One American. 1,136 New Voters.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I make you an honorary one! What an inspiration!

Regardless of who she supports, Ms. Wars is a true patriot for bringing so many new people onboard with the democratic process.

But she is also a huge credit to the progressives who are making these efforts.  Perhaps it is not being reported, but I simply don't see conservatives getting new people involved in the process at the grassroots level.

Thank you for this great story, Al.

Ms. Wars,

This is an amazing story. I am sending this to a lot of my friends to get them involved - better late than never!!  Thank you for your wonderful inspiration.

Catherine Cain

Obama 49 McCain 46

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2008/09/obama-takes-small-lead-in-florida.html

Ms Wars - you are a true patriot. Thanks Al for outlining in detail the hardwork and dedication of this amazing woman.

Thank you, Ms. Wars for everything you are doing.  That is a truly amazing story.  This is the story of the election - hard-working Americans believing in hope and their own power.

KD

Thank you so much Ms. Wars. I hope you have a sense of how so many of us appreciate the hard work you're doing. Thank you!

Yesterday I was out delivering a little campaign newspaper that our local party has put together, each with a voter registration application. The apartments in our precinct were the top priority, since residents are more likely to be new (and Democratic.) As I finished one building and was leaving, a young woman was heading out, holding her copy. She saw my armload of them, and thanked me, then asked me if she could have another of each for her friend, which I gladly gave her. It turned out her friend was waiting in a car in the parking lot. I didn't recognize the language they spoke as she handed it to him, except for one word: "Obama."

I generally don't have any trouble staying motivated, but moments like that are just magical.

thank you for this story.

 Thank You! You are a inspiration to so many. If only we could clone you? No wait, you are doing that by helping to get others involved.  Leslie Wars Rocks!

http://www.timesleader.com/news/Dem_registration_gap_in_Pa__widens_to_1_1M_09-29-2008.html

We have no choice - imagine waking up Nov. 5 and having to doubt if there was something more we could have done and did not....   Thank you - you are an inspiration.  Let's keep up the good work; this will be the last week-end in VA for voter registration: MD and DC, please contact the Falls Church, VA Obama office and come & help out! 

Voted this story up and Digg and Reddit...Fieldhands, let's get this story out there! It's inspirational and this wonderful lady deserves big-time kudos! Thanks for bringing us this interview, Al!

Si somos americanos, seremos buenos vecinos;
compartiremos el trigo,seremos buenos hermanos -- canción de Rolando Alarcón

Todos somos americanos.-- Barack Obama

I am in tears right now.  Ms. Ware's story has inspired and humbled me.  I have been canvassing every weekend but the idea that she is so dedicated that she works fulltime and then goes out to register voters every single day is just so awesome.  And Obama's ability to inspire someone like Ms. Ware  shows what a great president he will be. 

This is my first comment on your excellent blog.

Way to go Leslie!  Keep it up, you are an inspiration to us all!!

Seattle, WA

I believe you have earned the right to chronicle this unusual watershed time that is in its way every bit as compelling as the D Day Landing or the height of the Civil Rights breakthroughs.

It looks like Broder will hit the pasture soon and it is gratifying to see one of our own replace the brooding old coot with a better and livlier version. Studs Terkel meets William Manchester with a bit of Basil Liddle Hart or Barbara Tuchman.

This is what the people are doing a quiet insurgency like the Velvet revolution in former Czechloslovakia.

Have a ball and get a good agent if you don't already have one.

On my way home from work, I stopped at our early voting location and cast my vote for Obama/Biden. Considering that Ohio is a battleground state, and the fact I waited 4.5 hours to vote in the 2004 election, I wasn't sure what to expect. The local newspaper featured a picture of people who had camped out to vote last night, but the crowd was slow but steady. There were two Obama vans couriering what looked like mostly college students to the polls.  The poll workers were in a great mood, the voters were very calm and jovial ... several people brought their children with them.  The whole process took about 20 minutes. 

I encourage anyone in Ohio, or other early voting states to take advantage of this opportunity.

Thank you for all you're doing!

Field Hands - I'm conscious that I owe you all the full report from Pennsylvania (complete with the return to the scene-of-the-crime bowling alley), but I'm going to turn in early tonight.

Am now in Columbus Ohio and heading out early in the a.m. to report on OSU students and the shuttle they've organized to bring early voters (and new registrants) downtown to vote. And then I'll be off to another section of the state and will check in with y'all from there.

- Al

I was flipping channels and came across a piece on PBS about voter reg/turn out in FL.  Someone from the Republican party claimed that they sent people out to look for all these field offices that the Obama campaign claims to have in FL (I believe he mentioned the number 600) and they couldn't find very many.  He said it was a marketing ploy by the Obama campaign--that the offices don't exist. 

Another Republican said that the Dems out-registered the Repubs in 2000 and 2004, too, but that the advantage didn't show up on election day because Dems register warm bodies, but Repubs register people who are going to show up to vote.

Is that all just spin?

THAT is one amazing story.  And to think this person making so much impact hadn't ever participated in our democracy before.  I like knowing that she was so moved by that concession speech.  I remember watching that so disappointed but it was a great speech.  And his NH concession speech is what totally got me in.

I feel guilty trying to add in my part when this thread is about a person who has made such an awsome committment to the campaign.  But I've been wanting to tell folks about my weekend on the ground in Colorado.  I flew to Denver from Seattle to stay with a friend and try to do my part there.

Loved your report on your work in Denver.  It is so encouraging to know that so many are ready to volunteer on a second's notice.  As I keep saying to myself, "darn it, we have to get this Obama guy elected".   Even though Ms. Wars lets us all know of the huge potential of just one person, I commend both of you for your dedication to this important cause.

Living in CA, I don't get to see any TV ads for the Presidential campaign unless they are picked up as news stories or online. While here in NV virtually every commercial break contains either a McCain or Obama ad.  The blessing/curse of being a swing state.

Obama has one on health care which takes the interesting tack of positioning Obama as a centrist.  It shows the current situation as extreme, and "government-run" healthcare as the other extreme, then articulates his position as centrist - keep your current health-care coverage from your employer, keep your doctor, but get access if you don't have it now - and there's even a graphic onscreen showing two arrows pointing right and left with Obama in the middle.

Oh, and McCain is still running ads attacking Obama and the Democrats for failing to lead on the bailout.  And apparently Franklin Raines is the new Reverend Wright, because his face appears prominently even though he's not named this time.  Scary black men of the world unite!

should shame each of us into giving a little extra in the remaining 34 days.

If you haven't read it, digby's article (and the Rick Pearlstein article she links to) is great - on the opportunity in the current financial crisis if the Democrats would seize it.  The chance to craft new legislation that isn't about coddling whining conservatives, but leap-frogging them and winning with a new progressive agenda.

Great stuff.

I find myself agreeing with Trapper John at Daily Kos. I would rather we did a stop-gap measure for the next few months and pushed the progressive agenda when we hopefully have a Democratic president and increased majorities in both houses of Congress. We do have a great opportunity, one that may never come again but trying to get it enacted now with Bush to veto, barely holding on to the Senate, and not a big enough majority to overcome the Blue Dogs doesn't seem like the best strategy.

Hi, first-time commenter, this is my favorite blog about the election.

I am away at college but voting absentee in York County.  I was not old enough to vote in 04, and registered as a Republican in 05.  At the time, I figured that since York is so Republican-dominated, it would be more useful for me to vote in the Republican primaries.  Particularly in presidential politics, the primary wouldn't matter by the time it got around to us, so I should register based on local concerns.  It also didn't help (even though I was left-leaning) that I had a perception of Democrats as putzes who nominated people like John Kerry or Hillary Clinton.

So, in 06, I was one of those registered as a Republican, but nevertheless voted out our embarrassment of a Senator, Mr. Santorum.

The rise of Sen. Obama in the party and the impending PA primary in April is what led me to switch my registration to Democrat.

There may be a lot of stories like mine, particularly among younger voters.  Perhaps the best way to increase Democratic registration is to make being a York (or wherever) Democrat seem more useful.  It's a tough dynamic between wanting the Republican party, if it has a future, to keep its saner elements, or leaving in the hope that its days are numbered.

Great news!  The new surveys show Obama leading McCain in Florida 51 percent to 43 percent, in Ohio 50 percent to 42 percent and in Pennsylvania 54 percent to 39 percent.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081001/ap_on_el_pr/campaign_battlegrounds;_ylt=AuuucKeqKT7bzY645kVNcVOyFz4D

which I always aspire to be..."  Really??  Bizarro.  Even as a mis-speak, why would those 5 words together be in someone's vocabulary?

http://saradevil.blogspot.com/2008/10/john-mccain-if-i-were-dictaor.html

And then his suggestion of increasing the FDIC insurance limit "and some other things..."  LOL! Yeah, John, increasing the FDIC insurance will cure the whole thing.  What Al said about somewhere in the brain a clue is forming.  Well, for poor John McCain and the subject of finance, maybe not.

This is from yesterday in Des Moines. 

Thanks, Dan - for your comment  you make a difference!

Tara, your comment is inspiring.  Yes, we all have it in us.  And we have to keep reminding each other.

Leslie A. Wars, The Obama Lady.  Thank you, thank you, thank you. Persuasion canvassing - Yes We Can!!!

traveling. I see all around good news with almost all polls showing a healthy lead for Obama even in states like FL, OH, CO etc.

How reliable are these polls with about a month to go ?

amk

no, not that Detroit Mayor! Dennis Archer, 2-term Mayor (BK--Before Kwame), former Michigan Supreme Court Justice, legal guardian of the Rosa Parks Estate, chairman of the largest law firm in Detroit, FOB (Friend of Bill), and possible gubernatorial candidate to succeed term-limited Jennifer Granholm (whew!), called a meeting of all of the declared candidates for Detroit Mayor in the next primary in February, and told them (and the Detroit City Council members) to concentrate their efforts only on getting Barack Obama elected in November.

(OK, Al, I know that was a l-o-n-g sentence!)

Mayor Archer (as we still affectionately call him) reminded everyone to remind everyone that when he was mayor, Bill Clinton (yeah, I know) was President and Detroit benefitted greatly. GOTV in Detroit on November 4th should be the only thing on their minds. Period.

Now, Mayor Archer, could you please give Bill a call?

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

The most frightening part of that video clip is how it looks like he didn't even notice what he'd said.

Palin is going to do better than people expect (because really, how can she do worse, and the debate format insures that she will not have to futher explain the talking points she blurts out). McCain will get a bump in the polls, and we will have to deal with about of week of rapant Chicken Littleism.

Now, if Palin totally implodes on Thursday, I will happily eat my words on Friday.

Right on - Our task for the next few weeks is to provide resistance when the CLs return, which the absolutely will - possibly after a bump for McCain after the VP debate, as you say.  All the good news takes care of itself!

That said, this debate is a high-wire act for Palin, since she definitely won't win it on substance.  We'll see how well being "increasingly adorable" when cornered works out for her...

She has no fund of knowledge about national and international issues. That's why she has bombed so terribly in these interviews. She did well in the governor's race because she knows Alaskan populist views and catchwords. Obviously she is a person who doesn't read. She has lived her entire life in the isolated Mat-Su Valley of Alaska. She has an impoverished fund of knowledge. She will repeat the slogans and talking points but if she is pressed for specifics on any of the questions, she will have a terrible performance. Someone I know who has worked closely with her, says she hated press conferences, and was angry and petulant afterward when reporters questioned her and wanted direct and specific responses to her questions. The other great vulnerability is that her extremist, out of the maintstream, positions will come out in the debate, such as, promoting the teaching of Genesis in science classes, opposition to emergency contraception, anti-choice-even in cases of incest or rape, rejection of science on global warming, linking Iraq to 9/11, and so on.

Yesterday I agreed with Kat that if Palin's authenticity could come through then people would give her a pass on debate substance. Today I don't. 

Watching the initial Couric clips, I thought that Palin's stumbles were caused by her trying too hard to remember her talking points while trying to triangulate her position with McCain's position with Obama's position and then freezing up under the glare of the lights. 

But after seeing her inability to give an answer to Couric's question, "What news sources do you read to stay informed?" and her rumored inability to "name a Supreme Court decision other than Roe v Wade" suggests to me that her problem is not anything that a debate coach can fix.  She simply doesn't know enough stuff. 

This is why I think the McCain campaign is going with the "Let Palin be Palin" strategy.  That to me is like saying, "We can't fix this, so we gotta just throw her out there."

A lot of Dems are fretting about Biden's gaffe-prone, condescension may hand the debate to Palin.  I think that when Palin freezes up, Biden should help her out and then share an anecdote that goes something like this:

"I know exactly what Gov Palin is going through. It is hard to do what she is doing.  We've all been there.  When I arrived in the Senate in 1972, my staff sent me to a committee hearing about oil prices and turned out the hearing was about sanctioning some African dictator I never heard of. I had to fake knowledge of that dictator to get through the hearing and try not to embarrass myself.  So I empathize with Gov Palin, but for the sake of the country this is not the time to have a person one heartbeat away from the presidency to learn on the job and fake it through crisis meetings about a complex economic crisis, health care, social security, Iraq, Afghanistan...."

The top headline in Boulder, Colorado's paper today: Swamped: 2,000 new voters a day.

The Clerk and Recorder Office is expecting 90% turnout in our mostly liberal leaning county this year. I hear our ballot is the longest in the country- some are saying that was done on purpose to cause long, discouraging lines at the polling place. Dunno about that, but early voting should help. We're pushing that hard on the campus here in Boulder.

It was happy news that the campus gets its own early voting place this year.

The new or lapsed voter (didn't vote 2004) is going 2-1 for Obama. So the voter registration campaign is really paying off.

Just out: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/081001_NBC_WSJ_MySpace_P...

RE: Q-polls just out in Fl, OH, and PA, with solid Obama leads.

Q-poll has a pretty good rep. I would give them credence.

I know there is no direct back and forth between Biden and Palin (not sure how that qualifies as a debate), but is Iffel supposed to provide some follow up?  If it's just question, answer and then move on that will be a complete waste of everyone's time.

Palin's inability/refusal to answer the question about her news sources is really strange.  Was she really just that nervous?  I mean anyone off the street can name The New York Times.  What was that all about?  Tomorrow will be interesting for sure.  It's the low expectations that bother me.  If she can successfully string a few sentences together, she makes the grade??

And that Des Moines Register interview with McCain is terrifying.  It made my blood run cold.

The CLs are already back and primarily centered on the issue of Palin performing well in the debate. Amazing how much credit they're giving someone who keeps making a point of demonstrating her lack of preparedness in what has become the Couric-Palin miniseries. My opinion is that they're falling right into the McCain campaign's expectations-setting trap. And the "let Sarah, be Sarah" trap isn't even original. They used the same tactic with Reagan and Bush 2, who also consistently came up short on intellect. I call it the "Russian Doll" strategy - the idea that someone's public persona is not the real them, that the real them is hidden from public view and that their inarticulateness is merely a sign of their underlying awesomeness.

The problem with that strategy in this election cycle is that we're coming off of eight long years of pretending a dumb leader is a smart one, and we're seeing the catastrophic effects of electing people who just aren't up to the complexities of the job. Selling the Palin Russian doll is that much harder than it was selling the GWB one (who first ran for pres in a time of peace and properity and lower risks).

I've been pushing back against this form of CL-ing wherever I can. However Palin performs in the debate the fundamentals remain. She is woefully unprepared for the role she seeks and McCain bears responsibility for selection.

Anyone see it? As some here know, I have been no fan of Bill Clinton...ever. Today, he won some major lovin' from me. He did a bang-up job outlining the challenges we face and defining the financial issue at stake for American people. He broke through the DC gobbledegook on what the credit market threatens. His rationale for Biden as VP was masterful.

And he even had the good sense to catch himself as he was about to praise Hillary over Obama. The boy's onboard.

I'll buy that he did a bang up job and that he's doing a good job at what he needs to do but I don't buy that he feels it in his heart.  Too many slip ups when he isn't really trying his hardest to do what he knows he must.

Nepat - it's crazy, isn't it, the way Palin gets under people's skin?  I can't imagine what it would be like to have someone like that as a national leader.  At least Cheney does his dirty work relatively quietly.

Anyone here see John McCain's campaign pull out all the stops to discredit the new Q Polls that came out? One of his advisors actually said that their internal polling shows John McCain up 7 in Florida. The question is - how long ago was this internal polling conducted, and up 7 among which segment of the population? Bush only won the state by 4.5, and there is no way in hell that John McCain is winning Florida by seven points. 3-4? Yeah, I could believe that. But seven points is ridiculous. It looks to me like John McCain's cut man is out there trying to stop the bleeding, after Obama dodged his debate flurry and hit McCain with a vicious left hook.

It seems to me like a very reckless move to reveal your internal polling. After all, this is supposed to be the top-secret, gold-standard for political campaigns. While we're on this subject, can anybody explain to me how internal polling actually works?

any suggestions on how an avg bloke could get a message through to the obama-biden campaign (regarding a killer line for biden to use in tomorrow's debate?). or at the very least, could I send it to you and have you pass it on?

ridiculous, I know, but good ideas can come from strange and unexpected sources. . .

Nepat- u r so right. I find it hard somehow to think that the last 4 weeks would be completely erased from our memories if she performs decently tomorrow. She has  been an utter disaster. Not naming newspaper and magazines, the whole I can see russia from  my home. It's scary to the point my husband now wants to come and knock on doors and stuff envelopes on weekends for Obama! Cant' believe it.

I think Sullivan is right in demanding a press conference, so she can answer in front of the tv cameras questions that are tough and challenging.  If she says she is joe six pack then why the heck is she hiding?

I think the whole "let sarah be sarah" could backfire big time. i heard a radio interview she gave and I was aghast at some of her radical positions bordering almost on the fundamntalism. That will NOT work, I guarantee it. I think Mccain losing his cool today is a good example of how things are not well in his campaig and with his own physical health. He does not look well. Perhaps a few days rest might cure it.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/30/112442/907/802/615494

This is the top story on Kos right now.  I figure you might miss it being as busy as you are, Al.  It's a great piece on the training these politicians go through to deflect questions.  I love the history of the name - the Willhelm Scream.  I can see where now that I know about it, I will see it everywhere.  Journalists must know about this and they just let it ride.  We'd all be better of as a citizenry if we could acknowledge this and call politicians of all kinds on it.

May I recommend F William Engdahl’s current article called Financial Tsunami: The End of the World as We Knew It. The link to it is here. I am not linking to the article, just his homepage, so that you can, if so inclined, read Engdahl’s entire series on the current financial tsunami that he started writing about in November 2007. Engdahl is an economist based out of Germany. Click on the Financial Tsunami link at left.

Engdahl is always valuable to read; knows his stuff. His book about the Century of War is fascinating; you can read Steve Landesman's lengthy book review of it as a sort of Cliff Notes. :-)

====================

Tara, maybe not but he did a great job defining the issues for a crowd out baking in the FL sun. He was on point.

There is a troubling diary over at dailykos.com regarding student voter suppression in Virgina. It just never ends.  I certainly hope that Governor Tim Kaine is aware of this problem.

Excerpts:

Students in Radford University recently organized to protest the actions of Radford registrar Tracy Howard, who was automatically denying all registrations from students who listed a campus address as their residence:

.

But new reports are showing that the rights of college students to vote in Virginia are still being challenged by election officials using an exceedingly narrow interpretation of state residency laws, potentially disenfranchising tens of thousands of young voters.

The link to the story is at:

ALERT: Student voter suppression in Virginia = big problem

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/1/121326/804/718/616619

Florida: Obama 51 McCain 47

Minnesota: Obama 54 McCain 43

Missouri: Obama 49 McCain 48

Nevada: Obama 51 McCain 47

Virginia: Obama 53  McCain 44

http://thepage.time.com/

New battleground polls from CNN/Time show Obama up in all - including this number from Virginia

VIRGINIA: Obama 53, McCain 44

(see Halperin's The Page)

KD

If only the election were today...

Wait a minute, the election IS today!

This is an excellent stimulus to get ourselves and as many other people (family, friends, neighbors, random others) as possible to fill out an absentee ballot today. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/30/AR200809...

This from Kathleen Parker.  It's not an Obama endorsement but one might think so reading between the lines.  In fact,the sentiment in it is why my Republican dad is pulling for Obama.

I almost thought the email I got was a joke. Nope, McCain really said it yesterday to the editorial board of the Des Moines Register.

Yes, it's better to be up in the polls than down but, barring a total Palin meltdown tomorrow night, Obama's poll numbers will likely begin to drop by the weekend. He'll continue to lead but the margins will be tighter. And the CLs will appear like swarms of agitated bees all over the liberal blogosphere.

Right now Obama's riding the financial markets and post-debate wave (and, in the process, minimizing doubts about his readiness - a bonus). The Biden-Palin debate, and its associated coverage, takes attention away from that crisis and last week's debate, and a subject change is always a precursor to polling fluctuations.

And then it's on to next week.

If the Brokaw debate goes well on Monday (I'm highly suspicious of Brokaw, btw, but Obama is without peer in maintaining his cool), things should tip a bit back in his favor. However, I have no doubt that the McCain campaign is pressuring the hell out of Brokaw even as I type this to press Obama on the rightwing's greatest hits of anti-Obama propaganda: Wright, Ayers, ACORN, partial birth abortion, etc. This approach proved very effective for Sean Hannity with George Stephanopolous back in the primary. It's already been reported that Brokaw has been tight with the McCain campaign. Monday should be very interesting. 

The State Q-Polls and CNN/Time polls are confirming a huge swing toward Obama in some very big states, Virginia, Ohio, PA, Florida, Minnesota,and not the least Nevada!!!!!!

Also, CBS poll just out, Obama 50%-41% nationally. That's good news, people.

Real Clear Politics is reporting a sneak peak of a Wisconsin poll showing Obama up by 9 pts.!

http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2008/10/sneak_peek_obama_up_9_i...

"Strategic Vision will be releasing a poll in Wisconsin tomorrow showing Obama leading McCain by 9 points, 49 to 40, with 2% for other candidates and 9% undecided. The poll was conducted September 22-26."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/01/eveningnews/main4493062.shtml

This is the long awaited clip we've heard about...Sarah unable to name a SC case besides Roe v. Wade.  Same body language as when she didn't know the Bush Doctrine question.  What makes it even more damning is that they aired it side by side with Biden's answers to the same questions.  The difference could not be more significant and dramatic.  Biden answers with specifics -and specifics that he has been intimately involved with.  Palin can't name a specific if she tries...can only go on and on with her "glittering  generalties."

The one aspect of this that had been misreported is that the question is a SC case that they disagree with....not just any case.

Did you get busted smoking somewhere you shouldn't? Are you sitting in a jail cell somewhere in the Ohio heartland? Do we need to collect bail?

The story hits close to home for me. I'm a 17 year old Democrat living in one of the most conservative areas of the country, the I-44 corridor running through Missouri. A friend of mine was working as a Fellow with the Obama campaign and invited me to a house meeting one Saturday, and from then on I was hooked. Even though I can't vote, it showed me that I can still make a difference. I grew up with these eight years of President Bush, and I've noticed what our country has become. I wanted to help get the change we needed. So I signed up to volunteer. One Saturday, my friend got me signed up to work at a phone bank, and that was all it took.

Today, I'm a Volunteer Coordinator with our local campaign, and I love every minute of it. We have phone banks, Saturday canvasses, and through it all, together we're making a difference. Our numbers are growing every day, it seems like each day we get new volunteers or find someone else in our area who proudly supports Senator Obama. Even with a full course load in my senior year (including a poli sci class ;) ) I'm using whatever time I can to help the campaign. It just goes to show, everything we do helps. One person can spark inspiration in thousands.

Because of that, we WILL win this election. I haven't a doubt.

Kudos Leslie, it's people like you that make this all worthwhile.