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Feature story: Passionate about politics

Local volunteers travel to swing states to campaign for their presidential candidates

As the daughter of Ned Lamont, a candidate for U.S. Senate and later for governor of Connecticut, Lindsay Lamont grew up in a family "that lives and breathes politics."

"Every morning at breakfast there would be a summary of the news of the day followed by the question of what President Lamont would do," said the younger Lamont, a Stanford University senior.

The Connecticut native spent time working in her father's 2008 campaign against Joe Leiberman for U.S. Senate and unofficially for Barack Obama's campaign before she was old enough to vote. In 2010 she helped in her father's unsuccessful Connecticut gubernatorial race.

Naturally, Lamont, who is now the president of the Stanford College Democrats student organization, is campaigning for Obama again. On Oct. 26 she and 31 other Stanford student Democrats piled into buses to travel to Reno, Nev., to knock on doors, hand out pamphlets and do whatever else the local organization required of them.

"After working on a smaller campaign, I definitely understand the importance of having an on-the-ground campaign," she said. "It was a big benefit to the Obama campaign in 2008, and it really makes you remember you can make a difference."

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As Nov. 6 nears, out-of-state volunteers such as Lamont and her classmates are flocking to "battleground states" -- namely Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire and Virginia -- where polls show the fiercest competition in the race for president.

Volunteers from Santa Clara County believe their efforts to elect the next president are better spent out of the area, given the area's partisan voting history. Nearly 70 percent of county voters chose Obama as president in 2008, while 61 percent of California voters, some 8.3 million people, cast ballots for Obama.

These out-of-state campaigners aren't restricted to one political party or generation. The last-minute push to help their preferred candidate win draws Democrats as well as Republicans, the old along with the young.

For Lamont, Nevada was the easiest choice for a campaign location because of its proximity.

"California has a lot of important initiatives, but when it comes to the president, Nevada has a lot more at stake," she said.

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In 2008 Obama won six-electoral-vote Nevada with 533,736 votes or 55.15 percent, while challenger John McCain took 412,827 votes or 42.65 percent. But the race is much tighter between Obama and Mitt Romney.

The student group has other means of outreach; its phone bank calls a few thousand potential voters in swing states each week. But Lamont said nothing compares to the personal touch canvassing brings.

"Families are getting hammered with phone calls, so hopefully it's a little better to have someone at your door," she said. "It's definitely a bit more work, but it's a lot more fun to have face-to-face interactions and conversations with people in swing states.

"I'm a firm believer that everyone, in some point of time in their life, should work on a campaign."

That's a sentiment shared by Lamont's Republican counterpart at Stanford, Mary Ann Toman-Miller, the president of Stanford College Republicans.

She spent the summer in Washington, D.C., working in the U.S. Congress, and by the time the summer days cooled from a sweltering 105 degrees, she was spending her evenings in Virginia, assisting the Romney campaign. Much of her time there she made phone calls, distributed campaign materials and helped organize rallies and events for the Women for Romney campaign.

"It was exhilarating," she said. "There was palpable enthusiasm from the people making and receiving calls" at the phone banks.

Virginia is also a strongly contested state. According to the most recent poll by NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist College from Oct. 23 to 24, Obama is holding a three-point lead, with 50 percent compared to Romney's 47. Other polls put the two in a dead heat, and one shows Romney ahead.

Weather permitting, Toman-Miller and a group of Stanford Republicans are hoping to head to Reno this weekend. Like Lamont's group, they will be knocking on doors and talking policy with whomever they can.

"Commercials are generally too short to go into the important differences between the two candidates' policies, so we like to travel and have the opportunity to speak at greater length with undecided voters, face-to-face, one-on-one in the key swing states to explain our positions and our vision for America," she wrote in an email to the Weekly. "When we discuss Romney's policies in depth, they usually say they will vote with us."

Toman-Miller said she sees canvassing, and campaigning in general, as personally valuable. It's a chance to get out of "the Stanford bubble" and learn about the issues that affect people in other states.

"We talk to people of all ages, from all walks of life," she wrote. "For example, I talked to many veterans who appreciated that young people were willing to listen to their concerns, and I enjoyed it because we don't interact much with veterans at Stanford."

Though she said she had always been interested in democracy and its process, Toman-Miller said she was inspired by her mother, Mary Toman, who was the chair of the Los Angeles County Republican Party, the first woman to hold the position.

"Breaking that glass ceiling had a great impact on me," she said. "I looked up to her and wanted to emulate her."

The 20-year-old French and English literature double major said this is her fourth campaign. From Stanford to Virginia, there's been an encouraging surge in interest from Republicans in this year's election, she said, which is bolstered by what she sees as a decrease in interested Democrats. Even so, she works to keep out-of-state and on-campus campaign activities from being negative.

"For us, mud slung is ground lost," she said. "We've been trying to keep what we believe in a positive light."

She focuses on issues such as jobs and the economy and on how she thinks Romney and Ryan are the right candidates to improve them, she said.

---

Elizabeth DeVries' recent trip to campaign for Romney in Reno opened her eyes to the issue of unemployment. Washoe County, where the city is located, has an unemployment rate of 11.6 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

DeVries, a Palo Alto resident, said she thought people in the county were "really hurting." She recalled one woman she visited while canvassing door to door who drove home the point to her.

"I asked her who she was going to vote for and she said, 'Romney. Definitely Romney; we're hanging on by our fingernails here,'" DeVries said. "She had this desperate look on her face, and I felt very bad.

"Palo Alto is very upper middle class; Reno is a lot more middle class," she said. "We don't see it as much -- the amount of pain and suffering because the economy is so bad."

Aside from her weekend in Reno, DeVries volunteers at Romney events, gives money to the campaign and makes an estimated 25 calls to voters in swing states every day, when her schedule allows. She plans to go back to Reno to campaign this weekend.

She has volunteered in several previous campaigns: John McCain's 2008 presidential bid, Meg Whitman's California gubernatorial run, and Scott Brown's succession of Ted Kennedy for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. But for her, this campaign is different.

"This really will be the election for the future of our country," she said. "I'm willing to give up my weekends. I'm not willing to give up without a fight."

As a canvasser in Reno, DeVries said she was well-received, particularly since the majority of people she visited -- three to one, by her count -- were supporters of Romney.

She said she felt she could be more effective going to door to door in a place where Romney/Ryan campaign signs were at least as numerous as those for the Obama/Biden ticket.

"In Palo Alto, a Romney yard sign would get stolen; a car sticker would get your car keyed," she said. "This area is predominantly Democratic, and I walk around with all my Romney buttons and that sometimes starts conversations, and I've changed a few peoples' votes but not enough to make a difference."

Though the library specialist said she's always been interested in politics, listening to talk radio while working motivated her to be more active in politics and campaigning.

DeVries' parents were European immigrants who lived through World War II and who had grown up with starvation and death as facts of life. They came to the U.S. for its opportunities, and their gratitude to the U.S. and the freedoms it afforded them had a lasting effect on her.

"We're lucky enough to live in a democracy in which you can make a difference as a voter or as a volunteer," she said. "You can't complain that the situation is bad if you don't take the time to make it better and make an effort to do so.

"I have to do something. I have to make a difference."

Volunteering in her third consecutive presidential campaign, Palo Alto resident Lisa Van Dusen's hopes to make a difference as she travels to Ohio to campaign for Obama's re-election.

"The pieces I look for are that it's got to be a place where it's highly likely your efforts will matter, and pretty much everyone is saying you're going to need Ohio to win this race," she said. "It's best to have a place where I can stay, and my mom and sister live in Michigan not too far away."

"(Canvassing) is 1,000 times more effective going door to door and talking to people than an ad," she said. "It's the most effective."

She has volunteered in the past two presidential elections: in Nevada for John Kerry in 2004 and in Colorado for Obama in 2008. She said choosing the correct location for campaigning is critical.

"It's hard to decide in advance because things can change so fast," she said. "Some people are saying Ohio is safe, but it's my firm belief that some things can change on a dime."

Obama took Ohio in 2008 with 51.48 percent of the vote, or nearly three million people.

Ironically, Van Dusen's father worked as an adviser for George Romney, Mitt's father, during his 1968 presidential campaign. He also worked for George Romney in a variety of capacities, including when he was governor of Michigan.

In the 2008 campaign, her 80-year-old mother, a registered Republican, canvassed alongside Van Dusen for Obama in Colorado.

"She felt that strongly about Obama," she said. "The conditions were pretty pleasant, and she's in pretty good shape. It's a lot of walking, but she has a lot of stamina."

Van Dusen said one of the most common mistaken impressions about presidential campaigning is that canvassing is the only job a volunteer can do.

"You don't have to be the one to go knock on doors," she said. "There are a lot of different jobs that are critical -- data entry, logistics, operational support. You don't have to be that person at the door."

There's also an impression that canvassers talk policy and sometimes get into arguments with people they visit, Van Dusen said. Although she did get into political discussions in 2008, almost none of them arguments, she said much of the work she did was to provide basic, nonpartisan information to potential voters.

"A lot of times there's a lot of confusion about where people can go to vote and about little technicalities, like a ride or if you just need someone to say, 'You know, it really matters that you get out there and vote,'" she said. "I went back to multiple houses again and again to make sure they voted, checking people off the list and leaving no stone unturned."

---

By this time of year Bob Simmons would usually be someplace like Egypt or South America or Central America for his biannual international trip. But the self-described "tea-party person" and fiscal conservative has been too occupied with politics and campaigning to go anywhere this fall.

Simmons, a retired businessman and software engineer, belongs to four different tea-party groups and is a board member of the South Peninsula Area Republican Coalition.

The Los Altos resident first became involved with the political movement several years ago when he grew concerned about the president's focus on the Affordable Care Act. Since then he said he's seen the country get on the wrong track financially and worries that it's heading toward socialism while leaving capitalism by the wayside.

He and more than 100 other Bay Area residents recently drove to Reno to campaign for Romney, using their own vehicles and funds for room and board.

In Reno, he was assigned to walk precincts in a more affluent part of the city, and similarly to DeVries, he found that nearly all the houses he went to were Romney supporters and even more of them were supporting the candidacy of U.S. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.).

Unlike DeVries, Simmons sees worthwhile work to be done on the home front.

"There's really two Californias," he said. "There's the West Coast California and there's the California over the mountain that's depressed and has high unemployment. You don't see it here, but that motivates me to want to change things."

He volunteers at a monthly informational dinner meeting for the South Peninsula Area Republican Coalition, sits in booths for the Republican party at the farmers markets in Los Altos and Palo Alto, and supports and represents the Republican party and tea party at festivals and events. Recently, he's been canvassing in San Jose to support Johnny Khamis' run for the District 10 seat of the city council.

Despite his fervent support for Republican and tea-party candidates and causes, he said he'll be relieved once the elections are over.

"I'm definitely ready for that," he said.

He's already scheduled his next trip in January to Tanzania and South Africa.

Related stories:

Slim chances, but worth fighting for

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Feature story: Passionate about politics

Local volunteers travel to swing states to campaign for their presidential candidates

by Eric Van Susteren / Palo Alto Weekly

Uploaded: Fri, Nov 2, 2012, 8:39 am

As the daughter of Ned Lamont, a candidate for U.S. Senate and later for governor of Connecticut, Lindsay Lamont grew up in a family "that lives and breathes politics."

"Every morning at breakfast there would be a summary of the news of the day followed by the question of what President Lamont would do," said the younger Lamont, a Stanford University senior.

The Connecticut native spent time working in her father's 2008 campaign against Joe Leiberman for U.S. Senate and unofficially for Barack Obama's campaign before she was old enough to vote. In 2010 she helped in her father's unsuccessful Connecticut gubernatorial race.

Naturally, Lamont, who is now the president of the Stanford College Democrats student organization, is campaigning for Obama again. On Oct. 26 she and 31 other Stanford student Democrats piled into buses to travel to Reno, Nev., to knock on doors, hand out pamphlets and do whatever else the local organization required of them.

"After working on a smaller campaign, I definitely understand the importance of having an on-the-ground campaign," she said. "It was a big benefit to the Obama campaign in 2008, and it really makes you remember you can make a difference."

As Nov. 6 nears, out-of-state volunteers such as Lamont and her classmates are flocking to "battleground states" -- namely Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire and Virginia -- where polls show the fiercest competition in the race for president.

Volunteers from Santa Clara County believe their efforts to elect the next president are better spent out of the area, given the area's partisan voting history. Nearly 70 percent of county voters chose Obama as president in 2008, while 61 percent of California voters, some 8.3 million people, cast ballots for Obama.

These out-of-state campaigners aren't restricted to one political party or generation. The last-minute push to help their preferred candidate win draws Democrats as well as Republicans, the old along with the young.

For Lamont, Nevada was the easiest choice for a campaign location because of its proximity.

"California has a lot of important initiatives, but when it comes to the president, Nevada has a lot more at stake," she said.

In 2008 Obama won six-electoral-vote Nevada with 533,736 votes or 55.15 percent, while challenger John McCain took 412,827 votes or 42.65 percent. But the race is much tighter between Obama and Mitt Romney.

The student group has other means of outreach; its phone bank calls a few thousand potential voters in swing states each week. But Lamont said nothing compares to the personal touch canvassing brings.

"Families are getting hammered with phone calls, so hopefully it's a little better to have someone at your door," she said. "It's definitely a bit more work, but it's a lot more fun to have face-to-face interactions and conversations with people in swing states.

"I'm a firm believer that everyone, in some point of time in their life, should work on a campaign."

That's a sentiment shared by Lamont's Republican counterpart at Stanford, Mary Ann Toman-Miller, the president of Stanford College Republicans.

She spent the summer in Washington, D.C., working in the U.S. Congress, and by the time the summer days cooled from a sweltering 105 degrees, she was spending her evenings in Virginia, assisting the Romney campaign. Much of her time there she made phone calls, distributed campaign materials and helped organize rallies and events for the Women for Romney campaign.

"It was exhilarating," she said. "There was palpable enthusiasm from the people making and receiving calls" at the phone banks.

Virginia is also a strongly contested state. According to the most recent poll by NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist College from Oct. 23 to 24, Obama is holding a three-point lead, with 50 percent compared to Romney's 47. Other polls put the two in a dead heat, and one shows Romney ahead.

Weather permitting, Toman-Miller and a group of Stanford Republicans are hoping to head to Reno this weekend. Like Lamont's group, they will be knocking on doors and talking policy with whomever they can.

"Commercials are generally too short to go into the important differences between the two candidates' policies, so we like to travel and have the opportunity to speak at greater length with undecided voters, face-to-face, one-on-one in the key swing states to explain our positions and our vision for America," she wrote in an email to the Weekly. "When we discuss Romney's policies in depth, they usually say they will vote with us."

Toman-Miller said she sees canvassing, and campaigning in general, as personally valuable. It's a chance to get out of "the Stanford bubble" and learn about the issues that affect people in other states.

"We talk to people of all ages, from all walks of life," she wrote. "For example, I talked to many veterans who appreciated that young people were willing to listen to their concerns, and I enjoyed it because we don't interact much with veterans at Stanford."

Though she said she had always been interested in democracy and its process, Toman-Miller said she was inspired by her mother, Mary Toman, who was the chair of the Los Angeles County Republican Party, the first woman to hold the position.

"Breaking that glass ceiling had a great impact on me," she said. "I looked up to her and wanted to emulate her."

The 20-year-old French and English literature double major said this is her fourth campaign. From Stanford to Virginia, there's been an encouraging surge in interest from Republicans in this year's election, she said, which is bolstered by what she sees as a decrease in interested Democrats. Even so, she works to keep out-of-state and on-campus campaign activities from being negative.

"For us, mud slung is ground lost," she said. "We've been trying to keep what we believe in a positive light."

She focuses on issues such as jobs and the economy and on how she thinks Romney and Ryan are the right candidates to improve them, she said.

---

Elizabeth DeVries' recent trip to campaign for Romney in Reno opened her eyes to the issue of unemployment. Washoe County, where the city is located, has an unemployment rate of 11.6 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

DeVries, a Palo Alto resident, said she thought people in the county were "really hurting." She recalled one woman she visited while canvassing door to door who drove home the point to her.

"I asked her who she was going to vote for and she said, 'Romney. Definitely Romney; we're hanging on by our fingernails here,'" DeVries said. "She had this desperate look on her face, and I felt very bad.

"Palo Alto is very upper middle class; Reno is a lot more middle class," she said. "We don't see it as much -- the amount of pain and suffering because the economy is so bad."

Aside from her weekend in Reno, DeVries volunteers at Romney events, gives money to the campaign and makes an estimated 25 calls to voters in swing states every day, when her schedule allows. She plans to go back to Reno to campaign this weekend.

She has volunteered in several previous campaigns: John McCain's 2008 presidential bid, Meg Whitman's California gubernatorial run, and Scott Brown's succession of Ted Kennedy for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. But for her, this campaign is different.

"This really will be the election for the future of our country," she said. "I'm willing to give up my weekends. I'm not willing to give up without a fight."

As a canvasser in Reno, DeVries said she was well-received, particularly since the majority of people she visited -- three to one, by her count -- were supporters of Romney.

She said she felt she could be more effective going to door to door in a place where Romney/Ryan campaign signs were at least as numerous as those for the Obama/Biden ticket.

"In Palo Alto, a Romney yard sign would get stolen; a car sticker would get your car keyed," she said. "This area is predominantly Democratic, and I walk around with all my Romney buttons and that sometimes starts conversations, and I've changed a few peoples' votes but not enough to make a difference."

Though the library specialist said she's always been interested in politics, listening to talk radio while working motivated her to be more active in politics and campaigning.

DeVries' parents were European immigrants who lived through World War II and who had grown up with starvation and death as facts of life. They came to the U.S. for its opportunities, and their gratitude to the U.S. and the freedoms it afforded them had a lasting effect on her.

"We're lucky enough to live in a democracy in which you can make a difference as a voter or as a volunteer," she said. "You can't complain that the situation is bad if you don't take the time to make it better and make an effort to do so.

"I have to do something. I have to make a difference."

Volunteering in her third consecutive presidential campaign, Palo Alto resident Lisa Van Dusen's hopes to make a difference as she travels to Ohio to campaign for Obama's re-election.

"The pieces I look for are that it's got to be a place where it's highly likely your efforts will matter, and pretty much everyone is saying you're going to need Ohio to win this race," she said. "It's best to have a place where I can stay, and my mom and sister live in Michigan not too far away."

"(Canvassing) is 1,000 times more effective going door to door and talking to people than an ad," she said. "It's the most effective."

She has volunteered in the past two presidential elections: in Nevada for John Kerry in 2004 and in Colorado for Obama in 2008. She said choosing the correct location for campaigning is critical.

"It's hard to decide in advance because things can change so fast," she said. "Some people are saying Ohio is safe, but it's my firm belief that some things can change on a dime."

Obama took Ohio in 2008 with 51.48 percent of the vote, or nearly three million people.

Ironically, Van Dusen's father worked as an adviser for George Romney, Mitt's father, during his 1968 presidential campaign. He also worked for George Romney in a variety of capacities, including when he was governor of Michigan.

In the 2008 campaign, her 80-year-old mother, a registered Republican, canvassed alongside Van Dusen for Obama in Colorado.

"She felt that strongly about Obama," she said. "The conditions were pretty pleasant, and she's in pretty good shape. It's a lot of walking, but she has a lot of stamina."

Van Dusen said one of the most common mistaken impressions about presidential campaigning is that canvassing is the only job a volunteer can do.

"You don't have to be the one to go knock on doors," she said. "There are a lot of different jobs that are critical -- data entry, logistics, operational support. You don't have to be that person at the door."

There's also an impression that canvassers talk policy and sometimes get into arguments with people they visit, Van Dusen said. Although she did get into political discussions in 2008, almost none of them arguments, she said much of the work she did was to provide basic, nonpartisan information to potential voters.

"A lot of times there's a lot of confusion about where people can go to vote and about little technicalities, like a ride or if you just need someone to say, 'You know, it really matters that you get out there and vote,'" she said. "I went back to multiple houses again and again to make sure they voted, checking people off the list and leaving no stone unturned."

---

By this time of year Bob Simmons would usually be someplace like Egypt or South America or Central America for his biannual international trip. But the self-described "tea-party person" and fiscal conservative has been too occupied with politics and campaigning to go anywhere this fall.

Simmons, a retired businessman and software engineer, belongs to four different tea-party groups and is a board member of the South Peninsula Area Republican Coalition.

The Los Altos resident first became involved with the political movement several years ago when he grew concerned about the president's focus on the Affordable Care Act. Since then he said he's seen the country get on the wrong track financially and worries that it's heading toward socialism while leaving capitalism by the wayside.

He and more than 100 other Bay Area residents recently drove to Reno to campaign for Romney, using their own vehicles and funds for room and board.

In Reno, he was assigned to walk precincts in a more affluent part of the city, and similarly to DeVries, he found that nearly all the houses he went to were Romney supporters and even more of them were supporting the candidacy of U.S. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.).

Unlike DeVries, Simmons sees worthwhile work to be done on the home front.

"There's really two Californias," he said. "There's the West Coast California and there's the California over the mountain that's depressed and has high unemployment. You don't see it here, but that motivates me to want to change things."

He volunteers at a monthly informational dinner meeting for the South Peninsula Area Republican Coalition, sits in booths for the Republican party at the farmers markets in Los Altos and Palo Alto, and supports and represents the Republican party and tea party at festivals and events. Recently, he's been canvassing in San Jose to support Johnny Khamis' run for the District 10 seat of the city council.

Despite his fervent support for Republican and tea-party candidates and causes, he said he'll be relieved once the elections are over.

"I'm definitely ready for that," he said.

He's already scheduled his next trip in January to Tanzania and South Africa.

Related stories:

Slim chances, but worth fighting for

Comments

Nayeli
Midtown
on Nov 2, 2012 at 11:27 am
Nayeli, Midtown
on Nov 2, 2012 at 11:27 am

I am supporting Governor Mitt Romney. However, I am always encouraged when I see anyone get involved in civics -- no matter who they support! Hopefully, more and more Americans will cut through the spin, talking points and embrace issues that are personally important.

Even if we disagree with one another, there is something to be said about the American political process where we can be civil with one another despite our differences.

As a relatively young Hispanic woman, this gives me great hope for the future of this nation!


Export California Values
South of Midtown
on Nov 2, 2012 at 11:39 am
Export California Values, South of Midtown
on Nov 2, 2012 at 11:39 am

Great to see active participation, especially from these youngsters! Education and participation are essential! Wonderful to see so many Californians working to save this country from a a repeat of the Bush/Cheney policies that got us into this mess.

Note the endorsement from the widely respected, ultra conservative, Economist:

"As a result, this election offers American voters an unedifying choice. Many of The Economist’s readers, especially those who run businesses in America, may well conclude that nothing could be worse than another four years of Mr Obama. We beg to differ. For all his businesslike intentions, Mr Romney has an economic plan that works only if you don’t believe most of what he says. That is not a convincing pitch for a chief executive. And for all his shortcomings, Mr Obama has dragged America’s economy back from the brink of disaster, and has made a decent fist of foreign policy. So this newspaper would stick with the devil it knows, and re-elect him."

Web Link

Wow. On top of losing the Economist (shocking!), Romney has lost Chris Christie and republican NY mayor Bloomberg. why-nyc-mayor-mike-bloombergs-endorsement-of-obama-matters Web Link

The money quote from the Economist:

"For all his businesslike intentions, Mr Romney has an economic plan that works only if you don’t believe most of what he says."

After all, who believes Mitt Romney says on any given day?


Resident
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Nov 2, 2012 at 11:47 am
Resident, Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Nov 2, 2012 at 11:47 am

I am pretty disgusted at the amount of money spent on politics, however think people who do something with their time rather than do something with their money speaks more of themselves as people.


Joe Malarkey Biden
another community
on Nov 2, 2012 at 12:43 pm
Joe Malarkey Biden, another community
on Nov 2, 2012 at 12:43 pm

Vice President Joe Biden appeared on Thursday's "Late Night with David Letterman" and gave the Top 10 reasons to vote early. So read this, laugh, and then get out and vote:

10. I'm not saying each early voter gets a free cheeseburger, but I'm not saying they don't either.

9. It's vastly more effective than voting late.

8. You know who votes early? People with a backbone like a ramrod.

7. At a less crowded polling center, there’s plenty of room to stretch out, linger and relax.

6. If you vote early, you don’t have to pay taxes. I’m sorry – I’m being told that’s not accurate.

5. Single and looking to mingle? Find that someone special in the early voting line.

4. Of course, there's the open bar.

3. Not exercising your right to vote is malarkey – it's literally malarkey.

2. Early voters will receive a $5 million donation from Donald Trump.

1. Honestly, don't you want this election over already?

Gotta love Joe and his Love for our great country. Go kids, keep moving forward. Great article!


Nayeli
Midtown
on Nov 2, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Nayeli, Midtown
on Nov 2, 2012 at 4:18 pm

@ Export California Values:

Wow! To borrow from old Joe Biden, that is quite a bit of "malarkey" that you are typing there!

You don't have to agree with Governor Romney. However, it is another thing to misrepresent him...or repeat the same old tired misrepresentations of who he is, what he wants or what his plans are. If you want to know them, look them up. They are available for you to see -- no matter how often the Obama team spins otherwise.

Also, it is ridiculous to say that Governor Romney lost Chris Christie. He simply was satisfied with what Obama was doing for two days in regard to the storm. That can (and has) changed with much angst in NY and NJ.

To say that Christie "endorsed" Obama is as incorrect as saying that Obama endorsed Governor Romney because Obama admitted that Governor Romney did a good job managing the 2002 Winter Olympics.

You can complain about Governor Romney's plans all you want. You can even try to make people believe that he doesn't have a plan. However, it doesn't take an economist or policy expert to realize that things in this nation aren't going so well. The issue for many Americans isn't Obama's spinful claims about jobs being added since it bottomed out in 2010.

The "bottom line" is that unemployment (nationally at 7.9% with real unemployment even higher) is higher now than 2008...and higher than when Obama was inaugurated even when he vowed that unemployment would be 5.2% by now. Worse: Many Americans see Obama as "patting himself on the back" for a "job well done" when more Americans are hurting right now than they were in 2008.

Regardless, I am highly motivated to attempt to change things through my vote. I can't wait to vote for Governor Mitt Romney next week!

Sadly, I feel bad for either candidate. This is a divisive election. If Romney wins, Harry Reid said that he will NOT reach out across the aisle to assist President Mitt Romney. If Obama wins, he has lost the support and respect of about half of the country. So, whoever wins faces and uphill battle.

Still, it is great to see individuals motivated to participate in this government of the people, by the people and for the people!


the Business Bible of Capitalism
Atherton
on Nov 2, 2012 at 4:28 pm
the Business Bible of Capitalism, Atherton
on Nov 2, 2012 at 4:28 pm

"However, it doesn't take an economist or policy expert to realize that things in this nation aren't going so well."

How about THE ECONOMIST?

"For all his businesslike intentions, Mr Romney has an economic plan that works only if you don’t believe most of what he says."

Now that's an amazing summation by the Business Bible of Capitalism, THE ECONOMIST, of Mitt Romney's absurd "plans".

The full quote on the conservative business bible, The Economist, endorsing Barack Obama:

"As a result, this election offers American voters an unedifying choice. Many of The Economist’s readers, especially those who run businesses in America, may well conclude that nothing could be worse than another four years of Mr Obama. We beg to differ. For all his businesslike intentions, Mr Romney has an economic plan that works only if you don’t believe most of what he says. That is not a convincing pitch for a chief executive. And for all his shortcomings, Mr Obama has dragged America’s economy back from the brink of disaster, and has made a decent fist of foreign policy. So this newspaper would stick with the devil it knows, and re-elect him."

Monthly job growth since the start of the Bush Great Recession: Web Link

4 straight months of job growth over 150,000 jobs a month. 30 something straight months of job growth for almost 5 million new jobs.


Resident
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Nov 2, 2012 at 4:38 pm
Resident, Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Nov 2, 2012 at 4:38 pm

The Economist doesn't like Obama either.

Its verdict, rather the devil we know rather than the devil we don't.


Business Bible of Capitalism
Atherton
on Nov 2, 2012 at 4:42 pm
Business Bible of Capitalism, Atherton
on Nov 2, 2012 at 4:42 pm

"The Economist doesn't like Obama either."

They just thought Obama was clearly the better choice. They thought he was the better choice over McCain too, and America agreed then, and still does.

I mean, seriously, this says it all "For all his businesslike intentions, Mr Romney has an economic plan that works only if you don’t believe most of what he says."


Nayeli
Midtown
on Nov 2, 2012 at 6:05 pm
Nayeli, Midtown
on Nov 2, 2012 at 6:05 pm

@ Business Bible of Capitalism:

It is a stretch to call THE ECONOMIST "the conservative business bible." Seriously, have you ever READ The Economist? It isn't the journal of capitalism. There is an admitted neo-liberal slant to that magazine. They are largely Keynesian in terms of economics and quite Liberal in social issues.

As for the "recovery:" This is the worst recovery since the Great Depression. It took two years (2007-2008) for this mess to come to a pitfall in 2009. It has been THREE YEARS since that pitfall. Yet, unemployment is higher now than it was on the day that Obama was elected.

You can boast, with Obama and Biden, about so many jobs that have been created. Yet, to real Americans all over this nation, they look around and see the mess that this nation is in. Unemployment is very HIGH -- too high -- for Obama to publicly pat himself on the back.

Whereas unemployment is about 7.9%, real unemployment is much higher. Many estimates have it at 14.5%...because so many people have given up looking for real work or have already had their unemployment benefits expire. So, when Obama boasts about job creation, many Americans in Ohio, Pennsylvania and other Midwestern states are left with puzzled looks on their faces.

Obama hasn't earned my vote. He doesn't share my values -- and many of his followers mock me for my moral, religious, cultural and socio-political values.

I like Mitt Romney. He isn't the "bad" person that Obama has tried to make him out to be. I have listened to his rhetoric, read through his plans and have realized that they are much more concise and realistic than "hope," "change" or "forward."

Besides, if Romney doesn't do a good job, you can bet that I will decide to vote for someone else four years from now.

Right now, I can't help but wish that the last election would have come down to Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney. They were the two most apt candidates in the last election cycle. Unfortunately, Oprah and Hollywood abandoned Hillary for silly "hope/change/wrong side of history" rhetoric...and Republicans chose a politician (McCain) who was past his prime.


Alice Schaffer Smith
Registered user
Green Acres
on Nov 2, 2012 at 10:52 pm
Alice Schaffer Smith, Green Acres
Registered user
on Nov 2, 2012 at 10:52 pm

[Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]


Perspective
Registered user
Midtown
on Nov 4, 2012 at 6:55 am
Perspective, Midtown
Registered user
on Nov 4, 2012 at 6:55 am

I ignore anything by anyone who thinks "The Economist" is somehow either "capitalist" or "conservative" or the "business bible." Dropped my subscription years ago when I realized it is the opposite.It is the Time Magazine equivalent to economic reporting.


Ducatigirl
Registered user
Old Palo Alto
on Nov 4, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Ducatigirl, Old Palo Alto
Registered user
on Nov 4, 2012 at 9:10 pm

The Economist is a British Publication, and OFTEN reports incorrect facts concerning the US. The most glaring example was years ago when they reported, years after the fact, that Jimmy Carter was not re-elected because of his views on water conservation (like the Iran hostage crisis had nothing to do with it).

We do not reference them on anything.


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