From an e-mail:
K-Lo, I agree with you that the Kerry flap is quite heartening for those of us working at the grassroots level. However, I want you to know and to let others know that the GOP’s GOTV effort is phenomenal and was even before Kerry shoved his foot in his mouth yesterday. I live in Fairfield County, which is just SE of Columbus. We are a traditionally Republican county that was a target county for Bush-Cheney 04 and is a GOTV target for the RNC this year. As the county chair for the President’s re-election campaign, I know the effort that was put in two years ago. In many ways, this effort is even better than 04. In a county of about 120,000 residents, we are already hitting 5,000 to 6,000 calls per night in our phone banks. We were way over 10,000 contacts (doors and phones) this weekend in less than ideal knocking weather. We didn’t hit these kind of numbers in 04 until the last 3 or 4 days of the campaign. With the Zogby poll showing the race for both governor and senate tightening up, I believe we’ll see a boost in our volunteer numbers for the 72 hour program. Being within striking distance is a huge incentive for people to be making calls. So, it’s not delusional. It’s really happening out here in fly-over country, and the GOTV program might be the key to keeping the House and the Senate.
We shall see….