Hold My Hand

Re:Tumulty, Karen, et al., Fighting for every last vote: In such a tight race, the game is about turning out your supporters. CNN.com, 10/11/2004

We all know Ohio was the battleground state in 2004. But this article goes into great details on how each party ran their campaign and managed their grassroots outreach. Both sides said that the campaign was going to be won or lots in the battles that are raging block to block and house to house. Old campaign weapons such as yard signs and bumper stickers were being utilized to their fullest and new weapons such as data mining and microtargeting proved efficient to target messages. On Election Day each party loaded their voters into vans and drove them to the polls. I am sure each party also educated those being transported to the polls on how to vote and which line to stand in.

This hand holding approach by the parties to the voters is crucial and necessary. It is unfortunate that such activities do not take place in non-battle ground states. But voters must still take the responsibility to learn how to vote.