A few volunteers and I walked my neighborhood here in Fairfield Ohio. This area has been staunchly republican for decades. I am in OH-8 which is John Boehner's home district.
We hit over a hundred houses. Lots of folks are listening and aware of Obama. We registered just a few voters. Most folks were already registered which indicates a strong pool of active voters.
We were also collecting data from potential voters and I have Great News!
UPDATE: More Great News: Obama opens up lead in OHIO!!!!!!!!!
http://news.bostonherald.com/...
Upate II
All the data I provided was only a snapshot of what is going on here. I am not trying to present this as a scientific poll. It is only a brief description of my experience today supported with a few numbers.
I still think it is great news.
The data collection instrument we used consisted of...
1 Commited Obama voter
2 Leaning towards Obama
3 Undecided
4 Leaning McCain
5 Commited McCain Voter
6 Third Party
7 Nonvoter
Here are the results
1= 12 responses
2= 10 responses
3= 11 responses
4= 0
5= 20 responses
6= 0
7= 3 responses
Of course we had a lot of houses with no one home.
Now I would like to remind you that this area has consistently voted GOP for decades, returning Boehner to office with 75-80% voter support.
Our results are great news!
I would like to add that the GOP appears to feel that District OH-8 is so firmly in there pocket that they focus almost all their efforts on robocalls. They do not put people on the ground. I believe that it is safe to assume that the Obama Campaign is the first contact these folks have had with either party this election season.
I advised the two volunteers that walked with me to alway thank the folks who were 1's for their support.
I also advised if folks were 2's and 3's to ask for their vote in support of Obama.
Folks who fell into the 5 category we responded with "If you change your mind Obama would like your vote."
Overall the atmosphere was positive and we had very few rude remarks, but the McCain supporters were respectful. The political climate has improved greatly. The rudest folks were the ones who said they were refusing to vote.
This is the best GOTV effort I have experienced in my 15 years of political involvement. Very Focused.
The 50 state strategy is working.
We have to fight for every square inch of Ohio and there are a lot of folks doing just that.
It was a great day.
YES WE CAN!!!
Go Obama!!!