I think it comes down to Virginia

[sandnsea]

Looking at the overall trends.
http://www.pollster.com/

Is there anything we can do to help in Virginia? I can call whoever Moveon assigns me - or I can call Virginia all day Tuesday if someone can get me phone numbers.

Anything else those of us with wrapped up elections can do??

[wisteria]

1. Can we counter some of the newpaper smears about Kerry and

his support of the troops, with some exerts from his Jefferson-Jackson speech and other Dem's comments supporting the soldiers? These papers who are running these phony apologies to keep this smear going should be countered with something. We should not let this trick go unanswered.

[sandnsea]

2. I wrote one in San Diego

He was 'glad the piece stirred me'. :eyes:

[fedupinBushcountry]

3. I just got home

from the Webb campaign office. The dirty tricks are already starting, jamming phone lines and calling people saying all kinds of stuff. Aaaagh.

I will be checking the machines at 5 a.m. in one precinct and Beachmom will also be doing one. I did find out I would be able to stay inside and observe, the woman in charge said that yes we could have video cameras but now they are telling her no. But lawyers will be going around checking things during the day and will be at a poll immediately if anything comes up. I will be observing all day and will be watching everything closely. did find out that the Dems did write the program and the biggest fear and most important thing to do is check that no tampering with the main memory card, I know what to look for.

They will be phone banking all day tomorrow and Tuesday, so if you want to help with that, it would be great.

[sandnsea]

4. I need numbers

I'm in Oregon, if you want to email or fax me numbers, PM me.

Are they doing an actual test run with ballots before they begin voting? Plug in the card, test some ballots, and then let people vote?

[beachmom]

5. Speaking of which, I just got to see Tim Kaine!

I went to the Kellam campaign to phone bank, and after a while, they said -- hey, the governor is coming, get outside! So we had an impromptu rally, and I got to meet our congressional candidate Phil Kellam, and tell him this is the first campaign I've ever worked on. He asked me for my name and where I lived, etc., and told me this was the race to start with, and to stay involved. I really liked him, and hope he can defeat that rubber stamper Thelma Drake. Gov. Kaine gave a great speech and then Phil Kellam, who is actually a funny guy (and get this one -- a total surfer dude -- we do live on the beach, of course!) added some rallying words. People are energized down here. Tim Kaine won Virginia Beach, something that hadn't happened for a Democrat in ages. I still don't know what's going to happen, but I think we are pulling out the stops down here. NoVa is, of course, the key for Webb, but the work we do down here will control the bleed in the redder parts of the state.

[JI7]

6. Virginia is one of our top hopes in leading the way to winning the South

the Kaine victory speaks well. along with Kerry doing pretty while even though he didn't win the state. i remember Kleeb said Kerry won his district which even Bill Clinton couldn't do.

if Mark Warner had been the Dem Senate Candidate i think it would have been an easy win for us after the Allen scandals. but the fact Jim Webb was able to make it close is positive also.

hopefully Mark Warner will run when John Warner retires and we will have a 2 Dem Senators along with a Dem Governor in the state.

[fedupinBushcountry]

7. I was just down there

eatlier today, Which office was he at ?

[beachmom]

8. Phil Kellam's campaign office on Witchduck Road

I think you were at the Webb campaign, right? I tell you, I never have luck like this, so I'm thrilled to pieces. I also met Creigh Deeds, who lost being Attorney General by 300 votes last year -- he was funny -- he said "I lost by 300 freakin' votes, so everything you do DOES matter!".

What do you think, Fedup -- do you feel more energy here than ever before?

[fedupinBushcountry]

9. I was at the Kellam office first

and then went to the Webb office, we must have crossed each others path. I'll say one thing, the Webb office is well kept and organized.

The Webb office was bustling, and the woman that is coordinating the poll workers is very smart. When I was there everyone was busy and the phone was ringing off the hook. Their main concern is getting people out to vote and making sure the votes are counted. Like I mentioned above the dirty tricks are starting so we have a big job ahead of us.

The energy was there also in '04, and Kerry was in reach and there were tricks played, so we just have to do everything possible to make sure voters get out and that their votes are counted. I think in '04 we were not on the ball and we got a rude awakening because of that. This time they are taking the voting itself more serious.

[beachmom]

10. That's good. I won't be able to stay in my precinct once

they've opened it, because I have to get home for my kids. Did you say you're going to stay there all day?

[fedupinBushcountry]

11. Yes

all day, but all my kids are grown and on their own and I really want to observe and make sure every thing is on the up and up. She was thrilled I offered to do that. I will be at the Tallwood precinct, mine was already gone. You have to go back when it closes right?

[beachmom]

12. Yes. I'm at P.A. Recreation Center (also not my precinct)

I'll open and close it (but it is conveniently at times my husband's home). So have you thought about the post-election party?

[ray of light]

15. How do you feel about Webb distancing himself from JK now?

[beachmom]

16. I think his response was quite measured -- he said JK needed

to work on the delivery of his punchline, something I could hardly argue with. And then he talked about his son who is quite well educated who is currently in Iraq. I've heard nothing about it since. Has something else happened? Because Webb was mostly in the "no comment" category, which was fine with me in this red state.

I didn't think there was any distancing, or do you have some info I haven't seen?

[ray of light]

22. -I saw his 'Representative" or so he claimed to be on Kos

telling people that Mike Starks should stay away from Allan because his actions were the equivalent of John Kerry's mounth. They didn't want either.

[Mass]

24. He has a point in what he says. This takes news cycle that could be better used

for other things. I imagine Kerry would not disagree on that, which is why he tried to change the issue to something else.

[ray of light]

25. I actually think that Stark's actions show more how corrupt & bullyish

Allen is.

However the point that I objected to was 'John Kerry's mouth...' since it's John kerry's mouth that brought him early donations, early support, and allowed him to keep fighting while waiting for Allan to fall flat on his face.

Kerry's money and "Kerry's mouth" is what gave Webb the chance when there was a 20% difference in the polls. And Mike Stark's actions with the Macacca comment and things that followed have also help dwindle away at Allen's support.

[beachmom]

26. I disagree. Stark is an idiot. One time made him out to be the

victim, the second time showed him to be some kind of weird stalker -- he also bruised a reporter in the elbow. Another thing -- I looked on a conservative site (local) and they showed Stark elbowing past people the first time; now that doesn't excuse the thuggishness of the Allen people -- still, it shows the guy is mentally unstable and of no help whatsoever.

Which blogger said those words about Kerry's mouth? Lowell?

[ray of light]

29. Teacher Ken.

In the video I saw I didn't see any elbows.

[beachmom]

30. This was the first time. I'm actually wrong about elbows:

It was more that he rudely (but not violently) pushed by someone. That just turned me off, as far as polite society goes (hey, I live in the South). But it didn't excuse him being tackled later. But to do it AGAIN? That's a little nutty. I mean, I'm certainly not studying the schedule of Republicans so I can go follow them around. I'd just rather vote against them, volunteer, and blog.

I'm really disappointed Teacher Ken said that; I've tried to rec his diaries when he's asked for help from Raising Kaine. We do know that that is a historically Kerry bashing blog. But given Kerry's incredible help to the Webb campaign, they stopped doing it. Some ugliness did come out last week, but not by the top blogger Lowell, who I noticed was very careful not to criticize Kerry that much. He was fairly in line with Webb.

Teacher Ken is not paid (I think) like Lowell is.

[fedupinBushcountry]

31. Actually the second time

he was hired as a reporter by the Young Turks on Air America. He did nothing wrong and kept silent through out, but a young republican with help from his mother made sure they would make a spectacle out of him.

Like JK says and this can go for this situation too and take out the unpatriotic and change it to whatever you like.

" Dissenters are not always right, but it is always a warning sign when they are accused of unpatriotic sentiments by politicians seeking a safe harbor from debate, from accountability, or from the simple truth."

[fedupinBushcountry]

19. I haven't heard of any

distancing. I thought his response was fine.

[sandnsea]

20. I didn't think he had

I thought his response was fine "If that's John Kerry's idea of a joke, he needs to work on the punch line a bit". I imagine he said that before he had the whole story and it's not a bad response in any event. I don't see anything wrong with the response and I don't blame him for just ignoring the whole thing at this point. Just my two.

[Mass]

23. He did not, to my knowledge.

[benny05]

13. I think it will be Missouri and Virginia n/t

[TayTay]

14. I agree.

These last 48 hours before we start to get some results are going to be just awful.
It's the waiting that allows people to run disaster scenarios through their heads.

[sandnsea]

17. Check out this graph

Missouri is really tight, for sure. But it looks like McCaskill continues to stay just a smidge ahead of Talent. The Webb-Allen race has been more sporadic and is more down to the wire. I was just thinking that for those of us who don't really have pressing local races, we might be able to do some GOTV phone calls for Virginia since it's so so close there.

http://www.pollster.com/polls/?state=MO&race=senate_race

[beachmom]

18. Have you heard the talk that Allen's ground game is bad?

Apparently, he had been working harder on getting a good ground game in NH and Iowa, and neglected Virginia. And the lt. gov. (a Republican) Bolling just said Allen would lose. GOPers were mad at his "punditry".

[sandnsea]

21. rotflmao, no I hadn't

Oh that would just be too funny. It stands to reason though, I'm sure he never thought he'd be in any sort of race in VA at all. That's really something if a Repub said he thought he'd lose, I hope that isn't a GOTV energizer thingy.

[beachmom]

27. USA Survey: 52 - 44 -- Webb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, this is good.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2931170

[ProSense]

28. Check out the

GD thread. My mom told me about similar incidents with color-coded flyers during the 2005 election. The Repigs are despicable!

[demdiva]

32. Do you live in VA?

I was out all night flyering cars in NoVa...I have to say I'm excited. I know NoVa is the democratic part of the state, but the grassroots are out in force. I know tomorrow they are pulling people out door to door and working the Metros.