Gail Collins helps us out:
“In The Times’s poll, the percentage of respondents who said that they weren’t totally sure who they were going to vote for was almost identical to the percentage who said that they think the economy is doing well. Are they the same people? If so, perhaps they are still undecided because they are waiting to get their marching orders from well-informed friends like Abraham Lincoln, St. Catherine of Siena or Seabiscuit.”
Last Monday, Toddy Puller and I were invited to a Mount Vernon Women for Obama meeting. We went, figuring we might meet a few new people.
Boy, were we wrong.
There were more than 100 women at the meeting, and I’d guess that 90 percent of them had never been involved in politics. They’d run PTAs, volunteered in classrooms, organized swim teams, and worked on a host of other community activities. But for many, this was their first foray into politics.
And they are just amazing. They’ve made thousands of phone calls. Written zillions of post cards. Knocked on door after door after door.
This week, they’re ramping up. To increase their volunteer hours, they’ve also created a huge support operation. Middle-school-aged kids are babysitting for younger kids. Moms are trading car pool shifts so other moms can hit the doors.
I have never seen anything like it.
Now, this election is far from over. I have been on the receiving end of the Virginia GOP Get Out the Vote operation, and I hold it in the highest regard. As the Sundance Kid said to Butch Cassidy, “They’re very good.”
But the energy I saw in that room last week is the reason I believe we can win in Virginia. Eight years ago, it was Soccer Moms who delivered the election. This year? It might just be the Obama Mamas.
With the happy news that college basketball is back. UNC has scheduled Late Night with Roy Williams tonight. (UNC was on fall break when many other schools had their Midnight Madness first practice.)
It’s been a rough election season. But joy (and the three-point shot) cometh.
. . . and there’s a website to capture it for history.
In the view of Kristi Lauren Glakas, who represented the Old Dominion in the Miss Teen USA, Miss USA and Miss America contests, we’re all real:
“What’s best about Virginia is its diversity. The people, the geography. We have every class, every race, an amazing immigrant population… Virginia is the birthplace of America. To say that part of Virginia is not part of the real America is just offensive.”
The emails started pouring in around noon. “Your state is on notice,” the message line read.
The rest of the message informed me in no uncertain terms that members of TrueVote (few of whom apparently live here in Virginia) were watching me. And if there were any elections problems in Virginia, well, I’d be in Big Trouble.
Other than the fact that my Outlook crashed, I experienced only minor inconveniences from the onslaught. The local Registrars, however, had a much rougher go. Some local Electoral Boards, including ours here in Fairfax, reported that they were unable to email absentee ballots to members of the armed forces stationed overseas.
So in other words, the folks who were putting us on notice that we had better conduct a smooth election . . . prevented us from conducting a smooth election.
I’m not suggesting Virginia electoral laws are perfect. I wish it were easier to vote by absentee ballot, for example (and I think we will see the wisdom of that on Nov. 4). But here’s a clue for those who want to advance a position: blast emails don’t work to persuade elected officials. Threats don’t work at all. Calm, personal communication from people who actually live in our districts? Now THAT works.
The Washington Post has a new feature called Behind the Numbers. Each day, the site shares some interesting new data mined from deep in the internals of a poll.
Today’s fascinating tidbit? Voters without landlines are breaking 2 to 1 for Obama. In 2004, these voters comprised roughly 7 percent of the electorate. This year, they may be as much as 15 percent of those who go to the polls.
Check the site every day at 5 p.m. for new updates.
“McCain supporters held signs praising the candidate’s experience and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and frequently erupted into chants ranging from ‘Drill, baby, drill!’ to ‘Nobama!’ during the afternoon event. Many wore red. The rally also included remarks from 11th District GOP candidate Keith Fimian, former Virginia governor James S. Gilmore III, running for U.S. Senate, and state Delegate Chris Waxman.”
At last night’s Alfred E. Smith Dinner: his middle name is “Steve.” Not only that — he wasn’t born in the United States: “I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor El to save the planet Earth.”