How important was the ground game?

According to our friends at 538, very important. Per 538, an exit poll consortium asked voters whether they had been contacted by the McCain or Obama camps prior to voting. It turns out that in 12 states that were rated highly competitive going into the election, Obama held the 'contact' advantage in all but one state.

% of Voters Reporting Direct Contact from Campaigns
ST Obama McCain Gap
NV 50% 29% 21%
CO 51% 34% 17%
IN 37% 22% 15%
VA 50% 38% 12%
PA 50% 39% 11%
IA 41% 30% 11%
FL 29% 20% 9%
NC 34% 26% 8%
MO 44% 37% 7%
OH 43% 36% 7%
WI 42% 39% 3%
WV 29% 31% -2%

And as we know, Obama won 10 of the 12 states shown here. Hence, we can expect the Republicans to try to copy Obama's ground game strategy in 2012.

For the full article, go to http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/contact-gap-proof-of-importance-of.html

Final Results in Bucks County

Hi all: I thought the photo essay would end the Obama PA blog, but there is still more to tell.
Ann Marie sent me the final election results for Bucks County and I thought you would like to see how our guy did. Here are the results:
Obama 178,345 votes or 53.7%
McCain 149,860 votes or 45.2%

This compares with a 1.5% win for Kerry in 2004!
The vastly improved performance is no doubt the result of the superior ground game in PA this year :)

And we can't forget about Patrick Murphy (right, Lara?) Murphy also did quite well:
Murphy 181,586 votes or 56%
Manion 137,565 votes or 42.4%
Lingenfelter 5,371 or 1.7%

Congrats to everyone who contributed to Obama and Murphy's success in Bucks County.
Grant

For more info, see www.buckscountyelections.org

The Doylestown PA Campaign in Pictures

Good afternoon: This post marks the end of my efforts to document one small part of the Obama army of volunteers. It has been a lot of fun documenting the experience of campaigning for Obama in Doylestown PA. The entire experience has moved me deeply. I am especially touched by all the passionate, caring and dedicated people I have met over the past 5 weeks, including the Obama staffers, the full and part-time volunteers and all the voters, most of whom were very supportive. I have compiled a slide show of the people and events that have collectively created this unique, once in a lifetime experience. Take a look. More than likely you will find yourself in one of the pictures. (For best results, view in Slideshow mode.)
Enjoy. All the best.
Grant
http://picasaweb.google.com/grantdu/ObamaPA?authkey=gYRE87BmoPg#

PS: Most of the photos are (c) 2008 Justin Stezelberger

Living the good life in Doylestown

Good morning. I am wrapping up the ObamaPA blog today and wanted to publicly thank the couple who made my visit to Doylestown possible.
I did not have a place to stay when I agreed to work for Obama in PA. The campaign said that was not a problem, they would find me a place. And they did. I have spent most of the past 5 weeks in the town of Chalfont on a 12 acre farm.
It has been quite a change from my apt on the 25th floor of an upper west side condo in NYC.
I have become 'friendly' with 3 dogs, a couple of cats, 4 horses and about a dozen sheep during my time here. And did I mention the chickens?
Anyway, it has been fun getting up at the crack of dawn, having breakfast with my wonderful hosts and then going to the campaign office every morning for a 12 hour day.
I have truly made some life long friends as a result of my time in Chalfont.
Thank you Debbie and Roberto for sharing your home with me. It has been a great experience, and one which I hope to be able to repay one day soon.
Grant

The Day After

I suspect many of you are 538 fans. Those of you who are not will appreciate this piece from today's postings. It was written by the same person who logged 14,000+ miles visiting Obama and McCain campaign offices around the country over the past few months. The sentiment expressed should resonate with those of you who have been toiling for Obama in PA.
Enjoy,
G
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/chicago-day-after.html

What the World is saying today

The BBC is first out with congratulatory quotes from several world leaders. Follow the link below. In particular, see the quotes from Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.
G
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/us_elections_2008/7710020.stm

And the winner is......

Good morning. As is well known by now, several TV networks called PA one minute after the polls closed last night. After the cheering died down in the Buckingham Green campaign office, most of us figured it was time to pack up, and get over to the first party of the night in the neighboring hamlet of Furlong. Jolie, our fearless leader, however, had other ideas. Word had come down from the top that several thousand Nevadians(?) needed a personal phone call from us before the polls closed at 7pm PST. So up to http://www.mybo.com/ we went to download call lists and make some more calls, which we did until after 9pm or so EST.
To kill some time between calls, we started an office pool to see who could predict Barack's final electoral count. Here are the final results:

Jolie..281
Laura..290
Lara..295
Annsi..297
David..302
Eric..310
Carol..312
Richard..318
Rorie..318
Lavinia..318
Ann Marie..340

Congratulations, Ann Marie!! Your prize will be mailed to you shortly. And Jolie, you also deserve a prize for the absolutley fabulous job you did running the office and keeping everyone motivated and on task.
It has been a great pleasure getting to know all of you.
G