Archive for October 29th, 2008
Philadelphia Phillies..World Series Champs
October 29th, 2008
Neither rain nor sleet nor snow could stop our Phillies from winning the World Series.
Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays too for a Series well played.
Posted in 
Did Obama Campaign Eat the Caviar too Soon?
October 29th, 2008
Listening to the news the past couple of days for the first time since we got the new puppy, I am hearing the polls are tightening up. Gallup showed a 2 point Obama lead among likely voters last night, a 4 point surge by McCain overnight. I am reminded of the famous 1948 Chicago Tribune headline held up by Harry S Truman, stating Dewey had defeated Truman. We all remember President Dewey, don’t we? 
Now it seems the Obama campaign has released an urgent memo with a fill in the blanks form for a call to GOTV.
†Friends – Please take the time to read this.
After two years of working with Barack, I’ve been down in Miami now for about four weeks helping put together our final push for getting out the vote. Early voting started 8 days ago and we feel like we have a slight early advantage — but we are urgent. Polls for the last couple of weeks have given us a small lead of 4-5 points. If we are successful in getting out the massive numbers of voters that live here in Florida, Barack will win this state and make history.
We have last minute needs and I need your help. Here are our urgent needs:
1. People who are willing to come to Florida to do key GOTV activities of knocking on doors and making phone calls — this is our single biggest need. We don’t need anyone who wants to come down and hang out — we need workers. There are 600,000 African Americans who were registered to vote in 2004 who did not vote; 900,000 registered voters under the age of 35 who did not vote in 2004 and around 400,000 Hispanics who were registered but didn’t vote in 2004. These are key groups for us and with poor voting history, a special effort needs to be made. There are also 900,000 newly registered voters in the state — a large number are Democrats and Independents who we also need to pay special attention to. We will take anyone who is willing to talk to voters — and in Florida, with such a diverse population, we could use as many diverse people as possible. Spanish-speaking and those who speak Creole are in high demand.
2. We also need help with our Faith Outreach Program — people who will be here before Sunday morning to attend services, possibly speak on behalf of Barack Obama and help with GOTV churches and African American voters in general. We also need help with Hispanic churches, progressive denominations like Episcopal, United Church of Christ, etc.
3. We need experienced people who can help with inner-city GOTV efforts – mostly African American and Hispanic.
4. We need a few people who can help with GOTV logistics — creating walk packets, managing phone banks, running transportation systems, etc.
5. Attorney who can help with voter protection.
6. I’m sure there are other things we need that I’m not thinking about right now — but the bottom line is we need help.
There is a lot at stake here — 27 electoral votes, but also the future of building Florida into a majority Democratic state in the years to come. After an aggressive voter registration program here, Democrats now have a registration advantage of around 650,000 voters. In 2010, there will be critical races to oust Governor Christ and Senator Martinez. In 2012, after a new census, redistricting will take place and Democrats need to have a serious role in drawing the map. Florida is likely to pick up 3-4 new congressional seats, which means 3-4 additional electoral votes, making it even more important to keeping a U.S. House majority and an increased role in presidential races to come.
Winning Florida could be what gets Barack over the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. But it will also be a major moral boost and provide momentum for Florida Democrats to build and succeed in the future.â€
I’ve noticed Sen. Obama looks a bit haggard this week, almost as though he were worried about something. It could very well be his sick grandmother and I’m sure that has a lot to do with his worries, but it wouldn’t explain why he spent two days in Pennsylvania this week, Biden spending one with him and another by himself and Bill Clinton hustling votes for him in Pennsylvania Thursday.
Why all this attention to Pennsylvania by Barack Obama in the final week of the campaign if internal polls are not showing a disturbing trend? After all, Pennsylvania was supposed to be a reliably blue state.
Here is the opening line of the above-linked story:
In a phone interview with FOX News, Barack Obama’s deputy campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand said: “John McCain is right. Things are tightening in the battleground states.â€
Hildebrand then goes on to admit similar memos were sent to North Carolina, Georgia and Ohio, but says things are not so “acute” in Pennsylvania.
Hmmm. We shall see what we shall see next Tuesday, but knowing how many stops he and surrogates have made in “safe” Pennsylvania when the plan was to campaign in “safe” Red States makes me think Hildebrand doth protest too much.
Obama has a well-oiled campaign machine, tons of money, and most of the press on his side. McCain has run a lousy campaign, has stuck to $84 million in public campaign financing, has been hit upside the head with almost everything the Obama press has to use, Sarah Palin has been personally attacked as well as her family, and yet Obama is still campaigning in Pennsylvania. He can’t quite close the sale and with new information about PLO links he has to be hoping the LA Times will stick to its guns and not release the tape that will probably be more damaging than the written transcript. Otherwise, why not ask for its release if it would help him?
We have heard the Obama campaign plans a victory party that includes caviar. (How “middle-class”. I eat it once a week. NOT!) They can still have the caviar, but will it be a victory party or a pity party?
Again, we shall see what we shall see next Tuesday.
Volumes Said..Only One Minute To Say It
October 29th, 2008
“We resent it when liberals like Obama question our way of life.” So says Hanks Williams Jr. in this McCain/Palin radio campaign ad:
A Must Read For North Carolina Voters
October 29th, 2008
North Carolina voters are more likely than those in other states to cast ballots in national elections without making a choice for president.
Unlike many states, a straight-party vote in North Carolina does not cast a vote for president. A ballot expert says the split makes it more likely that voters, especially new voters, will leave their polling places failing, by mistake, to vote for president.
[emphasis-mine]
If you reside in North Carolina do not miss the balance of the above post!
Wednesday..As Good A Day As Any To Share A Good Read…(And Watch)
October 29th, 2008
About that tax plan offered by Senator Obama:
bama’s been lowering the bar on his tax plan. Where he once claimed that only Americans making over $250,000 would see tax increases, he’s now down as far as $200,000 and maybe even $150,000 if his running mate Senator Foot-In-His-Mouth is to be believed.
But one aspect of Obama’s tax plans have been ignored. See, Obama and his comrades are also promising to let the Bush tax cuts expire. If that happens, we’d see massive tax increases for Americans making as little as $50,000/year.
Pretty soon the only people receiving any tax break at all will be those who pay none to begin with!
Hope for McCain supporters (even if it’s just a little bit) from DJ Drummond:
I have been saying all along, that McCain was closer to Obama in the election campaign than the polls were indicating. However, I have been doing so by focusing on party affiliation, the demographic most fiddled with by the polls. Those critiquing my analysis have sometimes pointed to internal demographics which show problems for McCain. With just a week until the end of the season, let’s see where the thresholds for election are, with regard to demographics. That is, what is the minimum performance in each area which was enough to get the win?…..
Over at Musing Minds I found the one line post of the week to date.
Check it out..it has something to do with that wealth distribution we’ve heard about lately. It seems the concept really does run in the democratic family.
Who knew that the Speaker of the House is such a comedienne? Made me laugh!
Live From the Ministry of Truth. A new video from Ed Driscoll..good stuff!
