In Ohio, Obama's ground game outguns McCain's

[Mark E. Smith]

Source: Los Angeles Times

McCain has struggled to gain momentum in a battleground state that Bush won in 2004 -
and that he needs to win to beat the odds.

By Bob Drogin and Robin Abcarian
6:25 PM PST, November 2, 2008

John McCain has targeted this wealthy area just north of Columbus as one of 15 counties in
Ohio where he needs to drive up his vote tally if he is to beat Barack Obama on Tuesday in
this must win state.

But on Friday night, only nine volunteers manned the 24 phones in the McCain campaign
office. The phone bank began operating on a daily basis just two weeks ago. And only five
people have shown up on most weekdays since then to canvas local neighborhoods.

Obama's campaign, in contrast, has flooded this Republican bastion with volunteers. Some
canvassers first hit the winding streets of nearby subdivisions in March during the Demo-
cratic primary, and they have worked almost nonstop ever since in search of supporters.

Ohio is a battleground in the presidential race, and here's the view on the front line:
McCain's get-out-the-vote operation has struggled to build momentum, and it appears
outgunned by Obama's.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-ground3-2008...

---

Looks like seat-of-his-pants John McCain hasn't done his homework.

[onager]

1. And all of us geezers sing...

"Have Gun, Will Travel" reads the card of a man.
A knight without armor in a savage land.

His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind.
A soldier of fortune is the man called...Paladin.

Paladin, Paladin
Where do you roam?
Paladin, Paladin,
Far, far from home.

[PlanetBev]

7. Jeebus, Onager

I haven't heard or though about that song in years...old, old, old.

[eridani]

8. Jeebus. Thanks for the brainworm. NOT! n/t

[onager]

10. Well, get the update!

As found on many fine psychobilly/surfabilly compilations: Chuck Wagon & The Wheels doing a fearsome medley of Theme From Paladin/Ghost Riders In The Sky/Rawhide.

Almost as good as the awesome Munster's Theme by the Hillbilly Soul Surfers.

I was going to mention another great song, but with a Certain Personality running for office, the Secret Service might...

Oh, to hell with it:

Who Killed the Cheerleader? - Nekromantix, from "Return of the Loving Dead" (Hellcat label)

[roguevalley]

12. and I had SUCH a crush on Paladin. --RV, going down Geezer

Lane too.

[Politicalboi]

2. And his rally

In Ohio last week with Arnold only filled half the stadium. The stadium holds 20,000.

[starroute]

9. McCain just held a rally down the road from me in Perkasie, PA

I went looking for accounts of it last night. One news story said "hundreds of supporters" while another suggested "several thousand." Either way, it can't have been a lot -- but I suspect that hundreds is more likely to be accurate.


On edit: Here's a message board posting I didn't find last night:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/2008-presidential-electi...

Undercurrents in the political arena in the Philly area are abuzz that folks were given gift cards for meals for attending Perkasie rally yesterday. Apparently a few buses were loaded with seniors with the promise of gift cards being given out on the return bus ride.

[brooklynite]

3. Just got back from Cincinnati...

My canvassing unit hit 125% of their door-knocking quota by Sunday morning, and had to send volunteers elsewhere.

[Alcibiades]

4. It's like that in NC, too

At least in Durham. Legions of Obama volunteers everywhere. I've never even seen a McCain volunteer.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. K&R

[Zodiak]

6. Obama had at least 500 volunteers show up in Franklin co. to be line managers

With 154 polling places, that is over three PER POLLING LOCATION! They didn't hardly have enough chairs for all of them during the training session. Most volunteered to work from 6 am till 9pm...all day.

And the line managers are only one of the three types of units that are GOTV for Obama.

[TrogL]

11. It was like that here

Canada just had a federal election. I volunteered to be an inside poll worker. At my location, we had one snooty Conservative lady who was eventually replaced by one rather personable Conservative gentleman worker. We (NDP) had two on all day, plus a runner every two hours, plus later in the day two more scrutineers so at one point we had him outnumbered five to one. He said their GOTV operation had collapsed - their software was broken and they didn't have enough inside people, nevermind outside. The other Parties never even showed up.