or "Why You Haven't Heard About All the Ass We've Been Kicking"
In light of all the meta-griping, handwringing, bedwetting, and Kool-Aid quaffing, I thought now would be a good time to post some exclusive video from inside Obama's field operation.
But before the video, it's important to point out why you haven't seen it yet, and why you won't be seeing any more video like this until after the election (at least from me).
First, via Andrew Sullivan:
I mentioned my worry over the polls. Without condescension, without a dirty look, or a snide quip, she said, calmly as possible, "we aren’t running the Florida campaign based on polls, we’re running it based on votes. There are so many people who have signed up to vote that pollsters can’t even reach, that the only thing the campaign is looking at right now is the GOTV operation and their own internal polls which are run much more specifically than, for instance, the state Mason-Dixon polls commissioned by the Florida newspapers."
Got that? This election is, at its core, a numbers game, and that's how the campaign staff are running it.
Part of that game is keeping the opposition in the dark about your raw data, and this is the reason why you haven't heard much about the width and breadth of Obama's ground game.
I was asked by an Obama staffer not to post some of what I got on video on my last canvassing trip to Reno, so I decided to sit on it for a while until it could be edited properly.
VOLUNTEER 1: ...Obama, and he filled out the [supporter] card too...
(applause)
VOLUNTEER 2: (inaudible)...a 95 year old woman answered the door named Alberta, who initially wasn't going to talk to me long because her husband of 65 years just passed away. She ended up telling me all kinds of stories, including how she voted for President Truman.
(laughter)
VOLUNTEER 2: She was good... we were going for about 15 minutes, and she supports Obama.
(laughter)
VOLUNTEER 3: (inaudible)...this elderly woman, disabled nurse, a Hillary supporter and she said "I won't vote for Obama, there'll be a race war". And I said "you know, I went to school with Hillary. I'm a doctor." and she said "Oh, you're a a doctor, I respect doctors..." and she told me about her issues, her health care and VA, and I said, "you know, Hillary, you know that's her signature issue, and if you vote for McCain it's not gonna happen...", and she's gonna vote for Obama.
(applause)
STAFFER: And I wanted to ask everybody, since today is the first day that people know about Biden, did we get any feedback about Joe?
VOLUNTEER 4: "I had one gentleman walk by our table who said "I don't like Obama, I like Biden."
STAFFER: OK, good.
VOLUNTEER 5: We spoke to an attorney a short while ago from Seattle, a Republican, and he said he likes Biden, and he said (inaudible) [more people will come on board because of Biden].
STAFFER: Um, totally unscientific, but show of hands, how many people had a good Biden interaction today?
(most of the room raises their hands)
STAFFER: OK, the vast majority. How many had a bad Biden interaction? Can you talk about what happened?
VOLUNTEER 5: Oh, uh, no Biden interaction.
As a bonus, these are some of the wonderful people making an Obama victory possible, and some exciting numbers than I am allowed to publish:
For the record, the only reason it was only 70 is because that's all the office can take at once. As one staffer put it, "we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to volunteers."
Obama Jewelry Store
As for me? I found a bunch of UNR students who didn't know they could vote in Nevada, a handful of transplants from California that were going to vote back home, but changed their minds when I told them how close it was in Nevada, a few recent citizens that had never registered or voted before, some retired couples who decided to volunteer after I came to their door, and the usual couple of crazies and curmudgeons (Global Warming is a hoax! Get off my lawn! and all that).
So this is my point- this election is not going to be won over the air. It's going to be won by regular people like you and me that are making phone calls and walking door-to-door, pushing the underlying data in the right direction and getting our fellow supporters out to vote.
We're already doing it, every single weekend, while people here are pulling their hair out over this-or-that poll. And the reason you don't hear about all the success we're having is because that's part of the strategy.
We've been asked not to take video inside the field office anymore, so you may hear even less about our superior ground game as the election gets closer.
The solution? GO SEE FOR YOURSELF!