I live in Stevens Point, near the center of the state. This area has been hammered by job layoffs lately, with only the local university going strong. It is a fairy Democratic area, with a Dem state rep and senator.
Here's what I have seen over the last weeks.
Obama has an actual office. Pretty good ground game for a city of 23,000. Not much, just some young volunteers, rounding up local people for GOTV and handing out signs.
To that end, I was visited today by an Obama volunteer going through a voting list. Not just walking about, but checking off voters, making sure they contacted everyone. Not a kid, but a gray haired gent my own age.
Clinton also has staffers in the area, as a front page story in the local paper noted. The story featured a photo of a college student holding a "girls for Hilary" sign and supporting quotes from a Students for HC chair. Even she had to admit that the candidate support is mixed and was reduced to urging students to study Clinton's plans and not pay attention to the "young factor." Odd thought for a college student. I have not seen much from the Clinton campaign, but maybe they are focused on the campus vote.
Saturday (today) is really the last day for walking around. Big storm coming in tonight - up to a foot of snow with winds to match. Monday people will be at work. Tuesday is the primary.
The TV ads are not overwhelming. The Clinton ad about Obama avoiding debates was weak. I've seen all the debates I care to watch. Yes, we do have TVs in Wisconsin. I thought the reply by Obama was stronger, since it replied and changed the subject. Clinton's re-reply was too wonky and looked like a gotcha. I am not a huge TV watcher, especially during the writers' strike, so maybe the ads are more common, but I've only seen them once or twice each.
Did get a couple mailers today from Clinton. One quotes Krugman from the NY Times saying Obama is a demagogue. Not very persuasive, since few here care much what the NY Times thinks and wouldn't know Krugman from Adam. Most people have had the opportunity to see Obama speak on TV and are able to judge for themselves. The same piece also asks "which of these people don't deserve health care", which seems like demagoguery to me. The other piece touts Clinton's experience - delivering solutions for American families, though it is unclear just what she is currently delivering.
The phone calls have been unrelenting. We have caller ID and have carried the cordless with us so we know which calls to ignore. Some days, we get ten or more calls from people we just ignore. Both of us get a lot of work-related calls and don't want to waste time listening to tape recordings. Most of them do not make the answering machine. The one robocall that got through was from, of all people, our oily former gov. Tommy Thompson, pushing his good friend John McCain.
My impression is that much of this will make little difference. The call of Clinton or Obama is a rear view decision for most voters here. We are just waiting for the chance to vote and can't wait for November, so we can move to the post-Bush era.
SUNDAY UPDATE
After the news last night I was treated to our first barrage of political ads - three in a row. Clinton's #3 (Barak is hiding and not a nice person), Barak's #2 (calling for debates when there isn't time to organize them is more than bad form) and McCain (who seems to be running for sainthood).
My wife also got a robocall invite to see Clinton speak in Wausau on Sunday (press one if you can attend). Odd since we have had no contact with / donation to the Clinton campaign and are not active in the Dem party locally. I think a year ago, my wife might have been interested, but no longer. With our sons due for their second deployment, she is a one issue voter. Even if we didn't have guests, she would not have gone. Plus the call came late Saturday afternoon, as if they needed to find a crowd in a hurry.
As expected, the snow is here, so few people will be driving anywhere today. I'll spend more time behind my snowblower than in my car. Up to a foot here, while south of here some of that will be freezing rain and sleet.
I have use my caller ID to screen out dozens of pollsters, which I don't think is a unique experience. Makes the talking heads on TV even less relevant as they chatter on about polls with huge margins of error. If the polls are not representative of the voting population, they are just trash science.