and sub par bus system, good food and sense of pride that the Rust Belt is the "engine that pumps the nation's economy." I don't think I've seen enough of the city to make my own judgments just yet, but I certainly enjoyed the West Side Market, a large indoor open-aired market of fresh produce, meats, falafels, bratwursts and cheeses that rivals any gourmet shop in SF.

In any case, the people of Cleveland are extremely politically energized. While there are a few people who are adamant that they will not vote or be politically involved, almost everyone I meet is ready to talk and share their support and feelings on what's going on. Even the legitmately undecided voters are eager to talk and have you convince then to vote Obama.

The outpouring of local volunteers is also amazing. People from all walks of life are interested volunteering, from old ladies who come in to make phone calls, to young poor men with 2 kids already ready to canvass, to middle aged blue collar workers. I went canvassing with this one guy yesterday who had a heartbreaking tale of being unemployed for nearly a year despite his best efforts, trying to support his daughter's swimming career without the ex-wife's support, while his current wife is stuck in the Ukraine for the past year and a half over some visa problems. And he still comes out every day and canvasses for Obama. Its quite moving actually.

I could go on an on about all the people I've met so far, but I'll move on for now.

The Campaign

So I work out of the Lakewood office, one of the burroughs on the west side of Cleveland. [EDIT - I can't divulge too much of our campaign methodology so I've removed those portions] The office is almost always buzzing with organizers preparing the day's activities, locals coming by to pick up Obama yard signs (which we apparently never have enough of) and the dozens of volunteers who flood back at the end of the day. We recently finished out voter registration drive (the deadline was monday) and now we're preparing for our [EDIT].

Never having worked on a campaign I'm astounded by the level of organization work that goes in to the campaign. After knocking on doors all day, we typically work until 10,11, and sometimes midnight entering all the data collected during the day, making phone calls, and following up on potential volunteers. I hit the ground running and have been working 12 hours almost every day. Today is my first day off and I'm not sure when I'll have another.

So far I've done mostly canvassing, personally registered about 100 voters (most standing in the parking lot of a large grocery store the night of the deadline), made volunteer recruitment calls, and helped out in the mailroom. Apparently [EDIT - I helpd sort] fliers that exposed the 2 hidden points of McCain's healthcare plan. I thought it was a really well done flier.

My fellow campaigners are really inspiring. While there are a few paid staff positions, they're not paid that much, especially considering the hours we put in. Some of the volunteers celebrated the other day when they[voted early at] the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (at 2925 Euclid ave open 8:30a-5p weekdays, 9a-1p sat and 1p-5p sundays in case you were wondering if I had that memorized) to cast their early vote for Obama. (Quick note on Early Voting - Ohio is letting people vote in person at each county board of election every day between now and the election. While the first couple days had lower than expected turnout, lines have started to form and more people are logging in their votes. While we *think* that votes are being counted already, there is absolutely zero word on what that count is).

We have volunteers from all over the country, and while most are young people in their 20's, we do have a solid contingent of older full time volunteers around retirement age. I went canvassing with a lovely women named Margie in her 60's (I think) who helped me tackle a ridiculously large packet of over 180 doors in one day. She's really a trooper! One day I also went out with a family from new york; a mother, father and daughter who came down for the weekend to help out. Before I talk about how cool each and every volunteer is, I'll end with a woman named Rachel who is in Rabbinical school in LA. She was so enthusiastic to make as much of an impact she repeatedly asked for larger and larger packets so she could register as many voters as possible. She'd come back from a day canvassing, grab more voter reg forms and head out to the bar and club scene to register people on the block. The last we saw of her was her stopping mid packet to literally run to her car so she could speed to the airport and catch her flight home for Yom Kippur.

The Overall view of the campaign

The one downside of working on the campaign this way is that its hard to follow the big stories that are getting play on the news. We're spending so much time examining that bark on each tree that we have no idea how big the forest is, although we try and check the news as much as possible. For the 2 debates that were held since I've been out here we all headed down to a local Irish bar and cheered and booed and appropriate moments. For the VP debate the bar actually handed out "Palin Bingo" cards which were pretty funny. All I needed was a "dependence on foreign oil" line and I would have won. At least I think that's what I needed.

As I mentioned, this part of Ohio is pretty strongly democratic, so we get a lot of encouragement and support from the people. Our main focus is to motivate as many as possible to get to the polls and maximize the impact of the region. All the reports of favorable poll numbers just gives us more motivation to do more work, although we're all pretty tired.

Speaking of which, I think I'll stop here for now. Next time I'll try and talk about some of the interesting views people have on why they're for or against Obama, and how some people are still undecided (amazingly). Please bear with me, as I've been extremely busy, and will try to make new posts and comments as I can. Suggestions and feedback are appreciated!

Ben