Any Given Tuesday: It's a War of Inches

This is the time we've all been waiting for.  Let's do it.

+ 3 local language) had 3 to 4 pages today about US elections all covering Obama predominantly and calling him the Next US President already.

I can understand english papers but the local language papers ???  I have never seen that before. Guess, there is first time for everything including in this US election.

amk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTKLYkUWwZA

Go USA

BondiBeachViews

"For he to-day who sheds his blood with me, shall be my brother."

(h/t SQ)

Heading into the Field for GOTV in SE WI.  Home at some point tonight.

Leave it all on the Field, everyone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcRA2AZsR2Q

http://in.rediff.com/news/2008/nov/04matthew.htm

amk

Reckon some people must be getting fired up and ready to go. The Yes We Can Obama Song is back again the 24 Hour Viral Top 20 at No 2.

http://www.viralvideochart.com/myspace/yes_we_can_obama_song_by_william?...

BondiBeachViews

The line at my polling place was fairly short this morning.  I was speaking with the poll workers and they told me I picked the perfect time to come in as they had had a very long line up until the time I had gotten there.  More people were arriving as I left, it looks like I missed the first wave of folks trying to get in before going to work. I just got off the phone with all of my friends, just checking in with them to make sure they get out and vote.   I am cautiously optomistic that we will take Ohio today.

I started a stopwatch when I entered the building and stopped it when I left.  A total of 9 1/2 minutes!  And I took my time, carefully and joyously filling in the circles with a smile.  My my, that felt good.

I'm out the door for a last call bank. I hope to finish in time to celebrate with all of you. Good luck to all of us.

That's a big ballot form.

amk

<a href="http://stephencrosehome.blogspot.com">How Sean Hannity Lost The Election for the GOP</a>

Cheers. S

I just can't imagine what must be going through their minds right now.

Both the girls are with them, Sasha alternating between mom & dad - probably double checking that they get it right ?

amk

While the talking heads babble to one another, Al has covered the real story of millions of ordinary, fed-up people mobilizing themselves.

Here's some Whitman from "Song of the Open Road," an appropriate poem for all the Field Hands who have been hitting the pavement for weeks and months:

Al,

It's scary, I played that Pacino video last night before I went to sleep.  Must be a great minds think alike sort of thing. :)

Voted this morning in Bedford, NH - they were clearly expecting a big turnout.  The poll workers kept things moving briskly - I was there with my 10 year old daughter right when then opened at 7.  I estimate that there was about 400 folks in front of us, and we were in and out and done inside of 20 minutes.  There were plenty of officers directing traffic, but I think longest part of people's voting time will be dealing with the traffic getting in and out of the high school (the only polling place in town).

There were a LOT of visibility folks out for Obama/Lynch/Shea-Porter/Shaheen in my usually Republican-leaning town.  I feel very good about Obama's chances here in NH.  I'm less optimistic about Shaheen's chances, although I hope she is able to topple Sununu.

Go vote everybody!

- Jim

http://www.dailykos.com/user/Joy%20from%20Illinois

Looking forward to checking in around 8 p.m. and seeing that Virginia and Indiana have already been called for Obama.

It feels great today.  Totally different from the primaries - I was very anxious for every voting day of those.

KD

What a great trip it's been. I was able to hear Obama speak to a small crowd here in Utah in Aug 2007 and could tell for myself that he was a complex thinker. I was sold then, switched my registration to Democrat and somehow managed to find The Field back around Jan 2008. Leading to going to Denver and meeting luminaries such as Al, Erin, Dave, Tonya and other great Fieldhands there (including drinking with a few of you at Drinking Liberally, along with those marvels of talent over at fivethirtyeight.com and listening to Katie's comic stylings live - ok I wasn't drinking THAT night as I was the designated driver..but you get the idea)

Al and crew, you've been wonderfully intelligent and thought provoking. It is energizing to electronically meet other people who think that the Obama way of approaching leadership represents a magnificent step forward for us as individuals and for our country.

Anyway..rambling here...I will look forward to meeting up with you all tonight. Then, I am inspired by Al's encouragement to keep moving forward.

the voting trend through out the day ? Or, they like us, have to find out only when the polling ends ?

amk

I'm already home back from work and 100% on election mode (it's 18:25 here). Please field hands, send reports if you can on how things are going!

Are people turning up? Are they staying in line? Do voters look like Obama or like McCain supporters?

Biting my nails..... :-)

Wow, Wolcott's piece noted the three, the triumvirate, who have kept me sane, Kunstler, Sean/Nate and you. All three cores are people with astonishing writing abilities, which no doubt appeals to Wolcott.

But the writing abilities are as window dressing for first rate critical and analytical thinking. What a mind meeting that would be like the time Melville sat on a mountain in the berkshires with (I think), Emerson and another.

I know you and the 528's are relatively tight but you all should go hang with Kunstler as he watches big picture transformational stuff like growing past oil. Jim knows what we can do with this charged up organizational capacity.

Getting young Obama on board is but the first giant step. Moving to a sane post petro localized world will be the next.

When I look at how the bunch of you crafts sentences and the embedded thought quality, I think, here is progress. From the striking sloppiness of Abbie and Hunter we arrive at a heavier thing, color with analysis and quality that would have been welcome by Murrow.

I've heard reports from everyone in my work office that the lines this morning were 2 hours plus! I was fortunuate to only have to wait 30 minutes, but I voted in a very McCain friendly precinct in Sun City (55+ community). If the turn-out is this heavy all day in the AA communities, we could see a surprise here (and this lends toward a positive result in GA, I would think). The doctor I shadow says it has never been this long of a line on election day in November, so I think that's saying something.

I live in Virginia and just received the following text message to my phone:

"Due to long lines today, all Obama voters are asked to vote on Wednesday. Thank you. Please forward."

Who should I report this to, if anybody? I have tried to get through to 1-866-OUR-VOTE but the lines are jammed.

My 18-year old daughter and I just voted in Maryland. Once again, my daughter was embarrassed by me because I teared up voting for Obama. If I were African-American, I am sure I would have been crying my eyes out. Just thinking about it, gives me the chills.

(Un)fortunately, there was no excitement at the polls. We live in a very liberal area. There was no line although I heard of lines earlier in the day and at other polling places. I almost want to go into downtown DC and hang out at a more lively polling place!

Wanted to make one last post about the LIVE ELECTION NIGHT Coverage from the Pilsen Interactive Media Project. 

We'll be covering the election live on a webcast at our website above. We'll also be bringing in viewers with webcams and telephones for live reactions to the events of the evening.  In other words, screw CNN, MSNBC, and Fox, take a ride with us where you can be a pundit.

Take a look at our preview video for more!

Starting driving my van full of voters @ 6 a.m. until 10:00; then my son (voting for the 1st time) and hubby and I went to vote. So much fun! We were in line for about 2 hours before we got our ballot. It took me about 15 minutes to fill out the whole ballot. My 20-something son voted for Barack and the proposals and was out of there!  LOL!

People from the (new) Mayor's office brought chips, water, Popeye's chicken(!)...a few people weren't on the rolls; not many.

Lots and lots of young folks and new voters...at least hubby and I never saw those folks at all of the other elections in the six years we've been in our present house!  LOL! One young man was on the phone with a friend; said his Mom called him and told him to get out of the effin' bed and go vote!

My next shift is at 2 p.m.  Right now going to Starbucks to get my free cuppa Joe the Plumber (lol) and make calls from my lists until 2 p.m.

Although our neighborhood is 95% Black, 5% white everyone is for Barack...

Everyone just had a good time in line...no problems...the thing about O's message is that no one was impatient; no one was mad or frustrated...everyone expected long lines...

I feel good!!!

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

"I think we can win Indiana, otherwise I wouldn't be in Indiana," he said, according to a pool report of the visit.

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/11/obama_predicts_a...

I think it says a lot about how he expects things to turn out today...

Chris Landry @ 9:55: That Whitman quote made me cry more than anything since I first saw the Will.i.am vid on Superbowl Sunday.  I'm printing it and putting it on the wall.

I just emailed The Big Kvetch to my family.  On Sunday I asked Mom whether her Palm Beach friends believe the scurrilous emails and robocalls about Obama.  She says that the Republicans believe them, and the Democrats think they're stupid.  That's not redneck north Florida, but still, it was nice to know that we Jews aren't falling for stupid crap.

Here in Utah, Obama's polling at 32%, more than any Democrat in decades.  And I'm sure that doesn't take into account how dispirited largely moderate Utah Republicans and the expected large turnout of Democrats who will turn out to eject some of the most corrupt state legislators, who are surprisingly close in the polls.  Yesterday I went in the HQ to phone bank, finally well enough to do a tiny, tiny bit.  I'm afraid I left some slightly over-enthused messages on Denver and Boulder answering machines, but the weather is bad so I pled with them to put on their winter gear and be ready to gut it out.

Viva Al, without whom they'd have had to take me to the funny farm a long time ago.

check out this post on dKos for what to do

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/4/133722/551/275/652633

KD

Our model projects that Obama will win all states won by John Kerry in 2004, in addition to Iowa, New Mexico, Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, Nevada, Florida and North Carolina, while narrowly losing Missouri and Indiana. These states total 353 electoral votes. Our official projection, which looks at these outcomes probabilistically -- for instance, assigns North Carolina's 15 electoral votes to Obama 59 percent of the time -- comes up with an incrementally more conservative projection of 348.6 electoral votes.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/todays-polls-and-final-election.html#comments

amk

Oh Dear... I just saw McCain live (on cnn.com)  giving a speech at a rally in Colorado.

It was.... awful. He looked older than his mother (who was there with cool sunglasses). Tired, defeated, sad, dissapointed, even sick. Felt a bit of pity and embarrasment for him. Apparently he's going to give another similar rally in Albuquerque (!). McCain campaign: this is not helping your candidate. Give the man a break.

Thanks for letting me know. That's always been my favorite of Whitman's, and it's amazing how appropriate it is today.  Like Bob Dylan, he was so prolific that some of it is mediocre, but then you get these lines that just knock you right over.  Read the whole poem here.

Phonebanked with a dozen or so good people in Amherst, making calls to Virginia, where hardly anyone was home but those who were had nearly all voted. My 13 year-old son was enjoying being there so much he didn't want to leave. That feels good.

If you see the video of McCain's rally in Colorado (or the upcoming one). Please don't miss Lieberman's face behind McCain. Reminds me to Bill when Hillary gave the speech after the IN-NC primaries.

On the other hand, Cindy looks rather cheerful. I think she's happy she doesn't have to be First Lady. She doesn't seem to enjoy the limelight very much, so I guess she's happy to go back to her life.

I could be wrong, but it smells like we're heading for result on the high end of our expectations. We'll see. 1 hour 47 minutes to the deadline.

Just knocked on a couple hundred student doors, now heading out to Lansing. So far the numbers on campus have been a little low (though it really varied for me personally), and I had a handful of potentials who ended up voting McCain just because they thought it'd be "funny." But there's energy and there's urgency from enough students to eventually prod all of their friends to get in line. However, just like we received phenomenal last day numbers for voter registration on campus, I have a feeling a lot of students are going to wait until this evening just because they are procrastinating.

Back to it...

edit: oh by the way here's the prediction i put together last night http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/15557/ too hopeful perhaps, but we'll see

Hey Al and all,

Finally my first internet access since last Friday night. Just a quick report in before I hit the road for the last stretch back to San Francisco. I spent the weekend GOTV canvassing in Lyon County, NV, outside of Reno (a proportional vote county). Definitely McPalin country ---- but good to get out there. The geography is different, but the various communities I knocked doors in are not so different than the towns I spent much time in as a kid in North Dakota with my cousins.

Frida, the local precinct captain is yet another hero. She's been working tirelessly out here for the past year, to push Lyon County as close to the blue column as possible.

More later. Just to say.....I'd been staying up at my parents' house in the highlands all weekend (they've been in the Midwest for 3 months). The satellite was off, so I'd had no internet and virtually no news all weekend (ok, it took me a while to find the Air America radio channel!). I sat there Monday night in the dark, so nervous about how yesterday would actually turn out, no idea what the polls were saying, no way to get to The Field, .538.com, pollster.com. And even if I had, I'd still have been nervous as hell.

Anyway, getting up to hit the 6 am shift, my phone had its first text of the day waiting: "AlGiordano: On any given Tuesday, it's a war of inches. Fight for that last every inch."

Exactly what I needed to hear. I got down to Frida's house, grabbed a big turf, and cruised through every single door, fast as I could, then back for more. I don't know yet how the tally in Lyon County itselft went....but along with the many other Fieldhands who were in NV this last weekend, and some for several weekends prior.....I was damn proud to see Nevada show up in the blue column for Barack last night.

Adelante!!!!