It’s hard to believe, but a year ago tomorrow, I stood at the foot of the Capitol building, freezing my ass off to bear witness to the election of Barack Hussein Obama. I could not envision the year that was to come, but I knew the challenges that were ahead of us.
I knew our President inherited a shit sandwich from one of the most venal and incompetent administrations our country has ever known. I knew it would be all he and his administration could do to keep our country from sinking into another Great Depression or stumbling into WWIII.
What I could not have predicted was that the remnants of the Republican party would become the American Taliban right before our eyes even as Conservative Democrats in Congress derailed real reform – not just for health care, but for finance and climate change as well.
Nor could I have predicted President Obama would win the Nobel Peace prize this year, even as we were poised to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan. A year ago I could not have known my brother-in-law would return to Iraq for his second tour of duty, leaving a wife and three young children behind. (He joined the Army 15 years ago because his wife got pregnant and they couldn’t afford health insurance. They still can’t.)
As I stood on Mall last year, I couldn't have know any of these things. And I'm grateful for my ignorance.
Now, as I write this, Nate Silver says the odds are 3:1that Republican Scott Brown will defeat Democrat Martha Coakely in the Massachusetts Senate race tomorrow, effectively ending this administration’s ability to legislate anything meaningful for the remainder of Obama’s first term. I no longer have the luxury of ignorance to cocoon me. I know exactly what we're in for now.
At this point, I know I really only have two choices.
Give it up or bring it home.
For the next 30 hours, until the polls close in Massachusetts, I’m going to bring it home for Martha Coakley, for Ted Kennedy, for the future of our country, and for us.
Because I know what lies ahead if I don't.
For the next 30 hours I will not give into fear,dire predictions, or defeatism. I will put my head down and do the work. I am asking you to do the same.
Make calls from your home.
Find a phone bank near you.
If you’re in Massachusetts, they still need people to canvass this evening and all day tomorrow.
BRING. IT. HOME.
UPDATED!
There are some really great comments below from folks who've been working the phones and pounding the pavement.
Keep those stories coming! I will post them here.
From populista:
Made 164 calls at the DFL office today. Pretty good reception in MA among those who were home. Packed phonebank, 15-20 people there and lots more calling online from Minnesota. We made thousands of calls and defiantly added a few votes by helping people understand the stakes and letting them know what the election law is. And we've got these going on in every state around the country so we are defiantly making a difference.
Every. Call. Matters. Hit the phones.
From mindoca:
Report from NYC: We have three phonebanks tonight, two added at the last minute today. People squeezing into tiny apartments to sit cheek-to-jowl and call for Coakely. Just got a report from one -- it had 33 people as of 7PM. That's insane for that location and a weeknight. Please everyone follow this lead and do everything that you can in the next twenty-four hours.
Thanks!
From bumblebums:
I made about 70 calls today and I have time for more tomorrow. One guy said, "you're damned right I'm voting for Coakley, I'm taking my wife and everyone I know to the polls tomorrow."
From pollbuster:
Taking a little break from calling. Earlier in the day my review of the calls was mixed, but for the last hour or so, I have been getting very good Coakley responses, even from those who have been getting called to death. Ok that's my quick feedback, and now back to work. We're going to win this thing.
From Libby Shaw:
Nate also said poll data can be wrong and political strategists and voters should GOTV.
Addendum: There are many assumptions in this model which may not be valid; they are discussed at considerable length here. Although I believe that these are generally a fairly well-balanced set of assumptions relative to the universe of possible assumptions (i.e. alternate sets of assumptions would tend to cluster around the 25 percent number), it is hard to know for sure. Voters and political operatives should continue to proceed as though every vote matters, as we are still well within the range where small, decimal-point shifts in turnout could have a comparatively large impact on each candidate's chance of prevailing.
This one is a cliff hanger but it ain't over no matter the polls and pundits say. Polls and pundits are like gambling bookies as far as I am concerned.
From Florida4Obama:
The last guy spoke with me for about 30 minutes! I was very impressed with his knowledge. He put me on hold and another Coakley call came in for him. LOL He ended up coming back on the line with me. He was undecided, but at the end said he'd vote for Martha. Then has said, "Now does this get me off the damn call list." I told him I'd mark him off.
From WarrenS
I just got back from 5 hours of phonebanking with the predictive dialing system (no hanging up between calls, only live voters). Got some good responses along with the usual number of soreheads who were pissed off that they'd been called so often. I apologized for the volume of calls, and said, "We were getting so many calls I decided I had to get out and make some myself." I got a few laughs.
From Benintn
Spoke with a 73 year old woman from Worcester who was pleased and surprised to hear from someone in Nashville, TN. Says she "remembers a time when women didn't have the vote, so she has never missed a vote since she was allowed to vote."
She has a friend who says that because Coakley is not a real Democrat, and the Democrats haven't followed through on all their promises, we might as well "elect a real Republican". She set him in his place and told him that this was the most ridiculous logic she'd ever heard.
People are aware of what's going on, ready to vote, and I think we're going to see strong turnout from the Democrats.
Nevertheless, there is an awful lot of frustration among Dems and Brown remains very well-funded.
From CDB8421
Made about 80 calls, but one was AWESOME! Probably 70% were not home, a couple were lifelong Dems who were voting for Brown (one lady said she loved him, but had to go before she could tell me why), but one call in all of that was worth it.
I didn't leave any messages, but one person actually called me back while I was the other line, and I figured it was worth the courtesy to call him back. Ended up spending 30 minutes on the phone with him (he actually talked probably 75% of the time), and he indicated he had been undecided, but his big issue was getting money back from Wall Street, and when I told him Brown's position on that issue, I had him sold. He was going out tonight with people and was going to discuss for whom to vote, and at the end of the call he told me "the fact you spent half an hour on the phone with me probably got Martha 3 or 4 votes". If we could do that across the state, that's 3% to her total!
If turnout is high (and everyone I talked to was voting), she may pull it out!
From incondite:
I got 7 friends and 3 family members to switch from Brown to Coakley. I wrote a very friendly, but heavy article about why this election mattered so much (in the form of a diary actually, with pictures and links), even if they didn't care for Coakley. It outlined the importance of HCR, financial regulation, and seeing who the real Scott Brown was.
They all had the same reaction: "Wow, never knew all of that stuff! She's got my vote!"
There are teabagging idiots and then there are people who just see Martha v. Brown on TV and choose Brown. I don't blame them, but it is NOT too late to change their minds!
GOTV!!!!
From neurovana:
This campaign is not lost. I am a Masshole who lives in LA, but I am in touch hourly with my mother, aunt and friends who are actively part of the "Mass Democrat Machine." There is good feeling on the ground. The MSM has helped out with their doom and gloom scenarios for a loss of Ted K's seat... this is energizing Dem voters to GOTV. And let's face it it may be the people's seat but it's Ted K's remaining term. Whoever wins tomorrow will need to run again for a full term in 2012......
Massachusetts will not send a man to block the Obama agenda after one year. What is the point of gridlock? The unions and the workers and the middle class that is the DEMOCRATIC MACHINE that Scott Brown abhors, will win this election. GO MARTHA!!!! GET OUT AND VOTE AND WE WILL WIN!!!
From DrJeremy:
If every Dem and Indie who leans Dem votes tomorrow, we will win, polls notwithstanding. So, we know what we have to do. Call, call, call. Be nice, be apologetic if they are getting pissed with the calls, crack a joke, but make sure they get out and vote! We do that, we win. We don't, we lose. It's that simple at this point.