This is just a quick diary to give everyone some great news out of Pennsylvania.
I live in NJ and have been using the Dashboard Call Tool over the past month or so to reach out to voters in PA to make sure they're registered and ready to turn out at the polls tomorrow.
PA has always been pretty safely in the President's column, although I must confess that some of the polls out of the Keystone State showing a somewhat tighter race have made me a little nervous over the past couple of weeks. A week or so ago, there was worry that "complacency" could force Dems to scramble to maintain the President's edge in PA, and to drag Bob Casey over the finish line.
Well, whatever angst I had left inside me this morning disappeared when I started making calls. Most of the voters I'm calling are in Philadelphia or the surrounding areas, and it's my understanding that the numbers I'm calling at this point are Democrats/Obama supporters -- people whose vote we've already got, but who need to make sure they go to the polls.
After 50 calls so far, every person I've reached live on the phone has been a strong Obama supporter and is primed to go to the polls tomorrow. The vast majority know where their polling place is, and those who may need to prove their residency status have their government ID or utility bill ready and waiting. The general vibe I've gotten from callers has been, "Don't worry about me, I'm supporting the President and I'll be there tomorrow, come hell or high water."
But even better than this strong show of support and resolve is the five or so people who have told me, "You are like the fifth person to call me from the President's campaign!" This is SERIOUSLY good news and means that the Obama campaign has quietly and meticulously been locking down PA all season, building their list of friendly voters and making sure to remind them when and how to vote. If they get out and vote tomorrow, the Keystone state will again be in Barack Obama's column.
Granted, I am a worrier and my concerns this year were almost certainly overwrought. Then-Senator Obama won PA in 2008 by 10 points, in a year when pundits were "concerned" that he couldn't win the "white, working class" people of Appalachia. We don't need a 10-point margin this year, but if the Obama campaign's characteristic attention to detail is any hint, we may just get it.