Hi. It's your old pal the Badger. Perhaps the greatest thing about DKOS is all the great reports from the ground. They give me a sense of what is really going on in different areas of this great country--much more so than polls, and certainly more so than TradMedia reports. I love reading your accounts of canvassing, phonebanking, holding parties, and your discussions with friends and neighbors. So please take a second to look at what myself and a few good Mainers did this morning.
Allright, every good diary needs a good picture I think. So, here's our crew:
I'm not in it--I'm taking the picture. But, you can see they are a handsome collection of Mainers spanning both genders and all ages. The young lady in the foreground on the pink cellphone (those organizers are always busy!) is Devinne. She is the coordinated campaign organizer for Hancock County Maine. And, she is a dynamo. She is just 19, and she has so much energy, intelligence, and maturity. She is taking a semester off from college to do this work. This is an inspiration to me and I hope many of you! There are so many young people like Devinne all across this land who have been inspired by Barack Obama and are making sacrifices and giving their absolute all to win this election. They give me so much hope for Democratic majorities for years to come.
It was a rainy day in coastal Maine. But despite a forecast of "100% precipitation and heavy rain" we had six people show up for our canvass. We will be doing this every Saturday until the election and I'm sure we will have more and more volunteers as we get closer to the election. On a side note, Hancock County alone has two Democratic offices open in Ellsworth and Southwest Harbor. I have not visited the Southwest Harbor office, but I phonebank from the Ellsworth HQ and the place is hopping with callers, organizers, and assorted volunteers.
[Only Maine map showing counties I get pasted here! Enjoy the Stephen King sites!]
For those of you not from from Maine, Hancock County used to be one of the most conservative counties in Maine. Due to an influx of "foreigners"--what Mainers call out-of-staters!--and, more importantly, incredible grass roots efforts by the Hancock County Democratic Committee, Hancock County is becoming very BLUE! In 2004 strong Democratic turnout for John Kerry prevented Maine's 2nd Congressional District Presidential Elector from going to Bush (Maine splits it's electoral votes like Nebraska). So, we are getting strong and hope to get stronger.
So, back to the canvass. Today was primarily an "ID" canvass. We were following a list of registered Democrats and "Unenrolled" (i.e. Independents) to gauge which candidates they were supporting in Federal (President, Senator) and State (Senator, Representative) elections this year. We also were charged with getting information on absentee voting, registration, and when possible, try to do some persuading.
And here is the crux, or what is going on in Maine as best I can tell from my small efforts of canvassing and phonebanking in my little corner of coastal Maine:
(1) Barack Obama is going to win Maine. Easily. I know some of the polls of late have seemed close, but the internals are often bizarre (e.g. McCain is not going to win Maine's 29 and under vote, I assure you). All the Democrats I speak with are wildly enthusiastic for Obama. There are buttons, bumper stickers, and signs everywhere--despite a scarcity of the latter. There are house parties and meetings going on all the time. There are oodles of enthusiastic volunteers. The independents are breaking strongly for Obama as well. Again, Maine is all for Obama--we won't get complacent, I assure you--but, all four of Maine's electoral votes will be for Obama.
(2) Sarah Palin is like poison. I canvass with a wonderful woman named Ruth. She is a hardworking mother of three grown children. And she, and most women we talk to just can't get say enough about how Palin terrifies them and how insulting the pick was. The Palin gambit is not playing in Maine.
(3) Tom Allen is going to have a very difficult time defeating our long term, embarrassing, Bush-loving, Republican Senator. I really thought early in the year that Tom, the current congressman representing Maine's 1st C.D., would give Collins a stiff challenge. But, his campaign has not caught fire. Collins has a carefully cultivated image (duly abetted by the media) that she is a bi-partisan moderate who "reaches across the aisle." The reality is, she is a Bush apologist who has voted with his position 81% of the time.
Nevertheless, Mainers can't get enough of her. I had a long chat with a nice couple who invited us into their beautiful home today to talk. They both will vote for Obama. And the woman, who is just wild for Obama, is just as wild for Collins! She told me she was putting Collins and Obama stickers on her car! Try as I could, I just couldn't convince them that Collins would do nothing but obstruct Barack Obama's agenda for the next four years. But, she wasn't buying it . . . "Collins is so moderate, so bi-partisan, she's done so much for Maine . . ." And the thing is, I get this all the time. There will be a lot of split tickets in Maine, and I'm afraid Susan Collins will continue to (mis)represent Maine for six more years. I'm afraid she might be Maine's "Senator for Life."
(4) And, finally, downticket at the State level or two great candidates for Senate and House--sitting Senator Dennis Damon and dynamic newcomer Elsie Flemings (former aide to Zach Space-OH)--are shoo-ins! And Maine needs them to hold slim Democratic majorities in both chambers.
So that's the report from Maine. I know you folks are doing your best to make sure Obama/Biden and your favorite local Democrts prevail. Special shout out to Ohio (my birthstate), Virginia (my homestate), and Colorado (because WE NEED YOU TO WIN).
I love reading your comments. So, please, fire away . . . share your stories and insights and suggestions.