Calif. GOP seeks to mobilize volunteers

This is an important article because this is how the Republicans will spin how they
managed to 'win' California in 2006 - they 'got out the vote'.

The voting machines are in place - we will loose 52% to 48% (or there abouts) in every important race.

I think the only solution is for us is 'election revolution' - demand that each county prove the vote count. If that means storming the Board of Elections - so be it.




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Jun 10, 8:07 PM EDT

Calif. GOP seeks to mobilize volunteers

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD
Associated Press Writer


AP Photo/STEVE YEATER


LOS ANGELES (AP) -- State Republicans hope to mobilize more GOP volunteers than ever before to help Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger win re-election, a strategy modeled on get-out-the-vote drives that helped President Bush capture swing states in 2004.

Party insiders say as many as 90,000 people could be enlisted in the closing days of the race to knock on doors, plant yard signs or make telephone calls to connect with potential voters, an unprecedented figure in a state thick with Democrats.

The point on election day: "The world is run by who shows up," said Rod Nehring, vice chairman of the state GOP.

The turnout operation - which could cost as much as $25 million - is being assembled by William Christiansen, a state GOP operative whose get-out-the-vote program for the 2004 Bush campaign in Arizona helped deliver a 10-point victory in that state. Former Bush strategists also are in charge of Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign.


More: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GOVERNORS_RACE_SCHWARZENEGGER?SITE=AZTUS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

If you don't show up in numbers that approach even a third of the voters (for both parties).. there is not way to say the vote was stolen.

I guess I do not understand your post.

It does not matter what percentage of voters turn out - election fraud is election fraud. And the GOP will say that their get out the vote 'won' CA.

on election day is 70%, then the GOP cannot steal elections. Yes there is voter suppression. And we have to fight that every way. But don't pick a pathetic turnout to be the poster child for speculation.

That teaches apathy. And apathy is Karl Rove's friend.

he is just not liked enough to push the vote his way with machines....

translation - Bush too was not liked enough. Once again election fraud...

THEIRS!

Regarding GOP emphasis and sophistication in GOTV. Inevitably, the reponse on DU, and by the local Democrats, is denial, similar to the quote in the article linked atop this thread: "They are in a fantasy world," said Sam Rodriguez, political director of the state Democratic Party. Democrats, who rely heavily on thousands of union foot soldiers each election to reach voters, scoffed at the GOP's ambitious get-out-the-vote plan.

I've worked GOTV the last three cycles on election day, primarily driving vans to the polls. But my dad volunteered weeks ahead of time in Miami in 2004, a high populus suburban area. His report left me convinced we're further behind in GOTV than we want to believe. The leader of that GOTV grid quit with a week to go. My 71 year old dad with zero previous experience was put in charge. He said the lists they were dealing with were innacurate and incomplete to the point of absurdity. During canvassing he said it was miraculous if 50% of the names matched the listed addresses. He said the canvassers were complaining they were being turned away at one house after another since a Republican lived there, not the Democrat on the list. On election day at an elementary school, many of the poll workers didn't show up and the ones who did were not properly trained, and generally clueless.

Understand, this was in Miami, a Democratic stronghold in a vital state, one Kerry pinpointed along with Ohio as must-haves. If we're not coordinated and sophisticated there I wonder what it's like elsewhere?

This isn't the first time I've mentioned my dad's experience on DU. It may not be representative but several posters have replied to my posts recently, ones where I worry about Republican GOTV strength this November, insisting I'm wacko and pessimistic and that we are still dominant, if not increasingly superior, in GOTV. Frankly, I think we're in semi- freefall. Republicans undeniably have the cash advantage and now they've figured out where to spend it, in ground and contact emphasis, not merely TV saturation.

The linked article mentions an operative who was in charge of Arizona 2004, now put in charge of California this year. That didn't surprise me, similar to Ralph Reed leading GOTV in the entire south during 2004 after his success in Georgia 2002. Look at the Arizona numbers, compared to the national average:

Arizona:
'88: Bush (59.95 - 38.74) = + 13.49% Republican
'92: Bush (38.47 - 36.52) = + 7.51% Republican
'96: Clinton (46.52 - 44.29) = + 6.30% Republican
'00: Bush (51.02 - 44.73) = + 6.80% Republican
'04: Bush (54.87 - 44.40) = + 8.01% Republican

It may not look like much, but pre-election conventional wisdom had Arizona closer in 2004 than previously. We have a Democratic governor there and the demographics appear to be trending our way. I expected Arizona 2004 to turn maybe 1 point our way. Yet Arizona soared to 54.87% for Bush and the GOP gained 1.21% in the partisan index from 2000. Contrast that to the two most similar states, New Mexico and Nevada, both won by Bush but the partisan index swung toward Democrats in 2004, 4 points in Nevada and 2 points in New Mexico.