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Electing Obama - The March on the Ballot Box
It seems to me that winning an election is not as much about overcoming an opponent as it is about getting members of your own party to simply show up and vote. In a country where 50% of the people don't vote, it seems that the winning strategy is to get people who are on your side who don't normally show up to get in there and pull the lever. And I suspect that both the Obama and McCain campaigns know this. Which is why I don't think that Palin was a play to get Clinton Democrats - though this is a major theme in the MSM - as it was to cast a broader net of conservatives, just like Obama chose Biden as opposed to someone like Hagel. I think the goal here is to stop trying to change minds and to start getting people registered. But then I think there's one more really important step: getting people to turn out. I think it'd be incredible to turn Election Day into the culmination of Obama's movement, a March on the Ballot Box, which would encompass turning the whole day into an event, getting people rides who otherwise might not make it, marching through precincts, banging drums and encouraging people to head to their local gymnasiums and vote. The Republican's won in 00 and 04 because they showed up to vote, not because Bush convinced Dems to vote for him.
Comments (1)
Recommended for sure and perhaps the most succinct explanation of the VP picks I have seen. Both of them were about shoring up the base and creating enthusiasm for the final months of the campaign.
It is too late for McCain to stop the hemorrhaging of moderate republicans and independents, but this pick surely keeps the neoconservative base happy and writing checks.
Perhaps the only move he could have made to avoid a total blowout in November.
September 1, 2008 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
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