Ohio field report

My wife and I got back from Ohio canvassing for John Kerry and we're both exceptionally happy with our experience. As I said earlier, my wife had been planning this for a while, and while I usually prefer the comfort of sitting in a chair blogging, I'm thankful my wife dragged me out for a day in the trenches. Some observations:

1) Over 100 people showed up to canvas in Cincinnati, despite the rain. An excellent turnout by any standards.

2) The staff there is professional and organized. They definitely have their act together. They had maps, directions, and exceptionally well targeted lists of undecided voters. We weren't wasting our time on people with yard signs already up on their lawns. We never bumped into anyone else from the campaign who had the same list as us. The staff was helpful and courteous -- always asking for more help but never in that over-eager manner you see in some campaign staff.

3) We asked the undecideds we met what their top priority issues were. Jobs and health care were unquestionably the top priorities. Remember, a day of canvassing is by no means a true scientific sample, but not a single voter we met said the war was his or her top priority. This shouldn't be too suprising -- Ohio has lost nearly a quarter-million jobs since furious george took office. I think this means the next debate, focused on domestic priorities, will be the most important.

4) A few people we met told us others had canvassed them a couple of months ago and registered them to vote -- but they hadn't recieved notification from the city clerk or Ohio Secretary of State. We know this is a concern in Ohio and the Secretary of State hasn't had the best track record lately. We'll stay on top of this.

5) My wife chatted with a lot with folks who weren't necessarily on our list, but had an interest in the campaign. A few were eager to put Kerry bumper stickers on their cars, and we were happy to accomodate them. It's very rewarding to see people come out of the woodwork to support your candidate.

6) Not everyone has made up their mind. But a good number of the undecideds we met today informed us that they now planned to vote for Kerry. None of the voters on our list said they were leaning toward furious george. This tells me we're making progress but we have more to do.

7) Everyone should spend at least an afternoon doing this if they can, even if you can't get to a battleground state. I'm one of those people who doesn't always feel comfortable knocking on a stranger's door to talk politics. But my wife has it right. This is too important to look back on November 3 and wonder if you could have done more.

8) We're going to win!
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Furious George

Kos and Atrios have started calling Bush "Furious George" for his angry, petulant debate antics last night. I think it's a name we all ought to start using. So from hereon out, he's Furious George on this blog. :-) Tell your friends, let's start a nationwide thing. Read the rest of this post...

Even more on Bush possibly being wired

I have to say, the White House's NEW reaction makes me think this is true. First, they responded seriously that there was no such bulge. Then they said it was just the fabric of the suit. Then, when the NYT told them the fabric formed a perfect rectangle, they said nothing. Now, it's a joke. Changing stories, White House style. Equals? Guilty liars. Read the rest of this post...

Drudge and the GOP slime machine are at it again

Their latest "crime" they've uncovered? A memo by ABC's political guy, Mark Halperin, saying that while ABC News should of course hold both candidates accountable, that doesn't mean you hold both sides "equally" accountable. What Halperin appears to mean, and it's amazing to get this kind of intelligent nuance from any journalist nowadays, is that when one side makes an egregious lie you don't simply imply on the air that this is the same as the other side making a minor error in their facts.

An example: say Kerry were to suggest he was part Norwegian (and was wrong) and Bush were to suggest that he was second coming of Christ (and was also wrong). Halperin is suggesting that the media not say "well, Bush is saying he's Christ, but you know, Kerry did mess up who his great-grandfather is, so both candidates equally mis-spoke."

Well, Drudgey-poo and the rest of the vast right-wing whiners have jumped on this as evidence that the media is biased against Bush. In fact, what Halperin wrote in the memo was that the Bush side is basically outright lying in an effort to destroy Kerry, whereas Kerry is simply getting a few facts wrong.

How terribly sad that now the GOP and their surrogates will try to destroy any journalist who tries to fairly cover this election.

More from this on BradBlog, and here's an alleged copy of the ABC memo.

Halperin Memo Dated Friday October 8, 2004

It goes without saying that the stakes are getting very high for the country and the campaigns - and our responsibilities become quite grave.

I do not want to set off an endless colloquy that none of us have time for today - nor do I want to stifle one. Please respond if you feel you can advance the discussion.

The New York Times (Nagourney/Stevenson) and Howard Fineman on the web both make the same point today: the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done.

Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win.

We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that.

I'm sure many of you have this week felt the stepped up Bush efforts to complain about our coverage. This is all part of their efforts to get away with as much as possible with the stepped up, renewed efforts to win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions.

It's up to Kerry to defend himself, of course. But as one of the few news organizations with the skill and strength to help voters evaluate what the candidates are saying to serve the public interest. Now is the time for all of us to step up and do that right.

Bottom line? The media is finally waking up to the fact that when you have Bambi running against Godzilla, you don't pretend they're the same. It figures the liars and the cheaters and the thieves that make up today's GOP can't handle the truth. Fight back, hard, and don't let these assholes win. Read the rest of this post...

Kerry wins CNN debate poll as well (a REAL poll, not online)

From Bloomberg. Read the rest of this post...

Kerry ahead by one point in Zogby poll

Zogby, as you know, is one of THE most credible pollsters, and has shown Kerry behind bey a few points for a while now. Now Zogby shows Kerry ahead. It's still a statistical tie, but Kerry clearly has forward momentum. Nice. Read the rest of this post...

More intrigue about whether Bush had a radio receiver on him during first debate

The NYT has an article on this that raises more questions - such as, Bush was apparently NOT wearing a bullet proof vest. Read the rest of this post...

We're goin' to Ohio...

My wife and I are so pumped up from last night's debate. We're goin' to Ohio RIGHT NOW to canvass voters. This was my wife's idea -- she's had this planned for a while, but now we have some great momentum and material, thanks to last night.

We'll give a report from the field tonight...
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ANTI-KERRY FILM TO AIR ON 1/4 OF NATION'S TV'S RIGHT BEFORE THE ELECTION

Folks, this is the most outrageous thing I've read this election. A conservative group that owns TV outlets that reach into nearly a quarter of the nation's homes is FORCING its local stations to PREEMPT ITS REGULAR PRIME-TIME COVERAGE, just days before the election, to air a film attacking Kerry's military record.

I won't even bother repeating the story here - you can read it all in the Los Angeles Times. The conservative group is the same one that refused to air Nightline's homage to our fallen troops.

Read the article and then someone out there find out which EXACT local stations belong to this Sinclair Broadcast Group. We are going to take those stations down. I want to know the exact stations, with proof (find me the source), then I want to help coordinate a campaign to kill their advertising. I cannot run a second Web site, someone else needs to start it and run, but you can copy it after our StopDrLaura.com campaign (the site is still up as an archive), and I'm happy to give advice and help with publicity.

We need to know which of our local stations is in bed with the president and this right-wing zealot and we need to destroy them. I'm talking get every single advertiser to leave those stations. Publish the advertisers email and phone and contact them, demanding that they stop funneling their money to partisan un-American TV zealots who are trying to throw our election. I suspect most advertisers will not like hearing about this story. Read the rest of this post...

Poll questions - good or bad?

What did everyone think about the questions last night? I was unimpressed but the media seems to have loved them. Perhaps they loved them because they mirrored the same old questions that the media has been pushing?? I also felt that the people asking the questions should have had the option of following up to somehow press either candidate on actually answering the question instead of completely dodging the question as Bush did on the "3 mistakes" question. Maybe I was just too tired to be impressed or catch anything interesting. What did you think?
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First African woman wins Nobel Peace Prize

With all of the excitement about the upcoming debate I missed this one yesterday. When Bush floundered on the subject of the environment last night it reminded me of what a great achievement it was for Dr. Wangari Maathai to win the award. It's difficult enough to fight against special interests in a country like the US but doing so in places like Kenya during the years of President Daniel Arap Moi's dictatorship is quite bold. Consider the fact that she is a woman doing this makes it even more incredible. With perhaps a few exceptions, most notably in Sweden, women are under-represented in western democracies. Even in the US when we see a strong woman we often see smear campaigns, attacks and demonization. What great news this is for the environment, Africa and women. We all benefit from a cleaner environment, even if our president doesn't get that point. Considering the political atmosphere that Dr. Maathai has worked in, this achievement is even more impressive.
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President Perfect & the return of the angry man

Has George been spending more time with Zel lately? It sure looks that way after last night. His aggressive interuption of Charles Gibson was pretty amazing considering this is the guy who's supposed to be our calm and cool leader. I also was disappointed with Gibson though for tolerating that garbage as well as pointing all follow up questions to Kerry and none for Bush. Did I miss a follow up to Bush? Clearly the question about 3 mistakes could have been re-directed at Bush by Gibson but he seemed unable or unwilling to do that. That's the problem with the press all too often. They're afraid to stand up to the bully. What kind of a person can not admit a single mistake other than to point the finger at others for possible mistakes? How did Gibson not ask Bush to actually be specific on that question?
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This is what happens when Bush doesn't take his meds

Oliver Willis has the video clip of Bush freaking out on Charlie Gibson during last night's debate. Is this the man you want with his finger on the button?

Also, take particular note of how Bush refers to the PM of Italy. Servio, he calls him. His name is Silvio, you freak. Read the rest of this post...

NYT blasts Bush's debate performance

NYT Editorial:

Last night's format was much more suited to George Bush's talents than the hard-edged debate last week, but John Kerry still managed to goad him to irritable near-shouting at some points.

One of the uncommitted voters in the audience sensibly asked President Bush to name three mistakes he'd made in office, and what he had done to remedy the damage. Mr. Bush declined to list even one, and instead launched into an impassioned defense of the invasion of Iraq as a good idea. The president's insistence on defending his decision to go into Iraq seemed increasingly bizarre in a week when his own investigators reported that there were no weapons of mass destruction there, and when his own secretary of defense acknowledged that there was no serious evidence of a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda.

Even worse, the president's refusal to come up with even a minor error - apart from saying that he might have made some unspecified appointments that he now regretted - underscores his inability to respond to failure in any way except by insisting over and over again that his original decision was right....

Mr. Bush was deeply unpersuasive when asked why he had not permitted the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada. He claimed that the reason was "I want to make sure it cures you and doesn't kill you." Mr. Kerry cleanly retorted that four years ago in a campaign debate, Mr. Bush had said importing medicine from Canada sounded sensible.

And the president was utterly incoherent when asked about whom he might name to the Supreme Court in a second term. His comment about how he didn't want to offend any judges because he wanted "them all voting for me" was a joke - but an unfortunate one, given the fact that the president owes his job to a Supreme Court vote....

Mr. Kerry demonstrated, at the very minimum, a stature that was equal to the president's. If Mr. Bush was hoping to recover all the ground he lost last week, he failed in his mission.

The president seemed to fall back frequently on name-calling, denouncing his opponent as a liberal and a tool of the trial lawyers. "The president's just trying to scare," Mr. Kerry said. It will be another few weeks before we see how well that works.

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