Call me paranoid or concern-trolling, but please Californians, get out there and vote now. Close this out early.
UPDATE: Regarding those calling me a "troll"...
I can take the attacks, but if this is enough to get one Californian who was planning to just sit it out to get out there and vote, then I've done my job.
All this hostility to people are who are truly concerned and calling them "trolls" is nice for people who feel confident, but believe me, paranoia works too. I'm in a blue state and am voting this year. Taking no chances.
So I'm brushing off the "troll" attacks. All of us confident folks and paranoid tin-foilers must work together to get this for Obama.
Thanks.
Tobin Harshaw from the NY Times blogs:
California has begun early voting already as well as mail-in balloting. The number of people who have gone in to vote in person has been extensive. The results so far prove what we had always suspected. The polls are being proven as totally unreliable. Although the results of early balloting have not been disclosed,of course,how many Republicans and how many Democrats have voted has been revealed.
The results are simply shocking. The polls showed Barack Obama with an 18 point lead in California just a few days ago. The results thus far are the complete opposite. In the most liberal state in the entire country,the results are that 99,000 Republicans have voted and 96,000 Democrats voted. In the mail-in balloting the results so far are that 9,000 Democrats sent in their ballots and that 5,000 Republicans did so. So with nearly 210,000 people having voted,the Democrats have only a 1,000 vote advantage!
California will most likely go for Obama (right?? Good jeez, I don't want to jinx anything) - but if there are this many people voting for McCain early in California, this is just a nice little reminder to not be complacent.
...I’m sure that Obama will eventually win in California,but if he is struggling here after he pushed so hard for early voting,then he will lose the election!
Prove these people wrong. Vote early and let's sink them fast!
UPDATE 2: Marc Ambinder debunks:
Context is important. Early voting is very popular in California, and Republicans tend to vote at higher rates than Democrats. More conservative areas of the state tend to vote early; Los Angeles County traditionally has the lowest early voting rate. Don'tknow if the above statistics are correct, but if they are, they're not usual for that state.
More importantly though, if Republicans believe that the party breakdown of who is voting early is indicative, then what do they think about what is going on in Nevada, Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio, Indiana, and North Carolina?