Waiting for Electricity; Waiting for the Election

11/5/2012

Thank you; merci beaucoup

On Sunday our son spotted a utility truck near his home.
It was from New Brunswick, the one in Canada.
That night, his electricity was restored.
Think of it: workers from a country with socialized medicine turned on the lights in the woods of Long Island.

I am tired of stumbling around in the dark.
I am also tired of the campaign, which amounts to the same thing.
Earlier in the year I was reassuring my wife that I met that guy during the Olympics, and he could run the country if he had to.
She knew better, long before his 47-per-cent remark and the Jeep-to-China lie.

Now I read that Democrats would work better with a Republican president than vice versa.
I also read blather about Obama being such a terrible person because he is an introvert. Something going on inside. Awful. .
It’s a race. Workers from Canada vs. returns from 50 states.
Maybe on Wednesday this will all be over.

John McDermott

11/6/2012 05:24:41 am

I'm beginning to think the entire world should be allowed to vote in the US presidential election since its outcome can have such a profound and far-reaching effect on the entire world. I also think that US election campaigns are way too long and involve people spending obscene amounts of money to acquire power for themselves(see Whitman, Meg) or their friends(see Adelson, Sheldon). And I also think we should listen more to what our wives tell us, especially you and I.

Ed Martin

11/6/2012 05:39:49 am

Glad you and family are safe and well, if cold I expect although I can remember gathering around the gas oven.
This need to protect low-lying areas will face a tremendous resistance, but is inevitable.

On another note, the Sarasota Herald Tribune, sold by the Times recently, has stopped endorsing candidates under the new owners.
Dumbing down the paper to avoid antagonizing advertisers and readers? The Times has been remarkably free of that kind of leadership. Turkey looks great-it is on our shortlist. just returned from a Mediterranean voyage and Atlantic crossing. Watched German League contest in mid-ocean. Got Times Digest on ship, but much of the time only Fox was on tv, finally BBC and CNN. Ciao.

Alan Rubin link

11/6/2012 07:57:48 am

George and John

Your comments are right on target, particularly about listening to our wives. There are so many ways to invest the many millions in these elections, including key senate races.

I had been active in Elizabeth Warren's campaign since the beginning. The past week as been intense with phone calling and door to door on Monday an Tuesday.

It is now 4PM and I'm done since I started at six am. The reports from all over MA is that there is unusually high voter turnout.

My daughter is a poll watcher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She said that the turnout is the highest she has seen in all the elections she has covered.

My 12 year old granddaughter was at an Obama/Springsteen rally in Milwaukee with her friend (mother driving). Both girls said that it was the most exciting day of their lives. Not enough youngsters become involved so they become responsible voters.

There are so many stories I could relate about my door to door conversations, but might be for a after election post topic.

Soon, we will know which half of the experts were correct.

Janet O'Rourke

11/8/2012 01:27:56 am

George,
I'm not sure why, but I didn't realize that you were STILL w/o power. My heart goes out to you and Marianne. I certainly hope the snow melts, and you get power back very soon.
The election - relief and a feeling of gratitude overwhelms me. I know you and Marianne feel the same way. Love to you both. Jane

Alan Rubin link

11/11/2012 04:14:20 am

Governor Romney said after the election that he had not realized how organized the Democratic get out the vote ground game was. He should not have been. The Democrats continually said that they would win with their ground game.

The Obama campaign’s organization remained intact after the 2008 election. The level of intensity increased substantially during the later stages of the campaign. Massachusetts was not a battle ground state for Obama, but they were highly organized throughout the state early and stepped it up late in the summer. This was true for all states.

The Warren-Brown race was extremely competitive with national money pouring in for both candidates in an effort for control of the senate. The organization that I worked with focused on getting out the vote for Elizabeth knowing she might not get a coattail boost from President Obama.

I have the utmost respect and admiration for volunteer campaign workers for both parties, who spent many hours in enthusiastic support of their candidates. Although there are many different aspects for volunteers, I was most impressed by the GOTV (get out the vote) process, which can start as early as two years in advance.

The process begins with the voter registration lists. Initial door to door canvassing assesses party affiliation, voting history and the likelihood of their supporting your candidate. This is repeated at various stages of the election to refine the voter lists. In the final months and weeks, volunteers should be contacting those most likely to support your candidate.

Technology has also become an integral component to any election. However, I’m not referring to all the annoying emails that we all received.

Phone banking is done with a computer program that is linked to your smart phone. Each potential voter’s information is visible and their responses are checked. In addition to indicating whether they are (for-undecided-against), it is noted whether they hung up, got an answering machine or were non-English speaking. The computer automatically dials the next call, which can be anywhere in the state.

During the last weeks, the focus was on getting people to vote. I mostly did phone banking, except Monday and Tuesday when I elected to go door to door. Phone banking is tiring and can be frustrating. Door to door was more interesting, and more exercise, having the personal contact.

You work one or two precincts at a time. In the past, information was checked on voter sheets which were turned in for someone to transfer the data on to a spread sheet. This time I had all the names, along with a map, on my iPhone. After completing each precinct, I just clicked send and went on to the next precinct. Also, you get of sense of things by talking to people.

The lists, after being refined by multiple surveys over time, should be all favorable voters, in my case pro-Warren. My first house on Monday December 5th was Scott Brown’s former army buddy. So much for filtered lists!

His neighbor was a lovely, cheerful woman in her late seventies appropriately named Joy. Although recovering from West Nile Virus, she was remarkably upbeat. Although not Brown’s army buddy Joy was also going to vote for Brown. While I was thinking that maybe I had been given a republican list by mistake, Joy said that her daughter was furious with her for supporting Brown. Joy’s daughter had asked “how could any women vote for a republican?” Then, with a wide smile, Joy said that we should not worry because Warren was going to win since most of her friends had switched away from Brown in the past two weeks.

Much has been said about the accuracy of the polls during Election 2012, with the prevailing opinion being that Nate Silver was the most credible of them all. My local, unprofessional, take on this was reinforced by Joy’s comment that her friends had made a last minute switch from Brown to Warren. Up until almost the last few days, MA polls showed the race to be very close with a slight edge emerging for Warren. Some polls still showed Brown ahead. The feedback that my organization was getting from the door to door volunteer results indicated that Democratic voters who had previously voted for Brown in the special election two years ago were switching to Warren. This trend increased as Election Day approached. My wife dismissed this whenever I reported the lasted campaign surveys as my always being too optimistic, which was an upgrade from Pollyanna.

My gut reaction to Joy’s comment was—Elizabeth is going to win this!!

Much has been said about too many voters not being aware of the issues and that they often vote against their self-interest. One man strongly expressed his disdain for both Obama and Warren and indicated that he had no intention to vote at all. He then said that all he cared about was the problems he was having with his credit card company. He was not aw