Why? Go to the Obama Campaign's website (for research purposes only, please). If you look by state, especially swing states, it appears Obama has spent a lot of their money opening local offices. For example:
Obama McCain
Pennsylvania 65 17
Ohio 70 9
Michigan 40 12
These offices for the Obama campaign are holding voter registration drives, canvassing neighborhoods, holding voter parties, and phone banks. You are able to go to Obama's website and sign up for each of the events by their local office. Within 50 miles of my zip code there were 91 events in the next month alone. The McCain campaign has their offices listed, but most of the events are set up by volunteers and not the campaign themselves. This is a huge miss on their part. I am sure that there are other events sponsored by the Campaign, but they are relying on volunteers to do their homework rather than make it a simple process of signing up.
The second issue with the Obama ground game is "street cash". What's that? Apparently, it is a well-known practice in poor and urban areas that help get out the vote. How exactly does it get out the vote? The campaign, usually through a go-between, pays local campaign people to spread "street cash" to get voters to go the polls and vote for their candidate.
Campaign Wards in Philadelphia were mad because Obama didn't provide them with this cash during the primaries. This led to a lower voter turn out in the Philly area. The Obama campaign has assured these same Wards that money will be made available to them in November. You can find the info on this here. How exactly is this legal? I found that this was not just in Philly. It is apparently something used in most poor urban areas around the country......Chicago (?????)
Finally, the community organization that Obama is so proud of ACORN (Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now), voter registration organization targeting lower income urban areas, is knee-high in fraud accusations this year. Here in Pennsylvania alone, several thousand voter registration applications were found to be fraudulent. Arrest warrants in these cases have been issued. It's not isolated to Pennsylvania though. Let's just say that it would be easier for me to name the states that aren't making accusations against ACORN. Believe me......there are very few that haven't made accusations.
My advice for the McCain campaign: Take a look at the campaign-type events for the Obama Campaign and copy it......or...duh....DO IT BETTER! My advice to everyone out there blogging for McCain or reading blogs for McCain: call your local McCain campaign headquarters and help them get their butts into gear!
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