"We have enough base voters to win Florida" - David Plouffe

[Hawaii Hiker]

That was his exact quote in the e-mail w/the video (which many of you probably got as well).....Some very interesting info....Pennsylvania has registered 320,000 NEW Democrats since 2004, while Republicans have lost about 60,000....In Nevada, Bush won in 2004 by about 22,000 votes...Since that time, 50,000 NEW Democrats have registered...

But the thing I found most interesting was Florida....Bush won in 04 by 380,000 votes, BUT in 2004, 500,000 registered African-American voters stayed at home as well as 900,000 young people....That's mind-boggling....That's over 1 million people that just didn't show up in 2004!!......I didn't know we really have a strong base there, they just need to show up at the polls this time......

[gateley]

1. Turnout is key - absolutely. nt

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

2. I volunteer....

....for the campaign here, and it's sooooo obvious that we can win Florida. It's just a matter of dealing with registration and voting.

I almost wish Plouffe wouldn't have said that, though. I don't want people to stop working hard.

[1corona4u]

3. I posted this in the other thread, so I will post it here too...

While I was watching CNN last night, they had John-whatshisname, here is Riviera Beach, which I thought was strange at first, but then they said he was covering an effort by the Obama camp to get Riviera Beach's black voters back into voting. Riviera Beach is mostly black, and in the 2000 elections, they because so disgusted with it, that they stopped voting. Supposedly, Obama has people going through the city, door to door, making sure that they can find these disenfranchised voters and making sure they turn out to vote.

I think Obama is going to make sure he gets every.single.vote.

[aquamarina]

4. That is good news but it is also important to keep an eye on

the vote COUNTERS. It's not how many vote, but whose votes get counted. I would love to hear more about the steps being taken by the Obama campaign and the local dem offices to make sure that the votes get counted properly.

[last1standing]

5. Sadly, in 2004 we gave Dems very little to vote for, only something to vote against.

Kerry, while being a truly good person and senator, did nothing to excite people with new ideas or solid vision for the future. He ran mostly as the guy who wasn't bush* and that just wasn't enough. He didn't have a plan to get us out of Iraq (he wouldn't even admit it was a bad idea) and he didn't speak to those voters who felt disenfranchised from the process (youth and minorities).

Obama has clearly excited more people than Kerry did by offering a different path to voters, but he has his own possible pitfalls in the form of racism and ageism. I guess the question will end up being whether hope can bring in more voters than ignorance repels. :shrug:

[AndyTiedye]

7. Kerry Was Also Going to Change Tax Policy to Favor American Jobs over Outsourcing

Whenever he tried to talk about that, the MSM drowned him out with Swift Boaters.

[AndyTiedye]

6. Vote Supression?

BUT in 2004, 500,000 registered African-American voters stayed at home as well as 900,000 young people

Stayed home or were prevented from voting or given "provisional" ballots that were subsequently thrown out?

[Cha]

8. Sorry, the Blacks stayed home in

2004..I don't think they're going to this time. It would be so sweet if we finally won Florida again to actually Count!

[FloridaGrl]

9. Obama will carry florida

we are going blue this year. My fellow Floridians check to make sure your registration information is up to date. Call your local supervisor of elections office to make sure you are still on their list and that the information they have on you is correct. Remember Florida has a "no match, no vote" law. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-miket1108sep11,0,2240401.column . Please be informed.

[Clio the Leo]

10. ain't that somethin'? FL COULD be a blowout.....

..... if we work hard and get folks to the polls.

And that doesn't even count the Hispanic vote, which, based on one study I saw, Obama is leading McCain in 2-1.

Talk about SWEET redemption!!!!

[Radical Activist]

11. We finally have a candidate people want to vote FOR.

People who go on about the two parties being the same and promoting a cynical attitude about Obama being just another politician do nothing but encourage people to stay home. They are the reason we lose.

In '04 we had to depend on the anti-Bush vote. For the first time in many years we have a candidate people are excited to vote for.

[DeeDeeNY]

12. Here's the problem

My father in Florida requested an absentee ballot application and got a form that he noticed was sent from the McCain campaign. I'm not sure if it's a valid form, but I called Obama's office to report this and request that another one be sent to him. How many other senior citizens who are not very mobile and perhaps don't see so well could be getting these?

[flamingdem]

13. Gobama goflorida

Turn FL BLUUUEE!

[BzaDem]

14. You can never assume 100% turnout though.

Every year, there will be a certain number of people that don't go to the polls in one's base, and you can't just say 4 years later that we can win because this year all those people will come.

Though hopefully some of them will. :)