I keep hearing "Obama pulled out of Georgia." How does this square with 30 paid Obama staff and 35 offices in Georgia right now? That's more than any presidential candidate ever; more than Jimmy Carter, and he was born here. They're not just in Atlanta: I've been to the ones in Tifton and Valdosta, and I know staffers in Albany and Thomasville. Georgia is the biggest state east of the Mississippi and Obama has offices all over it. McCain, meanwhile, has zero offices in Georgia.
Yes, some Obama staff got reassigned to other states. Volunteers have taken over their roles. I'm typing this from the Valdosta office in Lowndes County.
The Blue House is now run solely by volunteers and it's bustling. New signs out front tell everybody it's open. Voter registration and phone calls to undecideds go on every day.
The number of volunteers is up. Operations have expanded to activate Brooks County. Daniele came down from Albany, Ga., to help organize outreach to preachers. Gretchen, office co-organizer, got signs made up locally.
Yard signs, buttons, and bumper stickers do matter here. More on that in another post.