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Toledo
Blade…
Special teams
called in locally for presidential ground game
Marquee-name
volunteers, targeted voter lists in play
By Tom Troy and Nolan Rosenkrans
There’s the air game — television and radio advertising. There’s the
stage game — rallies with candidates and celebrities. And then there’s
the ground game — phone calls and door-knocking. In a close election,
the ground game is where an election is won. With polls showing the
race in Ohio narrowing to a dead heat between Democratic President
Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, both campaigns say they
are now depending on their “ground games” to turn out the vote.
Small groups of volunteers armed with lists of targeted voters are
marching through neighborhoods, not knocking on every door like a
Halloween trick-or-treater, but going to those addresses where they
know there’s a voter who might support their candidate, but who has not
yet voted.
It can be a challenge.
Obama volunteer Crystal Bowersox — yes, that Crystal Bowersox — knocked
on doors Saturday morning in a leafy Sylvania Township neighborhood
near Laskey and Talmadge roads.
One woman answering the door excitedly recognized the 2010 American
Idol runner-up from Ottawa County, but she wasn’t the voter Ms.
Bowersox sought.
At another door, 27-year-old Sunny Lange, a preschool teacher, went
back in the house for a few minutes to brush her hair and then chatted
with Ms. Bowersox for some time.
A third door was just as friendly to Ms. Bowersox, 27, but not in the
political sense.
Roger Short, 64, a music teacher and trumpet player, said Ms. Bowersox
was looking for his son who was away at school. He said he personally
would “vote for Bozo the Clown” before he’d vote for President Obama.
“I didn't figure Crystal Bowersox would be coming to my door. It was
very nice to meet her; she’s a talented musician,” Mr. Short said. He
said he doesn’t like the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,
which he claimed is full of hidden taxes.
Ms. Bowersox said later, “He seemed like a kind man, he shook my hand,
greeted me kindly and warmly, and I appreciated that."
“I hope he reads up on the issues. I asked if he has a daughter because
then he would think twice about the women’s issues,” said Ms. Bowersox,
who now lives in the state of Oregon and who recently signed a new
recording contract.
She said she offered her assistance to the Obama campaign because “it’s
the right thing to do,” and was scheduled to meet with Obama volunteers
in Port Clinton, Sandusky, Perryburg, and Bowling Green over the
weekend.
Walking door-to-door along with her was Dennis Eble, 71, a retired
schoolteacher from Sylvania Township. As a neighborhood team leader, he
coordinates the ground game in eight precincts on the southern side of
the township and has been knocking on doors since April.
“I do it because I believe in President Obama, his ideas, his vision,
and his positions,” Mr. Eble said. He said the purpose of door-knocking
now is to encourage supporters to get out and vote early.
“We also have some people on our list we still need to persuade,” Mr.
Eble said.
Republicans were engaged in the same activity. While a roomful of
people tried to reach Romney-friendly voters on the phone at the Romney
Victory Center on Dussel Drive in Maumee, retired insurance agent Bob
Henold, 71, of Toledo headed out to knock on the doors of targeted
voters off Heatherdowns Boulevard. He hit pay dirt at his first house,
and no persuasion was necessary.
Mr. Henold asked Sonia Ross, 66, of Green Valley Road if Mr. Romney
could count on her vote, the answer was, “absolutely.” She declined Mr.
Henold’s suggestion that she vote early.
“I believe voting day is voting day,” said Mrs. Ross, a Lucas County
employee. She said she saw Mr. Romney in the debates.
“He is so presidential, there is no question about it. If another
country comes against us, he is going to stand right up to them,” Mrs.
Ross said. “He’s so strong, and determined.”
Back at the Victory Center, husband-and-wife team Susan and Mark
Figliomeni of Sylvania said they were putting in their second shift
making phone calls to get Romney voters to vote early, either by mail
or in person.
“We need a change. The economy is terrible. The debt is terrible. Libya
is terrible,” said Mrs. Figliomeni, 58, a cafeteria worker in a
Catholic school. “Today's been a very good day. I’m hearing the same
thing on most of my calls, that we need a change, and that makes me
feel good too.”
The two campaigns have slightly different organizational structures,
but both have the same basic philosophies — answer the concerns of
wavering supporters and try to get them to commit to get to the early
vote center, or mail in their absentee voter ballot.
Phone calls are becoming increasingly more ineffective, as actual
successful answer rates can dip to around 20 percent. Door knocks are
more effective, political professionals say…
Read the rest of the article at the Toledo Blade
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