Joe Biden Gets a Puppy

Turns out Malia and Sasha weren't the only ones who were promised a puppy:

Biden's wife, Jill, made the same assurance to her husband if he and Obama, his running mate, won the election.


Jill Biden had taped pictures of different dogs on the back of the seat in front of Biden on his campaign plane to inspire the candidate as he crisscrossed the country in the final sprint to election day, according to published reports during the campaign.

Fascinating...

Instead of being John McCain's strongest argument, the McCain campaign now thinks that the surge--specifically Bush's post-2006 election co-option of the strategy--did him in.

Ambinder:

McInturff, McCain's pollster, told a story.: "The point was, we do the surge, John's been for it from like, 2004,45 and 6, we are the leading critic of the Bush administration, and then we get to January of '07, and then, guess what, the Bush administration ...adopts the surge, we go on TV in January on Meet the Press, and I said 'we have to say, over and over and over again, here's where I've been for years, and the president's behind me... and John was very, very tempered in a way that really affected our numbers with the base."

[...]

"What really happened," McInturff said, "was that John McCain really became President Bush's spokesperson on Iraq."

The 3OBARACK Story

From our humble beginnings at Camp Obama - Los Angeles in August 2008 to our final Election Weekend of phonebanking at Culver Studios with 1,650 people making 117,000+ calls to battleground states.



Enjoy.

The best moment of the night

I have to be honest, the whole thing still hasn't quite sunk in for me. But in the height of yesterday's craziness, the campaign asked us to make 5,000 emergency calls to New Hampshire in one hour before the polls closed.

In that melee, I saw a guy waiting around who had no cellphone. Without thinking, I handed him my iPhone and told him to get calling.

I completely lost track of him over the next hour and a half, which started to stress me out.

I eventually did find him and he returned my phone intact. (And yes, I did check to see how many calls he made. 64 calls in 2 hours. Man, the Obama campaign is good.)

Then, about two hours later, after McCain conceded and Obama was about to give his speech, I got a call from a strange number--and I picked up.

The woman's voice on the other end of the line said: "Hello, California?"

"Yes?"

"This is Iowa. We want to thank you for everything you guys did for us!"

The floor cheered.

Who Are You?

The Pessimist
You've seen this story before. Democrats, poised for victory in the White House, get it stolen away at the last minute. Maybe it's because of faulty voting machines, citizens stricken from the voting rolls, dirty tricks, judicial fiat, or maybe we just get out-hustled at the last minute. Whatever the case, you wake up Wednesday morning devastated and wondering how this could come to pass.

And now this year is no different. You're looking at those critical battleground state polls and seeing tightening across the board. Those people who were undecided just a week ago now seem to be flocking to John McCain, and the Republicans are guaranteeing victory. After the last eight years, you cannot understand why.

The country's character is about to be tested, and you harbor dark thoughts about the secret feelings that live deep inside America's psyche.

You are beside yourself with anxiety--and don't know what to do.

Here is the only prescription for your ailment:

Get involved. Come to our phonebank and be inspired by the hundreds of other people who care enough to call voters across the country urging them to vote and to make the right decision.

Instead of sitting helplessly watching MSNBC, do something. Make a difference.

Click here to sign up to come TODAY.
Click here to sign up to come on ELECTION DAY.


The Optimist
After eight years, it is almost "Morning in America"...again. You look at the television and see tens of thousands of Democratic voters in Atlanta, Georgia willing to stand in line for eight hours to vote early for Barack Obama. You're looking at those critical national polls and seeing widening across the board. The independents and moderate Republicans are flocking to Barack Obama. After the last eight years, you understand why.

You see Democrats united as they have never been before. You see prominent Republicans endorsing Barack and Joe. You start hearing terms like "filibuster-proof majority," "landslide" and "mandate"--and you think this could happen. You're seeing polls with Barack tied or ahead in states like North Carolina and Indiana---and Georgia and North Dakota!

For you, this is not about getting 270 electoral votes--this is about getting 370. About crushing the soul of the party who has steered America on the wrong course. Years like "1932" and "1980" come to mind, where the entire political map was redrawn for decades.

You don't just want to win. You want to win big.

You want to run up the score.

And most of all, you cannot wait to celebrate the biggest transformation of American politics in your lifetime.

You are beside yourself with excitement--and don't know what to do.

Come celebrate with us. Come to our phonebank and begin the party early. Enjoy meeting fellow Obama supporters and share your stories and enthusiasm and be a part of history.

Click here to sign up to come TODAY.
Click here to sign up to come on ELECTION DAY.



---

We cannot do this without you. The entire Obama campaign is premised on two things: a once-in-a-lifetime candidate, and the support of energized volunteers who believe that we can make a difference.

Let me know if you have any questions -- I hope to see all of you there.

Barackbar!

These are getting better and fancier

Do it for this little guy

Election Day

"Don’t believe for a second this election is over. Don’t think for a minute that power concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does."

-Barack Obama, October 28th, 2008.

---

Many of you have been asking how you can help the most on Election Day.

Here is the answer.

Next Tuesday, we are going to be running one of the biggest, most powerful Get Out The Vote (GOTV) Phonebanks in the entire country. California is going to make the vast majority of GOTV calls for the entire Obama Campaign on election day.

We have a soundstage at Culver Studios that will be able to seat 200 people.

Starting at 6 AM, we are going to start calling the East Coast. Then, hour by hour, we are going to work our way across the country with states selected by the Obama campaign based on the exit polling they are receiving on Election Day in real time.

We will be calling the most important, highest leverage voters in the country -- the voters that we have to turn out in the states that we have to win. Quite simply, there is nothing you can do to make a bigger difference on Election Day.


Here's what you need to do:

1. Sign up for a shift by clicking here.

We really need you to officially sign up, because the campaign wants to know how many callers we are going to have.

2. If you can, take November 4th off---if you can't take the whole day, please come for a couple of hours before work, during lunch, or after work.

3. Bring your friends.

4. Come to The Megabank!
Culver Studios – Stage 2
9336 West Washington Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232

5. Please forward this to all of your Obama supporting friends in Los Angeles. In order to make this work, we need hundreds of callers even for an hour or two.

6. If you can't make it, you can help by donating food and drinks for our hungry and thirsty callers! (and if you are coming, please feel free to bring snacks or food, potluck style too.)

Click here for more information.

I hope to see you there.

Obama's Closer

He's awesome.



7 Days to go.

Et tu, Romney?

Remember when I said that Mitt Romney would try and sink Sarah Palin behind the scenes?

Gotcha.

Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers, some of whom are currently working for Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin's bid for the White House, have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election. "Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012," says one former Romney aide, now working for McCain-Palin. "The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney. He's in charge on November 5th."

True

On the heels of yesterday's Ron Howard nostalgia, a little memory lane for something a little more recent.

Good For Apple

From their start page:

No on Prop 8
Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

Republicans Endorsing Obama

Now that Colin Powell has sounded the call, there has seemed to be a constant drip-drip-dripping of moderate (and not-so-moderate) Republicans coming forth to endorse Obama.

It seems to be me that this trickle of GOP endorsements is being as effectively stage managed as the the stream of Democratic endorsements in the primaries.

Powell, of course, is by far the biggest, but the less prominent Republicans seem to be getting more and more prominent by the day.

A few days ago, it was a Wisconsin state senator.

Now, Republican former governors William Weld and Arne Carlson both endorsed Obama.

If I had to make a prediction, I think that the prominence of the Republicans coming out for Obama are going to get bigger and bigger.

Culminating with election eve endorsements from a pair of sitting Republican Senators in a very competitive state and district perhaps?

I also wouldn't be surprised about endorsements from Ross Perot and possibly Bloomberg in the next few days either.

UPDATE:
Slightly more obscure to the layperson, but symbolically powerful. Legal scholar Charles Fried just announced that he's voting for Obama. Besides being Reagan's Solicitor General, Fried was (until this morning) one of John McCain's legal advisors!

Ouch.

Little Opie Cunningham Endorses Obama

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Joe the Plumb Crazy

Hoo-boy:

We have the tape of a 911 call made by John McCain's brother earlier this week.

He called the police emergency line because he was angry he was stuck in traffic.

The 911 call came into the City of Alexandria on Oct. 21st That's creating some buzz because it appears to come from Joe McCain, John McCain's brother.

Operator: 911 state your emergency

Caller: It's not an emergency but do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic's coming the other way?

Operator: Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic? (pause)

Caller: "(Expletive) you." (caller hangs up)

John McCain's response: "Say it ain't so, Joe."

For Sarah

Now that she thinks she's going to run the Senate:

McCain goes full Bush

Brutal. Oof.

McCain Takes 8 Point Lead in the Wrong Georgia

Who says that lobbying doesn't pay?

In Gallup's latest poll of Presidential preferences around the world, the only European country that McCain leads in is his campaign's favorite little breakaway republic that could, Georgia: 23-15.

For the rest of the world, Obama leads comfortably by a nearly 4-1 margin.

Meanwhile, in American Georgia, McCain's lead seems to have slipped to about five points.

Also, early voting numbers in Georgia appear to be hugely favoring Obama.

Even the internets are against him

Eric Schmidt endorses Obama.

McCain probably should "do a google" and find out who he is.

(His campaign knows, and is pissed:

According to a well-placed source, the McCain folks are absolutely livid.

)