Yesterday, on a train ride back from a Democrats Abroad Defend Democracy rally in Hamburg, Germany, a friend who votes in Virginia was telling us that she asked for her Ballot by mail instead of by email like the rest of us, because her state is saying that they have to have their ballots in the right kind of envelope or else it will not be counted. Think about that. The state offers voters from abroad the option of getting their ballot by email but then won't accept it unless it is returned in an official envelope which one cannot get unless one gets it mailed to one, taking many weeks of time sometimes to arrive and then to be returned. My region reported when we got our ballots by email. Another friend on the train brought up what we all think, which is that we would like to see national standards for elections so that there is some continuity. ******
I also want to say that even if Kamala raises more money that is visible, Trump is raising a lot of Billionaire Bro and Gal dark money through Super pacs. Apparently JDVance has a lawsuit in which he is asking the courts to allow dark money to go directly to candidates, breaking down the last barrier to campaign finance limits. Still with her money, Kamala has some super ads out.
Hi! N.Y. State flipped our State Legislature blue, about 6 years ago. Since then they have passed a bunch of new voting laws including ones to assist voters who need to correct mistakes or things such as envelopes instead of sitting in a back room at BOE scrubbing their ballots. It’s a breath of fresh air. The State Legislatures are so key to our survival as a voting Democracy.
All I can say is I am getting more volunteers than I can barely manage to delegate for actions. It’s unprecedented and exhilarating!! They take a canvass turf and come back to take another!!! Never happens!!! Civic mindedness is waking up in Ulster County NY. Sounds like it’s happening everywhere!! I’m already looking to how we can keep it alive after this election so we’re never in this position of defending our country from a dictator again. So glad you are all out there. I’ve never felt so patriotic.
I can't give you enough "LIKES" Amy! Your spirit personifies the vigor, the tenacity, and the passion for America, by the tens of millions of Americans who have transformed the emotions of fear, and anger into positive, actionable responses to the aversive, negative, toxic BS of an insecure little man who can't even play golf with friends without lying while they look on, winking, and nodding to his benefit. Everything about this life is subject to the law of impermanence, including the monster. So, yes, his tribe will maintain their lazy habit of whining while America surges onward. With, or without them . Thee hardest thing for many men especially to do, say "I am sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me."
The Republicans are open and obvious in their efforts to engage in fraud in this election. They are seeking ways to cancel votes so that they win. All in the name of combating voter fraud. And Republicans obey. Astonishing!
Georgia is an excellent example of how hard the Republicans are working to disenfranchise and cancel Democrats' votes. Although our governor (Kemp) and secretary of state (Raffensperger) decry the Georgia's election boards' last-minute/desperate-move new rules, they seem to just be letting it all happen. Shame on the board and both of them too!
I loved the Hamilton cast singing the Election of 2024. It was very different, of course. Nevertheless, it reminded me of 2008. Exercising the same energy plus some whimsy, a group singing There's no-one as Irish as Barack O'Bama. Singing for Kamala Harris is not overconfidence (after all Confidence Kills Campaigns). As with singing for Barack Obama, it is just plain fun.
I've been thinking about the Harris/Walz potential vote total in Nov. I'm reaching out across Substack readers to get your thoughts.
From fund raising, grassroots activity, new voter registrations to national polls, many key activities have moving in the right direction for Harris/Walz.
To forecast the range of their potential victory, I'm trying to assess the degree to which Harris/Walz are likely to receive the vast majority of the 2020 Biden/Harris voter coalition which totaled +81 million votes.
In my cloistered world of hundreds of Democrats, I don't know a single voter who voted for Biden in 2020 who isn't voting for Harris in Nov.
I'm really interested in hearing your impression of how Biden voters will vote in Nov.
I think the vast vast majority of Biden voters will, in the end, vote for Harris. The one questionable group, obviously, are those who have expressed the strongest concerns abut what is happening in Gaza. I have read over the weekend that at least one of those organizations is not endorsing Harris, but advising its supporters to vote against Trump (and not waste their votes on third party-candidate protest votes either).
That is what I have been telling Gaza protesters. They will be kicked out of US universities, and rounded up and put in camps for deportation. Where did I get this? From Project 2025, and what Trump has said about the Demonstrators. However, even those who are upset who are not demonstrating are not hastening the end of the problems for people in Gaza, just the annihilation of them by Netanyahu with Trump's blessing.
yes. And, as they say, when Trump says things that we know he will have the power to enact as president, we had better pay attention. Unfortunately he says a lot of wild things too, which have people discounting him, but that is the danger. During WWII, not only did Japanese-Americans get denaturalized and deported, but so did German-Americans. That has been the reason my mother, a German immigrant has given for never getting US citizenship. She has been afraid to take on one that she could lose to give up the one she cannot lose. At this point she does not need to give up her German citizenship but now that she has alzheimers it is too late for her to become a US citizen, because I don't know if she could pass the test.
I cannot imagine that Trump will get one more vote in 2024 than he got in 2020 and will probably get millions less. But I am doing my damnedest to make sure that is true by working closely with movement.vote to support Zoom house parties that raise money to send to grass roots organizations in key states for the presidential election and Montana and Ohio for senate elections. I believe in Robert's sign off that "we have every reason to be hopeful and no reason to be complacent".
Merrill, this has been a burning question for many these days- what will propel those "undecided voters" in making a final decision? I don't know if you are familiar with political strategist Sarah Longwell, but I was happy to hear an interview with her yesterday where she predicts that VP Harris will win the election.
"The Republican strategist Sarah Longwell explains what she’s hearing in focus groups from swing-state voters, and those who’ve “flipped” between Democratic and Republican candidates."
"at the end of the day, what this election will come down to this- the Republicans that get there on Kamala Harris, and the Republicans who refuse to get there on Trump".
Sarah heads the Republican Accountability Project, to which I have donated. She and her organization have been disseminating those excellent adverts of regular Republicans declaring that they will not or no longer vote for Trump (and explaining why).
@ Lynn. MSM is transfixed on polls. All based on the American Association for Public Opinion Research, "there is a consensus in the polling community that it is better to report 'likely' voters than 'registered' voters"
To me it's more important to know who will actually vote. The DNC uses VAT, which can show new registrations. Odds are that if they register they will vote. The pollsters are oblivious.
Democrats not just Biden leaning Democrats which include new voters overwhelmingly support Harris. It’s the Independents and real Republicans we need to win over
If Harris wins the 2020 Biden coalition of votes, about 81 million, and a majority of first time young voters, she will certainly with the majority vote nationally. Have you read any analyses that predict what that would mean for the swing states?
I live in a retirement community and we had a neighborhood get together and several attendee’s mentioned they were doing door to door canvassing earlier in the day. They were well received and several mentioned they were the only canvas people they have seen. We cannot under estimate the power of door to door face to face conversations and having a strong ground organization has to contribute to winning this election. The Harris Walz campaign is operating on all cylinders and must continue to do so and I pray the negative racists campaign Trump is running turns people off. Harris represents a real viable and forward inclusive approach worth investing a vote in.
I’ve been canvassing usingNeighbor2Neighbor(no apps!) in my neighborhood and canvas driving twice a week for local Dems here in my RED,FL county. Florida Dems just started tracking door knocks/phone calls and my county was #1 for canvassing !! Last several week-ends lots of sign wavers have been out at the major beach intersection with many honks,honks. There was 1 Trumper sign waver on Saturday. Several more Harris/Walz signs went up in our neighborhood. Please join us !🪧🇺🇸
Here is a great interview with Fl Dem Chairman, Nikki Fried.She mentions Florida’s incredible ground game…and the DFP (Dumpster Fire 🔥 Party) total lack of !
I am writing to Florida Vote By Mail reminding them to renew their VBM enrollment. Right now it's Miami-Dade County and the campaign for the smaller counties is finished. This is through Postcards to Voters but I have written for FT 6. My first time to be involved in grassroots and I am loving it 😍 😊
The Roberts Supreme Court. Starting with Citizens United. Now Robert writes: "Among the PACs Trump has hired to perform volunteer work is America PAC, whose major investor is Elon Musk". So, do I understand this correctly? Musk is underwriting a whole lot of Trump's campaign efforts and that's OK in the eyes of our much diminished, corrupt, and partisan Supreme Court?
I think CFDT is likely hoping that a few rich individuals can overwhelm the democratic voting process, along with corrupt election board members like those in Georgia.
Of course we are all reading your blogposts for the salient political content, which is always right on point. But of course, you have also stirred us to look up and wonder at the skies and reflect on our (miniscule) place in this vast universe of ours. For those of us catching your bug, I find this website that might also be of interest, as it alerts one to what is going to happen in the night skies on a daily basis: https://earthsky.org/tonight/
I want to say again - Harris is the ONLY person I know who has confronted the criminal DIRECTLY, to his face with a withering series of challenges. No other politician has done that, and certainly the MSM has been MIA. This is a incredible accomplishment. And a WOMAN, of COLOR. It is truly remarkable
The volunteer and related terrain you describe for PA and elsewhere describes as well the terrain in SW Michigan, whete I and several dozen volunteers canvassed yesterday, as they (we) had previously and will again, the canvassing being organized by Indivisibible Chicago (Chicago is only a 90 minute drive away from the canvassing turf) in cooperation with the local Democratic Party, not the Harris/Walz campaign a such. The canvassing effort i in SW Michigan is therefore being undertaken for all the down ballot races, as well as for Harris/Walz. As for the MAGA party's canvassing effort, there is none, none at all, according to local Dem. operatives who definitely would know if there were one. All good, as you say, even as you correctly point out that the polls remain stubbornly close, and that what is called for is a redoubling of the volunteer efforts. But, alas, I remain pessimistic (and fearful), for two principal reasons. First, the closeness of the polls comes after many weeks of a brillliant campaign effort mounted by Harrris/Walz and what is charitably characterized as a faltering campaign effort by Trump/Vance. .I would think that if the electorate, on the whole, were even right of center (not far right, just somewhat to the right) and sane, the polls would not be remotely close, but there would be a 10-15point difference. Second, and this is a prospect you do not allude to,Trump does not have to prevail, in the first instance,, in the electoral college vote to gain the presidency (prevail in the first instance meaning to prevail in in the popular vote counts, determinative of the award of the electoral votes, based on the state certified popular vote counts). All he has to do is to keep it close in two or three of the swing states; his lawsuits to reverse the vote counts in those states will then follow (They will follow even if the vote is not close, but they are tougher lifts if the margin is wide). If Trump can then maneuver these cases into the Supreme Court, so that the Court's decision in them will be decisive of the election, then he will carry the day, regardless of how impoverished his legal arguments are in those cases. For, when his electoral fortunes will be hanging in the balance, he will have a lock on at least five and probably six votes in the Supreme Court. See Trump v. United States (the presidentialy immunity ruling).
I wanted to share what the League of Women Voters in Fresno, CA is doing to GOTV. We looked at which zip codes in our county had very low voter turnout last March during the primaries. Many of these were in low-income neighborhoods. We teamed up with local libraries, churches and the food bank to advertise our All About Voting workshop. We review why it is important to vote and help people register or check their registration. We share where voters can get information. The flyer has QR codes for people to get voting information and also register to vote. I was walking a line of folks waiting at a food bank distribution location passing out flyers about one of the seminars and several folks would whisper in my ear "I'm voting for her" as I handed them the flyer. We have 16 workshops scheduled in English, Spanish and Hmong. It's a small endeavor that took a tremendous amount of planning and preparation, but even if we increase voter turnout in these neighborhoods by a few percent it will be worth it. We want to let everyone know their vote matters.
On Saturday, Sept. 21st, we hosted a event in our little town, Comer. Over 500 people showed up! Our amazing Senator from Georgia, Jon Ossoff, was the keynote speaker, along with about six local candidates. A thrilling addition happened at the last minute: Gabby Gifford and Sen. Mark Kelly showed up as "surrogates" of the Harris/Walz campaign. The crowd went wild. The day was upbeat, fun, and inspiring. Plus, nobody got shot and the BBQ was delicious. We are the little engine of Democrats that could! Onward!
“The lesson to be taken from Trump's error is not that we can ease up but that we should double-down on volunteering on the hard work of getting out the vote—in every way possible. During the next seven weeks, there is no substitute for personal involvement in getting out the vote—in whatever form that takes!”
I agree wholeheartedly! Here in Indiana, our team has almost completed sending out 20,000 postcards to Democrat voters for Dr. Valerie McCray. I have been talking with candidates from different parts of the state who have been knocking doors, holding rallies and fund-raisers for Dems up and down the ballot. There is so much enthusiasm here, despite the gloom-and-doom polls that are trying to discourage our efforts. I am telling you that Indiana is going to surprise a lot of people this year.
All of this effort is despite the fact that the DNC has written off Indiana as hopeless. I don’t know if they are sending our candidates any financial support but it sure does not seem so. And so far we are not getting much attention from national newsletters, but we are persistent if nothing else, and we are going to continue this work, with or without you!
Indiana has 21 electoral points, and opportunity to put a Democrat in the US Senate, several seats in the House, a Governor, and Attorney General, and a chance to break a super-majority at our State House. It would be nice if we had some support…but we are not giving up!
Polls. I try to give them up but then get sucked in again, but today was the last straw. A NYT/Sienna poll showed Harris up by 5 in AZ in Aug and Trump up by 5 in AZ in Sept. If I assume a 2 point MoE, that could mean a 14 point swing. That is absurd. I honestly don't know what they're good for other than if it's anything other than 80-20, we keep working hard, and maybe we do even then. Good grief.
Second story. I've added phone banking to my volunteer repertoire. It's not my favorite volunteer activity--I set a quota each time I start a round. Yesterday, I was pushing myself to make that last call. An 85 year old lady answered the phone, and immediately, I thought this was going to be tough due to her TV being on (loud) in the background, and what seemed to be a hearing difficulty. However, when I mentioned the state rep candidate for whom I was calling, she immediately perked up, said she had pulled together 30 Dem friends for a dinner to meet this candidate, and she was calling the county office frequently about her mail-in ballot--that she would be completing it as soon as she received it and mailing it back. She said she had not really understood democracy until the last few years, and she was furious that women were losing rights they had had for decades. She thanked me for MY work and stressed how important it was.
I told her, of course, what an uplifting call this was and how much I appreciated her:-)
I think these "older white" Americans, especially these older white women, just might be a key constituency this election:-)
You have lifted me up this morning. As this wonderful woman lifted you. Thank you. These are the personal stories that fuel my energy to keep on truckin’.
Yesterday, on a train ride back from a Democrats Abroad Defend Democracy rally in Hamburg, Germany, a friend who votes in Virginia was telling us that she asked for her Ballot by mail instead of by email like the rest of us, because her state is saying that they have to have their ballots in the right kind of envelope or else it will not be counted. Think about that. The state offers voters from abroad the option of getting their ballot by email but then won't accept it unless it is returned in an official envelope which one cannot get unless one gets it mailed to one, taking many weeks of time sometimes to arrive and then to be returned. My region reported when we got our ballots by email. Another friend on the train brought up what we all think, which is that we would like to see national standards for elections so that there is some continuity. ******
I also want to say that even if Kamala raises more money that is visible, Trump is raising a lot of Billionaire Bro and Gal dark money through Super pacs. Apparently JDVance has a lawsuit in which he is asking the courts to allow dark money to go directly to candidates, breaking down the last barrier to campaign finance limits. Still with her money, Kamala has some super ads out.
This one is called Focused. https://youtu.be/pjTjb63DgY8?si=-O8SlvGCV6I-Loaj
Tougher. https://youtu.be/i2F9qGxTKcU?si=tb4dw3Oj-O97cWUM
All Americans. https://youtu.be/mf9jGS_zjhI?si=7AkzX-A5kFhn5wEN
Control. https://youtu.be/rkuOOfpDyWg?si=5Lw4WMBO2kmSaGrB
Monster. https://youtu.be/XHYeqeWl5-Q?si=DnOsCVCV0aHaF5Xp
Big Family. https://youtu.be/SYGc5HG-kHo?si=ckCfXOp3Rmlo-yfl
Wanted. https://youtu.be/jgX5RDcKcao?si=RDGblZ4s9byZTN5S
This is clearly targeted to North Carolina. It is called Both Wrong. https://youtu.be/qFKkKJi7698?si=wjwCj9w9YQ7NVHkA
Hi! N.Y. State flipped our State Legislature blue, about 6 years ago. Since then they have passed a bunch of new voting laws including ones to assist voters who need to correct mistakes or things such as envelopes instead of sitting in a back room at BOE scrubbing their ballots. It’s a breath of fresh air. The State Legislatures are so key to our survival as a voting Democracy.
These are great video ads! If you've read this far, I encourage you to go back and watch these brief, poweful ads.
All I can say is I am getting more volunteers than I can barely manage to delegate for actions. It’s unprecedented and exhilarating!! They take a canvass turf and come back to take another!!! Never happens!!! Civic mindedness is waking up in Ulster County NY. Sounds like it’s happening everywhere!! I’m already looking to how we can keep it alive after this election so we’re never in this position of defending our country from a dictator again. So glad you are all out there. I’ve never felt so patriotic.
I can't give you enough "LIKES" Amy! Your spirit personifies the vigor, the tenacity, and the passion for America, by the tens of millions of Americans who have transformed the emotions of fear, and anger into positive, actionable responses to the aversive, negative, toxic BS of an insecure little man who can't even play golf with friends without lying while they look on, winking, and nodding to his benefit. Everything about this life is subject to the law of impermanence, including the monster. So, yes, his tribe will maintain their lazy habit of whining while America surges onward. With, or without them . Thee hardest thing for many men especially to do, say "I am sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me."
Thank you for waking up my county of birth! 💙 Writing postcards for Josh Riley N19. 💙
Go Town of Olive! 🫒
The Republicans are open and obvious in their efforts to engage in fraud in this election. They are seeking ways to cancel votes so that they win. All in the name of combating voter fraud. And Republicans obey. Astonishing!
True. But certainly not astonishing.
You're right. But it should be.
Georgia is an excellent example of how hard the Republicans are working to disenfranchise and cancel Democrats' votes. Although our governor (Kemp) and secretary of state (Raffensperger) decry the Georgia's election boards' last-minute/desperate-move new rules, they seem to just be letting it all happen. Shame on the board and both of them too!
I loved the Hamilton cast singing the Election of 2024. It was very different, of course. Nevertheless, it reminded me of 2008. Exercising the same energy plus some whimsy, a group singing There's no-one as Irish as Barack O'Bama. Singing for Kamala Harris is not overconfidence (after all Confidence Kills Campaigns). As with singing for Barack Obama, it is just plain fun.
I've been thinking about the Harris/Walz potential vote total in Nov. I'm reaching out across Substack readers to get your thoughts.
From fund raising, grassroots activity, new voter registrations to national polls, many key activities have moving in the right direction for Harris/Walz.
To forecast the range of their potential victory, I'm trying to assess the degree to which Harris/Walz are likely to receive the vast majority of the 2020 Biden/Harris voter coalition which totaled +81 million votes.
In my cloistered world of hundreds of Democrats, I don't know a single voter who voted for Biden in 2020 who isn't voting for Harris in Nov.
I'm really interested in hearing your impression of how Biden voters will vote in Nov.
Thanks,
Merrill
I think the vast vast majority of Biden voters will, in the end, vote for Harris. The one questionable group, obviously, are those who have expressed the strongest concerns abut what is happening in Gaza. I have read over the weekend that at least one of those organizations is not endorsing Harris, but advising its supporters to vote against Trump (and not waste their votes on third party-candidate protest votes either).
I have been telling people if you don't vote for Harris you are not punishing her, you are punishing everyone else, like me and my daughter.
According to the bookies, more valid than most polls. Kamala up 7 % today.
https://danielsolomon.substack.com/p/more-smart-money/comments
My sense is that our big advantage in new registrations is under the radar. I recommend FT 6, but several other organizations have the same goal.
,,,and themselves.
That is what I have been telling Gaza protesters. They will be kicked out of US universities, and rounded up and put in camps for deportation. Where did I get this? From Project 2025, and what Trump has said about the Demonstrators. However, even those who are upset who are not demonstrating are not hastening the end of the problems for people in Gaza, just the annihilation of them by Netanyahu with Trump's blessing.
During his administration Trump was toying with the de-naturalization process.
yes. And, as they say, when Trump says things that we know he will have the power to enact as president, we had better pay attention. Unfortunately he says a lot of wild things too, which have people discounting him, but that is the danger. During WWII, not only did Japanese-Americans get denaturalized and deported, but so did German-Americans. That has been the reason my mother, a German immigrant has given for never getting US citizenship. She has been afraid to take on one that she could lose to give up the one she cannot lose. At this point she does not need to give up her German citizenship but now that she has alzheimers it is too late for her to become a US citizen, because I don't know if she could pass the test.
Since CFDT supports felonious Netanyahu, voting for CFDT would not help Gaza at all.
I cannot imagine that Trump will get one more vote in 2024 than he got in 2020 and will probably get millions less. But I am doing my damnedest to make sure that is true by working closely with movement.vote to support Zoom house parties that raise money to send to grass roots organizations in key states for the presidential election and Montana and Ohio for senate elections. I believe in Robert's sign off that "we have every reason to be hopeful and no reason to be complacent".
I agree. Trump will get fewer votes nationally.
Merrill, this has been a burning question for many these days- what will propel those "undecided voters" in making a final decision? I don't know if you are familiar with political strategist Sarah Longwell, but I was happy to hear an interview with her yesterday where she predicts that VP Harris will win the election.
"The Republican strategist Sarah Longwell explains what she’s hearing in focus groups from swing-state voters, and those who’ve “flipped” between Democratic and Republican candidates."
https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/can-trump-voters-still-change-their-minds
"at the end of the day, what this election will come down to this- the Republicans that get there on Kamala Harris, and the Republicans who refuse to get there on Trump".
Sarah heads the Republican Accountability Project, to which I have donated. She and her organization have been disseminating those excellent adverts of regular Republicans declaring that they will not or no longer vote for Trump (and explaining why).
@ Lynn. MSM is transfixed on polls. All based on the American Association for Public Opinion Research, "there is a consensus in the polling community that it is better to report 'likely' voters than 'registered' voters"
To me it's more important to know who will actually vote. The DNC uses VAT, which can show new registrations. Odds are that if they register they will vote. The pollsters are oblivious.
Democrats not just Biden leaning Democrats which include new voters overwhelmingly support Harris. It’s the Independents and real Republicans we need to win over
Stephen,
If Harris wins the 2020 Biden coalition of votes, about 81 million, and a majority of first time young voters, she will certainly with the majority vote nationally. Have you read any analyses that predict what that would mean for the swing states?
The tricky part is winning the electoral college. Massive voters from say NY and California help total votes but it’s the electoral
College we need to worry about
Definitely the electoral college is the core issue of concern.
I live in a retirement community and we had a neighborhood get together and several attendee’s mentioned they were doing door to door canvassing earlier in the day. They were well received and several mentioned they were the only canvas people they have seen. We cannot under estimate the power of door to door face to face conversations and having a strong ground organization has to contribute to winning this election. The Harris Walz campaign is operating on all cylinders and must continue to do so and I pray the negative racists campaign Trump is running turns people off. Harris represents a real viable and forward inclusive approach worth investing a vote in.
I’ve been canvassing usingNeighbor2Neighbor(no apps!) in my neighborhood and canvas driving twice a week for local Dems here in my RED,FL county. Florida Dems just started tracking door knocks/phone calls and my county was #1 for canvassing !! Last several week-ends lots of sign wavers have been out at the major beach intersection with many honks,honks. There was 1 Trumper sign waver on Saturday. Several more Harris/Walz signs went up in our neighborhood. Please join us !🪧🇺🇸
Here is a great interview with Fl Dem Chairman, Nikki Fried.She mentions Florida’s incredible ground game…and the DFP (Dumpster Fire 🔥 Party) total lack of !
https://www.dworkinsubstack.com/p/florida-is-winnable-exclusive-with?utm_medium=email&action=share
I am writing to Florida Vote By Mail reminding them to renew their VBM enrollment. Right now it's Miami-Dade County and the campaign for the smaller counties is finished. This is through Postcards to Voters but I have written for FT 6. My first time to be involved in grassroots and I am loving it 😍 😊
The Roberts Supreme Court. Starting with Citizens United. Now Robert writes: "Among the PACs Trump has hired to perform volunteer work is America PAC, whose major investor is Elon Musk". So, do I understand this correctly? Musk is underwriting a whole lot of Trump's campaign efforts and that's OK in the eyes of our much diminished, corrupt, and partisan Supreme Court?
How can democracy survive if the wealth of few individuals can overwhelm the political process?
I think CFDT is likely hoping that a few rich individuals can overwhelm the democratic voting process, along with corrupt election board members like those in Georgia.
Of course we are all reading your blogposts for the salient political content, which is always right on point. But of course, you have also stirred us to look up and wonder at the skies and reflect on our (miniscule) place in this vast universe of ours. For those of us catching your bug, I find this website that might also be of interest, as it alerts one to what is going to happen in the night skies on a daily basis: https://earthsky.org/tonight/
I want to say again - Harris is the ONLY person I know who has confronted the criminal DIRECTLY, to his face with a withering series of challenges. No other politician has done that, and certainly the MSM has been MIA. This is a incredible accomplishment. And a WOMAN, of COLOR. It is truly remarkable
The volunteer and related terrain you describe for PA and elsewhere describes as well the terrain in SW Michigan, whete I and several dozen volunteers canvassed yesterday, as they (we) had previously and will again, the canvassing being organized by Indivisibible Chicago (Chicago is only a 90 minute drive away from the canvassing turf) in cooperation with the local Democratic Party, not the Harris/Walz campaign a such. The canvassing effort i in SW Michigan is therefore being undertaken for all the down ballot races, as well as for Harris/Walz. As for the MAGA party's canvassing effort, there is none, none at all, according to local Dem. operatives who definitely would know if there were one. All good, as you say, even as you correctly point out that the polls remain stubbornly close, and that what is called for is a redoubling of the volunteer efforts. But, alas, I remain pessimistic (and fearful), for two principal reasons. First, the closeness of the polls comes after many weeks of a brillliant campaign effort mounted by Harrris/Walz and what is charitably characterized as a faltering campaign effort by Trump/Vance. .I would think that if the electorate, on the whole, were even right of center (not far right, just somewhat to the right) and sane, the polls would not be remotely close, but there would be a 10-15point difference. Second, and this is a prospect you do not allude to,Trump does not have to prevail, in the first instance,, in the electoral college vote to gain the presidency (prevail in the first instance meaning to prevail in in the popular vote counts, determinative of the award of the electoral votes, based on the state certified popular vote counts). All he has to do is to keep it close in two or three of the swing states; his lawsuits to reverse the vote counts in those states will then follow (They will follow even if the vote is not close, but they are tougher lifts if the margin is wide). If Trump can then maneuver these cases into the Supreme Court, so that the Court's decision in them will be decisive of the election, then he will carry the day, regardless of how impoverished his legal arguments are in those cases. For, when his electoral fortunes will be hanging in the balance, he will have a lock on at least five and probably six votes in the Supreme Court. See Trump v. United States (the presidentialy immunity ruling).
For those of us who did not get to see Hamilton, this four+-minute video about Project 2025, imo, fills the void for potential voters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvQhTbCY4xc&t=49s
I wanted to share what the League of Women Voters in Fresno, CA is doing to GOTV. We looked at which zip codes in our county had very low voter turnout last March during the primaries. Many of these were in low-income neighborhoods. We teamed up with local libraries, churches and the food bank to advertise our All About Voting workshop. We review why it is important to vote and help people register or check their registration. We share where voters can get information. The flyer has QR codes for people to get voting information and also register to vote. I was walking a line of folks waiting at a food bank distribution location passing out flyers about one of the seminars and several folks would whisper in my ear "I'm voting for her" as I handed them the flyer. We have 16 workshops scheduled in English, Spanish and Hmong. It's a small endeavor that took a tremendous amount of planning and preparation, but even if we increase voter turnout in these neighborhoods by a few percent it will be worth it. We want to let everyone know their vote matters.
On Saturday, Sept. 21st, we hosted a event in our little town, Comer. Over 500 people showed up! Our amazing Senator from Georgia, Jon Ossoff, was the keynote speaker, along with about six local candidates. A thrilling addition happened at the last minute: Gabby Gifford and Sen. Mark Kelly showed up as "surrogates" of the Harris/Walz campaign. The crowd went wild. The day was upbeat, fun, and inspiring. Plus, nobody got shot and the BBQ was delicious. We are the little engine of Democrats that could! Onward!
“The lesson to be taken from Trump's error is not that we can ease up but that we should double-down on volunteering on the hard work of getting out the vote—in every way possible. During the next seven weeks, there is no substitute for personal involvement in getting out the vote—in whatever form that takes!”
I agree wholeheartedly! Here in Indiana, our team has almost completed sending out 20,000 postcards to Democrat voters for Dr. Valerie McCray. I have been talking with candidates from different parts of the state who have been knocking doors, holding rallies and fund-raisers for Dems up and down the ballot. There is so much enthusiasm here, despite the gloom-and-doom polls that are trying to discourage our efforts. I am telling you that Indiana is going to surprise a lot of people this year.
All of this effort is despite the fact that the DNC has written off Indiana as hopeless. I don’t know if they are sending our candidates any financial support but it sure does not seem so. And so far we are not getting much attention from national newsletters, but we are persistent if nothing else, and we are going to continue this work, with or without you!
Indiana has 21 electoral points, and opportunity to put a Democrat in the US Senate, several seats in the House, a Governor, and Attorney General, and a chance to break a super-majority at our State House. It would be nice if we had some support…but we are not giving up!
One observation and one pretty neat story.
Polls. I try to give them up but then get sucked in again, but today was the last straw. A NYT/Sienna poll showed Harris up by 5 in AZ in Aug and Trump up by 5 in AZ in Sept. If I assume a 2 point MoE, that could mean a 14 point swing. That is absurd. I honestly don't know what they're good for other than if it's anything other than 80-20, we keep working hard, and maybe we do even then. Good grief.
Second story. I've added phone banking to my volunteer repertoire. It's not my favorite volunteer activity--I set a quota each time I start a round. Yesterday, I was pushing myself to make that last call. An 85 year old lady answered the phone, and immediately, I thought this was going to be tough due to her TV being on (loud) in the background, and what seemed to be a hearing difficulty. However, when I mentioned the state rep candidate for whom I was calling, she immediately perked up, said she had pulled together 30 Dem friends for a dinner to meet this candidate, and she was calling the county office frequently about her mail-in ballot--that she would be completing it as soon as she received it and mailing it back. She said she had not really understood democracy until the last few years, and she was furious that women were losing rights they had had for decades. She thanked me for MY work and stressed how important it was.
I told her, of course, what an uplifting call this was and how much I appreciated her:-)
I think these "older white" Americans, especially these older white women, just might be a key constituency this election:-)
You have lifted me up this morning. As this wonderful woman lifted you. Thank you. These are the personal stories that fuel my energy to keep on truckin’.