Henrico County wants to go blue this year!
UPDATE Did GOTV this morning in Henrico. The best part: I wasn't the only one. Before I got started walking in one neighborhood, an older man yelled across the street at two young men playing basketball in their driveway. He asked them if they had "done their duty" yet today, and they both said yes. Neither of the young men were on my list, nor was the older guy who called out to them -- I'm hoping this means these were votes the campaign didn't even know they were getting.
UPDATE I suck at geography. (And I should know this one - I went to school in freaking Williamsburg!) But more importantly, with 60% reporting, Henrico is blue!
A quick note from Richmond, where the Obama operation is pretty damn amazing. I hope when you hear all the punditry about the polls in VA tightening, you'll think of this.
Since we got here on Saturday, we've been canvassing out in Henrico County, south of Richmond. This is an area I would have assumed to be solid McCain country other years -- a few new suburban developments cut into land right off the highway, the rest of it country roads with byzantine numbering systems. I doubt there were more than a handful of Kerry signs in 2004. However, I'm pleased to report this year there is a yard sign battle going on. You see a couple McCain signs, then a few Obama signs, then another huge crazy McCain lawn display, then three more Obama signs in front of three more houses. It's mixed, which is amazing for a county that went for Bush by 12 points in 2004.
Knocking on doors is a similar experience. Right next door to the guy who, when I asked if he'd thought about Obama, directed me to the McCain/Palin stickers on his three trucks, there was a guy who told me that he and his wife had already voted for Obama and he was working on his dad. Then there was a family we met working in their garden who cheerily told us that the wife was voting for Obama and the husband was voting for McCain. Then there was the whole subdivision of middle class African American voters who not only told us they were voting for Barack, but who had taken the whole day off work to vote, or planned to get there at five, or were taking the whole family over so they could all vote together. In fact, this was common across the board - people know the lines will be long, and are making arrangements to deal.
Yesterday we shifted into door-hanger mode, and hung door hangers that told people where their polls are, what time they open, and what their rights are. This continued through the night -- the goal was to put 90,000 door hangers out in the City of Richmond alone. Today, we door-hanger again, and then once people are awake, go back to canvassing. Each voter who has identified him/herself as a supporter of Barack will be contacted by the campaign 5 times today -- they won't stop getting calls or visits until they tell us they've voted. (Annyoying, yes, but supposedly it works). There are poll watchers assigned to every location and the main Richmond HQ (described accurately here) is being turned into the legal hub for the state of VA, with lawyers manning the hotline phones. There will also be people at each polling location making sure that our voters stay in line; if you're in line by 7pm, they have to keep the polls open until you've voted.
The McCain operation? Well, our hotel is right by the Virginian Republican HQ and as of last night, the place was dead. I think I may have seen a furtive flyer handoff in the parking lot of a sub sandwich shop in the suburbs, but maybe that was just a bit of wishful thinking.
One more quick canvassing story to end this. Yesterday, I went to a house way out in the country. The neighbors had an orgy of Republican signs on their lawn (Eric Cantor and all...) and actually told their kids to come inside when our Obamafied Prius drove by. We get to the house, and there's no one home, just a landscaping crew in the yard. I asked the foreman if he lived here, and he said no, but he pointed to my button and gave a thumbs up. Then he gestured for me to come over to his toolshed. (One of the guys was using a ditch witch, so it was hard to hear). When we got to the shed, he opened the doors, and hanging in the back was a "Latinos for Obama" sign.