(More snow pictures are at:
We have been buried in the snow, and how! Its been a lot of 6-8 inch snow storms, within a couple of days of each other, and continuous sub-zero temperatures. The result - 4-5 feet high snow banks, much higher where the snow plows have piled up snow.
The snow on the ground is higher than the Edwards sign on my lawn. I cleaned the snow off the front of the sign, took this picture, and by next morning it was buried again!
The campaign offices are functioning as usual though. I went in to the Edwards campaign office for my 7.00pm slot and many volunteers had not turned up (it was still snowing steadily). But the hard-working campaign staff were all there, working away, coming to work through snow and ice. They are a good crowd – young, hardworking, idealistic, with an unshakable faith in the candidate. They really believe. They work 7 days a week from early morning till late at night, and have had only Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off. Every day the sign showing the countdown to primary day is updated. Today it read “19 days to victory”.
At the office we were discussing some polls that showed Clinton’s support slipping a bit, and it occurred to me that I have not really run into people canvassing for Clinton. I have run into people canvassing for Obama and Ron Paul, but not Clinton. There had not been that many mailers from the Clinton campaign either. This is what they meant when they say a campaign does not have a strong ground operation – not enough people were pounding the pavement trying to reach every voter. Edwards’ campaign by contrast apparently has the strongest ground operation in New Hampshire. Each ward in each town has a campaign staffer linked to it who has identified volunteers in the area. These folks will be critical in the days leading up to the election, in getting the final message out (there are still so many “undecideds”), in getting the votes out, and might make the difference between winning and losing. A campaign without a strong ground operation runs the risk of collapsing at the last minute …. But that does not mean it will collapse. Plenty of campaigns have won without a strong ground operation. In 2004 Dean had such a strong ground operation, but Kerry won, and by 25%. Clinton’s support so far has been based her visibility, people’s knowledge of her as a person, and fond memories of Bill Clinton’s presidency among other things. Her strong poll showing is because of this, and not because of a solid ground operation. Will it hold up? We will see.
2 comments:
Btw, some pundits have a different theory on Hillary's success - different from what you have pointed out.
According to a pundit, "Clinton's strength in national polls is exaggerated by her comparatively strong showing in large, solidly Democratic states.... cover[ing] up Clinton's weaknesses."
For the full analysis (actually it's an analysis of Edwards' campaign!), see
Ewards Makes the Electability Case
I think they are right - and this is partly what I alluded to when I said "fond memories of the Clinton years". That there is the "exaggeration" mentioned in the article seems possible given that the Clinton campaign seems to be losing some traction now.
We make a big deal of the electability issue when we canvass for Edwards :) After all, recent democratic presidents have all been southern democrats :)
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