finish him (politics)

[rwx]

more animals

Despite what you hear, this (may) still be a ludicrously close election. There are a number of tactics that are being used by the republican party that may disrupt the current polling when it comes time to election day. Also, given the rhetorical strategies used by Republican pundits that in the past have made it difficult for Democratic officials to function, it's best if there's as large a majority as possible for this election. With those two factors, what would be the right thing to do?

Well, for one thing, you could go to see Joe Biden and Gregoire talk tomorrow at (hahahah) Cheney stadium, or check out the Obama WA homepage if you're local to me. Also, since absentee voting ballots have arrived, the wa democrats are throwing down with a massive effort to contact voters, and if you have a chance to participate in that either by calling or helping with the callers, they'd really appreciate it.

If you don't want to leave home and just want to call for Obama, you can do that as well. In general, the Obama campaign is lots of fun and very well organized. It's also a great way to meet your neighbors.

The whole thing with the McCain campaign trying to disenfranchise as many voters as possible trying to use the ACORN thing as an excuse has left a pretty sour taste in my mouth. Also, the ongoing chaos of the (rebranded) election machines makes everything basically unsure. So, don't take anything for granted, and if you can, volunteer. The calling part is fun and basically hilarious, try it two or three times and you'll have achieved something with minimal time committment.

And also, consider supporting Gregoire. Rossi (and some other local candidates for the Republican parties) are cheap hacks who're afraid to put Republican on the ticket. I think the whole 'wackily sneakily listing GOP or No Party Affiliation on the ballot' thing means that the candidate is probably a grade A asshat -- if you can't be trusted to be forthcoming on the ballot, why would voters trust you to be forthcoming on any other issue?

(inspired by tongodeon's post. if you're in california, his might be more useful for you.)

Comments

A brief note re. ACORN disenfranchisement attempts

[mundivagant.livejournal.com]

Or, "McCain's campaign gets owned".

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27245245#27245245

Obama is (very successfully) trying to link these to the same Justice Department politicization that resulted in Alberto Gonzales' resignation, and in the process demonstrating just how much McCain is in bed with the Bush Reich. Have a look. This is a pretty amazing way to hit back.

Volunteering

[rangertarmac.livejournal.com]

I signed up online to volunteer for Get Out The Vote next Wednesday. They haven't gotten back to me yet. I figure there may be lots of people volunteering, so I'll follow up on Monday.

[shirtlifterbear.livejournal.com]

Our whole county out here is vote-by-mail, like Oregon.

So the GOTV calls started Wednesday, timed with the ballot drop. Since we only have one zip code and two phone prefixes, it's much easier, timing-wise.

Another very valuable thing to do is to call people you know in swing-states, and ask them to vote Democrat. (WA is going to be for Obama, and other states are at the tipping point.)

[brassratgirl.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about making calls anyway but inspired by your post I actually signed up. I am very, very impressed by the Obama campaign's UI for contacting voters. It's amazing, clearly geared towards people used to using Facebook etc. Whoever designed the whole system (points? level up?!) needs to win an award.

That said, calling people makes me nervous at the best of times and cold calling is freaking me out, so I'm not sure if I can go through with it or not.

[brassratgirl.livejournal.com]

oh, when I did sign up, I noticed that calling people for early voting in Oregon is one of the options, which might be of interest to readers who actually live in Oregon. I figure I get no brownie points in the PNW as one of those damn californians.

[zenscribe.livejournal.com]

From the http://my.barackobama.com site, you can find various local events to go participate in, if cold calls or going door-to-door is intimidating for you. Yesterday, for example, I took my banner to Redmond and participated on the sidewalks there.

Got my ballot. Sent it in. w00t!

McCain's campaign is calling undecided voters and telling them how Obama is a terrorist, stressing his links to Ayers and ACORN, etc. Some of the undecided voters talked to the media about this. This sort of thing is impossible to poll for.

[kaligrrrl.livejournal.com]

check out this Seattle Times article for major Rossi asshattery: http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-10-15/news/victory-first-rules-later/

[zenscribe.livejournal.com]

Bellevue needs one more volunteer for Sunday.

http://pol.moveon.org/obama/teams/training.html?office_id=12123&id=14476-10299049-EEvSlhx&t=1