“BIG party on your corner!”

It was about 11 pm on election night when the words “BIG party on your corner!” popped up on my phone. It was a text message from my friend Amy. I had a rough picture in my mind of people dancing on the four corners of 19th and Valencia. I was not even close! Here are links to some of the footage:

This is an awesome one from a cyclist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uEbxPngul0. Once the cyclist reaches the intersection, you can see a building on the corner on the right. That’s where I live.

One of the many impromptu concerts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oUAkDbuB1A.

There are dozens more you can search for. I was torn about being away on election night, but I would have felt like total crap if I got back to SF for a McCain victory.

I think it had to get as bad as it got over the last eight years for folks to rally around a candidate like Obama and celebrate his victory this way. In that one way, we do have reason to thank W.

Barack and Me

I’ll begin by stating something so obvious that it is embarrassing to imply I’d have the hubris to think otherwise: I had no expectation of seeing myself in Barack Obama.

I’m not black. I’ve never run for office or done anything a thousandth as big as what he has taken on. I can like him and support him, sure, but not see me or my life in him. It’s no slight on me; it was just a fact so clear that I never even thought it consciously. There was just one problem.

Token Pundit Asked: “Are we in a post-racial era?”

With the historic election of African-American Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States, CNN news analyst Campbell Brown wondered what Obama’s victory says about race in America. To get the answer, she asked Ronald Martin, her token black pundit.

Ms. Brown assembled a panel of four experts to tackle the issue, and began by asking Martin, “So, tok-, I mean, Ronald, are we in a post-racial era?”

“I know I’m supposed to say we’re not,” started tok-, I mean, Martin, displaying the “Don’t call me Sharpton”-coolness characteristic of tokens given a voice on mainstream media, “but we are.” Brown proceeded to ignore Martin and speak only with the other three white analysts for the rest of the 17-minute discussion.

“Martin’s answer was brilliant,” stated media analyst Debra Thorvaldson. “With a quick one-liner he managed to characterize today’s black civil rights leaders as biased whiners and carve out a reputation for himself as a critical thinker free of racial pressure.” Thorvaldson found it particularly impressive that he did so while giving the only answer his white bosses could hear without running away in fear.

A Moment on the Flight Back

I was on the flight from Denver to Phoenix, proudly wearing a button with the title “America’s First Family” over a popular picture of B, M & the girls.

A man one row back asked if I worked with the campaign. I said I did.

“Congratulations.”

“Congratulations to us all,” I replied.

My approach in airports today has been to encourage talk of the election, but to be mindful that Obama critics might be in earshot. I had that in mind when I said:

“What I like is that he did it without demeaning those who disagree with him.”

“Ya, I was getting so sick of that,” he replied.

There has been some talk by somewhat cynical pundits of the ridiculously high expectations on Obama.  I think they miss something. In some ways the expectations are ridiculously low. It is such a relief to know the President won’t openly mock you just because you see things differently, that he will actually listen and respond thoughtfully, and so on.  Just to have more civil discourse again is going to make many many people happy.

Palin Push Shows GOP Leaders Don’t Get It

Talk started before the election about Gov. Sarah Palin being the Republican standard bearer in 2012. The argument goes something like this: After being brought down by the Bush legacy in 2008, a new face is needed. She may not have been prepared this time around, but she’d have time to go to school on the issues to be ready in four years.

The problem is that the damage from her Katie Couric interview is not actually reversible.

How I Spent Election Day

I put up a few very short posts during election day, but now that I’ve had a chance to get back to SF, and get some sleep, it’s time to give a better picture of how I spent the day.

To backtrack briefly, I spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday knocking on about 80 to 120 doors each day, making sure voters knew where to vote or how to navigate Colorado’s new mail-in voting system. I found out on Monday that I’d have a different assignment on Tuesday. They expected more volunteers on Election Day, and wanted me to stay at our makeshift office at The Copper Club and work with Nebiyu to assign turf to canvassers and be their point of contact if they ran into issues. I was excited to get a bigger picture of the Election Day ground game.

A ‘Deep-er Look

My friend Amandeep (a.k.a. ‘Deep) spent 3 weeks in Ohio doing awesome stuff. Check out deeptrouble.com to read of his adventures.

We did it!!

I’m in a limo on our way to the big party in downtown Denver. My buddy Nediyu somehow snuck me in to the most surprising limo ride since the invite I got to join a bachelorette party! Hope to make it in time for Obama’s speech. Feel free to call with news on Prop 8!

Battleground County

Aurora was on the cover of USA Today, and CNN spent 20 minutes this morning on the county (Arapahoe). The Denver Post dropped by our location. This really is a bellweather county. It just recently switched to having more Dems the Reps registered. The mood here is, “Win the County. Win the State.” I won’t quite add “Win the Country.” to that. There’s too much else in play… namely GOP theft.

And so it begins

Just got word of an election judge nearby who thought you had to be 21 to vote. Unreal! I presume they’ll never get that job again.

Keep up whatever you’re doing today to help. We’ll get there!

The Copper Club and Precinct 464

The Copper Club is this old building on Mississippi Ave in Aurora. It probably used to be the social hall for some old boys network, but it is now just a big space with cheap rent that has been a good home for one of the many temporary Obama offices cropping up for the last week of the campaign. That’s where I’ve been heading every morning since I’ve been here, and I’ll be there again in 6 hours.

After 3 days of canvassing I’ve walked down several streets and knocked on certain doors more than once. There are 10 voting precincts assigned to our office, and I’ve spent most of my time in 464. I know the buildings, the playgrounds and such. You get attached to a place quickly in this environment. I’m thinking a lot about specific voters. Did I really win Shane over? Will Gabriela drop off her ballot on time? Will Cynthia make it to the polls early enough tomorrow to vote before she has to go to work? There’s a big party planned at a hotel in downtown Denver, but I doubt I’ll go. Aurora has been my Colorado home, and it is here that I hope to celebrate victory.

More on Stolen Elections

Greg Palast has done amazing work on the subject of stolen elections. Check out this article laying out what aspects of the fix are already in. He is clear, however, that all is not lost. Overwhelming turnout can do a lot to beat the cheaters.

I came across another article focusing more specifically on the voting machine fraud that I raised earlier.

The Nightmare Sequence

It is obvious to me that if we have a fair election that Obama will win. It is impossible to know if it will be fair enough, so I remain terrified.

If this election is going to be Grand Theft Election III, here’s are the steps, some of which are already underway. This is important to think about so that you can prep folks to be skeptical of any alleged McCain victory.

GOP PAC Playing the Wright Card

There’s an ad running here in Colorado that’s entirely about Rev. Wright. It’s not from the McCain campaign, it’s from the “National Republican Trust PAC”. I went to their website. All the latest news is attack stuff on Obama. You don’t even see McCain’s name on the front page. It’s pretty sad how much they know they can’t win on the issues. Obama ads are all over TV and radio here, and his are much more issue-focused.

My Obama Mama

“Obama mama”: A woman hosting Obama volunteers. Mine is Vlinda. After 38 years working for the feds she is recently retired. She is using her free time for Obama as much as she can muster the energy to. She hosted another volunteer for two weeks earlier this month. She has done a ton of work in the local campaign office.  “I’ll do anything except knock on doors or make phone calls,” she explained on Friday night. On Saturday she put an end to the exceptions by canvassing for the first time. People are going all out.

Closing the Deal… One Vote at a Time

Day one in Colorado is coming to a close. I’m back at the home of my amazing volunteer host after spending the afternoon knocking on doors. What was it like? It is hard to get across how it was both unremarkable and special. The unremarkable is knocking on doors, most people not being home,  and only getting information about a handful of voters. The special is knowing that I’m one of literally thousands doing this in Colorado. In six hours of work I probably helped two people navigate the voting process, and might have won over one undecided voter torn between his Republican co-workers and his Democratic wife. That ain’t much… until you multiply it by 1000 for all the others doing what I’m doing just in Colorado alone.

It is HILARIOUS seeing how many folks are out here from California. Apparently the SFO-Denver flights on Friday were practically mini Obama rallies. I had dinner with two couples tonight — one from Burlingame and the other from Rockridge. I canvassed with two college students from Pleasanton. At my training this morning there were folks from Portola Valley and San Rafael. Californians are flooding the place. Every volunteer I ask is inspired by Barack. The vibe is beautiful.

The lists we are given of people to contact are either supporting Obama, undecided, or folks we have no info on. The main focus is to make sure those who are supporting Obama have what they need to vote. This means more friendly conversations and fewer feisty ones, so it’s not too bad.

One final note… Denver is gourgeous right now. It’s unseasonably warm, and the view of the mountains in the distance is a treat. I’m glad I’m spending these days walking the streets here and getting to work instead of sitting at home fretting over the latest polls. We’re doing the work that produces victory.

Good Karma?

I had not even taken off from SFO before feeling like the world is being good to me on this little election trip.

I almost left my phone on BART, but an alert woman behind me saw it and saved me a world of trouble.

An hour later I boarded my flight to Phoenix. (Yes I booked late, and yes, I felt weird about flying through McCain’s home state to get to Denver.) The dude beside me immediately asked if he could ask me a personal question:

“I’m an employment rights attorney. Do you ever get profiled?”

“I think I’m getting profiled now,” I replied with a smile. I clarified that I understood the question as friendly.

Next question:

“Let me guess. You’re voting for Obama.”

Just like that there we were, two men of color, talking about why we need Obama to win. I knew the polls were tightening in Arizona, but I did not expect a pro-Obama welcome from a Phoenixer right out of the gate.

The way he let loose on McCain he would have fit right in on General Pelosi’s home turf.

Off to Colorado

With five days to go, I’m clear that I don’t want to wake up on November 5th wishing I’d done more to help set a new direction in American politics. I’m heading to Colorado on Friday and will be there through Election Day to help get out the vote. If the polls are right, Colorado won’t be close, but getting out the vote is what it takes to turn a poll lead into victory, so that’s what I plan to do.

I’d encourage you to pitch in however you see fit in the days ahead. A couple of options more mellow than mine:

1) Give to candidates through Peace Action West. This is a nice two-for-one. You get to support Obama and/or some of the better candidates for Congress, and you get to reinforce the expectation that they stand firm for a sane foreign policy, not more of the Bush doctrine.

2) Make phone calls for Obama to voters in swing states. This is easy to do, and a great way to build bridges across the country. In just an hour or two you can reach some folks, and with the enormous number of people doing this nationwide, it is amazing how fast it adds up.

I remain concerned about the election despite the polls because I fear the election could be stolen. It’s not the voter suppression efforts I’m most worried about, though those are terrible. The biggest threat is electronic voting machines that leave no paper trail, meaning that if the count is hacked or corrupted, there is no direct proof of manipulation. The only proof can come from a statistical comparison to the exit polls, which is scientifically doable but will not suffice to convince most folks of fraud. The 2004 election shows some scary anomalies. The official vote counts deviated consistently from the exit polls in George W. Bush’s favor. The difference cannot be explained by sampling error or random chance, and the deviation was way less in precincts that used paper ballots. Those interested in an analysis can check out this report:

http://uscountvotes.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Exit_Polls_2004_Edison-Mitofsky.pdf

The more we do to turn out a huge vote for Barack Obama, the harder it will be to suppress the vote, and the more the counts would have to be manipulated to flip the outcome. It’s no guarantee, but as any good statistician will tell you, it’s rarely about guarantees. It’s almost always about improving the odds.

Patel Firmly Rejects Timeline for Withdrawal

In an attempt to end months of speculation, Alpesh Patel announced today that he firmly rejects any timeline for his withdrawal from the United States.