I haven’t written a Diary in awhile but something caught my eye that I thought I would share. Per my username, I live in Kansas City, on the Missouri side. While early indications were that we were going to be red again this year, MO is a fickly beast and the hard working volunteers (and the Obama campaign) never gave up. Latest polls have us leaning Dem, and I think I know why.
Another Diary down the list asked a question I had been wondering myself – are they charging for McCain signs. My Neighborhood is fairly solid for Obama, and even though they are charging $8 a sign at the KC Obama office, they are everywhere. Recently I have seen McCain signs pop up and was curious if they paid for them as well. For the first time I went to the McCain campaign site to find a local number and ask. The short answer I found is that no, signs are free. The longer story is what else I saw.
First I noticed that there was no KC McCain office. The closest one is in Independence at the Republican county headquarters there. In the listing of offices state wide, most of them didn’t have addresses or phone numbers, only email contacts
This is the total of what they have mapped for the whole state.
Try to ignore the cheapness of the technology as compared to what I am about to show you for Obama - instead, focus on the number of offices statewide.
Theses are all places with address and phone numbers and I bet you someone will actually pick up the phone when you call (unlike my first few attempts at the St. Louis or KC McCain headquarters.)
Next I looked to see what kind of events I could attend for each candidate. Using my zip code (64110) and setting a 25 mile radius – this is what I found for McCain.
Notice that 3 of the events are canvassing Kansas!?! (same person for 3 different weekends). I think you are seeing a pattern by now. I couldn’t get the Obama list to fit, so here it is on there map.
105 events to choose from within 25 miles from my house. (My only complaint with the Obama site is the event lookup by zip code was too hard for most people to get to)
This thing is far from over, but man I like the direction it is heading.