Two things:

1) Help America get through the next four years. Give to your local Planned Parenthood. Give to the League of Conservation Voters. Volunteer.

2) Stand up for your Democratic beliefs. We're more than just Bush-haters. We believe in community, in reaching out to help our fellow citizens--no matter what their party. We believe in opportunity, in giving everyone an equal chance to fulfill their own American dream. We believe in freedom, for every kind of person.

We understand that our beliefs will require some sacrifice. Sometimes people who were born with more must give to help people who were born with less. Sometimes our belief in freedom will force us to face things that make us uncomfortable--including the right of evangelical Christians to vote for George Bush.

We did not choose these stances because we think they will sway the largest number of voters. It's not a matter of choice. We are Democrats because we believe these principles form the moral foundation of our country, and if we turn from this belief then we are lost. more

Have I really only been here for four days? Today was the first canvass at our GOTV staging area, the UFCW hall outside the Oscar Meyer plant.

I left the office at 8:30am to pouring rain and a temperature of about forty degrees. For an operation relying entirely on local volunteers (nobody's been flown in or bussed in, and nobody is paid), this was bad news. I'll admit it--I expected a drop-off rate of about 60%. Our canvass was scheduled to start at noon. With fifteen minutes to go, we'd already filled a training group of fifteen. A half hour later, we'd filled four more. They kept coming, all through the morning shift, and onto the evening shift. That's right, evening--at night, in the country, without flashlights, in the pouring rain. People left at five and began to trickle back at around eight, soaking wet, shivering--and with their walk sheets completely filled out. I won't pretend they didn't complain--they are Democrats--but after they got the "It's cold! I'm tired! No one is home!" complaints out, they went right ahead and signed up for a Tuesday shift. People are great. But these people are especially great, and I want to talk a bit about why. They are LCV volunteers.

The LCV team here is compulsive and obsessive in the best way imaginable, because everything they do is focused on a single goal: making each experience meaningful and enjoyable for the volunteers. They do exit surveys at trainings, worry about over-phoning, and it's not unusual to see an organizer take an extra hour to plot a specialized canvass for a volunteer.

Sometimes, this complusiveness can lead to excessive behavior...such as yesterday, when a late night turned into an early morning turned into what's now going on 40 hours without sleep. Faced with almost three hundred walk packets, mostly covering rural areas and scattered housing, the LCV team refused to settle. They mapped out the best routes for each one, marking the orders in which to hit the houses, and Chris invested a few hours in writing a script that would automatically produce Mapquest directions to the first house in each packet. After putting the packets together, we checked them and double-checked them, fixing directions that seemed off and making sure they were grouped in ways that made sense. more

Now with all-new states! And shorter reports, because, well, it's almost November 2.

From New Hampshire, Mahood reports that ACT is building on the foundation laid by DFA-NH, and getting out some mad UNH vote. We have two New Hampshirites here with us in the LCV Wisconsin office as well, but have managed to restrain them from clapping.

In Colorado, Mike tells of massive GOTV mobilization statewide. Shout-out goes to Democracy for Colorado, whose "Think Precinct" plan has laid a solid foundation for long-term Democratic activism.

My Arizona correspondent appeared to be out drinking. Should we take that as a positive sign or a negative one?

Steve tells us that at Cornell College south of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, nine out of the fourteen students in his senior seminar have already cast their ballots--for John Kerry.

Finally, here in Wisconsin, college student after college student recovered from their Halloween hangover and made it to the Sunday afternoon canvass. It overlapped with the trick-or-treaters a bit...one canvasser testified that "Bush houses were dark, Kerry houses were handing out candy." Unsurprising. more

What's going on in the swing states today? EchoDitto brings you on-the-ground reporting...

Field correspondent Danny is with 21st Century Democrats' Young Voter Project in Ohio, a great example of modern technology meeting old-school field. Sure, they collect IM addresses and send around the Eminem video, but now that it's three days out, they'll be knocking on doors. Danny reports that in Ohio, they're calling through lists of undecided students, as well as signing up volunteers for GOTV at a big homecoming game.

Meanwhile, in Florida, our own Michael is single-handedly moving two-ton boxes of granola bars from firebase to firebase. He reports that volunteer energy is high, the roads are wide, and no ballots have yet been stolen--at least not from him personally.

Here in Wisconsin, hundreds of people have passed through the "LCV Machine", the tightly-organized canvass program covering Madison and Milwaukee. One mother-daughter pair drove four hours to get to the canvass--"we had to do something."
Update: Halloween is in full swing here, and the streets are crowded with revelers. Most popular costumes for women appear to be "Girl Who Forgot To Put On Clothes," "Half-Naked Chick," and "Underwear Model." Number one male costume: "Drunk."

Garrett's Pennsylvania adventures are epic, as all of Garrett's adventures tend to be--but I couldn't possibly presume to summarize. He'll be posting later.

And the report from Michigan?
"We're not a goddamn swing state."

Well put. more

Mismatched computers, rickety chairs, and enormous whiteboards--must be a campaign office. I'm in Wisconsin at the LCV Madison HQ, and we're planning our weekend and Election Day canvasses. Being back in the field is refreshing. When you're in DC, all you can see are polls and polls and polls. You lose focus.

So, we're arranging rides, cutting turf, modifying scripts, making last-minute volunteer recruitment calls, buying posterboard--at this point, it's not about grand strategies. It's about little tasks done well, over and over and over again.

If you're not signed up to go somewhere on Election Day, sign up now. It is so, so close. Our on-the-ground GOTV plan is superb--but useless if there are no volunteers to fill it. Go go go! more

What if on November 3, you wake up to the news that we lost by just a few votes, in a state not that far from where you live? What if you could have been the one who knocked on the doors of the Democratic voters who didn't show up? This election is going to be close, and every single person WILL make a difference. If you don't live in a swing state or district, someone can get you there--and pay for food and accomodation to boot. Here are some options:

ACT for Victory: ACT is running trips from everywhere to everywhere, so whether you want to go from NYC to Ohio or from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, there's a spot for you.

DCCC Democratic Action: Live somewhere a little bizarre, or can't get it up for Kerry? The DCCC is the place for you, with trips to Georgia, Kentucky, and New York State (among others). Help take back the House!

League of Conservation Voters: Do you really, really want to go to Florida? No problem! LCV is running a bus down there for Election Weekend. They are an incredibly organized and fun operation.

Look, there's no excuse for not participating in this election. Every. Person. Matters. Sign up. Volunteer. One weekend will decide the next four years of our lives--don't miss out. more

Things move quickly at the EchoDitto office, and sometimes it can be hard to tell what's cool and what's not. For the benefit of our visitors (and anyone else), I've provided a quick guide of what's in and out at ED HQ. Revisions are welcome.

Clever web terms
In: "Skype it"
Out: "The Interweb"

Email strategies
In: Subject lines
Out: Attachments

Team Interaction
In: Veiled insult
Out: Unmitigated cruelty

Internet Presence
In: Blogging
Out: Social Networking

Lunch Destination
In: Potbelly's (much to my chagrin)
Out: Old Post Office food court

Automatic machine drink
In: Choco
Out: Breakfast blend

I'd like the team to weigh in. Drupal? House parties? Email programs? Blogs? Teach us how to be cool! Editorializing welcome. more

Check under rocks! Look behind the sofa! What's that mysterious lump in the guest bed? It could very well be...a new voter! According to the New York Times, new voter registrations in Democratic areas of swing states have far exceeded those in Republican areas.

A Big Increase of New Voters in Swing States

Glancing at the article while standing in line at the Adams Morgan Safeway in DC, my excitement prompted a spontaneous "Look at this! Look at all these new voter registrations! Isn't it wonderful news?" The other people in line seemed vaguely taken aback, but happy to hear the news (with the latest polls showing DC at 78% for Kerry, I figured I had a good shot at finding sympathetic listeners).

The question, of course, is whether these folks will actually show up at the polls. As the Times notes, "Studies have shown that calling voters and showing up at their houses before and on Election Day substantially increases turnout." Although I'm sure that sentence provoked a sarcastic "No, REALLY?" from anyone who has ever worked on or vaguely thought about a campaign, they do have a point. These people need to be dragged. We have a built-in advantage because Democrats tend to live in cities, and you can knock on a lot more doors in an hour when they're ten feet rather than ten miles apart. We can't afford to lose this edge. Once you've checked under your bed for new voters (some of them are very small and good at hiding, so be thorough), then get in the car, drive to the airport, and buy a ticket for the next flight to Wisconsin. more

I went to the Unitarian church near my house in Adams Morgan today to hear Seymour Hersh speak as part of a Politics and Prose bookstore event.

Hersh discussed Iraq--why we were there, what we were doing, and what comes next. He also spoke frankly about the what-if that no one is supposed to mention--what if on November 3, we wake up to the news of another four years with President George Bush? What about two more years of a Republican-controlled Congress? What do we do then?

Right now, most online political action is election-oriented. Disseminating information, recruiting volunteers, fundraising for campaigns--this is as it should be. But we must not forget that this amount and intensity of action requires enormous resources, both financial and human. Thousands of paid organizers are on the ground and in headquarters at campaigns and non-profits, composing emails and maintaining databases and designing flyers. For the next forty-two days, it's all about the top-down and the right-now. But after November, much of these resources will disappear. The organizers will go on to grad school and investment banking and teaching, the money will stop flowing, and we'll be back where many of us were a year ago during the primary season--with only ourselves.

Ourselves--people with "real jobs" and no money to buy complicated database products and catchy t-shirts. Ourselves--people who need to create their own management structure and don't report their numbers to anyone.

But this time, the stakes will be higher. We'll have to keep fighting, of course, for our candidates--for special elections and school boards and long-term planning for Congress and state senate and even the 2008 election. But at the same time, it is our duty as citizens to deal with with how the administration's actions affect our country and our community.

More and more people will lose health insurance. Can we use the internet to connect them with non-profit providers? After-school programs will be cut. more