Barack Obama has a comfortable lead over John McCain in California, being a state that is always reliably blue. But, with so many fired up Democrats available for phone banking to swing states and trips to the very important neighboring state of Nevada, the Obama camp is putting California energy to work.
California is a state that's always reliably blue and San Francisco is the bluest part of the state. This means that when it comes to a hard-fought national campaign, Presidential candidates rarely spend time here. But, that doesn't mean they don't tap into our fired-up blue energy. Over the weekend (on Saturday, September 13), Obama opened his campaign headquarters in S.F.
http://www.flickr.com/...
The main purpose of the San Francisco office is phone banking to swing states, especially those mid-western battleground states - like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan - where the election always seems to be focused. Remarkably, our close neighbor state of Nevada - usually considered to be reliably red - is this year considered very much in play. The housing meltdown in Las Vegas and a huge advantage in new Democratic voters in the state have pushed Nevada into the toss-up column. So, another big function of the Obama office in San Francisco is voter registration and GOTV in Reno, Carson City, and other Nevada cities within driving distance of the Bay Area.
The latest Rasmussen poll for Nevada, taken on the same day as Obama's office opening, gives John McCain a slight lead over Obama there, 49% to 46%. So targeting Nevada voters is a prime focus of San Francisco's efforts.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...
San Francisco's District Attorney, Kamala Harris, is chair of Obama's California statewide campaign. She was at the office opening, talking to the media, firing up the volunteers, and introducing a slew of local Democrats also on hand to provide inspiration. Included were Nancy Pelosi's daughter, Christine Pelosi, author of the book "Campaign Bootcamp" and a tireless Democratic advocate, State legislators Tom Ammiano and Fiona Ma, State Equalization Board member Betty Yee, San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly, and several members of the S.F. Democratic Council. Also on hand were DemocracyAction and Take Back Red California, local Democratic clubs working to turn red states, and red CA Congressional districts, blue. Here's the website for Obama's headquarters in S.F.
http://www.sfobama.com/
Since California is so reliably blue, it's hard to find good polling data on the state of the race in CA. The most recent I could find was from Rasmussen on August 22, which gives Obama a 13 point lead in California, 51% to McCain's 37%. California is so reliably blue, even the pollsters don't waste money here.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...
Although this poll was taken before the selection of Sarah Palin to be the GOP Vice President, my guess is she did little to help McCain in California. The fact that no more recent polling data is available tells me that pollsters also believe this to be true.