Another reader:

I live in Cuyahoga County, near west suburbs of
Cleveland – old style Dems with a dash of gays
rehabbing Victorians. I see very very little
enthusiasm for Kedwards
For example, every day I walk through downtown
Cleveland to catch a train home. The path is
dotted with
Kerry-Edwards campaign workers, but note:
1. The campaigners are kids and twentysomethings
– first-time voters. Not union fiends, not
African-American civil servants, not teachers
taking time off, not even
the bitter old 60s leftists who occupied the same
spots during last year’s anti-war frenzy.
2. No body on the street is letting these kids
get in their
face. Office workers, trial lawyers, commuter
students, etc. Nobody stops. Nobody sounds their
horns for the “Honk for Kerry” signs. Nobody will
sign their volunteer sheets or accept their lapel
stickers.
3. On Wednesday, out of pity/curiosity, I let one of these kids chat me up. He had no pitch. No reason to tell me why to support Kerry. Pathetic. When I prodded him he told me Kerry would “fix the economy.” Perhaps that’s the line he was coached to offer, but it didn’t seem to come very easily from him. He was confused.
I’ve noticed similar things driving around my neighborhood and the western suburbs of Cleveland. “Honk for Kerry” gets no response at
all. There are not as many K-E yard signs as I usually expect, though a surprising number of Bush-Cheney signs and signs for down-ballot candidates/issues.
This county is the core of Democrat votes and cash in Ohio. Conventional wisdom is that they must carry Cuyahoga by120,000 votes to win the state. Barring fraud, that’s going to be very hard. They have inexperienced campaign workers, no visible enthusiasm, no apparent interest in this candidate. And, there’s been no high-profile visit by the campaign in Cleveland for weeks now. Not even Sharpton or some one to buck up black voter turnout.
Also note: there’s not a very experienced ground game for Dems in Ohio. Clinton won twice here, but no Democrat has one a state-wide elected office since John Glenn in 1994.
BTW, Bush was in Cleveland’s West suburbs yesterday – 20,000 reportedly showed up.