I spent nearly three hours this afternoon at a Gas & Save station on the corner of Delia and Exchange, registering voters. I approached folks, clipboard in hand, as they pumped their gas or put air in their tires. Most, I have to say, were very friendly. A few wanted to talk about Obama, or find out where they could vote.
My mother-in-law and I registered six voters, and finished the afternoon only slightly high on gas fumes. This was the last day to register voters in Ohio, and, as the hours ticked down, each new person we signed up felt like a victory.
I have to say, I’ve been pretty impressed with the Obama presence here in Akron. My mother-in-law has put up maybe a half-a-dozen volunteers at her house. I’ve been called several times by our local team leader, informing me of ways I can contribute. This afternoon, we got a call telling us it was the last day to register.
The office, on the corner of Merriman and Market, is always slightly chaotic — it has the feel of a college newspaper office, with a sign up asking volunteers to bring in food — but it’s always thrumming with energy. People coming and going, hard at work, making it their business to elect Barack Obama.
I’ve heard stories of the volunteers pounding the pavement in town, hour after hour, day after day. Ignoring colds and flu to keep going. One mom came up here when they closed the field office in Georgia, leaving her kids behind, because she simply had to keep on helping.
Maybe I’m just not looking in the right place, but I’ve seen no comprable McCain outreach organization. Which is why I wasn’t at all surprised tonight to read this from ABC News:
Sen. Barack Obama is riding economic discontent to an advantage in Ohio, bolstered in part by financially stressed voters in the state’s hard-hit industrial belt — and following it up with a more extensive ground campaign in this key contest …
Thirty-seven percent of Ohio’s registered voters say they’ve been personally contacted by the Obama campaign. That beats the 27 percent who’ve heard from McCain, and also surpasses the level of contacts by both campaigns in 2004.
The article goes on to give a reason:
Among Obama’s advantages … is sheer energy: Fifty-eight percent of his Ohio supporters are “very enthusiastic” about his candidacy, compared with just 30 percent of McCain’s. And while that’s about the same for Obama as nationally, high-level enthusiasm for McCain is 8 points lower in Ohio than in the nation overall.
Let me just say, it shows.