Battlegrounders
[ home | archives | email ]

IOWA: THOUGHTS [David Hogberg 11/02 05:47 PM]

Just talked to my previously anonymous source in Southeast Iowa who has decided to let me use her name now, Linda Long.

When I first talked to her, I thought, uh-oh, she sounds tired and down. Worried she had heard about the early exit polls. Nope. Just suffering from a bit of exhaustion.

When I did tell her about them and how they were almost certainly skewed toward Kerry, boy did she perk up! I told her that if she hears any gloominess among the GOP ranks I Iowa about the poll, be sure to inform them it is crapola.

After that, I started asking her about the developments of recent days, and she became very excited.

“It has been wonderful!” she exclaimed. “I’ve never seen it like this! My phone started ringing off the hook yesterday morning with people asking how they could help, and I found stuff for all of them to do. Headquarters has been brimming with people aksing how they could help.”

She also relayed a story about a woman who is from a die-hard Democrat family, but was voting for Bush. When Linda asked her if she could talk to other members of her family, the woman was adamant that she not; she didn’t want them to know she was supporting the president. A few weeks later, Linda contacted the woman, and she said that her mom was now supporting Bush. Apparently her mom didn’t much care for Kerry in the debates.

Finally, she has been training poll watchers. A local lawyer told her that with all the things the Bush campaign was asking poll watchers to do, he didn’t think they’d get too many. Well, she has trained over 100, and few of them have given up.

Again, anecdotal, but telling.