Volunteering In Virginia For Obama

I arrived at my polling place this morning to vote at 8:54 AM. I had voted and was driving to the local Obama Headquarters at 9:04 AM. The lines were about an hour before work when my wife voted, but by the time I had gotten there, the lines had cleared out. I found it interesting that this time there were electronic voting machines AND paper ballots, and they asked every voter what they preferred. I just went with the touch screen.

Minutes later I was at Obama HQ. I was handed a cell phone and a list of names to call. These lists were confirmed Obama supporters, so they were easy. Some people were happy to hear from me, a sign that we really are that strong to have a solid ground game in VA this year. Most people were not home at all, but later in the day we got clearance to start leaving messages for them. The office was very busy, and as the morning and then the afternoon wore on, it went from a dozen to a couple dozen, to more like thirty people, some of them going to do "line duty", making sure that people had refreshments or umbrellas if they had to wait in the rain. It did start to rain in the middle of the afternoon, but not a lot.

It was great to see all of the volunteers. They were from all walks of life, and every age and race. One guy's wife works for Senator Biden. Another one works for Senator Boxer in CA and has been to several swing states.

Virginia's polls close at 7PM. That is very early, one of the earliest in the country. It's a disadvantage for Democrats because traffic is very bad in our northern VA stronghold. It would be nice to have them close at 8PM instead. I also don't like that some polling places can't have much of the line indoors and out of the weather. Despite the rain, it's not too cold today, so I suppose that's something to be thankful for.

I'll be watching the counties in VA that vote this time and the margins compared to those same counties in 2004. If Obama inches closer in ones that Kerry lost in 2004 and turnout is as high as expected in northern VA, it will not take long to be able to read those tea leaves. My nightmare? Obama wins the popular vote and loses the electoral vote. My best possible outcome dream? A comfortable victory.