BillyWimsatt's blog

Bumped. --Mike

I was watching the Obama speech with friends the other night...

And someone said: "Let's all go to Ohio."

By many measures, Ohio's 20 electoral votes are the clearest path to victory in 2008. Obama needs 18 more electoral votes than Kerry won in 2004. There are two other likely scenarios to win: Colorado (9) plus New Mexico (5) plus Iowa (7) for a total of 21. Or Virginia (13) plus Iowa plus New Mexico for 25. I don't mean to oversimplify here --there are lot of important states and lots of ways to win. But none is more likely than Ohio.

Next thing I knew, we had created a program called Vote Today Ohio to turn out 10,000 new and unlikely voters during Ohio's new "Golden Week" when new voters can register AND vote on the same day.

Thanks to our excellent new Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, Ohio recently changed its voting laws in a way that creates a 7 day window, from Sept 30 - Oct 6, where Ohio residents can register and vote early. It's the best GOTV opportunity ever created --like having seven days of Election Day Registration a month before the election.

The only problem is getting people to the polls. Unfortunately each of Ohio's 88 counties only has ONE polling place during the early voting period. So we need lots of people to take people to the polls.

Our goal with Vote Today Ohio is to recruit 100 new Ohio volunteers, and bring 100 in from out of state to bank 10,000 additional progressive votes. So far we have 30+ volunteers. We're raising money to rent vans and finding housing. Our efforts will be closely coordinated with America Votes and local progressive field organizations.

It's all hands on deck time --this election is going to be squeaky close. In 2004, Kerry lost Ohio by only 2% (119,000 votes amid massive voter suppression and dirty tricks). Meanwhile 2.3 million registered Ohioans did not cast a ballot!!

If we are able to get even 10% more progressive Ohioans to vote in 2008, Obama will likely win Ohio --and the election. We need thousands of people to help out --during Golden Vote week or whenever you're free.

Please report immediately to your nearest battleground state.

If you want to come to Ohio, write me, tell me who you are, when you want to go, and I'll hook you up: billywimsatt [at] gmail [dot] com