Halloween

People here are crazy for Halloween. I started canvassing houses for Obama three weeks ago, and the decorations started to appear even then. I thought it was a little early, but I appreciated having a good conversation starter before launching into the whole "who are you voting for" routine. I also came to realize that you can gather hints about political affiliation based on Halloween decor--houses heavy on the ghouls and skeletons skew Dem, while the more countryish, hay bale and pumpkin-based arrangements signal McCain supporters lurking within. The elaborate construction and sheer hours put into Halloween decorations in this part of the state also reveal the old "I don't have time to volunteer" line to be a lie. If you have time to string up a lifesize vampiress on your roof, you have 1 1/2 hours to knock on doors. But I digress.

It's Halloween night, and other than stuffing myself with mini Butterfingers for dinner since I didn't have time to eat anything else, I'm not doing much to observe the holiday. I'm actually too tired to even be sorry that I'm missing the usual night out in my hastily-thrown together cat costume (thanks Les!!). But in a way, I've been trick or treating since I arrived here, just with stickers, voter lists, and the hope of political support rather than a candy handout. And definitely with a more uncertain reception than all the dressed-up little kids are getting tonight. The sugar high is the same, but Halloween only lasts for a few more hours while the campaign still has four days of sleep deprivation and high stress left to go. A scary thought.

Everybody here is hon

People sometimes ask me if it is weird to knock on the doors of strangers and ask them who they are voting for. Lately my answer has been that it’s a lot less weird in Ohio. That’s because strangers here are fairly polite and oddly friendly, even if they’re voting for John McCain and they think Obama is a socialist. (There are raging exceptions to this polite rule, of course.)

The “hon” phenomenon is immediately evident upon rolling into town. At the McDonald’s drive-through, at the supermarket checkout, when talking on the phone with Obama supporters, just about anyone you speak with, anytime, is likely to end the conversation by calling you a cute little name. I’ve decided I like it. When you’re feeling rundown, driven for example to hit up the gas station for advil because of a splitting headache, that “have a good day hon” at the register really perks you up. I also have to say this almost never happens to me in Massachusetts. (Yes, I talk to strangers there all the time, but usually about the Red Sox.) Stacked up against the friendliness of Parma, my beloved Boston is feeling a little chilly.

This friendliness might be part of the reason I feel so at home in Northern Ohio these days. Lately I’ve been thinking about the strangeness of planting yourself in an unfamiliar place among total strangers for a small window of time. The things I look forward to these days are very different than they were a month ago: my daily drive through the state park watching the leaves turn red and gold, the 3:00 pm Starbucks run that in our sleep-deprived state seems absolutely like a lifesaver, the fantastic thin-crust mushroom and sausage pizza from Donato’s down the street, Schnitzel Saturdays. And, of course, the “hon.”



Speaking of chilly, the heat isn’t really on in our office, so today I worked with a scarf and hobo gloves on all day. Classy. I’ve also been slugging EmergenC like it’s the water of life to stave off the cold that I feel lurking around the corner. It’s 10:41 pm, we just ordered three large Donato's pizzas, and the evening feels far from over. Tired, hungry, but feeling good. More later.

Your Turn

You sent me to a Swing State because you couldn't go yourself. But that does NOT mean you can't get involved. We are preparing to Get Out the Vote next weekend and we need you. And it's not hard: if I can do this fueled by only four hours of sleep and chocolate pretzels, you can do it too.

Think the election's over and Obama has it in the bag? Nope. Polls lie, and so do people. Think because you're not in Ohio with me eating delicious apples and talking to undecided voters that you can't be of help? Wrong again.

Boston-people: The Obama campaign in Massachusetts still thinks I'm out there, so they've been diligently harrassing me to go to New Hampshire to get out the vote. Since I'm already in Ohio doing that very thing, I'll be turning this job over to you. Click here for the details.

Everyone else: if you're in a swing state (which is a lot of them these days), call your local Obama campaign office and tell them you want to help them next weekend. Find the number here. If you're not in a swing state, drive to one for the weekend or make calls to undecided voters from the comfort of your own cushy couch. Did I mention that three of our out-of-state volunteers in this area are from Europe? That's right: geography is no excuse. If Frieg can make it here from Rotterdam, you can make it work no matter what state you're in.

One last note: you should get involved in the campaign in order to support Barack Obama, for the good of the country, and for all the people here and around the world that will be affected by the outcome of this election. But you should also do it for yourself. We have a great candidate, and an election that matters, and you will be sorry if you missed your chance to get in on the action of this amazing campaign before it's over. And if, God forbid, things don't go our way, you don't want to think you could have done more. Okay, there's my pitch. It's much shorter than the one I give at the door to the Obama campaign headquarters in Parma, Ohio, but you are my people and I know you won't let me down. Go get out there.

The blog is private but this post is not. Send it to everyone you know.

Late Night Parma

Last night I found out the Arby's in Parma is open until 1:00 AM. Tonight I am learning that on Friday nights we stay at the office until 4:00 AM to "cut turf" and enter data. Cutting turf is very important to campaigning but too boring to explain. It has to do with precincts and door knocks and other election shenanigans. Probably exactly the kind of thing I wouldn't be allowed to blog about were this blog still public.

I am SO TIRED. My friends know how much I like my nine hours a night, and right now I'm thinking nine hours is going to have to cover it for the whole weekend. We're all running on a mixture of caffeine (yes, even me, I have backslid to the dark side), Indian food, and the forced adrenaline of ELEVEN MORE DAYS! (or whatever day we're at).

Even if the end of my day were coming now (instead of four hours from now), it would have been a long day. It started by handing out free Jay-Z concert tickets to an only occasionally angry mob at 12 noon (he's giving a free Obama concert/rally next Wednesday at the big arena in Cleveland) followed up by a hastily-arranged town hall meeting with Madeleine Albright at the Parma VFW hall. I love a day in which the entire spectrum of Obama supporters is represented, from Rockafella to the former Secretary of State. The Jay-Z ticketers started lining up at 5:00 am, and the Albright attendees filed into the hall and found their folding chairs about 5:30pm. For the Albrighters, bottled water and chocolate cookies. For the Z-ers, nothing except the cold wind and the promise of big pimpin'. The Albrighters wanted to know the Secretary's take on Iran and the Russian invasion of Georgia. The Z-ers wanted to know when were we getting more tickets?!? I will say both groups seemed equally committed to electing Barack Obama the next President of the United States.

I hope you all are sleeping soundly somewhere, or at least out enjoying last call. Think of me next time you make dinner, or watch a movie, or do any of those normal things that seem so elusively wonderful right now.

Holla!

Phew!

Just kidding! After a truly harrowing conversation in which I was called by Ohio headquarters and told that NO BLOGGING IS ALLOWED, I panicked I shut it down. But then they just emailed me back to say I had to make it private. So, all is well. If you're reading this blog, you're one of the privileged few that has been specially invited to the party. Comment long and often, we're a small but loyal crowd now.

Hiatus

I won't be blogging for awhile friends. It's campaign policy not to blog when you're out working in the field, and I just found out about this today!!! So thanks for the loyal reading, and check back on November 5.

S

At Home in Ohio

So I have been totally slammed lately. Here is my list of excuses for not posting the last few days:

• This is the hardest I have ever worked at a non-paying job in my life. I do put in those twelve-hour days I was warned about (and then still feel a little guilty about it, since everyone else works fifteen-hour ones).

• There are no days off and no weekends on the campaign. In fact, Saturday and Sunday are the most insane days of all.


• I am helping with the out-of-state volunteer cordination here at the Parma office. That just means that hoards of energetic young Democrats will be descending en masse upon Ohio in the next two weeks (yay!) and I am responsible for at least some of them.


• I spend about 70% of my day making an intense sales pitch to every single person I meet. I want people I talk to on the phone to vote for Barack Obama. I want people who come in for a yard sign to go out canvassing for us. I want undecided voters I meet while I am out canvassing to become Obama supporters. I want Obama supporters I meet while I am out canvassing to become canvassers themselves. There is no limit to what I want from people these days. Sales (even of something you believe in) is pretty exhausting, it turns out. It also turns out I am actually not too bad at it. Lesley would say this is no surprise to her.


• It is hard to follow up posts about Bill Clinton and Al Bundy when I don't have any new celebrity to report on. Although Madeleine Albright IS coming to town on Friday.

Okay. Enough excuses. How are things in Ohio, you ask?

All around, pretty good. I am feeling pretty settled into my home-away-from-home here, thanks especially to the extremely comfy digs and kindness provided by the woman who has opened up her house to a stranger based solely on the fact that I was coming to her state to volunteer for the Obama campaign. Did I mention that she buys me groceries and washes my sheets once a week? Seriously she is one of the best reasons to come to Ohio.

Another (less crucial but still delicious) reason is the apples that are in perfect season right now. They have this delicious hybrid here called Honey Crisp that I have never seen in Massachusetts. Ohio-grown, they are super sweet and absolutely devoid of mush. The perfect apple, basically. I eat at least one every day and they are single-handedly responsible for keeping up my blood sugar in the total absence of regular, healthy meals. Speaking of regular meals, here is my food consumption for the day before yesterday:

Breakfast: cheeseburger
Lunch: meatball sandwich
Dinner: cheeseburger

That's right. An utter breakdown in all of my beliefs about food. It has also been hard to cling to my environmentalist ideals in the midst of this craziness--trying to reuse the reams of paper we need to process canvasses and volunteers, wondering what to do when people drink a whole bunch of bottled water at an event and there's no recycling bin there (the answer is pick 40 plastic bottles out of the trash while confused Ohioans look on with concern).

There are only two more weeks left until this election is decided, at which point I can put away my sales pitch and start eating salad again. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the apples, and the experience.

Al Bundy is the Bomb

So the celebrities are flocking to us like flies these days. Today Ed O'Neill, TV's "Al Bundy," stopped by our office in Parma to stoke the morale of the troops. He's looking a little grizzled these days, but you can still recognize him from his Married with Children heyday. And I have to say, he was super nice.

He came in handy, too. The trick of working the front door of this office is to turn the slews of people that stream in all day looking for "lawn signs" into volunteers for the campaign. It is sometimes like pulling teeth, and staffing the front office for 12 hours nonstop makes you feel a little bit like the only person in the desert who has water. People fall upon these lawn signs like hungry rabid dogs. I love to see the enthusiasm. But I fear for the moment (which is imminent) when we run out again. Things will get ugly.

[Aside. The serious subplot of this campaign is the Hunt for Lawn Signs. Lawn signs are being stolen, lawn signs win elections, lawn signs are being sold on ebay for $25 apiece, the McCain campaign is handing out lawn signs like candy, etc. It's the story of my life, lawn signs.]

So today, unsuspecting lawn sign seekers were greeted with Al Bundy, which awed them just long enough for me to rope them into a volunteer shift without my usual massively hard sell. I even convinced these two 22-year-old kids to come back later in the day for a canvass with the promise of meeting Ed O'Neill. That's a very impressive walk-in to canvass transformation rate, in case you didn't know. (Just trust me.) I wasn't allowed to watch Married with Children when it was on, but Ed O'Neill really made my day easier. Thanks Al.

Everybody Loves Bill

My computer has been down for 24 hours, which at this moment in my life is akin to temporarily losing a finger or my ability to read. I just really can’t function without it. Which is sad. But a topic for a different blog.

I did meet Bill Clinton today though, and as I implied on my facebook status, he is rad. Last time I saw him in person, back in those halcyon days when the national scandal was sexual and not economic, he looked much, much younger and so, probably, did I. Being in a Bill Clinton state of mind today made me nostalgic for those days right after college when I lived in DC, all my friends were “staffers” who worked on “the hill,” and we all thought we were broke even though the most I ever paid in rent was $450 a month. Granted it was upstairs from an Ethiopian restaurant/reggae club that didn’t close until 3 a.m. But still. You just cannot beat that rent.



The event was a rally in downtown Cleveland hosted by the building trades, which means tons of union guys. It was inspiring to see this bunch of people (mostly white, mostly men, and all blue-collar) coming straight from work to see Clinton, support Obama and economic and trade policies that make sense. I wish I could take a snapshot of that crowd to anyone who would like to harp on Obama’s eloquence and claim that he is elitist. Oh wait, I did. Here it is.



These guys get it. Clinton mentioned how the median income in our country has dropped $2,000 per person since the day he left office, but has dropped $4,000 per person in Ohio. I had the feeling this crowd didn’t need to be told this statistic, that they were feeling it.

I hauled around metal bike racks to set up crowd barricades for 4 hours, but in exchange I got to stand on the risers during Clinton’s (as always) kickass speech and meet him after it. And, considering all the streudel I eat here, a full day of heavy exercise came at a great time. Of course, the first day I spent completely outdoors here was also the day it finally decided to get cold. I am only now defrosting many hours later.

I meant to tell you about my canvass yesterday and the guy who came to the door wearing a gun. (Don’t worry—he was really nice.) But that will have to wait until tomorrow, because today it was all about Bill.



Oh, and Cleveland loves wind power! Wind power loves you back, Cleveland.

Parma, Ohio

Parma, Ohio is an interesting place. It’s literally 15 minutes away from Cleveland, but Parma people never seem to go there. The campaign office where I spend 12 hours a day is located on a large connector road, down the street from a WalMart, a McDonalds, and Circuit City. In other words, suburb heaven. But it seems vaguely depressed, at least in this corner of town. When you get off the beaten connector road, the streets are quieter and the homes neater, with lawns. In fact, the citizens are exactly those “suburban undecideds” that Paul Begala said will decide this election on Larry King Live last night. I’ve been talking to some of these suburban undecideds lately, and I have to admit it’s a confusing experience.

The election is three weeks away. The candidates have been campaigning for months and have already have two substantive debates (the final one to take place tomorrow). Their websites are chock full of information on their policy proposals, the ideas they would put into action if elected, and their differences from each other. There is a TON of information out there. To still be undecided at this point is mystifying to me, and yet Ohio has tons of these voters—people who aren’t crazy about either candidate and are putting off their decision like they would put off doing laundry or going to the DMV.

It especially kills me when these undecideds talk about how hard things have been lately—they are elderly and their medical bills are skyrocketing; they are middle-aged and they are stunned at how hard it is to get a loan or think about the cost of college for their children; they are young people without job security because industry has been hit so hard in Ohio. Obama has good, logical policy proposals for each of these problems. I hope we have enough time to let them all know.

But I said I would talk about schnitzel. One thing Parma definitely has over Boston is the schnitzel (various types of meat breaded, fried and covered with cheese and/or gravy). We get it at the Schnitzel Haus, a German restaurant run by Serbians that is down the street from the office and the site for our Saturday night wrap-up sessions. They are nice to us over there at the Schnitzel Haus, and their selection of strange, dark beers makes me think my old drinking buddies Joe and Jason would be happy there. Ohio also has a lot of pierogies, and boxies, and various other kinds of heavy, filling and delightful Eastern European foods. This fact, combined with the late-night Chinese food, the brownies brought in by nice old ladies who love Obama, and the fact that Rudy’s Streudel shop is next door, means I may be rolling home after election day. Hey, we all have to make sacrifices.

Swamped

So much to report, no time for anything except fragments. Here's a few:

Summer weather in October.

Canvassing is fun. Continually surprised at the number of people who are really, really committed to being undecided.

People in Ohio are usually polite even if they think you are crazy and have McCain signs on their lawn.

I'm working in an office of 22-year-olds. Picture a college dorm with campaign stuff.

The subplot of this campaign is the dearth of lawn signs. You know, those signs saying "Obama/Biden" that people put in their yards. McCain camp has tons of 'em and is giving them out like water. We don't. This makes Democrats mad. Turns out lawn signs have little to do with election success; Ohio was blanketed with Kerry signs in 2004. But people still really like them.

The coolest house I canvassed yesterday presented the following scene: Dad out front mowing the lawn while smoking a cigar. Jerked his thumb towards the backyard and said without removing cigar to go around to the backyard where I was greeted with the sight of his wife and daughter sunbathing and drinking margueritas. The mom was an Obama supporter and the daughter undecided. I told her to listen to her mother, who very obviously knows what's up in every way. I sort of wanted to be adopted by this family.

Oh! And calling 91 strangers in a row. I called during the day on Friday, from a list of people over 70 who were likely to be home. I got just a few grumpsters, a lot of undecideds, and a couple seriously sweet old ladies who were hesitating to vote for Obama because of his stance on abortion. I was able to let them know that the number of abortions increased under this current Republican administration, and that McCain isn't even a pro-life candidate (he just wants to let the states decide). And that Obama's health care and economic policies have the best shot of a) preventing unwanted pregnancies through realistic education and available birth control and b) giving young women who do find themselves pregnant encouragement and economic support to help them raise a child.

But enough about policy. Next time I'll tell you about the Schnitzel House. (it's already my favorite tradition here at the office)

Roadtrip

Well, I’m here and in one piece. With airplane tickets as expensive as they are these days, perhaps super long drives will be the new way to travel. I might be okay with that. A few observations on the roadtrip:

• The amount of squished bugs on a windshield after an interstate drive is astounding and truly gross. I need to find a carwash. Which, if the prices of other things I’ve seen in Cleveland are any indication, should cost me about 89¢.


• The quality of radio stations across upstate New York varies widely. I’m not really an iPod person and I don’t buy CDs, so that leaves me at the mercy of whatever radio station I can scan to that isn’t country. There is a lot of country music out there once you leave Boston. But there’s also a lot of npr affiliates, so, skipping from crackly station to station, I listened to Fresh Air, Day to Day, and On Point, where Tom Ashbrook was interviewing a very cranky Candace Bushnell (the woman who wrote Sex and the City and wants to be taken as a serious novelist so badly that she got mad when Tom mentioned all the expensive shoes described in her books). There was also a really good alternative station, 90.5 FM from Rochester, NY that gave me a great 45 minutes.


• I was impressed with the availability of legal fireworks in the Midwest. Also that giant adult super store right off Highway 90 that is open 24 hours and resembles a neon-lit doomsday bunker. Like where you would go to buy porn if the world was ending.


• My trip included a lovely stopover outside Syracuse to visit one of my oldest friends (let’s just say when we met we both had big bangs and I was probably wearing my favorite peach-colored plastic triangle earrings). It was nice to relax with her and her family for a little respite after the last busy few weeks. It was also nice to eat a bunch of fabulous homemade pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting.


• There was one notable roadtrip failure. It might take a certain kind of personality to get into books on tape, and I don’t think I have it. I really wanted to be entertained by my carefully chosen collection (I brought four full-length taped books, which is like, hours, of listening) but I found it takes a surprising amount of concentration and patience. Turns out you have to listen to John Updike for a solid 45 minutes before getting even one juicy sentence out of Witches of Eastwick. And that the first few pages of a murder mystery novel (the atmospheric set-up) are interminably long, and just got me itching for the part where someone discovers a dead body. Harry Potter had promise, but the tapes were warped and warbled, perhaps the result of an over-zealous fan listening to the book on repeat. I was surprised to discover I am a bad book-on-tape reader.

But really, driving by yourself for many hours is pretty okay. Even with no good music and aborted attempts to listen-read. It goes by pretty fast, there’s lots to see even on the highway, and when you do get a great song, it really feels like a victory. Add in a few good long phone conversations with friends (that are a true luxury since you don’t have to go rush off and do anything else), and you’re basically to your destination already. I felt like I could have driven all the way to California and it would have been kind of fun. Instead I stopped in Cleveland.

Next up: the city, its suburb, and calling 91 strangers in a row.

On the Road

It's just me, my Twizzlers, and the highway until Ohio. Give me a call if you're bored since I almost certainly will be too. Although I have with me, for entertainment, a few trusty (and dusty) books on tape: Harry Potter and a Sorceror of some kind and the Witches of Eastwick. I'm finally going to see what all this Harry Potter fuss is about, now that I'm about seven years too late to the party.

I'll post again when I'm in Cleveland. See ya!

Mess

Today you'll find me staring at my disaster of a room trying to decide how to pack for five weeks. While I do that, here are a few tidbits to keep you entertained.

The first is a revealing/odd glimpse into Governor Palin's head via her scribbles during a budget meeting. The second, just a fun little retrospective of that elusive animal, the Sarah Palin accent (video).

Did I mention that I don't the whereabouts of either my a) driver's license or b) wedding rings and haven't seen either in over a week. I promise to get my act together before I get to Ohio.

America

A sincere thank you to everyone who came to my party and those who couldn't but supported the cause anyway!! It was pretty American around here on Saturday night, from the red white & blue jello shots (thanks Lesley!), to the Sam Adams keg, to the homemade apple pies that everyone scarfed down (thanks Kristen and Marla!), to Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS playing in the background. I seriously want to thank everyone who has gotten so enthusiastically on board with this crazy idea of mine to be an Ohioan (is this the right expression? I'll find out soon) for a month. It's going to make the next few weeks of 15-hour days and donated housing much easier knowing that you all are rooting for me.

So just like that I'm headed to Parma, Ohio. I'll be staying with a reportedly "very nice" woman who has opened her apartment to Obama campaign volunteers, and I'll be working seven days a week from 9 am to midnight (or so the campaign office tells me). Apparently these people don't realize how much I like my eight hours of sleep a night. I'm telling myself you can handle anything for a month.

It seems like a good time to get into the fight. The McCain campaign will apparently be making a change in tactics this week, attempting to refocus the campaign away from the economy towards more direct, personal attacks on Senator Obama. So get ready for that pleasantness to come.

I'll continue to post here, hopefully every day if I can, sneaking a few minutes out of those 15 hours to let you know how things are going in the Midwest. I leave on Wednesday with an ample stash of cheese sandwiches and lots of good wishes to fortify me for the trip. Thank you, so much, again.

The Tiny Fey Glasses are Gone

So what did everyone think about the debate?

I thought Sarah Palin avoided making any major blunders--at least, we didn't see that moose-in-the-headlights look that was on display throughout her Couric interviews. It seems she is best when allowed to stick to rehearsed talking points.

Biden, though, was really top-notch. In addition to actually answering the interview questions, he turned in the best debate performance we have seen so far from any of the four candidates, in my opinion. I love when he underlined, clearly and forcefully, the themes that define his ticket best: relief for the middle class, opposition to tax breaks for the super-wealthy and corporate America, and concern for the basic needs of families sitting around their kitchen tables right now. I thought he was able to make that connection without being schmaltzy. The point in the debate where he choked up when talking about being a single parent was powerful, even more so when he followed it up by telling Americans that he understands they are having a hard time right now. You would have to be a seriously jaded individual not to see real human emotion and authenticity in that moment.

I'm sure there are many Americans out there who also connected to Governor Palin last night, but I wasn't one of them. The "doggone it" and "say it ain't say joe" and the dropped g's and the winking at the camera seemed part of a routine being relentlessly performed, rather than a natural expression of this person's character and background. Repeatedly calling her running mate a "maverick" (a real missed drinking game opportunity there) also doesn't make it so, and I was pleased when Biden finally listed the ways in which McCain has not been anything but a supporter and promoter of the Republican status quo.

In her defense, ultimately Sarah Palin had the much harder job here--in addition to having to cram her way into an understanding of national policy in four weeks, she is also being asked to perform those verbal gymnastics that turn fiction (conservative economic policy has worked/ pre-emptive war is a good idea/ McCain is a much different candidate than Bush) into seeming truth. Significantly more gifted politicians would also find that a hard task. What helps is that she seems actually to believe these things, but how much easier it is to make a strong case with so many of the rational, logical facts and evidence on your side. That is why this is the Democrats' race to lose.

I can't end before commenting on the wacky moment that was Palin's gusto for the expansion of vice-presidential powers (as put into motion by the ever-so-popular Dick Cheney). I thought for a strange, sci-fi second that we might actually see her twitch as she got zapped by offstage Republican handlers to stop her from continuing to list all the new things that we could maybe, you know, let the Vice-President do. No campaign advisor wants to hear their candidate veer into "let's interpret the Constitution a little more loosely so I can have more power" territory.

Speaking of veering into unfamiliar territory, it looks like I'm headed to Ohio. The Obama headquarters in Cleveland returned my call today with what can only be described as unbridled enthusiasm about the possibility of me showing up in their state to help the campaign. It's hard to resist the siren call of "we can definitely use you!" "we'll find you housing!" and "Cleveland is really not so bad." Well, maybe not so much that last one. All that's left now is to cross my fingers that my experience in the middle of the country among strangers will be more "Mayberry" and less "Children of the Corn."

Why the Midwest

So my bags are packed (nope), the keg is ordered (yup), and fundraising party plans are well in hand. (This Saturday, 8:00 pm. The theme is "America" so be prepared to get down red white & blue style.) All that's left to figure out is where I'm headed next week.

The electoral map is changing day by day and I'm trying to stay on top of it while plotting out my course. The debate last Friday resulted in a bump for Obama in the polls, which was good to see. Apparently people like polite/informed more than grouchy/patronizing. Sorry, John McCain. I liked you so much more when you were trying to beat Bush in 2000.

So—where to go? The Midwest makes sense to me. My family is from there (Michigan), I can drive there pretty easily (by "easily" I mean 15 hours instead of the 25 it would take to Florida) and I feel like I can connect with values-voters. In fact, Michigan itself is one of the things that made me want to venture out on this little trip in the first place.

I have strong feelings about the state. I’ve been going there about every summer since I was six weeks old, and even though I heard that Beach Boys song about girls in California a lot while growing up on the West Coast, in many ways I’m secretly the midwest farmer’s daughter (you know, the ones who "really make you feel all right.") A few weeks ago I was checking an electoral college map: the ones all decked out for the season in shades of red & blue. Michigan showed up in the pale periwinkle that denotes "barely Dem." Not dark blue, like Michigan usually is. No. Such a light blue I could practically see the stain of pink creeping up against its borders.

There are reasons for this. Obama didn't campaign there at all during the primaries (to respect party rules that the state violated by holding those elections early). There's a somewhat unpopular Democratic governor and a very unpopular (i.e. fired) Democratic mayor of Detroit floating around the state giving people pause. Not to mention the auto industry that has been a bedrock of the state may be more interested in McCain's "drill baby drill" stance than in hearing about efficiency and conservation. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, "If John McCain becomes the nation's 44th president, it may be thanks to Michigan--a prize the Republicans think they can claim for the first time in nearly 20 years." However, the last two weeks have been good to Obama's chances there; just an hour ago it was announced that McCain has decided to pull his campaign ads out of the state. This may mean that Michigan is even now deepening into that lovely shade of midnight blue I want to see.

Then there's Ohio. You may remember it as the state that lost John Kerry the election in 2004. It (specifically Cleveland) was also the subject of a very funny "30 Rock" episode last year. Ohio (specifically Jacobs Field) was also the place where Pedro came out in relief to mow down Indian after Indian for six no-hit innings during a spectacular Game 5 of the 1999 ALDS. That concludes the entirety of my associations with Ohio.

But in fact, the state looms large. It's been said that as Ohio goes, so goes the nation. The state is apparently a microcosm of the country as a whole, with a nice mix of urban, suburban, and rural voters. Bush only won Ohio last time around by 118,601 votes; that's about nine votes per precinct. I don't know anyone who lives there, but I'd like to take a stab at getting some of those nine votes that could make a difference.

So, only a few days before I pack up the car with roadtrip snacks and head west, I'm still not exactly sure which address I'll be typing into mapquest on my way out the door. Does Michigan still need help? Is Ohio more important? Will I brave bunking up with whatever strangers are offering "donated housing" to the campaign in Cleveland or Columbus? You'll know as soon as I do.

Tonight: Don't forget to make the popcorn and cozy up to the TV for Biden-Palin, 9 pm EST. I'm guessing Palin has added "Names of some other Supreme Court cases besides Roe v. Wade" to her crash-course study list since the Katie Couric interview. But other delightful surprises may nonetheless emerge tonight in the category of "shocking things not known by the next potential President of the United States." You wouldn't want to miss that.