I'm been reading a lot of political blogs lately, probably more than is good for me. And one thing I've noticed a lot of is people stating wild speculation as if it were not just fact but self-evident.
I think it's hard to definitively state what "is" happening because we each live in a relatively small world (compared to the nation, I mean) and only see what we see. For instance I live in a heavily Democratic town, albeit in a red state, but gas prices being what they are I rarely drive outside Durham and Hillsborough. I see lots of Obama stickers and yard signs and have never seen either for McCain. I am volunteering for Obama, and so I see an energetic & organized Obama campaign on a regular basis. I've never met a McCain volunteer because why would I? Only if they happened to show up at the same place where I was doing voter reg. And frankly, that would be a stupid waste of effort on their part, because I'm going to places where I'm mostly likely to find potential Democrats.
If I overgeneralized my experience I would assume that Obama is going to win by a landslide. The truth is I have almost no idea what's happening outside my own little world. I guess the McCain campaign is just as busy in the more rural parts of my state, because that's what I would do if I were them. In fact I don't know, because I don't read any websites where McCain supporters talk about what they're doing. And I don't trust the media to paint an accurate picture for me; they've demonstrated thoroughly that they're going to tell the story they like, regardless of reality. I guess my narrow focus and lack of information about the other side is myopic, but in my defense it doesn't seem to be unusual.
"I guess the McCain campaign is just as busy in the more rural parts of my state...."
Or maybe not. I just went to johnmccain.com and clicked to find out about volunteer events in North Carolina. They have a statement that they are "beginning to develop" their volunteer organization, a couple of press releases about endorsements from NC organizations, and the phone number for a southeast regional office in Tallahassee. The list of events is populated with events in other parts of the country. If someone is active for McCain in NC, it doesn't seem to be the McCain campaign.
Then again, I wasn't willing to sign up and give McCain my email address, so there may be more going on in NC than it appears.
Like a terrier with an old sock, I can't let this go. Just went to the McCain page for Virginia, a true battleground state. Unlike NC they do have a central office in VA, plus a link to find the "Victory Office" nearest you. This link shows .. two offices. Plus the one on the front page, that's 3 offices in the state, 2 of them in DC suburbs (Arlington and Fairfax). The third is in Richmond, and I guess the rest of Virginia can just fend for itself.
The Obama campaign has at least one Organizing Fellow in every single county in VA. And close to it here in NC, where the race isn't that tight, so I assume Obama is putting this effort into creating a presence in every state. McCain's volunteer presence seems to be minimal, if any. Does the McCain campaign think the ground effort doesn't matter? Or maybe you have to join the site to find out about the volunteer organization? I'm still not willing to give them my email address.