McChicken

By now you have probably already heard that McCain is trying to chicken out of the debates. It appears he wants us to believe that the looming financial crisis is so important that he, as a senator, can't spare time for such mundane trivia as helping the people of this country decide who's going to lead it five short weeks from now.

This is the same "senator" who hasn't shown up for a vote since April. Senators Obama and Clinton managed to take time out of their busy campaign schedules to make important votes during that time. Even Ted Kennedy, undergoing treatment for malignant brain cancer, has found some votes so important that he had himself helped into the chamber to vote a time or two. But not John McCain.

So its pretty clear that it's not his pressing senatorial duties that are worrying McCain. Likewise, I doubt his primary concern in wanting to cancel the vice-presidential debate is his running mate's gubernatorial duties in her small (and financially flush) state. It's pretty obvious that he's simply afraid of the debates.

Obama could have agreed to this. After all, he's ahead right now, so one could argue that the debates can only hurt him. However, his response is that at this moment, the debates are more important than ever. Notice how he's already fighting for you; in this case for your ability to make an informed decision on November 4.



Obama's having none of it, so as of this writing the debates are still on. This means that the watch party tomorrow night is also still on. Join us at the Circle Cinema an hour before the debate starts.

Registration Report

I talked to Greg and Mary Jo last night. We picked up about 315 registrations last weekend. That's half again as many as the week before. Greg registered a first-time voter born in 1941, and Mary Jo got one born in 1940. Both specifically registered because they were worried about "that crazy Palin woman".

With more volunteers we can improve on even these numbers this weekend. You can be an important part of it. Just call one of the coordinators and ask how you can help. Mary Jo can be reached at 269-4400, and Greg can be reached via gregmarkley@att.net .

Creek County
For those of you in or near Creek County (for you insular Tulsans, if you have a car this means you), we are running a one day voter drive there on the 27th. We need lots of volunteers for this. The more we have, the more successful this will be. Please get hold of Greg at gregmarkley@att.net if you'd like to help.

TU Tailgate Party
In addition to the typical Wal-Marts and flea markets, Mary Jo is planning on working the TU tailgate party this weekend. Kickoff is at 6PM on the 27th, but of course the tailgate party would start some time before then. Call her at 269-4400 to help.

Getting the Word Out
Please take the time today to send a link to this blog to least two other people. The more eyeballs we have in here, the stronger the campaign will be. We are off to a great start, and are growing, but we need our efforts to grow exponentially. We don't have the time to sit around and wait for everyone to come to us.

Debate watch parties

I wanted to get this out now so everyone can make their plans accordingly.

Mike Workman and a whole host of area Obama organizations are hosting watch parties for the debates at the Circle Cinema. The first one of course is this Friday at 7 PM (debate starts at 8).

The Circle Cinema is at 12 South Lewis Avenue here in Tulsa. The other debates will be on October 2nd, 7th, and 15th. With the race as close as it is, these debates will probably be the turning point in the campaign. You don't have to suffer (or thrill) through them in silence at home.

Mike would like RSVPs either here or here, but I do not believe an RSVP is necessary to show up, just encouraged. This is a great chance to meet fellow area Obama/Biden supporters and compare notes, or just socialize. So make plans to be there this Friday at 7.

New Game

Let's play a little game I like to call Spot the Elitist.
(Click on the image for a larger picture)

Surprisingly, a lot of people seem to be having trouble with this one.

Polls

Before I say anything, I'd like to thank everyone who came out to help register voters at all the events this weekend. I'll try to get some kind of numbers to let you know how we did overall posted here tomorrow.


Most of you probably realise that the week after the RNC Convention was a bad week for Obama. All the talk was about Palin and personalities, her family's choices, field-dressing mooses, etc. None of those are really core message for the Democrats. McCain's numbers shot up and passed Obama's.

Then last week reality poked its nose back in the campaign, in the form of the banking crisis. Its funny what putting the focus on a real problem facing this country can do. I wanted to take this time to show everyone the current numbers, in case you got dejected a week ago and quit looking at the polls.

I'll add the pretty graphics when I can figure out how to do it (they are typically HTML scripts, not nice little pictures), but in the meantime if you check the DailyKos tracking poll or the Gallup Daily Election tracking poll you will see the same thing: McCain's numbers dropped like a rock at the start of last week, while Obama's went up to near 50%. The polls currently show Obama at %49 and McCain at %43 and %45 respectively.

The message here is pretty clear. When the discussion is about the real problems this country faces after 8 (or 30 depending on how you look at it) years of republican rule, we win. When its about personalities and moose-meat, we loose. Keep this in mind when you are talking to your friends and neighbors.

Registration Drive Weekend Update

I got a couple of messages from Greg this morning which I'd like to share. A summary wouldn't do them justice.

My 2 voter reg teams registered 23 voters on Brookside. One woman who I helped was born in 1941 and had never registered to vote until today and primarily did so because of Pallin! I mainly did a visibility, sign sales, and volunteer recruitment, thing. I must have sold 100 Obama Biden yard signs (sold out!). People honked and cheered!

and

Not only did I sell out of Obama signs ... people took all (almost) of the other candidates' info I on display! Moreover, a lot of people commented on how many Obama signs they see all over town and how few McCain/Palin signs. Most saw last week as pivotal, and feel the McCain’s campaign is in self-destruct mode.

Just to make it clear, this was a 68 year old woman who has never in her life even registered to vote. But she's doing it this year so she can vote against Palin. These are the kinds of inspiring Tulsans you can meet when you help us register voters.

We still have lots of registration events left for today, so pick one, call the coordinator, and show up to make a difference. (See my two previous posts for events, times, and basic instructions).

Work Day

Today is our big day for voter registration drives! Please pick one or more from the list in yesterday's posting and come out to help make a difference.

Things to remember about voter registrations:

• Bring a clipboard and extra pens.
• The coordinator should bring plenty of forms, but you can print your own out from here (requires acrobat).
  
• Don't wear any party or candidate identifying clothing or pins, buttons, etc.
• Don't discuss your own political views before a person has completed the form. They'll have to guess. :-)
• Don't discourage anyone from registering for any reason.
  

I want to emphasise that last point. I don't care if they did tell you they want to register Republican or LaRouche or whatever. We try to weed those folks out by picking our locations to perform the drives. However, once we are there it's our moral (and legal) imperative to register everyone regardless of affiliation.