We are behind in the polls. That's just where we want to be.

[styersc]

Now let's get back to our roots. as liberal/progressives, we are political guerillas. We don't win elections by ads or 527's, we win elections in the trrenches. Door to door. It is important that you not only vote, but that you take 5 people who normally don't vote. Get new people registered and then make sure they get out. There are enough votes sitting unregistered on couches in this country to win this election twice over.

Obama and the campaign have their duties in all of this. So do we. If we lose this election, will you be able to say you did all you could?

[RoccoR5955]

1. Heck, not only am I an election custodian...

...but I get at least ten or more people out to vote, and I call my neighbors, friends, and relatives, and tell them to get off or their keisters, and vote! Some, who live far away, I have no control of, but anyone in my town gets a lot of guff from me if they didn't vote, because I get to see who voted (not how they voted) and if their name is not there, I give them what for. I was thinking of getting stickers that say, "I don't care, so I didn't vote," or "Not Patriotic, Not Voting."

[mac56]

2. K & R

As far as I'm concerned, the only reason to look at polls at this point are to inspire us to FOCUS.

[cazyball]

3. We Need to Get Things Working Again!

election08.cs.uiuc.edu shows a narrowing lead for Obama. It's a computer model developed by some computer scientists at the Univ. of Illinois - uses state polling data to predict national electoral results. Earlier this week Obama had a 97% probability of winning - now he's down to 74%. 74% chance of victory is too close a call for me! We need to do all we can to get back to 100% chance!

[daa]

4. You had better hurry

Obama pulled out of Georgia, despite his denials, and reassigned top operatives to other states. And we start voting in 12 days in Georgia.

[styersc]

5. Now is not the time to get down.

Fight harder, yell louder and keep going.

[secondwind]

6. just sent in another $100 a minute ago, brings me to $250 in the last ten days

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

7. If behind is 'just where we want to be' there were cheaper ways to do it.

I'll take in front.

There's no reason for gloom and doom. There is also no reason to pretend it is ever good to be down. It really isn't.

I liked Clinton-Dole. Get a 20% lead and win by 10%.

[Awsi Dooger]

8. Exactly, you always want to be ahead

Obama's chances now are worse than a week ago. That's why Intrade dropped from 60 to 53.

It's like a basketball game where one team jumps out 15-0. It's hardly decisive but you'd damn sure rather be ahead than behind. I heard James Carville make that example several years ago and it fits.

Once I moved to Las Vegas in the mid '80s I slowly got to understand probability. Guys I met could look at any situation and estimate the true odds at that given point in time. Initially I thought it was silly but slowly I gulped and realized I had to learn.

Comebacks are less likely than most people want to estimate, that's the most glaring sweeping truth that I came to realize. If a football team is up by a TD at halftime, that's a huge chunk of the remaining points that figure to be scored. It applies to politics also, particularly in general elections where the percentage of undecideds is very low. You never want to trail by 3% when only 8-10% are truly undecided and 85% are absolutely locked in place.

In the primaries it's simple for like minded people to suddenly tilt heavily to the other candidate. That dynamic is not in place in a general election.