Do you remember about a month ago after the 47% tape came out? And after about a week of wailing and gnashing of teeth all of Romney’s supporters just gave up? They decided they were just going to sit this election out and do nothing. Then they went on their blogs and complained bitterly about how unfair it all was.
Unfortunately, they didn’t give up. And refusing to give up is the reason they’re still in this.
After witnessing the above plus three-and-a-half years of Tea Party and GOP obstructionism followed by “legitimate rape”, voter ID laws, mendacity, smirking at the deaths of four Americans and shamelessly exploiting racism we wanted Obama to (verbally) kick Romney’s ass last week into next week. Well that didn’t happen and when it didn’t happen a lot of pundits started wailing and gnashing their teeth. Then there were many of us who joined them in wailing and gnashing our teeth. Then when the polls started to shift the panic started to snowball.
So let’s take a deep breath and look what else happened in the past week: there are clear signs our economy is improving (7.8). The press has called-out Romney’s malarkey and fuzzy math. Romney’s back to making more out-of-touch-statements on health care and abortion. And Joe Biden’s still picking out pieces of Ryan from his teeth after their debate at my alma mater last night. Democrat television ad radio ads are still running. Obama and Biden are still running.
This election is not going to be as easy as we’d hoped a month ago. That means it's going to be so much more satisfying to watch Mitt Romney's concession speech in a few weeks.
If you're still feeling like you can't do something, then DO something. Contact your local or state Democratic campaign office and ask what you can do. What you could do may include:
- Going door-to-door and meeting with people, telling them why they need to vote.
- If you’re too shy to go door-to-door, sign-up for phone canvassing. The best thing about that is even if you’re in a non-swing state, you can call swing-state voters and GOTV from the comfort of your own phone. Live in Utah? Visit the OFA website and volunteer to call swing-state voters. Live in Massachusetts? Call swing-state voters and tell them what a heckuva job Mitt did as governor of your state.
- Entering data (polling, voter contact info, etc.)
If you can’t do any of that, then kick up a little cash to the campaign.
I can be pretty jaded about politics and the system but I really believe that this country does not need people like Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan at the helm. And if you’re wondering, I’m going to be canvassing door-to-door tomorrow for the first time in Virginia. I also just gave to the campaign.
Finally, accept that there will be polls -many, many polls- that come out in the next few weeks. Some will be good. Others not so good. No matter what remember that we have the advantage: voters know Obama, still like him more that the GOP would hope and things are getting better. And Romney is Romney.
Romney has the tougher hill to climb. Let's do everything we can to make it harder for him.
We’re gonna to win this.