With a slight edge in the polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania, it's looking more or less like Kerry may actually win the election. Additionally, we know that we can expect high voter turnout for this election, and that high voter turnout favors Democrats. Right?
Well, here's something the polls, and the conventional wisdom about voter turnout, might not factor in: it's the thing that won the Senate back for the GOP in 2002 and gave Bush a mandate for his war and his administration. I'm referring to The 72 Hour Task Force. It's the GOP's way of nullifying the Democratic advantage in voter turnout. And if you haven't heard of it, you might want to read up about it, and then consider getting involved in a swing state next weekend.
Background
The 72-Hour Task Force is a simple idea: a massive, face-to-face, door-to-door volunteer effort to get out the vote in conservative areas. The Minnesota College GOP has this description:
It's time to secure our grassroots troops for the final push, our 72-hour task force. The 72-hour task force is credited with driving the success of the Republican Party in recent years. This year's 72-hour task force will be more important than ever before, as Minnesota is expected to be won by whatever campaign works harder the final days of the election. Shifts will be 9am-1pm, 1pm-4pm, and 4pm-8pm from October 30th to November 2nd. Volunteers who sign up for five shifts or more during the final 4 days of the election will be able to stay for free at the election night hotel, where the victory party will take place, the Opus Marriott in Minnetonka! To sign up for you shift today please contact ....
Similar efforts are in place in every state; here's stories on this task force in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Mexico.
The solution
At this point, there's nothing we can really to do convince undecided voters to go Kerry. The solution has to be getting out our own vote, and doing it with a vengence. That means all of us need to get involved and get out there this weekend.
The problem, of course, is that we risk over-campaigning and alienating voters. This problem is mostly a matter of bad information and lack of communication. The solution to both of these is to get involved directly with the Kerry campaign and the Democratic party, as opposed to a 527 group such as ACT or MoveOn.org. Unlike 527s, the Kerry campaign and the Democrats keep track of their most reliable supporters and know who to nudge and how. The key is that they need not only people to hit the streets, but people to work in the office and update their databases. If you can do either of these things this week, and/or donate a spare or used computer to the effort, it will go a long way towards getting out the message effectively.