I'm Shocked! Zogby Got It Right.

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Sunday November 09, 2008 · 11:22 PM PST

2008/11/09 · 23:22

I felt like I should talk about this for two reasons. First, because I haven't seen anyone else mention it yet. And second, because I badmouth Zogby all the time. He is the butt of every one of my pollster jokes. Literally.

So it was a shock to me, that when I compared the election results against November polls, I found Zogby near the top.

zorland

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Wednesday September 10, 2008 · 2:38 PM PDT

2008/09/10 · 14:38

Voting early will be a huge factor in our success this November. There are many important reasons to vote early. If you're ambivalent toward voting early, I hope that I can change your mind with a few reasons that voting early is so important.

By voting early you help out yourself. There will be no need for inordinate amounts of stress if something goes wrong on election day. Car trouble? Lost wallet? Extra work? Well, if you've voted early it's no worse than any other day. And, you avoid the long lines (and oh, will they be long)! This also frees up your time on election day if you must work/pick up the kids/anything at all.

By voting early you help other people out. Every election year democrats are forced to go to court to keep voting places open because lines are long and there just never seem to be enough poll workers. Or the republicans seem to have devoted too few resources to large democratic counties. By voting early, you can alleviate some of the strain on your polling place.

(continued on under the fold)

zorland

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Tuesday September 09, 2008 · 8:37 PM PDT

2008/09/09 · 20:37

I apologize in advance, there is not much of a narrative to this diary. It is mostly a (huge) warehouse for ideas and information.

I was getting excited for my first trip from California to Reno to canvass, when I realized I didn't have succinct and targeted arguments to use. Yes, I could go on for hours, but that's not how this works. I wanted some short pitches for Obama that would differ depending on the voter I was talking to.

So I decided that I would go over the information that I had about Obama and put together some "talking points" to use out on the road. I went through the Blueprint For Change, the Democratic Platform, and most of the speeches in the last few weeks. I extracted all of what I felt was the relevant information for convincing people to vote for Obama at this point in time and grouped it by general category (Part II). Part II includes Obama's proposals as well as his records from the US and IL senate. From that, I tried to condense each category into a few different talking points (Part I).

zorland

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Saturday September 06, 2008 · 4:40 AM PDT

2008/09/06 · 04:40

There has been a lot of doom and gloom lately. Perhaps a little more than is warranted. I forgo the traditional media as much as possible (to preserve my perspective and my sanity), but the opinions they espouse seem to have diffused out into the ether, subsuming everything. McCain is a Maverick! Palin is a reformer, an expert, an ideal leader! McCain and Palin - for rulers of the world!

The impression one might get, is that things are looking grim for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. And even for those of us who scrutinize and analyze what we are told by the tradition media, anxiety is rising. If not in fear of the probability of losing the election, then in fear of the possibility of losing the election. How truly terrible that would be. For us, for America, for the world.

So I would like to interject my thoughts into the dialog. They are more hopeful and optimistic than much of news and "analysis" floating around these days. However, I would contend that they are not unduly optimistic, and let me tell you why.

RSS

I'm Shocked! Zogby Got It Right.

HOW TO: Vote Early - A State-by-State Guide

"Talking points" for canvassing and voter persuasion

The path to victory is not as hard as you'd think: A look at polls, EVs, and geography.