DocJess at DemConWatch is an Obama volunteer. Chester County is one of the Philly suburbs:
Chester County was originally divided into 5 zones by the Obama campaign. The internal borders have shifted somewhat, but now we have additional satellite offices. In our zone, we have two. The one I’ve been at this week is about a block and a half from the Paoli train station. This doesn’t necessarily mean anything to you, but here’s why it matters. Earlier this year, Barack Obama got on a train in Philadelphia, came out the Main Line, and stopped at various train stations, including Paoli, to make speeches.
One of the women at the phone bank told me that it was that day, and that speech, that made her decide to work her first election. Turns out that on Valentine’s Day, 1968, her grandfather was attacked and killed on the platform at the Paoli train station for being black and “not knowing his place.”
Many Obama volunteers are motivated by such things, especially but by no means exclusively, the African-American volunteers. I'm white. I grew up about 30 miles from here, in the suburbs. When I was about six, I remember seeing what looked like an official-looking street sign attached to the post under the speed limit. The sign said, "This Neighborhood Patrolled by the KKK." If a black man walked down my street, every phone on the street would start to ring. By the time he got to the end, he would likely have been jumped and beaten.
The people who did that kind of thing, who called themselves the Klan, are still alive. That knowledge and that memory is one of the reasons why I am a volunteer. I am out to defeat them.
So last night, at the Paoli location, we had a leadership team meeting. We heard the plans that we would implement for our little corner of the world: the remaining planning, the final weekend of regular canvassing, the final push, Election Day.
Driving home, I realized that the identical meeting was being held by local teams across the country. Maybe the night before, or after, but the plan was the same. It’s one of the two greatest strengths of the campaign: have a plan, work the plan. (The other greatest strength is the message: define it, refine it, adhere to it.) Believe me when I say this was no local organizing meeting. Nope.
This folks, is the ground game. And when all is said and done, and the historical evaluations of the 2008 campaigns are viewed with 20/20 hindsight, the ground game is going to be the big topic.
Yep. And McCain has nothing to counter it, except yard signs and robocalls, and the kind of people who used to call themselves the Klan on my street. They're all going to lose, if I have anything to say about it.
How about you?
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